Norwich, Elm Hill

Picture Copyright www.tournorfolk.co.uk

Outside the Erpingham Gate of Norwich Cathedral is Tombland, with Wensum Street going to the left of the Maids Head Inn towards the river. 

Elm Hill, one of the most picturesque streets in Norwich, runs from Wensum Street to Princes Street at a point by St. Peter Hungate church and Blackfriars (Princes Street then leads back to Tombland and the Cathedral). 

Within this triangle is a wealth of interest and history.  If starting out for Elm Hill from the Cathedral, you may wish to commence by walking through Tombland Alley, the entrance to which, directly opposite the Erpingham Gate, is over-arched by a now crooked timber-framed building, a house built by Augustine Steward (Mayor of Norwich in 1534,1546 and 1556) and preserved by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust in 1924.

On turning into Elm Hill by St. Peter Hungate, after a few yards, on the right, is The Briton’s Arms which housed a religious community of women and is the only building on Elm Hill to have come through a great fire of 1507, which burned for four days. 
The houses were rebuilt soon after, but by the nineteenth century they had become slums and were in danger of demolition.  The Norwich Society was formed in the 1920s and was instrumental in ensuring their restoration.

Moving on is a delightful triangular area, with Wagon and Horses Lane going down on the right. 
Continuing on Elm Hill, on the left at nos 22-24 is The Strangers Club, a building dating from the early sixteenth century and understood to have belonged to the Paston family.  The River Wensum flows some yards behind the houses on this side.

On the right, next to Norris Court Gardens, at nos.41-43, is Pettus House (41-43), restored in 1948-49. It was, as Pevsner writes: “…..a town house of the Pastons, the original having been a large courtyard house extending over all of Wrights Court to the SE of St. Simon and St. Jude. The present house was rebuilt by Augustine Steward after the 1507 fire.”

The Church of St. Simon and St. Jude is now closed, but contains monuments to the Pettus family including Thomas Pettus, Mayor in 1590, and Sir John Pettus, Mayor in 1608. This church is on the corner of Elm Hill and Wensum Street.