Norwich Leasing

Did You Know?

Norwich started as a small Anglo-Saxon settlement north of the river Wensum. Known as North Wic. The name Norwich 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. 

Norwich has a particular rich animal vocabulary including jasper (wasp), dodman (snail), pishmire (ant) and hamser (heron), although kewter for money and to pingle, meaning to play with food, are also useful to know.

During the 13th century, one of the two main battles of England's Second Barons' War took place near Evesham, marking the victory of Prince Edward who later became King Edward I.

Norfolk is the fifth largest county in England. The Norfolk coast runs for nearly 100 miles, from Hopton on Sea to the Wash. Norfolk has 659 medieval churches, the highest concentration in the world!

Last year, the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library had more visitors (1,500,695) and lent more books (1,139,090) than any other in the UK

well-known celebrities who were either born in Norfolk or lived in Norfolk for a spell include; Princess Diana, who was born in Sandringham in Norfolk, James Dyson, who was born in Cromer and attended Greshams School in Holt.

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. The city’s fortunes declined in the 18th century as the Industrial Revolution spurred the expansion of new towns and industry in the north of England.

The cathedral close is one of the largest in Europe and has more people living within it than any other close.

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; but such was the wealth of medieval Norwich that they were able to import honey-coloured Caen limestone from Normandy.

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 – Norwich also bears the questionable honour of being the only UK city to have been excommunicated by the Pope, who was angry with the city’s unruly residents after rioting in 1274.