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Thomas Fuller in his The Worthies of England described the City in 1662 as -
- Either a city in an orchard or an orchard in a city, so equally are houses and trees blended in it, so that the pleasure of the country and the populousness of the city meet here together. Yet in this mixture, the inhabitants participate nothing of the rusticalness of the one, but altogether the urbanity and civility of the other.
Celia Fiennes (1662–1741) visited Norwich in 1698 and described it as
- a city walled full round of towers, except on the river side which serves as a wall; they seem the best in repair of any walled city I know.
She also records that held in the City three times a year were-
- great fairs...to which resort a vast concourse of people and wares a full trade.
Norwich being a rich, thriving industrious place full of weaving, knitting and dyeing.
Daniel Defoe in his Tour of the whole Island of Great Britain (1724) wrote of the City-
- the inhabitants being all busy at their manufactures, dwell in their garrets at their looms, in their combing-shops, so they all them, twisting-mills, and other work-houses; almost all the works they are employed in being done within doors.
John Evelyn (1620–1706) Royalist, Traveller and Diarist wrote to Sir Thomas Browne-
- I hear Norwich is a place very much addicted to the flowery part.
He visited the City as a courtier to King Charles II in 1671 and described it thus -
- The suburbs are large, the prospect sweet, and other amenities, not omitting the flower-garden, which all the Inhabitants excel in of this City, the fabric of stuffs, which affords the Merchants, and brings a vast trade to this populous Town.
George Borrow in his semi-autobiographical novel Lavengro (1851) wrote of Norwich as-
- A fine old city, perhaps the most curious specimen at present extant of the genuine old English Town. ..There it spreads from north to south, with its venerable houses, its numerous gardens, its thrice twelve churches, its mighty mound....There is an old grey castle on top of that mighty mound: and yonder rising three hundred feet above the soil, from amongst those noble forest trees, behold that old Norman master-work, that cloud-enriched cathedral spire ...Now who can wonder that the children of that fine old city are proud, and offer up prayers for her prosperity?
Borrow wrote far less favourably of the City in his translation of Faust-
- They found the people of the place modelled after so unsightly a pattern, with such ugly figures and flat features that the devil owned he had never seen them equalled, except by the inhabitants of an English town, called Norwich, when dressed in their Sunday's best.
In 1812, Andrew Robertson wrote to the painter Constable-
- I arrived here a week ago and find it a place where the arts are very much cultivated....some branches of knowledge, chemistry, botany, etc. are carried to a great length. General literature seems to be pursued with an ardour which is astonishing when we consider that it does not contain a university, as is merely a manufacturing town.
In 1962, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner stated in his North-West Norfolk and Norwich volume of The Buildings of England that
- Norwich is distinguished by a prouder sense of civic responsibility than any other town of about the same size in Britain
praising its monumental and bravely modernist City Hall.
[edit] Notable residents
Throughout its history, Norwich has been associated with radical politics, nonconformist religion, political dissent and liberalism. Between 1790 and 1840, many of the famous names associated with the City flourished. These include:
- Michael Andrews (artist) (1928-1995)
- Elizabeth Bentley 1767-1839.Authoress wrote " Tales for Children in Verse".Lived at 45 St Stephen's Square.
- George Borrow (1803–1881), writer and traveller. In his youth Borrow was resident at Willow Lane. He attended the Norwich King Edward school. Borrow recollects his youth in the city and conversations with the philologist and translator of German Romantic literature, William Taylor [disambiguation needed] in his semi-autobiographical novel Lavengro.
- Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682). medical doctor, polymath scholar, encyclopedist and philosopher with interests in Biblical scholarship and the esoteric. The stylistic purity and stupendous learning displayed in Browne's varied prose in the spheres of religion, science and art are minor classics of World literature.
- Edith Cavell (1865–1915) was born in Swardeston, 4 miles south of Norwich. She was a World War I nurse who was executed by firing squad by the Germans for helping allied prisoners escape in violation of military law. She is buried on Life's Green, on the east side of Norwich Cathedral.
- William Calthorpe who purchased in, 1447, as a town house, Erpingham manor in St.Martin's at the Palace, Norwich.
- John Crome and Joseph Stannard, along with John Sell Cotman, established the first art movement outside of London. The Norwich school of painters were influenced by the achievements of Dutch landscape painting and the beauty of the rural hinterland surrounding Norwich.
- William Crotch (1775–1847). Composer, artist and teacher. Norwich's Mozart. He gave daily public organ recitals aged two and a half. Crotch played God Save the King before the King aged three. He had performed at every major town in England and Scotland by the age of seven. Crotch became Organist of Christ Church, Oxford and for fifty years he was Oxford's Professor of Music. Unlike Mozart, however, his precocious musical talents failed to mature to genius.
- Pablo Fanque (1796–1871). The first Black Circus Proprietor in Britain was born in the city.
- Elizabeth Fry (1780–1845). The prison reformer and leading Quaker was born in Gurney Court in Magdalen Street and was one of several philanthropists associated with the city. Her portrait is upon the Series E (2005) Bank of England £5 note.
- Charles Suckling Gilman (1807 - 1888). Businessman, philanthropist. Founder, General Hailstorm Insurance Society, Norwich Mutual Marine Assurance Society, founder (with Joseph John Gurney) Norwich District Visiting Society.[16]
- Sir Charles Rackham Gilman (1833 - ). Businessman, politician, philanthropist. Son of Charles Suckling Gilman. Mayor of Norwich, 1882, founder of the Norwich and London Accident Insurance Association, chairman of the conservators of Mousehold Heath. (Norwich's Gilman Road named for this family.)[17]
- Joseph John Gurney (1788–1847) was a banker and philanthropist who worked with his sister Elizabeth Fry (see above) in prison reform. He was also active in the movement to abolish the slave trade and a member of the temperance movement.
- Robert William Bilton Hornby (1821–1884) was a noted local antiquarian, priest and lord of the manor from the City of York. He was ordained a deacon at Norwich in 1844.
- Julian of Norwich. Medieval Christian mystic and contemporary of Chaucer. Julian is the author of The revelations of Divine Love the first book written by a woman in the English language. Julian's writings are well-represented by the scholarly website www.umilta.net.
- Robert Kett. Norwich's very own Robin Hood or Wat Tyler. Kett was a Norfolk landowner from Wymondham who lead the peasant's revolt in 1549 in the name of the common man against the corrupt Norfolk landowners. This eventually lead to the Battle of Dussindale against the King's forces on the 27 August 1549 in which 3000 of Kett's men were killed. He was hanged for Treason at Norwich Castle on the 7 December 1549.
- James Martineau (1805–1900) Philosopher and brother to Harriet.
- Harriet Martineau (1802–1876). The daughter of a Norwich manufacturer of Huguenot descent, she suffered from ill-health and deafness throughout her life. A devout Unitarian [disambiguation needed], her writings include Illustrations of political economy (1832-1834). Harriet Martineau supported the abolitionist campaign in the United States writing Society in America (1837). She translated writings by Auguste Comte. Her first novel was entitled Deerbrook (1839). A radical in religion she published the anti-theological Laws of Man's Social Nature (1851) and Biographical sketches (1869).
- Bernard Meadows,(1915–2005) Modernist Sculptor
- R. H. Mottram (1883-1971)- novelist and Lord Mayor of Norwich
- Admiral Horatio Nelson attended the Norwich School from 1767 to 1768. He was born in nearby Burnham Thorpe.
- Amelia Opie (1769–1853), Norwich author and Quaker. In 1825 she drastically changed her life as a socialite, party-goer, and attendant at literary soirees, to become a Quaker.
- Sir James Edward Smith botanist, natural historian and one-time owner of the Linnean collection of Carolus Linnaeus
- William Smith (1756 – 1835), Whig politician, dissenter and abolitionist, M.P. for Norwich from 1807.
Contemporary names associated with Norwich include:
- Bill Bryson, American writer and humorist, lives near Wymondham, near Norwich.
- Martin Burgess, builder of the famous Gurney Clock in the Castle Mall
- Charles Clarke, Labour MP and former Home Secretary, lives in Norwich.
- Cathy Dennis, Singer/Songwriter who was born in Norwich in 1969.
- Ralph Firman, former Formula 1 Driver was born in Norwich in 1975. He and his family live in nearby Attleborough, and he was educated at Gresham's School. Currently racing in the A1 Grand Prix series for Ireland, for which he qualifies through his Mother's Irish nationality.
- Stephen Fry, comedian, author, actor and filmmaker, studied at Norwich City College, and is a Norwich City F.C. fan.
- Trisha Goddard, talk show host lived in Norwich.
- Andy Green OBE, a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force, is the current holder of the world land speed record, having piloted the ThrustSSC to the first ever supersonic speed on land in the Black Rock Desert, USA on 25 September 1997.
- Alan Heath - holocaust historian has his UK residence in Norwich.
- Greg James, BBC Radio 1 presenter, studied at UEA.
- Paul Jones, blues singer and BBC Radio 2 presenter.
- Becky Mantin, ITV Weather presenter and This Morning reporter.
- Bernard Matthews, founder of the eponymous meat company.
- Sir John Mills, born in North Elmham in Norfolk. Mills was educated at the Norwich High School for Boys. He also had Football (Soccer) trials with Norwich City F.C. in the 1920s before moving into acting.
- Beth Orton, Award-winning singer/songwriter, was born in Dereham and spent much of her childhood in Norwich.
- Philip Pullman, British writer was born in Norwich on 19 October 1946. Best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books.
- Delia Smith, Celebrity chef and joint majority owner of Norwich City F.C.
- Chris Sutton, Football player (striker); joint top scorer for the Premier League in 1997/8; formerly the record English transfer (at £5 million from Norwich to Blackburn in 1994).
- Tim Westwood, BBC Radio 1 Rap DJ and presenter of popular MTV show "Pimp My Ride (UK)". Grew up in and around Norwich (his father was the bishop of Peterborough, in the neighbouring county of Cambridgeshire) and went to Norwich School.
- Steve Osborne, musician and record producer - grew up in Norwich, left in 1986 to join Trident Studios - now lives near Bath and has produced both KT Tunstall albums amongst may others
[edit] Architecture
Norwich has a wealth of historical architecture. The medieval period is represented by the 11th-century Norwich Cathedral, 12th-century castle (now a museum) and a large number of parish churches. During the Middle Ages, 57 churches stood within the city wall; 31 still exist today.[18] This gave rise to the common (in the city) saying that it had a church for every week of the year, and a pub for every day. Most of the medieval building is in the city centre. From the 18th century the pre-eminent local name is Thomas Ivory, who built the Assembly Rooms (1776), the Octagon Chapel (1756), St Helen's House (1752) in the grounds of the Great Hospital, and innovative speculative housing in Surrey Street (c. 1761). Ivory should not be confused with the Irish architect of the same name and similar period.
The 19th century saw an explosion in Norwich's size and much of its housing stock, as well as commercial building in the city centre, dates from this period. The local architect of the Victorian and Edwardian periods who has continued to command most critical respect was George Skipper (1856-1948). Examples of his work include the headquarters of Norwich Union on Surrey Street; the Art Nouveau Royal Arcade; and the Hotel de Paris in the nearby seaside town of Cromer. The neo-Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to St John the Baptist on Earlham Road, begun in 1882, is by George Gilbert Scott Junior and his brother, John Oldrid Scott.
The city continued to grow through the 20th century and much housing, particularly in areas further out from the city centre, dates from that century. The first notable building post-Skipper was the city hall by CH James and SR Pierce, opened in 1938. Bombing during the Second World War, while resulting in relatively little loss of life, caused significant damage to housing stock in the city centre. Much of the replacement postwar stock was designed by the local authority architect, David Percival. However, the major postwar development in Norwich from an architectural point of view was the opening of the University of East Anglia in 1964. Originally designed by Denys Lasdun (his design was never completely executed), it has been added to over subsequent decades by major names such as Norman Foster and Rick Mather.
[edit] Twinned cities
Officially:
Unofficially:
[edit] References
- , "Naarich" (nearly rhyming witih porridge) is the local pronunciation
- , Norfolk County Council web site - Local Government White Paper, Strong and Prosperous Communities
- , Norwich City Council web site - The business case for unitary Norwich
- , Communities and Local Government - Proposals for future unitary structures: Stakeholder consultation
- , http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2470 Communities.gov.uk Ministers Statement Accessed 26 July 2007
- , CACI web site - CACI Retail Footprint, 2006
- , Norwich Evening News web site - Market is hit by new cash blow
- , Jenkinson, Caroline. "New centre sees city climb shops league", Norwich Evening News, 2006-08-19. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- , Chessum, Dominic. "Norwich is top of the shops", Norwich Evening News, 2006-10-13. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
- , Norwich Speedway Retrieved January 17, 2008
- , Norwich Evening News (2006-11-13). "Norwich voted greenest place in UK". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
- , Census 2001 - Ranking (Ethnicity and Religion: No religion). Retrieved on 2006-04-23.
- , eBay.co.uk (2005-02-02). "Norwich is eBay capital of UK". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-04-23.
- , Oates, John. "Norwich turns on UK's largest Wi-Fi network", theregister.co.uk, 2006-08-02. Retrieved on 2006-08-05.
- , Wright, Lewis. "OpenLink undertakes update", theregister.co.uk, 2006-08-08. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
- , Searches Into the History of the Gillman or Gilman Family, Alexander Gillman, London, 18995
- , Norwich: Mayors, Lord Mayors and Sheriffs, 1835-1990, GENUKI
- , Old Norwich - Churches. Historical Norwich. Retrieved on 8 March 2006.
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Coordinates: 52.62834° N 1.29656° E
(Source: Wikipedia) |
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