112-586: Hethel Old Thorn is a 0.025-hectare (0.062-acre) nature reserve south-west of Norwich in Norfolk . It is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust . This is the smallest wildlife trust nature reserve in Britain, consisting of one ancient hawthorn tree, which may date to the thirteenth century. In 1755 its girth was recorded as 9 feet 1 inch, and it has now decayed to a much smaller size, but it
224-557: A German army in 974. Sweyn built an alliance with Swedish king Olof Skötkonung and Eirik Hákonarson , Jarl of Lade , against Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason . The Kings' sagas ascribe the causes of the alliance to Olaf Tryggvason's ill-fated marriage proposal to Sigrid the Haughty and his problematic marriage to Thyri , sister of Sweyn Forkbeard. According to the sagas, Sigrid pushed Sweyn into war with Olaf because Olaf had slapped her. The allies attacked and defeated king Olaf in
336-595: A backlash against Christianity which undid much of Olaf Tryggvason 's missionary work. Sweyn apparently recruited priests and bishops from England, in preference to the Archbishopric of Bremen . In part, this reflected the fact that there were numerous Christian priests of Danish origin in the Danelaw , while Sweyn had few personal connections to Germany. Sweyn's preference for the English church may also have had
448-422: A collegial dialogue, seeking common ground and reinforcing the well-mannered civic tradition of earlier periods. In 1797 Thomas Bignold , a 36-year-old wine merchant and banker founded the first Norwich Union Society . Some years earlier, when he moved from Kent to Norwich, Bignold had been unable to find anyone willing to insure him against the threat from highwaymen. With the entrepreneurial thought that nothing
560-688: A combined 26-year period (1016–1042). After Harthacnut's death, the English throne reverted to the House of Wessex under Æthelred's younger son Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042–1066). Sweyn's daughter, Estrid Svendsdatter , was the mother of King Sweyn II of Denmark . Her descendants continue to reign in Denmark to this day. The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg and the Encomium Emmae report Cnut's mother as having been Świętosława ,
672-674: A daughter of Mieszko I of Poland . Norse sources of the High Middle Ages , most prominently Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson , also give a Polish princess as Cnut's mother, whom they call Gunhild and a daughter of Burislav , the king of Vindland . Since in the Norse sagas the king of Vindland is always Burislav, this is reconcilable with the assumption that her father was Mieszko (not his son Bolesław ). Adam of Bremen in Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum
784-437: A fly-over and a Brutalist concrete shopping centre – Anglia Square – as well as office blocks such as an HMSO building, Sovereign House. Other areas affected were Grapes Hill, a once narrow lane lined with 19th-century Georgian cottages, which was cleared and widened into a dual carriageway leading to a roundabout. Shortly before construction of the roundabout, the city's old Drill Hall was demolished, along with sections of
896-472: A great body, went through several parts of this city, in a riotous manner, cursing and abusing such as they knew to be friends of the government." However the Whigs gradually gained control and by the 1720s they had successfully petitioned Parliament to allow all adult males working in the textile industry to take up the freedom, on the correct assumption that they would vote Whig. But it had the effect of boosting
1008-825: A large Victorian manor house off Old Palace Road was also demolished in 1963, to build Dolphin Grove flats, which housed many Norwich families displaced by slum clearance . Other housing developments in the private and public sector took place after the Second World War, partly to accommodate the growing population of the city and to replace condemned and bomb-damaged areas, such as the Heigham Grove district between Barn Road and Old Palace Road, where some 200 terraced houses, shops and pubs were all flattened. Only St Barnabas church and one public house, The West End Retreat, now remain. Another central street bulldozed during
1120-633: A movement towards religious reform and radical politics in the city. By contrast, after being persecuted by the Anglican church for his Puritan beliefs, Michael Metcalf , a 17th-century Norwich weaver, fled the city and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts . The Norwich Canary was first introduced into England by Flemings fleeing from Spanish persecution in the 16th century. Along with their advanced techniques in textile working, they brought pet canaries, which they began to breed locally, eventually becoming in
1232-494: A political continuum of three centuries. The first is a dichotomous power balance. From at least the time of the Reformation, Norwich was recorded as a "two-party city". In the mid-16th century, the weaving parishes fell under the control of opposition forces, as Kett's rebels held the north of the river, in support of poor clothworkers. Indeed there seems to be a case for saying that with this tradition of two-sided disputation,
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#17327867321051344-666: A political motive, because German bishops were an integral part of the state. It has been suggested that Sweyn was seeking to pre-empt any diminution of his independence by German leaders. This may have been a reason for Adam of Bremen's apparent hostility in his accounts of Sweyn; by accentuating English ecclesiastical influence in his kingdom, Sweyn was effectively spurning the Archbishop of Bremen. The " Chronicle of John of Wallingford " (c. 1225–1250) records Sweyn's involvement in raids against England during 1002–1005, 1006–1007 and 1009–1012. According to Ashley (1998), Sweyn's invasion
1456-535: A powerful Anglican establishment, symbolised by the Cathedral and the great church of St Peter Mancroft was matched by scarcely less powerful congeries of Dissenters headed by the wealthy literate body [of Unitarians] worshipping at the Octagon Chapel . In the middle of political disorders of the late 18th century, Norwich intellectual life flourished. Harriet Martineau wrote of the city's literati of
1568-530: A rebellious pagan who persecuted Christians, betrayed his father and expelled German bishops from Scania and Zealand . According to Adam, Sweyn was sent into exile by his father's German friends and deposed in favour of king Eric the Victorious of Sweden, whom Adam wrote ruled Denmark until his death in 994 or 995. Sørensen (2001) argues that Adam's depiction of Sweyn may be overly negative, as seen through an "unsympathetic and intolerant eye". Adam's account
1680-566: A sophisticated system of poor relief , and a large influx of foreign refugees. Despite severe outbreaks of plague, the city had a population of almost 30,000. This made Norwich unique in England, although there were some 50 cities of similar size in Europe. In some, like Lyon and Dresden , this was, as in the case of Norwich, linked to an important proto-industry, such as textiles or china pottery, in some, such as Vienna , Madrid and Dublin , to
1792-554: A station in the shutter telegraph chain that connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth . A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Britannia Barracks in 1897. The Bethel Street and Cattle Market Street drill halls were built around the same time. In the early 20th century, Norwich still had several major manufacturing industries. Among them were
1904-544: A substantial Flemish and Walloon community of Protestant weavers to Norwich, where they are said to have been made welcome. The merchant's house which was their earliest base in the city — now a museum — is still known as Strangers' Hall . It seems that the strangers integrated into the local community without much animosity, at least among the business fraternity, who had the most to gain from their skills. Their arrival in Norwich boosted trade with mainland Europe and fostered
2016-684: A thriving centre for trade and commerce in East Anglia in 1004 when it was raided and burnt by Swein Forkbeard , the Viking king of Denmark. Mercian coins and shards of pottery from the Rhineland dating from the 8th century suggest that long-distance trade was happening long before this. Between 924 and 939, Norwich became fully established as a town, with its own mint. The word Norvic appears on coins across Europe minted during this period, in
2128-402: A town in the 10th century and then became a prominent centre of East Anglian trade and commerce. It is possible that three separate early Anglo-Saxon settlements, one north of the river and two either side on the south, joined as they grew; or that a single Anglo-Saxon settlement, north of the river, emerged in the mid-7th century after the abandonment of the previous three. The ancient city was
2240-879: Is now a multi-storey car park, the Grosvenor Rooms and Electric Theatre in Prince of Wales Road) The Norwich Corn Exchange in Exchange Street (built 1861, demolished 1964), the Free Library in Duke Street (built 1857, demolished 1963) and the Great Eastern Hotel, which faced Norwich Station. Two large churches, the Chapel Field East Congregational church (built 1858, demolished 1972) was pulled down, as well as
2352-566: Is still healthy. 52°33′32″N 1°12′04″E / 52.559°N 1.201°E / 52.559; 1.201 Norwich Norwich ( / ˈ n ɒr ɪ dʒ , - ɪ tʃ / ) is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk , England, of which it is the county town . It lies by the River Wensum , about 100 mi (160 km) north-east of London, 40 mi (64 km) north of Ipswich and 65 mi (105 km) east of Peterborough . The population of
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#17327867321052464-650: Is supposed to represent Norwich Castle and the lion, taken from the Royal Arms of England , may have been granted by King Edward III . In the English Civil War , across the Eastern Counties, Oliver Cromwell 's powerful Eastern Association was eventually dominant. However, to begin with, there had been a large element of Royalist sympathy within Norwich, which seems to have experienced a continuity of its two-sided political tradition throughout
2576-488: Is thus not seen as entirely reliable; the claimed 14 years' exile of Sweyn to Scotland does not seem to agree with Sweyn's building churches in Denmark throughout the same period, including the churches in Lund and Roskilde . According to Adam, Sweyn was punished by God for leading the uprising which led to king Harald's death, and had to spend fourteen years abroad (i.e. 986–1000). The historicity of this exile, or its duration,
2688-577: Is uncertain. Adam writes that Sweyn was shunned by all those with whom he sought refuge, but was finally allowed to live for a while in Scotland. Adam also suggests that Sweyn in his youth lived among heathens, and only achieved success as a ruler after accepting Christianity. Harald Bluetooth had already established a foothold in Norway, controlling Viken in c. 970 . He may have lost control over his Norwegian claims following his defeat against
2800-400: Is unique in equating Cnut's mother (for whom he also produced no name) with the former queen of Sweden , wife of Eric the Victorious and by this marriage mother of Olof Skötkonung . To complicate the matter, Heimskringla and other sagas also have Sweyn marrying Eric's widow, but she is distinctly another person in these texts, named Sigrid the Haughty , whom Sweyn married only after Gunhild,
2912-540: Is unknown. Some theorise that he was killed, whereas other sources say he died after falling off a horse. His embalmed body was returned to Denmark for burial in the church he had built. Tradition locates this church in Roskilde , but it is more plausible that it was actually located in Lund in Scania (now part of Sweden). Sweyn's elder son, Harald II , succeeded him as King of Denmark, while his younger son, Cnut ,
3024-512: The Encomium Emmae Reginae , an 11th-century Latin encomium in honour of his son king Cnut's queen Emma of Normandy , along with Chronicon ex chronicis by Florence of Worcester , another 11th-century author. According to Adam of Bremen , Sweyn was the son of Harald Bluetooth and a woman named "Gunhild". When Harald converted to Christianity, Sweyn was baptised "Otto" (in honour of German king Otto I ). Sweyn married
3136-603: The Norwich Post , appeared in 1701. By 1726 there were rival Whig and Tory presses, and as early as mid-century, three-quarters of the males in some parishes were literate. The Norwich municipal library claims an excellent collection of these newspapers, also a folio collection of scrapbooks on 18th-century Norwich politics, which Knights says are "valuable and important". Norwich alehouses had 281 clubs and societies meeting in them in 1701, and at least 138 more were formed before 1758. The Theatre Royal opened in 1758, alongside
3248-526: The Art Nouveau of the 1899 Royal Arcade ; many medieval lanes; and the winding River Wensum that flows through the city centre towards Norwich Castle . In May 2012, Norwich was designated England's first UNESCO City of Literature . One of the UK's popular tourist destinations, it was voted by The Guardian in 2016 as the "happiest city to work in the UK" and in 2013 as one of the best small cities in
3360-634: The Humber 's mouth, and so upward along the Trent till he came to Gainsborough . Earl Uchtred and all Northumbria quickly bowed to him, as did all the people of the Kingdom of Lindsey , then the people of the Five Boroughs . He was given hostages from each shire . When he understood that all the people had submitted to him, he bade that his force should be provisioned and horsed; he went south with
3472-519: The Norwich City Council local authority area was estimated to be 144,000 in 2021, which was an increase from 143,135 in 2019. The wider built-up area had a population of 213,166 in 2019. As the seat of the See of Norwich, the city has one of the country's largest medieval cathedrals. For much of the second millennium, from medieval to just before industrial times, Norwich was one of
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3584-533: The Roman capital of East Anglia named Venta Icenorum , literally "marketplace of the Iceni". This fell into disuse about 450 CE. The Anglo-Saxons settled the site of the modern city some time between the 5th and 7th centuries, founding the towns of Northwic ("North Farm"), from which Norwich takes its name, and Westwic (at Norwich-over-the-Water ) and a lesser settlement at Thorpe. Norwich became settled as
3696-464: The city walls were built. At around 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi (4.0 km), these walls, along with the river, enclosed a larger area than that of the City of London . However, when the city walls were constructed it was made illegal to build outside them, inhibiting the expansion of the city. Part of these walls remains standing today. Around this time, the city was made a county corporate and became
3808-478: The 100-foot (30 m) tall Presbyterian church in Theatre Street, built in 1874 and designed by local architect Edward Boardman . It has been said that more of Norwich's architecture was destroyed by the council in post-war redevelopment schemes than during the Second World War. In 1976 the city's pioneering spirit was on show when Motum Road in Norwich, allegedly the scene of "a number of accidents over
3920-608: The 1960s was St Stephens Street. It was widened, clearing away many historically significant buildings in the process, firstly for Norwich Union's new office blocks and shortly after with new buildings, after it suffered damage during the Baedeker raids. In Surrey Street, several grand six-storey Georgian townhouses were demolished to make way for Norwich Union's office. Other notable buildings that were lost were three theatres (the Norwich Hippodrome on St Giles Street, which
4032-441: The 20th century a mascot of the city and the emblem of its football club, Norwich City F.C. : "The Canaries". Printing was introduced to the city in 1567 by Anthony de Solempne, one of the strangers, but it did not take root and had died out by about 1572. Norwich's coat of arms was first recorded in 1562. It is described as: Gules a Castle triple-towered and domed Argent in base a Lion passant guardant [or Leopard] Or. The castle
4144-561: The Cathedral was limestone, imported from Caen in Normandy. To transport the building stone to the site, a canal was cut from the river (from the site of present-day Pulls Ferry) up to the east wall. Herbert de Losinga then moved his See there, to what became the cathedral church for the Diocese of Norwich . The Bishop of Norwich still signs himself Norvic . Norwich received a royal charter from Henry II in 1158, and another from Richard
4256-687: The Catholics and eventually numbering as many as one-third of the city's population. Large numbers of such exiles came to the city, especially Flemish Protestants from the Westkwartier ("Western Quarter"), a region in the Southern Netherlands where the first Calvinist fires of the Dutch Revolt had spread. Inhabitants of Ypres , in particular, chose Norwich above other destinations. Perhaps in response to Kett, Norwich became
4368-557: The Danes gained permission to sell their spoils of war in Normandy. Sweyn campaigned in Wessex and East Anglia in 1003–1004, but a famine forced him to return to Denmark in 1005. Further raids took place in 1006–1007, and in 1009–1012 Thorkell the Tall led a Viking invasion into England. Simon Keynes regards it as uncertain whether Sweyn supported these invasions, but "whatever the case, he
4480-560: The Lionheart in 1194. After a riot in the city in 1274, Norwich has the distinction of being the only complete English city to be excommunicated by the Pope. The first recorded presence of Jews in Norwich is 1134. In 1144, the Jews of Norwich were falsely accused of ritual murder after a boy ( William of Norwich ) was found dead with stab wounds. William acquired the status of martyr and
4592-489: The Ministers unless they changed their policy, deserved to have their heads brought to the block; – and if there was a people still in England, the event might turn out to be so." Hayes says that "the outbreak of war, in bringing the worsted manufacture almost to a standstill and so plunging the mass of the Norwich weavers into sudden distress made it almost inevitable that a crude appeal to working-class resentment should take
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4704-467: The Slavic princess who bore Cnut, had died. Different theories regarding the number and ancestry of Sweyn's wives (or wife) have been advanced (see Sigrid the Haughty and Gunhild ). But since Adam is the only source to equate the identity of Cnut's and Olof Skötkonung's mother, this is often seen as an error on Adam's part, and it is often assumed that Sweyn had two wives, the first being Cnut's mother, and
4816-525: The Swedish part consisted of Oppland and a part of Trondheim). He gave these to his son in law, Jarl Svein Hákonarson , to hold as a vassal. The rest of Norway was ruled by Eirik Hákonarson as King Svein's vassal. The Jarls Eirik and Svein proved strong, competent rulers, and their reign was prosperous. Most sources say that they adopted Christianity but allowed the people religious freedom, leading to
4928-747: The Tall , a Viking leader who had defected to Æthelred, personally held their ground against him in London itself. Sweyn then went west to Bath , where the western thanes submitted to him and gave hostages. The Londoners then followed suit, fearing Sweyn's revenge if they resisted any longer. King Æthelred sent his sons Edward and Alfred to Normandy, and himself spent Christmas on the Isle of Wight , and then followed them into exile. Based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire , Sweyn began to organise his vast new kingdom, but he died there on 3 February 1014, having ruled England for only five weeks. Sweyn's cause of death
5040-481: The Tudor period, it appears to have been Protestant in nature. For several weeks, rebels led by Robert Kett camped outside Norwich on Mousehold Heath and took control of the city on 29 July 1549 with the support of many of its poorer inhabitants. Kett's Rebellion was particularly in response to the enclosure of land by landlords, leaving peasants with nowhere to graze their animals, and the general abuses of power by
5152-611: The allegiance of Eric , Earl of Lade , Sweyn ruled most of Norway . In 1013, shortly before his death, he became the first Danish king of the English after a long effort. Historiographical sources on Sweyn's life include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (where his name is rendered as Swegen ), Adam of Bremen 's 11th-century Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg , and Snorri Sturluson 's 13th-century Heimskringla . Conflicting accounts of Sweyn's later life also appear in
5264-414: The city council revealed what it had been working on before the war. It was published as a book – The City of Norwich Plan 1945 or commonly known as "The '45 Plan" – a grandiose scheme of massive redevelopment which never properly materialised. However, throughout the 1960s to early 1970, the city was completely altered and large areas of Norwich were cleared to make way for modern redevelopment. In 1960,
5376-436: The city had steadily developed an infrastructure, evident in its many cultural and institutional networks of politics, religion, society, news media and the arts, whereby argument could be managed short of outright confrontation. Indeed, at a time of hunger and tension on the Norwich streets, with alehouse crowds ready to have "a Minister's head brought to the block", the Anglican and Dissenting clergy exerted themselves to conduct
5488-489: The city's popular Jacobitism , says Knights, and contests of the kind described continued in Norwich well into a period in which political stability had been discerned at a national level. The city's Jacobitism perhaps only ended with 1745, well after it had ceased to be a significant movement outside Scotland. Despite the Highlanders reaching Derby and Norwich citizens mustering themselves into an association to protect
5600-428: The city's stage productions in inns and puppet shows in rowdy alehouses. In 1750 Norwich could boast nine booksellers and after 1780 a "growing number of circulating and subscription libraries". Knights 2004 says: "[All this] made for a lively political culture, in which independence from governmental lines was particularly strong, evident in campaigns against the war with America and for reform... in which trade and
5712-549: The city's status as an administrative capital, and in some such as Antwerp , Marseilles and Cologne to a position on an important maritime or river trade route. In 1716, at a play at the New Inn , the Pretender was cheered and the audience booed and hissed every time King George 's name was mentioned. In 1722 supporters of the king were said to be "hiss'd at and curst as they go in the streets," and in 1731 "a Tory mobb, in
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#17327867321055824-470: The city, some Tories refused to join in, and the vestry of St Peter Mancroft resolved that it would not ring its bells to summon the defence. Still, it was the end of the road for Norwich Jacobites, and the Whigs organised a notable celebration after the Battle of Culloden . The events of this period illustrate how Norwich had a strong tradition of popular protest favouring Church and Stuarts and attached to
5936-595: The construction of many fine churches, so that Norwich still has more medieval churches than any other city in Western Europe north of the Alps . Throughout this period Norwich established wide-ranging trading links with other parts of Europe, its markets stretching from Scandinavia to Spain and the city housing a Hanseatic warehouse. To organise and control its exports to the Low Countries , Great Yarmouth, as
6048-422: The disorder and violence that was such a common feature of Norwich election campaigns, it was only by the narrowest margin that the radical Bartlett Gurney ("Peace and Gurney – No More War – No more Barley Bread") failed to unseat him. Though informed by issues of recent national importance, the bipartisan political culture of Norwich in the 1790s cannot be divorced from local tradition. Two features stand out from
6160-492: The electrical engineers Laurence Scott and Electromotors. Norwich also has a long association with chocolate making, mainly through the local firm of Caley's, which began as a manufacturer and bottler of mineral water and later diversified into chocolate and Christmas crackers . The Caley's cracker-manufacturing business was taken over by Tom Smith in 1953, and the Norwich factory in Salhouse Road closed in 1998. Caley's
6272-837: The experimental devices would be removed not more than one year after installation. From 1980 to 1985 the city became a frequent focus of national media due to squatting in Argyle Street , a Victorian street that was demolished in 1986, despite being the last street to survive the Richmond Hill redevelopment. On 23 November 1981, a minor F0/T1 tornado struck Norwich as part of a record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak, causing minor damage in Norwich city centre and surrounding suburbs. Sweyn I of Denmark Sweyn Forkbeard ( Old Norse : Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg [ˈswɛinː ˈhɑrˌɑldsˌson ˈtjuːɣoˌskeɡː] ; Danish : Svend Tveskæg ; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014)
6384-414: The first provincial city to initiate compulsory payments for a civic scheme of poor relief, which it has been claimed led to its wider introduction, forming the basis of the later Elizabethan Poor Law of 1597–1598. Norwich has traditionally been the home of various minorities, notably Flemish and Belgian Walloon communities in the 16th and 17th centuries. The great "stranger" immigration of 1567 brought
6496-503: The ground for construction of a Norwich shopping centre. The remains were determined by forensic scientists to be most probably the remains of such murdered Jews, and a DNA expert determined that the victims were all related so that they probably came from one Ashkenazi Jewish family. The study of the remains featured in an episode of the BBC television documentary series History Cold Case . A research paper from 30 August 2022 confirmed
6608-576: The imminent destruction of Norwich's new City Hall (completed in 1938), although in the event it survived unscathed. Significant targets hit included the Morgan's Brewery building, Colman's Wincarnis works, City Station , the Mackintosh chocolate factory, and shopping areas including St Stephen's St and St Benedict's St, the site of Bond's department store (now John Lewis ) and Curl's (later Debenhams) department store. 229 citizens were killed in
6720-449: The impact of war with Revolutionary France were key ingredients. The open and contestable structure of local government, the press, the clubs and societies, and dissent all ensured that politics overlapped with communities bound by economics, religion, ideology and print in a world in which public opinion could not be ignored." Amid this metropolitan culture, the city burghers had built a sophisticated political structure. Freemen, who had
6832-586: The inner-city district of Richmond, between Ber Street and King Street, locally known as "the Village on the Hill", was condemned as slums and many residents were forced to leave by compulsory purchase orders on the old terraces and lanes. The whole borough demolished consisted of some 56 acres of existing streets, including 833 dwellings (612 classed as unfit for human habitation), 42 shops, four offices, 22 public houses and two schools. Communities were moved to high-rise buildings such as Normandie Tower and new housing estates such as Tuckswood, which were being built at
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#17327867321056944-426: The landlord of Fowler's alehouse "with a glass of beer in hand, went down on his knees and drank a health to James the third, wishing the Crowne [sic] well and settled on his head." Writing of the early 18th century, Pound describes the city's rich cultural life, the winter theatre season, the festivities accompanying the summer assizes, and other popular entertainments. Norwich was the wealthiest town in England, with
7056-496: The large-scale and bespoke manufacture of shoes (for example the Start-rite and Van Dal brands, Bowhill & Elliott and Cheney & Sons Ltd respectively), clothing, joinery (including the cabinet makers and furniture retailer Arthur Brett and Sons , which continues in business in the 21st century), structural engineering, and aircraft design and manufacture. Notable employers included Boulton & Paul , Barnards (iron founders and inventors of machine-produced wire netting ), and
7168-407: The late 17th century was riven politically. Churchman Humphrey Prideaux described "two factions, Whig and Tory , and both contend for their way with the utmost violence." Nor did the city accept the outcome of the 1688 Glorious Revolution with a unified voice. The pre-eminent citizen, Bishop William Lloyd, would not take the oaths of allegiance to the new monarchs. One report has it that in 1704
7280-417: The loss of continental markets after Britain went to war with France in 1793. The early 19th century saw de-industrialisation accompanied by bitter squabbles. The 1820s were marked by wage cuts and personal recrimination against owners. So amid the rich commercial and cultural heritage of its recent past, Norwich suffered in the 1790s from incipient decline exacerbated by a serious trade recession. As early in
7392-418: The main part of the invasion force, while some of the invasion force, as well as the hostages, were with his son Cnut. After he came over Watling Street , they went to Oxford , and the town-dwellers soon bowed to him, and gave hostages. From there they went to Winchester , and the people did the same, then eastward to London . But the Londoners put up a strong resistance, because King Æthelred and Thorkell
7504-433: The most prosperous and largest towns of England; at one point, it was second only to London. Today, it is the largest settlement in East Anglia . Norwich claims to be the most complete medieval city in the United Kingdom. It includes cobbled streets such as Elm Hill , Timber Hill and Tombland; ancient buildings such as St Andrew's Hall ; half-timbered houses such as Dragon Hall , The Guildhall and Strangers' Hall ;
7616-421: The new City Library in 1961. This burnt down on 1 August 1994 and was replaced in 2001 by The Forum . A controversial plan was implemented for Norwich's inner ring-road in the late 1960s. In 1931, the city architect Robert Atkinson, referring to the City Wall, remarked that "in almost every position are slum dwellings put up during the last 50 years. It would be a great adventure to clear them all out and open up
7728-434: The nobility. The uprising ended on 27 August when the rebels were defeated by an army. Kett was convicted of treason and hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle. Unusually in England, the rebellion divided the city and appears to have linked Protestantism with the plight of the urban poor. In the case of Norwich, this process was underscored later by the arrival of Dutch and Flemish " Strangers " fleeing persecution from
7840-449: The number had dropped to 441 pubs within the City Walls. The title of a pub for every day of the year survived until 1966, when the Chief Constable informed the Licensing Justices that only 355 licences were still operative, with the number still shrinking: over 25 had closed in the last decade. In 2018, about 100 pubs remained open around the city centre. Norwich suffered extensive bomb damage during World War II , affecting large parts of
7952-454: The official publishing and stationery arm of the British government and one of the largest print buyers, printers and suppliers of office equipment in the UK, moved most of its operations from London to Norwich in the 1970s. It occupied the purpose-built 1968 Sovereign House building, near Anglia Square, which in 2017 stood empty and due for demolition if a long-postponed redevelopment of Anglia Square went ahead. Jarrolds , established in 1810,
8064-570: The old city centre and Victorian terrace housing around the centre. Industry and the rail infrastructure also suffered. The heaviest raids occurred on the nights of 27/28 and 29/30 April 1942; as part of the Baedeker raids (so-called because Baedeker's series of tourist guides to the British Isles were used to select propaganda-rich targets of cultural and historic significance rather than strategic importance). Lord Haw-Haw made reference to
8176-464: The original city wall and other large townhouses along the start of Unthank Road (named after the Unthank family, local landowners). The roundabout also required the north-west corner of Chapelfield Gardens to be demolished. About a mile of Georgian and Victorian terrace houses along Chapelfield Road and Queens Road, including many houses built into the city walls, was bulldozed in 1964. This included
8288-568: The period, including such people as William Taylor , one of England's first scholars of German. The city "boasted of her intellectual supper-parties, where, amidst a pedantry which would now make laughter hold both his sides, there was much that was pleasant and salutary: and finally she called herself The Athens of England ." Despite Norwich's longstanding industrial prosperity, by the 1790s its wool trade had begun facing intense competition, at first from Yorkshire woollens and then, increasingly, from Lancashire cotton. The effects were aggravated by
8400-406: The period. Bishop Matthew Wren was a forceful supporter of Charles I . Nonetheless, Parliamentary recruitment took hold. The strong Royalist party was stifled by a lack of commitment from the aldermen and isolation from Royalist-held regions. Serious inter-factional disturbances culminated in "The Great Blow" of 1648 when Parliamentary forces tried to quell a Royalist riot. The latter's gunpowder
8512-551: The place of a temperate process of education which the earliest reformers had intended." At this period opposition to Pitt 's government and their war came – in their case almost unanimously – from a circle of radical Dissenting intellectuals of interest in their own right. They included the Rigby, Taylor, Aitkin, Barbold, and Alderson families – all Unitarians - and some of the Quaker Gurneys (one of whose girls, Elizabeth ,
8624-465: The political centres where the Jacobin propaganda had penetrated most deeply only Norwich and Nottingham had a franchise deep enough to allow radicals to make use of the electoral process." "Apart from London, Norwich was probably still the largest of those boroughs which were democratically governed," says Jewson 1975 , describing other towns under the control of a single fiefdom . In Norwich, he says,
8736-441: The popularity of shawls declined and eventually manufacture ceased. Examples of Norwich shawls are now sought after by collectors of textiles. Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1845, when a railway link was established, it was often quicker to travel to Amsterdam by boat than to London. The railway was introduced to Norwich by Morton Peto , who also built a line to Great Yarmouth . From 1808 to 1814, Norwich had
8848-657: The port for Norwich, was designated one of the staple ports under the terms of the 1353 Statute of the Staple . Hand-in-hand with the wool industry, this key religious centre experienced a Reformation significantly different from that in other parts of England. The magistracy in Tudor Norwich unusually found ways of managing religious discord whilst maintaining civic harmony. The summer of 1549 saw an unprecedented rebellion in Norfolk. Unlike popular challenges elsewhere in
8960-500: The reign of King Athelstan . The Vikings were a strong cultural influence in Norwich for 40 to 50 years at the end of the 9th century, setting up an Anglo-Scandinavian district near the north 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 25 churches and a population of between 5,000 and 10,000. It also records
9072-519: The remains were most likely Ashkenazi Jews. The paper found that many of the victims had certain medical disorders most often seen in Ashkenazi communities, suggesting that a population bottleneck had occurred among Ashkenazim before the 12th century. This challenged traditional views among historians that the bottleneck had happened between the 14th and 16th centuries. In 1216, the castle fell to Louis, Dauphin of France, and Hildebrand's Hospital
9184-406: The right to trade and to vote at elections, numbered about 2,000 in 1690, rising to over 3,300 by the mid-1730s. With growth partly the result of political manipulation, their numbers did at one point reach one-third of the adult male population. This was notoriously the age of "rotten" and "pocket" boroughs and Norwich was unusual in having such a high proportion of its citizens able to vote. "Of
9296-475: The road following the wall which has always been a natural highway. Do this, and you will have a wonderful circulating boulevard all around the city and its cost would be comparatively nothing." To accommodate the road, many more buildings were demolished, including an ancient road junction – Stump Cross. Magdalen Street, Botolph Street, St George's Street, Calvert Street and notably Pitt Street, all lined with Tudor and Georgian buildings, were cleared to make way for
9408-533: The seat of one of the most densely populated and prosperous counties of England. The engine of trade was wool from Norfolk's sheepwalks . Wool made England rich, and the staple port of Norwich "in her state doth stand With towns of high'st regard the fourth of all the land", as Michael Drayton noted in Poly-Olbion (1612). The wealth generated by the wool trade throughout the Middle Ages financed
9520-465: The second half of the 20th century, notably Morgans, Steward & Patteson , Youngs Crawshay and Youngs, Bullard and Son, and the Norwich Brewery. Despite takeovers and consolidation in the 1950s and 1960s, only the Norwich Brewery (owned by Watney Mann and on the site of Morgans) remained by the 1970s. That too closed in 1985 and was then demolished. Only microbreweries remain today. It
9632-618: The site of an Anglo-Saxon church in Tombland, the site of the Saxon market place and the later Norman cathedral . Norwich continued to be a major centre for trade, described officially as the Port of Norwich . Quern stones and other artefacts from Scandinavia and the Rhineland have been found during excavations in Norwich city centre. These date from the 11th century onwards. Norwich Castle
9744-581: The street and alehouse. Knights tells how in 1716 the mayoral election had ended in a riot, with both sides throwing "brick-ends and great paving stones" at each other. A renowned Jacobite watering-hole, the Blue Bell Inn (nowadays The Bell Hotel ), owned in the early 18th century by the high-church Helwys family, became the central rendezvous of the Norwich Revolution Society in the 1790s. Britain's first provincial newspaper,
9856-758: The surrounding district off Vauxhall Street, consisting of swathes of terrace housing that were condemned as slums. This also included the whole West Pottergate district, which contained a mix of 18th and 19th-century cottages and terraced housing, pubs and shops. Post-war housing and maisonettes flats now stand where the Rookery slums once did. Some aspects of The '45 Plan were put into action, which saw large three-story Edwardian houses in Grove Avenue and Grove Road, and other large properties on Southwell Road, demolished in 1962 to make way for flat-roofed single-story style maisonettes that still stand today. Heigham Hall,
9968-401: The time. A new road, Rouen Road, was developed instead, consisting mainly of light industrial units and council flats. Ber Street , a once historic main road into the city, had its whole eastern side demolished. About this time, the final part of St Peters Street, opposite St Peter Mancroft Church, were demolished along with large Georgian townhouses at the top of Bethel Street, to make way for
10080-477: The two Baedeker raids with 1,000 others injured, and 340 by bombing throughout the war — giving Norwich the highest air raid casualties in Eastern England. Out of the 35,000 domestic dwellings in Norwich, 2,000 were destroyed, and another 27,000 suffered some damage. In 1945 the city was also the intended target of a brief V-2 rocket campaign, though all these missed the city itself. As the war ended,
10192-422: The war as 1793, a major city manufacturer and government supporter, Robert Harvey, complained of low order books, languid trade and doubling of the poor rate. Like many of their Norwich forebears, the hungry poor took their complaints onto the streets. Hayes describes a meeting of 200 people in a Norwich public house, where "Citizen Stanhope" spoke. The gathering "[roared its] applause at Stanhope's declaration that
10304-646: The western Baltic Sea when he was sailing home from an expedition, in the Battle of Svolder , fought in September 999 or 1000. The victors divided Norway among them. According to the account of the Heimskringla , Sweyn regained direct control of Viken district . King Olaf of Sweden received four districts in Trondheim as well as Møre , Romsdal and Rånrike (the Fagrskinna , by contrast, says that
10416-534: The widow of Erik, king of Sweden , named "Gunhild" in some sources, or identified as an unnamed sister of Boleslaus, ruler of Poland . Historian Ian Howard describes Sweyn as "a competent military commander, politician and diplomat" who made "a formidable and successful king." In the mid-980s, Sweyn revolted against his father and seized the throne. Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards in November 986 or 987. Adam of Bremen depicted Sweyn as
10528-582: The world by The Times Good University Guide . In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Norwich was voted one of the "Best Places To Live" in the UK by The Sunday Times . The capital of the Iceni tribe was a settlement located near to the village of Caistor St Edmund on the River Tas about 5 mi (8 km) to the south of modern Norwich. After an uprising led by Boudica in about 60 CE, the Caistor area became
10640-438: The years", became the third road in Britain to be equipped with sleeping policemen , intended to encourage adherence to the road's 30 mph (48 km/h) speed limit. The bumps, installed at intervals of 50 and 150 yards (46 and 137 m), stretched 12 feet (3.7 m) across the width of the road and their curved profile was, at its highest point, 4 in (10 cm) high. The responsible quango gave an assurance that
10752-519: Was King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1013/14. He was the father of King Harald II of Denmark , King Cnut the Great , and Queen Estrid Svendsdatter . In the mid-980s, Sweyn revolted against his father, Harald Bluetooth , and seized the throne. Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards in November 986 or 987. In 1000, with
10864-522: Was a nationally well-known printer and publisher. In 2004, after nearly 200 years, the printing and publishing businesses were sold. Today, the company remains privately owned and the Jarrold name is best recognised as being that of Norwich's only independent department store . The company is also active in property development in Norwich and has a business training division. The city had a long tradition of brewing. Several large breweries continued into
10976-399: Was a textile centre. In the 1780s the manufacture of Norwich shawls became an important industry and remained so for nearly a hundred years. The shawls were a high-quality fashion product and rivalled those of other towns such as Paisley , which had entered shawl manufacturing in about 1805, some 20 or more years after Norwich. With changes in women's fashion in the later Victorian period ,
11088-486: Was acquired by Mackintosh in the 1930s and merged with Rowntree's in 1969 to become Rowntree-Mackintosh. Finally, it was bought by Nestlé and closed in 1996, with all operations moving to York after a Norwich association of 120 years. The demolished factory stood where the Chapelfield development is now. Caley's chocolate has since reappeared as a brand in the city, though it is no longer made there. HMSO , once
11200-728: Was founded soon after the Norman Conquest. The Domesday Book records that 98 Saxon homes were demolished to make way for the castle. The Normans established a new focus of settlement around the Castle and the area to the west of it: this became known as the "New" or "French" borough, centred on the Normans' own market place, which survives today as Norwich Market, the largest permanent undercover market in Europe. In 1096, Herbert de Losinga , Bishop of Thetford , began construction of Norwich Cathedral . The chief building material for
11312-589: Was founded, followed ten years later by the Franciscan Friary and Dominican Friary. The Great Hospital dates from 1249 and the College of St Mary in the Field from 1250. In 1256, Whitefriars was founded. In 1266 the city was sacked by the "Disinherited". It has the distinction of being the only English city ever to be excommunicated, following a riot between citizens and monks in 1274. From 1280 to 1340
11424-581: Was impossible, and aware that in a city built largely of wood the threat of fire was uppermost in people's minds, Bignold formed the "Norwich Union Society for the Insurance of Houses, Stock and Merchandise from Fire". The new business, which became known as the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Office, was a "mutual" enterprise. Norwich Union would later become the country's largest insurance giant. From earliest times, Norwich
11536-438: Was later, under her married name of Fry, to become a noted campaigner for prison reform). Their activities included visits to revolutionary France (before the execution of Louis XVI ), the earliest British research into German literature, studies on medical science, petitioning for parliamentary reform, and publishing a highbrow literary magazine called "The Cabinet", in 1795. Their blend of politics, religion and social campaigning
11648-608: Was not just the Norwich rabble who were causing the government concern. In April of that year, the Norwich Patriotic Society was founded, its manifesto declaring "that the great end of civil society was general happiness; that every individual had a right to share in the government." In December the price of bread reached a new peak, and in May 1796, when William Windham was forced to seek re-election after his appointment as war secretary, he only just held his seat. Amid
11760-537: Was partly motivated by the St. Brice's Day Massacre in November 1002, where Danes in England were massacred under orders from Æthelred the Unready , in which Sweyn's sister and brother-in-law are said to have been killed, but Lund (2001) argues that the main motivation for the raids was more likely the prospect of revenue. At the outset of the invasions, Sweyn negotiated an agreement with Duke Richard II of Normandy whereby
11872-590: Was proclaimed King of England by the people of the Danelaw. However, the English nobility sent for Æthelred, who upon his return from exile in Normandy in early 1014 managed to drive Cnut out of England. Cnut soon returned and became king of all England in 1016, following the deaths of Æthelred and his son Edmund Ironside ; he succeeded his brother as King of Denmark in 1019 and eventually also ruled Norway, parts of Sweden, Pomerania and Schleswig . Cnut and his sons, Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut , ruled England over
11984-452: Was quick to exploit the disruption caused by the activities of Thorkell's army". Sweyn acquired massive sums of Danegeld through the raids. In 1013, he is reported to have personally led his forces in a full-scale invasion of England. The medieval Peterborough Chronicle (part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ) states: before the month of August came king Sweyn with his fleet to Sandwich . He went very quickly about East Anglia into
12096-478: Was seen by Pitt and Windham as suspicious, prompting Pitt to denounce Norwich as "the Jacobin city". Edmund Burke attacked John Gurney in print for sponsoring anti-war protests. In the 1790s, Norwich was second only to London as an active intellectual centre in England, and that it did not regain that level of prominence until the University of East Anglia was established in the late 20th century. By 1795, it
12208-586: Was set off by accident in the city centre, causing mayhem. According to Hopper, the explosion "ranks among the largest of the century". Stoutly defended though East Anglia was by the Parliamentary army, there were said to have been pubs in Norwich where the king's health was still drunk and the name of the Protector sung to ribald verse. At the cost of some discomfort to the Mayor, the moderate Joseph Hall
12320-407: Was stated by Walter Wicks in his book that Norwich once had "a pub for every day of the year and a church for every Sunday". This was in fact significantly under the actual amount: the highest number of pubs in the city was in the year 1870, with over 780 beer-houses. A "Drink Map" produced in 1892 by the Norwich and Norfolk Gospel Temperance Union showed 631 pubs in and around the city centre. By 1900,
12432-514: Was subsequently canonised . Pilgrims made offerings to a shrine at the Cathedral (largely finished by 1140) up to the 16th century, but the records suggest there were few of them. In 1174, Norwich was sacked by the Flemings . In February 1190, all the Jews of Norwich were massacred except for a few who found refuge in the castle. At the site of a medieval well, the bones of 17 individuals, including 11 children, were found in 2004 by workers preparing
12544-652: Was targeted because of his position as Bishop of Norwich. Norwich was marked in the period after the Restoration of 1660 and the ensuing century by a golden age of its cloth industry, comparable only to those in the West Country and Yorkshire, but unlike other cloth-manufacturing regions, Norwich weaving brought greater urbanisation, mainly concentrated in the surrounds of the city itself, creating an urban society, with features such as leisure time, alehouses and other public forums of debate and argument. Norwich in
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