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NORWICH - ENGLAND
The city of Norwich is the regional
administrative centre and capital city of the county of Norfolk, England.
Early history
Norwich, in the county of Norfolk, was shaped by the Iceni, the Romans, the
Anglo-Saxons, the Late Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans.The word Norvic
appears on coins minted during the reign of King Athelstan (early 10th
century AD). The ancient city was already a thriving centre for trade and
commerce in East Anglia when Swein Forkbeard the Viking destroyed it in 1004
AD. The main area of the city south of the River Wensum was destroyed by the
construction of the Norman castle during the 1070s creation of a "New" or "French"
borough.
In 1096 Bishop Losinga began construction of the cathedral, which became and
remains the cathedral church for the Diocese of Norwich.
At the time of the Norman Conquest the city was one of the largest in
England, and it continued to be a major centre for trade, especially wool.
The Wensum was a convenient exporting route to the sea.
The wealth generated by the wool trade throughout the Middle Ages resulted
in the construction of many fine churches. Norwich still has one of the
highest number of splendid medieval churches in western Europe.
Ever since the great immigration of 1567 the Walloon community had been
granted by successive bishops the right to use a chapel for their own
worship. Norwich has been the home of various dissident minorities, notably
the French Huguenot and the Belgian Walloon communities in the 16th and 17th
centuries. Primarily through trading connections with mainland Europe, ideas
of religious reform and radical politics were introduced to Norwich.
The Norwich Canary was first introduced into England by Flemish refugees
fleeing from Spanish persecution in the 1500s. They brought with them not
only advanced working skills in textiles but also their pet canaries, which
they began to breed. The canary is the emblem of the city's football team, "The
Canaries", Norwich City F.C.
Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1834 when a railway
connection was established, it was often quicker and safer to travel to
Amsterdam than to London!
Traveller's comments
In 1507 the poet John Skelton (1460-1529) wrote of two destructive fires in
his Lament for the City of Norwich.
All life is brief, and frail all man's estate. City, farewell: I mourn thy
cruel fate.
Thomas Fuller in his The Worthies of England described the City in 1662 as -
Either a city in an orchard or an orchard in a city, so equally are houses
and trees blended init, so that the pleasure of the country and the
populousness of the city meet here together. Yet in this mixture, the
inhabitants participate nothing of the rusticalness of the one, but
altogether the urbanity and civility of the other.
Celia Fiennes (1662-1741) visited Norwich in 1698 and described it as
a city walled full round of towers, except on the river side which serves as
a wall; they seem the best in repair of any walled city I know.
She also records that held in the City three times a year were-
great fairs...to which resort a vast concourseof people and wares a full
trade.
Norwich being a rich, thriving indusrious place full of weaving, knitting
and dyeing.
Daniel Defoe in his Tour of the whole Island of Great Britain (1724) wrote
of the City-
the inhabitants being all busy at their manufactures, dwell in their garrets
at their looms, in their combng-shops, so they all them, twisting-mills, and
other work-houses; almost all the works they are employed in being done
within doors.
John Evelyn (1620-1706) Royalist, Traveller and Diarist wrote to Sir Thomas
Browne-
I hear Norwich is a place very much addicted to the flowery part.
He visited the City as a courtier to King Charles II in 1671 and described
it thus -
The suburbs are large, the prospect sweet, and other amenities, not omitting
the flower-garden, which all the Inhabitants excel in of this City, the
fabric of stuffs, which affords the Merchants, and brings a vast trade to
this populous Town.
George Borrow in his semi-autobiographical novel Lavengro (1851) wrote of
Norwich as-
A fine old city, perhaps the most curious specimen at present extant of the
genuine old English Town. ..Thre it spreads from north to south, with its
venerable hoouses, its numerous gardens, its thrice twelve churches, its
mighty mound....There is an old grey castle on top of that mighty mound: and
yonder rising three hundred feet above the soil, from amongst those noble
forest trees, behold that old Norman master-work, that cloud-enriched
cathedral spire ...Now who can wonder that the children of that fine old
city are proud, and offer up prayers for her prosperity?
In 1812, Andrew Robertson wrote to the painter Constable-
I arrived here a week ago and find it a place where the arts are very much
cultivated....some branches of knowledge, chemistry, botany, etc. are
carried to a great length. General literature seems to be persued with an
adour which is astonishing when we consider that it does not contain a
university, as is merely a manufacturing town.
Famous names associated with City
Throughout its history, Norwich has been associated with radical politics,
political dissent and liberalism. Between 1790 and 1840, many of the famous
names associated with the City flourished. These include- The Norwich School
of painters, Harriet Martineau, Amelia Opie, George Borrow, William Taylor
and Sir James Edward Smith .
Julian of Norwich. Medieval Christian mystic and contemporary of Chaucer.
Julian is the author of The revelations of Divine Love the first book
written by a woman in the English language.
The physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
Medical doctor, polymath scholar and encyclopedist with interests in
Biblical scholarship and the esoteric. The stylistic purity and stupendous
learning displayed in Browne's varied prose in the spheres of religion,
science and art are minor classics of World literature.
William Crotch (1775-1847) Composer, artist and teacher. Norwich's Mozart.
He gave daily public organ recitals aged two and a half. Crotch played 'God
save the King' before the King aged three. He had performed at every major
town in England and Scotland by the age of seven. Crotch became Organist of
Christ Church Oxford and for 50 years he was Oxford's Professor of Music.
Unlike Mozart however his precocious musical talents failed to mature.
John Crome and Joseph Stannard along with John Sell Cotman established the
first art movement outside of London. The Norwich School of painters were
influenced by the achievements of Dutch landscape painting and the beauty of
the rural hinterland surrounding Norwich.
The writer and traveller George Borrow (1803-1881). In his youth Borrow was
resident at Willow Lane. He attended the Norwich King Edward school. Borrow
recollects his youth in the city and conversations with the philologist and
translator of German Romantic literature, William Taylor in his semi-autobiographical
novel Lavengro.
The prison reformer Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was born in Gurney Court in
Magdalen Street, and was one of several philanthropists associated with the
city (her portrait is currently upon the new Bank of England £5 note).
Thomas Ivory, Neo-Classical architect, who built the Assembly Rooms (1776),
the Octagon Chapel (1756), and St Helen's House (1752) in the grounds of the
Great Hospital.
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) daughter of a Norwich manufacturer of Huguenot
descent. She suffered from ill-health and deafness throughout her life. A
devout Unitarian, her writings include Illustrations of political economy
(1832-1834). Harriet Martineau supported the abolitionist campaign in the
United States writing Society in America (1837). She translated writings by
Auguste Comte. Her first novel was entitled Deerbrook (1839). A radical in
religion she published the anti-theological Laws of Man's Social Nature
(1851) and Biographical sketches (1869).
Amelia Opie (1769-1853), Norwich author and Quaker. Opie wrote The dangers
of Coquetry aged 18 and married John Opie in 1798. Her novel Father and
daughter (1803) is about misled virtue and family reconciliation. Encouraged
by Mary Wollstonecraft she wrote Adeline Mowbray (1804) an exploration of
relationship between mother and daughter. Adeline Mowbray discusses sex in
an unconscious and frank manner and delivers the moral that the desires of
women as much as men can override their families' wishes and thus jeopardise
their future. Most of Amelia Opie's life was divided between London and
Norwich. She was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and
Madame de Stael. In 1825 she drastically changed her life as a socialite,
party-goer, and attendant at literary soiree's, to become a Quaker. Late in
her life she received George Borrow as a guest. After a visit to Cromer, a
seaside resort on the North Norfolk coast, she caught a chill, retired to
her bedroom and died a year later.
George Skipper (1856-1948), architect. Examples of George Skipper's
Edwardian Art-Deco style architecture can be seen throughout the city. The
splendid 'Royal Arcade', the Norwich Union Marble Banqueting Hall and the
'Hotel de Paris' at the seaside resort of Cromer are each fine examples of
the so-called Gaudi of Norwich.
Alan Partridge, fictional radio DJ played by comedian Steve Coogan. Despite
being a fictional character, Partridge is arguably the most famous Norwich
resident of recent years. Partridge has a huge chip on his shoulder about
the pedestrianisation of the city centre.
Delia Smith, majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club. The
infamous cook who taught us all how to boil eggs to perfection and make
toast that isn't "sweaty" (i.e. bung it in a toast rack - don't lie it down)
has been a favourite of the city ever since she arrived; helping save the
club from going into administration.
Present-day
A university, the University of East Anglia was founded in Norwich in 1963.
UEA adopted the city's motto of independence Do different.
Norwich Airport offers scheduled international services and holiday charter
flights, and developed from the former RAF airfield at Horsham St Faith.
This was once the home of Air UK, which grew out of Air Anglia and
eventually became part of the Dutch airline KLM.
Satirical comedian Steve Coogan located his fictional, unbearably vain,
cheesy broadcaster 'Alan Partridge' in Norfolk, specifically hosting the pre-breakfast
show on the fictional independent station 'Radio Norwich'. It exploited the
county's reputation as being somewhat detached from modern trends, past its
prime, and rather peripheral to national life.
Other comic entertainers who have drawn comedy from that stereotype include
Allan Smethurst 'The Singing Postman' and The Kipper Family lately
represented by 'son' Sid Kipper.
Music and the arts in Norwich reach their high point each year in the
Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
A shift from the decline in industries in the city throughout the eighties
and nineties to new entrepreneurial activities has stabilised the city's
economy. Recent developments include the Norfolk and Norwich University
hospital at Colney, the 'Forum', home of the Millennium Library and regional
BBC broadcasting, and the Riverside entertainment complex. Future plans for
development include a new stadium for the football club, 'The Canaries',
along with another shopping mall on the site of the much-loved, recently
demolished 'Caleys' chocolate factory.
The city's newspapers include The Norwich Evening News and The Eastern Daily
Press. Broadland 102, its sister station Classic Gold Amber, as well as BBC
Radio Norfolk and the University of East Anglia's Livewire 1350 all
broadcast to the city.
Attractions for those re-locating include the compactness of its centre for
shopping , its relatively low crime rate, its relaxing pace of life, access
to the bootiful Norfolk countryside, including the Norfolk Broads and
extensive coast-line, and until recently, the city's relatively cheap
housing market
Norwich is occasionally portrayed by the media as a city out-of-step with
national trends (see Alan Partridge); This is primarily due to its
geographic isolation which has contributed greatly to its 'unspoilt' and
insular character. However, the long-standing tolerance of the 'native'
population's slow, but friendly absorption of all-comers, combined with its
good rail links to Cambridge and London, its wealth of historical
architecture and the continued growth of new retail and service businesses
makes Norwich a popular place to visit and live.
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