What
Above: Norwich Cathedral has the second tallest spire in Britain
Norwich’s Anglican Cathedral was the vision of the 1 st Bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga.
In order to create his new cathedral, priory and precinct, Bishop Losinga acquired land at the centre of the ever growing town of Norwich. The land already contained the churches of St Michael Tombland and Christ or Holy Trinity church, and the homes of many Norwich townsfolk, but all were swept away to make way for the cathedral.
The cathedral precinct or ‘close’ is the largest to survive in England and also has the largest number of residential houses within it. The Close is generally entered by one of two main gates in the western wall: the Ethelbert Gate, built c.1316, to the south or the Erpingham Gate, built c.1420-1435, to the north.
Above: Internal shot of the Cathedral
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At its completion, the cathedral was the largest building in East Anglia, measuring 141m (461ft) long, and, with the transepts, 54m (177ft) wide. The church has the second longest nave and the largest and most beautifully decorated Norman tower in England. The cathedral also boasts the second tallest spire (at 96m or 315ft; only the spire at Salisbury is higher) and the largest surviving monastic cloisters in England.
Today the building retains its almost entirely unaltered original Norman ground plan, despite the havoc wreaked on the building over the years by devastating gales, fires, riots and wars.
Inside, the cathedral is breathtaking. The first phase of building was begun at the eastern end of the church so that the essential ecclesiastical elements of the church were in place and could be consecrated as soon as possible.
The choir holds an interesting collection of stalls. The stalls have misericords: folding seats that have built in ‘pity shelves’ on which clerics could lean during long services. Misericords are often highly decorated and those in the cathedral are carved with a range of designs including the seven deadly sins and St George and the Dragon.
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Above: Remains of the Hostry
Norwich Cathedral has the largest collection of decorative roof bosses in Christendom, numbering 1,106 in total. Carved into the stone vaulting and then painted, each boss would have taken almost two weeks to complete. They represent a Christian view of the history of the world including carvings of Noah and the flood, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the end of the world and the tales of judgement day.
At the far eastern end of the presbytery there is a wooden Bishop’s throne or Cathedra. Norwich cathedral is the only cathedral in Northern Europe to have always kept its throne facing the congregation and behind the high alter. Usually the throne is sited to one site of the alter.
Norwich Cathedral continues to hold traditional services to this day – it remains a place of worship, where one can seek solace and comfort. It is attended by the pupils of Norwich School, who use the cathedral for their daily assembly. It is also the venue for many lectures, concerts and exhibitions. |
When
1096-1538 During this time the cathedral was home of a Benedictine Friary.
1101 The cathedral was consecrated on 24 th September.
1145 The cathedral was completed.
1170 The cathedral was damaged by fire.
Above: Ceiling of the Cathedral
Above: Green Man roof boss in the cloisters
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1272 There was a riot outside the cathedral priory, between the monks and the citizens of Norwich – the citizens had grown increasingly hostile towards the cathedral, irritated by its constant legal and fiscal pressures. Damage was done to the cathedral cloisters and fires ravaged the building. It has been described as “one of the most violent attacks on a religious house to occur in medieval England”. This act of violence was not well received and the citizens were forced to rebuild that which they had destroyed.
1297-1430 The cloisters were re-built.
1362 The wooden spire of the cathedral blew down.
1462 Lightening struck the wooden spire of the cathedral – the nave was severely damaged when fire spread throughout the wooden roofs.
1472-1501 The stone spire of the cathedral was added – this is the spire that can be seen today.
1509 The cathedral was damaged by fire. |
Above: The cloisters with roof bosses
1539 The Benedictine Friary at the cathedral was removed, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. It was re-founded as a secular cathedral with a Dean and Chapter to replace the Prior and monks.
1643 The cathedral was ransacked during the English Civil War by Puritans who demanded further reform of the English Church and who supported the Parliamentarians and Oliver Cromwell. The inside of the cathedral was destroyed, the window glass was smashed, the wall paintings defaced, the vestments and books stolen, the tombs and monuments defaced or demolished and gunmen filled the cathedral drinking, smoking and shooting.
1660 Some restoration of the cathedral was carried out.
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Who
Edith Cavell (1865 – 1915)
Norfolk heroine Edith Cavell was born in Swardeston, south of Norwich, in 1865. Despite beginning her career as a governess, Edith went on to become a nurse, and later became matron of a hospital in Brussels, Belgium. She therefore spent much of her life in Belgium, although, after her father died, Edith would often return to visit her mother in Norwich.
It was on one of these visits to Norwich that Edith heard the news that war had broken out, and that German forces had invaded Belgium. She quickly returned to the country that had become her home.
Above: Edith Cavell
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During the First World War Edith worked at a training school in Brussels, assisting the escape of many British soldiers to neutral territory in Holland. When two of her escapees were captured, she was arrested and imprisoned - accused of helping hundreds of allied soldiers to escape.
Edith did not deny these claims and was executed by firing squad in the early hours of the 12th October 1915. Her death was not to be viewed in vain however - hailing her as a martyr, prepared to die for her country, the Allies used Edith to gain support for the war effort. Within a few weeks, recruitment to the British Army had doubled.
Although Edith Cavell's body was initially buried in Belgium, it was later exhumed and reburied at Norwich Cathedral. There is a graveside service here once a year. Edith is remembered not only for her heroism but also for her advances in nursing practise. |
Statues to her memory can be found at Tombland in Norwich and at St Martin's Place, near Trafalgar Square in London. Numerous hospitals and less obvious things are named after her throughout the world: in New Zealand there is Edith Cavell Bridge and Mount Edith Cavell can be found in the Canadian Rockies.
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