Very few buildings now standing in Elm Hill are of an earlier date than 1507, when a disastrous fire destroyed over 700 houses in Norwich.

Although it may not be immediately apparent today, the North side of Elm Hill runs parallel to the river Wensum and in the past many of the merchant houses had their own quays.

Elm Hill has provided sixteen recorded citizens to serve Norwich as Mayor or Sheriff.

With the gradual decline of Norwich as a centre of the weaving industry in the 19th century, Elm Hill lost its importance and slowly degenerated into a slum area.

The artwork sparked several urban legends, from being the impression of a keyboard that fell into the fresh cement of the pavement in the 1980s, to being the remains of a typewriter.

[3][4] After years perpetuating as an unsolved mystery for Norwich locals, this story was solved by the YouTuber Nostalgia Nerd in May 2020,[5] and later picked up by the press.