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Norwich lies at the heart of rural East Anglia. It was the Anglo-Saxons who first made their homes on gravel terraces beside the River Wensum, and it was from one of their settlements, which bore the name Northwic, that the city got its name. The settlement grew and merged with others to become the largest walled town in medieval England.

At the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, Norwich was one of the most important boroughs in the kingdom, and even had its own mint. There was a thriving market on Tombland (the name means an open space) with a variety of local goods and produce, including North Sea herring, as well as pottery, cloth and furs from the Continent. The Normans set up a new market in the place where the outdoor market still stands, and this eventually became the main trading area. Norwich Castle was built by the Norman conquerors, who first constructed a steep-sided artificial hill in 1067. This wooden castle was replaced 60 years later by the existing stone keep, built on a mound which rose 40ft (12m) above ground level. A ditch and bank were made to protect the town, and between 1297 and 1334 thick walls, mainly of flint, were constructed. Parts of the walls and some towers still remain. Work began on the Cathedral in 1096. Saxon houses and churches were cleared, and a canal was dug from the River Wensum, so that stone from Caen in Normandy could be brought by water directly to the building site. A cathedral monastery was built to house 60 Benedictine monks. By medieval times there were 56 churches within the walls. Many of these had been built, not purely out of piety but also to reflect the wealth of local landowners.

Richard I had made Norwich a city in 1194, and in 1404 a charter allowed it to have its own mayor, two sheriffs and 24 aldermen, who were elected for life. The wealthy merchants who ran the city became increasingly powerful, and the Cow Tower, the Guildhall and almost all the city's churches were rebuilt between 1350 and 1530.
Weaving was the most important of the 130 trades being followed in the city at the beginning of the 14th century, and within 100 years Norwich was the main centre of worsted manufacture in the country.


The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 brought an army of rebels who set fire to the houses of lawyers and other wealthy citizens. Several fires also swept through Norwich during the early 16th century, destroying whole streets of Tudor timbered and thatched houses. After the loss of over 1,000 dwellings in two fires during 1507, a decision was reached that all new buildings should have tiled roofs. In 1549 a rebel army numbering 20,000, led by Wymondham farmer Robert Kett, took over control of the city, causing more destruction. The main grievances were an increase in rents and the enclosure of local common land by rich sheepfarmers for grazing. The rebels made their camp on Mousehold Heath, overlooking the city, and it took two royal armies six weeks to suppress them. Kett was eventually captured and hanged at Norwich Castle. In 1565, concerned at a decline in the worsted industry, caused partly by the disruption of the Wars of the Roses, the city authorities arranged for 30 households of religious refugees from the Netherlands to settle in Norwich. These 'strangers', as they were called, were cloth workers brought in to teach the local weavers how to produce different types of cloth. The strangers brought with them a love of gardens and of canary-breeding, which were to become part of the Norwich heritage.

At the end of the 16th century the city was prospering again. The weaving trade was busy, and merchants and other businessmen were making fortunes. During the 17th century Norwich cloth was exported all over the world. In the early 1670s Norwich was probably the largest provincial town in England, with a population of about 21,000. Improvements to the main roads and the development of horsedrawn coaches in the 17th and 18th centuries allowed the gentry of Norfolk and Suffolk to come into Norwich for fashionable social events. It was at this time that the lowest street of the market, which was kept clear to allow the visitors to promenade in front of the shops, became known as Gentleman's Walk.

A well known Quaker family, the Gurneys, had made a private fortune from the worsted trade, and in 1775 John and Henry Gurney started a bank which survives to this day as part of Barclays. In 1792 Thomas Bignold, a wine merchant and banker, started the insurance business which was to become Norwich Union. The leather and brewing industries grew steadily during the 18th century. The water was good and Norfolk malting barley was the best in the country. By 1801 there were six large breweries in the city.
 
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