5

THE NORMANS AND EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD

1066–1377

In 1066 England’s army was defeated by invaders from across the English Channel under Duke William of Normandy, who subsequently became known as William the Conqueror. The Battle of Hastings was followed by the Norman Conquest of England. Another influx of peoples arrived in its wake from Europe and over subsequent years were to mix with the resident population.

William landed near the Roman fort of Pevensey in Sussex. Following the battle, he moved eastwards to Hastings (where there was a harbour) and then to Dover. Having secured a strong base, he moved west towards London, via Canterbury and Rochester. William then met with Anglo-Saxon leaders at Berkhamsted, who swore an oath to him. On Christmas Day 1066 he was crowned King William I (r. 1066–1087) at Westminster Abbey. England became part of the Anglo-Norman realm.

In direct contrast to the way in which England had previously been ruled, the country was now governed by force, with all power emanating from the king. William himself laid claim to vast areas of land, as well as granting tracts to his Norman barons in return for their military services and political backing.

The initial violent and bloody impact of the Norman Conquest quickly transitioned towards a period of stability and order. Under the new government, the Domesday Book provided a wealth of detailed information about the new kingdom. In 1086, when it was compiled, England’s economy was essentially agrarian. The national population was about 1.75 million, of whom over 90 per cent lived in the countryside.

THE IMPACT OF THE CONQUEST IN NORFOLK

With the arrival of the Normans, Norfolk and England became part of an empire spanning the English Channel. As with the Romans and Saxons before them, the Normans introduced new cultural influences and heralded a new outward-looking era for the region. By the time of the Conquest, Norfolk had already become the richest and most populous part of England. The period has left a great visible legacy in the forms of many stone buildings, which remained as fixtures and symbols of religious belief and power throughout the following millennium.

The influx of people from abroad was not restricted to Normans. A French quarter was established in Norwich and a Jewish community arrived, representing around 200 people within Norwich’s wider population of around 5,000. They settled between the market place and castle, which provided them with some security against a rising sentiment of anti-Semitism. It is with the Jewish communities of England that the earliest stone houses are associated.

In the medieval period we start to discover the names of more individuals and the roles they played in society, such as Isaac Jurnet, who was one of the Jews who arrived in the wake of the Conquest. He was a wealthy merchant and his house, which was constructed in the 1140s, survives under the Music House in Norwich’s King Street, which was part of the thriving economic heart of the city adjacent to the river. It had an upper and lower floor, with vaulted cellars, and reflects the owner’s wealth and importance.

King William confiscated the countywide holdings of the Saxon thegns and bestowed the earldom of East Anglia on Ralph de Gael (1040–96). After a Revolt of the Earls in 1075, Earl Ralph’s estates were forfeited and passed to Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk (c.1144–1221). Roger was the son of Hugh, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1095–1177). The Bigod dynasty remained prominent in local and national affairs into the thirteenth century.

Norfolk’s population continued to grow through the twelfth and thirteenth and into the early fourteenth century. Throughout that time, it remained the most densely populated and also the most intensively farmed region in England.

THE INTRODUCTION OF CASTLES

The Anglo-Saxons had built predominantly in timber. Their structures were relatively unsophisticated and have not survived above ground level today. When the Normans arrived, they made a massive and immediate impact on the landscape. They embarked on a programme of constructing large stone buildings, both religious (cathedrals, abbeys and churches) and secular (castles). The Jewish community played an important role in providing the funds for these projects.

In Normandy, castles were already widely used as fortified and defensible homes for members of the nobility and had become numerous during the early years of Duke William’s rule. They were also centres from which estates could be administered and a strongpoint from which territory could be controlled. In the years following the Conquest, the Normans introduced castles to England, to impose their rule and their authority; siting them at strategic locations. The initial phase of their introduction was in the wooden motte and bailey form, which included the first castle at Norwich, which was possibly constructed as early as 1067.

The new skyline of Norwich would have been awe-inspiring to the population, with its huge castle, cathedral and church buildings. The castle, in particular, served as an imposing statement of Norman power, which was further enhanced by the impact of its construction, for which, according to the Domesday Book, 100 earlier Anglo-Saxon houses had been removed to accommodate the mighty structure.

The Normans often chose to position their castles at locations associated with earlier seats of power. Many were built within the decaying remains of Roman towns and sometimes prehistoric sites. Colchester in Essex is another East Anglian example, where the Norman castle was built on top of the Roman temple of Claudius. In Norfolk, early castles were built within the walls of the Roman fort at Burgh Castle, near Great Yarmouth, and in the south at Thetford, within the earthworks of a Late Iron Age enclosure, where a massive motte still remains prominent in the town. There was also a possible motte and bailey construction at King’s Lynn, which seems to have been incorporated into later medieval town defences during the late fifteenth century.

Norwich Castle had a colourful history and was involved in conflicts on three occasions between the eleventh and early thirteenth centuries. The first involved the story of the Lady Emma de Guader (c.1059–c.1096), who held the castle when under siege during a rebellion against the Crown under her husband Ralph de Guader (c.1042–c.1096), Earl of Norfolk, in 1075. Emma led the defence of the castle, which was still a timber and earthwork construction at that time, for three months before surrendering to the forces of King William and managing to negotiate a safe passage abroad to re-join her husband.

As the Normans tightened their control across the country, they started a programme of building their castles in stone. William’s close supporters were able to secure their positions across the land by the construction of thick-walled fortifications. Early stone castles were constructed at a number of locations in Norfolk. Their principal defensive feature was a keep, which is a large square or sometimes round free-standing stone tower in which the king or the leading nobles resided.

The importance of Norfolk and Norwich at this time are indicated by the construction of the elaborate new stone castle at Norwich, which was begun in c.1080 under King William II (r. 1087–1100). It was completed in c.1120 under King Henry I (r. 1100–35). The aesthetic appearance of castles was not normally a principal consideration. Their design tended to be functional but Norwich proved to be an exception. Its design was radical for its time and encompassed bold decorative architectural features not seen before, nor subsequently copied in other castles. Its external blind arcading and internal kitchen were innovative concepts. Norwich Castle has been described as ‘architecturally the most ambitious secular building of its day in western Europe’.

Norwich Castle also has the largest motte by surface area in the country. This was a royal castle and continued to play a role in national events. During the reign of King John (r. 1199–1216), it fell to Prince Louis of France, evidence of which can still be seen in the walls which were breached and scorched by fire.

The Norman Empire wasn’t confined to England and continued to extend across Normandy, where shared architectural influences are apparent. Elements of the plan and construction of Norwich Castle were subsequently used elsewhere and can be seen not only in England, as at Canterbury, but also in France at Falaise. More locally, Castle Rising, near King’s Lynn, shares features of its design. Rising was constructed from c.1140 by William d’Albini, who in 1138 married Adeliza of Louvain (c.1103–51), previously the second wife of King Henry I, under whom Norwich Castle had been completed. That the design of Rising drew heavily on that of Norwich was, no doubt, through the influence of Adeliza.

At the same time, William d’Albini was building a castle at Buckenham in South Norfolk. The first castle there was a ditched fortification with an outer and inner bailey. In the 1140s d’Albini began work on another castle further to the south-east, subsequently known as New Buckenham. This construction contains a more unusual circular stone keep, within a circular earthwork.

Another motte and bailey was constructed at Mileham, in Breckland, prior to the 1140s, possibly by the Fitz-Alan family. It was situated on an important road linking the east and west of the county. The motte was protected by earthworks, with two crescentic outer baileys on the north side. The stone keep was square in shape. Its earthworks and central masonry survive well today.

Also in Breckland, Castle Acre was founded by William de Warenne in 1088. The higher part of the site was fortified with a rampart, ditch and palisade around a stone-fortified house. Outer earthworks extended down to the River Nar, which is believed to have been navigable and crossed at this point by the Peddars Way.

Tantalisingly, we know of a castle at Great Yarmouth that doesn’t survive today. It was in use before 1209 and formed an important part of the town’s defences. It stood in a location that is still called ‘Castle Row’. This is thought to have been a simple construction, comprising a square keep with corner towers.

TOWN DEVELOPMENT AND SETTLEMENTS

The main period of town development in England was in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Domesday Book provides us with a snapshot view of Norfolk towns in 1086 that helps us to understand their early growth. Burgesses were townsmen who had to pay annual taxes to the king. In that year there were 665 burgesses recorded in Norwich, 720 in Thetford and seventy in Great Yarmouth, indicating their relative sizes. A degree of planning in both Norwich and Yarmouth served to further assist their development.

Norwich was becoming the main town for the wider region, enhanced by its international connections, especially with France, the Low Countries and Scandinavia. Accordingly, it was the natural place for a royal castle to be built. The stone castle and cathedral were conceived and developed together, which was a common pairing under the Normans. It became a prosperous international port and developed into a cosmopolitan city, stimulated by the commercial role of the thriving Jewish community.

At the time of the Conquest, Thetford was still the sixth largest town in the country. Domesday Book records that it had twelve churches and one monastery, together with its castle. In 1071 the seat of the bishops was moved there from North Elmham, but in turn was moved to Norwich in 1094. Thetford began to decline in the later years of the eleventh century.

The settlement at Yarmouth had developed from the early fishing community and became firmly established during the late Anglo-Saxon period. Its growth had been rapid; developing into a town within a single generation. The Caen stone imported from Normandy used in the construction of Norwich Castle and Cathedral was imported through the town. It was then trans-shipped to smaller vessels and sent by river to the city. Like Norwich, Yarmouth was another cosmopolitan town, attracting residents and merchants from all over Europe.

Each fisherman at the town occupied a strip of land, including a section of foreshore and higher ground where the house was built. There were narrow lanes between the strips allowing access between the river and beach. These narrow passageways, which became known as the Rows, were developing before 1100. Their layout can still be seen in Yarmouth’s street plan today.

The early town was well defended. It was almost completely surrounded by water and connected to the mainland by a single causeway in the north. It grew rapidly and the port flourished. Domesday Book records Yarmouth in 1086 as a small but vibrant settlement, with a single church and population of around 400. It obtained a charter in 1208 under King John and the citizens were given freehold ownership of their lands. The town continued to expand until the middle of the fourteenth century. Its increasing prosperity was overwhelmingly centred on its herring fishing.

In 1262 Yarmouth was given a charter to build a town wall, although it took 111 years to complete the work. This was a massive undertaking and every resident was expected to commit to help for a number of days each year. Records tell how wealthy people would often pay others to do the work in their stead. When it was completed in the 1370s, no one was allowed to build outside and settlement remained within the walls for more than 400 years.

King’s Lynn was another Norman new town, which was originally called Bishop’s Lynn. Its importance grew as a result of its location on the Wash, on a sea route which facilitated North Sea trade. The town centre was constructed between tributaries of the River Ouse. The foundation has been attributed to Herbert Losinga, first Bishop of Norwich, although there was already occupation associated with a thriving salt-making industry around the Wash dating from Anglo-Saxon times and earlier. Losinga contributed a new church, St Margaret’s, in the 1090s, which also served as a Benedictine priory. The town’s Saturday market attracted traders from afar. Bishop’s Lynn was given a charter by King John in 1204, granting some independence to traders.

Bishop’s Lynn was another town with an early post-Conquest Jewish community. These people were tragically exterminated in 1189, during a nationwide outbreak of anti-Jewish expression and massacres.

Lynn was well positioned in relation to trade in produce from the Fenland and benefitted from a natural location ideal for the export of goods and well served by water transport. It had become a substantial trading port by the thirteenth century, handling a greater volume of trade than London. It remained one of the country’s richest ports throughout the medieval period.

Small towns and settlements grew up right across Norfolk. Some of these were created by manorial lords who were also building fortifications to safeguard their possessions. New Buckenham dates from the 1140s and 1150s, founded by William d’Albini (c.1109–76), south-east from his castle and the village at Old Buckenham. Albini also founded Castle Rising in west Norfolk, together with its castle. It has a planned street layout, associated with the late Norman church. Although now inland, it developed as a port on the River Babingley, which was originally navigable from the Wash.

The castle at Castle Acre was situated beside a planned town of the same name, adjacent to the River Nar. Its Cluniac Priory, like the castle, was founded by the Warenne family in the late eleventh century. The town was originally enclosed within a bank and ditch. Both priory and castle retain an impressive state of preservation today.

Despite the emergence of large and small towns, much of Norfolk’s population remained scattered in smaller dispersed clusters of buildings and farmsteads. Markets grew up across the county from the mid-twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century. Most developed from existing settlements, often associated with a church or manor house. The development of new markets slowed after 1350.

Land handed to a Baron by the King was known as a manor. The manor was administered under the control of the Baron. Many of the French Barons chose to build castles on their land, while some preferred to build large manor houses. Norfolk villages were administered by the manors and often by more than one. Early manor houses tended to be sited near to the church. Moats started to be dug around some of the grander houses and agricultural buildings between the mid-twelfth and early fourteenth century, which tend to reflect episodes of instability.

THE CHURCH IN EARLY MEDIEVAL NORFOLK

By the time of the Conquest, Christianity had become the spiritual focus of society, underpinning daily life. The Normans’ programme of constructing religious buildings in stone left its mark on Norfolk’s landscape, which has endured to the present day.

Herbert de Losinga (1050–1119) was the first Bishop of Norwich and founded Norwich Cathedral in 1096. He had been consecrated Bishop of Thetford in 1090–91. Losinga also founded the churches of St Margaret’s at Lynn and St Nicholas at Yarmouth, as well as Norwich School. North Elmham was the principal seat of the bishops of East Anglia until 1071, when it was transferred to Thetford. Thereafter, Elmham remained an important ecclesiastical site and the bishop maintained a large estate there, which contained his chapel. Located on the site of the earlier Anglo-Saxon cathedral, the Norman chapel survives today.

Domesday Book Volume 2 (‘The Little Domesday’), which covers Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, mentions 217 churches in the county. There were more medieval parish churches in Norfolk than in any other part of England at this time, together comprising the highest density of parish churches anywhere north of the Alps.

Many Norfolk villages had more than one church located in close proximity, including in the villages of Feltwell, Wood Norton, North Burlingham and Swainsthorpe. At the Burnhams, there were nine churches in the thirteenth century. Until the sixteenth century Reepham had three, representing their adjoining parishes, but located immediately adjacent to each other within one churchyard.

Round towers are a feature of many East Anglian churches. The largest numbers appear in Norfolk, particularly in the south-east of the county. There are 144 recorded examples, of which a remarkable 123 remain standing. Their construction outnumbered that of conventional square towers in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Just one other region in Europe, in northern Germany, has similar towers, which suggests enduring cultural ties between Norfolk and countries bordering the North Sea and the Baltic.

The centuries following the Norman Conquest were to be the main era of founding monastic houses. The programme of building Norman monasteries was based on the existing network of Anglo-Saxon minsters. All of the four main orders of friars, comprising the Blackfriars, Whitefriars, Austin Friars and Greyfriars, were represented in Norwich. The Greyfriars, or Franciscans, settled there in 1226. Benedictine monasteries were founded at Binham in c.1091 and in Norwich in 1096, where Herbert de Losinga founded a cathedral as well as a monastery. Others were founded at Horsham St Faith in 1105–06 and at Wymondham, by William d’Albini, in 1107. There was a single Benedictine house for nuns at Carrow, under King Stephen in 1146. One in ten of all monastic foundations in England between 1066 and 1200 took place within the diocese of Norwich.

Cluniac houses were founded at Castle Acre, Bromholme and Thetford. From the early twelfth century, Augustinian houses were constructed at Westacre, Walsingham, Creake and Weybourne. Castle Acre priory, together with Binham priory, today remain as important examples of regionally distinctive ecclesiastical architecture.

There were just six nunneries. In addition to Carrow, others were at Thetford, Blackburgh, Marham, Shouldham and Crabhouse. The last four were founded at rural locations, all in the Nar Valley of west Norfolk.

During the thirteenth century, orders of friars began to arrive in England. The Dominicans founded a house in Norwich. The Franciscans founded others on King Street in Norwich, Yarmouth, Lynn and Walsingham. The Carmelites established one at Whitefriars, Norwich, with others at Lynn, Yarmouth and Blakeney. The Austin Friars arrived in England in 1349 and established houses in Norwich, Lynn, Yarmouth and Thetford.

Small lead seal-like objects known as papal bullae continue to be found across the county, which attest the level of communication that was maintained with the religious government in Rome. Bullae were employed to authenticate papal documents. The density of Norfolk’s parish churches and other religious houses meant that there was a continual traffic of both churchmen and directives from Rome. This was compounded by the presence of many Italians serving as ecclesiastics in the diocese.

The Church encouraged pilgrimages across medieval Europe whereby people could achieve salvation through visits to holy shrines. Pilgrims would band together and travel recognised safe routes, along which they would stop at cathedrals and shrines to worship saints and pay homage to religious relics. In England, Norfolk’s Great Walsingham was such a destination, where in 1061 the Lady Richeldis received visions of the Virgin Mary. Walsingham subsequently became a shrine to the Blessed Virgin and an Augustan Priory was constructed around it, completed in 1153. Walsingham subsequently became a focus of worship for thousands of pilgrims from across Europe.

The county had a second destination of national renown at Bromholm Priory, which was situated in the parish of Bacton on the north-east coast. Founded in 1113 by William de Glanville, it was a daughter house to the Cluniac monastery at Castle Acre. This monastery acquired a fragment of the True Cross early in the thirteenth century, which made this a destination for pilgrims.

THE COUNTRYSIDE

At the time of the Norman Conquest most people were engaged in agriculture, which underpinned Norfolk’s growing wealth and status throughout the medieval period. Fortunes were made, especially through sheep farming and the production of wool. Farming was essentially undertaken by peasants, who worked small-scale holdings. There was increasing pressure on available land throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when marginal and wasteland were also taken into cultivation. Agricultural practices steadily became more intensive and an early form of crop rotation was introduced.

The growth in population, together with the shortage of land for both cultivation and pasture, resulted in the development of a new form of village layout where farmsteads were arranged around a green, which became common pastureland. This arrangement can still be seen in surviving examples, including those at Brisley, Hales and Mulbarton. By the end of the thirteenth century, twice as many villages and hamlets were centred around greens as along streets.

Open fields were a common sight right across the county. These comprised arable land divided into furlongs or blocks, which were then subdivided into smaller strips for cultivation. Grassland and hay meadows were also an important part of the farming landscape. The keeping of sheep and wool production continued to grow in importance, which led to the ongoing need for even more land for pasture.

Many villages shifted from their original locations, from the twelfth century and through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with early examples including Longham and Mileham in central Norfolk. This process is evidenced by the locations of many rural churches, which today are seen rather oddly positioned as isolated monuments, away from villages and centres of population.

Almost all native woodland had disappeared from Norfolk by the time of the Conquest. Domesday Book lists a number of woods maintained for economic purposes on the heavier soils. In the absence of building stone, there was a huge demand for wood. Local woods were exploited heavily but there was still a need for soft wood, which was imported from Scandinavia and the Baltic, via Yarmouth and Lynn, from as early as the thirteenth century.

In the period following the Conquest, there was an increasing need for fuel, which was generally provided by timber. In east Norfolk, however, peat was used and became an important resource for the towns of Norwich and Great Yarmouth. The deep deposits in and around the valleys of the eastern rivers were steadily dug out but the resource was over-exploited. By the fourteenth century, and due to sea level changes, the workings flooded and the watery Broadland landscape was formed, which now characterises east Norfolk. A system of marshes, fens, rivers and lakes developed, forming the beautiful and unique landscape we know today. Surprisingly, it is only as recently as the 1950s, through the work of Dr Joyce Lambert (1916–2005), a native of Brundall, that it has been appreciated how the Broads were a man-made phenomenon.

An early form of map, which is held at the Norfolk Archive Centre, shows the extent to which east Norfolk has transformed; depicting the area as it was in about AD 1000. Known as the Hutch Map, it was made from a sheepskin and was created in the late 1500s. It portrays Yarmouth as a yellow sandbank in the mouth of the Great Estuary. By contrast, the mainland is shown as a fertile green area, intersected by the rivers Yare, Thurne and Waveney; all flowing into the sea. The region of Flegg, to the north, was a large island while Lothingland, to the south, formed a long peninsula.

The Norman period saw the introduction of some familiar animal species. Venison was a favoured part of the diet of the wealthy throughout medieval England. Although red deer were already present in the country, fallow deer were a Norman introduction. Most of Norfolk’s hunting parks were created between 1100 and 1350 and over sixty have been identified; where a combination of woodland and grass were set aside for hunting and breeding deer. Rabbits were also introduced by the Normans and were prized for their fur and meat.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

The Domesday survey allowed William I to assess the wealth and assets of his new kingdom in order for him to raise taxes towards the needs of his administration. It has served to provide us with fine detail from which we too can understand the status of the country and the agrarian economy.

The economy of Norman Norwich continued to expand as a result of the more extensive communications established during the period. Caen Stone was imported from Normandy and was used in the more prominent buildings. A channel from the River Wensum into Norwich Cathedral Close was used to convey the imported stone, which was employed in the construction of the cathedral and castle.

Guilds of crafts workers were being formed by the thirteenth century, including those for drapers, mercers, wool sorters, weavers and dyers. The Guilds also set and enforced quality standards for cloth making. Through this process, Norwich maintained a reputation for the production of high-quality fine cloth.

The growing importance of the textile industry was facilitated by the role of Norfolk’s coastal ports from where wool was exported to Europe and the Baltic states. Small ports grew up around the coast, notably from Cromer westwards, located on natural sheltered inlets. By the thirteenth century Blakeney Haven in the north, comprising Blakeney, Cley and Wiveton, collectively known as the Glaven ports, had become one of the major ports in the whole country. It had a particular strategic importance providing the sole safe anchorage between King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth. Trade and commerce thrived from there right through the medieval period.

Both herrings and peat were valuable to the medieval economy and Great Yarmouth and its hinterland was important in the production of both. Peat was dug across the region in the early medieval years and provided a major source of fuel across eastern Norfolk until the fourteenth century.

In relation to craft production, by the late Anglo-Saxon period pottery manufacture had spread beyond the towns of Norwich and Thetford into the countryside. One distinctive form of green-glazed pottery is known as Grimston Ware, which was produced in north-west Norfolk between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.

Despite the many changes in the political administration, there was no significant change in the English coinage under the Normans. The established system of checks, controls and periodic changes to the coin types continued as before. The mint of Norwich continued to strike for all of the Angevin and Plantagenet kings, through to 1272. Thetford struck coin through to the reign of Henry II (r. 1154–89). There was also a brief period of coin production at Lynn under King John.

In 1241 the German cities of Hamburg and Lubeck united to establish a trading alliance that became known as the Hanseatic League. It was King’s Lynn that was the key British link to the League and thus to North Sea and Baltic trade. The League was a trading network that extended right across northern Europe between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries and brought prosperity to a large swathe of north-west Europe. It has sometimes been likened to a forerunner of the European Common Market. This was a powerful alliance of towns and merchants, created for the purpose of achieving the efficient movement of traded goods, and which operated largely independently of governments and political events. Members made tariff agreements and provided port facilities, while merchants used a common currency, language and legal system; adhering to common rules. Its success was based on trust in the systems and standards achieved.

Lynn was one of just three ports in England that were part of the Hanseatic League. The town’s situation on the Wash, with associated river and waterway communications, made the port ideally positioned to join the network. By 1300 it had become a thriving international trading port exporting wool, cloth, salt, corn and fish, especially herring. Its imports included Icelandic fish, Russian furs and wine from Gascony. It also traded with other parts of England. The town has the only remaining Hanseatic warehouse in England, which was built in the 1480s.

LATER HISTORICAL EVENTS

Following the death of King Henry I, the period from 1135 to 1153 is known as The Anarchy, which saw the country reduced to bitter civil war. The eleventh century also saw the start of the Crusades. English participation was principally during the later twelfth century under the Plantagenet kings, particularly Henry II (r. 1154–89) and his son Richard I (r. 1189–99). In 1266 the episode known as the Second Baron’s War, which was another civil war between a number of powerful barons and King Henry III, saw Norwich sacked and plundered by the defeated supporters of Simon de Montfort. From c.1290 onwards, England was constantly in a state of war. The Hundred Years’ War started in 1337.

In the later thirteenth century Norwich, Yarmouth and Lynn all embarked on the construction of their own stone defensive walls. The reason was two-fold. Ostensibly it was to counter the threat of invasion from France but in reality it was also to provide an overt open expression of urban pride and wealth.

Norwich’s walls were built between 1297 and 1344. They formed the longest circuit of urban defences anywhere in the country and embraced forty flint towers, twelve gateways and a brick and flint artillery tower, known as Cow Tower, was added in 1398–99. This formidable barrier provided not only a strong defence against any possible attack but also served to regulate trade and facilitate taxation.

Great Yarmouth was involved in long-running disputes with a number of other towns. Disagreements developed with Norwich and Lowestoft but the bloodiest confrontation was with the group of ports in Kent and Sussex known as the Cinque Ports. In 1297 the men of Great Yarmouth fought a pitched sea battle with those from the Cinque Ports in which twenty-five ships were sunk and 200 men killed. The tension between these port towns increased further still as Great Yarmouth’s wealth increased and the conflict began to threaten the safety of the kingdom. Eventually the Cinque Ports began to silt up and their power declined, while that of Great Yarmouth continued to rise. In 1340 England defeated the French fleet at the Battle of Sluys. By that time Great Yarmouth was able to provide the king with more ships than all of the Cinque Ports put together. Admiral Pereborne, the commander of the English fleet, was also a Great Yarmouth man.

The mid-fourteenth century saw the first major outbreak of plague in Britain, later known as the ‘Black Death’. Initially occurring in southern England and focused on seaports, it spread north and reached Norwich in 1349. King Edward III (r. 1327–77) and parliament attempted to maintain civil stability while the population fell by more than half, to just two and a half million, from the six million at the start of the century. In Norfolk, it caused a dramatic fall in agricultural production and in the overall level of trade. The effect on the economy of the major towns, Norwich and Great Yarmouth, was devastating. It also led to a large number of churches going out of use.

THE ARTS

The period following the Norman Conquest, with its continental influences, was a vibrant one for art and artistic developments. Norwich in particular had a strong artistic and craft community. The importance of the Church on society was strongly reflected in the art and material culture of the period and especially through its patronage.

The Normans introduced the Romanesque style of decoration, now most visible through their programme of constructing stone buildings. This new style was, in turn, influenced by native Anglo-Saxon and Viking art, as seen on decorative stonework, metalwork and sculpture. Norman stone buildings are distinctive for their rounded arches above windows and doorways, sometimes with decorative mouldings. Their structural interiors were supported by simple, heavy columns with decorated capitals. The churches of St Margaret at Hales and St Mary at Haddiscoe, both in south Norfolk, contain outstanding examples of elaborate early Norman decoration and sculpture. The new buildings would have appeared particularly striking in an area lacking its own building stone.

During this period of great constructions, it appears that most available resources were being used in the ambitious building programme, at the expense of other forms of craft production. From the date of the Norman Conquest until c.1200, there was a decline in the production of smaller items such as dress accessories, personal possessions and other portable objects, in comparison with preceding and succeeding centuries.

The late thirteenth and early fourteenth century saw a flowering of architectural sculpture. In Norwich, there was the construction of the cathedral cloister, with its famous bosses and corbels, and the rebuilding of the clerestory. Tomb sculptures and brasses were another form of early medieval high art. Surviving examples of important sculptural tombs can be found in the churches of St Mary and St Michael at Reepham and at the Holy Trinity, Ingham. An important early brass of Sir Hugh Hastings, from c.1347, survives at St Mary’s church, Elsing.

The period from c.1300 to c.1360 was exceptional in terms of the arts across Norfolk. Books were being made in the Norwich area in the late thirteenth century. East Anglia was important for manuscript painting and Norwich itself was a major centre of production. The abbeys and religious houses were patrons for illuminated manuscripts, although the artists often worked from secular workshops across the region’s main towns. This floruit of illumination lasted until c.1330. The culmination was the creation of some exceptional manuscripts including those known as the Gorleston Psalter, the Ormesby Psalter and the Macclesfield Psalter.

The Macclesfield Psalter, which is held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is an outstanding example of medieval art, created between 1320 and 1330. It combines devotional imagery with depictions of everyday life. It is thought that it originated at Gorleston, south of Great Yarmouth, where it was possibly associated with the parish church of St Andrew. The manuscript depicts a range of animals, including exotic creatures such as apes, a lion and dragons. Marginal illustrations depict bizarre, humorous and even bawdy scenes, alongside religious imagery and another showing the process of medieval ploughing.

One particularly unusual and informative discovery from Norwich is an oyster shell palette, dating from c.1300. This humble object was found during excavations at the Norwich Greyfriars and provides an insight into the nature of the decoration of church interiors. Colour was an important feature of medieval architecture, although evidence for this has seldom survived. Oyster shells are not rare finds on medieval sites as oysters were a staple food. However, one particular shell was unusual in that it contained traces of pigment, having been used as a painter’s palette. The inside of the shell contains pools of paint around the perimeter, including blue azurite, vermillion and black. Its use is most likely to have been to paint colour onto sculptural aspects of the church and serves to remind us that these historic buildings were once vibrant with architectural colour and figurative paintings, prior to the ravages of the Reformation.