Norwich Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
This article is about the English city. For other uses, see Norwich (disambiguation).
| City of Norwich | |
|---|---|
Shown within Norfolk | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | City (1195) |
| Region: | East of England |
| Admin. County: | Norfolk |
| Area: - Total | Ranked 322nd 39.02 km² |
| Admin. HQ: | Norwich |
| ONS code: | 33UG |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density | Ranked 156th 121,643 3,117 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 96.8% White |
| Politics | |
Norwich City Council http://www.norwich.gov.uk/ | |
| Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: | Liberal Democrats |
| MPs: | Ian Gibson, Charles Clarke |
The city of Norwich is the regional administrative centre and capital city of the county of Norfolk, England.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Early history 3 Traveller's comments 4 Famous names associated with City 5 Present-day 6 External links |
The city is twinned with Rouen, France, Koblenz, Germany & Novi Sad, Serbia
Norwich, in the county of Norfolk, was shaped by the Iceni, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Late Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans.The word Norvic appears on coins minted during the reign of King Athelstan (early 10th century AD). The ancient city was already a thriving centre for trade and commerce in East Anglia when Swein Forkbeard the Viking destroyed it in 1004 AD. The main area of the city south of the River Wensum was destroyed by the construction of the Norman castle during the 1070s creation of a "New" or "French" borough.
In 1096 Bishop Losinga began construction of the cathedral, which became and remains the cathedral church for the Diocese of Norwich.
At the time of the Norman Conquest the city was one of the largest in England, and it continued to be a major centre for trade, especially wool. The Wensum was a convenient exporting route to the sea.
The wealth generated by the wool trade throughout the Middle Ages resulted in the construction of many fine churches. Norwich still has one of the highest number of splendid medieval churches in western Europe.
Ever since the great immigration of 1567 the Walloon community had been granted by successive bishops the right to use a chapel for their own worship. Norwich has been the home of various dissident minorities, notably the French Huguenot and the Belgian Walloon communities in the 16th and 17th centuries. Primarily through trading connections with mainland Europe, ideas of religious reform and radical politics were introduced to Norwich.
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 working skills in textiles but also their pet canaries, which they began to breed. The canary is the emblem of the city's football team, "The Canaries", Norwich City F.C
Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1834 when a railway connection was established, it was often quicker and safer to travel to Amsterdam than to London!
In 1507 the poet John Skelton (1460-1529) wrote of two destructive fires in his Lament for the City of Norwich.
Daniel Defoe in his Tour of the whole Island of Great Britain (1724) wrote of the City-
Twinned Cities
Early history
Traveller's comments
Thomas Fuller in his The Worthies of England described the City in 1662 as -
Celia Fiennes (1662-1741) visited Norwich in 1698 and described it as
She also records that held in the City three times a year were-
Norwich being a rich, thriving indusrious place full of weaving, knitting and dyeing.
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.
- 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.
- A fine old city, perhaps the most curious specimen at present extant of the genuine old English Town. ..Thre it spreads from north to south, with its venerable hoouses, 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?
- '' 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 persued with an adour which is astonishing when we consider that it does not contain a university, as is merely a manufacturing town.
Famous names associated with City
Throughout its history, Norwich has been associated with radical politics, political dissent and liberalism. Between 1790 and 1840, many of the famous names associated with the City flourished. These include- The Norwich School of painters, Harriet Martineau, Amelia Opie, George Borrow, William Taylor and Sir James Edward Smith .
- 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.
- The physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
- 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 50 years he was Oxford's Professor of Music. Unlike Mozart however his precocious musical talents failed to mature.
- 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.
- The writer and traveller George Borrow (1803-1881). 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 in his semi-autobiographical novel Lavengro.
- The prison reformer Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was born in Gurney Court in Magdalen Street, and was one of several philanthropists associated with the city (her portrait is currently upon the new Bank of England £5 note).
- Thomas Ivory, Neo-Classical architect, who built the Assembly Rooms (1776), the Octagon Chapel (1756), and St Helen's House (1752) in the grounds of the Great Hospital.
- Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) daughter of a Norwich manufacturer of Huguenot descent. She suffered from ill-health and deafness throughout her life. A devout Unitarian, 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).
- Amelia Opie (1769-1853), Norwich author and Quaker. Opie wrote The dangers of Coquetry aged 18 and married John Opie in 1798. Her novel Father and daughter (1803) is about misled virtue and family reconciliation. Encouraged by Mary Wollstonecraft she wrote Adeline Mowbray (1804) an exploration of relationship between mother and daughter. Adeline Mowbray discusses in an unconscious and frank manner and delivers the moral that the desires of women as much as men can override their families' wishes and thus jeopardise their future. Most of Amelia Opie's life was divided between London and Norwich. She was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Madame de Stael. In 1825 she drastically changed her life as a socialite, party-goer, and attendant at literary soiree's, to become a Quaker. Late in her life she received George Borrow as a guest. After a visit to Cromer, a seaside resort on the North Norfolk coast, she caught a chill, retired to her bedroom and died a year later.
- George Skipper (1856-1948), architect. Examples of George Skipper's Edwardian Art-Deco style architecture can be seen throughout the city. The splendid 'Royal Arcade', the Norwich Union Marble Banqueting Hall and the 'Hotel de Paris' at the seaside resort of Cromer are each fine examples of the so-called Gaudi of Norwich.
- Alan Partridge, fictional radio DJ played by comedian Steve Coogan. Despite being a fictional character, Partridge is arguably the most famous Norwich resident of recent years. Partridge has a huge chip on his shoulder about the pedestrianisation of the city centre.
- Delia Smith, (note, she was born in London & she lives in Suffolk) majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club. The infamous cook who taught us all how to boil eggs to perfection and make toast that isn't "sweaty" (i.e. bung it in a toast rack - don't lie it down) has been a favourite of the city ever since she arrived; helping save the club from going into administration.
Present-day
A university, the University of East Anglia was founded in Norwich in 1963. UEA adopted the city's motto of independence Do different.
Norwich Airport offers scheduled international services and holiday charter flights, and developed from the former RAF airfield at Horsham St Faith. This was once the home of Air UK, which grew out of Air Anglia and eventually became part of the Dutch airline KLM.
Satirical comedian Steve Coogan located his fictional, unbearably vain, cheesy broadcaster 'Alan Partridge' in Norfolk, specifically hosting the pre-breakfast show on the fictional independent station 'Radio Norwich'. It exploited the county's reputation as being somewhat detached from modern trends, past its prime, and rather peripheral to national life.
Other comic entertainers who have drawn comedy from that stereotype include Allan Smethurst 'The Singing Postman' and The Kipper Family lately represented by 'son' Sid Kipper.
Music and the arts in Norwich reach their high point each year in the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
A shift from the decline in industries in the city throughout the eighties and nineties to new entrepreneurial activities has stabilised the city's economy. Recent developments include the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital at Colney, the 'Forum', home of the Millennium Library and regional BBC broadcasting, and the Riverside entertainment complex. Future plans for development include a new stadium for the football club, 'The Canaries', along with another shopping mall on the site of the much-loved, recently demolished 'Caleys' chocolate factory.
The city's newspapers include The Norwich Evening News and The Eastern Daily Press. Broadland 102, its sister station Classic Gold Amber, as well as BBC Radio Norfolk and the University of East Anglia's Livewire 1350 all broadcast to the city.
Attractions for those re-locating include the compactness of its centre for shopping , its relatively low crime rate, its relaxing pace of life, access to the bootiful Norfolk countryside, including the Norfolk Broads and extensive coast-line, and until recently, the city's relatively cheap housing market
Norwich is occasionally portrayed by the media as a city out-of-step with national trends (see Alan Partridge); This is primarily due to its geographic isolation which has contributed greatly to its 'unspoilt' and insular character. However, the long-standing tolerance of the 'native' population's slow, but friendly absorption of all-comers, combined with its good rail links to Cambridge and London, its wealth of historical architecture and the continued growth of new retail and service businesses makes Norwich a popular place to visit and live.
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