Although Jim Lynch has known and explored Norwich for over 40 years, his time spent as a Story Maker led him to discover new and interesting aspects of King Street — especially the stories of its people, pubs and churches.
‘Priory, Friary, Pulpit and Pub’ is a piece of nonfiction, intended to be listened to as a short audio experience. It takes listeners on a walk along King Street and its many public houses, of which only one remains. Both this and Jim’s short story ‘The Quiet Man of Dragon Hall’ give a sense of both the quietude and clamour that was ever present on King Street.
(Images © Jim Lynch)
Read by David Ludlow.
We begin in Tombland, at the gates of the Cathedral. The Ethelbert Gate, with its flush flint work and imported stone, is a monumental statement of the wealth, power and prestige of the Cathedral Priory. Yet, it was only built because the original was destroyed in 1272. The monks and the citizens were often at odds, and after a summer of violence there was a riot in which men were killed and parts of the priory set on fire. King Henry III came in person to restore order. He hanged thirty people and fined the city the enormous sum of £2,000.
The gateway was rebuilt, complete with George and the Dragon above. Across the square lies the church of St George. St George and the Dragon were important figures in medieval Norwich. The elite belonged to the Guild of Saint George, they controlled the economic and political life of the city.
Head away from Tombland and across Prince of Wales Road. The grandiose nineteenth century buildings to the right are reminders of the city’s agricultural and banking history, proclaiming the confidence of Victorian Norwich. King Street was known for its ecclesiastical buildings, breweries and public houses. On the left, is a 17th Century inn, formerly The Nag’s Head. The Last Pub Standing is so named because it is the sole survivor of the thirty or so pubs that once lined the street. On the pub wall, a sign, ‘Greyfriars’, indicates the site of the Franciscan Friary, lost at the Reformation. Friars lived by begging, and were seen as radicals. This is just one of the echoes from the Norwich’s Pre-Reformation past still found in King Street.
On the right, 57, was The Cock. This pub had another entrance in Crown Road behind, a useful exit for a pub that had an ongoing struggle with the local constabulary.
‘On the morning of Monday 18th of July, 1859, the duty constable found the house open for the sale of beer at 4 o’clock… At the Magistrates Court on Tuesday 19th of July, the chief constable said the worst part of the offence was that accused offered to treat the officer, in order that the transgression be overlooked. Moore pleaded guilty and a fine of 1 shilling plus costs was applied.’
‘On Friday 23rd July, 1914, Henry Guy was fined 20s with 6s costs for selling adulterated brandy (15% water). In 1916 he was fined for allowing consumption out of hours.’
At the Rose Lane junction, there were formerly pubs on each corner. One, The Rose, had its licence renewal refused on the grounds that there were sixteen other licensed premises within two-hundred yards: an indication of King Street’s lively reputation. In this bustling community there were a range of shops, pubs, commercial premises and churches. It was a main highway in and out of the city, adjacent to the strategically important river. The passage of goods, merchants and boatmen made King Street a thriving, cosmopolitan thoroughfare. Together, pubs and churches catered for every need. In them, bargains could be made, voyages planned, and masses said for the safety of souls and fortunes on the high seas.
There are several C 16th and C 17th buildings, some with Victorian frontage, one or two have medieval under-crofts. On the right several names redolent of the past survive; the Three Tuns, Swan Yard and the Raven. There are many stories of the ongoing struggles between the local bobbies, landlords and unruly drinkers.
‘In 1843, Daniel Osborn, John Burleigh and Thomas Elsegood caused a disturbance in The Three Tuns at 3 AM. A constable was called, he was assaulted. In court Elsegood was fined 7s. with 8s and 6d costs, or seven days hard labour. The others 10s with 10s and 6d cost, or fourteen days hard labour.’
‘At 66, Nelson’s Monument, the landlord, Mr Benjamin Smith, advertised an additional service, “The removals of furniture, pianofortes etc to all parts.” It closed 1908’
‘John Stratford, licensee of The Swan in 1828, had an affair with a married-women, who became pregnant. Afraid, he tried to kill her husband with a poisoned dumpling, but the wrong man ate it, (O, calamity!). Stratford was hung on 17th August 1829. In 1862 the landlord and others at the same address were warned about encouraging prostitutes. It closed in 1967.’
On the right is St. Peter Parmentergate, formerly one of the more important city churches. This elaborate building replaced an earlier one when the merchants within the parish prospered in the 15th century. If you had money, you flaunted it. Inside, the Berney monument relates to a family connected to Henry VII and Blickling Hall, there is also a George and Dragon carving. Almost opposite, a modern church, complete with café, has sprung up utilising part of the premises that housed the Lads’ Club, a great old Norwich institution, created over a hundred years ago. On the same site, at 109, was The Cellar House, home of The Eighteen Stone Club, that being the minimum weight for membership. Perspectives of body size and weight have changed. It was destroyed in the 1942 bombing.
At Mountergate, on the left, was where the Austin Friars had an extensive property. Following the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, in 1538, it was acquired by the 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He demolished it; stone, lead and glass were valuable assets salvaged from monasteries after the Reformation. The 17th century corner house standing there now, belonged to Henry Howard, brother of the Duke of Norfolk. The land behind became an eighteenth-century pleasure garden, complete with bowling alley. How the skinners and tanners who previously laboured there amid the smells of herring and hides would have marvelled.
Dragon Hall, the dragon’s lair, is on the left. This is not just an historic building, but a site inhabited for almost a thousand years before Robert Toppes erected his trading hall in the 15th century. Dragon Hall symbolises how the neighbourhood, the buildings and the people grew and adapted to changing times and fashions. When Robert Toppes died, the hall was sold and thereafter hosted shops, pubs and lodgers.
Opposite the hall, up the alley, is the small church of St Julian which has an international reputation as the home of the medieval anchorite, Mother Julian. For most of its existence this was a small, undistinguished church, very much the poor relation to St Peter Parmentergate. St Julian could echo the Last Pub Standing at the top of the hill. It is the last church standing, or, more accurately, the last medieval, ecclesiastical building not only still standing, but in use as a church.
Further down the street, we continue to find echoes of the King Street’s lively past:
‘At 142 , at The Waterman, an altercation took place in January 1909. William Grimes, a dealer, led his donkey into the bar. Licensee, George Sharman, ejected him. Grimes returned and put the butt of his whip through the window. Fined 10s, 9s costs, 30s damages. Option a month’s hard labour.’
Number 167 is the oldest house in Norwich. Built in the 12th century, it became the home of a prominent Jewish family prior to the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290. It was subsequently owned by the Paston and Coke families in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was recorded as the Music House pub from 1735 to 1932
On the right we come to the church of St Etheldreda, a 12th century church. Closed in 1961, it now provides studio spaces for artists.
At the far end of the Street, 91, where Rouen Road now joins king Street, stands The Ferry Boat. A pub with a chequered history, it became the Ferry Boat in 1925. It was known for the legendary ‘Fag Ash Lil’, Mrs Armstrong at the piano. She was still playing in 1989, aged 82. It closed in 2006.
For centuries, King Street was home to ten churches, two friaries and approximately thirty public houses. Politics, plague, changing fashion and a new elite, left King Street behind. The residents clung together as the Reformation, Kett’s Rebellion and the English Civil War brought turmoil. The river Wensum, like the street, once a commercial artery into the heart of the city, flowed past abandoned quays and warehouses
In the twentieth Century, Robert Toppes’ hall housed families, a butcher’s shop, the vicarage of St Julian’s church and ‘The Old Barge Inn’, a beloved Norwich institution. the bombings of WW2 and the clearance of housing considered to be unhealthy, precipitated the decline. Finally, unsympathetic industrial buildings, subsequently abandoned, meant that by the later years of the twentieth Century, King Street was a byword for dereliction and disfunction. Surrounded by valuable development land, The Old Barge Inn and Dragon Hall seemed destined for annihilation. Old Barge Inn closed in nineteen-sixty-nine, then the building was acquired by the City of Norwich in 1975. Then the architectural wonder of the Hall and its dragon were re-discovered.
A Tapestry of Tales
Who lived at Dragon Hall? What have these old walls witnessed? Whose story hasn’t yet been told? These are the questions that formed the foundation of a project undertaken by the Story Makers, a group of a participants that generously gave their time and skills to discover, share and celebrate Dragon Hall’s heritage.
Combining historical research and creative practice, the Story Makers spent ten sessions engaging with Dragon Hall and the surrounding King Street area in a variety of ways, before using their creative skills to produce personal interpretations of the history they uncovered.
From poems to pamphlets, videos to pop-up books, we invite you to explore their work in our digital collection.
About Jim Lynch
I am interested in history, people and buildings. The project has provided an opportunity to explore all of these. I have been particularly concerned to place Dragon Hall in its historical and social context, the hub of a close-knit community through the centuries.
Stepping into Dragon Hall is made possible by Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Norwich Freemen’s Charity and Wolfson Foundation.
