93: Elm Hill
Elm Hill in Norwich recently took a role as a backdrop for Hollywood film, Stardust, starring Michelle Pfeiffer. It’s a new twist in a riches-to-rag-to-riches tale.
Quaint, picturesque, tourist attraction...
Elm Hill.
This cobbled street is the epitome of chocolate box attractiveness, but it has been the scene of a terrible fire, alcohol-fuelled fights – and barely survived demolition in the last century. Elm Hill, down from the former Franciscan priory which now houses St Andrew’s and Blackfriars Hall, has a long history. Its fortunes have turned full circle; once home to the city’s elite, it fell on hard times before its reincarnation as a much-loved attraction for both visitors and Norwich people.
Medieval origins?
Named after trees standing there for centuries, Elm Hill dates back at least to 1200. It may be even older as much of the original Saxon and Viking Norwich can be traced back to this part of the city. In 1507, a great fire broke out, the effects of which were made worse as most buildings were made of wood. Over four days the fire wrought such destruction across the city that in places only the stone-built churches survived. In Elm Hill the only non-ecclesiastical building untouched was, reputedly, the Britons’ Arms, near the top of the hill. This building began as a beguinage, a community of religious women, during the early 1400s. Its medieval doorway survives; today it is a cafe. Rebuilding took place across Norwich after 1507, and nowhere more so than in Elm Hill. City fathers, such as mayor Augustine Steward, moved there. He rebuilt the house at what is now Nos. 22-24, the home of The Strangers’ Club. The original building was a town house for the influential Paston family during the 15th century. Also of note is the 16th century Pettus House. It was built by cloth merchant John Pettus in 1550, whose son Thomas became mayor in 1590. Apparently Pettus drank and played bowls at the nearby Maid’s Head. At the bottom of the hill, at the junction with Wensum Street, stands St Peter Hungate Church, founded with the aid of the Ingham family, wealthy mercers in Norwich during the 15th century, who paid for much of its construction.
A desirable address?
Norwich stood or fell on the fortunes of its textile industry. This thrived until the end of the 18th century, by which time the wealthy families were fleeing this part of the city. The grand houses were carved up as separate tenements for artisans eking out a precarious living. The Napoleonic Wars saw Norwich’s once booming exports to the Low Countries come to a standstill, and in the post-war period the industry could no longer compete with mass production in the north and north-west of Britain. Unemployment soared and living standards deteriorated as people crowded into courts towards the river with very little individual space. Living cheek by jowl, many people took to the bottle and the area became notorious for vicious fist fights in and out of the four pubs on the hill. Rather like the famous Rows in Yarmouth at the same time, the once-proud houses deteriorated – and turned into slums.
Might as well knock them down then...
By the early 20th century the prosperous medieval area around Tombland, including Elm Hill, had degenerated so much that the Corporation was considering demolishing the slums. The fashion in the 1920s and 1930s was ‘out with the old, in with the new’. This was a time of great rebuilding in Norwich, with much-needed council houses created for its population. The modern interest in architectural heritage was yet to take off, and crumbling Elm Hill was a prime target. At the 11th hour the Norwich Society was created, made the case for preservation, and instead of being pulled down, buildings were gradually renovated from the late 1920s.
Any colourful characters?
In the 19th century an all-fated monastic order set up in Elm Hill. Joseph Leycester Lyne was an Anglican determined to restore monastic life to England for the first time since its suppression by Henry VIII. Calling himself Father Ignatius, he and his followers moved from Suffolk to a former rag merchants’ house in Elm Hill. They were not popular with their determinedly anti-papist neighbours, many of whom shouted abuse as the monks made their way to church. After being threatened by a mob, dark rumours grew about the combative Fr Ignatius. He later building a church near the top of the hill in the 1860s. Unfortunately, he suffered a nervous breakdown and the short-lived monastery dissolved. Today his former church is used by the Art School.
The hill’s bound to be haunted?
Elm Hill is home to a number of ghosts. Father Ignatius, for one, is supposed to stride out, bible in hand, still threatening his unwelcoming neighbours with the torments of hell. At the Strangers’ Club, mysterious footsteps have been heard. The story goes that in the 1507 fire a family were trapped by flames in an upstairs bedroom. Although the husband managed to lower his wife and children from the window, he perished himself. The disembodied footsteps in the rebuilt house are said to be his.
And today?
The Norwich Society did its work well. A stroll down Elm Hill is a highlight of a visit to Norwich. Lined with antiques shops, a toy bears shop, a top quality second hand bookshop and buildings that have been in place for centuries, it is one of the places that make Norwich so popular. St Peter Hungate is disused. The society turned it into a museum of church furnishings after it became redundant early in the 20th century, but its exhibits were transferred to the Castle Museum in the 1990s.
Reading:
The Buildings of England.
Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East
Nikolaus Pevsner and Bill Wilson
