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Norwich city walls
LocationNorwich, England
OS grid referenceTG 2317 0862[1]
Built1294–1343

The Norwich city walls are a set of medieval defensive walls whose ruins surround the inner city of Norwich in England. Extending for 2.5 miles (4.0 km), they incorporated around 40 towers, such as the Boom Tower, Cow Tower and Black Tower, as well as 12 gates including St Augustine's, Conesford and Bishop's. The area enclosed by the walls is larger than the City of London.[2]

History

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The Norwich city walls were built from 1294 until 1343.[1] Extending for 2.5 miles (4.0 km), the walls may have required an estimated 40,000 cubic metres of material to build. They were initially intended to be funded by murage grants from the crown, though wealthy citizen Robert Spink's funding also contributed;[3] he donated thirty springalds in 1342 to be mounted on the walls. These, according to the city, were intended to resist attacks from enemies of the King.[4] By 1385, Norwich's artillery included around 50 expensive guns which were distributed around the gates and towers.[4] Aldermen of the city were often patrons toward repairing the wall and gates in the late 15th and early 16th century; in 1498, scrivener and notary Stephen Brian left £10 to repair the walls in St Stephen's ward, and in her 1504 will, Katherine Bewfield set aside £5 for the upkeep of the walls.[5]

No houses were built outside the walls until around 1779–89. Over time, the walls fell out of serious use and became monuments, valued for their picturesque character and historical interest.[1]

Towers

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The walls included around 40 towers.[3] By around 1350, all of these circular or semi-circular towers had been built.[2]

Boom Tower

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The Boom Tower, in the west of the city, contains an 18th century coke oven.[1]

Cow Tower

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The Cow Tower is large and is situated in the angle of the River Wensum, north-east of St Giles' Hospital. It was constructed late in the 14th century, according to surviving building accounts, which also record the use of 170 carts of stone as well as carts of sand, lime and bricks, to build it. Materials for it were brought from Norwich as well as from places such as Great Yarmouth, from which was purchased 200 sparres (fir poles).[3] Many of these gates were pulled down in the 18th and 19th centuries.[2]

Black Tower

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The Black Tower was traditionally the residence of the Constable. In the 16th century, it was used for plague victims.[1]

Gates

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There were 12 city gates constructed in the Norwich city walls.[3] Three of the gates, St Augustine's, Conesford and Bishop's, were blocked up with earth during the English Civil War.[1]

The gates have seen some military use, such as by Colonel Charles Fleetwood’s regiment of the New Model Army from East Dereham, which entered the city through several of the gates unsecured by rioters on 24 April 1648, prior to the Great Blow. The previous day, Christopher Bransby had lead a company around the city gates to demand the watchmen keep them locked; he obtained several keys, though not enough to halt Fleetwood.[6]

Conesford Gates

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Brazon Gates

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St Stephen's Gate

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A messenger who had come to take Mayor John Utting to London in 1648, sparking a riot which led to the Great Blow of Norwich, eventually left through this gate without the Mayor.[6]

St Giles's Gate

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St Benedict's Gate

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Norwich residents William Hardingham and Robert Holmes were charged with abusing the city watch at St Benedict’s Gate in December 1642, after calling them "jackanapes", and insisting that he, Holmes and their companions were the true king’s watch.[6]

Heigham Gates

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St Martin-at-Oak Gates

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St Augustine's Gates

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Magdalen Gates

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Pockthorpe Gates

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Bishop's Gate

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Bishop's Gate

Bishop's Gate (TG2349809057) is a Grade I listed building,[7] completed by 1436.[2] It is attached to Bishop's bridge, Norwich's only surviving medieval river bridge. The bridge was built and fortified at the expense of Robert Spink.[3] It controlled access to Bishop's Palace.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Norwich City Defences". Norfolk Heritage Explorer. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  2. ^ a b c d e Pevsner, Nikolaus; Wilson, Bill (1997-03-11). Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. pp. 75–76. ISBN 9780300096071.
  3. ^ a b c d e Ayers, Brian (2004). "The Urban Landscape". In Rawcliffe, Carole; Wilson, Richard (eds.). Medieval Norwich. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-0-8264-3583-5.
  4. ^ a b Maddern, Philippa (2004). "Order and Disorder". In Rawcliffe, Carole; Wilson, Richard (eds.). Medieval Norwich. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-0-8264-3583-5.
  5. ^ Frost, Ruth H. (2004). "The Urban Elite". In Rawcliffe, Carole; Wilson, Richard (eds.). Medieval Norwich. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-0-8264-3583-5.
  6. ^ a b c Hopper, Andrew (2018-03-20). "'The Great Blow' and the Politics of Popular Royalism in Civil War Norwich". The English Historical Review. 133 (560): 32–64. doi:10.1093/ehr/cey070. ISSN 0013-8266.
  7. ^ "BISHOP'S GATE, Non Civil Parish - 1051328". Historic England. Retrieved 2025-03-26.