Medieval Graffiti at Norwich Cathedral

Into the magical surroundings of towering Caen stone piers, lit beautifully in the darkness we slipped through the heavy wooden west doors of Norwich Cathedral to meet Colin Howey. With a cohort of just 12, it was an enormous and special privilege to have the Cathedral to ourselves, after dark.

Colin is part of the Norfolk Medieval Grafitti Survey who are slowly gathering visual data and piecing together fragments of stories about how and why real people used our church spaces so many years ago. The wonderful thing about graffiti is that it was, in the most part, left by regular people like you and I. Standing in front of these little carvings you can get a real insight in to the thoughts and actions of people just like us, from the past. But they also encourage a very personal, imagined relationship between the viewer and the maker and can be very powerful as a result, once you know how to notice them of course.


Lucky for us, Colin knew just where to look and his knowledge, not just about this very specific topic but about the wider medieval church and the goings on in medieval Norwich painted us a very colourful and useful picture for the grafittos that came gleaming out of the hand-crafted stone as he shone his torch to illuminate them. One of the first grafittos we came across, and there is a definite element of precious discovery in graffiti hunting, was a daisy wheel. The making of daisy wheels, Colin believes, was a sacred act of prayer, a bit like the rosary. They appear, he told us, all over East Anglia and their regular occurrence at kneeling height persuades him that they have something to do with personal prayer. They are also very precise, appearing to have been made with some form of compass, not just doodles done quickly in the stone. This careful and thoughtful act only supports his supposition, he said, and we agreed.

We crept around the nave and in to the east end of the church, noting all sorts of script and images on the way, including a short name or word scribed upside down and what looked like musical notation. In the east end, just before we all unwittingly walked past it, Colin pointed out his most important find; the figure of someone resembling a clergyman or saint, a very unusual and unique grafitto he told us. Before we knew it an hour had passed and it was time to leave the enchantment we had all encountered and retreat for a glass of wine and an insight in to some of Colin's other findings around the county at Farmer Browns in Tombland.

It was an amazing evening all round and a great end to 2012 for Secret Norwich. With thanks to the Cathedral Verger for letting us in and to Farmer Browns for having us, and of course to the wonderful Colin Howey for his ragged rambling around so many sights to bring us these findings and his inexhaustible enthusiasm and charm when sharing them.

And thanks to all of you who have supported us since we began in June this year. Your presence helps us survive and support the other projects we do. Secret Norwich will be back in full swing in January for more special and exclusive adventures of the city's fascinating past, after dark. Why not buy our first quarter for Christmas presents!

Suckling and city monuments

The musicians atop Sir John and Martha Suckling's Monument

Rather belatedly, and with our next Secret Norwich: Heritage After Dark Talk imminent (Cathedral graffiti next Thursday 29th Nov), here's the low down on our most excellent October introduction to Suckling and other city monuments by Richard Cocke. 

Now that the nights have firmly drawn in it really was heritage after dark as we entered the chilly nave of St Andrews Church with arcades up-lit beautifully. It was a real privilege to slip through the creaky wooden doors after hours. 

Richard Cocke, retired senior lecturer of art history at UEA and trustee of local charity Sculpture for Norwich, was awaiting us. In the north east chapel of the church we crowded in to admire no less than 3 remarkable monuments. Our focus was on the wonderful two commissioned by Sir John Suckling, whose father was the former inhabitant of Cinema City, or Suckling House, just next door. 

John lies, commemorated in marble and very much alert, looking over the resting body of his first wife, Martha. The work was commissioned while John was married to his second partner and Richard mused about some pangs of guilt he perhaps felt for his deceased-wife. The pair rest on a bed of expensive black marble which in turn is, unbelievably, supported by two small skulls which somehow remain un-crushed by the hefty weight of the enormous monument towering above them. Peak in to the small space the skulls create and an enshrouded figure representing the dead body of Martha is just visible. The tomb does not hold her actual remains, or John's. The monument is inscribed in several different languages, Latin, French, Spanish, English and Italian, showing off the family's international connections and scholarly attributes. It also has some rather lovely iconography: a set of 4 musicians at the top, a rather unusual choice, a bird - probably a dove - flying from its cage, a woodland scene and a sailing ship being tossed by the winds. 

                                 

The ship perhaps alludes to Sir John's trading activities or is a metaphorical vessel for the soul blown by the winds of God to a resting place. The dove flying to freedom is accompanied by the Italian word 'sciolta', meaning free, perhaps also a reference to the freed soul of Martha or at least the family's hopes for the destiny of their mother's spirit. The woodland scene is in-keeping with this story of life and death. It represents living as well as fallen trees which nod to the human cycle of life. 

The monument to the east was also commissioned by Sir John, this time for his parents. It is typical of monuments of its time, and a tad earlier here in the city. A similar one commemorates the Sotherton's in St Johns Maddermarket, just up the road. This one also has some lovely iconography, on the upper level is honeysuckle, used here as a rebus for the family name since it was locally known as 'suckling'. What look like pomegranates, apples and vines weave around the base of 2 skulls, look closely and worm also wriggles form an apple. This is an allegory of life and death, of decomposition following ripeness, similar to the message in the woodland image made later. 

After examining the stones we also heard about the colourful life of Sir John's son who was an entertaining poet and man of court, described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as 

"a poet, playwright, and belletrist, but he was a writer mainly by avocation, and by second nature. He was first and last a wit and a courtier to Charles I, being occupied mainly as a gentleman officer, socio-political observer, gamester, amorist, and marital fortune seeker—often impetuously and not always successfully".

We then moved on to the equally wonderful, this time terracotta tomb in St Geroge's Colegate, a work that should be of national importance. But if you want the full story of these packed and fascinating events, you're going to have to start coming along! If we told you everything, they wouldn't be secret, would they!?

Come to the next...

-Medieval Graffitti by Torch Light, expert Matthew Champion will guide us around our well known Cathedral in a new light, illuminating the marks and statements left by city folk hundreds of years ago. Thurs 29th Nov, Norwich Cathedral, Tombland at 7pm and afterwards for slides and wine at Farmer Browns, Tombland until 9.

Norwich Talks

Off to St Benedicts Street this morning to record the second Norwich Talks episode with Ray, who remembers wandering amid the rubble down there in 1942....coming soon on Future Radio...107.8FM. Listen to last month's episode with 3 year old Issy Lemon.

Celebrating Magdalen Memories

And what a celebration it was, we had about 150 people through the doors of our first ever pop-up museum - The Magdalen Memories Cafe. You flooded in to peruse the old photos of the street, watch videos from the 60s, make your own blue plaques, share your marvelous and fascinating memories of the street, chat to our historians, visit our doll doctors in memory of the old Doll's Hospital, and of course eat cake and warm your souls!

The Doll Doctor at Work

We were flooded with memories about the old Doll Hospital, once at no.62, where the flyover is today:
Judy spent time with our historians on Saturday and we learnt so much about the street through her memories. Among other things, she remembered walking to Magdalen Street from the bus station, a long journey for her little 6 year old legs at the time. Her mum was a dress maker and used to make her dolls' clothes but she had to come and get new hair for her dolls at the hospital, having lovingly combed it all out! She remembers buying an auburn wig with her mum.
Miranda recalled tearfully taking her doll to the hospital having poked her eyes back in to her head! She left her with the kindly doll doctor who fixed her up nicely.
And Marilyn described the inside of the hospital for us, painting a picture of shelves upon shelves of old dolls with name labels on, waiting for their owners to collect them. She remembered the lovely man who ran the shop, he wore a long khaki overall, buttoned through. "He used to take your doll in his arms and say 'Don't worry, I'll look after her'". Marilyn's doll, she told us, was a 'bride doll' wearing a long wedding gown, she had broken her arm, hence her trip to the hospital to get it fixed.

Other stories tumbled through the doors and had us enthralled: a postponed marriage in 1909, when the church which is now the Puppet Theatre was under threat of demolition; work at the Plasterer's Arms in the 1980s; the painting of the colour pencils which make up Magdalen Gate School's railing; ten pin bowling on the site at Epic, which cost Mike 2/6d (12.5 pence); the luxurious wooden floors of Wollies (Woolworths), where you were sure to find anything you'd ever want to buy; the first Star Wars movie showing at the old Odeon; a run away child who wanted to live under the fly over; a lady who crashed through the window of the Dolls Hospital after skidding on ice on her boyfriend's motorbike and so many people discovering new things about their relatives who lived locally with the help of our historians, Glynn from Norfolk Tours and Nick Bowen.

To get a flavour of the day listen to the wonderful podcast by Richard Fair. 

                 With warm thanks to Epic for having us, to Jane for supplying cake and coffee, to the Norfolk Records Office for gathering documents and presenting them so professionally, to Nick at Heart for printing some of Plunkett's photos, to Art 1821 for lending us their John Thirtle painting, to Issy who was our Doll Doctor, to Pat at Looses who lent us the furniture and especially to Nick Bowen and Glynn Burrows for making everyone feel so welcome, for listening to so many memories and assisting in the exploration of others. We loved being a part of the Magdalen and Augustine Celebration, well done to all our fellow organisers!

If you're running a community event and would like a pop-up museum to explore the past and present of your area say hello@livingnorwich.co.uk. Join us at our next Secret Norwich: Heritage After Dark event, this Thursday 18th October, with a talk by Dr Richard Cocke at St Andrews Church and then St George's Colegate. 7-9pm. See our website for details.

Magdalen Memories Cafe

The Magdalen Memories Cafe is part of MAC (Magdalen and St Augustone Street Celebration) on 13th October 2012 from 11-5 at Epic Studios 112-114 Magdalen Street.

It's like a pop-up museum....we’ll be taking over the cafe at Epic Studios with digital and traditional displays of old Magdalen Street, a 1-day-only chance to view a John Thirtle painting from Gallery 1821 – one of the Norwich School of Artists who had a framing workshop on Magdalen Street at No. 26 (Now the Big C charity shop)-, a chance to locate yourself in the story of Magdalen Street by making your very own blue plaque, historians on hand to help you research your own past and engage with the exhibitions, and finally, make sure kids to bring your poorly dolls and teddies to our Doll Doctor in memory of the Doll’s Hospital once at no.62. Oooo it's going to be great. See you there!

With thanks to the Plunkett family via Heart who have supplied photos, to the Records Office who have supplied copies of some fascinating documents, to Art 1821 for the amazing chance to have a real, live Thirtle painting and to Epic for having us.

LivingNorwich: Bringing the City Alive

Norwich Talks: Issie Lemon and the Fairy Tree

Earlier this year we asked the people of Norwich what their favorite parts of the city were – doorways, door knockers, trees, paving stones, pictures, buildings, street corners, maps, documents – we were flooded with entries. 12 lucky people have impressed our judges with their personal stories and will be appearing on Future Radio’s Norwich Talks programme over the next year, with one entry featuring each month.

The first Norwich Talks episode aired last week featuring adorable local 3 year old Isobel Lemon. Issie told us about her favorite thing in Norwich: an enormous ever green tree in the grounds of the Cathedral. Issie shared stories about games and picnics she'd had under the tree and her big secret, that fairies lived up in the branches, she's seen them. She also helped us find another entry at the Cathedral, a very popular place with our contestants. We were looking for a plaque made by local artist Madie Buckingham, the Great Aunt of Ros Hawes who told us about her discovery some years ago. Together we hunted down the plaque, celebrating a kindly clergyman. Listen again to Issie, Phoebe and Roxanne introducing a personal perspective to the Cathedral and it’s grounds.

Watch this space for news of October's episode, by local book binder and avid historian Trevor, from his arm chair in his favorite day centre. 

New editions to Primary Sch Programme!

We've added two brand new sessions to our primary programme with chances to visit the glorious Assembly House and to investigate it's history as the site of Nelson's victory party or as the home of the World War Two Camouflage School.

As usual we'll meet you at the Assembly House or come to school with enough enthusiasm and razzle dazzle to create an atmosphere and a lively learning environment.

Packed with art, storytelling and story-making workshops to help teachers support the curriculum creatively and to help children get inspired by their city, you'll learn to treat the streets and buildings of Norwich as exciting places for learning and entertainment.

To find out more go to our schools pages.

HODs tours of Anteros

What a sunny weekend we've had for HODs, it has been great seeing so many people out on the streets with maps and an enormous amount of enthusiasm for some of the best built heritage in the country!


We spent our second day of HODs tours at the Anteros Art Foundation today which is housed in a building once split between various C15th shops and then turned in to a magnificent trading hall and house in 1536-40 by Edmund Wood, mayor of Norwich. Lesser known in the cities heritage landscape the building boasts the longest Tudor window of it's type; a staggering 20 feet long, a beautiful wooden door with some curious carved images of seeds or crops in the spandrels and some amazing wooden ceilings and fire places, all lovingly restored.

We day dreamed about the possibility of Queen Elizabeth I visiting the great first floor trading room, once hung with rich tapestries, worsted and velvet. Edmund's son Robert was the Mayor during her visit, he presented her with a silver cup and no less than two orations (although she couldn't stick around to hear the second apparently, he wrote it down for her instead). He must have done a pretty good job of hosting her majesty nonetheless since she not only left with tears in her eyes but rewarded him with a knighthood shortly afterward her visit.

If you're interested in tours of Anteros at other times of the year please get in touch with us or them and we'll endeavor to take you around.

HODs Assembly House Tours

Today we had the pleasure of delivering tours of the wonderful Assembly House in Norwich for 

Heritage Open Days. 

As well as the glitz and glam of the C18th rooms; parties, dances, civic pageantry and even a ball in honour of Nelson's victory, we also delved in to the lesser known history of the college of St Mary's in-the-field which was founded on the site by John le Brun in 1248. We were lucky enough to take everybody to the C13th crypt in the under belly of the building and we celebrated the C15th coat of arms of the Brownes, still on the wall in the west wing. We learned of the camouflage school during world war two and looked at Oliver Messel's sketches and then heard about the dance school and girls school in the C19th. The building really is packed with stories of fascinating characters from centuries and centuries of the city's past! Thanks to Lottie at the Assembly House who made it possible and to everyone who came on the tour.

If you missed out this time and are part of a local history group get in touch with the Assembly House who will be taking select bookings for tours throughout the year.

Don't forget that our Secret Norwich programme celebrates Norwich heritage every month of the year, with access to exclusive venues all year round! 

St Stephens. An anomaly?

As part of our Secret Norwich: Heritage After Dark Series last night we were treated to the expertise of church heritage professional Nick Groves. In the newly refurbished St Stephens, still awaiting the final glitz and glam of it's restoration project, we oohed and aahed at the amazing masonry work lit by the new up-lighters and considered some intriguing historical facts against the physical evidence. Why was St Stephens being expanded amid the turmoil of the Reformation and how did this effect it's design?

Was the stark contrast in corbel design between the chancel and the nave a clear expression of changing opinions on church decoration pre and post Reformation? For this is the common theory supported by the dates of the builds. The chancel was built on the cusp of the reforms around 1530 so perhaps got away with the beautiful angel corbels, where as the nave was built 20 years later when firm views were now upheld about idolatry and the corbels, while beautifully rendered, are somewhat more plain and geometric in design. Or is it less clear cut than traditional views about the schism of the church in the C16th would have us believe?

Nick rather thought that this was too obvious an explanation and that perhaps the masons capable of crafting angels from stone were simply caught up on prolific house-building else where, leaving the parishioners to deal with second best masons only capable of simpler, more geometric designs. If you haven't seen the evidence it's certainly worth a visit to ponder this for yourself.

Nick went on to map the building pattern of the church against the actions of Henry VIII which was very interesting. The nave programme was started shortly after the king's death. We looked at patterns of re-builds and demolitions across the city and wondered why the Cathedral, the owners of the chancel, chose to rebuild St Stephens as they demolished other chancels in the city. We considered the influence of wealthy patrons such as the Brownes and Mingays but even Nick couldn't uncover the patrons of the nave with any certainty. If we could, perhaps we could get to the bottom of the rebuild and the impetus and theology behind it. For now it was great to open up so many more questions about the building and to have such an expert on hand to help us navigate the re-use of windows, stone re-used from neighbouring churches and the backdrop of English history which must have influenced the lives of the dean and parish.

Join us next time as Dr Richard Cocke explore St Andrews church and, among others, the Suckling monument it houses. 18th October, 7-9pm.

Call for participants. Magdalen and St Augustine's St Celebration

LivingNorwich will be there! Will you????!!!!

The Celebration are looking for participants for a performance, aged 16+. If you're interested get in touch....

I am embarking on a project for the Magdalen Street festival 2012 and am looking for movers/performers/anyone who feels comfortable in moving in an outside space. 

I am proposing to do three short 10-15 minute performance pieces that 'pop up' in three different locations around Magdalen street, Anglia Square and St Augustines ending up at the graveyard.

The piece will celebrate the spaces represented by a developing long line of stones which will link the spaces(TBC). The audience/passers by will be incouraged to walk along the line as a guided walk at the end of the pieces. At the moment I am using the shifting spaces and characteristics of the shoppers as movement inspiration. Movements which involve simple repetitive gestures, everyday movements, walking, sitting and standing. The movement material will come from both in studio and on-site workshops to take place in September and October.

There will be a total of 5 rehearsals with an extra 6th rehearsal on the week of the performance. The dates are: Wednesdays 12th, 19th, 26th September and 3rd, 10th October with the last date TBC.

It would be great to see you at the First workshop on Wednesday 12th at St Thomas Hall, Earlham road.

Please email me to confirm your interest in the project kaylastclaire@hotmail.com, or phone me to discuss it further on 07525613398

This is a great opportunity to perform in a site specific project and I hope you can join me....

Best Wishes,

Kayla x

Learn English through your city

Foreign language learning is too often detached from context and hard to apply in real situations. Our new Love Norwich ESOL is about getting to know a new city while building confidence and language skills. 

We’ve teamed up with NILE language school and the Mind Inclusion project to offer new comers to the city, as well as established groups who find it hard to learn English, the chance to learn in the context of their new home. Participants will explore the city’s exciting and unique past through visits to local sites and organisations, engage with objects and buildings and discover that Norwich is built on a history of immigration. While accumulating vocabulary students will also build the confidence they need to help them integrate and feel at home. It’s about learning for a reason and learning in context.

Classes start on 18th September at NILE. To enquire about a place for you or a friend contact Paola Colombo on 01603 432 457 inclusion@norwichmind.org.uk for an appointment to assess your level.

With special thanks not just to NILE and Mind but also to the museums service and library service for their help and support to make the project happen.

On Angels and Iconclasm. The Pastons and St Peter Hungate

Our third Secret Norwich: Heritage After Dark event went down a treat last night with wine, great guests, Norwich-made nibbles and some ground breaking art historical analysis by Dr Margit Thofner.

Guests were witness to Margit's brand new interpretation of the iconography of St Peter Hungate, never heard before. In the enchanting surroundings of this much loved building, now an education space but once the parish church of the famous Paston family, Margit unpicked the thought process behind the angel decoration. 

                                             

As we all craned our necks at the angels on the hammer beam roof, illuminated by the evening sunshine streaming through the windows, we pondered how parishioners were once encouraged to pray for the souls of the Paston patrons, we considered the connection between the work of the family as lawyers and that of the ancient lawyer Saint Jerome (one of the four Latin fathers), who is depicted on a corbel below, and we wondered whether the Pastons might have viewed this connection as an assistance to their own salvation. 

But it was in the crossing of the church, a gorgeous oak vault - unusual in itself in a parish church of this size - that the real revelation came. Margit pointed out the figure of Christ in judgement in a boss at the very centre, flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, beneath them were four angels which she convincingly argued were the archangels, one clearly being Michael with a cross on his chest, but beneath the angels were what looked like more angels, they had wings after all. Yet with closer inspection and the help of Margit's eagle eye we realised that they weren't angels at all, they were in fact the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) with wings! For those of you who aren't familiar with these things it is highly unusual and one might even say unheard of to depict the evangelists with wings. So why did the Pastons and their sculptors decide do it?

               

Well, Margit reminded us that this was very much a family church, much rebuilt by the Pastons and with the remains of family members beneath the floor. She argued that this space, just before the altar, was supposed to be the place of final judgement where the family would have lain to face their maker before burial. To ensure salvation, something every medieval person sought with fervor, the Pastons had constructed the surest path to heaven that they could by developing a particularly strong visual relationship with God's messengers, the angels. 

This had started by creating an association between angels and Pastons in the nave, some bearing the family crest and in one case a book, consolidating the relationship with their own scholarly practice and godliness (only reinforced by the presents of St Jerome and the other fathers of the church, as mentioned earlier). They made the connection explicit in the crossing by giving god's messengers on earth, the Evangelists, a very definite association with god's messengers in heaven, the angels. They chose the archangels rather than other orders because of their particularly close relationship with God. So that when their bodies lay beneath that Judgement scene above, the prayers of their relatives would be given a direct line of communication, via the winged evanlgelists, up through the archangels to Mary (the best intercessor of all) at Christ's side and then to Christ himself who would judge the soul, they hoped favourably, of the family member who had just passed on. 

As the light dwindled and we all nodded as the penny dropped, still craning our necks to the oak ceiling, we stood transfixed by the story. Margit reminded us that the angels might also be an expression of the Paston's dedication to the 'true' church, for reasons that have been argued before about East Anglian angel roofs. But this particular set of iconography really did seem to fit her suggestions. We finally heard about the terrible smashing and crashing of William Dowsing and his helpers who took down so many angels across the region. If William had had half an idea just how strongly the Pastons felt about their own icons perhaps he would have torn them down too. Lucky for us, he did not.

Once we'd come round, we chatted about it over wine and nibbles and were then treated to a private tour by Margit, also trustee of Hungate, of the new rood screen exhibition. 

Who needs to go to the continent for the gems of medieval Europe when we've got so many on our doorstep!? Go and check out the angels for yourselves, Hungate is open:

10-4 on all Saturdays and 2-4 on all Sundays until early November.

They also have some special talks on for the exhibition. 

In the meantime we'll need a month to recover before the next gem when Nick Groves delights us all with his thoughts on why St Stephens was built at the dawn of the Reformation. For information and booking check our website. http://livingnorwich.co.uk/events/

New tours of the city for locals and visitors alike

We've launched some fascinating new tours of the city for locals and tourists alike; they wont fail to capture your imagination...

Gone are the days of stuffy, droning history tours as we guide you round the streets and buildings of Norwich with lively stories, fascinating facts and your very own private guide. Whether you'd like a tour of our local heritage, people, buildings and stories, of the art scene, new and old, or a prop-tastic tour to keep the kids entertained, we've got the tour for you. 

Norwich is brimming with fabulous buildings and amazing collections but what of the stories from people of long, long ago? Love Norwich tours uncover some of the city's most intriguing characters and anecdotes that will leave you wanting more...

There's the little 8 year old girl who had to stand before the Mayor on account of being a pick pocket, Earl Ralph who plotted to overthrow William the Conqueror, King Harrold's Brother who lived in Tombland, Augustine Steward who rode all the way to London to save what is now the best example of monastic architecture of it's kind in England, there were C14th wild bores who ravaged the city and killed children, a little boy who fell down a necessary in the Haymarket, C13th monks who took up arms against the city and Mrs Swain who stole a goose and ended up in the stocks with a dead goose round her neck!

Join LivingNorwich on a Love Norwich Tour and find out about Norwich through the people who lived and breathed it in days gone by. Our lively and entertaining guides will make sure you're entertained.

For more information go to our website, email hello@livingnorwich.co.uk or call 01603 446 507.
With thanks to Norfolk Cottages for recommending the new Love Norwich Tours.

The Secret 12's Trail

The Secret 12's time traveller's trail is almost ready to launch, watch this space. 

Heart Warming Thank You Letters from Local School Children

This week we were touched and overwhelmed by a set of beautifully illustrated thank you letters from children at Notre Dame Prep School. They were thanking us for our Open Skies landscape painting workshop based on the Norwich School of Artists and our Stories from Long, Long Ago, Tudor stories, games and riddle workshop.

We were flattered by compliments like
'it was the best day I have had since 2009'
'Before you came I didn't know about perspective, I had a wonderful time'
'I liked your workshop the best because I have never been taught to paint like artists did'

Thanks to all the children who wrote to us, we hope we can come and see you again soon.

To find out about our school workshops visit our website. Our 2012-12 School Brochure will be falling in to your in boxes next week. To request a copy email hello@livingnorwich.co.uk.

Ancient Art in Modern Times, David Holgate

At the second ever Secret Norwich: Heritage After Dark event David Holgate engaged guests in fascinating stories, bringing his St Margret and St Benedict to life at St Giles Church. He was accompanied by local historian Carole Hill and together their dialogue undulated from past to present, from the medieval lives of the saints to modern sculpting practice, a practice which so echoes and illuminates the masons of the past.

In one of the best porches in the city, with a fabulous vaulted ceiling, we learnt about David's artistic decisions, about the cult of St Margret and about David's time spent in a monastery in Italy in order to depict an accurate and human St Benedict.

At Micawber's Tavern afterwards we were treated to exclusive viewings of his preliminary drawings and models as well as a guided tour of his tool box over a glass of wine and some Norfolk nibbles.

Come and join us next time at St Peter Hungate on 8th August as we explore the angels adorning the now deconsecrated church and lament the fate of so many others to the hands of the iconoclasts, with UEA lecturer and art historian Dr Margit Thofner.
To book go to our booking pages, or call 01603 446 507.

An Ancient Art in Modern Times

Come and celebrate the second in the series of Secret Norwich: Heritage After Dark...

-An Ancient Art in Modern Times, David Holgate introduces you to his latest works in the porch of St Giles church, view his drawings and models and find out just how he makes such amazing pieces. St Giles Church, Upper St Giles (and afterwards for a glass of wine and a chance to see his drawings at Micawber’s Tavern, Pottergate), Wed 4th July, 7-9pm.

Book in advance to guarantee a place

The Secret 12 have been busy...

12 children form Lakenham School have been exploring, working together and producing a trail to take you on a magical time-travelling journey around city history. Find out what they've been up to and watch out for the trail in the Forum and Norwich 12 buildings from 20th July!

Schools Discover Norwich

We've now finished our pilot of the LivingNorwich school programme, and what an exciting time it's been...

We explored Jurnets undercroft with the Free School and wrote stories inspired by the underground rooms and secret passages of the city, we were history detectives with Heather Avenue Juniors in the wonderful Blackfriars Hall and examined the civic portraits on the walls, we painted our very own self portraits placing ourselves in the line up of the great and good of the city, we heard about a little boy who fell down the necessary in the Haymarket at Sprowston Junior and made some great storyboards, we donned our smocks and stood in the shoes of the great Norwich School of Artists at Notre Dame Prep School who created some amazing landcapes and then celebrated Norwich Tudors with stories, games and riddles.

Norwich is brimming with possibilities to help our local kids get inspired and take ownership of their city.

If you would like to take part in our 2012-13 schools programme, get in touch! http://livingnorwich.co.uk/schools/

Tombland tour

Augustine Steward House, Tombland. Steward was 3 times mayor of the city, he persuaded Henry VIII that the city could buy St Andrews and Blackfriars (then a friary), saving the buildings from the heavy hand of the dissolution and he was instrumental in quelling the Ketts rebellion. An interesting fella.

Went to Nick Groves' tour of Tombland last Wednesday 27th June, 2 hours in that tiny area, packed with history was surprisingly barely enough. A great evening.

Secret Passages

Thank you to year 3 at Sprowston Juniors today who hosted our very first Secret Passages workshop - a creative writing workshop based on the facts and fables of the deep, dark, dank secret passages and undercrofts under the city. The students came up with some amazing and gruesome stories about Sampson and Hercules, the Maids Head Hotel, a secret passage under Bedford Street and an ancient king buried under the Castle mound. It was great fun and a really inspiring day.

If you'd like to book us for a school workshop, an after work heritage crawl or a tour of the city get in touch hello@livingnorwich.co.uk/ 01603 446 507.

What we've been up to...

It's been a busy few weeks for LivingNorwich. We've been working on new social events for local businesses, our Secret Norwich evening events launch next month, we're about to start a brand new schools pilot which will be made widely available to local schools later in the year, we've started on the content for a new English language course based on Norwich culture for people who are newly arrived in the city and much, much more...

The Lakenham School Secret 12: Histories and Mysteries Project is going better than we ever could have hoped. The children, aged 7-8 are challenging guides at all of the Norwich 12 venues to answer their very thoughtful and thorough questions so they can learn all about the secrets, mysteries and histories of the buildings. They really are becoming accomplished historian detectives and having a great time in the process! Together they are working on a family trail which will hit the Forum Tourist Centre this summer, watch this space. We're really excited about the potential of their work to open up venues all over the city to broader, younger and demographically wider audiences.

The LivingNorwich Collection is building behind the scenes and we've been visiting older people's homes and centres to collect submissions from our ageing communities who might not otherwise be able to enter. We've found some amazing gems and stories on our travels: Trevor, who trained as a book binder at Jarrolds in the 1950s knows more about city history than anyone we've ever met, he told us all about his favourite Norwich object, the 1945 post-war redevelopment plan; Joan told us about her first ever view of Norwich from the balcony at City Hall when she came from London for a job at the old Library in the 60s; Ilene revealed that her uncle was the very same mayor we're planning to recreate as a costumed character and Margery told us about the air raid shelter her and her family used on Lincoln Street during World War Two. Every visit is an inspiration. If you'd like to tell us about your favourite Norwich object, place or story fill out the form on our website, failing that we'll be hitting the city with clipboards in the coming weeks to gather your entries! You better watch out, we're coming for you....

Get in touch for more information on any of the above hello@livingnorwich.co.uk

We want everyone to get the best from the city, to get excited, engaged and enthralled by her past and present.

We started life in October 2011, researching and exploring what was on offer in the city, so that we could fill the gaps and support existing work. Now we've opened up a collection for the public to submit their favourite objects, buildings and places, we're running regular family activities in school holidays, we're about to launch an evening events programme, we're working with Lakenham School on a family trail project and we've got lots more that's too secret to talk about yet.....check our websites for current events and projects www.livingnorwich.co.uk