History of the City of Norwich

1578. Queen Elizabeth I, visited Norwich and worshiped in the Cathedral. A magnificent throne was prepared for her opposite the tomb of her great-grandfather, Sir William Boleyn. His tomb bears the Boleyn arms which must have been a poignant reminder to the Queen of her own parents; her mother Anne Boleyn having been executed on the orders of her father, Henry VIII.

Archbishop Matthew Parker, (there's a plaque to him on St Clements's Church, Magdalen Street, Norwich) born in Norwich, was Elizabeth 1's Primate of All England. His enthusiasm and attention to detail in investigating the conduct of the clergy earned him the nickname 'Nosey Parker', an expression that has since entered the English language.

1603. Queen Elizabeth died, and James I of England / VI of Scotland was crowned king.

On the 1404 seal (Page 2), both sides are inscribed with 'the common seal of Norwich' in Latin. The front bears the city arms of the Castle and Lion, while the reverse showed the Trinity flanked by the arms of England and those of St. George. The artist attempted to give his work the illusion of depth, by displaying two angels in the background peering out from behind columns.

The 1686 Seal on the left had the image of the Trinity cut out, presumably as being too Roman Catholic, and in its place was inserted a piece engraved 'Immanuel 1573'.
 The origin for the new legend is unknown.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, when city corporations began to find their feet, they wished their power to make an impression not only on their own citizens, but also on strangers. It seemed natural to them to do this by holding great feasts with rich plate as the nobility did.
    The City of Norwich preserves what is probably the finest collection of corporation silver in the country. Apart from the regalia, the corporation silver consists mostly of plate for the dining table. A modern observer, familiar with company cars, large desks in offices etc can understand that in the middle ages the same objective was achieved with expensive plate, precious objects and salt to impress the wealthy entrepreneurs or Royalty, who were visiting your city.
    When the corporation felt like following a new fashion, they were not at all squeamish about melting down old-fashioned pieces and making them into something new. There was not much respect for 'antiques' as such.

1604-5.King James attempting to appease the Puritans, demonises the Catholics. This leads to Guy Fawkes and the 'Gun Powder Plot' of blowing up the House of Lords.

1625. James I died and Charles I was crowned king.

1629. The top of the cathedral spire was blown off. A more substantial spire was constructed. It is 317 feet (96.6m) from it's tip to pavement. The cock which is on top is two and a quarter feet high (0.7m) and and slightly more than three feet wide (0.96m).

1637-1639. England's religious oppression drove many  non-conformists to embark at Great Yarmouth in their hundreds (three of Norwich's master weavers amongst them), to seek new lives in Holland and New England.

1643. The City Puritans ransacked the cathedral destroying windows, organ pipes, vestments, copes, books and other treasures which were taken to the market place and burnt on a huge bonfire.

1649. Charles I executed by parliament and The Commonwealth is declared.

1650. The authorities at Great Yarmouth petitioned parliament for permission to use the lead and other materials from the now 'vast and useless cathedral in Norwich'. It was subsequently refused. Meanwhile wealthy citizens within and without the city were spending huge sums of money in an attempt to repair and refurbish it.

1653. Oliver Cromwell made Lord Protector of The Commonwealth.

1656. Lady Hobart, wife of the Attorney General held the lease of an area now known as Chapelfield Gardens which is now a park close to Norwich city centre. She tried to exclude citizens from free passage through the area. This was resisted and the first notice of it becoming a public place was made known.

1658. Oliver Cromwell died and Richard Cromwell became Lord Protector.

1660. The Commonwealth was ended and Charles II was crowned king.

1671. King Charles II visited Norwich and stayed at the 'Dukes Palace' (Page2).

1685. Charles II died and James VII of Scotland was crowned king of England. Making him king of England, Ireland and Scotland.

1688. James II died William III was crowned king together with Mary II (1689 - 1694).

1702. William died (fell off his horse) and Anne was crowned queen.

1701. Francis Burges published the first issue of the 'Norwich Post'. The first provincial newspaper in England; however, he was not the first recorded printer in Norwich. Anthony de Soleme a person amongst the exiled Flemish Protestants, most of them weavers who settled in Norwich during the reign of Elizabeth I, was the first to set up a printing press in Norwich.

1711. By this time only one wing of the 'Dukes Palace' remained and this was used by the city as a workhouse.

1714. Anne died and king George I was crowned king.
1727. George I died and George II was crowned king.

1729. In the Castle a debtor who had a bed to him or herself, paid the gaoler 2 shillings a week. If he or she shared the bed with another person, they each paid one shilling and sixpence, while if three people shared they only paid 6 pence each.

1732. The stone cross (Shearers Cross), which identified the area where the sheep shearers and cloth cutters of the thriving mediaeval woollen industry once worked, was demolished. We now know the area as Charing Cross.

1738 - to enable a cattle market to be laid out, the city corporation instigated landscaping. This would flatten much of the southern bailey of the castle which constituted most of its remaining earthwork defences.
    This open site was also used for public hangings in the 19th century, the last occasion being in the 1850's, when special trains were laid on from London. Some 15,000 spectators stood on the site of the cattle market to watch the execution.

1752. Norwich Journal or weekly Intelligencer published until 1753

1758. Lord Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk.

1760. George II died and George III was crowned king.

1770. Eastern Australia claimed for Britain by James Cook. The territory was named New South Wales. The area was subsequently used as a penal colony to which undesirables could be transported.

1793. The Bell Hotel in Norwich was a meeting place for a  revolutionary society who met to celebrate the French Revolution. It  became infamous in the 18th Century as a venue for cockfighting, and as the meeting place of the Hellfire Club (an anti-Methodist group who used to beat up Methodist preachers). It was built before 1600.

1768. Saw the birth of John Crome the founder of the Norwich School of Painting.

1780. Elizabeth Fry, born on Magdalen Street and educator of the poor in Earlham, was born. Later to become a prison reformer campaigning for better conditions for female prisoners, and also for those sentenced to transportation.

1791-1808. The city council demolished the city gates, partly in the interest of hygiene but mainly to save cash on repairs.

1792. Thomas Bignold, a wine merchant and banker from Kent, set up an insurance business in a single room in the Market Place and Norwich Union was born.

1797. One of the city's proudest possessions presented to it, is a sword from Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, who was born at Burnham Thorpe in the county and educated at various schools including the Norwich School, which is situated within the precincts of Norwich Cathedral. It is a relic of one of his most daring exploits, for it was surrendered to him by the commander of the Spanish fleet at the battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797. Nelson then holding the rank of Commodore sailed his small frigate 'Captain' out of the British line into a gap in the Spanish line and engaged seven enemy ships at once. He captured two ships, one of them the 'San Josef', the flagship of the commander Rear-Admiral Don Xavier Francisco Winthuysen who surrendered his sword to Nelson before dying of his wounds. The sword is a light sabre with a silver hilt.

Garsett House on St Andrews Plain is known locally as Armada House, because, the timber used to build it was apparently salvaged from the Spanish Armada ships that were wrecked on the East Anglia shore.

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