NORWICH MARKET
Norwich market has stood at the heart of the city for over nine hundred years. It is amazing that it still stands on the site established by the normans when they defeated england in the 11th century. Over its life it has reflected the city’s history and influenced its fortunes. It has survived because it has always evolved with the times.
Written by Frances & Michael Holmes of Norwich Heritage Projects I
n 1066, when the Normans defeated Britain, Norwich was already a prosperous community. As in other English cities, the invaders built the Castle and the Cathedral
as a means of imposing their authority. As trade grew, a number of subsidiary markets were established which are still remembered today in street names; for example, Rampant Horse Street took its name from an inn that once stood near the Horse Market, whilst the Timber Market eventually gave its name to Timber Hill.
1341 saw a huge milestone in the development of market. In this year, King Edward III came to the City to take part in a jousting tournament. Luckily, his visit coincided with the completion of Norwich’s defensive walls, which had been built ‘in honour of the King’; he was
View of the Market from the City Hall post 1976
so pleased that he granted the franchise of the Market to the City’s rulers in perpetuity – a franchise that still survives today.
REVOLTS, FIRES, WARS, SUPERMARKETS AND INTERNET SHOPPING
SURVIVED PLAGUE,
AGAINST ALL THE ODDS, NORWICH MARKET HAS
By the mid 15th century two distinctive buildings were constructed on the Marketplace. In 1407 work commenced on the Guildhall, which replaced the Market Tollhouse. It remained the administrative centre until the new City Hall was built in 1938. Less than thirty years later St Peter Mancroft Church was under construction. In contrast to the Guildhall, the church was built by rich merchants, and here they would meet and worship in their guilds. The Church has always
had links with the Market, and historically all stallholders have had a right to be both married and buried there.
Throughout its history the Marketplace has been more than an arena for trade; it was also a huge public space in the heart of the City which became the focus for pageantry. This was never more so than in the Tudor period. Thus, hordes assembled here to mourn both the death of Henry VIII and the succession of Edward VI. Then, in 1578 Queen Elizabeth was greeted by huge crowds when she crossed the ‘goodly garnished’ Marketplace en route to her lodging at the Bishop’s palace. However, all was not jollity. The Marketplace was also an ideal stage for public punishments, which was exploited to the full by the city lawmakers who placed the stocks and pillory at the eastern end of the Guildhall. Hangings were also common in the Marketplace, and in 1549 gallows were set up here for the mass execution of Kett’s rebels.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, as the roads to Norwich improved, coach travel brought an increasing number of visitors to Norwich. By now, the layout of the medieval market had altered as three- and four-storey buildings had been built across the Marketplace. Viewing it at the time, one gentleman remarked that the stalls were ‘ranged in equidistant rows with a regularity little short of military precision’. Over the same period superior shops geared to gentry tastes were opening in the City. “Nether Row”, the lowest street of the Market, became a favourite promenade for the gentry and earned the name of Gentleman’s Walk, which it still
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