PROJECT REPORT: HERITAGE & HISTORIC 35
NORWICH CASTLE NORWICH
Conquering the castle
Transformed from a forbidding symbol of Norman power to an accessible heritage destination, Norwich Castle has undergone one of the UK’s most ambitious historic refurbishments. Stephen Cousins reports.
W
hen William the Conqueror laid siege to England in 1066, ravaging vast areas of the
country to establish his rule, he oversaw construction of a system of fortifi cations to suppress Anglo-Saxon rebellions. Just one year after the Battle of Hastings,
William I ordered the demolition of around 100 Saxon homes on a site in Norwich to make way for a wooden fort surrounded by deep defensive ditches.
The fort was later replaced by a stone
castle, commissioned by William’s son King William II in 1094 and eventually completed by King Henry I in 1121. Over the following centuries the building went through various transformations, becoming a prison in the 1300s, and a museum in the 1880s.
Fast forward to the 2010s, and despite being the most well preserved Norman stronghold in Europe, a scheduled monument with a Grade I listing, the museum was no longer fi t for purpose. The upper levels were notoriously diffi cult to reach, the original castle’s fl oor levels had been stripped out, and essential visitor amenities were non-existent. A major refurbishment, green lit in 2018, sought to address these issues and return the castle to its medieval roots. Designed
by Feilden and Mawson architects and completed last summer, the revamp cost £27.5m with the funding split mostly between the National Lottery Heritage fund and client Norfolk County Council. For the fi rst time in over 900 years, the original medieval fl oors and rooms in the stone keep have been reinstated, and kitted out with historically accurate furnishings. A new staircase and lift provide access to all fl oor levels, from basement to rooftop battlement. Meanwhile, a new entrance built next to the keep opens onto a cafe and museum shop, and a light-fi lled glazed atrium provides impressive views of the looming keep above.
But getting the project over the line was a historic battle for designers and contractors. The discovery of signifi cant archaeology on site required extensive redesign work, notably in relation to a planned lift in the keep. Erin Davidson, project lead at Feilden+Mawson told ADF: “The lift touched the ground archaeology, which was a scheduled ancient monument and therefore we had to consult with Historic England [who manage the strict consent process], as well as the above ground archaeology, which was the responsibility of the local authority. Dealing with both
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