Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
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St Andrew's Street
Click here to see a short video of the street (425kb). Requires RealPlayer to view. 
The earliest known road along the area of modern-day St. Andrew's Street was that known as Holme Street. This was the probable Roman road that ran from Brundall and Caistor St. Edmund roman town. Although it cut roughly through what is now St. Andrew's Street, there has never been any evidence that the Roman's actually settled there at the time.
When the Romans left Britain in the fourth century AD, many of the roads they built fell into disuse or disrepair. Some 1,200 years were to pass before anyone tried to build another national road system. A Highway Act in 1555 set out to improve the state of the country's travel routes. However, it was not until about 1700 that things really improved. Turnpike Trusts were set up and gradually a system of toll roads came into being, the taxation collected being used to maintain the routes. Norfolk was slow to start but by the late 1700's, many Turnpikes existed forming the basis of the modern road network. By 1770, a road existed that ran from Norwich through to Dereham and Swaffham. Generally metalled with rammed gravel and stone, the Norwich end of the turnpike again followed roughly the route that is now St. Andrew's Street. By 1783, a stretch of road appeared on a contemporary map as Wymer Street.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the street was known as St. Andrew's Broad Street. In more recent times, the "Broad" part has been dropped. Ironically, since extensive road-widening schemes across the city in 1966, the street is broader now than it has ever been. Up until 1899, St. Andrew's Street came to an end where it joined up with the Plain upon which St. Andrew's and Blackfriars Hall now stands. To reach Bank Plain, one would have to have made a sharp right at the junction of Princes Street, then another sharp right down Redwell Street. In 1899, the city's tram system necessitated the extension of St. Andrew's Street creating a direct link with Bank Plain. Several properties had to be demolished including the south wing of Garsett House which now houses the Norwich and Norfolk Archaeological Society and the Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 
Garsett House (see photograph) dates back to 1589 and is also known as Armada House. This is founded upon a local tradition which says that timbers used in the construction of the building were salvaged from the ill-fated Spanish Armada off the Norfolk coast. On the south wall of the building is a plaster relief commemorating the event.
In "English Heritage: Norwich", author Brian Ayers tells us
"16th century buildings were sometimes adorned with carved wooden brackets as with the . . . sixteenth century example still in place on Garsett House". Standing just off St. Andrew's Street is the General Post Office Museum. This distinctive red brick building was originally a 15th century timber-framed house built over an undercroft (arched vault). It is a two-storey building which now houses a Post Office and telecoms museum (situated as it is within the grounds of the old telephone exchange). On the corner of St Andrew's Street and St John Maddermarket today stand a newsagent and a pub, St Andrew's Tavern. In times past this has been home to various pubs including Ye Old Shrub House, the Shrub House, Blueberries, and a local business, Rumsey Wells (see also Trade and Industry). |
