2017 Revisited

Tags

crossbow, Doll's House Exhibition, Iceni artifacts, needlework, Norfolk, Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, stained glass, teapots

As I have mentioned before, we didn’t manage to do as much walking and we didn’t visit as many places as usual last year and, for the same reasons, I also didn’t write very many posts.  I have photos from the few excursions we did make and some pictures of interesting things I saw that I haven’t posted yet, so I thought I would put together some retrospective posts whenever I have spare time.

This is the first of a series of posts.

ooooOOoooo

Last spring, Elinor was asked to write about an exhibition she had visited.  Unfortunately, she hadn’t visited one for some time so we looked about us to see if there was anything on locally that appealed to her.  We were pleased to see that at the Castle Museum in Norwich there was an exhibition of doll’s houses – so that’s where we went.

The exhibits were difficult to photograph because of the lighting and the reflections from the glass cases.  Here is a slideshow of photos of some of the houses.

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Elinor stayed in the exhibition hall to sketch a few of the houses and make some notes while I wandered round the rest of the museum.  I spent some time in the art gallery where they have a fine collection of paintings and drawings by local artists: Gainsborough, Constable, Crome, Munnings, Seago and others.  I took no photographs there nor in the natural history section where there are a number of dioramas featuring lots of stuffed birds and animals mainly collected during the 19th century.  I don’t like stuffed birds and animals.

The museum has a collection of antique clothes and costumes which I enjoy seeing and also pieces of needlework and embroidery.

Here are some examples of Jacobean needlework and also a lovely lace collar.

I took a photograph of a splendid crossbow.

The museum has a large collection of teapots.  Here are some of them.

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I wandered through the Boudica and the Romans gallery and took some photos of a few of the artifacts that have been discovered.

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There are a few display cabinets in the large central area in the castle keep.

Castle keep

Castle keep

I like these examples of medieval stained glass.   Top left shows winter pruning, top right is a feast, bottom left shows a gardener hurrying indoors out of a spring rain or hail shower, bottom right shows a man harvesting bunches of grapes.

I had to go back to meet Elinor then before I’d finished the whole tour of the museum.  We returned a few weeks later with Richard so he could also see the exhibition and for Elinor to check on a few details.  We all enjoyed the exhibition very much.

Thanks for visiting!

 

King Street, Norwich

Tags

architecture, Dragon Hall, King Street, Lesser Black-backed Gull, medieval buildings, Norfolk, Norwich, redundant churches, River Wensum, St Etheldreda, St Peter Parmentergate, The Music House, Traveller's Joy, Wensum Lodge

It is some time since I wrote a post about Norwich and as my younger daughter Elinor has started attending some art courses in the city I thought I would share some  photographs I have taken recently.

Elinor is no longer at the City College so is attending art classes at Wensum Lodge which is owned by the City Council.

Main entrance to Wensum Lodge.

The City Council has converted old riverside buildings into classrooms and studios and this is where Elinor is learning Portraiture on Tuesday and Drawing and Painting on Saturday.  (She also goes to the Theatre Royal, Norwich every Thursday evening for drama classes.)

I love the soft red brick buildings and the cobbled yards.

More studios at Wensum Lodge.

Buildings at Wensum Lodge.

 The River Wensum flows through the centre of the city of Norwich.

The River Wensum seen from the rear of the art studio.

The River Wensum.

While Elinor studies, I take myself off and walk through the city.  Wensum Lodge is located in King Street which is full of ancient buildings and was inhabited by the richest merchants in medieval times.

Medieval buildings in King Street.

The entrance to Raven Yard

The lane going down towards the river is called Mountergate. There are new houses being built on the right.

Buildings of different heights and ages; shops, workshops and dwellings.

An attractive cottage in King Street with a courtyard beyond the gate.

Next to the cottage is the redundant church of St Peter Parmentergate now used as a martial arts academy.

‘Parmentergate’ means the street of the parmenters: parchment makers or leatherworkers.  As the word became obsolete the street name changed and became Mountergate but the church retained the original name.

I like the triangular gables on the roof of this building and the arched windows in the centre of the facade.

This is Stepping Lane off King Street

The Music House, the oldest private dwelling in Norwich. Sadly, it has been adorned with grafitti.

The Music House was built in the 12th century and in 1225, Isaac Jurnet, a member of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in England at the time, bought it from a man called John Curry.  During the reign of Elizabeth I the house became the headquarters of the Norwich waits and minstrels and thereafter became known as the Music House. The front you see in this photo is 17th century but behind the left hand gable are the remains of the 12th century building constructed at right-angles to the street.  This original 12th century building was extended later in that century, in 1175, with a north-south range where the current 17th century front stands, making an L-shaped building.  The new part consisted of a single-aisled hall with an undercroft (cellar, basement, storeroom) which was at ground level when built, but is lower now.  The aisle of the hall was removed in 1480 and another undercroft built.  Most of the hall was removed when the 17th century front was constructed.  The building is owned by the City Council and is part of the Wensum Lodge range and can be accessed from the inner yard.  Concerts are performed in the building.

More old buildings.

Entrance to a former inn.

Princes In(n).

Another redundant church, St Etheldreda’s which as you can see, is artist studios

St Etheldreda was a daughter of King Anna of East Anglia.  Anna had four daughters, all of whom were made saints.  Etheldreda founded a monastery on the Isle of Ely (in Cambridgeshire) and died there in 679.

I am surprised to find I didn’t photograph Dragon Hall this time, but below are some photos I took of the hall a couple of years ago.  

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The Dragon Hall dating from 1420, is a merchant’s hall which belonged to Robert Toppes who was made mayor of the city four times.  It is virtually unique in Western Europe in being a medieval trading hall built by an individual rather than a guild.  One of the spandrels in the roof of the grand hall upstairs is carved with the figure of a dragon.

I just can’t resist photographing plants! This is Traveller’s Joy or, as it’s also called, Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba )

I also liked this gull on the roof of Wensum Lodge, though my camera insisted on focusing on the roof.

I believe the gull is a Lesser Black-backed Gull ( Larus fuscus) in its winter plumage.

 

Thanks for visiting!

I have used the following sites and books :

http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/norwich.html

The Medieval Churches of the City of Norwich by Nicholas Groves

The Little Book of Norwich by Neil R Storey

Norwich by Stephen Browning

Harrap’s Wild Flowers by Simon Harrap

RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe by Rob Hume

 

Old News

Tags

Black Spleenwort, family, hazel catkins, primrose, Rumburgh Church, Sainsbury Centre, snowdrops, spring, St Michael and St Felix Church Rumburgh, Suffolk, University of East Anglia, witch-hazel

It is over a month since I last wrote a diary post.  We haven’t done very much in that time but the days are getting longer and there are signs of spring in the garden and hedgerows.

Witch hazel

Witch hazel

Witch hazel

ooOOoo

The central elements on our old toaster had stopped working so we have bought ourselves a new toaster and this new one manages to toast both sides of a slice of bread at the same time!  It has a ‘bagel button’ (though as I have never eaten a bagel I think I would prefer to call it a ‘teacake button’) which toasts one side and warms the other.  We can now re-live the old toaster experience, except in reverse.

Snowdrops in bud

ooOOoo

Another excitement has been the emptying and repair of the septic tank.  Only those of you who do not have mains sewage can truly relate to this.  The tank was well overdue for emptying and we knew it needed repairing a year ago but we have been let down by our usual contractor and have had to find someone new.  The new contractor arrived and did what he had to do and was efficient and professional.  An added bonus, as far as we were concerned, was the wind direction on the day.

Hazel catkins in the hedge

ooOOoo

We have decided to have all our internal doors replaced and a carpenter has visited and priced up the job for us.  He will be doing the work over three days next week.  Richard will then have to spend quite a lot of time painting the doors, as well as all the skirting boards and the banisters.  We hope to redecorate the hall, stairs and landing and get a new carpet some time in the next few months.

I’m not sure how many hazel nuts we will have on this tree this year. The female flowers have appeared before the male catkins have matured.

ooOOoo

At the very end of January we had a morning prayer service at our church of St Michael and St Felix at Rumburgh.  The day before the service Richard and I called in at the church to make sure everything was tidy and to set the heating to come on well before the service.  It was a cold day but inside the church was even colder than out in the open!

I found the first rather bedraggled primroses of the year in a sheltered spot in the churchyard.

I also found my first snowdrops of the year

Rumburgh gravestone

This gravestone has a skull engraved on it.  Richard was asked to see if it was still in the graveyard recently as there had been a report that it might have gone missing.

The west door, which isn’t used anymore.

The west window

Work will start on March the 20th on the new tower screen in the church.  We have been saving for years and years to get the work done and at last it is about to happen.  Once the screen is in place the tower will be shut off from the body of the church and we hope it might be less draughty and warmer.

Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum) growing in the mortar on the wall of the church

ooOOoo

Elinor has now left the City College but we hope this is only a temporary thing.  As I mentioned in my last diary post she wants to enrol on a one year Art and Design course for older students and has therefore filled out the application form.  We have been notified that the college has received the form and I hope we will hear that Elinor has an interview soon.  At the interview she will be expected to hand in a review of an exhibition she has been to see recently and with that in mind, we went to the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich and viewed an exhibition of 20th century Japanese photography.  Photography was not allowed in the exhibition hall but there is a large collection of world art on display in the main gallery, most of the exhibits donated by Lord and Lady Sainsbury.

Below are my favourites from the main gallery.

Edgar Degas – Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

Edgar Degas – Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

A beautiful Benin bronze – the Head of an Oba; early 16th century

Henry Moore – Mother and Child

Whistling bottles from Equador – one in the shape of an owl and the other is a bird sitting on eggs or pods.  Both 1000 – 100 BC

Another couple of exhibits from Equador

Sketch for a Portrait of Lisa by Francis Bacon

Standing Jizo Bosatsu – Japan (1185-1333)

The top exhibit with the ram’s head is a backstrap from a sword or dagger hilt – India late 17th century The lower exhibit is an archer’s thumb-ring in the form of a bird – India 17th – 18th century

Left rear – Image of the Goddess Kaumari, India 17th century.   Right rear – Shiva as Chandrashekharamurti, South India c. AD 1100.   Front centre – Figure of Chamunda Devi, Nepal/Tibet 17th/18th century

Walking Hippopotamus – Egypt c. 1880 BC

The Sainsbury Centre.  One of the first major buildings designed by Sir Norman Foster, it was completed in 1978.

It is a steel clad building with one face almost entirely glazed.

By the late 80’s the collection had grown so much that Foster was asked to design an extension. He decided to build underground and this is one of the entrances to it.

The new basement has a curved glass frontage that emerges from the slope underneath the original building overlooking the man-made lake.  This new wing can only be seen from the lake but as it was very muddy there and beginning to go dark on a very gloomy day, I was unable to photograph it.

The University of East Anglia’s grounds looking towards the lake

Part of the university. There are many items of sculpture to be seen here.

Another Henry Moore sculpture

The University has an excellent creative writing department and many well known writers have studied here. Tracy Chevalier; Kazuo Ishiguro; Ian McEwan; Rose Tremain – to name but a few.

My music choice today is a song from Katie Melua.

Thanks for visiting!

St John Maddermarket

Tags

churches in Norwich, Norwich, St John Maddermarket, St John the Baptist, The Churches Conservation Trust

This is one of my occasional posts about Norwich.

Last summer, as I wandered about in Norwich while Elinor was at college, I saw that the church of St John Maddermarket was open and so took the opportunity to look inside.

This lane is Pottergate and the church of St John Maddermarket is on the right of the photo. The black and white building next to the church is The Belgian Monk pub

St John Maddermarket, dedicated to St John the Baptist, closed for Anglican worship on 31st December 1981 and for the following eight years was used by the Greek Orthodox Church.  It is now cared for by The Churches’ Conservation Trust.  Madder flowers were used to make red dye for the flourishing cloth industry in medieval Norwich but there is no evidence to prove that there ever was a maddermarket  in the city.

St John’s church, the Belgian Monk pub and St John’s Alley in-between them.

St John Maddermarket

The processional way (St John’s Alley) goes through the base of the tower. The pub is on the left of the photo and the Maddermarket theatre can be seen at the far end of the passageway.

In writing this post I realised that I needed a few more photos to illustrate some of the things I wanted to say about this church.  I called in at the church again on Tuesday 17th January and took most of the pictures I wanted.

The processional arch under the tower has a rib vault with carved bosses 

The Maddermarket Theatre was founded in 1921 by Walter Nugent Monck who, during that decade was one of the first people to re-create a Shakespearean stage.

There is a memorial in St John’s church to Walter Monck 1878-1958 (one photo I forgot to take!)

St John Maddermarket

Note the raised burial ground.  In the 16th and 17th centuries there were many complaints about graveyards like this one.  Because of the confined space allowed for burial there were often too many bodies with too little earth to cover them!  This graveyard contains the Crabtree headstone which has a pre-Christian symbol of the Ouroboros carved on it.  An Ouroboros is a serpent eating its own tail.

The Crabtree headstone with the Ouroboros at the top on the left. There are other strange markings on this headstone which I think are Masonic.  Why the headstone for Mary and Mary Ann Crabtree should have these markings on it, I have no idea!  I couldn’t see all of it as the churchyard is permanently locked and this is the view I got over the wall.

Wall of St John’s churchyard

William Shakespeare’s friend William Kempe, the comic actor, had an argument with Shakespeare and in trying to upstage him wagered that he could morris-dance all the way from London to Norwich (about 100 miles) in nine days.  He managed to do it (though with a few days rest in-between the days of dancing) and on his arrival he jumped the wall of St John’s churchyard.   He wrote about it in his book ‘A Nine Daies Wonder’.

Entrance to the church through the south porch. The door to the north porch was open so a view of the lane beyond the church can be seen

Inside the church, looking out through the south porch door

Looking towards the altar from the back of the church

The eye is drawn to the imposing Georgian baldachin (canopy) over the high altar which is supported on columns.  I’m not at all sure I like it there very much; it seems too big and heavy for the church it is in.  William Busby who was Rector of this church from 1898-1923, assembled a large collection of church furnishings and this canopy was part of the collection.  It was made for another Norwich church (St Miles, Coslany) and brought to St John’s in 1917.  It obscures the Gothic revival reredos (decoration behind the altar) which had been installed in 1863, and part of the east window.  The east window itself (i.e. not the glass) dates from about 1325 and is older than the rest of the church.  It was possibly taken from a former chancel.

A closer view of the baldachin and high altar

Here you can see how ornate the carving on the baldachin is.

This is the ledger stone in memory of ‘Dame Rebecca the deservedly beloved consort of S. Benj. Wrench Knt. Dr. of Physick, of whose singular virtues in every relation of life, the remembrance of surviving freinds (sic) is the amplest testimony and the best monument.  After thirty-six years happily spent in the conjugal state she departed this life the 4th day of March 1727 in the 59th year of her age’.

The nave roof is basically medieval but was heavily restored in 1876 after it was damaged in a gas explosion. It probably has a hammer-beam roof but ribbed plaster coving hides the hammer-beams.  There are angels at the edge of the coving.

The ribbed coving and an angel holding a shield. The stop at the bottom of the photo also has an angel.

This angel has traces of gold paint still upon it. Just imagine how bright the church must have been when new!

Another angel with traces of paint on it.

Carved head on an arch stop

Roof boss

The lectern was made in the 18th century. It revolves.

Here is the pulpit, made in 1863. The banner inviting us to climb up and read aloud is for the benefit of the many school visits they have.

The pulpit has a sounding board above it which may be 17th century.

The sounding board hanging above the pulpit. It helped the preacher’s voice carry round the church.

The Lady Chapel

The roof of the Lady Chapel in the south aisle is painted

A detail from the painted ceiling.

Another ledger stone. “Beneath are deposited the remains of Mary, wife of Thos. Rawlins architect. A woman of strict virtue. Borne down with a long series of affliction. Resign’d her soul to Him that gave it. On the 31st of August 1785 aged 65 years. Also the above Thos. Rawlins who died March 18th 1789 in the 63rd year of his age”.

A wall monument to Alderman Thomas Sotherton and his wife Frances with their children kneeling behind them.

Another Sotherton family monument, this time for Nicolas and Agnes Sotherton.  They had six sons and five daughters.  Nicolas was a grocer who amassed a great fortune and owned much property in the city.  He died in 1540.

Monument to Christopher Layer (died 1600) and his wife Barbara (died 1604). There are personifications of Pax, Vanitas, Gloria and Labor on the uprights at the side of the monument.  See here for a full description

Three wall monuments and the beautiful clerestory windows above

This is the centre monument from the photo above. It is to The Virtuous Lady Margaret Duchess of Norfolk 

There’s quite a crowd of wives in this grave!  Margaret, Rebekah 1 and Rebekah 2; the first, second and third wives of William Barnham, as well as his daughter Elizabeth!

The North Chapel dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament with its wood panelling

Stained glass

Stained glass

Because of the gas explosion in the 19th century most of the stained glass in the church is from the 19th and 20th centuries.  The window pictured above on the right has many fragments of the medieval glass that were rescued after the accident.  Fortunately, no-one was killed or even badly injured in the explosion despite it happening during choir practice.

A closer view of the pieces of old glass.

The font at the back of the church dates from the 1860’s.

This beautifully made gallery was erected in 1912 and has made the west bay at the rear of the church into a narthax (antechamber)

The north and south porches, which are inside the body of the church, are at either end of this narthax.  The craftsman responsible for the gallery lived just a few yards from the church and made it in the Jacobean style.  (The Jacobean era was named after King James I and covered the first quarter of the 17th century – 1600-1625).  The choir sang from the gallery.

Stairs up to the gallery.  On the left is one of the brasses from the church which were removed from the floor during one of the many re-organisations of the church.

Apparently, there is also a room above one of the porches (I think) which has information on all the servicemen in the parish who lost their lives in the First World War.

Brasses from the church damaged in the explosion

Brasses from the church damaged in the explosion

A monumental brass that is still in situ in the centre aisle.  I believe this is to Ralph Segrym (d. 1472) MP 1449, Mayor 1451 and his wife. 

A monumental brass in the north chapel to John Todenham (c.1450) in civilian dress with inscription and scroll  

The wonderful rib-vault in the north porch

The north porch has much thicker walls than the rest of the church and many people think this is because it might be all that remains of the Anglo Saxon church which stood on the site before the current church was built.  The doorway is much more ornate than the south porch door.  (Another missed photo!)

Photograph of a panel depicting St Agatha and St William of Norwich

Photograph of a panel depicting St Leonard and St Catherine

Both these panels came from St John Maddermarket and are now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77491/st-agatha-holding-pincers-and-panel-unknown/

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131973/st-leonard-with-crozier-and-panel-unknown/

These panels were commissioned by Ralph Segrym whose memorial brass I have commented on above.  If you are interested in clicking on the links to the panels, I recommend you subsequently click on the ‘Further Information’ button.

All photographs are mine.

Information gleaned from a conversation with a Churches Conservation Trust officer at the church and also from the following books:

The Medieval Churches of the City of Norwich – Nicholas Groves

The Little Book of Norwich – Neil R Storey

Norwich – Stephen Browning

Churches Conservation Trust Church Tour leaflet

 

Thanks for visiting!

December 2016

Tags

Advent, Advent Crown, Cromer, Cromer Lifeboat, Cromer pier, fog, frost, mist, Norfolk, Norwich, Norwich Market, Rumburgh Church, Suffolk, sunset, Turnstone, walking, Westleton Heath

Before Christmastide draws to a close I thought I’d better write something about what we managed to do over the past few weeks.

This is the Advent Crown that Elinor and I made this Christmas. The first candle was lit on the first Sunday in Advent.

Norwich Market

Norwich Market

The 1st of December began with a frost (we had many frosty and foggy days in December) but by the time I had driven Elinor into Norwich for her afternoon classes at college it had clouded over and had become a little milder.  The light wasn’t really good enough for photographs but the city had recently put it’s decorations up and was looking festive, though these photos make it look rather gloomy!

During the whole month, unless I got to the city before 9.00 am, I was unable to find a parking space in any of the car-parks.  Norwich Council would like their visitors to arrive by train, bus, bike or on foot and don’t make it at all easy for car drivers.  There is very little public transport from where I live so we have to drive into town.  There are ‘park and ride’ places on the outskirts of the city but an acquaintance of mine queued for ages to get into the car-park and then waited an age with crowds of other shoppers for a bus  which was full before he got to it!  He returned home without doing his shopping.  I have discovered a roadside parking area near to the college where I get two hours free parking and which is only a fifteen minute walk away from the city centre!  This is where I had parked that day.  I had coffee and a sandwich in a café and did some Christmas shopping and then made my way back to my car.

The Coachmaker’s Arms

This former coaching inn is on St Stephen’s Road and was built in the 17th century on the site of an asylum.  The pub is said to be haunted.

An attractive frieze outside the pub showing what the inn might have looked like when first built.  It was near one of the many city gates

For most of the month, Richard was still unable to drive any distance and was very bored being at home all the time.  On the 2nd of December he joined Elinor and me in the car and after I had dropped Elinor off at college just before 9.00 am we drove to the north Norfolk coast and spent the morning in Cromer.

Cromer Pier

The tide was in.  Looking westward.

Looking towards the east.

This is a photo of a very tame Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) who had decided that a good living can be made by following visitors about and eating food crumbs. It behaved just like a feral pigeon!

We were so surprised to see this bird at such close quarters!  Normally they keep their distance from humans and find worms and molluscs etc. on the shore.

Cromer Pier

There was a large amount of spray coming off the sea

The sand and stones on the promenade show how high a recent tide had been

Boats out at sea

An off-shore wind-farm

A rainbow

Richard walking towards the beach changing rooms

Cromer cliffs

After walking along the front we then visited the pier.

View from the pier

Looking back towards the town

Cromer

We visited the Lifeboat station at the end of the pier

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Part of one of the boards listing all their call-outs. I chose this because I was born in 1958

This is one of the war-time boards

Richard in one of the shelters on the pier

‘The Wellington’ – one of the pubs in the town

Returning home from shopping the following week, Elinor and I marvelled at the beauty of this misty sunset

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Christmas flower arrangement around the font at our church at Rumburgh

Richard and I had a lot to do at church this Christmas.  At the beginning of the month we had an Advent Carol Service with all our favourite Advent hymns and Advent readings.  Usually we have a Carols and Capers service with the local Morris group and their friends at the beginning of the season but sadly they were unable to organise it this time.  We had a Christmas Carol service on the 21st of December and then our church hosted the Midnight Mass service on Christmas Eve too.

I had made an Advent Crown for church too

We went for a walk on Westleton Heath on Boxing Day

The gorse (Ulex europaeus) was in flower

In the autumn this area of heather is a rich purple colour

Alice, Elinor and Phil, Alice’s boyfriend who stayed with us this Christmas

Phil up a tree

Richard, walking without a stick now!

Trees on the heathland as dusk fell

Sunset

Melting frost on the outside of my bedroom window

These following photos were taken by Richard in our garden that same morning.

Hoar frost on a Hogweed seedhead

Hoar frost on rose leaves

Our big pond

Frost and fog

Frost and fog

Richard and I went out for a walk across the fields on New Year’s Eve.  The weather was very gloomy and I didn’t find much to photograph.

View across the fields

View across the fields

Yet another view!  Note the large toadstool – bottom right of the photo.

The large fungus!

And that was my December which also included Christmas celebrations with much cooking and baking, a lot of driving about, lots of shopping and an amazing amount of housework!

Thanks for visiting!

King Street, Norwich

Tags

Alan Road, Albion Mill, Ber Street, Berstrete Gates pub, Bracondale, Carrow Hill, City Wall, close studded timber framing, Crystal House, Dragon Hall, King Street, Music House, Norwich, Norwich Castle, River Wensum, Southgate Lane, St Etheldreda's Artists' Studios, St John the Baptist church, St John-de-Sepulchre church, St Julian's Church, The Black Tower, The Wilderness Tower, Timberhill, walking, Wensum Lodge

A view of Norwich Cathedral’s spire beyond the market

One bright morning last spring I decided to take another walk through the city.  I started at the Market and made my way towards the Castle.

Norwich Castle seen from Castle Gardens

On the wall outside the castle I found these plaques which tell a story.  I will have to go into the castle one day and find out who wrote the lines and who designed the plaques.  I am put off by the entrance fee of £8.80 though!

If you read the comments you will now see that Simon Nott from Quercuscommunity has supplied all the information I needed with this link

http://www.racns.co.uk/sculptures.asp?action=getsurvey&id=838

Thank-you, Simon!

Just opposite the Castle in Cattle Market Street I found this interesting yard.

A warehouse yard with workshops.

The warehouse is part of a Grade II Listed building which was originally constructed as a showroom for Holmes and Sons who manufactured and sold agricultural machinery.  The front of the building is mainly glass in an iron framework made in a lily pattern design and was inspired by the Crystal Palace (built by Paxton) to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.  This building is known as the Crystal House.  I believe there have been plans to convert the building into apartments.

Photo of Waring’s Furniture shop (the Crystal House) taken this April

I walked from the Crystal House in Cattle Market Street, down Rouen Road and into St Julian’s Alley where I took this photo of St Julian’s church.  I wrote something about this church and shrine a while ago as well as writing about the castle.

St Julian’s church

There is a narrow path between buildings that runs from St Julian’s Alley to King Street and in King Street is…..

Dragon Hall.

Until last year the Dragon Hall could be visited quite easily.  Now, since it has become the home of “The Writers’ Centre Norwich” it is only open for a tour once a month and I cannot find any details of when this one day a month is.  Dragon Hall is Grade I listed and dates from 1420 and is the only surviving medieval trading hall in Western Europe built by an individual.  That individual was a Robert Toppes who was elected four times Mayor of the City of Norwich.

Dragon Hall

It is made with close studded timber framing where planks of wood (studs) are placed vertically and close together to great effect.  It contained a grand hall; the ground floor rooms and the undercroft were used as storage for goods.  One of the spandrels (triangles of space between beams and braces in the roof) was intricately carved with a figure of a dragon, which is where the building’s name has come from.  I have seen a photograph and would love to see it for myself one day.

Dragon Hall

View of the River Wensum behind the Dragon Hall. Goods could easily be brought into the Hall from boats on the river.

The Dragon Hall’s main door

The King Street area was one of the first areas in Norwich to be inhabited and as it was close to the river many of the inhabitants were rich merchants.  The Dukes of Norfolk and the Howard family (Catherine Howard was Henry VIII’s fifth wife) all had houses here. John Caius, physician to Edward VI and founder of Caius College Cambridge was born here.

Music House

Just a short step up King Street is the Music House.  This was reputed to be the oldest occupied house in Norwich until recently when it was taken over by Wensum Lodge.  The first occupants were the Jurnets who were an extremely wealthy Jewish family and who lived there in the 12th century.  It became known as the Music House because during the reign of Elizabeth I it was the headquarters for the Norwich waits and minstrels.

Almost next door is…..

Wensum Lodge. The centre for Adult Education in Norwich.

Interesting old houses in King Street. These buildings are probably 400 years old with lots of adaptations made to them over the years.

New buildings were being put up next door to these old houses.  From what I could see, great care was being taken that the new construction didn’t look out of place amongst the old buildings.

St Etheldreda Artist Studios

St Etheldreda was one of the four daughters of King Anna of East Anglia.  She founded a monastery on the Isle of Ely (an example of tautology as Ely means Isle) and she died there in 679.

This is a Norman church which became dilapidated in the 19th century and was then ‘restored’ by an enthusiastic clergyman who got rid of a lot of the original features in order that an idealised ‘medieval’ church could be created.  A wall painting of St Christopher was uncovered and was copied but the original painting did not survive.  Because of extensive bomb damage during the Second World War the amount of people living in the area dropped considerably and by the 1970’s the church had become derelict. Restoration was begun in 1975 and it has now been fitted out as artists’ studios.

Albion Mill

This former mill has been converted into apartments.  You might be interested to see one of the apartments which is available for sale at the moment; a three-bedroom penthouse apartment valued at just under £1,000,000.

The building started out as a yam mill in the 1830’s but by the end of the 19th century it had become derelict.  It was bought by  Robert John Read (junior) of R J Read Ltd. in 1932 for £5,750 as he needed to expand his already thriving milling business.  He milled flour, not only local wheat but imported grain, oyster shell (for the chicken/hen trade) and maize (imported form Argentina).  He developed a flaking machine for the maize, as flaked maize was used in the stock and animal feed industry.  When Britain joined the Common Market the price of local and European wheat dropped and Read no longer imported grain.  By the late 1980’s maize was no longer imported either so the firm concentrated on wheat milling and in 1988 they were producing 5 tons of wheat an hour.  The business closed in 1993 and the site remained vacant until 2004 when it was bought along with other buildings nearby to be converted into flats and apartments.

Southgate Lane

I turned up Southgate Lane which is quite a steep climb though this isn’t easy to see in the photo.

Halfway up the hill were a couple of semi-detached cottages.

The second half of the lane had a handy handrail.

Towards the top of the hill the lane widened and one of the beautiful Victorian villas in Bracondale came into view.

This old flint wall is part of the City Wall

Here is another bit of the Wall next to the interestingly named road, Foulgers Opening.

I was now in Ber Street and this is the Berstrete Gates pub. The old Ber Street Gate in the city Wall was taken down in 1807.

St John-de-Sepulchre’s church

This church on the corner of Ber Street and Finkelgate was made redundant in 1984 and between 1986 and 2009 was used by an Eastern Orthodox congregation.

St John-de-Sepulchre’s church

Buildings in Ber Street. The nearest is a medieval house; the one next to it is rather an elegant red-brick Georgian building. Next to that is another ancient medieval house with a modern office building beyond that.

I turned back the way I had come, walked back down Ber Street and into Bracondale and then past Southgate Lane.  The next road is Carrow Hill.

The City Wall in Carrow Hill

The City Walls are very well preserved here

The Black Tower

This tower was part of the defence of the city and was traditionally the residence of the Constable.  In the 16th century it was used for plague victims and in the 18th century a snuff mill was built on top of it.  The mill was removed in the 19th century but the tower is still sometimes referred to as the Snuff Tower.  Another name is the Duke of Buckingham’s Tower though I haven’t yet found a reason for this.

The Black Tower

The Black Tower and part of the City Wall

The Wilderness Tower

This second tower is further down the steep hill.  There was never any wall built between these two towers but there are plenty of arrow slits built into the sides of the towers to enable the defenders to cover the steep hill inbetween.

The Wilderness is nicely planted with trees and shrubs and there is a wooden path and stairs that take one from the top of the hill in Carrow Hill to the bottom in Alan Road.

The Wilderness Tower

City Wall and the Wilderness Tower

Alan Road with the Wilderness Tower nearly hidden behind the trees

From Alan Road I walked along King Street to Rouen Road and from there back to the city centre.

St John the Baptist, Timberhill.

The church was originally sited just outside the Castle’s bailey.  Timberhill is to the south of the church, once an open space and the site of the timber market.

Attractive shops in Timberhill

I apologise for the length of the post.

Thanks for visiting!

All Change!

Tags

Crockham Hill, Dog's Mercury, family life, funeral, fungus, House renovations, Kent, lesser celandine, lichen, Lords and Ladies, Minsmere, moss, Norwich Railway Station, Peterborough Mosque, plants, presents, The Fens, trees, Tyrrels Wood, woodland

We have had a very busy few weeks here with very little time for relaxation.  We are all rather tired and stressed and could do with a holiday (or a few weeks at home with nothing to do!), though there is little chance of that just yet.

All the planned work in this first phase of house renovation has been done and we are very pleased with the results.  The new windows, doors and garage doors are looking good and the house and garage are feeling much warmer.  We still have a little sorting out to do in the garage and a few more trips to the tip and charity shops with the things we no longer need.  There is a little room at the back of the garage which had a toilet and wash-hand basin in it which we never used.  We had the plumbing removed shortly after Christmas and Richard painted the room last week.  He has bought some shelves for it and we hope it will be a good storage room for the bird-seed and fruit and vegetables.  It has a window which we hope to brick up and put in a vent in its place.  For now we will put a screen against the window to prevent the light getting in.

Potatoes chitting on the garage window-sill. Note the new window!

We worked very hard to get the house ready for the work and it was worth the trouble we took.  Most of the time there was just one window fitter – a very pleasant, hard-working man who was so proficient and tidy it was a pleasure to have him here.  He let us know which rooms he would be working on during the following day so we prepared by moving furniture and covering everything we could with dust sheets.  While he worked on one room we got the next ready and so we progressed round the house.  He was here for five days and on his last day with us he was joined by a colleague and together they replaced the Velux window in Elinor’s room.  It was unfortunate that the weather wasn’t very nice that day with snow, sleet, hail and rain showers and it took some time for Elinor’s room to warm up again.  We supplied the men with plenty of hot tea to help them keep warm!

I washed, dried and ironed lots of pairs of curtains and also took the opportunity to launder other furnishings too.  I feel I made a good start to my spring cleaning!

Elinor took her two mock maths GCSE exams the same week that we had most of the window work done.  (She is re-taking her maths because the grade she got last year wasn’t good enough).  She also handed in her art project work that she had been working on since Christmas.  She got a pass mark for the art (there are only two marks she could have got – a pass or a referral) and she got a ‘C’ for her maths which has pleased us all.  If she gets a ‘C’ grade when she takes her exams for real in the summer it will mean she has the minimum grade all colleges and employers demand.  She won’t ever have to go to a Maths class again or take any more maths exams.  (A sigh of relief from Elinor!)

View from Crockham Hill churchyard.

I now feel I must say how much I appreciated all your kindnesses when I spoke of the death of my aunt – I was most touched; thank-you.  The funeral went very well and was a very satisfying celebration of her life.  It was good to see my brother, sister and all my cousins and their families and to re-visit Kent and Crockham Hill, the village where my Aunt Marie and Uncle Fred lived for so many years.  Aunt Marie had moved away into sheltered accomodation after Uncle Fred died.

Aunt Marie and Uncle Fred

It was sleeting and snowing as I set off for my brother’s house that morning and that continued until my brother had driven us to the Suffolk/Essex border when the clouds began to break up.  When we got to Westerham in Kent where we stopped for coffee, the sun had come out.  My cousin had arranged a lovely buffet meal for us all after the funeral in The Royal Oak, Uncle Fred’s local pub.

The Fens in Cambridgeshire seen from the window of the train I took to Sheffield.

The Fens seen from a train window

The Fens seen from a train window

The Fens seen from a train window

The Fens seen from a train window

I travelled to Sheffield by train so that I could see Alice in her production of Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’.  The play was excellently performed by all the cast and I enjoyed it very much.  I stayed at Alice’s house overnight and met one of her housemates and also Alice’s cat, Mona.  Alice and I breakfasted in the city next morning before I caught my train back home.

The Mosque in Peterborough seen from the train

Norwich Railway Station

These life-size figures stand outside the station and are rather a disparate group.  Admiral Lord Nelson on the left; born in Norfolk and was a great Naval commander during the Napoleonic Wars and was killed during the Battle of Trafalgar – Edith Cavell; born in Norfolk and was executed during WW1 for helping allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium – Stephen Fry; born in London though grew up in Norfolk and is an actor, writer, presenter, activist and ‘National Treasure’.

I saw quite a lot of my mother during the middle of February as she had a number of appointments to keep ( two hospital appointments in Norwich and two with her local doctor) and a fair amount of shopping to do.  Elinor and I had a meeting at her college to discuss her support needs for her next academic year and to deal with any support problems she has this year. I had been looking forward to Elinor’s half-term holiday but as the window replacement carried on into that week and as we had other duties to perform it wasn’t as restful as I’d hoped.  Elinor had a hair appointment on the Thursday and we had planned to go with her and have lunch out in the city.  Unfortunately, I woke with a migraine and had to spend most of the day in bed.  Richard took Elinor to Norwich and they had lunch in a café.  Richard brought me back a lovely couple of presents.

My presents!

I love the design on the tote bag!  It is by the artist Amelia Bowman and is a view across the roofs of the market towards the castle. The book is also just what I need for my visits to the churches in the city.

We have managed two short walks; one at the RSPB reserve at Minsmere and the other in Tyrrels Wood which lies to the north of Diss and Harleston in Norfolk.  Neither of the walks were particularly interesting but we were out in the fresh (very fresh and cold!) air and were taking some exercise.

Minsmere trees

Minsmere trees

Minsmere trees

Minsmere trees

Richard at Minsmere

Minsmere reedbeds

A slideshow of some small but quite interesting things!

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Our walk in Tyrrels Wood was less pleasant as it was so very muddy and we were disappointed by the state it was in.  There was a quantity of litter in the wood, especially near the entrance and it was obvious that the wood is used by dog-walkers.  We had to watch where we walked!  In this country it is illegal to allow one’s dog to foul a public area and not clean up after it.  I am surprised that a large organisation like the Woodland Trust is happy to leave the wood in this condition.

The spotted leaves of Lords and Ladies/Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arum maculatum) next to Dog’s Mercury (Mercurialis perennis)

Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) also with Dog’s Mercury

Tyrrels Wood

An ancient coppice stool. This group of trees was once one tree but through repeated coppicing (cutting back the tree to near ground level to let new shoots re-grow) it has become a group of trees with a shared root system.

The bark patterns on this tree are interesting.

And now for my music selection!  A little trip down memory lane to the summer of 1978 when I was nearly 20 years old and fancy-free.

Thanks for visiting!

Norwich – Chapel Field

Tags

Chapel Field, Chapelfield Gardens, Chapelfield Gardens Bandstand, City Walls, Cornus mas, Norwich, Roman Catholic Cathedral, St Stephen's church, The Assembly House, The Crescent, The Forum, walking

I took this short walk in Norwich on a dull cold day last spring.  I began my walk near the Assembly House.

This building was designed and built by the architect Thomas Ivory in 1794 and, as its name suggests, was a place where the local gentry could assemble and be amused and entertained by recitals, displays and dances.  One notable ball was in celebration of Nelson’s victory off the Cape of Trafalgar in 1805.  A waxworks exhibition from Madame Tussaud’s was hosted here in 1825 and Franz Liszt the composer gave a concert in 1840.  The building incorporates the layout of a previous building – the medieval college of St Mary in the Field.

The Assembly House – some more renovation work was in progress at the time of my photograph

It has been used as a dance academy, a cinema and, during the Second World War, it was an army office.  It was restored in 1995 but almost immediately afterwards was severely damaged by an electrical fire.  With the aid of photographs taken at the instigation of a trustee during WW2, the house was reconstructed and today it appears exactly as it did when it was first built.  It is used as a restaurant and hosts exhibitions, concerts, conferences and weddings, almost the same kind of use it was put to in its heyday.

The Forum

Opposite the Assembly House is the Forum, though the large entrance seen in the photo above is on the further side of the building.

Norwich’s Central Library was located on this spot until it was destroyed by fire in 1994 and this new building, designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, not only gave the library a new home but also was built to mark the Millennium in the East of England.  The main section of the building is an enclosing horseshoe shape.  It is made from hand-made load-bearing bricks and has many windows.

As well as The Millennium Library (the public library) the Forum houses a children’s library, the Norfolk Heritage Centre, the Norfolk Record Office and a business library.  The 2nd Air Division Memorial Library is also here; it pays tribute to the thousands of American airmen who were based in East Anglia during WW2.  There are over 4000 books covering all aspects of American life and culture with a specialist section dedicated to the 2nd Air Division.

Many other organisations have a base in the Forum.  BBC East has its studios in part of the building; there is a Forum shop, a café bar and a pizza restaurant.  The Tourist Information Centre is here, as is MINT – a charity which helps young people gain the skills and contacts they need to find employment.  MINT is run by City College Norwich where my daughter studies.  ‘BBC Voices’ provides film-making and radio-editing workshops throughout the Eastern Region for free.  There is a digital gallery – the Fusion Screen – which gives free screenings of work by artists, and a 120-seat auditorium called The Curve.  The Forum runs regular events and there is a venue hire facility.

Entrance to Chapelfield Gardens.

Not far from The Forum is Chapelfield Gardens which takes its name from the chapel of St Mary in the Field.  The chapel (built where the Assembly House is now) was founded in the 13th century by John le Brun and soon acquired many generous benefactors.  It became a college and the premises were expanded.  In 1406 the citizens of Norwich claimed 4.5 acres of ground that belonged to the Chapel and this land began to be called Chapel Field.  In the 16th century it was leased with its cherry yard and dove house to notable citizens and then, after a proclamation in 1578 it was used as an open area for mustering the trained bands, archers or the artillery.  It was the ‘fit place’ to charge guns with shot and powder for the exercise of shooting.  The Lord Lieutenant had his ‘City Tent’ there for the general musters and the yearly reviews of the city regiment took place there in the 17th century.

Crocus and daffodils in Chapelfield Gardens

The Field was first surrounded by fencing in 1707 and the main walks were laid out by Sir Thomas Churchman who leased the land in 1746.  The tree planting began then too.  A large water reservoir (about 300 yards in circumference) was dug in part of the Field in 1792 and was filled in again in 1854 when larger reservoirs were built elsewhere by the newly established Waterworks Company.  The reservoir in the Field had been used as a skating pond by the people of the city and it was much missed when it went.  For a few years the Field declined into a rough area where children played, washerwomen hung out their linen and where sheep were grazed.  Eventually, new iron palisades were erected in 1866 and in 1877 a landscape gardener was employed to make the Field into a beauty spot.  The newly laid-out gardens were opened by the mayor in 1880.

The bandstand

This lovely Victorian bandstand in the middle of Chapelfield Gardens is still in use.  During WW2 Glenn Miller visited Norwich and gave a concert here in 1944.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral is close to Chapelfield Gardens

City wall

City wall

City wall

City wall

I then walked along Chapel Field Road which follows the line of the old City Walls.  As you can see from these photos the new and the old rub shoulders in Norwich.  The weather had also improved by this time!

Building work on the City Walls began in 1294 and took 50 years to complete mainly due to complaints about the cost being levied for their construction.  They were completed in 1343 after a very generous donation by a Norwich tradesman, Richard Spynk who was rewarded by the Corporation by being ‘quit all tallages, tasks and costs’ for both he and his heirs forever.  When the walls were completed they had 12 gates, now all gone.  Ber Street gate – taken down in 1807, Bishop’s Gate – taken down in 1791, Brazen Doors or Newgate, taken down in 1793, Conisford Gate, at the south end of King Street – taken down in 1793, Heigham Gate or Hell Gate – fell down in the 18th century, Magdalen Gate – taken down in 1808, Pockthorpe Gate – taken down in 1792, St Augustine’s Gate – taken down in 1794, St Giles’ Gate – taken down in 1792, St Martin’s or Coslany Gate – taken down in 1793,St Stephen’s or Nedham Gate – taken down in 1793, Westwick or St Benedict’s Gate – taken down in 1793.

A beautiful Cornus mas growing in a garden on the opposite side of the road to the City Walls was in flower

A row of attractive houses in a private road (The Crescent) off Chapel Field Road

The houses were built in about 1820 and are a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, many of which are listed.

St Stephen’s Church which is next to Intu Chapelfield – a large shopping mall.

St Stephen’s church has it’s tower over the porch on the side of the church.  I hope to visit this church later in the year and write about it in more detail as I also hope to write about the RC Cathedral.

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

St. Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich

Tags

carving, churches, flushwork, medieval, Norwich, St Peter Mancroft church, stained glass

St Peter Mancroft Church

This large church is close to Hay Hill where my last Norwich post came from.  It is the largest of the thirty-one Church of England churches in Norwich and is often mistaken for one of the two cathedrals.

The building was begun in 1430 and was consecrated in 1455, a twenty-five year single phase of construction which gives the church its unity of style.  There have been only a few additions to the exterior of the building since then, notably the little spire on top of the tower (a fleche), the parapet round the top of the tower and the ‘pepperpots’ on the corners added by the architect A E Street in 1895.

St Peter Mancroft before the Victorian additions to the tower.

St Peter Mancroft Church. Beyond it on the left of the photo you can see The Guildhall featured in a recent post of mine.

This church wasn’t the first to be built on this site.  One of William the Conqueror’s barons, Ralph de Guader, Earl of Norwich, had had a church built there in 1075 but shortly afterwards he lost everything he had after rebelling against the Conqueror.  Fortunately he had already bestowed the church on one of his chaplains, Wala, who fled to Gloucester after the rebellion.  Wala passed the church on to the Abbey of St Peter in Gloucester and so for 300 years this church was known as ‘St Peter of Gloucester in Norwich’ – quite a mouthful!  After pressure from the citizens of Norwich in 1388, the church was passed to the Benedictine Community of St-Mary-in-the-Fields in Norwich whose church (long since destroyed) was where the Assembly Room and the Theatre Royal are now.  The Dean and Chapter of St Mary’s found the old church dilapidated and in very poor condition and so decided to re-build.  It took them 42 years to save enough money through gifts, legacies and donations to be able to start the construction work.

Norwich Castle can be seen beyond St Peter Mancroft church

St Peter Mancroft on the right and the Forum ahead

St Peter Mancroft

I include here a link to an aerial map of St Peter Mancroft (marked in purple).

http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/map-record?UID=MNF257&BBOX=622901,308412,622961,308442&CRS=EPSG:27700&count=1&ck_MON1=true&ck_MON=false

During the Reformation the College of St-Mary-in-the-Field was suppressed and the patronage of St Peter Mancroft was passed through several families until 1581 when it was acquired by trustees on behalf of the parishioners.  The church was originally the church of St Peter and St Paul but the name was shortened to St Peter after the two saints were given independent saints days during the Reformation.  ‘Mancroft’ probably came from the ‘Magna Crofta’ (great meadow) on which it was built.

St Peter Mancroft – the tower is 146′ high

The church is almost completely faced with limestone which was brought many miles over land and sea at great expense.  (There is no local free-stone in Norfolk).   It was a deliberate display of wealth on the part of the 15th century citizens of Norwich.  There is some knapped flint flushwork decoration most notably on the tower which is well buttressed and was probably intended to carry another lantern stage  The tower also carries a peal of 14 bells.

There are two fine porches to the church on the north and south sides.  The North Porch has a parvaise (a room over the porch).

This is a view of the interior of the church from the back looking towards the East window.

It is 60′ from floor to roof and has eight arched bays with slender columns.  The church is also very long at 180′.

The Crib was about 5′ tall and 5′ wide. I could have got into it easily – if I had so wished!

Richard, Elinor and I visited the church on a very rainy day last week.  Amazingly, the church was warm inside!  Even the cathedral doesn’t get as cosy as St Peter Mancroft.

Font and Font Canopy in the Baptistery

The font was a gift to the church in 1463 by John Cawston, a grocer from Norwich.  The Seven Sacraments were carved on panels round the font basin and an eighth panel showed the ‘Sun in Splendour’, the badge of Henry IV.  Eight saints were carved on the shaft of the font.  Sadly, the Puritans hacked off all the images, plastered the font with lime and daubed it with black paint.  It was found in the crypt with other rubbish in 1926 and was cleaned and put in its present position.  The four pillars and the base of the canopy over the font were made in the 15th century but the upper part of the woodwork is 19th century Victorian work.

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I apologise for the poor quality of the photos in the slideshow but all of the objects were in glass cases in the St Nicholas Chapel.  These objects are just a few of the many treasures owned by the church and known as the Mancroft Heritage.

The Jesus Chapel.

This chapel is normally used for weekday services.

The tomb of Francis Windham, Recorder of Norwich in the reign of Elizabeth I

The Chancel or Choir

The Reredos (the panel behind the High Altar) has some beautiful carved figures made in 1885 and gilded in 1930 to mark the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the building of the church.  At the same time the lower line of larger figures were added by Sir Ninian Comper.

The Chancel roof

This roof (and the roof of the Nave) is of open timbered construction supported by hammer beams.  Most hammer beam roofs are ornamented and uncovered but this one is covered by fan tracery or vaulting in wood.  Most fan traceries are made from stone so this roof is very rare.  It is also an angel roof – there is a single row of small angels on either side of the Nave roof but a double row on either side of the Chancel.  There are also gilded suns in splendour on the ridge bosses.  The roof was restored in 1962 -64.  Some amazing work was done then by the restorers who raised the roof on jacks and then pulled the walls straight which had been driven outwards by the weight of the roof over the centuries.

Here is the memorial to Sir Thomas Browne, the subject of my previous Norwich post

I have discovered a quote of Sir Thomas Browne’s from his treatise ‘Urn-Burial’ at the beginning of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’.

 

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The most memorable sight in the church is that of the Great East Window.

The East Window

It has 39 tracery lights (windows/panes of glass) and 42 main lights, all of which are 15th century except seven main lights which are Victorian.  The Victorian ones are the lower five in the centre colomn and the two bottom ones either side of the centre colomn.  This window contains some of the finest work by the 15th century School of Norwich Glass Painters.  Most of the church would have originally been full of glass like this but during rioting between Puritans and Royalists in 1648 there was a gunpowder explosion nearby in a house in Bethel Street which left many people dead and much of the glass in the church blown in.  It wasn’t until four years later that the glass was gathered together from around the church and most put into this window.

Please click on this link to see each light in detail.

I am obliged and indebted to the Church Guide I purchased in St Peter Mancroft for some of the information in this post.

Thanks for visiting!

Norwich – Sir Thomas Browne

Tags

Anne and Patrick Poirer, art, Norfolk, Norwich, polymath, sculpture, Sir Thomas Browne, street furniture

As the weather hasn’t been conducive to photography recently, I decided to find and use some more of the pictures I have taken over the past year on my walks through Norwich.

Next to the Guildhall (mentioned in my recent Norwich post) is Norwich Market and on the further side of the Market Place is Hay Hill.

Statue of Sir Thomas Browne

Sir Thomas Browne, born 19th October 1605 in London, lived and worked in Norwich from 1636 until his death on 19th October 1682.  He was a polymath; a physician, a botanist and a writer.  He was well-educated, well-travelled, religious and very well-liked and respected in his time.  He wrote several important books and in doing so, coined many new words in the English language.

ambidextrous, antediluvian, analogous, approximate, ascetic, anomalous, carnivorous, coexistence, coma, compensate, computer, cryptography, cylindrical, disruption, ergotism, electricity, exhaustion, ferocious, follicle, generator, gymnastic, hallucination, herbaceous, holocaust, insecurity, indigenous, jocularity, literary, locomotion, medical, migrant, mucous, prairie, prostate, polarity, precocious, pubescent, therapeutic, suicide, ulterior, ultimate, veterinarian.

Sir Thomas Browne lived in the Hay Hill area nearly 400 years ago.  His house (which no longer stands) was in Orford Yard and he is buried in St Peter Mancroft church.  Both these places are next to Hay Hill.  He lived and worked slightly earlier in the same century as Samuel Pepys, who lived in London.

In 1671 King Charles II came to Norwich and viewed the city regiments from the balcony of the Guildhall.  Whilst he was in the city he knighted Thomas Browne and then dined with him on the first dolphin to be caught off the Norfolk coast.  This dolphin had been sent to Sir Thomas for his interest and dissection.

The statue of Sir Thomas Browne (see photo above) is by Henry Albert Pegram and it was commissioned to celebrate the 300th birthday of Sir Thomas.  The statue was unveiled on 19th October 1905 and huge crowds turned out to witness the ceremony. Pegram was also commissioned to make the memorial to Edith Cavell which stands outside the gate of Norwich Cathedral.

Edith Cavell Memorial

In the early years of this century the Hay Hill area of the city was looking a little run-down and untidy.  The authorities had wanted Anne and Patrick Poirer, a French husband and wife team of artists, to create a sculpture for the Marketplace when it was renovated but this hadn’t worked out.  They were therefore then asked to consider a commission for a sculpture on Hay Hill.  The couple researched the area and decided on a homage to Sir Thomas Browne.  This was a major public art commission, paid for by The Arts Council England East and Norwich City Council with a contribution from Norfolk County Council.  It was commissioned in 2005 and installed and opened officially in 2007.  The work was intended to be a set of street furniture; a living room for the city.

Homage to Sir Thomas Browne – street furniture

The sculpture was made in Pietrasanta in the foothills of the Carrara mountains in Tuscany, Italy.  This area is famous for it’s beautiful white marble; the granite used in this sculpture came from Zimbabwe.  (We visited Pietrasanta a couple of years ago while on holiday and enjoyed the best pizza and bruschetta we have ever tasted in a little café in the market place.)

There are twenty pieces of sculpture and twenty-two lights and all the pieces relate in some way to Sir Thomas.  Some of the pieces are made of marble and some of granite.  Some are polished and shiny and some are rough and matt.  All are intended to be sat upon.

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These pieces are arranged in a pattern known as a quinconce or quincunx, a five-pointed diamond shape which Sir Thomas believed existed throughout nature.  The pieces are also arranged in line with his home in Orford Yard and the place of his burial in St Peter Mancroft church.  Many of these pieces are inscribed with quotes from Sir Thomas using the original spelling.  At night the sculptures are lit with coloured lights set in the ground and which are part of the art-work.

The largest pieces are a marble brain and an eye carved in the classical style and refer to Sir Thomas as a thinker and to his approach to philosophy, religion and science.  There are five granite chairs,  two benches, three tables, six conical seats and two smaller pod seats which represent Sir Thomas’ interest in Botany.  The gold design on the back of some of the seats is the artists’ interpretation of the rooms of the brain – memory, creativity and intellect and the way they are linked together.

This area is well-used and in the summer many people sit here and eat their lunch or rest after doing their shopping.  Sadly, not many people understand its relevance or know who Sir Thomas Browne was!

Thanks for visiting!