Free the Norwich 12!

After a rainy night (great sleeping) we met for breakfast. I went down early to post yesterday’s blog – wifi only in the parlor – then a full English breakfast in a charmingly restored area of the Maids Head. We met our guide for the day at the old city Guildhall of Norwich – the “city hall” of the medieval city. Michael Loveday, Chief Executive of HEART (Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust) and a mad Trotskyite, gave us a powerpoint presentation on the creation of HEART and the way it has revitalized Norwich using a unique branding and support of heritage sites.

What followed was truly an amazing exploration of the city of Norwich. Our walking tour encompassed 9 of the 12 Norwich heritage “showcase” sites (we will see two more, the Great Hospital and Norwich Castle over the next couple of days). Norwich was spared much of the modernization that overtook other parts of England, and thus has a great deal of its early medieval fabric intact. It is the largest walled center with the most complete medieval street pattern in England, and has over 1500 listed sites. Largely through Michael’s efforts – with the support of the community – this heritage is being capitalized upon to support regeneration of the economic life of the city.

In addition to the Norwich 12, they have also created Norwich Lanes, a way to identify the twisting, meandering shopping lanes in the oldest part of town. Each lane has a stanchion at the beginning and end with a bronze topper – a goat’s head for Goat Lane, etc. They also have sturdy but attractive signage describing the history of the lane and the merchants who had been there or the city activity. (When we get back, I will post full information about each of the 12 and photos. In the meantime check out their website at http://www.heritagecity.org/.

England is celebrating Black History Month, and as in London the streets are festooned with banners. We were fortunate to catch the end of the well-received Sugar and Slavery exhibit at the Docklands Museum in London, and in Norwich we visited the street where the famous black circus impresario Pablo Fanque was born and lived (and lives on in the Beatles song “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” – go dig out your old Sgt. Pepper album and play it (not backwards!). Audrey sat next to Vanessa Trevelyan, President of the British Museums Association and had an earnest conversation about the lack of involvement of minorities in the museum community in England and how they are trying to encourage museums as a career. Evidently parents consider museum careers as low status, and urge their children to be doctors or lawyers. Go figure.

Purely to be hospitable, we dragged Michael into a pub – The Belgian Monk – for a couple of pints to say thank you for walking our feet off. The Ter Dolen was a bit flowery for my taste, Tracy love her Maes, but the de Konnick was spot on!

Back to the hotel to change for dinner. We were given a tour of the original buildings of the Great Hospital, which was founded in 1249 and rebuilt in the 14th century as a home for “decrepit old priests”. It has served as a home for the needy aged ever since. We were treated to a formal dinner in the Birbeck Hall of smoked haddock and Roast Norfolk partridge with treacle tart for dessert. Our dinner companions were representatives of the Norwich 12, and so we were able to learn more about their sites and share information about our sites in Virginia. We were reunited as well with Jill Napier and Saul Penfold who had been part of the original group of 11 British museum colleagues visiting us in Williamsburg in March of 2007 – it was so wonderful to see both of them again (and of course Bill Seaman was there also – seemed like old times!)

At the end of the evening, Mike led us through the winding narrow streets to deliver us safely back to the Maid’s Head Hotel, where we hit the sack – thoroughly exhausted (and thoroughly gratified!)