Norwich Market

The largest surviving mediaeval civic building in Britain outside London, it remained the seat of local government until 1938 and in use as a law court until 1985.

It was radically redesigned in the 1930s: stalls were arranged into parallel rows and a new City Hall was built along the entire western side of the marketplace to replace the by then inadequate Guildhall.

[1][note 1] The new town at Mancroft included a market of its own to provide for the Norman settlers and merchants moving into the area, and possibly also to supply the castle's garrison.

East Anglia was at this time one of the most densely populated areas in England, producing large amounts of grain, sheep, cattle and poultry.

Another passage called the Overerowe, or Over Row (later renamed St Peter's Street, and since 1938 occupied by City Hall), marked the western boundary.

A broad space between the main marketplace and the Nethererowe was kept clear for the use of country smallholders, who would set up temporary booths and tents to sell their wares.

[3] With the powers of the King's Clerk abolished, the bailiffs of Norwich set about regulating the operation of the market for what they felt was the greatest benefit to the city.

The southernmost rows of stalls in the main marketplace, which had been occupied by drapers and linen merchants,[9] were removed to clear space for an enlarged churchyard.

[16][note 5] However, the surviving merchant community were very influential in the city and, in the wake of the catastrophe, set about increasing the council's influence around the market, buying many of the surrounding shops.

[15] The council also bought a set of wharves along King Street near Dragon Hall in 1397 and decreed that all goods entering Norwich by water be unloaded there.

Sugar, figs and prunes were traded in the market in the 16th century, and it is recorded that 20,000 oranges and 1,000 lemons were provided for the 1581 St Bartholomew's Day fair.

[15] By this time, the tollhouse was proving inadequate as the seat of local government and between 1407 and 1413 it was demolished, along with an adjoining site which had housed a vegetable market, and was replaced by a new Guildhall.

In keeping with Norwich's status, it was one of the largest civic buildings in England outside London and housed all aspects of local government and justice for the new council.

[19] By the 17th century, the building was known as the Market House, and was used for the sale of grain and other goods sold by the bushel; a set of approved measures were chained to the pillars for public use.

Sir Thomas Browne described the voters around the market cross as "like flocks of sheep" during the unusually close elections of 1678, at the height of the Exclusion Crisis.

[21] Most public religious festivals were abandoned following the Reformation and the subsequent dissolution of many of the mediaeval guilds, and the leading event on Norwich's civic calendar became the annual inauguration of the mayor, which took place each May.

[25][note 8] The inauguration ceremony was conducted by the civic authorities and by the surviving, and still powerful, Guild of St George, and combined elements of a public festival and a religious carnival.

Behind the whifflers, the incoming and outgoing mayors rode side-by-side, preceded by trumpeters and standard-bearers carrying the banners of England and St George, and followed by the city's Sheriffs and Aldermen in ceremonial gowns of violet and red, respectively.

The procession was flanked by the city's waits (musicians playing loud wind instruments, usually the shawm) (a mediaeval double reed wind instrument with conical wooden body), and accompanied by dick fools (clowns carrying wands and wearing red and yellow gowns adorned with bells and cats' tails) and a man costumed as a dragon.

[29] Gentleman's Walk acquired a number of luxury shops, including John Toll's drapers from which Elizabeth Gurney (later Elizabeth Fry) watched the election of 1796,[30] the wine and spirit dealership of Thomas Bignold who in company with other local shopkeepers founded a mutual association to provide fire insurance for the area's shops which became Norwich Union,[31] and Saunders Coffee House, patronised by the young Horatio and William Nelson.

[32] The name "Pudding Lane" derives from "ped", an archaic word for the large baskets from which itinerant traders sold goods in the market.

However, the economy of Norwich depended heavily on the textile industry, which had suffered badly from the loss of export markets during the French Wars, and funds for improvements were limited.

[39] Exchange Street, a new road running north from the northeast corner of the market, was completed in 1828 and a roadway was installed alongside the existing footpath.

[51][52] During the rebuilding of the market square, the existing stalls were relocated to a number of temporary locations in the area to allow them to continue trading, including the courtyard and rear of the City Hall development and surrounding streets.

[50][56] Heavily influenced by Scandinavian architecture, the design attracted negative criticism at the time, with John Piper saying that "fog is its friend".

In addition, the floors of stalls followed the slope of the hill, a gradient of about 1:12, causing health problems for those market workers who had to stand at this angle for prolonged periods during the day.

[61] Norwich City Council decided that these problems needed to be addressed, and in December 2003 invited the public to choose between three proposals for a rebuilt market.

[65] To allow the market to continue trading while the rebuilding took place, a set of temporary stalls were built in Gentleman's Walk and surrounding streets.

[66] Although generally popular with traders and shoppers, the redesign was criticised by The Times, who described it as "an anaemic shopping mall for health and safety inspectors: straight lines, wipe-clean boxy cubicles, all life and love drained out.

Lutyens's memorial was dismantled and cleaned, and reassembled at a higher level to be visible from the street; it was also rotated 180° to face City Hall, rather than the market.

Row of brightly coloured market stalls. Behind the market stalls is a very large red brick building with a tall clock tower. Next to it is a long low dark stone building.
Norwich Market, 2009. The paved area in front of the market, now known as Gentleman's Walk, was formerly reserved for smallholders selling from temporary stalls. Since 1938 the market square has been dominated by the Art Deco City Hall (centre) and the 15th-century Guildhall (right).
Norwich market from the air
Broad open space with a narrow street running through it
Tombland, site of Norwich's market until the 11th century, remains an open space
Other than the replacement of the tollhouse with the Guildhall in 1413, the 1938 building of City Hall and the closure of the livestock market and wells, the layout of Norwich Market and the surrounding streets has changed little since the early 14th century. [ note 2 ]
Tall ornately carved stone church with a large square tower
St Peter Mancroft
Large stone and flint building
Norwich Guildhall
Squat octagonal structure, surrounded by tall thin buildings. A tall narrow structure, also octagonal, rises from it, topped by a cross.
Norwich Market Cross, by Thomas Hearne
Broad and crowded open space. Behind it are a number of tall thin buildings, and behind them is a large church.
Norwich Market Place by Thomas Rowlandson , 1788. This shows the southern tip of the main market (centre), with Gentleman's Walk running south towards the former livestock market site to the left. The buildings to the right divided the upper and main markets; Pudding Lane, the alley between these buildings and the church, still exists.
Norwich Market Place by Robert Dighton , 1799. This view is of the northern end of the main (lower) market, looking north towards the Guildhall and Cockey Lane (now London Street). A coach is visible emerging from the narrow entrance to a Gentleman's Walk coaching inn on the right.
Very crowded market on a slope. At the left of the picture is a row of tall thin shops, and behind the market is another row of shops surrounding a tall church.
Norwich Market Place , John Sell Cotman , 1806. The view is south from the Guildhall; Gentleman's Walk is on the left. The buildings (right) dividing the upper and main markets were by this time substantial four-storey structures.
Norwich Market, 1842
Elaborately decorated shopping mall with stained glass windows
The Royal Arcade
People and horses around a number of stalls, flanked by tall narrow buildings.
Norwich Market in the 1850s
Tall narrow buildings behind an open space filled with small stalls.
Buildings at the southern end of Norwich Market, 1879, by Edwin Edwards
large brick building with a tall clock tower
City Hall
Stalls selling fruit and clothing
Supermarket competition has reduced the number of greengrocers' stalls, but the market remains a significant retailer of food, clothing and specialist goods
Parallel rows of market stalls with multi-coloured roofs
The 2005 redevelopment replaced the existing rows of stalls with "pods" of four stalls each
Norwich market and surrounding buildings immediately after the 2005 reconstruction, looking west from Norwich Castle. Although some buildings have been replaced or renovated, the mediaeval layout remains almost unchanged. From left to right (south to north), significant landmarks are: St Peter Mancroft , with the high glass structure of The Forum immediately behind it; City Hall with St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Cathedral behind it, Lutyens's war memorial immediately in front of it and Norwich Market in front of the war memorial; Guildhall. The Sir Garnet Wolseley pub (with pyramid-shaped roof) is immediately in front of the section of St Peter Mancroft's churchyard which was the cloth market prior to 1369; while the building in its current form dates only to 1861, [ 70 ] a tavern has stood on this site since the earliest days of the market. [ note 12 ] The pedestrian precinct running from the castle to the market is Davey Place, the former yard of the King's Head inn.