Norwich
Unlike many English towns it is not known if Norwich was not a Roman settlement, the nearest Roman fort was at Caister on the east coast and Roman roads did go through what is now Norwich. Once the Romans had left the region the Anglo-Saxons moved to the area of Norwich and created the town as Northwic. The first castle was built in the reign of Uffa, the first king of the East Angles at the end of the 6th century. The Viking raids began in the 8th century but it was in the 9th century where it is stated in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 865 that ‘The Great Heathen Army’ landed in East Anglia. Legend tells us that the army was led by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. King Edmund of East Anglia provided them with horses in return for peace, but it only bought him time, In 869 the army returned to East Anglia and the battle of Hoxne was fought, King Edmund it is said he was captured, whipped and shot full of arrows, and then just for good measure had his head cut off. King Edmund however would not be forgotten, he soon became a saint and is buried in the town which is named for him, Bury St. Edmunds. King Canute turned his shrine into an Abbey and it became one of the wealthiest in the country. The Viking campaign lasted 14 years and the Viking army conquered all the lands they marched though only Wessex ruled by Alfred the Great held out against them. After King Alfred won the Battle of Edington in 878 against the Viking army a treaty was agreed where the Vikings were able to remain in control of much of Northern and Eastern England.
After King Alfred’s death his son Edward the Elder and his daughter Aethelflead (the Lady of the Mercians) set out to retake the East Anglian territory. They certainly succeeded and the first coins of King Aethelstan I of England were minted in Norwich between 925 and 940. They must have been successful because in 1003 the Sweyn, King of Denmark brought is forces to East Anglia and burnt the city of Norwich and its Castle. After taking control of the city the Danes rebuilt the castle in 1011, Viking control largely ended in the region with the death of King Canute in 1035 but by this time Norwich had grown to be a prosperous Danish town.
The Domesday Book of Edward the Confessor shows that Norwich contained at this point 25 churches. There were 1320 burgesses and it was the capital of East Anglia with a few hundred houses. The 1086 Domesday Book tells us that Norwich was only slightly smaller than York. Norwich had its own administration, separate from the rest of the region by 1065. The inhabitants were not self-governing but paid rents and taxes to a royal official, with the king receiving £20 per annum and the Earl of East Anglia £10. The population was now 5,500. Evidence tells us that the borough at this time was smaller than the later city within the medieval walls. It was probably protected by earthworks, ditches and banks surrounded by a wooden palisade.
Since the Cathedral had been built after the Norman Conquest there had always been a rift between the towns people and the Cathedral Priory, this was often the case to some extent in most towns when you consider the Normans came in, changed everything and dismantled houses, but in 1251 a case occurred a man named Gerard Goldfolde was found dead but no inquest followed the death because it had happened in a section of water that belonged to the priory. Even if he had been murdered by a monk at the priory there would be no redress as the church had its own laws and held its own courts. Something that Henry II had fought so hard against but had to step back from after Beckets murder. This was of course seen as unfair by the towns people.
In 1272 there was an attack on the priory and some of the buildings were burned down. The common lands around Tombland were often used by young men of the town who practiced the quintain which consisted of a vertical wooden post hammered into the ground from which was suspended a horizontal swinging beam of about six feet in length. A bag of sand was attached to one end of the beam and a square board at the other. The young men charged at the beam on horseback and struck the board with their lances, passing through before the sandbag could swing and hit them from behind, a way of practicing jousting. It seems that some of the priory servants complained about the bits of broken lances littering the area but the townsmen refused to pick them up and a fight broke out which became so serious that people died. When an inquest was held and the priory servants were accused of murder it was decided to arrest those responsible if they left the priory grounds and entered the city. This order was breached and two men from the priory were seized and imprisoned. The Prior then retaliated by ordering that the entire city would be excommunicated. The Prior shut the gates and stationed some of his men along the top of the wall, the monks would aim their crossbows at any citizens passing by. It seems outrageous that a monastic community respond in this way but often the conduct of the Prior was what set the tone for the behaviour of its monks and laymen.
This rift between the Priory and the people of Norwich continued for months until some of the priory servants decided to taunt the enemy and rampaged through the city streets, they robbed a merchant named Alfred Cutler of more than £20 and broke into the tavern owned by Hugh de Bromholm, after getting drunk they proceeded to break the casks and let the wine drain out onto the streets. The city bailiffs sent messengers to the King’s court and assembled a militia to be stationed throughout the city streets. A meeting was gathered but the towns people were so angry they broke from the meeting and attacked the priory. Prior William de Burnham escaped and rode to Yarmounth where he summoned armed forces and road back into Norwich with an army that attacked the people in the streets and destroying homes. News of this disaster made its way to Henry III who road himself with an armed force to Norwich and passed sentence on the rioters, resulting in punishments all around, even the Prior was imprisoned for committing murder and his lands were confiscated. The King appointed his own keepers to oversee the city and the town was required to pay compensation to the priory for all the damage that had been done.
Norwich continued to grow in size and wealth and by 1334 its was the sixth wealthiest town in England with a population of over 6,000. It was the main market town in the area and was so busy that subsidiary trading areas were established for particular types of business. Cattle sheep and poultry were sold to the south of St. Peter Mancroft church and horses outside the Churchyard of St Stephen’s known today as Rampant Horse Street. Hogs were sold on Hog Hill, now Orford Hill, near the timber market still known as Timber Hill. The main market area in the Middle Ages was exactly where the market can be seen today between St. Peter Mancroft Church and the Guildhall where the market stalls are still located and now sell a larger variety of goods.
Norwich’s old city records mention a number of trade names which are not as familiar to us today. These include the Bukmongere, who was a dealer in venison and game, a Chaloner, that of a blanket maker; Clubbere, a club maker; Dubber, mender of old clothes; Fripperer, a dealer in cast-off clothing; Girdler, maker of belts which everyone wore to old their purse, or weapon, Latoner, the maker of thin sheets of metal; Panter Maker, a maker of bird snares; Punder Maker, one who made balances; A Skirmishchur, was a fence master; and a Sloper, a dealer in smock-frocks.
Julian was born in Norwich in 1342 and it is thought that she was educated at the Benedictine Priory in Carrow. At the age of 31 in 1373 she suffered a severe illness, a story similar to Margery Kempe of Lynn. While she was ill, she is said to have been visited by God and saw 16 revelations. After she recovered, she devoted her life to prayer and contemplation, she retired to a live in a cell attached to St. Julian’s Church and spent the next 40 years of her life in that room. While she never left her cell she was often visited. It was during this time that she wrote her meditations which were later published as ‘Revelations of Divine Love. This book is thought to have been the first to be written by a woman in English. The cell and church where she lived no longer exists having sustained a direct hit by a bomb in 1942.
In the summer of 1348, the Black Death or bubonic place reached England, the disease reached Norwich in January of 1349, Norwich had one of the highest death tolls in the country. There were further outbreaks in 1361 and 1369. It is estimated that two-fifths of the population died as a result and at least half of the clergy. Four of the parish churches were closed because they had no priest and few parishioners left. In 1357 many shops and market stalls had fallen into disrepair as their tenants had died. The famine of 1369 did not help matters and the churchyard of St. Peter Mancroft had to be extended because is no longer had any space for burials.
At the start of the 15th century Norwich had become England’s second largest city with 10,000 inhabitants, only London had a greater population. In 1404 Henry IV awarded the city a charter creating Norwich as a county in its own right. The bailiff was replaced by two Sheriffs and a Mayor and four other officials who were justices of the peace. The charter also created a group of 24 men who would sit on a Common council of sixty members elected annually by the people from various wards of the city. The mayor was to convene with the council men and Aldermen at least four times a year. Although the council had a role of ratifying the decisions, it was the Mayor, Sheriffs and Aldermen who held the power, this situation continued unaltered for the next 400 years.
There are no records confirming how old the street known as Elm Hill is, but there is evidence that it existed before 1200, and possibly from Saxon times, as the old Saxon market area is just across from it. Today, it is a picturesque, winding, 16th Century cobbled street, with brick and timber framed houses. During the middle ages, this area was where some of the wealthiest merchants of the city lived. The Briton Arms building is older than the rest and dates from the 14th Century. It was the only building on the street to survive the fire of 1507, because it was detached from the rest.
Another defensive site in Norwich is the Cow Tower, it is located on a bend on the River Wensum. It was built at the end of the 14th century in response to the perceived threat from France. It formed a part of the city’s defences for the next 200 years. The tower was intended for defence and was garrisoned to defend the approach to the city. It was built with widely splayed gun ports for the newly developed canon. While it is not certain where its name comes from it is likely that it is derived from the surrounding meadow previously known as Cowholme.
Bishop’s Bridge was built in 1340 over the River Wensum, near the Cathedral. It is still used today and is one of the oldest active bridges in England. In 1275, the Priory of Norwich was granted a licence by Edward I to build a fortified gatehouse, with a 20-foot-wide bridge attached. An earlier bridge probably stood here at that time, as the license only provided for a gatehouse to be built to protect it. The gatehouse was completed in 1343, and stood until it was torn down in 1791. The only remnant is the semi-circular projection on the bridge, that formed part of a turret. As the bridge and gatehouse were owned by the Priory, they could charge tolls to travellers upon entry.
After King Henry IV granted the city of Norwich autonomy from the county of Norfolk in 1404, this civic charter proclaimed Norwich to be a County in its own right. This also allowed the citizens of Norwich the right to elect a Mayor and two Sheriffs annually. A new civic building was required which would be used for administrative functions. Some of these would include, accommodation for council meetings, courts, a gaol to hold prisoners awaiting trial, and a chapel. The Guildhall was built between 1407 and 1412. This building, which was more of a Town Hall than a Guildhall, was the centre of city government from the 15th Century until it was replaced by the City Hall in 1938.