Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
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Personal Recollections
The following are from the personal collections of a man writing for The Norfolk Chronicle in 1913, detailing life in Norwich as he remembered it fifty years previously. "All the streets, as far as I remember, were paved with cobblestones, and some were extraordinarily narrow. There were no public conveyances of any kind, except "flies", as cabs were called then. Four-horse coaches ran from the Norfolk Hotel. . . and several other inns and hotels. Quite a number of shops were still lighted only by candles, and many streets had no lamps of any kind. London Street consisted only of small, low shops . . . " "The first entertainment I ever went to was what were styled then "Dissolving Views," or pictures thrown on a sheet by a magic lantern. This one was called "A Voyage Round the World," and as each view appeared a gentleman gave a more or less intelligent description of it. Like most entertainments of the kind, it was held in the old Victoria hall, now the De Luxe Picture Palace, in St. Andrew's. The only music provided was a piano, and it was arranged that everything should be over by ten." "As a small boy, I was taken to see someone's - I think it was Frith's - great picture, entitled "Drink," which was exhibited at the Victoria hall. A man lectured on the vice of drunkeness, which seemed hardly necessary to children of seven or eight, but as we left the hall, we saw a drunken man, staggering along, and that certainly impressed me quite as much as the picture." "But the greatest performance of all that year was thus announced:- "Mr. Charles Dickens will read in St. Andrew's hall on Tuesday evening, October 11th, 1859, `A Christmas Carol,' `The Trial from Pickwick,' The Story of Little Dombey and Mrs. Gamp.' Stalls 4s., side aisles 2s., orchestra 1s." I was too young to go myself; but what a delightful treat it must have been for those who were old enough to appreciate it!" |
