page_title: Norwich Market
section_title: 19th century improvements
hierarchical_section_title: Norwich Market / 19th century improvements
caption_attribution_description: Norwich (UK), Norwich Arcade
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: The relocation of the livestock market had done little to resolve the problems of congestion in and around the market. Many of the mediaeval access routes to the market were too narrow for wheeled transport, and the narrow alleys were also dark, dangerous and mostly unpaved. Although the market had been resurfaced during the 18th century, this had been with flint pebble cobblestones which were easily dislodged and trapped refuse. William Chase, editor of the first Norwich Directory, lobbied in the late 18th century for civic improvements and a rationalisation of the streets around the market. However, the economy of Norwich depended heavily on the textile industry, which had suffered badly from the loss of export markets during the French Wars, and funds for improvements were limited. By the beginning of the 19th century the only significant improvement had been the paving of Gentleman's Walk. In 1805 a number of Improvement Commissions were established to propose solutions to the problems facing the area, but little action was taken. Local councils had no powers to levy rates to fund general civic improvements and as a consequence funds for improvement works had to be raised either through tolls and rents, via public appeals, or through long term borrowing, and the city was initially unable to raise sufficient funds.
  In 1813 the yard of the King's Head coaching inn was widened to create Davey Place, a new street between the market and Back of the Inns, at that time a narrow passageway which ran parallel to Gentleman's Walk behind the coaching inns. (Although the inns no longer remain, Back of the Inns survives as a street name.) In 1820 the Gasolier, Norwich's first gas lamp, was installed in the market outside the entrance to Davey Place. Exchange Street, a new road running north from the northeast corner of the market, was completed in 1828 and a roadway was installed alongside the existing footpath. London Street, the main road connecting the market with the older areas of the city around Tombland and the Cathedral was widened in 1856. In 1860 the decrepit fish market adjacent to the Guildhall, by now over 700 years old, was replaced with a new neoclassical building. In 1863 Gentleman's Walk was paved properly with York stone, and in 1874 the cobbles of the marketplace were replaced by timber blocks. Although by this time the market operated on all working days, Sunday trading laws meant it was closed on Sundays. The market space on Sundays was used for public assemblies and gatherings.
  Meanwhile, Norwich railway station had opened in 1844. Although many Norwich residents were reluctant to use the railway, and goods carriers initially found it more convenient to continue to collect goods from the coaching inns, as railway usage gradually increased the number of coaches and carts calling at the inns slowly dwindled, reducing congestion. In 1899 the Angel inn—renamed the Royal Hotel in 1840 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's wedding—finally closed, and was replaced with George Skipper's Royal Arcade, a shopping centre in the Art Nouveau style.
  Although the civic authorities initially resisted installing tramways in the city centre owing to concerns about nuisance and disruption, they eventually relented; by the end of the 19th century Norwich had a total of 16 miles (26 km) of tram routes, including a route along Gentleman's Walk itself. While schemes to rationalise the layout of the market's stalls had been proposed since the 18th century, they had foundered on the fact that so many of the stalls were privately owned.
caption: The Royal Arcade
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