Did You Know?

It started as a small Anglo-Saxon settlement north of the river Wensum. Known as North Wic. The name first appears on a coin minted in the early 10th Century.

Sixteen Revelations Of Divine Love by Dame Julian of Norwich, written about 1393, is thought to have been the first book in English written by a woman.

Founded when the conquering Normans arrived in the 11th century, the Market is one the oldest and certainly the largest open air market in the country. Located on Gentleman’s Walk, the 200 stalls of Norwich market are where the city has traded, gossiped and simply wandered around for many a century. 

Back in the day (or rather the 17th century), the city had 600 pubs. But the 1904 Licensing Act, Second World War and slum clearances in the 1960s saw many forced to close. King Street was the worst hit, with the number of pubs there falling from 58 to one. And the name of that one pub? It’s the Last Pub Standing.

Although Norwich may be small by today’s standards, it was once the second largest city in Britain (behind London). It was a centre of trade and prospered from the lucrative wool trade.

Norwich is home to six theatres and one of only two dedicated puppet theatres in the UK. The Theatre Royal is a stunning and recently renovated art deco building that plays host to a huge range of theatre, comedy, musical and kids’ shows every year.

The spire of Norwich Cathedral is 315 feet high – second only to that of Salisbury. Given that most of the county is fenland or chalk, the stone for this church-building spree was unavailable locally.

One of the most popular programmes on TV from 1971 to 1983, Sale of the Century began every show with “And now, from Norwich, it’s the quiz of the week!” Quizmaster was Nicholas Parsons. It had the same kudos as today’s The Chase with Bradley Walsh

The city had the first-ever pedestrianised street back in July 1967. At the time giving people priority over traffic was a bit of novelty – so ubiquitous and much-loved had the car become – but other cities caught on to the benefits of restricting traffic and well, the rest is history really…

Ok, the self-promoting Alan Partridge may be a fictional character, but his creator Steve Coogan is real enough. Partridge is a DJ on Radio Norwich in the series, spouting his ‘words of wisdom’ to the city’s general population.

Norwich has the enviable title of being the one of the safest cities in the UK, with a history of having some of the lowest crime rates recorded. This wasn’t always the case though – it also bears the questionable honour of being the only UK city to have been excommunicated by the Pope.

The Norfolk Broads is designated an Area of Outstanding Beauty – all 125 miles of navigable lock-free waterways, beautiful countryside and picturesque towns, villages and cities. It’s also mentioned in David Bowie’s hit song Life on Mars.