Whitefriars
Whitefriars
In 1591 a more permanent edifice was built of stone, with a single pointed arch. This survived until replaced by the present bridge, the first half of which was opened to traffic on 19th February 1925. Its span of about eighty feet is some fifty feet wider than that of its predecessor. It was said at the time that the stones of the old bridge would be marked in order that it could be re-erected on a different site, but this was never done. Several suggestions have been put forward as to their fate, one of the least plausible being “that they happened to fall into a wherry as it passed under the bridge” and were conveyed by water to Wroxham and Horning to be used as foundations for riverside bungalows. It sees more likely that some at least were taken from the bridge to the Corporation Depot at Infirmary Square (now Starling Road), and were later moved to another store at St Martin at Oak Wall Lane, finally ending up as foundations for roadworks on Aylsham Road. But we must return to Whitefriars. Here on the east side of the road, with the river to the south, stands the great Yarn Factory, built in 1836-37, now part of Jarrolds’ printing works. Until the Reformation much of the land on this side of what was formerly part of Cowgate had been occupied by the monastery of the Carmelites or Whitefriars. Richard Taylor in his Index Monasticus describes how in about 1256 one Philip de Cowgate settled lands there upon William de Calthorpe, alias Suffield, “upon condition that the brethren of Mount Carmel should enter and dwell there without any molestation, for ever, and serve God therein”. In addition to the founder, who was buried there in 1283, Taylor lists many other benefactors, including Sir Oliver de Ingham, Clement Paston, and Joan the wife of John Fastolf. With the money thus received the friars were able to build a magnificent church, partially completed by 1343 and eventually consecrated in 1382. |
Although the dimensions of the church and cloisters are known, having been copied from another source by the historian John Kirkpatrick in his Religious Houses &c. in Norwich, little is known of the actual layout of the friary. Most of our information comes from artefacts found on necessarily limited archaeological digs or when foundations have been dug for new buildings. In 1904 certain foundations were uncovered, and about 1920 six pieces of window tracery were found and built into a wall at Factory Yard, to be cleared away later when Jarrolds extended their works. Two coffins each containing a skeleton were found in 1958; they probably dated back to the fourteenth century. And in 1960 a Gothic arch, which had been filled in with bricks and incorporated in a later building, was uncovered; this has now been opened out and forms an attractive feature near the entrance to Jarrolds’ works. At about the same time a dilapidated flint wall adjoining the bridge was taken down as not being worth preserving - a modern tablet identified it as having once formed part of an anchorage attached to the friary. The most important surviving feature on the site is a vaulted undercroft of two bays, now adapted by Jarrolds as a small museum of obsolete printing machinery. In 1978 at Jarrolds’ invitation the Norwich Survey team investigated the building, and details of their findings were published in Norfolk Archaeology Volume 37. Its position seems to have been to the north of what was probably the original cloister complex; it may have served as an entrance parlour to the cloister. |
The road north from Whitefriar’s Bridge was formerly called Cowgate. A comparatively narrow thoroughfare, it bent slightly northeastwards before reaching St James’ Church, and thence by a sharp bend to the west entering Magdalen Street. On the right, before reaching Barrack Street, was a hotch-potch of houses and industrial buildings, while the left-hand side was flanked largely by early nineteenth century red-brick three-storeyed tenements. One notable exception, however, was the timber-framed cement-rendered Fastolff House. This faced St James’ churchyard, forming Nos 104-108 Cowgate, but was condemned in 1936 by its inclusion in a local clearance area. It had a very striking appearance with its two prominent gables, and with the front overhang supported by two posts. The northern gable was carried up an extra storey and had small dormers on either side for lighting the attic. Local antiquaries had no doubt that it was of fifteenth century origin and could be identified as Sir John Fastolff’s city house (Sir John owned Caister Castle and died in 1450). The historian Francis Blomefield had this to say: |
During the nineteenth century it became the Ship inn, the name being perpetuated in the adjoining yard. Now the whole scene has changed. Cowgate from the bridge to the giant roundabout linking Barrack Street with St Crispin’s (inner link) Road has been straightened and widened to more than double its former width and has been renamed Whitefriars. Text and photographs Copyright © G.A.F.Plunkett 2004 |
Whitefriars Bridge is
one of several in Norwich rebuilt during the twentieth
century. Formerly known as St Martin’s bridge, it is
first mentioned in a grant made by King Henry I to Bishop
Herbert de Losinga shortly after 1100. In 1290 it was
washed away by a great flood, and there are records of it
having to be rebuilt at different times throughout the
centuries. The earlier ones would have been wooden
constructions; during Kett’s rebellion, we are told,
the bridge was deliberately demolished with the dual
purpose of impeding the rebels and using its timbers to
strengthen the nearby city gates.
Despite the founder’s decree that
the Carmelites were to dwell there forever, King Henry
VIII had other ideas; the friary was dissolved in 1542,
and the site was granted to Richard Andrews and Leonard
Chamberlayn. Shortly afterwards the land was divided up
into many different ownerships.
Another important relic, not in its
original position, is what has become known as the
Arminghall arch. This elaborately carved
fourteenth-century archway has had a series of moves
since it was taken down at the Dissolution and re-erected
at Arminghall Old Hall, just a few miles south of the
city. There it remained until the hall was demolished;
the late Russell Colman then acquired it and transferred
it to his grounds at Crown Point. From there it has
recently been taken to be installed in the new
Magistrates Court, just across the bridge from its
original position. Now protected from the weather, it
should survive for many years to come.