98: Norwich Castle

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
4:14 PM

The castle has been at the heart of Norwich for more than 900 years. Norwich Castle has played a number of roles in its history. Built by Norman invaders to cow the English, it helped make Norwich the capital of Norfolk, and became in turn a symbol of royal authority, a prison and finally a museum and art gallery.

1066 and all that.

Norwich Castle has been at the heart of the city for more
than 900 years..

The Normans and French who took over the running of England after 1066 were a tiny minority. As they did elsewhere in the country, they built castles not only as refuges from a hostile population, but to remind the conquered that they were the new masters. So it was in Norwich. As early as 1068 more than 100 houses were demolished and the no doubt reluctant locals were pressed into helping build the fortifications.

They would probably have started off as a small mound (motte) with a defended entrance and a couple of outer baileys. Subsequently both the hill and defensive ditches were hugely enlarged. It was not long before these fortifications were tested out. Ralph Guader, the knight created earl of East Anglia by William the Conqueror, hatched a plan to rebel. The plot collapsed and, as the kings army under archbishop Lanfranc besieged Norwich Castle, the earl took refuge in France. Three hundred men-atarms plus engineers invested [laid siege to] the castle. After three months, Ralphs wife, Emma, who had been left to hold the castle, surrendered and was allowed to join her husband.

Many of his other supporters were less fortunate. William arrived in Norwich at Christmas 1075, and meted out his usual brand of harsh justice many of the castles defenders were executed, others had their eyes cut out or hands cut off. The castle and cathedral, where work began towards the end of the century, transformed Norwich. As the only royal castle in Norfolk and Suffolk, it made Norwich, previously a relatively modest place, an administrative centre. This, and the transfer of the bishops see from Thetford to Norwich, made the city a regional powerhouse.

Lovely if you were a Norman!

In the shadow of the castle a new or French borough grew up. The citys main marketplace was moved from Tombland to its current site, overlooked by Peter Mancroft Church. While it must have been a terrible time for the English, the pain may have been assuaged by the prosperity that followed. In about 1095, work began on a state-of-the-art keep, built with stone imported by sea from Caen, Normandy. If you were in construction or an allied trade it was a boom time, what with the cathedral going up simultaneously. By 1122, when King Henry I spent Christmas there, all was complete and the main accommodation comprised a great hall, two private chambers, lavatories, a great chamber and a store room. The keep had a well dug 115ft deep; the building itself was 70ft high, among the largest in the country. Brightly-painted, it would have been an impressive sight.

Who lived there?

Those within the castle fee [boundary] were under royal jurisdiction. The citys Jewish community, which often needed such protection, settled at the foot of the castle. But its separate legal status meant some unsavoury characters also moved in, safe from the city authorities. This went on until 1345 when Edward III gave up the fee to the city, confining royal control to the keep and hill. By this time the castle was the official residence of the sheriff of Norwich and a jail. Prisoners were held there, often in poor conditions, awaiting the next visit of the kings judges, who travelled on a circuit. In 1549, captured rebel Robert Kett was hanged in chains from the top of the castle.

Werent castles redundant by then?

The building of the citys walls had already lessened its strategic importance. By the 18th century, prisoners conditions were a disgrace as the building deteriorated. Public executions were held on the castle hill, attracting large and boisterous Saturday crowds of onlookers, sometimes 30,000 strong, out for some entertainment and a few drinks. Trains were laid on in 1849 to see the execution of James Blomefield Rush, who had murdered recorder of Norwich Isaac Jermy.

One hanging in 1854 was particularly nasty; according to the Norfolk Chronicle, the criminals struggles lasted five minutes. The ghost of Martha Alder, hanged in 1807 for murdering her husband, was said to haunt the hill. The last public hanging was in 1867 a 22-year-old man who had killed his uncle by which time executions were held on Mondays to stop crowds gathering.

Any other unpleasantness?

There was a riot in Castle Meadow in 1827. As hard times hit Norfolks textile industry, and workers were put out of work by the introduction of new technology, Wymondham weavers damaged 1,000 worth of looms and silks. Arrested, they were taken to Norwich Castle and imprisoned there. But the Norwich weavers rose up, and barricaded the castle bridge. They were determined to stop witnesses coming to testify against the weavers. Lancers from the city barracks were called out, and charged the mob at the gallop.

On a lighter note...

Castle Meadow was originally the middle ditch of the castle bailey. Up to the 1780s the ditches were used as a rubbish tip. In a bid to tidy the area, trees were planted, but they were vandalised. After that the hill was divided into allotments for local people. During the 19th century fairs and animal shows were popular. One in 1823 featured a performing elephant, boa constrictor and sea serpent, while nine years later a lion-tamer came to town.

A prison in a castle. Bit medieval in a modern city?

In 1887 the new prison on Mousehold opened, and the prisoners moved. The castle was in dire need of renovation, and its frontage was refaced. Bought by the city council in 1894, it was converted into a museum and art gallery.

Castle Mall was built in the 1990s beneath the broad area where once the cattle market, then a car park, had stood. In 2001 the castle underwent further refurbishment.