Norwich through the ages

Norwich in 1490

England's Second City

Norwich in 1490 is at the height of its medieval cloth wealth: wool and worsted from east Norfolk fill its wharves and its markets, and a church for every week of the year rises from lanes inside the long stone walls. This walk follows the river and streets from Mousehold Heath into the close and through merchant quarters, passing cathedral spire, castle keep, trading halls, staithes and the market under the castle.

A dense, low skyline of stone towers and timber gables sits behind a looping dark ribbon of the River Wensum and a continuous stone curtain of town wall. The pale Caen limestone of the cathedral and the white Norman keep catch light above a forest of small steeples; closer in, black-and-ochre jettied houses, red-tile roofs and chequered flint public buildings form narrow, cobbled lanes crowded with carts, packhorses and cloth bundles.

Planned from the Wikipedia record: Norwich.