The Norwich Plaque guide
The Norwich Plaque guide
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Overview
The Norwich Plaque guide
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780750955195 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 02/03/2014 |
| Sold by: | INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Norwich Plaque Guide
By Michael Chandler
The History Press
Copyright © 2014 Michael ChandlerAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7509-5519-5
CHAPTER 1
THE TOMBLAND AND COLEGATE AREA
AMELIA OPIE
WATER LANE
Amelia Opie 1769–1853 authoress and philanthropist, born in a house which stood on this site, married John Opie the portrait painter in 1798
Amelia Opie was born Amelia Alderson on 12 November 1769 to Dr James Alderson and Amelia (née Briggs). The young Amelia was educated by her father and was taught about the evils of the slave trade. She enjoyed poetry, dance and music and a long-lasting friendship with the Gurney family.
When her mother died, 15-year-old Amelia took over as host at her father's dinner parties where they enjoyed the company of such intellectuals as William Godwin, James MacKintosh, Harriet Martineau, Thomas Holcroft and John Aiken, who encouraged Amelia to write her first novel, Dangers of Coquetry in 1790.
Amelia met the painter John Opie at a dinner party in 1797. He was recently divorced and fell in love with her very quickly. They were married on 8 May 1798 at Marylebone church and lived mainly in London.
John Opie suffered from depression and as each piece of work took him much longer to paint they relied on funds from Amelia's books until John once again became successful. John died in April 1807 from swelling of the brain. Amelia moved back to Norwich and in 1809 she published a biography of her husband entitled Memoir of John Opie.
Amelia's father died in October 1825 and she became a Quaker. Her religious views stopped her from writing stories and novels so she donated most of her time to charity.
When in Norwich, Amelia was often seen in the Assize Court, sitting near the judge, as she took a great deal of interest in criminal cases.
Amelia died in Norwich 2 December 1853 and is buried with her father in Gildencroft Quaker Burial Ground cemetery.
AUGUSTINE STEWARD HOUSE
TOMBLAND
Augustine Steward House built in 1549 it was used as the headquarters of the two royal armies sent to quell Ketts Rebellion which took place in that year
Augustine Steward (1491–1571) was the son of Geoffrey Steward of Norwich. He was a common councilman between 1522–1526, an auditor for 1525, 1528–1529, 1531–1522, 1537–1537, 1540–1541, 1543–1545, 1547–1548, 1554–1557, 1560 and 1564, alderman in 1526 and mayor between 1534–1535, 1546–1547 and 1556–1557.
Augustine was a mercer who was christened in St George's Tombland and became a freeman of Norwich in March 1516. He was later described as the chief advancer of the king's profit, and went on to be the government's leading supporter of the time.
His first marriage to Elizabeth produced a son, William, followed by another son and six daughters. By his second wife, Alice, he had a son, Edward, and two daughters.
In 1534 he directed the work on rebuilding the Guildhall while in 1539 he obtained St Andrew's Hall for the use of the citizens and paid King Henry VIII the sum of £81 plus £152 for the lead.
He was first elected to Parliament in 1539 and was later replaced by John Aldrich as a commissioner to survey the Great Hospital.
In 1549 Thomas Codd was mayor and was taken prisoner by Robert Kett during Kett's Rebellion, leaving Steward as deputy mayor and in charge of Norwich.
Robert Kett and his men camped for six weeks on Mousehold Heath and beat one royal army led by the Marquis of Northampton before being overcome by an army led by the Earl of Warwick whose emblem was placed on the door of Steward's house.
Little is known of his business ventures, but recently a reference has shown that in 1530, along with his father-in-law Reginald Lytilprowe, he was shipping goods worth 800 marks from Danzig for a voyage to Yarmouth. With the profits he purchased manors on Gowthorpe in Swardeston and at Welborne.
At the time of his death, Augustine Steward was living in a house in Elm Hill. He died aged 79 and is buried near the choir door in the church of St Peter Hungate along with his two wives.
BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE
ST GEORGE'S STREET
Blackfriars Bridge designed by Sir John Soane 1753–1837 built in 1784 by John de Carle
A bridge stood over the river Wensum in the fourteenth century during the reign of Henry V and was rebuilt during the reign of Edward IV. Known as the 'new bridge', it is the most recent of the five medieval crossings over the Wensum and was later called the Blackfriars Bridge in recognition of the nearby order of Dominican monks who wore black-coloured 'cappa' or cloaks over their ordinary habits. By the end of the sixteenth century the bridge had been altered a number of times but still stood in this spot, appearing now as a stone bridge with three arches.
Sir John Soane, who also designed the gaol in Norwich Castle, designed the bridge which can still be seen today, reverting back to a single stone arch. It was built in 1784 by John de Carle and the railings were added in 1820.
Born on 10 September 1753, Sir John Soane was an English architect who specialised in the neo-classical style. His best known work was the Bank of England, London, and he trained under George Dance the Younger, and then Henry Holland.
During his studies at the Royal Academy, he was awarded a number of medals for his architecture. He won the silver medal in 1772, the gold medal in 1776 and a travelling scholarship in 1777, which he spent in Italy developing his style.
Sir John was also commissioned by the Bank of Ireland to design a new headquarters but, when the Irish Parliament was abolished in 1800, the bank abandoned the project and instead bought the former Parliament buildings.
During his time in London, Sir John's most notable works were the dining rooms of No. 10 and No. 11 Downing Street, the Dulwich Picture Gallery and his country home at Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing.
He died 20 January 1837, a widower and estranged from his surviving son. He is buried in a vault of his own design in the churchyard of St Pancras Old church. The design of the vault was a direct influence on Giles Gilbert Scott's design for the red telephone box.
BRITONS ARMS
ELM HILL
This is the only house in Elm Hill to escape the fire of 1507 and the cellars date from the 13th century. In the early 15th century it was a "beguinage", a community of lay single woman who devoted themselves to a life of prayer and charitable work.
Very few medieval buildings had attics, and it is possible that the Britons Arms has the oldest lived-in attic in Norwich, and one of the oldest in the country.
The great fire in Norwich took place in 1507, and most of the houses in the city were destroyed. The reason that the Britons Arms survived any damage was because it stood apart in the churchyard. It is now the only timber-framed medieval building left in the city.
It was also the home of a 'Beguinage', where a small group of women pledged their lives to meditation and charitable causes. Beguinages were common in Europe, but rare in England.
COLEGATE [VIKING NORWICH]
COLEGATE
Colegate the street-name may derive from a Scandinavian personal name Coli with the Old Norse word gata meaning street
Colegate had an early settlement from the Saxon's and it expanded during Norman times. The Dominican Friars arrived in 1226 and moved to the south of the river in 1307.
In the sixteenth century the Strangers arrived and built up the cloth trade. The Strangers were Protestant refugees who were invited by the Norwich authorities to move from their homes in the Netherlands to work in Norwich's weaving industry and, by the eighteenth century, many such traders had built fine houses in the area.
The Merchants of Spice Indian restaurant was originally known as the Black Boys public house, with John Stangroom being the first licensee in 1760. The building is on the site of the Blackfriars Convent and the name Black Boys comes from the local order of Dominican monks or 'Blackfriars'.
In 1868, George Jewson purchased a seventeenth-century house here which he used as the headquarters of his business. His son Richard (1867–1949) established Jewsons as the largest timber merchant between the Thames and the Humber. He became lord mayor in 1917.
The area was badly hit during the Second World War and today it is a mix of residential, offices and churches.
CUCKING STOOL
EAST SIDE OF FYE BRIDGE
The plaque is now missing, but it read as follows:
Site of a cucking stool from 1562–1597 strumpets and common scolds were sentenced to a public punishment of ducking in the river
Women who were sentenced as strumpets and common scolds were punished by being ducked in a chair and submerged in water. Most women were accused of whoredom and the perceived severity of their case decided the number of duckings which they would be subjected to.
Those women who were found guilty would be fastened to a chair hanging in a sort of axle at the end of two long beams (often around 12 or 15ft in length). A post was then set up on the bank of a pond or river, over which these two beams were laid, almost in equilibria, with the chair hanging over the water at one end. The woman who was placed in the chair would then be plunged into the water.
Rather than being fixed in a position by the river, the ducking stool was mounted on wheels to allow the convicted woman to be paraded through the streets before punishment was carried out.
In England and Wales, the only part of the United Kingdom where this law had any effect, no prosecutions of common scolds occurred for a considerable period. Council in Sykes v Director of Public Prosecutions (1962) AC 528 described the offence as 'obsolete' and section 13(1)(a) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 eventually abolished it.
DUKE OF NORFOLK
ST ANDREW'S CAR PARK, DUKE STREET
The plaque is now missing, but it read as follows:
The Duke of Norfolk's palace, one of the largest town houses in England stood near this site 1561–1711
Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, was the uncle of Anne Boleyn and a very powerful man in the court of Henry VIII. In 1540 he began the construction of his home in what would become Duke Street.
Six years later the duke fell from favour and was accused of secretly supporting his son, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in treasonous activities. His son was executed but the death of Henry VIII saved Thomas Howard from a similar fate and he remained in the Tower of London until 1553.
Although many of the duke's estates were plundered, the fourth Duke of Norfolk, another Thomas Howard, continued building the property on Duke Street, making it the largest house in the city.
The fourth duke, however, also came to an unfortunate end. His close association with Mary Stuart during the reign of Elizabeth I and his pretensions to power led to his execution. The family title was only later restored under Charles II.
In 1710 the Mayor of Norwich, Thomas Havers, stopped the eighth duke from holding a processional entry and, fearing pro-Catholic riots, the duke ended his links with Norwich and the palace was demolished in 1711.
The title of the Duke of Norfolk remains in the Fitzalan-Howard family.
FATHER IGNATIUS
14 ELM HILL
Father Ignatius founded an independent Benedictine monastery here in 1864. After two difficult years it was dispersed. 1837–1908
Joseph Leycester Lyne, also known as Father Ignatius, was born on 23 November 1837 in Trinity Square, London. He was educated at St Paul's School and Glenalmond College and started a movement to introduce Monasticism into the Church of England. Although an Anglican, Father Ignatius conformed to a High Church branch of this faith which emphasised its Catholic tradition, used the title Father, and sought to reinstate a number of Catholic practices and religious orders.
He argued with his father, Francis, who disliked his High Church tendencies. Even though he was baptised as a child, he undertook to be baptised a second time by the Vicar of St Peter's in Plymouth, taking a vow of perpetual celibacy, and became an assistant without wage to Cannon Prynne at St Peter's.
He built a monastery for monks and nuns at Capel-y-ffin a few miles above the Llanthony Priory in the Black Mountains in Wales near Abergavenny. Members followed the rules and wore the clothing of the Order of St Benedict and Sarum Missa.
He left for Rome accompanied by a monk, a nun and a 4-year-old child clad in a white habit. They successfully obtained an audience with the Pope who blessed the crosses, medals and rosaries which they had brought with them.
He also tried to build an abbey in Norwich, prior to the establishment of the monastery at Capel-y-ffin. When he returned from Rome, Father Ignatius was forced to put his priory up for sale and the Archbishop of Canterbury advised him to recover the property by action. He struggled unsuccessfully for twelve years and spent all of his £12,000 inheritance.
His contemporaries ridiculed Father Ignatius and often described him as being both mad and dangerous to the state of the Anglican Church as a whole. Despite this, the eminent Anglican, the Revd Francis Kilvert, went on to describe him as a gentleman of simple manners.
In 1890–91 he visited America and Canada and wrote The Holy Isle: A Legend of Bardsey Abbey 1870; Leonard Morris, or, The Benedictine Novice 1870; Brother Placious, and Why He Became a Monk: A Tale for the Young Men of the Times 1870; Our Glorious Reformation 1884; and Mission Sermons and Orations 1887.
Father Ignatius is rumoured to have cursed many people before his death, so the locals forced him to flee from the city. He died on 16 October 1908 and it is said that his ghost walks along Elm Hill with his big black Bible in hand, cursing all those that he sees.
FISHERGATE [VIKING NORWICH]
FISHERGATE
Fishergate means 'street of fishermen'. Excavations on the river side of the street have uncovered 11th century fish hooks and net weights.
FISHERGATE
This area may have been the first settlement that can be thought of as 'Norwich', in its original forms NORTHWICK and NORVIC. Archaeological finds in Fishergate go back to the 8th century AD, and a coin of King Athelstan (reigned 924–939), which refers to NORVIC, is likely to have been minted in a defended area on the north bank of the River Wensum. In the 19th century a property here was known as 'Mint Yard' and may have commemorated the ancient mint.
In the time of the Danes, Fishergate was the home of the fishermen of Toke who held the township of Toke Thorpe, which is now St Clement's.
Fishergate is also a conservation area and was named after an ancient quay on the river where the Danish Vikings unloaded herring and other fish from the North Sea.
The area has undergone much renovation and regeneration, including a number of riverside walks. There are many local stores, pubs and restaurants and it is very close to the city centre.
GILDENGATE [VIKING NORWICH]
ST GEORGE'S STREET
Gildengate Now called St George's Street, this street follows the line of a defensive ditch and bank constructed in the Viking period about AD 900
St George's Street houses the Norwich Playhouse and The Norwich School of Art and Design. It was originally known as Gildengate, though by the seventeenth century it was recorded as Middle Street, and used to run from St Austine's to St George's, ending at Colegate. The street follows the line of a defensive ditch and bank which was built by the Danes in the year AD 900 and demolished in the 1100s. Nearby is a quadrangle, which is known as the Garth. It used to be a cloister, which was part of the church of the Black Friars when they moved from Colegate.
In one of the buildings a figure maker named Giovanni Bianchi designed the death mask for James Blomfield Rush who killed the Recorder of Norwich and his son. The mask can be seen in the castle museum.
At the Old Middle School in 1918, Norwich Chief Constable John Henry Dain opened the Norwich Lads Club, which later moved to King Street.
HENRY BACON
COLEGATE
Henry Bacon Worsted merchant, built this house. He became Sheriff of Norwich in 1548 Mayor in 1557 and 1566. The house had associations with Kett's Rebellion in 1549.
Henry Bacon was sheriff in 1548 and mayor in 1557 and 1566. A worsted merchant, he married Alice and they had five children. Three of his daughters married well: Elizabeth married Nicholas Sotherton who was sheriff in 1572, Alice married Robert Yarome who was mayor in 1591, and Mary married Thomas Norgate.
During the time of Kett's Rebellion, Henry Bacon entertained the Duke of Northumberland, and he put the duke's emblem of the ragged staff above his door.
In his second term as mayor, he welcomed the Dutch weavers to Norwich to revive the cloth trade of East Anglia.
Henry Bacon died in 1567 and is buried in the north chapel of St George's Colegate.
HENRY BURKE
NORWICH PLAYHOUSE
Norwich Playhouse Henry Burke 1933–2001 his inspiration, his dedication
Henry Burke was born 1933 in London to a Jewish family originally from Norwich. He was educated at the City of Norwich School, where he first started to direct plays and his love of theatre was formed. He became involved with the summer drama schools held at Wymondham College and, during his time at Queens College, Cambridge, he directed many plays including the centenary production at the ADC Theatre, Britain's oldest University Playhouse.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Norwich Plaque Guide by Michael Chandler. Copyright © 2014 Michael Chandler. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Title,Dedication,
Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
Plaque Names,
Maps,
Bibliography,
Copyright,