Norwich city walls
The Norwich city walls are a set of medieval defensive walls, constructed over a period from 1294 until 1343, whose ruins surround most of the inner city of Norwich in England. Extending for, the flint walls incorporated around 40 towers, such as the Boom Towers, Cow Tower and Black Tower, as well as 12 gates including the St Stephen's, Conisford and Bishop's gates. The area enclosed by the walls and River Wensum is larger than the City of London.
Over the subsequent centuries, the walls were subject to some conflict, sustaining damage from Kett's Rebellion in 1549. In 1556, the territory of Norwich was expanded beyond the city walls and they fell out of defensive use over time. Many of the gates were demolished in the 18th and 19th centuries, with most meeting this fate in 1793 and 1794.
History
Defensive ditches and banks
The earliest evidence of a physical defensive barrier in Norwich is an Anglo-Scandinavian ditch and bank to the north of the River Wensum, likely created around 900–950 AD. This ran north from Colegate, up the present day St George's Street and Cowgate, and south along what is today Whitefriars. A similar line may have followed the course of the Peacock and Blackfriars Streets. Another bank and ditch was created in 1253, likely featuring a timber palisade and following what would later become the line of the city walls.Construction
The full masonry of the Norwich city walls were built from 1294 until 1343. Extending for, and at a height of about, the walls may have required an estimated 40,000 cubic metres of material to build. The walls surround the town apart from where the River Wensum protected the city on the east side and in the north-west. They featured an inner arcade which supported a wall-walk, as well as brick battlements. Outside the walls was a ditch deep and wide. They were largely flint-built with the support of large amounts of mortar, as well as brick under the arcades. This masonry meant that the construction needed to take place within shutters, with each section being around high, layered on top of the previous section once it had set.The walls were initially intended to be funded by murage grants from the crown, though wealthy citizen Robert Spynk's funding also contributed; 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. The Norwich Domesday Book lists several acquisitions by the city during the 1330s and 40s which seem directly connected to the project of the city walls, being adjacent to the walls or situated next to the Conisford and Pockthorpe Gates.
Conflicts, repairs and expansion
By 1385, Norwich's artillery included around 50 expensive guns which were distributed around the gates and towers. In January 1443, a procession around the Norwich city walls by a crowd led by John Gladman took place following their theft of the common seal from Norwich Guildhall, which was in response to a then upcoming arbitration between the City of Norwich and several of its ecclesiastical neighbours that was to be sealed by the Earl of Suffolk. 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.In 1556, Norwich's 1404 charter was renegotiated, expanding the territory under its jurisdiction beyond the city walls. 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.
Towers
The walls included around 40 towers, which were largely circular or semi-circular or occasionally semi-polygonal in footprint. Most of the towers were completed by 1347, and by around 1350, all of them had been built. This list sorts the notable towers starting from the north-east corner of the Norwich city walls at the River Wensum, and continues counter-clockwise.Bull Close Tower
Immediately north of Pockthorpe Gate, Bull Close Tower was built about 130 metres north of the river, in the 1320s as suggested by documentary evidence. A flint tower, it is polygonal on its north and east sides and features brick quoins to reinforce its flint work. It had chambers on two floors, with narrow window slits, and a vaulted lower chamber.The tower is now situated on the junction of Bull Close Road and Silver Road, at a height of just under 8 metres.
Black Tower
The Black Tower was 6 metres tall and situated 100 metres west of Conisford Gate, on a ridge over 30 metres higher than King Street. It was likely planned as a lookout point over both river access from the sea, and over the countryside to the south and east. The tower was traditionally the residence of the Constable. In 1665, it was used as an isolation hospital for victims of the plague epidemic. It is one of the best preserved of the towers.Boom Towers
The Boom Towers are located in the west of the city, flanking the river near what is now Carrow Bridge. They consist of one circular tower on the western Thorpe bank and one semi-circular tower on the eastern Carrow bank. The pair mark one end of a particularly well-preserved section of the wall. The Conisford Gate was located 50 metres to the north of these towers.The eastern Boom Tower, also known as the Devil's Tower, is isolated from the wall on the other side of the river, and had no ditch or any other defensive earthwork. It had a door facing the river and two internal floors linked by a brick and flint staircase, and featured three bartizan turrets above its crenellated parapet. The tower was constructed for Spynk, likely between 1333 and 1343, and probably designed solely to carry the iron staple for a chain which spanned the river. It was notably ignored during Kett's Rebellion in 1549 as taking it lacked any practical combat purpose. There is no documentary evidence of this tower ever being occupied, although the tower had two wardens; Richard Drewe and John Bray.
The western Boom Tower or windlass tower could raise and lower the chain. It was known to have been occupied by the tower keeper. It contains an 18th-century coke oven.
Cow Tower
The Cow Tower is 15 metres high and two metres thick, 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 from 1397 and 1398, 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. It was provided with or for small guns. Its placement on the bend of the river suggests its potential use as a blockhouse against waterborne attacks.Gates
There were 12 city gates constructed in the Norwich city walls.Three of the gates, St Augustine's, Conisford and Bishop's, were blocked up with earth during the English Civil War. Colonel Charles Fleetwood’s regiment of the New Model Army from East Dereham 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.
All of the gates were pulled down between 1791 and 1810, to improve the flow of traffic, with most being demolished in 1793 and 1794; the gate at Magdalen Street was the last to be pulled down, in 1808. This list sorts the gates starting from the north-east corner of the Norwich city walls at the River Wensum, and continues counter-clockwise.