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Top Attractions in Norwich

Dragon Hall

Dragon Hall is a Grade 1 listed medieval merchants trading hall located in King Street, Norwich, Norfolk close to the River Wensum. The Great Hall was built between 1427 and 1430, but some parts of the site, such as the undercroft, are older. Archaeological research has shown evidence of 1,000 years of human habitation on the site. Dragon Hall was built by a merchant called Robert Toppes as the hub of his international trading empire. The building stands close to the River Wensum on King Street, the main road through the city in the fifteenth century, with excellent road and river transport links. The Great Hall is the centre piece of the site with its magnificent crown post roof which contains an intricately carved dragon on one of the spandrels, which gives the building its name. This was where Toppes displayed goods from home and abroad to other English and European merchants. Dragon Hall is unique because it is the only known surviving building of its type built by one man for his own use rather than by a Guild. The building operated as a showroom and warehouse for about 30 years. After Toppes death it was sold and over the centuries was gradually adapted and divided to become a row of individual houses and businesses. The building was converted for domestic use and then, in the 19th century, subdivided into shops, a pub and tenements. The great crown post roof was hidden from view for many years and only rediscovered in the 1980s. It was bought by Norwich City Council in the 1970s and then a group of volunteers created a charity, The Norfolk Norwich Heritage Trust which leased the building and took over the management of it. Gradually funds were raised to repair and restore the building and in 2006 a major £1.8 million programme of restoration and development took place, primarily with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Great Hall has been restored to its original state, with the addition of a new floor and central heating, a modern wing contains toilets, a kitchen and a lift for access to the first floor hall. A contemporary glass extension has opened up the architecture and displays now tell the history of this unique site. Dragon Hall is managed by a small team of staff and relies on the support of a large body of volunteers. It operates as a heritage museum and is also a venue for all sorts of community, cultural, and learning activities such as weddings, parties, theatre and music, markets, school visits and workshops. In 2010 The Norfolk Norwich Heritage Trust was awarded a grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a two-year project to record the memories of people who have lived and worked in the area in more recent times. Dragon Hall is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites.

Trowse Bridge

Trowse swing bridge is a single-track railway bridge which carries the Great Eastern Main Line over the River Wensum just outside Norwich in the United Kingdom at grid reference TG245076. The bridge was originally built in 1845 by George Parker Bidder, was rebuilt in 1905 and again in 1986. Like many swing bridges, the structure first lifts on hydraulic jacks before swinging open to allow the passage of water traffic. The bridge has frequently caused problems with navigation on the river due to its unreliability, leaving it unable to open. It is notable for being the only swing bridge in the United Kingdom to carry an overhead electrified railway track . Other examples can be found along the Northeast Corridor in the United States; see for instance Portal Bridge, and the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul. The power supply to trains is provided by an overhead conductor rail instead of a wire, and there are short lengths of overhead conductor rail either side of the bridge on the fixed approaches. There is a 40 mph speed limit over the bridge in both directions as trains are about to arrive at, or have just departed from, Norwich Station. The bridge is also the home of Trowse Signal Box, which controls most of the Bittern Line from Whitlingham Junction to Sheringham. The line was resignalled in 2000, leading to the closure of a number of mechanical signal boxes with control moving to Trowse, although it is arguable if this is a real improvement since there have been a number of serious failures causing full or partial suspension of service during electrical storms. This is due to the system using high frequency pulses in the rail as opposed to standard track circuits to operate level crossings. The resignalling saw the end of one of the few remaining sections of single track main line controlled by tokens. The signalling meant Cromer Signal box that the last surviving MGN example was decommissioned; however it has been saved as a museum.

Norwich Market

Norwich Market is an outdoor market consisting of around 200 stalls in central Norwich, England. Founded in the latter part of the 11th century to supply Norman merchants and settlers moving to the area following the Norman conquest of England, it replaced an earlier market a short distance away. It has been in operation on the present site for over 900 years. By the 14th century, Norwich was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in England, and Norwich Market was a major trading hub. Control of, and income from, the market was ceded by the monarchy to the city of Norwich in 1341, from which time it provided a significant source of income for the local council. Freed from royal control, the market was reorganised to benefit the city as much as possible. Norwich and the surrounding region were devastated by plague and famine in the latter half of the 14th century, with the population falling by over 50%. Following the plague years, Norwich came under the control of local merchants and the economy was rebuilt. In the early 15th century, a Guildhall was built next to the market to serve as a centre for local government and law enforcement. The largest surviving mediaeval civic building in Britain outside London, it remained the seat of local government until 1938 and in use as a law court until 1985. In the Georgian era, Norwich became an increasingly popular destination with travellers and developed into a fashionable shopping town. Buildings around the market were developed into luxury shops and coaching inns. The eastern side of the market was particularly fashionable and became known as Gentlemans Walk. The area around the market had become very congested by the 19th century, but the council was unable to raise funds for improvement and few alterations were made. Because many of the markets stalls were privately owned, the council was unable to rearrange the market into a more rational layout. Following the First World War, the local authority began to systematically buy up all the stalls on the market, eventually bringing the entire market into public ownership. It was radically redesigned in the 1930s: stalls were arranged into parallel rows and a new City Hall was built along the entire western side of the marketplace to replace the by then inadequate Guildhall. This new arrangement survived with few significant changes for the rest of the 20th century. By the 1990s, the market was becoming decrepit and, in 2003, proposals were made for another radical rebuilding of the area. These proposals were extremely controversial and were abandoned in 2004 in favour of a scheme which retained the parallel rows of stalls, but replaced the old stalls with steel units of four stalls each. The rebuilt market was completed in early 2006 and is one of the largest markets in Britain.

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