Norwich
Norwich (pronounced variously "Norritch", "Norridge", and "Naaridge") is a
city in
East Anglia, in Eastern
England, and the regional administrative centre and county town of
Norfolk.
The suburban area of the City expands beyond its borough boundary, with large populated areas on most sides, particularly
Thorpe St. Andrew on the eastern side. The Parliamentary seats cross over into adjacent local government districts. The population for the Norwich Urban sub-area was
174,047 in 2001. It is the 27th largest settlement in England using this measure. However, the population for the whole built-up area was 194,839 in 2001 (census figures), up 5.1% from the 1991 figure of 185,420. It is the 32nd-largest urban area in England.
Roman
The
Romans had their regional capital at
Venta Icenorum on the river to the south which is now at modern day
Caistor St Edmund.
Early English/Norman Conquest
There are two suggested models of development for Norwich. It is possible that three separate early
Anglo-Saxon settlements, one on the north of the river and two either side on the south, joined together as they grew or that one Anglo-Saxon settlement, on the north of the river, emerged mid 7th century after the abandonment of the previous three. The ancient city was a thriving centre for trade and commerce in
East Anglia in
1004 AD when it was raided and burnt by
Swein Forkbeard the Viking. Mersian coins and sherds of pottery from the Rhineland dating to the 8th century suggest that long distance trade was happening long before this. Between 924-939 AD Norwich became fully established as a town due to the fact that it had its own mint. The word
Norvic appears on coins across Europe minted during this period, the reign of
King Athelstan. The Vikings were a strong cultural influence in Norwich for 40-50 years at the end of the 9th century, setting up an Anglo-Scandinavian district towards the south end of present day King Street.
At the time of the
Norman Conquest the city was one of the largest in
England. The
Domesday Book states that it had approximately twenty-five churches and a population of around 5-10,000. It also records the site of an Anglo-Saxon church in Tombland, the site of the Anglo-Saxon market place and the later
Norman cathedral. Norwich continued to be a major centre for trade, the
River Wensum being a convenient export route to the sea. Quern stones, and other artifacts, from Scandinavia and the Rhineland have been found during excavations in Norwich city centre which date from the 11th century onwards.
The main area of the city south of the Wensum was destroyed by the construction of the Norman castle (see
Norwich Castle) during the
1070s creation of a "New" or "
French" borough. During the erection of the castle a new town was built up around it including the market place that is still present today.
In
1096 Bishop Losinga, then Bishop of Thetford, began construction of the cathedral. Limestone was imported from Caen. To get it up to the cathedral site a canal was cut from the river all the way up to the east wall. He then moved his See there to what became the cathedral church for the
Diocese of Norwich. The bishop of Norwich still signs himself
Norvic.
Middle Ages
By the middle of the 14th century the City Walls, about two and a half miles (4 km) long had been completed. These, along with the river, enclosed a large area, larger than that of the City of London. In the early part of the fifteenth century,
Julian of Norwich wrote her famous work.
In
1144 the Jews of Norwich were falsely accused of
ritual murder after a boy (
William of Norwich) was found dead with stab wounds. The story was turned into a cult, with William acquiring the status of martyr and crowds of pilgrims bringing wealth to the local church. On
Feb 6 1190, all the Jews of Norwich were massacred except for a few who found refuge in the castle.
The wealth generated by the
wool trade throughout the
Middle Ages resulted in the construction of many fine churches. Norwich still has one of the highest number of medieval churches in Western Europe. Norwich Market had trading links from Scandinavia to Spain.Around this time, the city was made a
county corporate.
The great immigration of
1567 brought a substantial
Walloon community of weavers to Norwich. Norwich has been the home of various dissident minorities, notably the French
Huguenot and the Belgian Walloon communities in the
sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. These immigrants were known locally as 'strangers' (there being a hall in the city called 'Strangers' Hall' for temporary residence, now a museum) and it seems that generally they were accepted as part of the community without animosity. Primarily through trading connections with mainland
Europe, ideas of religious reform and radical politics were introduced to Norwich.
English Civil Wars to Victorian Era
The eastern counties were profoundly Parliamentarian in nature and Norwich followed suit, at the cost of some discomfit to the Lord Mayor, a Royalist, and the Bishop
Joseph Hall a moderate but targeted because of his position.
The
Norwich Canary was first introduced into England by
Flemish refugees fleeing from
Spanish persecution in the
1500s. They brought with them not only advanced working skills in textiles but also their pet canaries, which they began to breed. The canary is the emblem of the city's football team,
Norwich City F.C., nicknamed "The Canaries".
Until the 19th Century, Norwich remained a major provincial capital and, alongside Bristol, was rated closely after London in terms of importance and wealth.
Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1834 when a
railway connection was established, it was often quicker to travel to
Amsterdam by boat than to
London. The railway was brought to Norwich by
Morton Peto who also built the line onto
Great Yarmouth.
Culture
The
University of East Anglia on the outskirts of Norwich was one of the
New Universities founded in
1963, following the
Robbins Report. UEA adopted the city's motto of independence
Do different and is especially well-known for its creative-writing programme; established by
Malcolm Bradbury and
Angus Wilson, its graduates include
Kazuo Ishiguro and
Ian McEwan. The university campus houses the
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. The city also has an art college, the
Norwich School of Art & Design, located in the centre. Additionally, the
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on the city's periphery at
Colney was opened in
2001.
Norwich Theatre Royal has been on its site for nearly 250 years. The 1300-seat theatre hosts a mix of national touring productions including musicals, dance, drama, family shows, opera and pop.
Each year the
Norfolk and Norwich Festival celebrates the arts, drawing many visitors into the city from all over the eastern England.
The Forum, designed by
Michael Hopkins and Partners and opened in
2002 is a building designed to house the
Millennium Library, a replacement for the Norwich Central Library building which burned down in
1994, and the regional
BBC broadcasting offices. The building provides a venue for
exhibitions,
concerts and events, although the city still lacks a dedicated concert venue.
The Millennium Library contains the
Second Air Division Memorial Library, a collection of material about American culture and the American relationship with East Anglia, especially the role of the
United States Air Force on UK air bases throughout the
Second World War and
Cold War. Much of the collection was lost in the 1994 fire, but the collection has been restored by contributions from many veterans of the war, both European and American.
Recent attempts to shed the backwater image of Norwich and market it as a popular
tourist destination, as well as a centre for
science,
commerce,
culture and the
arts, have included the refurbishment of the
Norwich Castle Museum and the opening of the Forum. The proposed new
slogan for Norwich,
England's Other City, has been the subject of much discussion and controversy - and it remains to be seen whether it will be finally adopted.
Business and shopping
The city's economy, originally chiefly industrial with shoemaking a large sector, has changed throughout the eighties and nineties to a service-based economy.
Norwich Union, an Aviva company, still dominates these, but has been joined by other insurance and financial services companies.
Norwich Market is an ancient market place, established by the Normans between 1071 and 1074, and is today the largest six days a week open air market in England. The market has recently undergone redevelopment and modernising.
New developments on the former
Boulton and Paul site include the Riverside entertainment complex with nightclubs and other venues featuring the usual national leisure brands. Nearby, the football stadium is being upgraded with more residential property development alongside the river Wensum.
Castle Mall, a
shopping mall designed by local practice Lambert, Scott & Innes and opened in 1993, presents an ingenious solution to the problem of sensitively creating new retail space in a historic city-centre environment - the building is largely buried underground and in the side of a hill.
The new
Chapelfield shopping mall has been built on the site where the Caleys (later
Rowntree Mackintosh and
Nestlé) chocolate factory once stood. This opened in late September 2005, and is described as 'a major new shopping experience', featuring a new three-floor flagship
House of Fraser department store. The new shopping mall, which was the largest to open in Britain in 2005, has been criticised as unnecessary and damaging to local businesses; its presence has prompted smaller retailers to band together to promote the virtues of independent shops.
Archant, formerly known as Eastern Counties Newspapers (ECN) is a national publishing group that has grown out of the city's local newspaper, the
Norwich Evening News and the regional
Eastern Daily Press (EDP).
Norwich has long been associated with the manufacture of
mustard.
Colman's was founded in
1814 and continues to operate from its factory at
Carrow.
Entertainment
Satirical comedian
Steve Coogan located his fictional, unbearably vain, cheesy broadcaster '
Alan Partridge' in Norfolk, specifically hosting the pre-breakfast show on the fictional independent station 'Radio Norwich'. It exploited the county's reputation as being somewhat detached from modern trends, past its prime, and rather peripheral to national life.
Other comic entertainers who have drawn comedy from that stereotype include Allan Smethurst '
The Singing Postman' and
The Kipper Family lately represented by 'son'
Sid Kipper, though these are associated with Norfolk in general and not just the City. These have been joined by
The Nimmo Twins.
Independent radio stations are Radio Broadland (formerly
Broadland 102) and
Classic Gold Amber.
BBC Radio Norfolk and the University of East Anglia's
Livewire 1350 all broadcast to the city.
A new independent radio station, Radio Norwich, is now broadcasting test transmissions on 99.9 FM. There is also a thriving Community Radio station which is soon to begin its permanent tenure on the Norwich airwaves called Future Radio.
Norwich has a thriving music scene based around local venues such as the Norwich Arts Centre and the Marquee. The city is host to many bands that have achieved national and international recognition such as
Bearsuit,
Cord, Sennen,
Magoo,
KaitO and
The Sadtowns. There are also some established record labels in Norwich such as
Hungry Audio and Mummy Where's The Milkman.
Sport
The local
football team is
Norwich City FC, the "Canaries"; their ground is at
Carrow Road. They have a strong East Anglian rivalry with
Ipswich Town FC.
Norwich also has a rugby club, the
Norwich Lions.
Perception
Norwich is occasionally portrayed by the media as a city out-of-step with national trends (see
Alan Partridge); This is primarily due to its geographic isolation which has contributed greatly to its "unspoilt" and insular character.
Despite this perception, Norwich has a long history of political radicalism and is by no means a conservative city. With 9 seats, Norwich City Council has the largest number of Green Party councillors anywhere in the country. The largest number of seats, however, is held by the Labour Party with 16; the Liberal Democrats are in second place with 12. The Conservative Party is currently in fourth place with only 2 councillors.
According to the 2001 census, 27.8% of respondents in Norwich stated that they were of "no religion", the highest percentage in England.
There has always been a general tolerance of "incomers" by the "native" population of Norwich and Norfolk, though becoming a "local" is still reckoned to take decades. There are good rail links from
Norwich railway station to
Peterborough and
London, and direct services to
Cambridge were added in 2004.
A large proportion of the population of Norwich are users of the
Internet. A recent article has suggested that, compared with other UK cities, it is top of the league for the percentage of population who use the popular Internet auction site
eBay.
The city has also unveiled the biggest free
Wi-Fi network in the UK, which opened in July 2006.
Infrastructure
Roads
Norwich is connected to
Peterborough via
Kings Lynn by the A47, the port of
Ipswich by the A140, and
Cambridge (and the
motorway M11 to
London) by the A11.
Rail
Rail links to the rest of the country are via
London Liverpool Street Station and Peterborough. Local lines also run to destinations including
Great Yarmouth,
Lowestoft and
Sheringham.
Norwich formerly had three stations running to a number of other local destinations, but now the rail terminus is at
Thorpe Station.
Air
Norwich International Airport is a feeder to KLM's
Schiphol hub. FlyBe, Air SouthWest, Eastern Airways, and Bristow Helicopters all serve Norwich, in addition to a strong holiday charter flight business. The airport was originally the
RAF airfield at Horsham St Faith. This was once the home of Air UK, which grew out of Air Anglia and was then absorbed by the Dutch airline
KLM.
Water
The
River Yare is navigable from the sea at
Great Yarmouth all the way to Trowse, south of the city. From there the
River Wensum is navigable into Norwich.
In
1507 the poet
John Skelton (
1460-
1529) wrote of two destructive fires in his
Lament for the City of Norwich.
All life is brief, and frail all man's estate. City, farewell: I mourn thy cruel fate.
Thomas Fuller in his
The Worthies of England described the City in
1662 as -
Either a city in an orchard or an orchard in a city, so equally are houses and trees blended in it, so that the pleasure of the country and the populousness of the city meet here together. Yet in this mixture, the inhabitants participate nothing of the rusticalness of the one, but altogether the urbanity and civility of the other.
Celia Fiennes (
1662-
1741) visited Norwich in 1698 and described it as
a city walled full round of towers, except on the river side which serves as a wall; they seem the best in repair of any walled city I know.
She also records that held in the City three times a year were-
great fairs...to which resort a vast concourse of people and wares a full trade.Norwich being
a rich, thriving industrious place full of weaving, knitting and dyeing.
Daniel Defoe in his Tour of the whole Island of Great Britain (1724) wrote of the City-
the inhabitants being all busy at their manufactures, dwell in their garrets at their looms, in their combing-shops, so they all them, twisting-mills, and other work-houses; almost all the works they are employed in being done within doors.
John Evelyn (
1620-
1706) Royalist, Traveller and Diarist wrote to
Sir Thomas Browne-
I hear Norwich is a place very much addicted to the flowery part.
He visited the City as a courtier to
King Charles II in 1671 and described it thus -
The suburbs are large, the prospect sweet, and other amenities, not omitting the flower-garden, which all the Inhabitants excel in of this City, the fabric of stuffs, which affords the Merchants, and brings a vast trade to this populous Town.
George Borrow in his semi-autobiographical novel
Lavengro (1851) wrote of Norwich as-
A fine old city, perhaps the most curious specimen at present extant of the genuine old English Town. ..Thre it spreads from north to south, with its venerable houses, its numerous gardens, its thrice twelve churches, its mighty mound....There is an old grey castle on top of that mighty mound: and yonder rising three hundred feet above the soil, from amongst those noble forest trees, behold that old Norman master-work, that cloud-enriched cathedral spire ...Now who can wonder that the children of that fine old city are proud, and offer up prayers for her prosperity?Borrow wrote far less favourably of the City in his translation of
Faust-
They found the people of the place modelled after so unsightly a pattern, with such ugly figures and flat features that the devil owned he had never seen them equalled, except by the inhabitants of an English town, called Norwich, when dressed in their Sunday's best.
In 1812, Andrew Robertson wrote to the painter
Constable-
I arrived here a week ago and find it a place where the arts are very much cultivated....some branches of knowledge, chemistry, botany, etc. are carried to a great length. General literature seems to be pursued with an ardour which is astonishing when we consider that it does not contain a university, as is merely a manufacturing town.Throughout its history, Norwich has been associated with
radical politics,
nonconformist religion,
political dissent and
liberalism. Between
1790 and
1840, many of the famous names associated with the City flourished. These include:
*
George Borrow (
1803-
1881), writer and traveller. In his youth Borrow was resident at Willow Lane. He attended the Norwich King Edward school. Borrow recollects his youth in the city and conversations with the
philologist and translator of German
Romantic literature,
William Taylor in his semi-autobiographical novel
Lavengro.
* Sir
Thomas Browne (
1605-
1682). medical doctor,
polymath scholar,
encyclopedist and philosopher with interests in
Biblical scholarship and the esoteric. The stylistic purity and stupendous learning displayed in Browne's varied prose in the spheres of
religion,
science and
art are minor classics of World
literature.
*
Edith Cavell (
1865-
1915) was born in
Swardeston, 4 miles south of Norwich. She was a
World War I nurse who was
executed by firing squad by the
Germans for helping
allied prisoners escape in violation of military law. She is buried on Life's Green, on the east side of
Norwich Cathedral.
*
John Crome and
Joseph Stannard, along with
John Sell Cotman, established the first art movement outside of
London. The
Norwich school of painters were influenced by the achievements of
Dutch landscape
painting and the beauty of the rural hinterland surrounding Norwich.
*
William Crotch (
1775-
1847).
Composer, artist and
teacher. Norwich's
Mozart. He gave daily public organ recitals aged two and a half. Crotch played
God Save the King before the King aged three. He had performed at every major town in England and
Scotland by the age of seven. Crotch became Organist of
Christ Church,
Oxford and for fifty years he was
Oxford's Professor of Music. Unlike Mozart, however, his precocious musical talents failed to mature to genius.
*
Elizabeth Fry (
1780-
1845). The prison reformer and leading
Quaker was born in Gurney Court in Magdalen Street and was one of several philanthropists associated with the city. Her portrait is upon the Series E (2005)
Bank of England £5 note.
*
Joseph John Gurney (
1788-
1847) was a banker and
philanthropist who worked with his sister Elizabeth Fry (see above) in
prison reform. He was also active in the movement to abolish the
slave trade and a member of the
temperance movement.
*
Robert William Bilton Hornby (
1821-
1884) was a noted local antiquarian, priest and lord of the manor from the City of York. He was ordained a
deacon at Norwich in
1844.
*
Julian of Norwich.
Medieval Christian mystic and contemporary of
Chaucer. Julian is the author of
The revelations of Divine Love the first book written by a woman in the English language. Julian's writings are well-represented by the scholarly website
www.umilta.net.
*
Robert Kett. Norwich's very own
Robin Hood or
Wat Tyler. Kett was a Norfolk landowner from
Wymondham who lead the peasant's revolt in
1549 in the name of the common man against the corrupt Norfolk landowners. This eventually lead to the Battle of Dussindale against the King's forces on the 27th August 1549 in which 3000 of Kett's men were killed. He was hanged for Treason at
Norwich Castle on the 7th December 1549.
*
Harriet Martineau (
1802-
1876). The daughter of a Norwich manufacturer of
Huguenot descent, she suffered from ill-health and deafness throughout her life. A devout
Unitarian, her writings include
Illustrations of political economy (1832-1834). Harriet Martineau supported the abolitionist campaign in the
United States writing
Society in America (1837). She translated writings by
Auguste Comte. Her first novel was entitled
Deerbrook (
1839). A radical in religion she published the anti-theological
Laws of Man's Social Nature (
1851) and
Biographical sketches (
1869).
*
Admiral Horatio Nelson attended the Norwich School from 1767 to 1768. He was born in nearby
Burnham Thorpe.
*
Amelia Opie (
1769-
1853), Norwich author and
Quaker. In
1825 she drastically changed her life as a
socialite, party-goer, and attendant at
literary soirees, to become a Quaker.
*
Sir James Edward Smith botanist, natural historian and one-time owner of the Linnean collection of
Carolus Linnaeus*
William Smith (
1756 â€"
1835),
Whig politician,
dissenter and
abolitionist,
M.P. for Norwich from
1807.
*
Bill Bryson, American writer and humorist, lives near
Wymondham, near Norwich.
*
Cathy Dennis, famous
Singer/
Songwriter who was born in Norwich in
1969.
*
Ralph Firman, former
Formula 1 Driver was born in Norwich in
1975. He and his family live in nearby
Attleborough, and he was educated at
Gresham's School. Currently racing in the
A1 Grand Prix series for
Ireland, for which he qualifies through his Mother's Irish
nationality.
*
Trisha Goddard, talk show host lives in Norwich.
*
Andy Green OBE, a Wing Commander in the
Royal Air Force, is the current holder of the world land speed record, having piloted the
ThrustSSC to the first ever
supersonic speed on land in the
Black Rock Desert,
USA on
25 September 1997.
*
Paul Jones, blues singer and BBC Radio 2 presenter.
*
Becky Mantin,
ITV Weather presenter and
This Morning reporter.
*
Bernard Matthews, founder of the eponymous meat company.
*
Sir John Mills, born in
North Elmham in
Norfolk. Mills was educated at the
Norwich School. He also had
Football (Soccer) trials with
Norwich City F.C. in the
1920s before moving into
acting.
*
Beth Orton, Award-winning singer/songwriter, was born in
Dereham and spent much of her childhood in Norwich.
*
Alan Partridge, fictional radio DJ played by comedian
Steve Coogan. Despite being a fictional character, Partridge is arguably the most famous Norwich resident of recent years. Partridge has a huge chip on his shoulder about the pedestrianisation of the city centre.
*
Philip Pullman, British writer was born in Norwich on
19 October 1946. Best-selling author of the
His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books.
*
Delia Smith, majority shareholder of
Norwich City Football Club (note: she was born in
Surrey and lives in
Suffolk). The television cook who taught us all how to boil eggs to perfection, and make toast that isn't "sweaty" (i.e. place it in a toast rack - don't lie it down), has been a favourite of the city ever since she arrived, helping save the club from going into administration.
*
Chris Sutton, Football player (striker); joint top scorer for the Premier League in 1997/8; formerly the record English transfer (at £5 million from Norwich to Blackburn in 1994).
*
Tim Westwood, BBC Radio 1 Rap DJ and presenter of popular MTV show "Pimp My Ride (UK)". Grew up in and around Norwich (his father was the bishop of Peterborough, in the neighbouring county of
Cambridgeshire) and went to the Norwich School.
Norwich is considered to have a wealth of historical architecture. The medieval period is represented by the 11th-century
Norwich Cathedral, 12th-century
castle (now a museum) and a large number of
parish churches. During the Middle Ages, 57 churches stood within the city wall; 31 still exist today.
This gave rise to the common (in the city) saying that it had a church for every week of the year, and a pub for every day. Most of the medieval building is in the city centre. From the
18th century the pre-eminent local name is
Thomas Ivory, who built the Assembly Rooms (1776), the Octagon Chapel (1756), St Helen's House (1752) in the grounds of the
Great Hospital, and innovative speculative housing in Surrey Street (c. 1761). Ivory should not be confused with the Irish architect of the same name and similar period.
The 19th century saw an explosion in Norwich's size and much of its housing stock, as well as commercial building in the city centre, dates from this period. The local architect of the
Victorian and
Edwardian periods who has continued to command most critical respect was
George Skipper (1856-1948). Examples of his work include the headquarters of
Norwich Union on Surrey Street; the
Art Nouveau Royal Arcade; and the Hotel de Paris in the nearby seaside town of
Cromer. The
neo-Gothic Roman Catholic
cathedral on
Earlham Road, begun in 1882, is by
George Gilbert Scott Junior and his brother,
John Oldrid Scott.
The city continued to grow through the 20th century and much housing, particularly in areas further out from the city centre, dates from that century. The first notable building post-Skipper was the city hall by CH James and SR Pierce, opened in 1938. Bombing during the
Second World War, while resulting in relatively little loss of life, caused significant damage to housing stock in the city centre. Much of the replacement postwar stock was designed by the local authority architect,
David Percival. However, the major postwar development in Norwich from an architectural point of view was the opening of the
University of East Anglia in 1964. Originally designed by
Denys Lasdun (his design was never completely executed), it has been added to over subsequent decades by major names such as
Norman Foster and
Rick Mather.
The city is twinned with the following cities:
*
Rouen,
France*
Koblenz,
Germany*
Novi Sad,
Serbia*
El Viejo,
NicaraguaOfficial
*
Norwich City Council*
Visit Norwich - Official visitor guide
History
*
Norwich The Old City*
Norwich Cathedral and History of the See (King's Handbook, 1862)
Tourism and pictures
*
Norwich - A guided tour in pictures.
*
Photographs of old Norwich - Photographs of Norwich from the 1930's to the 1950's.
