Rampant Horse Street
Rampant Horse Street In Rampant Horse Street,
very little here survived the disastrous air raids of
April 1942. Until that time there was at No 14 the
western half of a fine Georgian mansion - its eastern
half having been demolished earlier in the twentieth
century to be replaced by a branch of Boots the Chemists.
What remained could hardly be said to have been improved
by the large shop front, but the original central doorway
(left) was undisturbed. This was really the prize feature
of the old building, its pillars, tympanum, jambs and
lintel being all well executed. The elaborate carving
which filled the tympanum has been surmised to represent
the laurel branch vert, once part of the arms of the
Mingay family, surrounding the initials “M.M.”
for the Reverend M. Mingay, the last of the family to own
the property. On 29th September 1749, he conveyed it to
one Timothy Matthews, a working carpenter. |
 A notable occupant was
John Mackerell, who died in 1723 aged eighty and lies
buried with his wife in St Peter Mancroft Church. He was
the father of Benjamin, author of manuscript histories of
Norwich, King’s Lynn, and the parishes of St Peter
Mancroft and St Stephen’s, Norwich. At the beginning
of the twentieth century Mr W. J. Sadd was the owner and
it was occupied by the School of Music and various
offices.Facing Mingay House at the corner of what was then St Stephen’s Church Lane (now the north end of Malthouse Road) stood a fine Tudor house of three storeys. Timber framed and with walls of plaster, it had an overhang at both first and second-floor levels, with a small bracket supporting the upper corner. A long range of weavers’ windows lit the top floor on the side overlooking the main street, and although tiled, one can imagine that the roof was originally thatched. Undoubtedly had it survived to the present time the house would have been listed as Grade I under the Town and Country Planning Acts. At the corner of St Stephen’s and Rampant Horse Street stands Marks and Spencers, formerly Buntings the drapers: its architect, A. F. Scott. Built in 1912, it lost its attic storey during an air raid and after the war was internally remodelled. Text and photographs copyright George Plunkett |