Norwich city walks | thatched houses

Norwich City Walks
| Thatched Houses
Distance
| 5.25 km/3.25 miles
Duration
| 1.5 hours
Start & Finish
| Norwich Market

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This circular walk begins and ends at Norwich Market. It’s on the longer side at 3.25 miles (5.25 km), so at a leisurely pace it could take about an hour and a half, not counting any distractions you may encounter along the way such as lunch at the market, a coffee from The Merchant’s House, a pint at the Adam & Eve, or visits to the many locally owned shops and restaurants.

Because the 6 thatched houses are spread quite widely over the city and aren’t always in the most obvious locations, there will be some stretches which are a little less exciting. On a couple of occasions I have favored the nicest walk over the shortest route. If you are keen to go the fastest way from A to B or you just want to visit them individually without completing the entire walk, you can use your mobile device and put in the addresses below for each house.

The Thatched Cottage
| St Swithins Alley, NR2 4TX
Pykerell’s House
| 1 Rosemary Lane, NR3 3AF
The Hermitage
| 52-54 Bishopgate, NR1 4AA
Britons Arms
| 9 Elm Hill, NR3 1HN
Weaver’s Cottage
| 2-4 Lion and Castle Yard, NR1 3JT
Warings Lifestore
| 20 Westlegate, NR1 3LR

Thatch in Norwich

Urban fires were not uncommon in medieval Europe. Building materials such as wood, wattle and daub, and thatch needed little encouragement to ignite and once they did, fire spread rapidly often affecting large sections of a city.

Norwich, the largest city outside London in the Middle Ages, was just one of many which suffered this fate. In a barrage of 3 fires from 1505 to 1507 more than 1000 buildings were destroyed (over half the city).

In the years that followed, thatch was forbidden in Norwich and slowly the urban roofscape changed from Broadland reed to pantile.

Today only 6 thatched houses remain in Norwich City Centre. This walk will take you by each of them and give you a glimpse of their past.

Where to start

Begin at Norwich Market near the chequered façade of the Guildhall. From this vantage point you can take in the bustling market which has been at this site since the Normans arrived nearly 1000 years ago. Make your way up Gaol Hill and turn right onto Lower Goat Lane. As a previous goat owner myself, I’ve always been fond of this street. In that regard I may be biased, but it is also the home to some lovely local shops including Biddy’s Tea Room, Elm, and Grosvenor Fish Bar which are all well worth a look around.

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When the lane opens up onto a small green space, take the pedestrian foot path diagonally past St Gregory’s Antiques and Collectables. When you reach St Benedict’s Street, turn left. This street has changed dramatically since the covid pandemic. Traffic has been redirected and permission for outdoor seating has been granted to a number of cafés, pubs and restaurants. Perhaps some disapprove, but I quite like the shift to outdoor dining which is reminiscent of my European holidays of the past. Many highly regarded restaurants can be found here including Benedicts, Farmyard, and Haggle as well as my more humble favorite The Bicycle Shop.

No. 1 Thatched Cottage

To find the first thatched house, turn right just after the Norwich Arts Centre, directly opposite Ten Bell Lane. Curve behind the church and Thatched Cottage, formerly the Hampshire Hog, will appear. Though it looks like a quaint, cheerful cottage, it wasn’t always. It had a brief stint as a public house in the 19^th century and was the site of a long, and probably quite brutal, bare knuckles fight between the licensee and Jem Mace, an English boxing champion now referred to as the father of modern boxing. In 1912 it ceased to be a pub and fell into disrepair until the Norwich Preservation Trust acquired it in 1971.

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No. 2 Pykerell’s House

Carry on beyond Thatched Cottage. Turn right up Westwick Street then left on Coslany Street and over St Miles Bridge.

A little farther ahead turn right on Colegate in front of St Miles Coslany, a flint church with what Pevsner refers to as “the most enthusiastic display of flushwork”. These flint and stone designs are some of the finest in Europe. Find your way to the back of the church, taking St Miles Alley up to a small set of stairs. At the top of the stairs you’ll see a road sign which reads Rosemary Lane. From here you should be able to see Pykerell’s House, one of the oldest inhabited houses in Norwich.

This 15^th century house was the home of Thomas Pykerell, wool merchant and three-times mayor of Norwich, and as such was rather grand. For a short while in the latter half of the 19^th century it was known as Rosemary Tavern before a series of unfortunate events put it in danger of demolition.

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In 1931 it was slated to be torn down along with other nearby buildings as a result of the government’s “slum clearance scheme”. When the Norwich Archaeological Trust bought the house and restored it in 1931 it was saved just in time to be the victim of an incendiary bomb in 1942. The thatch and nearly all the interior was destroyed in the fire that ensued – few of the beams were salvageable.  Fortunately, funds were acquired over the next 6 years and it was sympathetically restored to its former thatched (and beamy) glory.

Turn right on St Mary’s Plain, crossing over Duke Street to walk along Muspole Street. This is the so-called Shoe Quarter of Norwich and is filled with the remnants of Norwich’s industrial past.

When you come to the end of Muspole Street, turn left onto Colegate. The fires of the early 1500s raged even on the north side of the river. It’s evident on Colegate that many of the Medieval and Tudor houses were destroyed, making room for Elizabethan, Georgian, and Victorian buildings. The range of architecture seen on this one street creates a patchwork effect which is at the same time interesting and strange. A few notable building are Bacon’s house (No. 31-33) and The Octagon Chapel, but most importantly, my favorite curry house Merchants of Spice.

At the end of Colegate, turn right onto Fye Bridge Street. From the middle of the bridge you’ll see one of the most iconic views of Norwich – the colorful Quayside houses in front of Norwich Cathedral spire. Turn left onto Quayside to walk along the river keeping an eye out for the kingfishers that nest near here. When you reach Whitefriars Bridge turn right towards the spire.

Cross the street in front of Wig & Pen and turn left to take St Martin-At-Palace Plain. Adam & Eve, the oldest pub in Norwich, will soon come into view. Stop for a mid-walk shandy if the weather’s nice before continuing on Bishopgate.

This section of the walk is dominated by the wall that encircles the Cathedral. It’s made mostly of flint rubble with the earliest sections dating back to the late 11^th century, as early as the Cathedral itself. Bishopgate winds around here without much signage, but keep to what appears to be the main road and before long the Great Hospital (founded in 1249) will open up to your left.

No. 3 The Hermitage

Keep glancing over your shoulder for splendid views of the Cathedral’s flying buttresses. If you can’t see it here, don’t worry, you’ll have another look soon when walking along the river. Just ahead on your right, built into the Cathedral wall, is the next thatched building The Hermitage.

Its rather intriguing name made me hopeful that it had a story to match. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much at all about The Hermitage’s past. (If you know anything about The Hermitage, please share!) The house itself seems to have undergone phases of construction in the 15^th, 17^th and 19^th century with its most recent restoration occurring in 1966 which exposed the beams.

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Thatch often conjures up images of pillow-y cottages in the countryside with soft, rounded edges spilling over thick stone walls. While that is rather dreamy, it’s not an accurate representation of the thatch in Norfolk. The reeds from the nearby marshy estuaries provide a more robust material for thatching which lasts nearly three times as long as the straw alternative. These reeds, being the stiffest of thatch material, give the roof cleaner lines and a more angular appearance which you can see quite clearly on the dormer gables of The Hermitage.

Before Bishopgate Bridge, turn right, following the footpath along the river until you reach Pull’s Ferry – another Norwich icon. Turn right to take Ferry Lane straight through to the Cathedral Close. In a quarter of a mile, you’ll see one of the earliest examples of flushwork, Ethelbert Gate.

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Walk through the gate into Tombland where you’ll find a number of restaurants making good use of the new outdoor seating. Walk to the right toward the opposite end of Tombland. Go downhill keeping the Maid’s Head Hotel to your right before turning left onto Elm Hill.

No. 4 Britons Arms

Elm Hill is the best preserved Tudor street in the country with timber framed houses lining the flint cobblestone lane. At the top of the hill sits Britons Arms, often said to be the only building on Elm Hill to survive the fires of 1507 (though I have been told that the building which now houses the jewelers Stoned & Hammered also survived).

Britons Arms has had many names and many inhabitants in its 600 years. As Ye Goddes House (1347) it was used by St Peter Hungate as a beguinage – a fancy French term meaning a home for religious women. After its religious associations ceased, the building had a variety of inhabitants and, like many in Norwich, was involved in the wool trade.

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Some of the more interesting tenants, though, were barber surgeons. I was unfamiliar with this stage in the development of the modern day surgeon until I moved to England, worked as a theatre nurse, and had to call all the surgeons Mister instead of Doctor. A couple of medical history books later and a visit to The Old Operating Theatre in London got me up to speed. In brief summary, barber surgeons were jacks of all trades who could cut your hair and give you a clean shave before extracting gallstones, lancing abscesses or setting fractures. A one stop shop.

It wasn’t until 1760 that Britons Arms got into the hospitality trade as The Kings Arms Ale House. Its current name has been in use since 1845 and after World War II, Britons Arms has traded as a coffee house and restaurant.

The pandemic has unfortunately caused its permanent closure and its future is rather uncertain. The owners, Norwich City Council, leased the property to The Norwich Preservation Trust from 2011 to 2032 after their attempt to auction the property met community pushback. I fear only time will tell what this beloved thatched house at the top of Elm Hill will become.

Turn left behind Britons Arms and right onto Princes Street toward St Andrew’s Brew House. When you reach the zebra crossing turn left to go up St Andrews Hill. At the top, turn left in front of The Book Hive and immediately right up to Castle Meadow. Cross the street and turn left keeping close to the Castle motte (the hill upon which the castle stands). Walk around the base of the motte and just before the entrance to the underground parking there is a stone archway which leads to the Castle Gardens. Take this path.

This hidden greenspace in the city centre has many levels and offers some lovely views of the city skyline. It’s also home to a bonus thatched building which is, I believe, used as a maintenance shed.

No. 5 Weaver’s Cottage

Keep to the main path, go under the bridge, and you’ll exit onto Castle Meadow. Turn left. After passing the Bell Hotel and Santander turn left onto Timber Hill. Keep an eye out for an alleyway on the right called Castle & Lion Yard. It’s easy to miss – look for it at the top just before the road curves to the left. There’s not much to see this way other than the thatched Weaver’s Cottage which was saved by the Norwich Preservation Trust in 1993. This cottage, as the name suggests, housed weavers and their looms that they used to create the textiles which put Norwich on the map.

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The cloth trade caused an economic boom and made Norwich into the largest city outside of London. Though other cities have now surpassed it in size, Norwich still benefits from the wealth it built through the medieval cloth trade, so it feels fitting for this cottage, and the story of those who lived here, to be preserved.

No. 6 Warings Lifestore

Keep on in the same direction to take the stairs down to Westlegate. You will come out by Warings Lifestore, the final thatched house of the walk.

This house seems to have the most disreputable history of all the six. Through the 19^th century it was a pub called The Light Horseman, or more comically, The Barking Dicky. It comes up in a few historical records which tell tales of its controversial dealings. It seems those in charge of the Barking Dicky were guilty of a range of offences from “having some bad girls and men drinking in the house at ten minutes to eleven on a Sunday night” to being “devoted to immoral purposes”. One of the magistrates of the time even went so far as to refuse to sign a licence to “a house that had been proved to be a common brothel”.

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In more recent history the house has had more discerning occupants. It was a greengrocer, then a bank for a while in the 1960s, and now it’s a café and homewares store – the largest stockist of Farrow and Ball paint in Norwich.

To get back to Norwich Market where we began our walk, go downhill on Westlegate, cross St Stephen’s Street onto Rampant Horse Street and turn right at Brigg Street.

*Photos belonging to George Plunkett are used with permission. See his collection here.

Where to next?

Fine City Walks: The Cathedral Quarter and The Wensum

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