NORWICH is synonymous with Norwich Union Insurance.
Building
work on Surrey House, The Norwich Union (now Aviva) headquarters in Surrey
Street in Norwich, commenced in 1900 and the fine Palladian style building
opened for business in 1904 having been built to fulfil a role to house a
successful insurance company. The interior of this building in English
Renaissance style is astonishing, it is almost impossible to prepare yourself
for your first sight of this incredible spectacle. The entrance hall is the
perfectly conceived introduction to what lies ahead, with its domed ceiling and
marbled columns said to be the finest of their kind in the world.
It
was the architect George Skipper, commissioned to produce a splendid yet
functional office space, who persuaded the directors to use marble throughout
and indeed for the 40 columns in the main hall. Skipper also incorporated the
themes of insurance, protection and wellbeing in his design and his aim was to
reassure policyholders, when they entered the building to pay their insurance
premiums, of the Society’s strength and prosperity. The spectacular domed
ceiling is eleven metres in diameter.
A marvel of ingenuity at the turn of the century was the stylish air
conditioning fountain, decorated with a host of symbols, which wafted warm air
in the winter and cool fresh air in the summer. Whilst public access is
restricted to the main hall, visitors can see the magnificent staircase with
its six different types of marble, stained glass window and richly painted
ceiling. The upper rooms are equally opulent.
The
building is still functional but the original Edwardian desks have been
replaced by modern furniture.
The
variety of marble types used in the Marble Hall lend an air of grandeur to this
magnificent structure. Much of the stone was shipped from Italy and Greece, and
the work was carried out by two teams of Italian stone masons.
Surrey
House is certainly unusual amongst commercial offices and is one of the finest
and most beautiful of non-ecclesiastical buildings.
GREAT YARMOUTH is the premier seaside resort in Norfolk
and very convenient for the famous 'Broads'.
Great Yarmouth is also a well known fishing resort and the fine Fishermen's Hospital almshouses was built by the Corporation in 1702.
The church of St Nicholas is said to be the largest parish church in England
and was restored in 1959 after being damaged in WW2.
The Norfolk Broads are a series of inland waterways and shallow freshwater lakes north east of Norwich.
Numbering more than 30 lakes and some 200 miles of navigable waterways ,unique in Britain, they were formed in medieval times as a result
of peat digging.
The Abbey Church of St Mary and St Thomas at WYMONDHAM
(pronounced Windham )
south west of Norwich, was
the scene of unseemly controversy for many years in the 14th
century. It seems that there was a
dispute between the monks and the parishioners which resulted in the monks
dividing the church by blocking the central arch with an octagonal tower (now
the east end of the church) and hanging their bells there. In the meantime the parishioners built a
second tower at the west end of the church for their bells, which was going to
be bigger and better, but when they had reached a height of 143 feet, the two
groups were reconciled and things were left at that. And so it is today.
The parish church of St Mary at CRANWICH is
also worth close inspection. This
unusual church has a thatched roof and a pre-conquest round tower, the base of
which is as early as 700AD, although the site is almost certainly
pre-Christian. The graveyard is
circular, a feature although now unknown, is very rare.
A 15th century lectern in the church of St
John The Evangelist at OXBOROUGH is one of some fifty 'Peter’s
Pence Lectern’s' in the country. They were so called because they were used to
collect a tax of one penny per household imposed by King Offa in AD787. The money, which was sent to Rome, was put in
a slot in the beak and recovered from a second slot in the tail.
This partly ruined church, is notable for its fine 16th century terra cotta work.
The church of St Peter and St Paul at SWAFFHAM
owes much to the good fortune of local man John Chapman, known as The Swaffham Pedlar. Back in the 15th century the old church had
partially collapsed and it seemed that the only way to rescue the building from
dereliction was by means of a burdensome tax on the parishioners, but Chapman,
a humble pedlar, was able to provide means to build a new north aisle and the
tall steeple.
Legend has it that Chapman had a dream on three successive
nights that if he went onto London Bridge he would hear something to his
advantage. Apparently he made the long
journey on foot accompanied by his faithful dog. He stood on London Bridge for many hours
without result and just as he was about to leave he was approached by a man who
asked him what he was doing. Chapman
told the man about his dreams, without mentioning his name or where he was
from. The man said that he had also had
a similar dream that if he went to a place called Swaffham he would find a tree
in the garden of a man called Chapman under which was buried a pot of
gold. Chapman said nothing but quickly
returned home and to his amazement he found a large pot inscribed with strange
words, as described by the stranger. It
was full of gold coins. He kept his
find a secret and put the pot on a shelf amongst other things in his little
shop. Some time later a customer looked
at the pot and asked Chapman if he knew what the inscription on the pot
meant. When the pedlar shook his head
the man told him that it read, “ Under
me lies
another, much richer than I.”
That night Chapman dug deeper and found a second pot
filled with twice as many gold coins as the first one.
To discover that there are two churches in the churchyard
at REEPHAM is unusual, yet in the past there were three churches in that one
churchyard. The present day church of St
Mary stands end to end with St Michael’s church which is now used as a sunday
school and for other parish functions, whilst the scant remains of All Saints
church, destroyed by fire in 1543, stands alongside.
Why three churches?
Local legend says that three sisters, who are depicted on the village
sign, each had their own church. This
may be true but the fact is that three parish boundaries meet in the
churchyard.
St Mary and St Michael.
All Saints is just a ruin.
The church of St Nicholas at Blakeney on the north coast has a curious small tower at the
opposite end to the huge main tower which
was added in the 15th century, probably to contain steps up
to a chamber over the chancel. However,
local tradition says that it was built as a beacon
to warn shipping passing
nearby.
In 2011 builder Nick
Willan paid more than £100,000 at auction for a redundant Victorian toilet
block on the sea front at SHERINGHAM, a popular resort on the north Norfolk coast. Situated at the foot of the
cliff over the promenade alongside the beach, the builder intends to convert
the substantial building into a beach house for the use of his family.
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