The Norman castle towers over historic Norwich. © Norwich City Council
Mike Loveday knows a thing or two about the history and heritage of the city. We asked him to give us his lowdown on the buildings in Norwich that he believes are the city’s finest — the great and the good of the city.
Norwich contains buildings that are both unique and outstanding in a European context. However, taken together, the city’s 12 best buildings characterise a model of architectural development over the last millennium that represents a resource of universal importance, unparalleled in the UK and of a quality rarely equalled in Europe.
Norwich Cathedral is the jewel in the crown amongst the city's host of architectural attractions. © Norwich City Council.
Norwich Cathedral
Sitting within the largest cathedral complex in the UK, Norwich’s Cathedral boasts the largest cloister and second highest spire in England. It also houses the largest collection of decorative roof bosses in Europe.
Begun in 1096 on the site of a large section of the pre-conquest Saxon borough it required the demolition of domestic properties, the Earl’s Palace and the churches of St Michael and Christ Church, which also had a pre-conquest monastic function.
The cathedral's ceiling is a gothic treasure. © Norwich City Council.
Much of the stone was imported from Caen in Normandy with the remainder coming from Barnack. The Norman complex also included the Bishop’s Palace, still surviving but incorporated into the Norwich School. Originally it had been linked to the Cathedral by a passageway, probably based upon the arrangement in Aachen where Charlemagne’s Palace linked to the Palace Chapel.
The precinct also contained a substantial Benedictine friary and while this was dissolved at the Reformation, much of it has been recycled in domestic or commercial buildings within the close.
In the UK, this spire is second in height only to that of Salisbury Cathedral. © Norwich City Council.
The cathedral was substantially complete by 1145 but a new cloister was built between 1297 and 1430 following destruction of the original in the 1272 riot. The spire was completed in 1480.
A caring institution for nearly a thousand years - the Great Hospital. © Norwich City Council.
The Great Hospital
Norwich’s Great Hospital is unique in that it has been a caring institution since its inception in 1249. Its wards have been incorporated within a medieval church with parish church maintained within the hospital precinct. Among its many features is the Eagle Roof, built in honour of Anne of Bohemia in 1383. Anne was queen to Richard II, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and the sister of King Wenceslas of Bohemia.
Founded in 1249 for the care of poor chaplains, this unique complex not only includes the medieval infirmary hall/parish church but also a tiny cloister dating from 1450 and a medieval crown post hall.
A roof fit for a queen, built for Anne of Bohemia in 1383. © Norwich City Council.
Other medieval and later buildings in this complex make this a quite unique living history record of an institution over the last 750 years and include, notably, 15th and 16th century wings. There are also almshouses dating from the 1820s, whilst the Birkbeck Hall is a fine example of Victorian/Edwardian Gothic Revival architecture.
To the north, St Helen’s House was built by Thomas Ivory in the 18th century and extended subsequently.
This hospital is today an elderly persons’ residential home, so the building is best viewed from the outside when strolling across the grounds of the Cathedral but access to view parts of the site can be secured on request by phoning 01603 622022.
St James’ Mill
St James’ Mill, described by architectural scholar Ian Nairn as "the noblest of all industrial mills”, boasts surviving arches that once led into the friary church of the Carmelites whilst its undercroft dates from the 13th century. But beyond this ancient past, the mill is the quintessential English Industrial Revolution Mill in what is perhaps an unexpected part of the UK.
Norwich had been the principal English textile producing city for most of the medieval period and a cloth producing/exporting city of international significance. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, the textile towns of the north of England began to assert a new prominence and Norwich responded by developing its own mills.
This textile mill had more success in its second incarnation as a printing house. © Norwich City Council.
Although it had ceased to be the second city by the 1780s, three mills were built north of the Wensum in the 1830s and the largest, St James’ Mill of 1839, by either John Brown or Richard Parkinson, survives.
The lack of coal for steam power and fast flowing water finally saw the death knell of the once supreme Norwich textile industry and Jarrold's printing company eventually took over the premises.
The site of the mill was originally occupied by Carmelite friars between 1256 and the Dissolution and remnants of an impressive, two-cloistered friary complex were unearthed during recent excavations.
Today the building is a private office complex and internal access is only rarely available – but again it is best viewed from the outside.
St Andrew’s & Blackfriars Hall
The only surviving intact medieval friary complex in the UK, St Andrew’s and Blackfriars Hall boasts a 13th century undercoft. Formerly the friary of the Sack Friars, the building boasts a very early brick vault whilst elsewhere inside can be found part of the largest provincial civic portrait collection in the UK.
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, author of the famous architectural guide The Buildings of England, described the hall’s survival as, "extremely valuable, as it is the only English friars’ church which has come down to our day so complete". The site was founded by the Sack Friars in 1260 but subsequently taken over and greatly expanded by the Dominicans in 1307.
Much of the original Dominican friary church was destroyed by fire in 1413 and, apart from the crypt, the basic shell and east window, most of the remainder dates from the first half of the 15th century.
Its construction was funded by Sir Thomas Erpingham, captain of the English Archers at Agincourt, and after his death by his son Robert. The great hammerbeam roof in the nave was a gift of the Pastons in 1440.
Virtually as the Sack Friars saw it, Blackfriars is the most complete medieval friary in the UK. © Norwich City Council.
At the Reformation, the site was saved by the City Corporation who bought it from the King for use as a 'common hall’.
The Choir, or Blackfriar's Hall, was used as the parish church for Dutch and Flemish immigrant weavers from the 16th century onwards and, inside, a surviving memorial to John Elison commemorates one of the most notable pastors in the Dutch Church. Elison was the only English resident to have his portrait painted by Rembrandt.
The Halls were the location for the foundation of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival in 1824 – now the oldest city-based music festival in Britain.
Access to the halls is free on Mondays to Saturday, 09.00 – 16.00, but access to the Halls may be restricted if they are in use for performances/concerts/exhibitions. For more information contact: 01603 628477.
Building castle buildings on mounds started in Norwich. © Norwich City Council.
Norwich Castle
Architectural historian T.A. Heslop once remarked that Norwich Castle was “architecturally the most ambitious secular building (of its period) in Western Europe”.
It remains one of the most elaborate of surviving Norman keeps and the first to be constructed on a mound in England. Today it is home to one of the largest provincial civic regalia collections in England, whilst its former prison buildings house the works of the unique Norwich School of Painters.
One corner of the castle, taken from the bottom of the mound. © Norwich City Council.
The mound was constructed soon after the Conquest and a wooden motte followed shortly after. This structure was so substantial that it withstood a siege of three months duration in 1075 when Emma de Gauder, wife of a rebel baron, held out against the King’s army and then only sued for peace when food ran out.
The vast stone keep, begun in the 1090s, was completed for Henry I to celebrate Christmas there in 1121. The original defensive ring earthworks extended over a very large part of the later city but have since been eroded by modern development.
In 1220 the building became a prison and remained in use until the City Corporation bought it in 1887 and converted it to a museum at a cost of almost £4000.
Artworks, not prisoners, are kept in the keep these days. Picture © Norwich City Council.
The keep was refaced in 1835-8 by Salvin, who faithfully restored the original Norman design based on detailed measured drawings by Wilkins. The peripheral prison buildings, now part of the museum, were built by Wilkins in the 1820s.
The complex was regenerated in the early 21st century when the original Norman features were much more effectively displayed and a new gallery depicting the history of Iceni Queen Boudicca was added. Visitors can also now see the remarkable Snettisham Treasure as well as new decorative art galleries hosting exhibitions from the Tate and other national institutions.
In 2004 a new Anglo Saxon and Viking Gallery was added to exhibit some of the most important finds in the UK.
The Guildhall
Few city halls can compete with the facade of this one. Picture © Norwich City Council.
The largest medieval ‘city hall’ in England, Norwich Guildhall has been described by Helen Sutermeister as having “no real parallel in England and it may be that its builders were inspired by…. the great city halls which graced the wealthy cloth towns of the Low Countries".
Its 13th century brick-vaulted undercroft, beneath the east end, predates the present building, whilst its Council Chambers is one of the finest in England containing 15th century stained glass from the Norwich School of glass painters.
Photo: a 13th century undercroft in the flesh. Courtesy Mike Loveday.
The Guildhall was constructed between 1407 and 1424 on the site of a Norman tollhouse and extended up until the 16th century.
Despite its name, it had nothing to do with guilds - beginning its life as the city hall, it continued in this role until 1938, when the new City Hall opened. It also functioned as a court and prison - with notable prisoners including Thomas Bilney, the Protestant martyr, who was burned for heresy in 1531.
From these uses the building maintains a fine 18th century Court of Record (now a café) and the slightly later Sword Room or Grand Jury Room.
The jury's out - since the 18th century - but this grand courtroom has been maintained. Picture © Norwich City Council.
The ground floor café is open during normal trading hours whilst tours of the remainder of the building take place at 14.00 once a month. These can be arranged through the Tourist Information Centre on 01603 727927.
The City Hall
By George! This clock bell has a deep tone! Picture © Norwich City Council.
Described by Pevsner as "the foremost English public building of between the wars", Norwich City Hall to the north of the medieval market remains the definitive English inter-war city hall. It boasts the longest balcony in England and its clock bell (known locally as Great George) is the largest in the UK, with the deepest tone in East Anglia.
In response to prolonged pleas that former municipal premises were cramped and ‘rat infested’ the Ministry of Health finally agreed to a loan sanction for the construction of a new city hall in the early 1930s.
Apparently, Hitler would have loved to get his hands on this building. Fortunately, it is still serving the Norwich people. Courtesy Mike Loveday.
The intention was to build a ‘national monument’. Following the master plan of Robert Atkinson, James and Rowland-Pierce were the successful winners of a competition attracting 143 entries. The King opened the building in 1938 to the acclaim of the largest gathering of citizens in the city’s 1500-year history.
As well as its imposing exterior architectural form, the building includes striking art deco interiors, typified by the Council Chamber, as well as stunning artistic detailing such as the heraldic lions and rear sculptures by Alfred Hardiman.
The bronze front doors, by James Woodward, illustrate the city’s history, and during the war – and despite taunts by Lord Haw Haw that the new City Hall would be short lived, it was rumoured that Hitler admired its architectural style as a potential seat of regional government!
Council business - in an art deco style. Picture © Norwich City Council.
The public areas of the building are open between 09.00 and 17.00; but the Tourist Information Centre organises tours and excursions up the clock tower once a month at 11.30 – tel 01603 727927 to book.
Pure English gothic, another Norwich landmark in catholic taste. © Norwich City Council.
Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist
Described by Patrick Palgrave-Moore as "perhaps the finest example of Victorian Gothic revival in this country", the Cathedral of St John the Baptist is the largest provincial Catholic church in the country. Inside you will find some of the most beautiful Victorian stained glass windows in Europe.
Built on the site of the former City Gaol and endowed by the 15th Duke of Norfolk, construction began in 1882 to the plans of George Gilbert Scott.
The Duke’s grand scheme celebrated an association with both the Howard family and the Catholic community in the City stretching back centuries. Gilbert Scott’s intention was to build an example of pure English Gothic and the result is regarded as arguably the finest example of Gothic revival ecclesiastical architecture in England.
The structure was built of stone from Devon and Derbyshire with marble brought from Durham, but when the Devon stone was found to weather poorly, the building was completed in Ancaster and Clipsham stone.
Finally completed in 1910 the building was at that time merely a very grand church. It wasn’t until 1976 that Pope Paul VI recreated the Catholic Diocese of East Anglia and designated St John’s as a cathedral.
Access to the church is free, which is open 07.00 – 20.00 daily; for more information contact 01603 624615.
No 13th century undercroft here - Norwich has a fine example of modern architecture in the Forum. © Norwich City Council.
The Forum
The Forum is the only WWII war memorial in the form of a commemorative library in the world, and is home to a 180-degree cinema and the only 30-metre-long media wall in England.
Built in the old Norman borough, the Forum represents an example of turning adversity into remarkable good fortune.
In 1994, an electrical fault caused a fire, which gutted the former award-winning library and in just 20 minutes left it irreparable. The resulting building by Sir Michael Hopkins was developed via a cocktail of Millennium Commission, City Council and County Council funding; and represents probably the most striking piece of post-war architecture in the City centre.
Not a mere building but a series of juxtaposed spaces and buildings within buildings, the Forum includes a cutting edge, multi-level Millennium Library incorporating the 8th USAAF Memorial Library and the Norfolk Heritage Library.
The Forum is home to a three level multimedia visitor attraction, Origins, which explores the history of the City and its region, as well as a new Tourist Information Centre and shop.
Cutting-edge inside and out, the Forum is home to several libraries, Tourist Information, BBC studios and a multimedia museum - making it a must-see fortourists. © Norwich City Council.
The Forum is also the regional headquarters for BBC Radio and TV, whilst a business and learning centre and the European Information Library are complemented by a café and restaurants together with major indoor and outdoor public spaces.
For opening times for Origins and various other attractions in the centre call the tourist information centre on 01603 727927.
The Assembly House
Of Norwich’s Assembly House, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner said: "No other town of its size in England has anything like it." And it remains the quintessential Regency Assembly Rooms – cleverly incorporating the original layout of the Medieval College of St Mary in the Fields.
John le Brun founded a hospital northwest of St Stephen’s church, on the site of the current Assembly House, in 1248 and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. In a short time, the foundation was changed to a College for Secular Canons.
The first building also served as a Great Hall within which much of the city’s civic business was conducted prior to the building of the Guildhall. This included a famous breakfast when the Earl of Surrey presented venison to the city. Together with the Bishop and Abbot of St Benet at Holm, he breakfasted at the Chapel-in-the-Fields and according to contemporary reports, "there was great cheer made between them".
At the Reformation, the collegiate church and cloister were demolished with other buildings incorporated into domestic use and then into the Assembly House, which was built by Thomas Ivory in 1755.
A centre of Regency life, the Assembly Hall hosted many important gatherings over the years. Picture © Norwich City Council.
During alterations to the Assembly House in 1901, it became clear that what is now the Music Room contains the core of the medieval Great Hall. Additionally, the Hospital undercroft survives beneath the current Assembly House restaurant.
The Assembly House hosted civic ‘assemblies’ on Guild Day where, as in 1802, "the dresses of the ladies were elegant and highly becoming". The hall has seen sumptuous dinners - such as that celebrating Trafalgar, as well as performances and exhibitions including notable appearances by Liszt and Madame Tussaud before she established herself in London.
The rooms of the Assembly House appear now almost exactly as they did at the height of the Regency period.
You can gain free admission to the Assembly House, Mon-Fri: 08.30 - 16.30 and on Sat: 10.00 – 16.00. Access to some rooms may be restricted when in use for meetings. For more information phone 01603 626402.
The Marble Hall
One of the most elaborate marble interiors in the UK, the Marble Hall boasts an Edwardian air conditioning system - unique in its period. Remarkable interior design elements include an Adam fireplace and a skeleton-chiming clock made for the Great Exhibition in 1851.
Built on the site of the Earl of Surrey’s medieval city house, and incorporating some recycled details from it, the Marble Hall was built between 1900 and 1904 as the new corporate headquarters of Norwich Union by local architect Edward Skipper.
The Norwich Union headquarters are suitably grand. Picture © Norwich City Council.
Although the exterior is a striking representation of the Palladian style, it is the interior, which portrays the English Renaissance at its most sumptuous that really marks out the Marble Hall as providing a unique architectural expression of interior space.
£6000 worth of marble – a king’s ransom at the time – was redirected from Westminster Cathedral for the project. The result is a great hall that boasts the greatest diversity of marble - including columns of Cipollino and Verde Antico and wall panels of Skyros Rosso, Carrara and Rosso Antico capped with alabaster arches and entablature.
The office - does yours contain several types of marble and Edwardian air-conditioning? © Norwich City Council.
The staircase has steps of Piastraccia marble, the handrails of Pavanazzo, whilst other details of Breccian marble and wall insets of Istrian marble. Belgian Blue and Siennese marble, now worked out, decorate other parts of the Hall.
As the Marble Hall is the corporate headquarters of the Norwich Union Insurance Company and not normally open to the general public the building can only be viewed from the exterior but tours can be arranged by contacting the company archivist on 01603 687280.
Dragon Hall
Described by the Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Trust as "unique in Europe of an early C15th Merchant Trading Hall built by an individual merchant for his own enterprise", the Dragon Hall is a magnificent 27 metre (88 foot) long timber-framed hall capped with a crown post roof structure that dates from 1427.
The surviving undercroft, dating from 1330, was later incorporated into a Hall which is accessible from an imposing, elaborately decorated 14th or 15th century doorway that is thought to have been ‘recycled’ from the once adjacent Austin Friary following the Reformation.
One of the city's older commercial buildings, Dragon Hall was a merchant trading hall. © Norwich City Council.
The site of the hall was originally settled in the Saxon period and in the 12th century as two substantial houses at right angles to the river and separated by a road.
These were the houses of the Abbot of Woburn and Bartholemew de Acre. A third building was developed in 1330, for the Medday family, which was incorporated into the ground floor of the huge merchant trading hall, probably built by Robert Toppes in 1427.
27 metres of timber magnificence - inside the hall. Picture © Norwich City Council.
Following Toppes’ death, the Hall was converted for domestic use and occupied by some of the most notable local families. In the 19th century it was converted to shops, a pub and tenements – the latter subdivisions resulting in the great crown post roof disappearing for many years.
The building was ‘rediscovered’ in the 1980s and is in the process of conversion to a heritage centre interpreting the Hall and the City’s merchant trading heritage.
You can access the building between November and March, Monday to Friday between 10.00 – 16.00 (same times plus Saturdays from April to October). For more information contact 01603 663922.
This trail was written by Mike Loveday, director of The Norwich Heritage Economic & Regeneration Trust.
Mike is the man charged with regenerating, managing and promoting the city’s remarkable heritage resources… so it’s not surprising to find out that he knows a thing or two about the history and built heritage of the city.
