154-637: The Norfolk Railway was an early railway company that controlled a network of 94 miles around Norwich , England. It was formed in 1845 by the amalgamation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway opened in 1844, and the Norwich and Brandon Railway , not yet opened. These lines were built out of frustration that the Eastern Counties Railway line that was expected to connect Norwich to London failed to be completed. The Norfolk Railway also leased
308-422: 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
462-937: A distinguished Royal Engineer officer. His daughter Margaret married railway inspector and MP Henry Whatley Tyler . Another son, George Malcolm Pasley (d.1861), served as an officer in the Royal Artillery (South Africa 1849-51 and Indian Mutiny) and as ADC to General Michel in the Turkish Contingent in the Crimean War. In 1826, as lecturer in architecture and engineering at the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham , he began research and experiments on artificial hydraulic cement , attempting to match or make an improvement over natural or "Roman" cement , invented by James Parker in 1796. In 1830, he succeeded and with chalk and Medway clay, produced
616-437: 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
770-458: A further access bridge. The issue was not resolved by the time the line opened, and at first arriving passengers were ferried across the River Bure. Cory objected to that, stating that he had the monopoly on ferry crossings as well, and the matter went to court. On 12 April 1844 the line was nearly complete and a special train was run over the line, conveying, among others, General Pasley of
924-472: 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
1078-522: A hydraulic lime equal to the natural "Roman" cement and similar to that produced by Joseph Aspdin in Wakefield. Among Pasley's works, besides the aforementioned, were separate editions of his Practical Geometry Method (1822) and of his Course of Elementary Fortification (1822), both of which formed part of his Military Instruction ; Rules for Escalading Fortifications not having Palisaded Covered Ways (1822; new eds. 1845 and 1854); descriptions of
1232-825: 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
1386-633: 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
1540-494: 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,
1694-535: 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
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#17327731897611848-442: A railway from London to Great Yarmouth by way of Ipswich and Norwich. At the time of authorisation this was a huge scheme: 126 miles of railway at a cost of £1.6 million, and it turned out that the project was considerably underestimated. The ECR only reached Colchester, and ran out of money, and for the time being the project finished there. The Northern and Eastern Railway had built a line from London to Bishop's Stortford, using
2002-566: 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
2156-554: 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
2310-544: 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
2464-664: A swing bridge over the River Wensum at Carrow was completed. Thus the first railway communication between London (Shoreditch) and Norwich (Trowse) had been brought to completion, though by way of Cambridge, and not the Colchester route for which the Eastern Counties had obtained its original powers in 1836. For eight months from the opening, the Norfolk Railway worked the train service to and from Ely, as
2618-684: 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
2772-483: A through connection to the other lines. The choice of Brandon must have been the result of private negotiations with some or all of the other railways that might join up there. In September 1843 a notice appeared in the press making this objective plain: Norwich and Brandon Railway : A prospectus has this week been issued for the formation of a railway, in extension of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway, commencing near
2926-402: 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
3080-879: 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
3234-583: 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
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#17327731897613388-603: 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
3542-526: 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
3696-489: The Board of Trade . There was a ceremonial opening on 30 April 1844, followed by the full public opening on 1 May 1844. There were seven passenger trains each way daily, four of which were non-stop trains completing the journey in 45 minutes; there were five intermediate stations. The Yarmouth terminus later became known as Yarmouth Vauxhall. For some time at the beginning, there were no goods or mineral trains; in fact this service
3850-645: The Great Eastern Railway Act 1862 ( 25 & 26 Vict. c. ccxxiii) of 7 August 1862, retrospectively effective from 1 July 1862. The GER owned two main lines between London and Norwich, and the Norwich to Yarmouth and Norwich to Lowestoft lines of the Norfolk Railway became branch lines of the GER; the same was true of the Dereham branch. The Acle line, forming a slightly shorter route between Yarmouth and Norwich, opened in 1883. In association with
4004-612: The Iberian Peninsula , where his knowledge of the Spanish language led to his employment on the staff of Sir David Baird and Sir John Moore . He took part in the retreat to Corunna and the Walcheren Expedition , and received a severe wound while gallantly leading a storming party at Flushing . During his tedious recovery, he employed himself in learning German . After discontinuing service, he devoted
4158-585: The Lowestoft Railway and Harbour Company , and built a branch to Dereham and Fakenham , opened in 1846 and 1849 respectively. It was successful in connecting Norwich to the emerging railway network, by connecting at Brandon with a line from London via Cambridge and also a line from the Midlands through Peterborough . However as a local line it was dependent on bigger partners, and it was threatened by new competing lines, so that its independence
4312-638: The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway , the GER built the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway between Lowestoft and Yarmouth. This formed a much shorter route, opening in 1903, but the line failed to develop as had been hoped. It closed in 1970. In 1923 the Great Eastern Railway was made a constituent of a new company, the London and North Eastern Railway , as part of a process determined by
4466-597: The North British Railway 's line from Edinburgh to Berwick in June 1846; the bridges and earthworks failed to withstand heavy rain in September 1846 and nineteen miles of track were rendered unusable. Temporary works were undertaken to restore a service, Pasley approved them (orally), but some of the new work then proved faulty. In November 1846, the inspectorate was reorganised, with no post for Pasley in
4620-519: 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
4774-760: The Railways Act 1921 , commonly referred to as "the grouping of the railways". In 1948 the LNER and other companies were taken into national ownership as part of British Railways. Most of the network of the Norfolk Railway continues in use; the Brandon to Norwich line lost much of the London traffic, which was later concentrated on the Ipswich route. However it gained from a much more frequent cross-country passenger service from Liverpool via Ely and Thetford, typically at hourly intervals. The original Yarmouth and Norwich line
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4928-533: 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
5082-600: The War Office adopted Pasley's views. He was placed at the head of the new School of Military Engineering at Woolwich in 1812. In 1816 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . Palsey developed a new form of pontoon bridge which was adopted in 1817 by the British Army. Each pontoon was split into two-halves and you could connect two pointed ends together in cases where you had tidal flow. Each half
5236-464: 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
5390-478: 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
5544-608: 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
5698-441: 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
5852-561: 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
6006-687: 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
6160-590: The Colchester to Norwich route, so the ECR went to Parliament for the necessary powers to build to Brandon, to meet the Norwich and Brandon Railway there; it got the Royal Assent for the project on 4 July 1844. The Yarmouth suspension bridge owned by Cory was the only fixed access from the railway station to the town, crossing the Bure, and the railway company had been unable to secure powers to by-pass it. On 2 May 1845
6314-563: The Dereham and Fakenham branch closed to passengers in the 1960s, the majority of this line remains open as the Mid-Norfolk Railway . The merchants of Norwich had been gratified when the Eastern Counties Railway got its authorising act of Parliament, the Eastern Counties Railway Act 1836 ( 6 & 7 Will. 4 . c. cvi), to build a line from London to their city and on to Great Yarmouth. The capital for
Norfolk Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
6468-647: The ECR London terminus. It had originally intended to build a line from London to York by way of Cambridge, but that too proved to be unachievable, and its authorised route was cut back to reaching from London to Newport, Essex. The ECR worked the trains on the N&;ER, which was also seriously short of money. On 1 January 1844 the Eastern Counties Railway secured a 999-year lease of the N&ER. The N&ER had only reached Bishop's Stortford, but at
6622-421: The Eastern Counties Railway was unable, as yet, to service this section. The company found itself short of locomotives to work its network, and twenty additional engines were ordered. The Carrow (or Trowse) swing bridge was later completed on 15 December 1845 and the line fully opened into Thorpe Junction, where it met the Yarmouth and Norwich line and gained access to the Norwich station (named Norwich Thorpe from
6776-560: 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
6930-489: 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
7084-482: The Norfolk Railway ceased to operate trains on its lines, which became simply branches of the Eastern Counties Railway. However an amalgamation bill failed in Parliament in the 1849 session. Although the Norfolk Railway now had only financial matters to concern it, these proved extremely troublesome due to haphazard financial control and accounting during its active lifetime. The Eastern Counties Railway now operated
7238-516: The Norfolk Railway staff and substituted its own. Gordon says that the ECR "took the Norfolk on lease, so saving it from financial 'perdition'". This required the approval of Parliament, and the companies had agreed that if Parliament refused to sanction the takeover, then in May 1855, the Norfolk Railway should have the option of repurchasing its rolling stock at the same price as the ECR paid in 1848; in
7392-553: The Norfolk Railway, which reduced NR activity to simply being an owner of the line but not having any hand in its operation. The ECR gained similar control of other railways in East Anglia, and at length amalgamation was proposed. In 1862 the ECR, the Norfolk Railway, the Eastern Union Railway and the East Anglian Railway amalgamated, forming a new company, the Great Eastern Railway. This was ratified by
7546-502: The Norwich and Brandon Railway and those of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway saw that their companies had shared interests, and an amalgamation was proposed. This was agreed to, and a combined company, known as the Norfolk Railway was incorporated by act of Parliament on 30 June 1845. The Norfolk Railway had a route mileage of 58. The line from Bishop's Stortford to Norwich was opened ceremonially on 29 July 1845. It consisted of
7700-481: 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
7854-410: The Valley Line. It would cost a little under £200,000 including land acquisition and rolling stock. The project went to the 1842 session of Parliament, and in the face of Eastern Counties Railway opposition, the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway Act 1842 ( 5 & 6 Vict. c. lxxxii) passed on 18 June 1842. George Stephenson was the chairman of the company and Robert Stephenson the engineer. Share capital
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#17327731897618008-448: The Yarmouth and Norwich Railway had gone through smoothly, and thoughts in Norwich turned to connecting the city to the emerging railway network. Much of the September 1843 shareholders' meeting of the Yarmouth and Norwich company was taken up with discussion of possible extensions. Samuel Morton Peto said that if they built a line to Brandon, 40 miles to the west, then the existing railways would compete to join it at Brandon, so completing
8162-438: The bridge collapsed under a crowd of people, and more than a hundred drowned: The scene of this dreadful event was the Suspension-bridge, on the North Quay, crossing the river Bure, and which has been the entrance to the town from the railway and the new road from Acle. Cooke's Equestrian Company has for some time been staying in the town, and on the morning of this fatal day it was announced by public handbills that Nelson, one of
8316-414: 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,
8470-436: 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
8624-429: 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
8778-428: 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
8932-438: 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
9086-418: 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
9240-422: The clowns, would sail up the River Bure... in a common washing tub, drawn by four "real geese," elegantly harnessed and caparisoned... The clown and his geese started from the Old Bridge in the presence of an immense concourse of persons, who had assembled on the banks of the river to witness the feat. On his arrival at the mouth of the Bure, a current took him towards Braydon whence he was obliged to be towed back to
9394-402: The colonies as a resource for soldiers and sailors it grew by an average of 100,000 square miles (260,000 km ) per year between the Battle of Waterloo and the American Civil War . Serving in the Royal Engineers in the Napoleonic Wars , he was Europe 's leading demolitions expert and siege warfare specialist. Pasley was born at Eskdale Muir, Dumfriesshire , on 8 September 1780. He
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#17327731897619548-429: The company's line was leased by the Norfolk Railway, in 1846. The lease gave the Norfolk Railway control of the Lowestoft company in perpetuity, for 4% on the Lowestoft capital of £120,000, dividing any additional profit between them. During 1845 a furious and controversial series of discussions took place in Norwich about a railway to Dereham and Fakenham, and the route it should take. A branch from Wymondham to Dereham
9702-419: 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
9856-429: The construction of this railway, it is anticipated, Norwich, Yarmouth, and the county of Norfolk, will be ultimately connected, not only with the metropolis but with the Midland and Northern counties, and the manufacturing districts, as, no doubt, extension lines, to connect it with the above-mentioned railways, would speedily be obtained by the respective companies, who have already expressed their desire to co-operate with
10010-496: The construction was £1.6 million, a huge amount at the time. The Eastern Counties Railway had grossly underestimated the cost of building its line, and it was running out of money. The people of Norwich were dismayed in April 1839, when the ECR announced that it would be unable to build any further than Colchester for the time being. Throughout the remainder of that year and in 1840, a number of schemes were put forward and discussed; there were alternative routes, but they all met with
10164-506: The cry of "Here come the geese." The shout resounded from side to side; but amidst was a shriek from the shores; the bridge was observed to give way; it lowered on one side; the chains snapped asunder, one after another in momentary succession, and almost before the gaze of the thronging multitude could be drawn from its object of worthless interest it was riveted to the half sunken bridge--suspended on one side by its unbroken chains—-cleared of all its occupants—-every one of whom were plunged into
10318-413: The date of the opening of Victoria station on 12 December 1849). The swing bridge was over a hundred feet long, with two equal opening spans of 44 feet, although only one was navigable. The best time for the journey from Norwich to London was four hours. The Norwich and Brandon Railway originally intended to serve Thetford by a branch, but during construction it became obvious that Thetford ought to be on
10472-422: 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
10626-429: 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
10780-622: 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. Charles Pasley General Sir Charles William Pasley KCB FRS (8 September 1780 – 19 April 1861)
10934-402: The final section of the N&ER between Bishop's Stortford and Newport (constructed by the N&ER but immediately adopted by the ECR), the ECR from Newport to Brandon, and the Norfolk Railway from Brandon to Trowse , all opened on the same day. Ordinary public traffic over the route began on 30 July 1845. The Trowse station was just outside Norwich: the final entry to the city was delayed while
11088-414: 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
11242-539: The geese were to be looked for was densely crammed with men, women, and children, and even the chains and suspenders had many occupants. This is the bridge which has been the cause of so much litigation between the Yarmouth Railway Company and Mr. Cory, its proprietor and which has, since the arrangement with the parties, become the principal, if not the only medium of transit to and from the railway terminus. In order to accommodate this increased traffic,
11396-503: 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
11550-576: 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
11704-449: 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
11858-692: 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
12012-479: 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
12166-554: 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
12320-407: 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
12474-453: The lifetime of the railway; station names in bold are still open. 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
12628-505: The line remained open for goods traffic until the 1980s. The section from Wymondham to North Elmham was retained as a dormant railway for some years, leading to its survival as the Mid-Norfolk Railway . This company aspires to restore the line as far as Fakenham, and owns the route to a point just beyond County School . A section of the route into Fakenham is owned by the Norfolk Orbital Railway . Location list during
12782-417: 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
12936-538: The main line and the line of route was modified. In doing so, it took a marked southward sweep to run through the town. Samuel Morton Peto purchased the Somerleyton Estate, near Lowestoft, in 1844 and on 28 September 1844 he promoted a public meeting at which he urged the construction of a railway from Lowestoft to Reedham, where it would have a triangular junction to join the Yarmouth and Norwich line. The harbour at Lowestoft, much used for its fishing fleet,
13090-413: The meantime the stock should be properly maintained. In 1849 Parliament ratified the working arrangement, but refused the amalgamation, so that the ECR was working the line only; it did however purchase the rolling stock, a process that was completed by mid-summer 1850. The Norfolk Railway system consisted of 94 miles of railway; it had 40 locomotives, and it had cost £2.3 million. Accordingly from May 1848
13244-489: The mode of signalling as simple as could well be devised. A lofty pole at the station platform was furnished with a circular creel or basket, painted red. If this was pulled to the top of the pole, the train was to stop. Semaphores and distant signals were unknown on the Line, but while this was the case with signals, the telegraphing of train progress was in advance of any system in vogue at that time on any other line, or indeed at
13398-556: 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 ;
13552-478: 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
13706-535: The new structure: on vacating this appointment, he was made a K.C.B. , and thenceforward was chiefly concerned with the East India Company 's military seminary at Addiscombe . He was promoted lieutenant-general in 1851, made colonel commandant of the Royal Engineers in 1853, and general in 1860. He died in London on 19 April 1861. His eldest son, Major-General Charles Pasley (1824–1890), was
13860-542: The new work was confined to building to Fakenham only. The construction contract was let to Peto in the Spring of 1847. When the Eastern Counties Railway failed to construct on from Colchester to Norwich, a new company stepped in, named the Eastern Union Railway . Together with an allied company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, it completed the line from Colchester through Ipswich to its own terminus at Norwich;
14014-434: 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
14168-642: 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
14322-509: 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,
14476-570: 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
14630-464: 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
14784-568: 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
14938-406: 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
15092-551: 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 ,
15246-465: 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,
15400-441: 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
15554-602: 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
15708-404: The present day, for standing in the foreman's office at Norwich, it was easy to observe the signals which indicated, by large deflected needles, the passage of the going or coming train at Norwich, Brandon Junction, Brundall, Reedham. and Yarmouth, respectively. Carter states that "the Yarmouth and Norwich for many years held the railway 'sprint' record of one mile in 44 seconds." Authorisation of
15862-402: The promoters of the undertaking; and, with that object, some of them are now actually employed in making surveys. An 8% return would, it was claimed, be achieved on the present volume of traffic, but a "great increase of income" would be secured "on the ultimate completion of a line to Peterborough, or to Colchester, or Newport" by attracting traffic from coastal shipping. The capital to be raised
16016-431: The proprietors had been induced to extend the bridge on each side of the chains, to the extent of four feet, for foot passengers, and the platform on the south side was the chief receptacle for the multitude who were on the bridge on this occasion... all eyes were stretched to the utmost and every ear listening with eagerness for the first announcement of the clown's appearance. This anxiety was brought to its highest pitch by
16170-424: The railway would enable minerals to be brought to Norwich from the harbour at Yarmouth. The ECR powers to build between Norwich and Yarmouth had lapsed by this time, but at a meeting on 19 March 1841 a proposal was tabled, prepared by Robert Stephenson , for a line. It was to be routed indirectly, via Reedham , to minimise the cost by avoiding certain river crossings and keeping to low-lying ground: it became known as
16324-500: 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
16478-519: 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
16632-470: The rest of his life to the foundation of a complete military engineering science and to the thorough organization and training of the corps of Royal Engineers. Though only a captain, his great success led him to act as the commanding royal engineer at Plymouth for two years and was given a special grant. Because the events of the Peninsular War emphasized the need for a fully trained engineer corps,
16786-406: 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
16940-475: 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
17094-533: 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
17248-465: 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
17402-618: 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
17556-467: The standardization of coins, weights and measures, publishing a book on the topic in 1834. In 1838, he was presented with the freedom of the city of London for his services in removing sunken vessels from the bed of the Thames near Gravesend . From 1839 to 1844, he was occupied with clearing away the wrecks of HMS Royal George from Spithead and HMS Edgar from St. Helens . All this work
17710-518: The stream, and over them the waters were flowing as if unconscious of the fearful tragedy which had momentarily occurred. In February 1847 the Board agreed to pay Cory £26,000 to buy him out. A railway-owned bridge was to be provided as well as a replacement for his own bridge, and tolls would be charged to persons taking the Acle Road and not proceeding to or from the railway station. The directors of
17864-581: 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,
18018-758: 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,
18172-456: The suspicion that large sums of money might be subscribed without the lines being completed. By now the Northern and Eastern Railway was in financial difficulty too; its original intention of connecting London to York was eventually reduced to a line from Stratford to Newport, Essex . Ambitious railway schemes in East Anglia were not held in high esteem, especially when their projected cost
18326-476: The terminus in this city [Norwich], and running to Brandon, a distance of thirty miles... from Brandon, the country is... favourable for the construction of lines to communicate with the branch of the London and Birmingham Railway at Peterborough, with the Eastern Counties railway at Colchester, and with the Northern and Eastern railway at Newport, the distance in each case being the same, viz., about 40 miles. By
18480-479: The through route was opened to traffic in 1849. During 1846 and 1847, the EUR negotiated to acquire the Norfolk Railway, but the two Companies were unable to agree terms. The Eastern Counties Railway now engaged in talks and was more successful. Agreement for acquisition of the Norfolk Railway was finalised on 2 May 1848, and the ECR took over the entire Norfolk Railway system, rolling stock included, on 8 May 1848. It sacked
18634-430: The time of the lease it was in the course of constructing on to its authorised northern extremity at Newport, a distance of about 9 miles. When the Norwich and Brandon Railway was being promoted, the ECR saw that a continuation from Newport to Brandon would not only include the important regional centre of Cambridge, but give it a through route to Norwich via Ely. This was a more attractive proposition than trying to revive
18788-401: 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
18942-477: 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,
19096-590: The union of the two streams. The multitude of persons along the North Quay was greatly increased by the rush from the Old Bridge, and every spot where a view of Nelson and his geese could be obtained, was filled with spectators. By far the most advantageous view was had from the Suspension-bridge, and... about four hundred persons occupied this position... every point of vision towards the spot where
19250-422: 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
19404-425: The work appeared by 1817 and dealt with the science and practice of fortification, the latter comprising rules for construction. He published a work on Practical Architecture and prepared an important treatise on The Practical Operations of a Siege (1829–1832), which was translated into French (1847). He became brevet colonel in 1830 and substantive colonel in 1831. From 1831 to 1834, he focused his attention on
19558-582: 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
19712-493: 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
19866-592: Was a British soldier and military engineer who wrote the defining text on the role of the post- American Revolution British Empire : An Essay on the Military Policy and Institutions of the British Empire , published in 1810. This text changed how Britons thought their empire should relate to the rest of the world. He warned that Britain could not keep its Empire by its "splendid isolation". Britain would need to fight to gain its empire, and by using
20020-522: 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
20174-399: 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 ,
20328-486: 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
20482-493: Was already authorised, and after considerable argument, it was proceeded with. It opened from Wymondham to Dereham on 7 December 1846 for goods trains and on 15 February 1847 for passengers. The powers naturally passed to the Norfolk Railway. The following year, during construction, the Norfolk Railway sought an act of Parliament to extend the Dereham line to Wells and Blakeney ; this was granted by an act of Parliament of 1846. The Wells and Blakeney extensions were not built, and
20636-480: Was always at risk. In 1848 it agreed with the larger Eastern Counties Railway that the ECR would operate its line, reducing the Norfolk Railway to a financial company only. In 1862 it amalgamated with other companies to form the Great Eastern Railway . Its first lines, from Great Yarmouth to Norwich and Norwich to Brandon, continue in use at the present day as important regional routes, and although
20790-443: Was delayed until the Brandon connection was finished. The company contracted out the operation of its trains to George Merrett, Peto's agent during the construction, for £7,000 a year. The Yarmouth and Norwich Railway was the first in the country to adopt electric telegraph block working from its beginning. Neele described the signalling arrangements: The stations intermediate between Reedham and Norwich were very primitive and small;
20944-473: Was enclosed, so reducing the risk of swamping and there were multiple lashing points. The "Pasley Pontoon" lasted until it was replaced in 1836. Concurrently, Pasley was gazetted brevet major. He became brevet lieutenant-colonel in 1813 and substantive lieutenant-colonel in 1814. The first volume of his Military Instruction appeared in 1814 and contained a course of practical geometry which he had framed for his company at Plymouth. Two other volumes completing
21098-485: Was falling into disrepair, and something would need to be done to improve that too. The meeting agreed that a railway would be a good thing, and a bill for the line was deposited for the 1845 session of Parliament. Peto personally acquired the harbour at Lowestoft. Opposition from Yarmouth was confined to technical and drainage issues, and the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour Act 1845 ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. xlv)
21252-728: 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
21406-589: 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
21560-670: Was highly intelligent, capable of translating the New Testament from Greek at the age of eight. In 1796, he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich ; a year later he gained his commission in the Royal Artillery , and he was transferred to the Royal Engineers in 1798. He was present in the defence of Gaeta , the Battle of Maida , and the siege of Copenhagen . In 1807, then a captain, he went to
21714-581: 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
21868-438: 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
22022-559: 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
22176-721: Was partly by-passed by a shorter route by way of Acle; its extremities still operate a good local passenger service and the original Reedham route from Yarmouth carries only a minimal train service. However the Lowestoft to Norwich trains run through Reedham. These train services are branded the Wherry Lines for marketing purposes. There is very limited freight activity on these routes. The Fakenham to Dereham route section closed to passenger traffic on 5 October 1964. From Dereham to Wymondham followed, closing in October 1969, although
22330-417: Was passed on 30 June 1845; share capital was to be £120,000, of which £80,000 was for building an eleven mile railway and £40,000 was for harbour improvements at Lowestoft itself. Two swing bridges would be required on the line. The cost of completing the harbour works alone was later estimated at £174,516. The line opened on 3 May 1847 to goods and 1 July 1847 to passenger traffic. However before this opening,
22484-464: Was quoted in millions of pounds. On 21 January 1841, a meeting was held in Norwich to determine how to improve the transport links of Norwich. As a first step, a link to Yarmouth was planned. Yarmouth was the port for the City of Norwich, and at the same time a fashionable watering place, and would be useful, as coastwise shipping was an important transport medium for heavy materials, particularly coal, and
22638-478: 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
22792-586: 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
22946-407: 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,
23100-514: 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
23254-483: Was subsidiary to his great work of creating a comprehensive art of military engineering. On 23 November 1841, on promotion to the rank of major-general, he was made an inspector-general of railways, replacing Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Frederic Smith . During this period of intense activity on the new railway network, he inspected many new lines, criticising the haste in which some were opened to poor engineering standards. However, he came under criticism for his approval of
23408-652: 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
23562-412: Was £150,000. Grissell and Peto were appointed as the contractors; they had agreed to take £30,000 of their fee in shares; they started work in late March 1843. There proved to be a difficulty over the Yarmouth terminus, which was planned to be on an island owned by Robert Cory. The only access was over a primitive and narrow suspension toll bridge, and there were covenants preventing anyone from building
23716-532: Was £300,000. The London and Birmingham Railway was not induced to extend its Peterborough branch to Brandon, and the Eastern Counties Railway had stalled at Colchester. Nevertheless the Northern and Eastern Railway had got as far as Bishops Stortford and an extension of that to Brandon by way of Cambridge and Ely was feasible. Accordingly the Norwich and Brandon Railway went ahead and it secured its authorising Act of Parliament on 10 May 1844. The Eastern Counties Railway had been authorised on 4 July 1836 to construct
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