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Norwich (IPA: //) is a city in East Anglia, in Eastern England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. The suburban area of the city expands beyond its boundary, with extensive suburban areas on the western, northern and eastern sides, including Thorpe St. Andrew on the eastern side. The Parliamentary seats cross over into adjacent local government districts. The population of the Norwich Travel to Work Area i.e. the area of Norwich in which most people both live and work, is 367,035 and the 1991 figure was 351,340. 127,600 people live in the Norwich City Council area. Norwich is the fourth most densely populated Local Authority District within the Eastern Region with 3,179 people per square kilometre (8,241 per square mile).
History
RomanThe Romans had their regional capital at Venta Icenor um on the river to the south which is near modern day Caistor St Edmund. Early English/Norman ConquestThere are two suggested models of development for Norwich. It is possible that three separate early Anglo-Saxon settlements, one on the north of the river and two either side on the south, joined together as they grew or that one Anglo-Saxon settlement, on the north of the river, emerged in the mid 7th century after the abandonment of the previous three. The ancient city was a thriving centre for trade and commerce in East Anglia in 1004 AD when it was raided and burnt by Swein Forkbeard the Viking. Mercian coins and shards of pottery from the Rhineland dating to the 8th century suggest that long distance trade was happening long before this. Between 924-939 AD Norwich became fully established as a town due to the fact that it had its own mint. The word Norvic appears on coins across Europe minted during this period, in the reign of King Athelstan. The Vikings were a strong cultural influence in Norwich for 40-50 years at the end of the 9th century, setting up an Anglo-Scandinavian district towards the north end of present day King Street. At the time of the Norman Conquest the city was one of the largest in England. The Domesday Book states that it had approximately twenty-five churches and a population of between five and ten thousand. It also records the site of an Anglo-Saxon church in Tombland, the site of the Saxon market place and the later Norman cathedral. Norwich continued to be a major centre for trade, the River Wensum being a convenient export route to the sea. Quern stones, and other artifacts, from Scandinavia and the Rhineland have been found during excavations in Norwich city centre which date from the 11th century onwards. The main area of Saxon settlement south of the Wensum was destroyed by the construction of the Norman castle (see Norwich Castle) during the 1070s. The Normans established a new focus of settlement around the Castle and the area to the west of it: this became known as the "New" or "French" borough, centred on the Norman's own Market Place which survives to the present day as the City's Provision Market. In 1096 Bishop Herbert de Losinga, then Bishop of Thetford, began construction of Norwich Cathedral. The chief building material for the Cathedral was limestone, imported from Caen in Normandy. To transport the building stone to the cathedral site, a canal was cut from the river (from the site of present-day Pulls Ferry), all the way up to the east wall. Herbert de Losinga then moved his See there to what became the cathedral church for the Diocese of Norwich. The bishop of Norwich still signs himself Norvic. Middle AgesBy the middle of the 14th century the City Walls, about two and a half miles (4 km) long had been completed. These, along with the river, enclosed a larger area than that of the City of London. In the early part of the fifteenth century, Julian of Norwich wrote her famous work Revelations of Divine Love. In 1144, the Jews of Norwich were accused of ritual murder after a boy (William of Norwich) was found dead with stab wounds. This was the first incidence of blood libel in England. The story was turned into a cult, William acquiring the status of martyr and William was subsequently canonized. The cult of St. William attracted large numbers of pilgrims, bringing wealth to the local church. On February 6, 1190, all the Jews of Norwich were massacred except for a few who found refuge in the castle. The wealth generated by the wool trade throughout the Middle Ages financed the construction of many fine churches and Norwich still has more medieval churches than any other city in Western Europe north of the Alps. Throughout this period Norwich established wide-ranging trading links with other parts of Europe, its markets stretching from Scandinavia to Spain. Around this time, the city was made a county corporate. The great immigration of 1567 brought a substantial Walloon community of weavers to Norwich. Norwich has been the home of various dissident minorities, notably the French Huguenot and the Belgian Walloon communities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These immigrants were known locally as 'Strangers'. The merchant's house - now a museum - which was their earliest base in the city is still known as 'Strangers' Hall'. It seems that the Strangers were integrated into the local community without a great deal of animosity, at least among the business fraternity who had the most to gain from their skills. The arrival of the Strangers in Norwich bolstered trade with mainland Europe, fostering a movement toward religious reform and radical politics in the city. English Civil Wars to Victorian EraThe eastern counties were profoundly Parliamentarian in nature and Norwich followed suit, at the cost of some discomfit to the Lord Mayor, a Royalist, and the bishop, Joseph Hall, a moderate but targeted because of his position. 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 techniques in textile working but also their pet canaries, which they began to breed locally. The canary is the emblem of the city's football team, Norwich City F.C., nicknamed "The Canaries". Until the 19th century, Norwich remained a major provincial capital and, alongside Bristol, was ranked closely behind London in terms of importance and wealth. Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1845 when a railway connection was established, it was often quicker to travel to Amsterdam by boat than to London. The railway was introduced to Norwich by Morton Peto, who also built the line to Great Yarmouth. From 1808 to 1814 Norwich hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth. 20th CenturyIn the early part of the 20th century Norwich still had several major manufacturing industries. Among these were the manufacture of shoes (for example the Start-rite brand), clothing, joinery, and structural engineering as well as aircraft design and manufacture. Important employers included Boulton & Paul, Barnards (inventors of machine produced wire netting), and electrical engineers Laurence Scott and Electromotors. Norwich also has a long association with chocolate manufacture, primarily through the local firm of Caleys, which began as a manufacturer and bottler of mineral water and later diversified into making chocolate and Christmas crackers. Caley's was acquired by Mackintosh in the 1930s. It merged with Rowntree in 1969 to become Rowntree-Mackintosh; it finally was bought by Nestlé and closed down in 1996 with all operations moved to York, ending a 120-year association with Norwich. The factory existed on the site of what is now the Chapelfield development. Caleys chocolate has since made a reappearance as a brand, and is still produced in Norwich. Norwich suffered extensive bomb damage during World War 2, affecting large parts of the old city centre and Victorian terrace housing around the centre. Industry and the rail infrastructure also suffered. The heaviest raids occurred on the nights of 27/28th and 29/30 April 1942; as part of the Baedeker raids (so called because of the bombers' supposed reliance on the Baedeker's series of tourist guides to the British Isles). Lord Haw-Haw made reference to the imminent destruction of Norwich's new City Hall (completed in 1938), although in the event it survived unscathed. Significant targets hit included the Morgan's Brewery building, Colman's Wincarnis works, City Station, the Mackintosh chocolate factory, and shopping areas including St. Stephen's Street, St. Benedict's Street, the site of Bonds department store and Curls department store (now Debenhams). Research Tips
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