And over the west window is festooned the Flag of France taken by Lord Nelson from the ship Genereux in 1800.

The Corn Exchange.

The Norwich Public Library.

The Norwich Public Library is located in a spacious room built for the purpose at the end of an avenue opposite the Guildhall.  The first meeting of subscribers was held there on September 7th, 1837.  The library contains about 30,000 volumes, including many old books of divinity and archæology.  The yearly subscription is one guinea paid by shareholders, and 26s. paid by others; and subscribers are entitled to borrow two sets of books at a time.  The library is open from 10 a.m. till 9 p.m.  Besides the large room which contains the books, there are smaller rooms for the convenience of readers.  Mr. Langton is the librarian.

is a fine building, erected in 1839, in Broad Street, St. Andrew’s.  It contains very valuable collections in geology, ethnology, and entomology, but chiefly in ornithology.  The specimens in ornithology comprise nearly all the varieties of the raptores or birds of prey, mostly supplied by J. H. Gurney, Esq.  A large new room in the adjoining building is filled with specimens of British birds, also contributed by J. H. Gurney, Esq., whose portrait adorns the room.  The fossil remains of mammalia, for the most part discovered in Norfolk, are extremely interesting.  Two other spacious rooms have just been added to the Museum, one of which is filled with Elephantine Remains, contributed by the Rev. Jno. Gunn; and the botanical department has been enriched by the late J. D. Salmon’s well-arranged specimens, bequeathed by him to this institution, which is open free on Mondays and Saturdays.

The Norfolk and Norwich Literary Institution

The Free Library.

This is a large building at the corner of St. Andrew’s Broad Street; erected in 1856, and opened in 1857, under the Free Libraries and Museum Act, by the Corporation, at a cost of £10,000.  It includes large rooms for the Museum and the Free Library, the Literary Institution, and the School of Art.  The Free Library, in the lower room, contains about 4,000 volumes, and the Old Collection called the City Library.  The middle room above is fitted up as a lecture hall.  The School of Art is located at the top of the building, where rooms are furnished for about 200 pupils, who receive instruction in drawing, designing, and decorative art.  There is a committee of management for the Free Library, another for the Museum, and another for the School of Art.  Mr. Harper is the librarian.

The Theatre Royal

is situate at a short distance from the Market Place, in Theatre Street.  It is a very plain building, erected in 1826, but the interior is quite commodious enough for the limited number of patrons which Norwich furnishes to the drama.

is a large, but by no means handsome building; situate in Post Office Street, near the Market Place.  There are two deliveries from London daily, and mails daily to all parts of the kingdom.

THE PARISHES AND PARISH CHURCHES.

We shall now proceed to describe the parishes and parish churches, in four districts, west, east, north, and south.

Western District.

St. Peter of Mancroft.

Sir Peter Read, though not certainly known to be a native of this city, yet deserves to be mentioned here, because he was buried in St. Peter’s Church, having this inscription on his monument:—

“Hereunder lieth the corps of Peter Read, Esq., who hath worthily served not only his prince and country, but also the Emperor Charles the Fifth, both at his Conquest of Barbary, and his siege of Tunis, as also in other places, who had given him, by the said Emperor, the Order of Barbary, who died on the 29th December, in the year of our Lord God 1566.”

If it be demanded why the title of “knight” was not put on his tomb, but only “esquire,” it may be answered that he was knighted by the Emperor Charles V., and Queen Elizabeth would suffer no foreign honour to be worn by her subjects in her dominions, saying, “Her sheep should be known by her mark only.”  The knight lies buried in the east corner of the north aisle of this church.  His effigy in complete armour is on a brass plate on the stone.  He gave £4 4s. yearly from the rental of houses in St. Giles’, that the great bell of St. Peter’s Mancroft Church should ring at four o’clock every morning and eight in the evening for the benefit of travellers.

The following epitaph in this church is a specimen of good versification for the time in which it was written, 1616:—

The church is a large handsome cruciform structure of freestone mixed with flint, begun in 1430 and finished in 1455.  It is a good example of the perpendicular style, and is the finest parish church in the city.  It is 212 feet in length, and 70 feet in breadth, with a noble tower 98 feet high, covered with paneling, and containing an excellent peal of 12 bells, a clock, and chimes.  The bells weigh 183 cwt. 2 qrs. 14 lbs., and were exchanged for an old peal of ten in 1775, at a cost of £800 raised by public subscription.

St. Giles.

Passing from the Market Place to Pottergate Street we come to the parish of

St. Gregory.

St. John’s Maddermarket.

St. Andrew.

In Broad Street, St. Andrews, stood the ancient church of St. Crucis.  It was dedicated to the honour of the Holy Cross, and was erected before the year 1272.  It was desecrated in 1551, and the parish united to St. John’s Maddermarket.

St. Lawrence Church stands upon the very spot to which the arm of the sea rose in former times, when Norwich was merely a fishing town, and this spot was the quay or landing place for all herrings brought into the city.  After the water had receded, the church was founded on the same site in the reign of Edward the Confessor, in the 10th century.  In 1460, the original building was taken down, and the present one was erected twelve years afterwards.  It consists of a nave, chancel, aisles, north and south porches, clerestory, and a tower 112 feet high, with six bells.  The roof of the church is supported by clustered columns, the inside is light and regular, and the windows are large and well filled with tracery.  They were formerly decorated with stained glass, all of which was demolished by the Puritans in 1643.  There is here an ancient octangular font, ornamented with shields, angels, &c.  In the spandrels of an arched door, in the western side of the church, are two ancient carvings, one representing the martyrdom of St. Lawrence broiling on a gridiron, and the other a number of Danish soldiers shooting arrows into the body of King Edmund, whose head is seen lying in a thicket, as described in the old legend.  The Rev. E. A. Hillyard is the present incumbent.

St. Swithin.

St. Margaret.

St. Margaret’s Church, in Westwick Street, has a square tower with a spacious nave, chancel, and south aisle.  It is a plain building of the perpendicular period.  The rood stair turret remains on the north side of the church, and on the south side of the altar is a small pedestal on which the bell that was rung at mass stood in former times.  The rectory is valued at £80.  The bishop is the patron, and the Rev. J. W. Cobb is the rector.  The church which has been for some time disused, being in a very ruinous condition, has just been restored.

St. Benedict.

The Eastern District.

This side of the city has been greatly improved by the formation of a new road called Prince of Wales’ Road, from Foundry Bridge to the Castle Hill.  Handsome houses have been built on each side, and broad pavements laid down.  Rose Lane has been widened and improved.  The Castle Meadow has been adorned by the erection of a new bank called the Crown Bank, a very handsome building in the Corinthian style of architecture.  This is the finest building of the kind in the eastern counties.

The Cavalry Barracks are situated in Barrack Street on the east side of the city, on the site of an old manor house.  They were built by the government in 1791 at a cost of £20,000.  The buildings are of brick, and form three sides of a square, the centre being for the accommodation of the officers.  The wings accommodate the soldiers to the extent of 320 men, and 266 horses.  The high wall which surrounds the entire barracks, including the parade ground, encloses an area of ten acres.

St. Michael at Plea.

The Church of St. Michael at Plea is at the top of Queen Street.  This church was so named from the Archdeacon holding his pleas or courts there.  It is a cruciform church with a low flint tower, and a modern bell turret.  Its transepts were formerly chapels dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary.  It contains several old paintings of the crucifixion, resurrection, &c., in the panels.  About two years ago the tower was restored at a cost of £250.  The rectory, valued in K. B. at £6 10s., and in 1831 at £85, was augmented with £600 of Queen Anne’s bounty from 1774 to 1791, and with a parliamentary grant of £1000 in 1816.  The lords of the manors of Sprowston and Horsford are patrons alternately.  The Rev. C. Morse, LL.B., is the incumbent.

St. George Tombland.

St. Peter Hungate.

St. Peter Hungate Church is in the same street at the top of Elm Hill.  The original church was demolished in 1458, when the present one was built.  It was built by John Paston and Margaret his wife.  It is of black flint in the form of a cross, having a nave, chancel, transepts, and square tower with two bells.  The roof of the nave is ornamented with figures of angels.  In 1861 the interior was much improved.  The rectory of St. Peter Hungate, valued in K.B. at £3 1s. 5½d., and now at £63, was augmented from 1743 to 1810 with £600 of royal bounty.  The Lord Chancellor is patron, and the Rev. S. Titlow, M.A., has been rector since 1839.

St. Simon and Jude’s Church in Wensum Street has a nave, a chancel, and a low flint and stone tower, with five bells.  It is in the perpendicular style, and is of great antiquity.  It contains a few old brasses, and several monuments of the Pettus family, in one of which lies, in complete armour, the figure of Sir J. Pettus, the first of the family who was knighted.  The Rev. J. F. Osborne is the incumbent.

St. Martin at Palace.

St. Martin at Palace Church stands opposite the entrance to the Bishop’s Palace.  It has a nave with aisles, chancel with aisles, clerestory, and a tower with five bells.  It is of the plain perpendicular style, and contains a good panelled octagon font.  The east window of the chancel is filled with stained glass, representing the adoration of the magi, the annunciation, the crucifixion, the resurrection of our Saviour, &c.  The living is a perpetual curacy valued at £70, and augmented from 1743 to 1813 with £1800 of royal bounty.  The Dean and Chapter are patrons.  The Rev. R. W. Barker is incumbent.

St. Helen.

St. Helen’s Church in Bishopgate Street belonged to the monks, who demolished it and consolidated the cure with the church of St. Giles’ Hospital, now called the Great Hospital, on the opposite side of the street, soon after the foundation of the latter by Bishop Suffield in 1250.  The whole of this hospital church, which serves as the parish church of St. Helen, is still standing.  It has a square perpendicular tower at the south-west corner, containing one bell.  The greater part of the pile has been converted into lodgings for the alms people.  The church is fitted up with gothic carved work and open seats.  Kirkpatrick, the antiquary, is buried here.  The perpetual curacy received by lot £200 of Queen Anne’s bounty in 1816, and was valued in 1831 at £16 exclusive of the glebe house, but is now worth £200 per annum.  The City Charity Trustees are patrons.  The Rev. W. F. Patteson, incumbent.

St. Peter per Mountergate.

St. Peter per Mountergate derives the latter part of its name from a gate formerly placed near the churchyard, at the foot of the Castle mount.  The old church is in the perpendicular style, and has a nave, chancel, south porch with parvise, and a square embattled tower, with five bells and a clock.  The building has been recently restored and fitted up with open benches, those in the nave being stained deal, and in the chancel oak.  The famous Thomas Codd, who was Mayor of Norwich during Kett’s Rebellion, and who was a great benefactor to the city, was interred in the nave.  The benefice is now a perpetual curacy, valued at £78, and augmented with £200 of Queen Anne’s bounty in 1766, and with a parliamentary grant of £800 in 1812.  The Dean and Chapter are patrons.  The Rev. John Durst, incumbent.

St. Julian.

St. Etheldred.

St. Etheldred’s Church, in King Street, is supposed to be one of the oldest structures in the city, and had in its burial ground a very ancient anchorage, which continued till after the Reformation.  It is a small building with a nave, chancel, and tower.  The benefice is a perpetual curacy, certified at £2 14s., and valued at £77.  It was augmented from 1745 to 1802 with £800 of Queen Anne’s bounty.  The Trustees of the Great Hospital are patrons.  The Rev. W. Bishop is the present incumbent.

St. Peter Southgate.