Northwich

“ The story of the exploitation of the top and bottom beds is one that is soon told. The top bed was worked until the mines began to fall in and the subsequent breaking in of fresh water converted the old workings into brine reservoirs. In 1779, the discovery of the lower bed of rock-salt at Lawton prompted the owners of the Marston Mine at Northwich to sink below the top bed in which they were working, and, in 1781, a trial shaft which was sunk from the top mine by means of a horse gin, demonstrated the existence of the bottom deposit in that district. ”

“ But as fast as the fresh water becomes saturated and is pumped to the surface, the overlying stream or brook lets in further supplies of fresh water to fill the vacuum, and the work of internal destruction is followed by further subsidences of the suspended earths.
The immense bodies of water in the neighbourhood of Northwich and Winsford, locally called “Flashes,” which cover a total area of many hundreds of acres,113 are the work of subsidences. The Flashes are not shallow swamps, but lakes varying in depth over many acres, from a few yards to 50 ft. ”

“ Chrysel claimed that by his method “with the least Fire and Coal the most Salt can be made and the greatest Profit received such as in no other way can possibly happen,” but curiously enough the improvement for which he obtained a Royal Patent, was primarily based upon a more advantageous arrangement of the brine pans, while the improvement effected in the furnace was treated as a matter of only subsidiary importance. Chrysel demonstrated his method at Bye Flat, near Northwich, in Cheshire, in June, 1776. ”

“ The brines met with in this district are very generally formed by the penetration of spring or rain waters to the upper surface of the rock-salt, in passing over which they acquire a degree of strength, modified by several circumstances, which it would be needless to detail. Their average strength, however, appears to be much greater than that of the springs met with in Hungary, Germany, or France. At Winsford, Northwich, Anderton, Lawton, Roughwood, Wheelock, and Middlewich, where all the principal salt works are situated, the brine springs contain between 25 and 26 per cent. ”

“ Proceeding eastward out of the Fenland and among the hills of Norfolk, the little river Wensum is found to have cut a broad, deep, and trench-like valley into the chalk and gravel plateau. Upon the elevated bank of the river is the irregularly picturesque town of Norwich, with the castle keep rising above the undulating mass of buildings, and the cathedral and its noble spire overtopping the lower portion of the city on the right hand. Norwich is an ancient town, but very little is known with certainty about it anterior to the Danish invasions. ”

“ Norwich is 108 miles from London by Newmarket, 110 by Colchester, 114 by Bury St. Edmunds, and it is a remarkable fact, that Norwich, Bury and Lynn, form an equilateral triangle, each side measuring 42 miles, it is also 43 miles from Ipswich, and 24 from Yarmouth. The soil of Norwich is mixed the upper stratum is light of sufficient depth for the plough upon chalk, gravel and sand; the air is remarkably salubrious, it is screened from the easterly wind by Moushold Heath, and abound in springs of water of the purest kind. ”

“ On April 26th, 1786, the Norwich and Norfolk Benevolent Medical Society was instituted. In May, an exact account of the inhabitants of Norwich was taken from house to house, and the population was ascertained to be 40,051 souls, exclusive of those living in the precincts of the Cathedral, being an increase of nearly 4000 since 1752. This entirely contradicts the statement of Mr. Arthur Young, in his Tour of England, published in 1770, to the effect that 72,000 persons were then employed in manufactures in this city. ”

“ The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes having subjugated the fair territory of England, they divided it into seven kingdoms, called the Heptarchy, in which Norfolk formed a part of East Anglia. The Anglo-Saxon leader, Uffa, established himself in this part of the island, in 575; and assumed dominion over that portion of the eastern district now divided into Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, giving it the name of East Anglia, of which Norwich was made the metropolis. Norwich was, therefore, a royal city, and the residence of the kings. ”

“ Norwich is the capital of all the county, and the centre of all the trade and manufactures which I have just mentioned; an ancient, large, rich, and populous city. If a stranger was only to ride through or view the city of Norwich for a day, he would have much more reason to think there was a town without inhabitants, than there is really to say so of Ipswich ”

“ According to ancient manuscripts, a large arm of the sea flowed up to Norwich, till about the time of William the Conqueror. There exists positive evidence of Norwich being a fishing town in the reign of Canute, about the year 1020. In the time of Edward the Confessor, about the year 1050, it appears to have had 25 churches, and 1320 Burgesses; during the peaceable reign of Edward, and his successor, Harold, it continued to increase in wealth and population. ”

“ Norwich is very remarkable for its antiquities, its historical associations, its manufactures, and its trade; and also for the eminent men who have flourished at various periods in the city. It was the scene of many important events in the times of the Iceni, the Romans, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. It was the royal seat of Anglo-Saxon princes. It was the Hierapolis Monachopolis of the middle ages; famous for its churches and convents; and in later times, celebrated for its Norman castle and cathedral. ”

“ Another strong point in favour of Norwich having been the Venta Icenorum is, that all the roads radiated from the city to all parts of East Anglia.
In tracing the rise and progress of the city we must remember that it was in the centre of a vast common, and that it was the nucleus of an agricultural community, at first without any trade or any kind of manufactures. ”

“ Taking, then, Norwich for the Venta Icenorum of the Romans—called Caer Guntum by the British, and Northwic by the Saxons and Danes—you find the Capital of the Iceni, founded on the shoulder of the promontory overlooking the Wensum, towards the great estuary, which formed a natural stronghold for successive races of inhabitants. Whilst the Romans, fixing their permanent camp at Caistor, on the Taes, where that river joined the estuary, into which the Wensum, the Taes, and the Yare, all discharged themselves, would command the passage into the interior of the country ”

“ Norwich, in its present state, is said to p. 2occupy more ground, comparatively with its population, than any city in the kingdom, being much interspersed with gardens, and it is frequently stiled, a city in an orchard; its shape is irregular, and may not unaptly be compared to a shoulder of mutton—it is full one mile and a half in length, and a mile and quarter broad. It contains thirty four churches and a number of chapels and meeting houses, besides the cathedral ”

“ In 1574, Norwich exhibited on its muster roll 2120 able men, towards the general defence against the invincible Armada. In 1578, queen Elizabeth took up her abode for several days in the city. In 1688, the charter was confirmed p. 9to its full extent, by virtue of which, the government is vested in a mayor, recorder, steward, two sheriffs, twenty-four aldermen, of which the mayor is one, sixty common councilmen, a town clerk, chamberlain, sword bearer and other officers. ”

“ No merely ecclesiastic settlement, the cold glories of its Cathedral are but one phase of Norwich. Prosperous and self-sufficing in the best sense; its citizens public-spirited, its situation beautiful, its highways imposing and byways quaint and curious, Norwich stands by itself, in its likeness to no other town or city in England. If one must seek a parallel, it is to Exeter one must look, for there is much in common between the two. Both are, very distinctly, the capitals of their respective 294provinces; Norwich still metropolitan to East Anglia, and Exeter to the West of England. ”

“ That reminds me, sweet, thou wilt like to hear my minstrel tell the story of Blauncheflour, who was the betrothed of Percivale, the searcher for the Graal. The fair white walls, faced with goodly Caen stone, seemed to me in their invincible dignity to resemble a pure maiden, so I named them after her.'
Norwich in those days was surrounded by broad and deep streams, at least five times as wide as its present modest rivers, and the chroniclers of Edward the Confessor's day record that the fisher-folk suffered terribly through the receding of the waters. ”

“ Elizabeth gave every encouragement to manufactures; and when more Flemings sought refuge in England, the city of Norwich gained an accession of knowledge in the art of weaving with a warp of silk or linen, and a weft of worsted, as well as in dyeing and other processes. ”

“ Norwich was mentioned as one of the assay towns in 2 Hen. VI, cap. 17, in 1423, which honour it shares with York and Newcastle as being of such ancient lineage. The corporation of Norwich possesses several pieces of plate of the Elizabethan period, with the city arms, a lion, and a castle as a hall-mark. A Tudor rose with a crown above is the standard mark. The office ceased early in the eighteenth century. ”

“ A grand old city is Norwich, with its castle, now a museum, looking over it all, with its St. Andrew’s Hall, now utilised for concerts and public meetings, with its great markets, with its Colman’s Mustard Mills, with its old houses and narrow streets. The workman, with his strikes, has driven away from Northampton a good deal of its boot and shoe manufacture. What Northampton has lost Ipswich, Colchester, and especially Norwich, have gained. There is beautiful country round Norwich; and Norwich ought to be eminently holy, for there are forty churches there, many of them very ancient. ”

“ A grand and venerable old place is this of Norwich,—full of inducements for a visit, or even a permanent stay. It should have been named that the suburbans, and those living on the outskirts, give much attention to farming, and that Norwich is in some respects like our Brighton, for it has weekly market-days for the sale of cattle, and has the largest market in the kingdom, with the single exception of those near London. The stores, many in number, and a large portion of them of high grade, present for sale every conceivable article, and argue of a high civilization. ”

“ IX. MRS. OPIE.
Norwich has been called "The City of Gardens;" for behind the large houses belonging to professional men, and business men, which front the narrow irregular streets, there are sweet lawns and well-cared-for flower borders, with trees and shrubs planted so thickly round the walls, or the walls themselves so covered with the trailing tendrils of fresh creepers, that imagination might fancy the scene one of pure country loveliness. ”

“ Norwich is famous for the number of its democrats. Excuse, sir, my troubling you, but it is for the public good; that, I think, with you will be sufficient apology. The present Receiver-General is not of what we call the Loyal Party. I shall not mention to mortal my having written this. Should there be a dissolution of Parliament, and that you think I can be of any service in this county or the city, having some interest in both, I request you will have the goodness to inform me.—I have, sir, the honour to be, your most obedient, very humble servant,
Charlotte Atkyns. ”

“ The great cattle market lies below the castle. The municipal, county and parliamentary boroughs are coextensive. The parliamentary borough returns two members. The city is governed by a lord mayor (this title having been conferred in 1910) , 16 aldermen and 48 councillors. Area, 7905 acres.
History.—There is no conclusive evidence that Norwich (Northwic, Norwic) was an important settlement before the coming of the Angles. Caistor-by-Norwich, 4 m. S. of Norwich, is on the site of what was probably a Romano-British country town. ”

“ Augustine’s parish, just outside the city walls, was probably founded by a bishop of Norwich, as an hospital for lepers, but is now occupied by ancient poor of both sexes, who are past labor, and not fit to be put into common workhouses; they are in wards from 8 to 12 in each ward, and have every necessary, both of food and raiment; the number entertained here is 103, and as soon as one dies, the vacancy is filled up by election of the committee of the court of guardians for the poor. ”

“ NORWICH, JOHN de, Baron Norwich (d. 1362) , was the eldest of three sons of Walter de Norwich [q. v.] by his wife Catherine. Inheriting considerable estates acquired by his father in Norfolk and Suffolk, he obtained a royal license in 1334 for a weekly market and annual fair at Great Massingham in the former county (Blomefield, v. 522; Dugdale, Baronage, ii. 90) . ”

“ In 1565, the prosperity of the city, which had begun to decline, was again revived by the settling here of 330 Flemings and Walloons, who had fled from the Netherlands, from the rigid persecution under the sanguinary Duke of Alva. In 1570, by the fostering encouragement of Queen Elizabeth, the number of these foreign settlers had increased to 3925, and by the introduction of bombazine, and other manufactures, they contributed much to the wealth and prosperity of Norwich. ”

“ James assures us that Norwich attained its highest prosperity during the middle of the eighteenth century, so great was the energy and fertility of resource displayed by its merchants. The worsted dyers of the city were pre-eminent for skill, and their profits were great. The city merchants sent travellers throughout Europe, and their pattern books were shown in every principal town as far as Moscow. Norwich goods were introduced into France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Poland, and there was also a large trade with Russia. ”