There was a time when the fine city was the walled city…and there were twelve well-fortified gates to keep out the unwelome.
These wonderful illustrations were taken from etchings from the work of John Ninham and were designed in our studio for an illustrated diary we produced in 1974.
Robert Fitch, a 19th century antiquary who originally published them in a book, said they afford evidence of what our medieval fortifications were really like.
Work on the wall, which the gateways were to pierce, began in 1294 and finished in 1319 but it was not until 1342 that the doors were hung and the gatehouses inhabited.
It did not entirely surround the city surround the city, for in the east the river Wensum provided a natural boundary and in the north-west was a smaller section gave the same service.
Considering the magnitude of the work and laborious methods of the time, it is not surprising that by royal authority a tax was levied to pay for it.
A toll was imposed on arriving traders but it was not enough to cover maintenance and in 1377 the parishes were told to pay for the upkeep so the citizens paid the price for keeping law and order as best they could within their own boundaries.
At the end of the 18th century the gateways were in a poor state of repair. They came tumbling down and the city to grow beyond the walls which once enclosed it.
Take a look at what remains of some of the walls today and remember a time…
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