Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
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St Andrew's Parish
During the 13th century, Norwich was divided into four districts known as leets. One of these was the Westwick or Wymer leet. Two centuries later it had become known as the Great Wymer Ward and later still is referred to as the Long Ward of Wymer. The name `Westwick' is probably derived from an 8th century term meaning `western settlement' or `western port' ( a `wic' was usually a settlement that had river access to the sea, thus `north wic', the dominant settlement (Over-the-Water) became Norwich). View The Four Leets and eleven sub-divisions of Norwich, 1288AD View The Four Great Wards and twelve small wards of Norwich, 1403 to 1835AD The Westwick area is one of the earliest settled parts of Norwich. Trade has been a major factor in its success and it has been home to shops, pubs, breweries, a shoemaker, a bailiff, weavers, dyers, calendrers (hot pressers), drapers and merchants (see also Trade and Industry). In 1308, part of Westwick Street was known as Lesestere Row (Dyer's Row) and was home to cloth-makers. A Norwich Survey team excavation in 1972 uncovered a 15th century dye-works including furnaces for use with dyeing vats. Many finds were excavated that were associated with the cloth-making trade of the Medieval Ages. It is believed that the dye-works probably belonged to Reginald Cobb who in 1384 bequeathed to his wife "the capital messuage with appurtances in which I now live with . . . [and] all other vessels, tools for cloth-making, goods and chattels." One writer of a column in The Norfolk Chronicle from 1913 provides an evocative picture of life in Norwich during the 1860's: "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 . . . " By 1896, congestion along Westwick Street was such that the City Corporation were forced to widen it. All the buildings along the south side of the street between St. Margaret's Church and Charing Cross were demolished with the exception of the graveyard of St. Lawrence's which was shortened. It was at around this time that the other end of St. Andrew's was knocked through to make a road connection to Bank Plain for the coming of the trams (see St. Andrew's Street for more on this). |
