A Tudor Trail Through Norwich

A Tudor Trail Through Norwich
The Tudor History & Travel Show
A Tudor Trail Through Norwich

Aug 07 2025 | 02:21:20

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Episode August 07, 2025 02:21:20

Show Notes

Here is a show notes page accompanying this episode, recorded in Norwich. We step back in time for a walking tour through the heart of Norwich, one of England’s most historic and fascinating Tudor cities. As we wander through its winding lanes and past half-timbered buildings, we’ll uncover the hidden gems and remarkable landmarks that shaped the city during the sixteenth century.

 

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Show Credits:

Presenter: Sarah Morris

Guest: Paul Dixon

Chapters

  • (00:00:21) - The Tudor History & Travel
  • (00:00:54) - Tudor History & Travel: Norwich
  • (00:03:38) - Return Trip to Norwich
  • (00:05:03) - Tudor History and Travel
  • (00:06:24) - Exploring Norwich
  • (00:10:42) - Norwich
  • (00:14:04) - Norwich's map of the Tudor city, 1558
  • (00:15:28) - Norwich's executions, the Lollards Pit and more
  • (00:18:30) - Robert Kett and the Norwich Rebellion
  • (00:22:48) - Norwich
  • (00:26:38) - The Great Hospital, Norwich
  • (00:29:47) - The Great Hospital, Le Havre
  • (00:33:22) - Norwich Castle
  • (00:39:50) - Edith Cavell's grave near the cathedral
  • (00:43:35) - Tudor connections to Norwich Cathedral
  • (00:49:25) - Beautiful cloister, blocked up doorway
  • (00:50:50) - The cathedral and the monastic refectory
  • (00:53:36) - Exploring the cathedral precinct of St. Oliphant
  • (00:54:26) - A visit to Norwich
  • (00:55:33) - Norwich rioting in 1272
  • (01:03:07) - The strangers who came to Norwich
  • (01:08:54) - Exploring Norwich's Tombland
  • (01:12:10) - House tours: Augustine Steward's Norwich home
  • (01:14:29) - The Maid's Head Hotel, Norwich
  • (01:18:35) - The Pastons' house
  • (01:20:36) - Norwich's Elm Hill
  • (01:28:16) - The Pastons: life on Elm Hill
  • (01:34:14) - Inside Augustine Stewart's house
  • (01:37:37) - London
  • (01:40:42) - Norwich
  • (01:43:50) - St Andrews Friary, Pontefract, Yorkshire
  • (01:47:11) - The Battle of Dussendale
  • (01:51:47) - Robert Kesh and the Norwich Rebellion
  • (01:57:36) - Norwich's medieval streets, tour
  • (01:59:35) - Norwich's market square
  • (02:02:47) - The Guild Hall, Norwich
  • (02:06:23) - Thomas Bilney
  • (02:10:10) - castle and St. Peter Mancroft Church
  • (02:12:14) - Norwich Castle: major renovation project, opening this year
  • (02:14:15) - St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich
  • (02:15:58) - A tour of Norwich
  • (02:19:25) - The Tudor History and Travel Show
View Full Transcript

Episode Transcript

[00:00:21] Speaker A: The Tudor History and Travel show is a podcast that brings Tudor history to. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Life by exploring Tudor places and artefacts in the flesh. [00:00:30] Speaker A: You will be travelling through time with Sarah Morris, the Tudor Travel guide, uncovering the stories behind some of the most. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Amazing Tudor locations and objects in the uk. Because when you visit a Tudor building. [00:00:43] Speaker A: It is only time and not space. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Which separates you from the past. [00:00:49] Speaker A: And now, over to your host, Sarah Morris. [00:00:54] Speaker C: Hello, my friends and welcome back to this month, August's episode of the Tudor History and Travel Show. How are you? Have you been doing any time traveling around historic Tudor sites here in the uk? You'll have to let me know. I, as you may recall from the last episode, have been in the midst of a house move move, which probably is still in process when you are listening to this. But while I take a breather from unpacking and painting and cleaning and so. [00:01:31] Speaker B: On and so forth and all the other joys of moving house, I want. [00:01:35] Speaker C: To take time out to be with you and take you on another adventure in time. Well, today there's no housekeeping. We're going to go straight over to the historic city of Norwich at the a city that I've got to know quite well just over the last two or three years. It was once one of the most important cities in all of England on account of its trading links. And you'll be hearing all about this and the impact that it had on the city with our special guest, our expert guide today, Paul Dixon, a blue badge guide who knows Norwich and its history like the back of his hand. So we are in good hands. On this particular episode, we are going to do a walking tour taking you around some of the most important historic sites in the city. Of course, historic sites with particular connections to the Tudor period. And there are many, many different facets and beautiful buildings to explore. From the burial place of Anne Boleyn's great grandmother in Norwich Cathedral, or perhaps the street that the famous medieval Paston family lived on, or the hotel that Catherine of Aragon stayed on while in pilgrimage. And also the Kett's Rebellion, which seeked to raise a rebel army against the injustices done by the common people in August of 1549. There's a lot of ground to cover and as I said, we have the perfect guide. So let's get straight on over find ourselves in the centre of Norwich. Now, do bear in mind that this is recorded in the centre of the city. Normal life is going on around us. [00:03:29] Speaker B: So there are lots of sounds and. [00:03:30] Speaker C: Noises to contend with, but I hope that doesn't take away from all that you will learn and your enjoyment of this episode. So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the ancient and venerable city of Norwich. [00:03:46] Speaker B: Well, welcome my time travelling friends. You join me in the county of Norfolk and specifically a return trip to the city of Norwich. Yes. If you've been following the Tudor history and travel show for some time now, you will know that this is not my first adventure in time here. I came here with Aiden Norrie, or maybe a couple of years ago now to record a podcast which was all about the progress of Elizabeth I to the city in 1578. Now since then I've become rather enchanted with all of its wonderful, or I should say all of the cities wonderful historic charms because there's a lot to explore here. And so I wanted to return and I have been lucky enough to be joined today by our expert guide who's standing right with me here, Paul Dixon. Hello, Paul. Thank you and welcome to the show. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Good morning. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Good. Well, we have a real adventure ahead of us today. We are going to be going on a walking tour through the city to see all of the Tudor highlights and I'm assuming a few medieval ones as well thrown in along the way. [00:04:59] Speaker A: Oh, definitely, there's plenty of those as well. [00:05:02] Speaker B: There certainly is. But before we begin in usual Tudor history and travel shows tradition, I'd love you to introduce yourself. [00:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So my name's Paul Dixon and I'm a Norwich tour guide. I've been doing guided tours in the city for 11 years and I do do one that looks at Ketch's Rebellion. I've got medieval ones, I've got one that mixes medieval Norwich and Tudor Norwich as well. So there's a, there's a good mix of tours looking at the period that we're considering today. [00:05:36] Speaker B: That's fantastic. And we are going to be looking at a whole range of different historic events and personalities and artifacts and places associated with different parts of Tudor history. So unlike my previous podcast in Norwich, where we were very much following in the footsteps of Elizabeth I, we're going to be jumping around a little bit in time and I think this is probably a good time to remind everybody that as ever, there's a show notes page associated with the this podcast because Paul is going to be sharing some maps with us. So I'll make sure that I put those and illustrations onto the show notes page. And as ever, there'll also be a gallery of images which will show you some of the things that we are going to be looking at and Exploring today. Okay. Right, well, you have brought me to a beautiful, what looks like a medieval style stone bridge. We'll, we're starting our tour here. But I do think for those people who are maybe tuning in and learning about medieval and Tudor Norwich for the first time, it might be good just to kind of set the scene. If I was coming to Norwich in the early 16th century, what kind of things would I have encountered? What did the city look like and who was living here? [00:06:58] Speaker A: Well, you would be visiting what was England's second city at the time. So, you know, long before Birmingham and the population here would have been around 20,000. You had a three mile wall going round most of the city. But as you said, we're standing on a bridge here with the river. The river Wensum was basically a big moat on the east side of the city and part of the north. So the wall didn't go all the way around. There were 37 churches within the Walled City. We've still got 31 of them today. [00:07:42] Speaker B: I must admit, as you drive in and go around Norwich, wherever you look, there seems to be a church. It's amazing, so many are still here. [00:07:52] Speaker A: It's absolutely fantastic that they've survived. Actually, before the Black Death, there were more than 60 churches in Norwich and quite a number closed down because of the Black Death. I mean, the population in the second half of the 14th century declined from around about 20,000 to 6,000, it's thought. So by the time we're in the early 16th century in Norwich has built itself back up again. [00:08:25] Speaker B: Is it at its peak in the 16th century in terms of population and wealth? And the second question is, where did all that wealth come from? Why was Norwich such an important city? [00:08:38] Speaker A: Well, the wealth came from the woollen cloth industry. And this was really England's number one centre for the manufacture and trade in woolen cloth. It's probably the 18th century when Norwich reaches its peak, before the Industrial Revolution. And then during the Industrial Revolution, it, it loses out to Yorkshire, which has lots of, lots of mills and produces much cheaper cloth than in Norwich. [00:09:08] Speaker B: But why was the wool and the trade so vibrant here in this part of the world? [00:09:15] Speaker A: Well, we've got a huge county out there. Great, great, great area for growing sheep, I think is one way of putting it. And also we are superbly positioned for trade with northern Europe. And, you know, this is before England starts to look west, really. And looking east, it's not very far to get across to the Netherlands from here and to Germany. So we were incredibly well positioned for Trade. King's Lynn on the west side of the county, was a member of the Hanseatic League. So we were. We were all sort of connected very well with Europe. [00:09:57] Speaker B: Could you explain for people who don't understand what the Hanseatic League was? [00:10:01] Speaker A: It's a trading league, so it's major ports in. In northern Europe, like Lubeck, and we can add King's Lynn to that. And, you know, it's a trading consortium, I suppose you could say. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Okay, wonderful. Well, actually, people will have heard a big toot on a horn just nearby. And so it is a good time for me to say, of course, almost all of today's recording will be outdoors. So there's building work, there's people going about their everyday business. We'll be near some major roads, but we'll try and do our best to minimise the background noise, but just be aware that life is going on around us in Norwich. Okay, great. So Norwich, I mean, I talked before Elizabeth. I obviously came here. She wasn't the only royal visitor. And maybe we'll touch on some of those as we go. But can you just give us a few highlights of some of the important people who spent time or came to Norwich and perhaps we may pick up bits of their stories as we go. [00:11:02] Speaker A: Yes, well, Cardinal Woolsey came here to sort out a dispute between the monastery and the city. And actually, all the way through the. The time that there was the monastery here, the locals didn't really particularly like the monks. So there was. There's a lot, quite a lot of trouble. It's mainly about land ownership and power. [00:11:27] Speaker B: And money, of course, as ever. [00:11:28] Speaker A: And they were. They were jealous of the monastery and the power of the monastery. So you had Cardinal Woolsey here. Catherine of Aragon, she came. Now, I'm not sure if she just stopped off here and then went on to Walsingham, but there's every chance that that's what she was up to. But she was entertained by the prior, so she stayed with him and then she had a meal with the city fathers at the Maid's Head Inn. Now we're going past the Maidshead Hotel later on so that, you know, there's brilliant. [00:12:06] Speaker B: A couple of highlights for people to get their teeth into and look forward to. Now, I specifically asked you, where should we meet, Paul? And you said, come to Bishop's Bridge. And as I mentioned, this beautiful medieval bridge here. Why are we starting our tour here? [00:12:21] Speaker A: Well, because this is, first of all, the oldest bridge in the city. So this dates back to the 1340s and was initially the bishop's private entrance into the city. And then of course, he thought, oh, it's going to cost too much to look after. I will kindly give it to the city of Norwich. Which he did. I see. And of course, it looked quite different in the period we're talking about because there was a gatehouse right where we're. Where we're standing. And I've got a. This is an 18th century image of the gatehouse. [00:13:00] Speaker B: I see. So it's like a typical turreted gatehouse with crenulations around the top. So you. You would think almost you're walking into. It's like a fortified. Well, it's a gate, isn't it? Like any city wall. Yeah. Right, okay. [00:13:14] Speaker A: And this was isolated, really, because as I said earlier, there was no wall on this side of the city. So this was. [00:13:23] Speaker B: It was defensive. [00:13:24] Speaker A: It was, yes. So they were all taken down, all the gates in the late 18th century, which I think is a huge shame. [00:13:33] Speaker B: Were they falling down, Paul? [00:13:34] Speaker A: Well, it was the city. Yep. Didn't want to spend money on repairing them. And also they want. Also they wanted to improve access into the city as well. [00:13:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:48] Speaker A: But, you know, it's sad, isn't it? I mean, later on we're going to see the site of where the market cross used to be. I mean, that disappeared in the 18th century as well. So, you know, there's nothing new in life really, is there? [00:14:02] Speaker B: No, but it does make you part bleed there. [00:14:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Norwich had 12 gates. And, you know, this shows you what a busy city this was to have 12 entrances. [00:14:16] Speaker B: 12 is enormous, isn't it? I mean, I've looked at various Tudor cities quite often. There's four for the four points of the compass. Some of them have a few more, but I'm not sure I've come across 12 before. [00:14:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:29] Speaker B: And so you look, you're showing me a map of The Tudor city, 1558, I see. [00:14:37] Speaker A: Yes, it is the Cunningham map. This was actually the first detailed map produced of a provincial city. So, you know, Norwich's history. There are many firsts and this is one of them. And it's. It's not a map that we would recognize today because east is at the top of the map. So you've got east, west and south and north. So. [00:15:07] Speaker B: Ah, okay. That is a bit disorienting. [00:15:10] Speaker A: It is, it is. And I've just circled on here, you can see Bishop's Bridge. It's just there on the map. You can just make out a gate. [00:15:20] Speaker B: So we're over to the east of. [00:15:21] Speaker A: The city at the moment, east of the city and, you know, very important entrance. Now, other things to talk about here. First of all, across the river, on the other side of the river, you can see a pub called the Lollards Pit. [00:15:40] Speaker B: Yes, I can indeed. [00:15:41] Speaker A: And that tells us that that was the site that so called heretics were. Were burnt. I mean, the first lot obviously were Lollards in the, in the 1420s. But then we get a chap called Thomas Bilney who was burnt to death during Henry VIII's reign and. And then there were three during Queen Mary's reign who were burnt to death. So you can imagine people coming traipsing across the bridge. [00:16:16] Speaker B: Oh God. [00:16:16] Speaker A: From the guildhall in the marketplace. [00:16:18] Speaker B: Yes. [00:16:20] Speaker A: Where they'd been imprisoned and, you know, we're sort of doing the route in reverse that these poor people would have taken. [00:16:27] Speaker B: Well, that sent absolute shivers and my stomach's just turned over. I mean, at the moment the pub is a. I don't know whether it's got a faux frontage, but it's got a bit of a timber frame frontage. It looks like an older building and at the moment there's just a main road now plows across where that used to happen. They often did have executions outside city walls, didn't they? So this would have been just outside the city perimeter. [00:16:49] Speaker A: Yes, but most of the executions, if you're being hanged, you would be hanged within the city. So in the marketplace area or by the castle, which was the main county prison. [00:17:04] Speaker B: Right. [00:17:04] Speaker A: So you had a county prison in the castle and then the city had its own prisons. [00:17:09] Speaker B: Yes, but they burnt people. I remember in Oxford, the site that Cranmer was burnt was just outside the city wall, so. Oh, gosh. Right, okay. But there's, there's also, I am aware, yes. That looking eastwards, the ground rises up and that's quite an important place, isn't it? [00:17:29] Speaker A: It is. So in the 16th century, the whole area across the bridge here was Mousehold Heath. Now today Mousehold Heath is more round to our left and it's still very much a public open space, much beloved by the locals. But what we're looking at today is actually three Thorpe Hamlet and you can see a lot of. A lot of buildings. [00:17:55] Speaker B: Yes. Houses up there. [00:17:56] Speaker A: Yes. Across, across the river now it's a really steep hill, it's called Gas Hill. Again, this is completely outside our period. But Norwich's first gas works were behind the Lollards Pit pub. So just in this site in the 1830s and it became known as Gas Hill. And anyone who thinks that Norfolk's flat should come here because Gas Hill is really steep. It's incredible and maybe you should try it out yourself later in the week. So at the top of here, though, is Kett's Heights. It's just. Just off to our left, beyond the Houses, and that is where Robert Kettle had his headquarters in 1549, Robert Kett heads up huge popular uprising, mainly aimed at abuses of common rights and particularly grazing rights. Very important. The likes of us, you know, relied on common land to graze. [00:19:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yes. To survive. [00:19:09] Speaker A: Exactly. And, you know, landowners, especially in Norfolk, where it's the woolen cloth industry, are thinking, ha, ha, let's. Let's take some common land, put fences around it and graze more sheep there. And it wasn't just the common common rights of grazing that was going fishing, collecting firewood, collecting timber, you know, also in some cases even hunting in the Broads, the Norfolk Broads, collecting reed for thatching. Landowners would make people pay for that now rather than collect it free. [00:19:50] Speaker B: So he was a real hero of the common man then, really, wasn't he, fighting against what we might call the Blob these days? [00:19:56] Speaker A: Yes, yes, he was. And of course, you know, all Tudor rebellions end in tears, I'm afraid, so, as we know. And poor old Robert Kett ends up being hanged from the battlements of Norwich Castle. And he was. He was sort of damned for centuries, really. They. They used to have a. Every Sunday closest to 27 August, which was the fine date of the four final battle. Every year they used to have a church service at St Peter Mancroft Church, which we'll see later on. And this was to give thanks for the defeat of Ket. And that went on until the early 18th century. So it's not until the late 19th century that historians start looking at him and, as you say, see that he was actually someone who. Trying to do good for the common man. [00:20:53] Speaker B: Very courageous. Because, as you say, this didn't often end well. There was the Pilgrimage of Grace not that long before he would have known all about that and seen how that ended for the leaders. And yet he's still prepared to lead that rebellion. So people can go up there, can't they? They can go up to Kett's Heights, which we're not going to do today because it takes us a little bit out of our walking trail. We've got a very long walk ahead of us, but we are going to. Chris and I are going to nip up there later on in the week. [00:21:21] Speaker A: You'Ve got the remains of St. Michael's Chapel up there, which was Robert Kett's headquarters. And St. Michael's Chapel was part of St. Leonard's Priory, which was a daughter house of the main monastery, which was up there as well. And it was actually just a interesting character who bought the priory. It was. Was Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, the Duke of Norfolk's eldest son, bought the priory from Henry VIII and then built a huge house up there, knocking down the priory. For some reason, he kept St. Michael's Chapel. So Ket had a fantastic headquarters. And then Surrey House, as it was called, or Mount Surrey was empty because, of course, he was Henry VIII's last victim, was he not? [00:22:16] Speaker B: He was indeed, yeah. Yeah. [00:22:18] Speaker A: And so Ket used that house to imprison gentlemen that he'd captured. [00:22:28] Speaker B: So the hat. That house is long gone. [00:22:29] Speaker A: No, that's gone, yeah. But you've got part of St. Michael's Chapel, so it's worth going to see it. And also the view of Norwich, you know, when you go up there, you'll see the Cunningham map basically laid out in front of you. You know, the Tudor Norwich. [00:22:45] Speaker B: I'm looking forward to that. So it's well worth doing. Okay, so, yeah, we've got plenty of history already at our fingertips. We probably should get walking because we have got a lot of walking to do today, haven't we? [00:22:57] Speaker A: Yes, let's go. [00:24:30] Speaker B: So we just left the bridge. The bridge is receding away behind us. And as you said, Paul, we're in reverse, following in the footsteps of those poor unfortunate souls that were brought from the. The prison, their prison at the Guildhall, to that execution. And it's. I think one of the things you notice as you walk through Norwich is how much of the buildings are made out of this kind of flinty flint. Is it? Is it flint? [00:24:55] Speaker A: That's right, yes. So this is our local St. And in the Middle Ages, all the way around the outside of the city walls, there were lots of flint mines, so all readily available material for building. But of course, the Normans wanted something grander for their cathedral monastery, and they brought virtually all the stone with them from Normandy, which I find absolutely incredible. I think the technology that you had in the late 11th century, it is amazing, isn't it? [00:25:34] Speaker B: And they shipped that stone, obviously, across the English Channel and then made their way down the River Wensum. Was there a private wharf at the back of the cathedral? Did I read where the stone was unloaded? [00:25:47] Speaker A: And you can see that today there's the old water gate of the monastery which is still there. It's called Pulls ferry today. And you can see an indentation from the river which was the start of a canal. And the canal went through the watergate and then virtually up to the lower close. We'll be walking very close to the end of the canal a bit later on so they could bring the stone as close to the building site as possible. The canal was filled in in the late 18th century. Seem to be mentioning late 18th century. [00:26:28] Speaker B: There's a lot of that. I can see who is responsible for the destruction of a number of historical places in Norfolk. So Paul, I can't help but noticing that on our right hand side, this beautiful must be a medieval building. It looks like a church. Yes, it is a church because I'm saying that with confidence because I can see a plaque that says the Church of England diocese of Norwich, St Helen Bishopgate. Tell us about this building. [00:26:57] Speaker A: Yes, if we just come back a bit so we can get a good view. So this is called the Great Hospital. Now it was founded in 1249 by Bishop Walter de Suffield. So it's a religious foundation and it was, I quote, for decrepit priests and sick paupers. So it's what we would recognize as a hospice nowadays, end of life care. So in the, in the middle ages the residents would have lived at the west end next to the tower. And then of course the east end would have been the business end of the church. When we get to the dissolution of the monasteries, there are about a thousand of these religious foundations that operated as hospitals around the country. And you know, the vast majority of them were all closed down by Henry viii. But incredibly this one survived. And the Duke of Norfolk and other elite members of the community in Norwich all petitioned Henry VII for this to continue operating because it was doing a good job for the poor of Norwich. And he said okay, wow, that's very unlike Henry. It is, it is. So they obviously caught him on a good day and. But what he said was, I will take control of this building and its land, but when I die I will bequeath it to the city of Norwich and give it more land as well. And this happens. And outside the sort of main entrance to the church here you've got a bit of Tudor poetry, but this is actually an 18th century replica of the original. [00:28:59] Speaker B: I see. [00:28:59] Speaker A: The original is actually within the building and if I can just read it out. [00:29:04] Speaker B: Yes, please do. [00:29:06] Speaker A: King Henry viii of noble fame, bequeathed this city this commodious Place with lands and rents he did endow the same to help decrepit age in woeful case, Edward vi, that prince of royal stem, performed his father's generous bequest, good Queen Elizabeth, imitating them ample endowments added to the rest. Their pious deeds we gratefully record While heaven them crowns with glorious reward the. [00:29:43] Speaker B: Great and the good. [00:29:45] Speaker A: Good old Henry viii, you know. [00:29:47] Speaker B: Well, it is an unusual building, though, because you can see that it's more than just a church, all again in that flint stone, almost exclusively in that flintstone. [00:29:59] Speaker A: What happens in 1549 during Ketch Rebellion? So this is the main access into the city for Kett's rebels. And they pull down the south aisle of the church to widen the road. So if you can, you can see those archways just over there. [00:30:19] Speaker B: Oh, yes. [00:30:20] Speaker A: There would have been an aisle coming out from there. And so that was a bit of destruction. Now, after Ketch rebellion, the city decided not to rebuild the aisles and they converted the west end into men's accommodation upstairs, downstairs. So they put in a first floor and the same for the east end for women. And people lived in the church until the 1960s. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Really. Wow. [00:30:58] Speaker A: It's run by a charity now and it's. It's sheltered housing. [00:31:03] Speaker B: I see. So it still performs a similar sort of function. Because I was going to ask you, is it open, is it a church now? But now you've answered that question. [00:31:11] Speaker A: So you, you've still got a functioning church and it's still. You saw that gentleman just came out of the gate there, so he's, he's just come out of his. His accommodation. As well as the, the medieval church, you've got 18th century, 19th century, 20th century buildings here. And you know, there's some building work going on at the moment as well. So it's. [00:31:37] Speaker B: So can you access any of that building today as just a visitor? [00:31:42] Speaker A: They do a monthly guided tour. So. Okay, you know, if you go on the Great Hospital website, you'll see the dates of their guided tours and obviously they do group tours as well. [00:31:55] Speaker B: So that's the Great Hospital. [00:31:57] Speaker A: The Great Hospital. [00:31:58] Speaker B: And we've just moved a little bit further along the road and we've got these beautiful iron railings that open out into a courtyard surrounded by, I would imagine, lodgings, accommodations. Very, very, very nice. [00:32:12] Speaker A: Yes. And you can see on the left, you've got 18th century structure on the left there of the courtyard. This is the only medieval hospital with all of its medieval buildings intact. [00:32:27] Speaker B: Is that. So that's really interesting. [00:32:29] Speaker A: It's also it's got all its archives dating back to the foundation, and the archives have a special UNESCO designation because they're so rare. [00:32:43] Speaker B: That's amazing, because I can see in front of us there's a flagpole with the English flag flying, and underneath it it has the Great Hospital, founded 1249. What a wonderful complex of buildings. I'd love to come on a monthly tour. I'm sure they take you into some interesting places and you get to see some fantastic architectural gems, I'm sure. Have you been in. [00:33:05] Speaker A: You get taken into the upstairs women's ward in the. In the church, and it's still got all its cubicles in there and, you know, the. The communal dining area. It's. It's very evocative. [00:33:22] Speaker B: Now, Paul, you mentioned that the road. It's a very straight road. We've been walking down straight and quite wide. And you mentioned that this was the principal route that kept army invaded the city. It's now a good time to talk about that rebellion when it happened and what happened on that day, which I think was the 1st of August, 1549. Am I right? [00:33:48] Speaker A: That was the first battle. Yes, the. The one that Robert Kett won. So if we just go, go back, actually, they take control of the city on the 22nd of July. So having arrived on Mousehold Heath about 10 days earlier. Now, the reason why they take control of the city is They've sent the 29 requests down to protect Somerset. [00:34:25] Speaker B: And who, by the way, is leading the English army at that time, Is that right? [00:34:31] Speaker A: No, no, no. Well, he's. [00:34:33] Speaker B: Oh, he's obviously the law protector. [00:34:35] Speaker A: He's the Lord Protector. [00:34:35] Speaker B: So he sent them to London, basically. [00:34:38] Speaker A: So the 29 requests go down to Somerset in London, and, you know, basically the requests are all about bringing an end to abuses of common rights, but also some interesting ones, that all bond men should be made free, all slaves, that the local community should have a say in who their parish priest is. And I think the most radical of all that said parish priest should teach the young to read so they can read the Bible, which is, you know, education for all in the 16th century. So these requests go down to London and then The Herald returns, 21st of July with the answer, which was, go home, you're all a rabble. And Robert Kett, you're a traitor. Which wasn't exactly very helpful, but there we are. And so the mayor then shut the gates of the city to stop Kettner's men coming in, because they were now rebels, refusing to go home. And the day after 22nd of July, Keth takes the city for the first time. And this is so they can have access to the marketplace. And so he controls Norwich through Augustine Steward, who we'll meet later on. Augustine Steward was the Deputy mayor and he ran the city on behalf of the kets. And on the 31st of July, the Marquess of Northampton arrived with 1500 soldiers. Now, Ket's rebellion was one of many protests, uprisings all over the Midlands and the south. And you've got the huge one in the southwest called the Prayer Book Revolt, which is primarily aimed at the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer in English. Ket's rebellion is. Is more about economic matters. And so you've only got 1500 soldiers. Keth had something like up to 15,000 people had descended on Mount Old Heath. So it's nearly the population of Norwich. [00:37:09] Speaker B: Yeah. That's incredible. [00:37:12] Speaker A: It's amazing. And even though you've got 1500 professional soldiers, that's nothing. So what happens on the 1st of August is Kett's men smash their way through the gatehouse on Bishopsbridge for the second time, and they come charging up the road that we've walked up, and then go round to the right, which we haven't. [00:37:38] Speaker B: We bore off to the left to come to the cathedral, which we'll come. [00:37:41] Speaker A: To in a minute, and so go off to the right. So that's Bishopgate. They follow Bishopgate round to outside St. Martin's at Palace Plain, one of the churches. And that is where they meet the Earl of Sheffield, who is there with part of the Marquess of Northampton's army. And Sheffield gets unhorsed and is he takes his helmet off to say, I'm, you know, I'm a man of quality, I should be ransomed. And the story goes that a butcher from North Walsham, armed with his meat cleaver, didn't understand the rules of war and why should he? And of course, you know what happened to Richard. Exactly. And the battle ends quite quickly. It's probably no more than a skirmish. [00:38:31] Speaker B: I understand that. Is there a plaque there? [00:38:33] Speaker A: There is, yes. [00:38:34] Speaker B: So that's just. Is that the site that he fell or the site that he was buried? I haven't been. I want one of those things I want to go and see while I'm here, but probably not today. [00:38:43] Speaker A: We're not exactly sure where he fell, but he was buried in the graveyard of St Martin's at Palace Plain, which is across the road from there. [00:38:52] Speaker B: Still there, isn't it? [00:38:53] Speaker A: Yes, yeah. The church is still there. And he was buried there with 11 members of the Royal army. Which gets you thinking that was probably no more than a skirmish. [00:39:04] Speaker B: I say. And does he have a marked grave there now or has that been lost? It's somewhere in the graveyard. We don't know where. Yeah, yeah, okay. [00:39:11] Speaker A: His body may have been removed at some stage anyway, you know, recycled. [00:39:17] Speaker B: It's interesting factor. While I was reading ahead of coming here, apparently that Earl of Sheffield used to be the ward of George Boleyn when he was a young little boy. So just a little bit of a connection to the Boleyn family, who of course are another big family from Norfolk and Norwich. Anyway, we've been. So that. That's. We may come back to a bit more of the Kett's rebellion as we walk through the city. Great. [00:39:44] Speaker A: We've got one more battle. [00:39:45] Speaker B: Okay. Right, well, I'm sure you will guide us and bring that up at the appropriate time. But I just wanted to update people. We've been wandering along as. As Paul said, we. We left the. The road to kind of enter the. I'm guessing here, the precinct of the cathedral. As I have a great big cathedral right in front of me. Very pretty. It is too, round here, isn't it? [00:40:08] Speaker A: It's fantastic. [00:40:10] Speaker B: I couldn't help notice, by the way, can I just say, I noticed there's a very striking solitary gave of Edith Cavell down there, who's a much later, much later figure. But she was a nurse, wasn't she? [00:40:22] Speaker A: She was. And she was a Norfolk woman born in the village of Swardston, which is just south of Norwich. And of course she was working in Brussels at the outbreak of the First World War. She'd been there since 1907, setting up the first nursing school in Belgium. [00:40:43] Speaker B: I know she's a very big figure in England of those hospitals named after her. I trained as a medic. I even worked at the Edith Cavell Hospital. So hence caught my eye. It's very striking because it sits there all on its own just towards the back of the cathedral. It's. It's. It's quite beautiful really. [00:41:01] Speaker A: That was complete refurbishment of the grave to mark the 100th anniversary. So she was executed in October 1915. She was shot. Yes. She was involved in the. Became involved in the underground, helping Allied soldiers who got trapped behind German lines to escape to neutral Holland. [00:41:23] Speaker B: I'd forgotten about that. Yes. [00:41:45] Speaker A: Sa. [00:42:11] Speaker B: Sam. SA. [00:43:02] Speaker A: Sam. [00:43:35] Speaker B: We're now within the cathedral precinct, quite clearly. We're right next to the sort of the west end of the cathedral. What do we need to know about. Is now a good time to talk about the cathedral here and maybe some of its Tudor connections? Because there are a couple, aren't there? [00:43:55] Speaker A: Yes. So the actual. The cathedral itself went through a bit of a hard time during the Tudor period and particularly Elizabeth I's reign, because there was quite a radical dean here called Dean Gardner, who destroyed the Lady Chapel. Now, over to the right, you can see some remains of flint wall. So that's the east end of the Lady Chapel. And then you can see very rough masonry going up the side of the building, which also survives. And if you just come over here, if we look up, can you see how there's the outline of a building going right up? So it's a much better, taller, grander chapel which was destroyed. And it's such a shame. It's another thing that's been lost to history. You know, what you're looking at There today is 1930s Royal North Regiment chapel. [00:45:06] Speaker B: Yes. There's a real scar on that building. You can see how it's been ravaged and hacked at to tear down that Lady Chapel. [00:45:13] Speaker A: Yes. [00:45:14] Speaker B: Some beautiful sort of. [00:45:15] Speaker A: Yes. [00:45:16] Speaker B: I don't know. Normanesque. [00:45:17] Speaker A: Yes. So these are. These are Norman chapels. So this is the earliest part of the building, the east end, because obviously they built the East End first, you know, so they could have services as soon as possible. And so this is one of the side chapels, Norman side chapel. There's an enormous amount of Norman fabric within this building still today. So huge arches inside the building and great big columns which. Which hold up the building. [00:45:50] Speaker B: Now, I understand from my. My reading that it was a. An early Norman. Was he a bishop? Herbert. [00:46:00] Speaker A: Herbert de Lozenge, yes. [00:46:02] Speaker B: Who brought the cathedral here from Thetford. [00:46:04] Speaker A: That's right, yes. So it was moved and it was because the Pope ordained that the biggest town in the area should be where the bishop has his seat. That's, you know, what I believe. And so that's why it came from Thetford to Norwich. And I always think, you know, this is an enormous building and 11th and early 12th century, what the locals must have thought going up. It's a sort of a miracle, really, in many ways. [00:46:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. When you stand at those west doors. I was just at. Where was I? Peterborough Cathedral the other day. And you. You stand at the west doors and look up and you've got the towering edifice. It makes you look so small. But as. As the. My guide was saying. That's exactly the point. That's exactly the point. [00:46:58] Speaker A: Exactly. We're actually walking through the chapter house here. Ah, which is gone. [00:47:03] Speaker B: Which is gone. Yeah. [00:47:05] Speaker A: Okay, so that's another, another bit of Tudor destruction. And the monks dormitory, there's. There's a line of cars parked here and they are basically parked where the monks dormitory used to be. Yes, but, but on the left here you've got a flint building, a very large flint building which is the Dean's house. And within that you've got the original Priors hall house. [00:47:34] Speaker B: Oh, how wonderful. [00:47:36] Speaker A: That's a fantastic building. [00:47:37] Speaker B: Can you get in and see that or is that all private or do. [00:47:40] Speaker A: They do anything that's private? I have been in for special events in the past. Unfortunately the cloisters survive. [00:47:48] Speaker B: I was just going to say just in front of us we've got a doorway and you can see that we're through into the, the cloisters here. Are we going to explore in the cloisters? Where are we going next? I don't want to presume where we going? [00:47:59] Speaker A: We can probably do a quick go through this doorway which was the actual main entrance to the chapter house. So that has survived. [00:48:09] Speaker B: Of course you can see that now that you point it out. You've got a central archway with two on either side. So I can see how that would have been the main, the main entrance way projecting outwards from where we are. [00:48:23] Speaker A: But what we can do is go through this doorway, turn left and do a, do a part of the cloisters. [00:48:31] Speaker B: Lead the way. There's nothing like a good walk around a cloister. Now of course when I was here last time in Norwich, we spent quite a little bit of time in the cathedral. So if you want to learn more about the Berlin history associated with the cathedral because of course we have. I think it's Anne Boleyn's great grandmother Anne, who is, is buried in the Berlin Chantry Chapel here. And of course then we have the visit of Elizabeth to the cathedral in 1578 and how she had her throne placed opposite the Berlin Chantry Church chapel. So if you want to learn much more about that in detail, head on over to my podcast episode which specifically covers that progress and I'll make sure that I put a link in the description associated with this podcast. As ever. But back to this beautiful cloister. [00:49:28] Speaker A: I always like pointing this out. This is into the warming room. It's all blocked up now. You can see how the steps are so worn, aren't they? [00:49:41] Speaker B: They're beautiful black. I don't know whether they're just stone or marble, but they love beautifully worn and Then you've got. I love blocked up doorways. This is fantastic. Kind of Gothic arch, but the doorway is completely. What? Yeah, and maybe you want to explain, maybe people don't know. Some people don't know what a warming room was. [00:49:59] Speaker A: Well, it was the only part of the monastery where the monks can go and warm their hands basically. [00:50:06] Speaker B: Yeah. There was no fires lit around apart from here, was it? [00:50:09] Speaker A: That's it, yes. [00:50:10] Speaker B: I guess other than the kitchens, this was, as you say, the only place where there was warmth during any icy English winters. [00:50:17] Speaker A: That's quite incredible really. [00:50:19] Speaker B: Okay, let's keep walking. [00:50:21] Speaker A: And then you've got another blocked up doorway that would have been up to the monk's dormitory. [00:50:29] Speaker B: I see. So you would have monks coming down and then processing along. And you can see right at the end of the cloister you've got this beautiful doorway. You can tell there's something special behind there, can't you? So that would have been where they would have gone in the morning. Yes, and various times of the day to sing the mass. So where are we heading now, Paul? What's our next destination? [00:50:53] Speaker A: Well, we're just emerging from the cloisters and to our right is the cathedral's modern refectory where or cafe and that is actually built on the site of the monastic refectory as well. [00:51:12] Speaker B: Nice. [00:51:13] Speaker A: And you know, there were never more than 60 monks here, I gather, and. But on any one day they could be feeding two hundred and fifty people. So it was a busy, busy old place. And I've read that, you know, on an annual basis, 15th century, say they were producing 10,000 loaves of bread for the poor in Norwich as well. So it's a major operation. [00:51:43] Speaker B: Yeah. And obviously there would have been a lot of lay brothers doing that work. [00:51:49] Speaker A: There must have been. [00:51:50] Speaker B: Yes, we've got a series of pillars over there. [00:51:53] Speaker A: Yeah, so that's the old infirmary. So not much of that left either. [00:51:59] Speaker B: It's all very beautiful though. I mean it's a beautiful space. [00:52:04] Speaker A: It is, it is beautiful. To our left here you've got a lovely open space area which is the lower close. And this was during the monastic period. This would have been the private area for the monks. So down here you'd have the granaries and the bakery and the brewery. A lot of production going on down here. [00:52:33] Speaker B: And now you've got. It's surrounded, it's a green, a central green, surrounded by a variety of different styles, from Georgian to perhaps kind of older looking flint buildings and all these beautiful cherry blossoms. We're Here. [00:52:44] Speaker A: Yes, we're here. [00:52:45] Speaker B: We're recording this actually, in mid, mid, late April and all the cherry blossom trees are out and it's. It's really rather beautiful. [00:52:54] Speaker A: It's. It's lovely. It's also very peaceful. Apart from the odd car. [00:52:59] Speaker B: Yes. You can't get away from them. [00:53:02] Speaker A: We can hear the birds tweeting away. [00:53:06] Speaker B: When was the. Just out of interest, when was the spire of the cathedral? [00:53:10] Speaker A: So the spire is second half of the 15th century. So they had wooden spires before that. Three times. The wooden spire fell over. Basically in the end they decided, okay, we'll build a brick spire with stone facing. So that's what you've got there. [00:53:36] Speaker B: Now we've turned the corner, we've got another open. We're still within the cathedral precinct here. And in front of us I can see a gate, a gateway which obviously led on the other side. We've kind of. We've crossed, haven't we? We've kind of crossed east to west, essentially. [00:53:54] Speaker A: Yes, that's right. [00:53:55] Speaker B: The cathedral precinct, which is a huge area actually, isn't it? Just. Just really emphasizes to me how, how significant how big these monasteries were. [00:54:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I think this is the largest cathedral close in the country. [00:54:09] Speaker B: Is it? Right, Well, I can understand. And we've got. It's beautiful. What's the name of this gateway? [00:54:15] Speaker A: So this is the Ethelbert Gate and it is a rebuild in the late 13th, early 14th century. I mentioned before about the locals not necessarily getting on well with. Oh, well, we ought to mention him as we go. [00:54:36] Speaker B: Look, I can't help but noticing lovely Paddington Bear. [00:54:42] Speaker A: So he's not very Tudor, but he's. [00:54:45] Speaker B: Lovely, isn't he, with his marmalade sandwich. So what's Paddington doing here, Paul? [00:54:51] Speaker A: Well, Norwich won. Won him in a competition. You know, lots of towns and cities were asked, you know, why they should have been Paddington Bear. [00:55:04] Speaker B: Yes. [00:55:04] Speaker A: And there was an outpouring from Norwich of love for Paddington. And here he is. [00:55:10] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Because I wouldn't have normally associated Paddington with Norwich, but it's purely because the people wanted him. How lovely. [00:55:16] Speaker A: He's here until at least November. [00:55:18] Speaker B: Oh, really? [00:55:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:20] Speaker B: And you can see a nice picture of me sitting with Paddington in the show notes. Okay. Well, again, we digress. But it's hard not to, isn't it, when you're in some city was so full of cornucopia of delights. So you were telling me about the gateway. [00:55:36] Speaker A: So in 1272 there was a huge riot outside in Tombland. We'll be in Tombland soon there was Tombland Fair was going on and the locals thought that someone had been murdered in Tombland and they believed that it had been two monastic servants who'd carried out this murder. Now it was all. It was all sort of whisper, whisper. There was no proof or anything, but it was enough to get the locals to attack the monastery to, you know, try and get hold of these alleged murderers. So they destroyed the gate that was there. They just. As you come through the gate, there's this sort of like the century books for visiting Norwich Cathedral, that was the site of St. Ethelbert's Church that was destroyed. And then they set fire to the roof of the cathedral church, which was wooden at the time, and they destroyed the cloisters. So it was a pretty serious, serious job. Now what happened? The. The king, Henry iii happened to be at Bury St Edmunds and he came hot foot to Norwich to sort things out. The prior head of the monastery had gone to Great Yarmouth to get some mercenaries and they brought order in the city and arrested 30 ring leaders. When the King arrived, the ring leaders were immediately executed. The King put his own men in to run the city and find the city. 3,000 marks. That's enormous, enormous amount of money. And that was all to go towards the rebuilding of the cathedral. And the Pope got involved as well and he excommunicated Norwich, which is pretty serious. In 1272. [00:57:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:57:53] Speaker A: So it took the city three years to pay the fine. It's not about going, actually, no. And having paid the fine, the Pope lifted the excommunication and the King took his men out of the city and Norwich could run its own affairs again. But there was one more thing to do and that was rebuild the gate here. And rather than rebuild the church, they were allowed to put a chapel on top of the gate. And so it's called St. Ethelbert's Gate, after the chapel. It took the city until 1316 to complete this. So if you think the. The riot was in 1272, so it's quite, quite a long time. The chapel today is actually used as the main music centre for Norwich School. So within the cathedral close here you have Norwich School, which is an independent day school which traces its history back to the monastic schools. The monastic schools were closed at the dissolution and then in 1551, the city refounded the monastic grammar school here and it was called King Edward VI's Grammar School, which it still is, it still to this day. But of course we call it Norwich School. [00:59:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Right. [00:59:27] Speaker A: And right across the close, the far side of the close, we can see a rather fine looking chapel and that is a. An early 14th century chantry chapel. And of course, chantries were closed down in Edward VI's reign. And so you have this empty building for the school when it was refounded. [00:59:52] Speaker B: Whose chantry chapel was it? [00:59:54] Speaker A: It was. Well, it was a. It was a. It was what was called a canary college. So anyone could pay for the priests. [01:00:05] Speaker B: I see, you know, to pray for their souls. [01:00:07] Speaker A: Pray for their souls. But also the. We'll walk towards it. [01:00:11] Speaker B: Yes, please, let's do that. [01:00:13] Speaker A: So also the, the undercroft area. You can see those circular windows that was used for storing bones from overflowing graveyards. [01:00:25] Speaker B: Oh, right, so like an ossuary. [01:00:26] Speaker A: Yep, that's right. [01:00:28] Speaker B: And can you, can you go inside there? [01:00:30] Speaker A: Well, today they have. I mean, still part of Norwich School, but the. What was. The ossuary is used for art exhibitions now. So it's, it's open quite regularly. [01:00:42] Speaker B: I see. So we've got. The cathedral has a certain amount of scaffolding around it at the moment. You can probably hear, as we walk a bit closer to the west end, you may be able to hear some banging and drilling going on. So obviously a bit of renovation underway there and cleaning, I suspect. [01:00:58] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, there's always something going on. Something going on. [01:01:01] Speaker B: It's a never ending project. Now, I just want to. I know we covered this in my previous podcast about Elizabeth, but she, she stayed in the, the building on the other side, that's part of the school, right? [01:01:16] Speaker A: The. Yes, the bishop's. The old Bishop's palace. [01:01:19] Speaker B: Yes. [01:01:19] Speaker A: And that's where she stayed. Yes. [01:01:21] Speaker B: So if you do come and visit again, you can find out more information on my other podcasts. But make sure you look to the left of the west end. You'll see the school. You can't go in because obviously it's a school, so it's private, but you can see some of the buildings that Elizabeth would have stayed in adjacent to the cathedral. Now, I have a question for you. Maybe this is the wrong or the right time to introduce it, but I'm looking at the building that's to the right of this. [01:03:16] Speaker A: Yes. [01:03:16] Speaker B: Towering Chantry Chapel. It's a white building, but the gable end looks very continental to me. [01:03:24] Speaker A: It certainly does. [01:03:25] Speaker B: And that brings, perhaps is this a good time maybe to talk about a little bit more about the wool trade and about the strangers who came here? [01:03:35] Speaker A: Yes, we can definitely talk about the strangers here. [01:03:38] Speaker B: Is that a good time? [01:03:39] Speaker A: Yes. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Okay. [01:03:40] Speaker A: So, yeah, the, the white building in the cathedral close here, which today is the school staff room. This was actually the first building constructed in the close after the dissolution of the monasteries. So it's a 16th century building and it's got a great big Dutch gable. And there's been an important influence from the Netherlands actually from the 13th century onwards. Trade with the Netherlands was recorded in the 13th century. The strangers are a very important group who arrive in Norwich in the mid-1560s. Now, the situation in the mid-1560s, the wool and cloth industry was struggling a bit, I think, probably because we were becoming this isolated Protestant nation in Europe. And so trading links were, were difficult and they were looking for ways that they could boost the industry. Lots of people were leaving the industry, leaving Norwich as well. So, you know, they wanted something to help. And the authorities in Norwich heard that there were these Dutch and French speaking weavers from the Spanish Netherlands, modern day Belgium, Luxembourg, they were religious refugees and had made their way to Sandwich and London. And it was decided that it would be a real, really good idea to invite some of them to Norwich. And the Duke of Norfolk was tasked with going to see Queen Elizabeth and say, mum, please will you send a letter to Norwich authorizing the people of Norwich to invite some of these Dutch and French weavers to the city. And this duly happens. So the Queen sends up this letter and in 1566, there were 30. Just over 30 weavers were invited to Norwich with their families, 300 people, and they brought new skills with them. It was so successful that by the end of 1568, there were 1800 refugees in Norwich. They didn't need an invitation, they just piled in, they just came. They just came. So the Duke of Alva was doing terrible things to Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands. So as I've said, you had 18 by the end of 1568. By the early 1570s, there were 4,000 in Norwich, making this the largest stranger community, as they were known in the country. It reached its peak when Queen Elizabeth visited and there were around about 6,000. When you think the population of Norwich was 20,000, it's a big percentage, but by and large they were welcomed. There were a few grumbles typically about these strangers taking our jobs, but they had a great influence on the textile industry. Their importance is shown when Queen Elizabeth arrives, because the pageant that was laid on to greet her as she came through the St. Stephen's Gate, the first people on the pageant were the strangers demonstrating their skills. So they were obviously highly regarded in the city. And of course, you know, most of them stayed married Integrated, Completely become English. [01:08:03] Speaker B: Yeah. And brought wealth to the town as well, which always goes down well. Everybody benefits. So very important. And I think we're probably. I know, because I know a little bit about the center of the town. We're probably heading out onto Tomb London towards Elm Hill, where of course, a lot of the wealthy of Norwich lived, who got very wealthy on the back of the. The trade. So maybe we could, we could head in that direction. Because in some ways I think that particular street really epitomizes, doesn't it, the wealth of 16, 16th century, 15th 16th century Norwich? [01:08:38] Speaker A: Very much so. [01:08:39] Speaker B: Should we head in that direction and perhaps leave a little bit of the hammering and banging and soaring behind? I'm just thinking what would it have been like in the medieval period, you know, when they had. They wouldn't have had the sound of the electric drill, but there would have been a lot of banging and hammering going on, I'm sure. [01:08:54] Speaker A: Well, we're now going into a very busy bus route, so bear with us. Noisy. [01:09:02] Speaker B: Yes. Maybe we progress through Tombland quite quickly and get onto Elm Hill where it may be a little bit quieter. So my understanding, we're leaving through the. Is it the Erpingham Gate? [01:09:15] Speaker A: Yes. So this is Sir Thomas Erpingham, who paid for this. And Sir Thomas Erpingham was the man who commanded the English and Welsh longbowmen at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415. [01:09:30] Speaker B: Brilliant. Well, there's one of those buses that you were talking about. [01:09:34] Speaker A: Erpingham was 58 when he went on campaign with Henry V, which was really quite a senior age. [01:09:41] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [01:09:42] Speaker A: And he, he built this new gate into the cathedral to thank God for his safe return. [01:09:52] Speaker B: And a beautiful gate it is, isn't it, with all the. Are they queens, kings, Are they saints? They will be saints, yeah. [01:10:00] Speaker A: I love this as well, because they've survived the Reformation and I think that they couldn't be bothered to put scaffolding up to knock her heads off. You can see the. The closest ones have been defaced. [01:10:19] Speaker B: Yes, you can, can't you? Yeah, they've. They've been defaced and lost their heads. But anything above that has survived. Now, Tombland, I understand that this was originally because Norwich was an Anglo Saxon city before the Normans got here, or town, wasn't it? And this area, I think Tombland, in my research, was the original Anglo Saxon marketplace before the Normans moved it to its current location. And, you know, I was curious about the origin of the word Tombland because it sounds like you're Going to be standing in a load of tombs. But that's not. That's not actually what it means, is it? [01:10:55] Speaker A: No, it actually comes from a Danish word, tom, meaning empty. So the Danes ran Norwich from, you know, the 880s through to round about 920. We were in the Dane law, Alfred, King Alfred the Great, after he defeated the Danes near Bristol, he split the country between himself and the Danes. So we're in the Dane law and the Danes arrived here as colonizers. [01:11:27] Speaker B: And so this obviously next to the cathedral is really the heart of the. We're in the heart of the medieval. The ancient city. [01:11:34] Speaker A: That's right, yes. And what happens when the Norman. Normans arrive? So the original marketplace here, when the Normans arrive, they move the market up to where it is today, because right next to the market was the French Quarter, so where they lived, a new quarter. Of course, the Normans wanted the market as close to them as possible. [01:12:01] Speaker B: Of course, yeah. Now, we've got a few really interesting buildings here. We must touch back on our Tudor history and perhaps you could help me. I got a feeling that this house in front of me, which looks like it's had one too many to drink, I. E. It's really slanty, once belonged to quite a significant man of the Tudor period. Can you tell us about this house? [01:12:25] Speaker A: Yes. So this is Augustine Stewart's house. And I've got a painting of Augustine Steward. And Norwich has, you know, one of the greatest collections of paintings of mayors. And this goes back to the 16th century, the collection. So there he is, as you say, in his mayoral robes. Now, this wonky house across the road, it was built by Augustine Steward in the early 1540s. 40s. And he was an important woolen cloth merchant. He was a member of the Mercer's company, primarily textile merchants. He was mayor of Norwich three times. He was also an MP. And he was the man who negotiated with Henry VIII's men to acquire the former Dominican friary for the city. And we're going to see that a little later on. It's wonderful how this building is settled, leans to the left quite markedly. And I've got a photograph of it in the early 20th century, and it didn't lean as much then. So this has been a 20th, 21st century occurrence. [01:13:52] Speaker B: Am I right in saying that this wasn't his final house or he ended up in a better house in a more prestigious spot? So this was him earlier on in his career. Would that. I'm. [01:14:04] Speaker A: I'm guessing here they're both about the Same time. Okay, so we're going. We're actually going into his other house a bit later on on Elm Hill. [01:14:15] Speaker B: Excellent. Okay, so it's, it's very busy here in Tombland. As you can hear, we are right in the heart of the city. There's lorries and buses going by, so we're going to try and move out of the way to somewhere quieter. But before we do leave Tombland, we have to mention this very, very ancient. Well, it's a hotel now, the Maid's Head Hotel. And it has been a hotel or an inn in one form or another for maids many a century. So we're just making our way down to what was the original entrance. And then, Paul, maybe you could tell us a little bit more about its history. [01:14:53] Speaker A: Yes. So the, the first mention of an inn on this site is in the 1280s and it was actually called the Myrtle Fish Tavern. The first mention of an inn called the Maid's head was in 1472. So we're just going in. [01:15:17] Speaker B: Oh, yes, look at this. [01:15:18] Speaker A: In the old entrance now. [01:15:21] Speaker B: Oh, that's a relief. Bit quieter. [01:15:23] Speaker A: It is definitely a bit quieter. So this is the 15th century entrance into the inn. Now, if you take away the doors and you can see through the door there, it's the restaurant. But the. This was the courtyard of the inn, so there was no roof. So you would have ridden on your horse straight away through there. [01:15:54] Speaker B: And let's just remind ourselves we have the likes of Catherine of Aragon coming here. [01:15:58] Speaker A: Yes. [01:15:59] Speaker B: So she would have been in this very building. [01:16:01] Speaker A: She definitely would have been. Also, you know, there's a Queen Elizabeth room in this hotel, but of course we know that Queen Elizabeth stayed with the bishop. [01:16:14] Speaker B: Yes. [01:16:15] Speaker A: So what I think is the legend developed because maybe part of her entourage might have stayed here, because we're just across the road. [01:16:25] Speaker B: I think that's highly probable. They had to take up all the local inns and spaces. So it would have been filled with Elizabeth of Ethan courtiers coming and going. [01:16:33] Speaker A: Yes. So in, in the 15th and 16th century, there were 20 bedrooms around, all around us here around an inner courtyard. Courtyard, yes. So, yes. Yeah. The thought that Catherine of Aragon was entertained in this space is quite, quite amazing. There's. There's also the legend, there are legends in the Ketch rebellion story that the Kets used this as their Norwich headquarters when they were in control of the city, and that the Marquess of Northampton and the Earl of Warwick. The Earl of Warwick, who finally defeats Kett, both had breakfast here before their respective battles. I doubted Somehow, Right, yeah. But it's a good story. There's another. There's another good story as well from the Tudor period that Will Kemp, contemporary of Shakespeare's. In 1599, he Morris danced from London to Norwich and he wrote a book about it, called it the Nine Day Wonder. I mean, he took longer than nine days because he rested up, but he was mobbed when he got to Norwich because, you know, he's a great Tudor celebrity. He. He used to take comic roles in Shakespeare's place. So it's thought he was trying to upstage Shakespeare by doing his big Morris dancing. And the legend is that once he'd finished Morris dancing, he recovered in the bar of the Maid's Head, which is late 16th century, so he would have. [01:18:11] Speaker B: Needed to as well after all that Morris dancing. Oh, brilliant. That's so brilliant. Now, you mentioned the change of name. [01:18:18] Speaker A: It was originally called the Myrtlefish Tavern. [01:18:22] Speaker B: And I did read that, and I'm making a very, very clever link here, Paul, you'd be impressed with this one, that it was in a pastern, one of the letters from the pasterns that we hear about the change of the name. So I know the Pastons had a house on Elm Hill, which is just across road. [01:18:40] Speaker A: Yes. [01:18:40] Speaker B: So maybe that's where we should go. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about the Paston. [01:18:44] Speaker A: Yes. [01:18:44] Speaker B: And Norwich and we can talk about this beautiful surviving street. [01:18:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Sa. [01:20:36] Speaker B: So, my friends, we have literally crossed the road from the Maids Head Hotel and we've come on to perhaps one of Norwich's most famous streets. It's certainly one of the best preserved kind of medieval Tudor streets. What is Tudor? Well, it's medieval, but as you're going to explain to us in a moment, actually, a lot of the houses are from the 16th century. So maybe you could tell us a little bit about the history of Elm Hill, Paul. [01:21:04] Speaker A: So we know that there was a street here from sometime in the. In the 1200s. And it becomes. From early on, it becomes a merchant's street. So if we just pause here. [01:21:18] Speaker B: Yes. [01:21:19] Speaker A: You can see a little bit of river poking up down there. So we're very close to the river. So you'd have courtyard houses. And then at the back, each merchant had their own wharf for tying up their vessels, their trading vessels, which had brought the goods from Great Yarmouth, or vice versa, take the goods down to Great Yarmouth. So it's important because we're very close to the river. Now, Norwich in 1505, 1507, there were two very serious fires. Something like 700 properties were destroyed over those two occurrences. And Elm Hill in 1507 was virtually completely gutted. The church next to us here, St. Simon and St. Jude's that survived the fire, as did St. Peter. Hungate Church, which is at the top of Elm Hill. And then we can see in the distance there's a cream building which is called the Britons Arms. And that is the only building on the street that actually survived the fire. Now, John Skelton, who was a tutor to Henry viii, was also vicar of Dis in South Norfolk, wrote a poem about the fire. [01:23:04] Speaker B: Okay. [01:23:05] Speaker A: And this, of course, he was writing in Latin. And this is an English translation. O sad calamity, O fate most dire. A venerable city raised by fire through love's fierce lightnings or the fate's stern hand. Norwich, so long the glory of our land in the consuming flames of Vulcan dies, England's chief ornament. In ashes lies O city, what thee can now be said. A few fair things survive that thou hast bred. All life is brief and frail. All man's estate, City, farewell. I mourn the cruel fate. Well, I always say it's a bit negative. [01:23:57] Speaker B: Do we know where the fire, you know, like in London? We know where the fire started. No, there's no record of that. [01:24:02] Speaker A: Orange, nothing like that. So, yeah, so what we're going past here, this mustard colored house, this is a 1540s rebuild. And we've got where it says here, Roaches Court, that is the courtyard entrance to a huge Tudor house. So you can see right the way along. [01:24:27] Speaker B: So let me get this right. You've got the facade facing onto the street. [01:24:31] Speaker A: That's right. [01:24:32] Speaker B: Then you have these passageways which are called courts that take you through into probably what would have been another courtyard originally, before the fire. And the main house would have been behind that. And then you have the river. [01:24:45] Speaker A: That's it. [01:24:46] Speaker B: And as you said, you've got also this added element of these, the merchants using the houses to trade from. So I understand after the fire, when they were rebuilt, you ended up with workshops and housing for the workers, literally on site with the family that they worked for. [01:25:05] Speaker A: Yes. And then over the centuries, this actually Elmhill changes from being a high status area to being a poor court, like a slum. Yes. And you get. So the word court comes from, really from the 19th century, I see. When you'd have a very substantive building filling in the area behind the main house. [01:25:32] Speaker B: Yes. [01:25:33] Speaker A: With no facilities at all. I think there were seven courts behind the houses on. On the right hand side of Elm Hill. And they would have been lived in by up to 200 people, you know, living cheek by jowl. Poor accommodation. [01:25:51] Speaker B: Yes, because. [01:25:52] Speaker A: And when you get to the 1920s, the city were going to actually knock the right hand side of Elm Hill down because they viewed this as just being a slum. Now, our heritage watchdogs, the Norwich Society, had been founded in 1923 and actually their first campaign was to save Bishops Bridge because the City Council were going to knock down Bishop's Bridge and put a bigger road bridge there. But so they saved that and then they turned their attention onto Elm Hill and the Norwich Society commissioned a full historical survey of the street and, you know, plonked that on the desk at City hall and said, well, you know, you can't knock this down. And the City Council actually agreed and restored Elm Hill. So it's. This is a sort of post 1920s restoration. And they did a fantastic job. [01:27:01] Speaker B: They did a lovely job because we've got the lovely cobble street, which really adds to the. To the atmosphere. Now, I understand there were like, as we just make our way along the street, there were an enormous number of mayors who lived here. You know, it's kind of one of the biggest concentrations of wealthy merchants and mayors all. So this really was the place to be. Yes, in Tudor Norwich, if you were a man of power and wealth. [01:27:28] Speaker A: So you've got a. On the left here, this creamy building. [01:27:31] Speaker B: Yes. [01:27:32] Speaker A: Is part of the Pettus household. Now, the Pettis family were very, very influential mayors and merchants and their house actually stretched from. From where you've got that Tudor. Tudor. [01:27:51] Speaker B: The timber frame building on our right here. [01:27:53] Speaker A: Right the way across, right the way down to the church. It was a huge, huge house. Obviously you've got much later structure here. [01:28:02] Speaker B: And the house has been divided up. And so who are the Pettus family? [01:28:09] Speaker A: Just another, you know, another merchant, A wealthy merchant family. [01:28:14] Speaker B: Oh, yes, I see we've got that blue plaque. So if you do come wandering down Elm Hill, you will see various plaques which help you navigate. And am I right in saying their effigies are in the church? [01:28:27] Speaker A: Yes. But the church isn't open. [01:28:29] Speaker B: It isn't open anymore. [01:28:31] Speaker A: No. [01:28:31] Speaker B: That's a shame, isn't it? Now, I introduced the Paston family. [01:28:39] Speaker A: Yes. [01:28:40] Speaker B: And I think we're getting closer, we. [01:28:43] Speaker A: Definitely are, to their. [01:28:45] Speaker B: Well, where their house was originally. Because what's here now again is post 1507. So the original Paston house, I think, has. Has gone. Is that right? But this is. This is the 1507 yes, replacement. [01:28:59] Speaker A: It is, yes. So we're. We're outside what was Augustine Steward's second property. And I'm just going to show you his merchant's mark. [01:29:12] Speaker B: Yes, let's have a look. [01:29:13] Speaker A: Which is just up here. [01:29:18] Speaker B: Oh, I see. [01:29:19] Speaker A: So, yes, so there's his merchant's mark. So you've got this wonderful Tudor beam decorated beam above the passageway which would. [01:29:27] Speaker B: Have led through to the back of the house and the courtyard. And you have his merchant's mark on, carved on either side of the timber, this grand timber lintel. [01:29:37] Speaker A: That's the mercer's company. [01:29:38] Speaker B: I see. On the left. [01:29:40] Speaker A: On the left. So he's showing his. He's a member of the mercer's company. And that's his logo. [01:29:47] Speaker B: Yeah, his logo. His personal heraldry. [01:29:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:29:49] Speaker B: And then we've got Crown Court, this passageway that would have. [01:29:52] Speaker A: So again, It's. That's a 19th century. [01:29:56] Speaker B: Yes. [01:29:58] Speaker A: Renaming. And what you've got to imagine is very substandard housing going down through the car park there that you can see, and the river just beyond the car park. So from the middle of the 15th century, the Pastons lived on this site. This was their house in Norwich. Now, why the Pastons important? Well, they wrote letters and their letters have survived. And it's the largest late medieval collection of correspondence which talks about everyday life. And they were quite an amazing family, really. They emerged from Paston in, which is in northeast Norfolk. Clement Paston, late 14th century. By the reign of Henry VII. John Paston III is a courtier. He's one of the people who organizes the marriage of Arthur to Catherine of Aragon and he's deputy Lord High Admiral as well. So over a century, they came a long way. So the most famous people who lived here on Elm hill were John Paston 1 and his wife Margaret. And Margaret's very famous for being this amazing late medieval woman who has at least six children and then runs the family affairs as well. So she's the estate manager. John Paston one spends much of his time in London. I was called the Time that They Lived. They're in the time of the wars of the Roses. It's a bit like the Wild west here, you know, people laying counterclaims on land ownership, seizing land, because the. The eyes and ears of the authorities are sort of turned away because of the problems in the country anyway. And so John spends a lot of time fighting for his land at court and in London. And so Margaret is here managing the estates and they're communicating with each other on a regular basis. So that's what. Why we have all the letters. Have all the letters, yes. But also they're amazingly. Their first two sons were both called John. So, you know, you call them John Paston 2 and John Paston 3. And they were let, you know, they were letter writers as well. And it's absolutely fascinating because you get the same concerns about. About life. You've got, you know, daughter going to be marrying, you know, wanting to marry below herself because Marjorie, the daughter of Margaret and John, falls in love with Richard Cowell, who was the bailiff, so the estate manager, I guess, for the. For the Pastons. But he came from a shopping background which was thought to be not good enough. But of course they'd kind of forgotten that they came from being subsistence farmers. Right. Anyway, there's this great to do where the bishop is involved. And he is asked by Margaret to say whether the marriage that Richard and Marjorie had conducted was legal or not. He votes in favor for Marjorie and Richard, which is rather nice. And he tells Margaret, you know. Yeah, you know, just calm down. [01:34:10] Speaker B: Family politics. [01:34:11] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. [01:34:14] Speaker B: So we've got. We've got this house here now, but this was the later. This was the post 1507 replacement which was the home to Augustine Stewart, who we. You introduced us to. So this was his house. [01:34:25] Speaker A: It was. This is a second house and said today it's the Strangers Club, which is. It's. It's a men. Men's dining and social club. And. [01:34:41] Speaker B: And we're gonna get chance to go inside. So just to describe the building we're about to go into, it's sort of stone. The ground floor is stone. But then you've got the upper floor which is sort of timber framed, infilled with the herringbone brick, isn't it? It? And then you've got a jetted upper story, which for those of you who don't know, but jettying is a bit of a Tudor invention to. Or medieval invention to increase the floor space on the upper floor without encroaching on the pavement below. How much of this is genuinely of the 16th century, do you know? [01:35:16] Speaker A: I don't. I don't honestly know. It did have. It's had a lot of. [01:35:20] Speaker B: A lot of restoration, you said in the 20th century. Yes, but I suspect, expect. I mean, you can see some of the big timbers here look very authentic to the period, but it's obviously been restored. [01:35:31] Speaker A: And you know, the brickwork is, as you've said, this herringbone brickwork is classic Tudor brickwork. But again, it might be later. Yeah, you Know, restored. [01:35:43] Speaker B: Yes. [01:35:43] Speaker A: In the style of. [01:35:44] Speaker B: I can see some bricks that look like Tudor bricks just here, much narrower, much more irregular and then you've got the much more modern sort of square. [01:35:55] Speaker A: Yes. [01:35:55] Speaker B: They look, they look, they look older. But these look much more like 20th century bricks. [01:36:00] Speaker A: They do. [01:36:01] Speaker B: Not that I'm an expert on bricks but you know, I've looked at a few. Anyway, we're going inside. Yes, how exciting. So just to say, dear listeners, Paul has arranged for us to have coffee. Well earned coffee, I think. [01:36:15] Speaker A: Yes, it's good timing. [01:36:16] Speaker B: Are we back on time? [01:36:17] Speaker A: We are. [01:36:18] Speaker B: Right, lead the way, lead the way. We got somebody there. Hello. [01:36:26] Speaker A: Hello. Hello. [01:36:28] Speaker B: Come in. [01:36:29] Speaker A: Thank you very much. [01:36:43] Speaker B: Sam. Well, that was a lovely break. We just had a lovely cup of tea mid morning in what was Augustine Stewart's house on the site of the original medieval Paston house. Courtesy Paul. Thank you for. That was fantastic. Now we're going to continue making our way up Elm Hill. We've come about two thirds of the way up the street and towards the top of Elm Hill it opens out and we have this beautiful tree that sort of stretches its branches over the, the houses and the cobblestone. But this is roughly where the name of the hill comes from, isn't it? [01:37:57] Speaker A: It does. So nowadays of course that's, it's actually a London plane tree, but there used to be an elm there and of course elms disappeared in the 80s, you know, due to Dutch elm disease. So that's where the name, the name came from. [01:38:15] Speaker B: Do you know, I love it. We've got a hill and we've got an elm tree, hence Elm Hill. I love the literal nature of some streets. And then at the end of the street we've got a really precious building. It's called the Britain Arm, Britain's Arms. And you, you mentioned this in that it was, it's thought to have been one of the few houses to have survived the 1507 fire. But so how, how far back does this particular building date? [01:38:45] Speaker A: So it's got 14th century cellars and then above ground it's 15th century. And at some stage in the 15th century it was lived in by a community of religious women who called themselves St. Peter's Widows and they were associated with the church just up the hill that you can see on the left which is called St. Peter Hungate and but again not sure when they left this, you know, as we said, survived the fire. It's got a thatched roof and it's one of six buildings in the city that's Thatched. The key reason there are only six is that after the fire of 1507, the city authorities said, you know, when you rebuild, you must use tiles as a fire prevention measure, but if you survived the fire, you could keep your thatch. And I think it's amazing, you know, as successive owners over, you know, more than 500 years have kept on retouching the building, isn't it? [01:39:57] Speaker B: It's got a fantastic upper floor which has that jetty. It really sticks out. Very wonky building. And I read after the. The ladies, the community of women left, it was taken over by barber surgeons and then ultimately by, I think, mercers or cloth merchants. [01:40:15] Speaker A: Yes. And. And then. And then to more than 200 years ago, it became a pub. [01:40:22] Speaker B: All right. [01:40:23] Speaker A: And that's where you get the Britain's Arms. [01:40:25] Speaker B: And today it's a coffee house and restaurant. [01:40:27] Speaker A: And it's a very good one. [01:40:28] Speaker B: Is it really? So you would recommend it? [01:40:30] Speaker A: I would. [01:40:31] Speaker B: Excellent. [01:40:31] Speaker A: Good. [01:40:32] Speaker B: That's wonderful. Well, we're bringing a tour group to the city next month and we're actually going to be having afternoon tea in there, so I'm looking forward to that very much. [01:40:40] Speaker A: Excellent. Now, you will enjoy that. [01:40:42] Speaker B: So where do we go from here? What's our next stop? [01:40:44] Speaker A: Well, we are going up the hill now. [01:40:47] Speaker B: Okay, just. [01:40:48] Speaker A: Why has Elm Hill got this big bend in it? [01:40:51] Speaker B: Yes. [01:40:51] Speaker A: Well, originally, Elm Hill went straight through here. [01:40:58] Speaker B: So straight on, basically. [01:41:00] Speaker A: Straight on. [01:41:00] Speaker B: And we're looking through an iron gate now, and there's. There is a. Well, a very. It looks like a medieval building to me. I know what it is, but I think this was the old friary, wasn't it? [01:41:10] Speaker A: It is, yes. So as you look through the gate on the right, there are the ruins of the original friary, which is early 1220s. And then on the left, this huge friary church. This was the Dominicans who moved onto the site in the early 14th century. And then they had a terrible fire in 1413. Seemed to be lots of fires. Lots of fires. [01:41:38] Speaker B: Very careless people, whoever it was. [01:41:40] Speaker A: And a lot of rebuilding in the 15th century. It's an enormous structure bought by the city from Henry VII at the dissolution, and it was bought for large meetings and events and it's still used for that function today. So you get lots of concerts and other events in here. [01:42:03] Speaker B: And I think it. Wasn't it granted to Augustine Stewart, or was that. Was that to him on behalf of the fact that he was the. I think you said assistant mayor or mayor at the time. [01:42:12] Speaker A: He negotiated. [01:42:13] Speaker B: He negotiated on behalf of the city. [01:42:15] Speaker A: To acquire this for the city. So when the original friary was built, the road was diverted to the left up the hill. So we are going up the hill. 13th century road diversion. [01:42:32] Speaker B: Fantastic. I love it. I wonder who grumbled about that. You can imagine it. [01:42:36] Speaker A: You know, there will have been a few. [01:42:38] Speaker B: The Nimbys of the 13th century. And if. I don't know whether the Ackerman NIMBY carries. But in the uk, it's not in my backyard. So anyway, we are climbing the hill now. And is this church, St. Peter, is that a. Is that a functioning church still or has that changed its function as well? [01:43:00] Speaker A: That one's cared for by the Norwich Historic churches trust. So 18 of our churches are cared for by the Historic Churches Trust, and this one is occupied by a group called Medieval Hungate, who put on exhibitions about Norwich's medieval art and history. So this is open. [01:43:25] Speaker B: Yeah. It's really amazing that so many of the churches have survived since they are no longer in use as churches. But you couldn't possibly have that many churches in. In what is quite a secular society, I guess these days. [01:43:39] Speaker A: Nine of them are still used. Church of England. [01:43:43] Speaker B: So at the top of the hill, we certainly are. Are we going to have a look at the halls, which is. [01:43:48] Speaker A: Yes, we go straight down the hill. [01:43:50] Speaker B: Okay. Down the hill we've got the. [01:43:54] Speaker A: As. [01:43:55] Speaker B: As Paul was saying that the really large friary church, and I think it's the. Did I read it's the most complete friary ruins in the country? [01:44:03] Speaker A: That's correct, yes. [01:44:05] Speaker B: So my understanding is in that July 1469, there were some really special royal visitors here. In fact, Edward IV came here with his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. At the time, I didn't. And they stayed here at the friary and were wined and dined. But actually, even more poignantly, Elizabeth came here the following month. She came back with her daughters. And she was here when she heard of the execution of her father and her brother by Warwick the kingmaker. Because obviously Edward had gone off to fight Warwick. And yes, her father and brother were executed at Pontefract Castle. And it was here that she found out the news. And it was only having heard that news that she left and went. Went back to London, probably for security, I would imagine. [01:44:55] Speaker A: Yes. [01:44:56] Speaker B: So. [01:44:57] Speaker A: Yes, how interesting. [01:44:58] Speaker B: So I'd love to dig a little bit more maybe and find and see if there are any records of what happened and, you know, how. [01:45:07] Speaker A: Who. [01:45:07] Speaker B: Who entertained them and. But quite. It must have been quite a spectacle to have essentially the entire royal family here at the time. [01:45:14] Speaker A: Incredible. As you say, it's a. It's a very large site. I think you know that this church is huge. You've got the massive nave which the. The Dominicans, the Black Friars were the preaching friars. So it was all about welcoming the local community in. [01:45:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:45:37] Speaker A: And in front of the friary church there was. There's a yard where they would have preached in. In good weather. [01:45:46] Speaker B: I see, I see, I see. Yes. [01:45:49] Speaker A: This after the fire I was mentioning of 1413. Sir Thomas Erpingham helped pay for the rebuilding. And I call the clear story up there, the stone section, a medieval sponsorship deal. Because if you look next to every window, there's a coat of arms and it's the same coat of arms and that's Thomas Erpingham. [01:46:18] Speaker B: Right, right the way along. [01:46:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So I always say he got a good deal because we're still talking about it in the 21st century. [01:46:26] Speaker B: I've never been in at the moment. You can't get in. As I say, we're recording in April of 2025. There's lots of scaffolding up. There's clearly a lot of cleaning of the building going on. I've never actually managed to get in the hall. Is it worth a visit? And putting your head in the hall, is it very modernized inside? [01:46:46] Speaker A: It's. You still have the feel of a very much a historic building. [01:46:50] Speaker B: Okay, great. [01:46:51] Speaker A: The. It'll be reopening later this year. They've done. They've re roofed St Andrews hall and then a lot of work has been done on the windows and also the public facilities have been upgraded. So there we are. [01:47:08] Speaker B: Brilliant. Okay, wonderful. [01:47:11] Speaker A: Whilst we're here. [01:47:11] Speaker B: Yes. [01:47:12] Speaker A: Just mention the sort of end of Kett's rebellion because fortunately on these hoardings next to the building, they've got excerpts of the friary's history. And this is 1549. And it tells us that the Earl of Warwick stabled his horses here when he came to crush Kett's rebellion with his army at the Battle of Dussendale. So this is the end of Kett's rebellion. And the Earl of Warwick came with, you know, an army that was about 11 and a half thousand strong, including 1500 mercenaries armed with the arquebus, you know, the ancestor of the rifle. And we're not sure where the final battle took place, but it was, you know, the Kett's followers put up a good fight. It's thought to have lasted something like eight hours. [01:48:13] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Right, okay. [01:48:15] Speaker A: Two and a Half thousand of Kett's followers were killed and just 250 members of the Royal Army. [01:48:23] Speaker B: Why Dussendale Dust? [01:48:25] Speaker A: Dussindale. So that's the location. Now Dussen deal is it's a land. It's about land ownership here. And so Dussin's deal, Dustin's or Dustin's. [01:48:41] Speaker B: Go was that was in the city. [01:48:42] Speaker A: Somewhere, Somewhere outside the city. Right now we've got a modern housing estate called Dussindale. Three miles from the city center. Center. There is no way Cat would have marched three miles from the city. So, you know, I'm sure that the final battle took place somewhere near the city walls on the north side of the city. [01:49:07] Speaker B: So there was a lot of. I don't know whether it was, as you say, we don't know whether that battle took place, but I know that there was a lot of skirmishing around Elm Hill, wasn't there in prison? So all that area that we've just been walking through, there was a lot of hand to hand combat and fighting going on there. [01:49:23] Speaker A: What happens is the Earl of Warwick talks about him stabling horses here. Well, he sent his baggage train in via the St. Benedict's gate. Now St. Benedict's gate is sort of off to our right from where we're standing. And if we'd been standing here on this particular day on 26th of August 1549, we would have seen the Earl of Warwick's baggage train and cannon come trundling past us and there's a salmon pink building up on the left there. It would have gone up the hill and continued on straight, not down Elm Hill, straight down to Tombland. And they missed the turning at the Madamo to go up to the marketplace where the Earl of Warwick had his headquarters. So Ket's men, you know, who were in. In charge of the Tombland area. Yes, they had some decent cannon for the final battle as well as the baggage train as well. [01:50:30] Speaker B: Oh, I see. So they managed to get hold of it. [01:50:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So. So Ket's, Kett's followers controlled the Tombland area and the part of Norwich north of the river right up until the final. [01:50:43] Speaker B: The final battle. [01:50:44] Speaker A: So that's why the Elm Hill area, you know, would you. You're right saying that there was skirmishing going on. [01:50:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Satan. Now perhaps I'm not sure whether we're going to touch on any other areas to do with Ket and the rebellion. I wonder whether therefore we should just conclude the story. And I know we touched on it right at the beginning but maybe how was he captured and where do we know? And then what happened to him? [01:52:06] Speaker A: Yes, so Robert Kesh escaped the field of battle at the end of the battle and he headed northwest. It's thought that he was sort of trying to head to the North Norfolk coast to get a boat to take him to the Netherlands. But he was apprehended in a village called Swannington, which is, is literally just to the northwest of Norwich, about four miles. Now that gives, you know, credence to the fact that the battle would have been close to the north side of Norwich because, you know, he's heading out and he was brought back to Norwich and then he and his brother, now his brother William was his right hand man in the rebellion. His brother William had run off to Wyndham, where of course they came from. And he was very easily apprehended in Windham. Windham's one of those Norfolk words which is spelt differently to the way it sounds. So it's actually spelt Wymondham but we pronounce it Wyndham and that's just eight miles south of Norwich. And both of them were brought to Norwich and then they were taken down to London where they were put on trial. If you visit Wyndham Heritage Museum, you can actually see a modern English translation of his indictments when he was, he was put on trial, which is. [01:53:44] Speaker B: And was he put on trial in the Guild hall in London? I just simply don't know. [01:53:49] Speaker A: I, I think it was the Tower of London. [01:53:50] Speaker B: It was, he was at the trial. [01:53:52] Speaker A: Was at the Tower, I think so. [01:53:53] Speaker B: And I'm surprised they actually bothered trying him actually. And they didn't just dispatch him, but there you go. [01:53:59] Speaker A: Well, it is, it is quite strange really. But yes. So he has a trial and then he's, you know, both of them were sent into, to death and initially they were going to execute them in London and then decided to bring them back up here as an example, as an example to the local people. [01:54:18] Speaker B: And, and is that a church or is that the castle? [01:54:20] Speaker A: That is the castle. So Robert Curt ended his days hanging from the walls. Battlements of Norwich Castle. [01:54:28] Speaker B: So we're just standing where we've got the, the Black Friars, the, the halls behind us and were looking straight ahead down a very narrow alleyway. Just poking up above the rooftops are the battlements of the castle. And that's where it all ended for him and his brother. [01:54:44] Speaker A: His brother was actually hanged from the West Tower of Wyndham Abbey. [01:54:50] Speaker B: Oh really? [01:54:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:54:52] Speaker B: Oh God. It's So gruesome. Yeah, yeah, it's so gruesome. And we're not going up to the castle today, are we? So it's quite nice to be able to touch on it and just say that actually it is a location that's associated with Tudor history as well, even though it's a Norman castle. Yeah. And now we're heading. Are we heading to the marketplace now? [01:57:39] Speaker A: Yes. So we're going to cross over here and then go up through the madder market. [01:57:44] Speaker B: Okay. There's some lovely smells in the air. We must be getting towards lunchtime. My nostrils have been assaulted by lots of different, rather yummy smells from. [01:57:58] Speaker A: This area is called the Norwich Lanes. And we're in. We're within the sort of medieval streets of Norwich here. Incredibly, the city's got the best preserved medieval street layout in the country. The buildings may not be medieval, but it's the street pattern that has remained. [01:58:21] Speaker B: And you often find that, actually, don't you, that in many of the old cities, the. The layout of the streets is as it would have been. Okay. It's a lovely street. Where do we go from here? [01:58:32] Speaker A: And then we'll head to the marketplace along Dove Street. [01:58:37] Speaker B: And this is our final stop on our tour, I think. Is that right? [01:58:41] Speaker A: That's right. This is the. You know, the. The city center since Norman times that we're going to have a. [01:58:53] Speaker B: So is this the French Quarter you were talking about, where the Normans came and settled and lived and. [01:58:57] Speaker A: That's right, yes. Before we do that, actually, I'd like to show you the site of the Market Cross, which was built in 1502 and was. It was enormous. It was 70. 70ft high and 30ft wide. And there's a plaque on the ground to commemorate it. And then there's a red circle on the ground in the market which shows you where the Market cross used to be. [01:59:35] Speaker B: So we've come into the huge market square. I remember the first time I came to Norwich being mightily impressed. It's massive, isn't it, this market? It's pretty sizable market square. [01:59:49] Speaker A: It is. And it's actually not as large as it would have been during Tudor times because it stretched all the way to St. Stephen's Church and Marks and Spencer's. So quite a long way from where we're standing here. [02:00:11] Speaker B: I love the fact that it's still such a thriving market because it is. Is it on every day? Is this. Is this permanent? [02:00:18] Speaker A: Six days a week? [02:00:19] Speaker B: Six days a week, yeah. You could really have a good old wander around here. And do some good retail shopping. So I love the fact that it's still being. Still being used as a market, like centuries after. [02:00:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Thousand years. [02:00:36] Speaker B: Nearly thousand years of marketplace. That's incredible. [02:00:40] Speaker A: That's a lot of fruit and veg. Amazing fish. [02:00:43] Speaker B: And you've still got all the purveyors making their business, selling their wares. It's wonderful. Now I'm looking at the ground, I can see a metal plaque which says Norwich Cross. [02:00:54] Speaker A: Yes. 1503 to 1732. Another thing that disappeared in the 18th century. [02:01:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:01:02] Speaker A: Huge, huge structure. [02:01:05] Speaker B: It's like a wedding cake. It's tiered like a wedding cake. Is that a reasonable representation? [02:01:10] Speaker A: It certainly is. It's a tragedy that it's no longer with us. When the market was being refurbished 20 years ago, they discovered the foundations of the original market cross. And when they. When they finish the work, they actually put in this red mark on the ground to show you the actual dimensions of the market cross. So if we walk into. Into the market, we'll have a quick look. [02:01:46] Speaker B: Okay, lead the way, Lead the way. We're just making our way inside its perfect permanent market. It's just a. A labyrinth of stalls, of food, of gosh, the barber. And now we've. Oh, I see. I can see on the ground, there is an outline. [02:02:08] Speaker A: So it's absolutely enormous. Can. Can you see? [02:02:11] Speaker B: Yes, I can. [02:02:12] Speaker A: Just over there in the distance, there's another red mark. So it was. It was huge. [02:02:17] Speaker B: Was it like an octagonal base? Octagonal base. Fantastic. [02:02:23] Speaker A: What a shame. [02:02:24] Speaker B: What a shame. Yeah, it is, isn't it? It would have been beautiful to see, but there are illustrations of it, I think I've seen. [02:02:31] Speaker A: Yes, yes, there are. It was. It was drawn before it was demolished. [02:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, hopefully we'll be able to find that online and we'll include it with some of the other images for this podcast. Lovely. Well, honestly, it's making my stomach rumble. [02:02:47] Speaker A: So let us leave the market now and we'll go. Go across to the Guild Hall. [02:03:10] Speaker B: Sam. [02:03:36] Speaker A: Sa. [02:04:13] Speaker B: Now, I recognize this building, Paul, from the last time I was here. It featured in our last podcast. It's such an important building for Norwich, and that's the Guild Hall. Perhaps you could describe, first of all, what we're looking at and what makes it so special. Before we talk about kind of maybe some of the events and people whose lives were touched by it. [02:04:33] Speaker A: So the Guildhall's a large flint building. You can see there are two types of flint. We can see there's dressed flint, which is very smooth, and the Rougher flints are original early 15th century, whereas you've got a, a rebuild of the South Front in the middle of the 19th century where it says Norwich Chief Constable. So this, this building was, was constructed really as an example of Civic Pride. So 1404, Norwich received a charter from King Henry IV which gave Norwich the right to elect its own mayor, sheriff, collect its own taxes and have its own law courts. And it made Norwich a separate county from the rest of Norfolk. [02:05:32] Speaker B: All right. [02:05:32] Speaker A: And Norwich was independent county until local government reorganization in 1974. So this was actually built on the site of the Toll House, which is a medieval, earlier medieval structure which had collected all the taxes from people trading in the marketplace. So the building, the Toll House, was demolished. The cellars of the Toll House were kept and they became Norwich's maximum security prison. [02:06:10] Speaker B: Right. [02:06:11] Speaker A: So Lollards would have, you know, their final, final hours would have been spent underneath this building. [02:06:20] Speaker B: And I can see the plaque there to Thomas Bilney. [02:06:23] Speaker A: Yes. [02:06:24] Speaker B: Can you just tell us, because we did mention his name, really, right at the top of this podcast when we're on Bishop's Bridge. Could you just tell us a little bit about him and why he had to die? [02:06:34] Speaker A: Well, he's an interesting character and he, he's a Norfolk man. He was educated at Cambridge University. And when he was at Cambridge, he had, it's sort of a light bulb moment, really, studying Erasmus. And he saw how important your own relationship with God through Jesus should be. And of course, you know, in the 1520s, you know, it's the priests that have all the power. You're not supposed to have your own relationship with God through Jesus. And he, you know, he was, he was all for the Pope and all the tenets of the Roman Catholic religion, but he was starting to talk and preach about this direct relationship you could also have. And Cardinal Woolsey shut him up, basically put him in the Tower. He was released after promising not to preach any more of these heretical ideas. But after about a year, he started again. It is actually the Bishop of Norwich, Bishop Nix, who accuses him of heresy. And he's then handed over to the civil authorities to be burnt at the stake. Apparently the bishop was ticked off by Henry VII for, for moving too quickly on Thomas Bilney. Right, so poor old Billney was, was, was burnt at the stake at Lollard's Pit and went very bravely. The story goes again, and this is from Fox's Book of Martyrs, that the night before his execution, he was dipping his fingers into the flame of a candle to help prepare himself for. For what was to happen the next day. Brave man. [02:08:57] Speaker B: Very brave man. And, and quite early to be, you know, when you. I. I don't know, but I didn't know. But I mean I knew his name but I didn't know his story. And my first reaction was, oh, he must have been a Marian heretic, you know, but actually a lot earlier than. A lot earlier than that. So very early reformer in many, in many ways. But. [02:09:15] Speaker A: But he wasn't preaching a new religion. He was just saying, you know, let's be a bit more flexible, have a. [02:09:23] Speaker B: Direct relationship with God, which is kind of part of that Reformed, you know, the reformed faith. But even really before Cranmer, I would imagine, what year was he? [02:09:33] Speaker A: I think it was 1532. So we can double check. [02:09:36] Speaker B: Let's go up to the plat. Yes, it's there on the. The wall. Why don't we go and have a look? [02:09:40] Speaker A: I might have got the wrong date. I'm one year out. [02:09:43] Speaker B: 1531. 19th of August 1531. There you go. Is this the iron grill that behind that is. Is that into the cellars? Is that or is it literally underground? [02:09:56] Speaker A: You can see there's a little grill down here. Oh gosh. [02:09:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:09:59] Speaker A: So that's the only light and air that anyone down in the main maximum security improvement. [02:10:05] Speaker B: Guys, it's like the width of your hand. That's really depressing. Well, I hate to finish on a depressing note. So how, how can we find a more upbeat. [02:10:16] Speaker A: Let's go around the corner. [02:10:18] Speaker B: Okay, great. [02:10:21] Speaker A: So we are just going to cross over. [02:10:24] Speaker B: Okay. [02:10:24] Speaker A: And we're going to get a lovely view of the castle. We're talking about bit about the castle. [02:10:30] Speaker B: Okay, let's do that. [02:10:31] Speaker A: And then we have St. Peter Mancroft Church as well. [02:10:36] Speaker B: So we're just climbing up a flight of narrow steps which takes us almost above the marketplace. We're now above the rooftops of the market stalls. Plenty of gulls flying around, ready to pinch your sandwiches. [02:10:51] Speaker A: This is a lot of that goes on. [02:10:57] Speaker B: So there we have the huge keep of the Norman castle. A view stretching across the rooftops of the marketplace. It's quite something actually, isn't it? And obviously it's a real landmark. It was, I'm sure you know, in the Tudor period, along with the cathedral, it would have been one of the two great buildings of the city. [02:11:20] Speaker A: Very much so. In the Tudor period this is fairly and squarely a prison. And you know, as you know, prisons or jails were one way trips Weren't they? Very often it's just for holding people before they were executed. So people were executed below the castle in the ditches, but also on the main ramp up to the. The entrance to the castle. In fact, the. The castle was a prison for just over 500 years. So at a long career and, you know, when we're standing here, we can really imagine poor old Robert Kett. [02:12:04] Speaker B: Yes. [02:12:05] Speaker A: Swinging from the. The battlements. [02:12:08] Speaker B: That's quite grim. So I understand what the good news about. Let's say, let's, let's try and get a little bit of lightness into the end of this podcast. The good news about the castle, I understand, is there's been a major renovation project in there and they're going to be opening that this year, I think. [02:12:30] Speaker A: Yes. We're not sure when at the moment. Hopefully it'll be sometime during the summer. And the. The project has been to represent the keep as it was during the Norman period. [02:12:47] Speaker B: Yes. [02:12:48] Speaker A: And it's involved reinstalling floors into the castle because as it developed as a prison, the floors were removed and, you know, it became an empty shell, basically, with other buildings within. Within the keep. And the level of the great hall has been recreated. [02:13:12] Speaker B: Oh, brilliant. [02:13:12] Speaker A: And you will go in, when you go in there, it'll be as if the building is ready to welcome King Henry I in 1121 when he visited. And there's going to be an exhibition area with loans from the British Museum from the Norman period. [02:13:32] Speaker B: Brilliant. Brilliant. [02:13:32] Speaker A: And also there'll be a lift which will whiz you up onto the roof and there'll be anyone visiting the castle will be able to get onto the top of the roof and enjoy the view across the city. [02:13:46] Speaker B: That's great. [02:13:46] Speaker A: Which is wonderful. [02:13:48] Speaker B: I was really hoping it was going to be open for when I came this time, but I did look at the website and see some of the rooms that they recreated and it's going to be a bit like Dover Castle, I think, if you've been there, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. They've recreated the Norman apartments and it's so evocative. I think it's going to be a fantastic visitor edition. So even if I know many of you out there, obviously we're all Tudor fans, but I know many of you love the medieval period, so that's just going to be another reason to come and enjoy Norwich. Now, there was one more place I think you wanted to mention, St. Peter Mancroft. [02:14:19] Speaker A: Yes. So let's just walk over towards St. Peter Mancroft, which is right next to the Marketplace. [02:14:26] Speaker B: Okay. Right, so we've just come into the porch on the west end of the church. This looks one of the bigger churches and it is in use as a church. [02:14:39] Speaker A: Yes. So this is the biggest parish church in the city. It was originally founded by the normans. It's called St. Peter Mancroft. Mancroft comes from the Latin words magna crofta. So it's St. Peter's in the big fields. So you've just got to imagine this area, which was the French Quarter, being sort of virgin territory when the Normans arrived. And it was completely rebuilt between 1430 and 1450. And this is a great example of Norwich having recovered from the Black Death. You know, it's going great guns with its textile industry. And this is the wealthy merchants who live in this part of the city paying for a complete rebuild. And the church was rebuilt as Norwich's main civic church, which it still is today to this day. [02:15:45] Speaker B: It's beautiful. There's some glasses, doors, so we don't even need to go inside to see these lofty pillars, fabulous east window. A rather glorious looking high altar there with its glittering gold. Beautiful. Okay, so I think we've come to the end of our. Wow, that's been a lot to take in. So, first of all, I just wanted to say thank you so much, Paul, for being our excellent, most excellent, excellent guide today and really opening up some of, well, many of Tudor Norwich's historic gems for people to come and look at. And to you, dear listeners, I hope this has inspired you to come and look at Tudor history's second largest city. There's so much to see here, so much to explore, and hopefully you'll be able to put some of the things that we've been talking about on your itinerary. We haven't covered everything. I'm sure there's a lot more to look at, but this is plenty, plenty to keep you going. So just make sure that of course, you check out the show notes page again. There'll be lots of images, but we'll also include links to some of the places that we've been discussing along the way that have links for you to go and explore. Opening times, visitor times, etc. So, Paul, for people who might want to come, have you as their tour guide, where did they find out about you? [02:17:07] Speaker A: Well, my website, it's pauldixontours.co.uk and you spell Dickson. D, I, C, K, S, O, N. Yeah, brilliant. [02:17:19] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Because there's nothing like having somebody who knows a place at your side and can point all these things out to you. So do look up Paul. And also any other links, as I mentioned, will be all on the show notes page. So with that, thank you so much, Paul. [02:17:37] Speaker A: Thank you. [02:17:37] Speaker B: It's been such a pleasure. [02:17:39] Speaker A: No, it's been great, great. [02:17:40] Speaker B: And the sun, well, it hasn't quite shone, but we didn't get wet. Time for lunch, I think. [02:17:46] Speaker A: Definitely. [02:19:02] Speaker C: So that is as ever, a massive thank you from me to our guest expert for the day this time, of course, Paul Dixon, Blue Badge Guide. If you're ever in the vicinity of Norwich, do look up Paul. He will be able to take you on a spot similar personally guided tour and it really helps you get into the nooks and crannies and make sure that you don't miss out anything important. All right, well, I think that's it for today's episode. I will of course be back. And in fact, as we head on into the autumn, I am almost, as I'm recording this, be packing my bags and heading up to the northwest, an area that I haven't really covered yet on the Tudor History and Travel Show. And along the way I'll be capturing a couple of recordings to bring to you in future episodes of this show. [02:19:54] Speaker B: So stay tuned for that. [02:19:55] Speaker C: Well, enjoy the end of your summer wherever you are, and I will be back next month. [02:20:10] Speaker B: Foreign thank you for tuning in to. [02:20:22] Speaker C: Today'S episode of the Tudor History and Travel Show. If you've loved the show, please take. [02:20:28] Speaker B: A moment to subscribe like and rate. [02:20:30] Speaker C: This podcast so that we can spread the Tudor love. [02:20:34] Speaker B: Until next time, my friends. All that remains for me to say is happy time traveling sa.

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