Norwich: The Second Largest Medieval City (UK)

Current Archaeology (UK) ^

[blam]

Norwich: the second largest medieval city

Norwich was the second largest city in Medieval Britain: why?

In recent years a number of major sites covering more than 20 acres in all have been excavated in medieval Norwich, which between them have revolutionised our knowledge of this crucial medieval city. Let us take a look at these excavations in order to throw new light on this question of why medieval Norwich was so big, and so successful.

The origins of Norwich

Norwich was not a Roman settlement, nor does it owe its origins to the early Anglo-Saxon invaders. Settlement along the banks of the River Wensum began in the 8th and 9th centuries, and recent excavations in Coslany, to the north of the River, have discovered some of the earliest embankments of the river.

The Castle Mall

The Norman invasion was traumatic for Norwich. Nearly a quarter of the city was destroyed to make way for new buildings, most notably the huge castle, with the great Norman keep - seen here in the background - set upon a vast mound or motte. Here excavations are taking place in the side of the motte in order to insert a new lift for visitor access.

The biggest single excavation in Norwich has been of the Castle Mall. The Mall is the former bailey of the motte-and-bailey castle. This covered a huge area, but after the castle fell into disuse as a castle, the defences were flattened and it became the cattle market, and later a car park. It has now been made into a huge shopping centre, with three stories of car parking and then three stories of shops above. The extensive excavations revealed not only the castle defences, but also the remains of the Saxon town underneath.

The French Borough

The inhabitants of Norwich were a bolshie lot, and were not even cowed by the huge castle that the Normans plonked down in their midst. The Normans therefore decided to bring in some nice reliable French settlers who formed a new settlement, known as the French Borough, on the western side of the Saxon town. This has been little explored archaeologically, but in 1994 a disastrous fire destroyed the Norwich City Library, situated in the heart of the French Borough. But to the archaeologist, every disaster is an opportunity, and the fire was followed by an extensive 'Millennium excavation' which revealed the secrets of the French Borough.

One of the secrets was that there had been some earlier settlement - as this Viking gold 'ingot'- here seen alongside a modern 20p coin - demonstrates

The Franciscan Friary

Like other medieval towns, Norwich was dominated by the monasteries. The friars came late, arriving only in 1226, but within 80 years they had already grown rich enough to construct a huge Friary on a site in the centre of the city, adjacent to the Castle, which can here be seen in the background. The excavations revealed not the church, but the cloisters and some of the buildings. Here the precinct wall can be seen running across the excavations - Friary to the right, town to the left.

The excavations also revealed a lot of information about the earlier Saxon town. Here we see left an early Saxon coin, a sceatta - and right a 14th century gilded silver brooch. Was it worn by a visitor to the monastery - or by a friar, in defiance of the oath of poverty?

King Street

Archaeology today is not just about rescue and research - it is also about regeneration.

King Street was once one of the great streets of Norwich, the main street to the south, running alongside the river, and thronged with rich merchant houses. One of these was Dragon Hall, recently restored; here we see the excavations taking place to the rear of the hall.

However the 19th and 20th centuries were not kind to King street, which has become run down: a great big brewery and storage depot was placed at its centre, over the remains of another of the great monasteries, the Austin Friars.But a regeneration policy is seeking to identify and preserve some of the older houses, and to restore the street to something of its former glories.

Here, right, we see the street today, with the brewery storage depot - now obsolete - to the left, overlying the site of the Austin Friars - but with Dragon Hall beyond.

Paradise to come? Today commercial traffic has left the River Wensum, and it is increasingly used by leisure boats. The brewery storage depot on the right is awaiting demolition, but Dragon Hall, to the left, show what hopefully can be achieved.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[strongbow]

IMHO the Norwich Castle is a must see for anyone going to England. The dungeon is enough to give you the willies even today. There are also great walks around town and the Cathedral is not far. Fly into London but get out to the cities and villages as soon as possible. I still have friends who live outside the town and deal in small antiques and what we would call nick nacks. They used to get some of their stuff from the old “tips” (dumps) from Norwich. Great stuff that was just thrown away back then.

[ARE SOLE]

It’s interesting that the British Museum has treasures from all over the globe. From all the great civilizations. But as we see regularly finds are being made in Britain itself by the week it seems. Metal detectors and a farmers field ... a lost Viking gold stash is found. It seems the Brits are only now taking a close look at their own lands.

Regards

[Kolokotronis]

Thanks!

[Lady Jag]

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks LJ. Norwich was a port in the Middle Ages, during the Medieval Warming Period, if memory serves. The sealevel has declined since then.

[GreyFriar]

Archeo.logy ping

[blam]

Historic Norwich

The English Experience: About Norwich

[Verginius Rufus]

Of course the friars came late. The Franciscan order was founded in 1209, and the Dominican order in 1216. The Franciscans arrived in Norwich the same year St. Francis died.

[syriacus]

Thanks for posting all this interesting information, blam. Norwich certainly looks like an intriguing city to visit!

[rdl6989]

The sea level has declined since then.

The sea level has declined? But the Goracle says we're all gonna drown when the polar ice caps melt.

[driftless2]

My wife grew up in Norwich, and we visited the city last year. A very nice place. She has a sister who lives in Easton, and we took the bus into Norwich several times. Interesting to see all the old, and I mean real old, buildings including the old Roman wall still standing. In the States old means only about one hundred years or so. In Britain it’s around five hundred to two thousand years. or longer if you count Stonehenge we we visited also.

[SunkenCiv]

Weird, eh? ;’) It’s almost as if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. Very interesting. I’m glad the Brits are doing this.

[mardler]

BTTT.
Agreed: thanks for the post from another Norwich native!