The ‘Sanctuary Map’, 1541

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service

This map was intended to show places of sanctuary in the City, and was drawn up on government orders. It is incomplete, showing only six places of worship and the cathedral. Notice the city walls, gates and named bridges, and the guildhall and pillory. The map is possibly the ‘Platte’ referred to in the City Chamberlain’s account which described as being corrected by Thomas Boswell, painter, in 1541.

The layout of Tudor Norwich had changed little since medieval times, with the main north-south road lying along Magdalene Street, Fye Bridge, Tombland and Conesford Street (now King Street). The east-west route ran from Bishopgate Bridge through Princes Street, into St Andrews and on to St Benedicts Gate (near modern Grapes Hill junction) The Castle and the Cathedral precincts occupied prime positions, and the large parish churches of St Peter Mancroft, St Giles and St Stephen dominated the commercial quarter in the south west with its large Norman market place. The pre-Reformation city also was home to several monastic and other religious precincts such as the Benedictine nunnery at Carrow. The textiles industry was located on both sides of the River Wensum, with dyeing activity in locations such as’ Lyster’s hole’ on the south side.

Around 70 buildings are shown, most built with chimneys. Norwich had suffered disastrous fires in 1507 and the style of buildings shown here may reflect a greater awareness of fire safety.

William Cuningham’s map, 1558

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service


This is the first attempt to show what Norwich actually looked like and is the earliest surviving printed map of an English provincial town. Its population was by this time approaching 15,000. At this time map-makers were beginning to use more sophisticated surveying techniques such as the new art of triangulation. Cuningham tried out the theory using measurements taken on top of the church towers of Norwich, Wymondham and Swardeston and published his ideas in ‘the Cosmographical Glass’.

The view is a semi-aerial, pictorial one and is pretty accurate, but for the omission of the odd church. Notice that the city remained substantially within the walled area except for the lazar houses (hospitals for lepers) two windmills, the Bishop’s Palace at Thorpe and Eaton Wood. The houses are drawn in conventional style for the period but unusual features such as the field around the Chapel in the Field are included. There are a number of large houses shown, and the yards behind them seem to be being developed into poorer quality housing. ‘Norwich over the water’, on the north side of the river Wensum(over to the left) is shown clearly. ‘Stranger’ settlement was concentrated in this area in the later 16th century.

Cuningham is thought to be one of the gentlemen shown in the foreground.

Thomas Cleer’s map, 1696

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service


Cleer’s map shows buildings with street frontages as a single line of housing and standardised plots lying behind. This method obscured the extent to which yards containing housing and workshops lay behind the street frontage. The map is important in revealing street names and also showing areas of open spaces, including grazing lands at Gildencroft and St Margaret’s Close. There was still very little development outside the walls except in the area of Heigham Street gate; Heigham was home to many textiles workers. Cleer’s map also marks Kett’s castle on Mousehold and the New Mills built in 1593.

At this date Norwich was the second largest city in England with a population of around 30,000. From the writings of Celia Fiennes in the 1690 we learn that it was somewhat old-fashioned in its appearance, but brick buildings or facades were beginning to appear: Several of the merchants’ houses in King Street date to this period, as does the Old Meeting House (1693).

Thomas Kirkpatrick’s Vista 1723

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service

A large-scale (2 x 5 feet) vista of Norwich, showing the city from the north-east in the form of an oblique air view. Thomas was the brother of the antiquarian John Kirkpatrick, author of Streets and Lanes of Old Norwich. A key of letters and numbers identifies particular buildings. The vista was drawn from the hill north of Pockthorpe (Barrack Street area) and shows the northern part of the city in some detail. The houses are drawn in a typical Norwich form with two storeys chimneys and dormer windows in the roof. The foreground shows the area outside the walls under cultivation, and also shows lime-burning on the right hand side.

James Corbridge’s map, 1727

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service


This map, drawn at a scale of 17 ½ inches to the mile, reveals valuable detail of named buildings, houses and property owners. It includes detailed drawings of merchant houses, illustrating the considerable wealth and aspirations of the Norwich merchant community of the 18th century. Norwich was by this time a provincial capital to which the local gentry were increasingly drawn for shopping, culture and conviviality as well as a political and judicial hub, and major agricultural market. There was a widening gap between the very wealthy and the poor, with some of the riverside and southern parishes by this date were over-crowded and poverty-stricken.

Samuel King’s map, 1766

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service

Samuel King’s map is at a scale of about 13 ½ inches to one mile. Norwich had a population of just under 40,000. The city was at its most prosperous in terms of the textiles trade, and the new buildings shown in along the edges of this map reflect this. Some of the buildings of the Norwich architect Thomas Ivory are shown. Others bear witness to the flourishing cultural and religious life of the City, including the Octagon Chapel, The Assembly Rooms, the Theatre and merchant housing in Surrey and King Street. There is little information on the industrial scene.

Hochstetter’s map, 1789

Reproduced by kind permission of Norfolk Library and Information Service

Drawn at a scale of 20 inches to one mile, this map is large enough to show the actual rather than standardised layout of buildings. It gives excellent detail on the Market Place and Back of the Inns areas and also shows gardens and trees. It is particularly useful in providing a guide to the streets and lanes north of the River Wensum and gives a list of two dozen public buildings.

Ordnance Survey map, 1:500, surveyed 1883, published 1885

by kind permission of Ordnance Survey

This is an extract from one of a series of large-scale maps produced for all towns over 4000 inhabitants. At a time when English cities were growing quickly, accurate large scale plans were needed to provide public utilities such as gas and sewerage services. Norwich was expanding rapidly outside its walls with the development of villa and terraced housing all around the old city limits. This series of maps provides a wonderful source for social and industrial history showing factories of all types, including hair cloth premises, dyers’ yards etc.

The boundaries and ground-plan of single properties are accurately drawn and the maps are detailed enough to show even individual trees. The streets, lanes, courts and yards are all named. Norwich had become infamous for the overcrowding and substandard housing that had been built up piecemeal behind older and more substantial buildings throughout the city. A few of these can still be seen in Magdalene Street, St Augustine’s and Oak Street, for example.