Rise and Progress of the City.
In tracing the rise and progress of the city, it is necessary to inquire respecting the physical condition of the district around it at an early period. Before the dawn of authentic history, it is in vain to expect full information on this point; but the natural changes that have taken place may be traced with tolerable clearness. Geologists inform us that the whole area of Norfolk, including Norwich, was in remote ages under the sea; that by the slow accumulation of alluvial matter islands were formed in this estuary; and that the waters were divided into several channels.
We may speculate as to the causes of these changes of the level of land and water, but we cannot doubt the fact of such changes having taken place. When or why the great body of waters retired to its great reservoir in the bed of the ocean is unknown; but whatever the causes, it is certain that between the first and the eleventh century the waters did gradually recede till the river assumed a narrower appearance. The higher part of the city from Ber Street up to Lakenham was probably, 2000 years ago, like an island surrounded by water flowing up the valley of the Taas on that side, and over the valley of the Wensum on the other side.
The existence of Norwich as a city during the Roman period from B.C. 50 till A.D. 400 or 500 is very doubtful. Camden says that its name occurs nowhere till the Danish wars. If it did exist, it was only a fishing station, for then a broad arm of the sea flowed up the valley of the Yare, and covered a great part of the north side of the present city. Indeed, for centuries after the Christian era this arm of the sea may have flowed over the greater part of the ground on which the north side of the city now stands. In the course of time, however, the arm of the sea gradually silted up and left only the present narrow river Wensum flowing into the Yare.
Tradition has handed down this couplet:
“Caister was a city when Norwich was none,
And Norwich was built of Caister stone.”
There is, however, no evidence that Caister was ever more than a village on the banks of the Taas, where the Romans built a camp to overawe the neighbourhood; while all the old Roman roads have always radiated from Norwich, proving that it was a place of importance in the Roman period. The Iceni called it Caer Gwent, altered by the Romans into Venta, so that it was the Venta Icenorum of the Romans, who probably threw up the mound on which a castle was afterwards built, in the Anglo-Saxon period.
Norwich very likely took its rise after the departure of the Romans, about A.D. 418, on account of the distracted state of the empire. Then, the camp or station at Caister being almost deserted, the few remaining Romans joined with the natives, and they became one people; and the situation of Norwich being thought preferable to that of Caister, many retired hither for the facility of fishing and the easier communication with the country. Caister, however, though almost deserted, kept up some reputation, till the river becoming so shallow, cut off all intercourse with it by water and reduced it to a place of no importance.
After the departure of the Romans, the Angles from the opposite coast made themselves masters of this part of the island, and to them is chiefly owing the further progress of the city and its present name. “Northwic” signifies a northern station on a winding river, and may have been so called because of its being situated north of the ancient station at Caister.
Norwich Castle was probably built in the reign of Uffa, the first king of the East Angles, soon after the year 575. About 642 it became a royal castle, and one of the seats of Anna, king of the East Angles, whose daughter Ethelfred, on her marriage with Tombert, a nobleman or prince of the Girvii (a people inhabiting the fenny parts of Norfolk), had this Castle, with the lands belonging to it, given her by her father. About 677, this Tombert and his wife granted to the monastery of Ely, which they had founded, certain lands held of Norwich Castle, by Castle guard, to which service they must have been liable before the grant, for, by the laws of the Angles, lands granted to the church were not liable to secular service, unless they were at first subject thereto whilst in secular hands, which proves that this was a Royal Castle in the time of King Anna.
The Danes soon came over in such large numbers and so frequently, that they at last got possession of the whole of East Anglia, and became the parent-stock of the inhabitants of parts of Norfolk and Suffolk. In 1003, Sweyn or Swaine, King of Denmark, came over with his forces and, in revenge for the massacre of the Danes in the previous year, burnt Norwich and its Castle, as well as many other places. They afterwards rebuilt the city and castle, and came hither in such large numbers, that Norwich became a Danish city, with a Danish Castle, about 1011. After the restoration of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty, the city entered on a new career of prosperity, and according to the Domesday Book of Edward the Confessor, it contained 25 churches, and 1320 burgesses, besides the serfs or labourers. It was still the capital of East Anglia, with a few hundred houses, but the greater part of the area round the Castle presented only marshes and green fields. Two broad arms of the sea still flowed up the valleys on each side of the city. The whole district all around consisted of marsh, and moor, and woods, and yet uncultivated land.
In 1094, Herbert de Losinga, then Bishop of Thetford, removed the See hither, and began to build the Cathedral, from which time the city increased yearly in wealth and trade. Domesday Book (1086) contains an account of all the lands and estates in England, and also of all the towns. Norwich was then next in size to York, and contained 738 families. Thetford had at the same time 720 burgesses, and 224 houses empty. Thetford, therefore, was decaying and Norwich was rising. In 1377, a census was taken of several great towns in England, and Norwich was found to contain 5300 people, for a migration hither of Flemings and Walloons, who introduced the manufacture of woollen and worstead fabrics, had increased the population. In 1575, the muster roll of men delivered to the government capable of bearing arms contained 2120 names, which would be the proportion for 15,000 people. The population in 1693 amounted to 28,881 inhabitants. In 1752 it had increased to 36,241, and in 1786 to 40,051. In 1801 it had decreased to 36,832. In 1811 the number was 37,256, and during the next ten years so large was the increase that in 1821 the number was 50,288. In 1831, when the census was taken, Norwich contained 61,116; in 1841, 61,796; in 1851, 68,713; in 1861, 74,414.
Notwithstanding the continued succession of wars from the revolution in 1688 to the conclusion of the peace in 1763, the city continued to prosper, and its trade had become very great, extending all over Europe, and Norwich manufactures were in demand in every town on the continent. Indeed, the period of war, from 1743 to 1763, was the most prosperous era in Norwich history. The prosperity continued till the disputes arose between the government and the North American colonies, which commenced in 1765 and became serious in 1774, and were not terminated till 1783, when the independence of the United States was acknowledged. During this period, in fact, the trade of the place was so good, that great numbers of people came from the surrounding villages and obtained employment in the factories. After the passing of the paving act in 1806, the new paving of the city commenced, and proceeded very slowly. This necessary work was interrupted at intervals from the want of money, and the Commissioners got deep in debt. In forty years they spent £300,000, and left Norwich the worst paved town in England. The drainage was very defective, and the hamlets were not drained at all. The supply of water was altogether insufficient, and in the hamlets was obtained from wells. The Board of Health was established in 1851, under the powers of the Public Health Acts, and since then its provisions have been carried out. The sanitary condition of Norwich has subsequently greatly improved and the rate of mortality decreased, owing to the wise and judicious measures which have been adopted of late years. A fuller description of “the Ancient City” will be found under the head of “Norwich Antiquities.”
The Modern City.
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