Around Norwich

This post is a continuation of the chronicle of our day in Norwich.





As we left the Cathedral grounds, we happened on this wonderfully crooked medieval building on Palace Street. It now houses an antique shop.














This ancient church is called St. Peter Hungate.













Here was our first good view of Norwich Castle. It lies atop the city and affords a 360-degree view of Norwich.











A view of the castle from the bridge leading to it.












The castle keep, pictured here, is just a large shell of a room. Inside were exhibits about life in the castle in the middle ages as well as during the time it served as a prison from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries.














This close-up of the walls of the castle shows how imposing it was.












After leaving the castle grounds we passed through a Royal Arcade shopping center (centre, that is). There we found the Colman's Mustard shop. Colman's mustard has been a prodcut of Norwich since 1804.















This church is located directly across the plaza from The Forum, a grand building in modern style where the city library and offices of the BBC are located, as well as some other shops and cafes. The church, with its lovely tower, is called St. Peter Mancroft.















Heading west out of the city centre, we approached this church, St. Giles on the Hill. It sits a block away from the Catholic Cathedral.












Here is St. John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral (for the Diocese of East Anglia, of which Cambridge is a part).












We loved this stunning door decoration at the North entrance.













Here's the nave of the Cathedral. It seemed very dark inside, probably because the stained glass had a predominantly deep blue coloration.










The rood scene is pictured here.












This is the reredo of the Lady Chapel. It really was beautiful.













The Annuniciation is pictured in this lovely wall decoration, also in the Lady Chapel.












The Stations of the Cross were made of wood and were painted in very soft colors. This is Station IV.









After leaving St. John's Cathedral, we made our way back through the city toward the train station. First we stopped here, at St. Julian's Church. Julian of Norwich (1342-1416?) was a nun who received a series of visions of Christ, and later recorded these in "The Revelations of Divine Love," perhaps the most important work of English mysticism. She lived in a cell on this site.













This is the nave of the tiny church. While the church is served by the Anglican parish in Norwich, Catholic Mass is also celebrated here weekly. The door on the right leads to Julian's cell, where she lived for 40 years.

















There are some lovely Stations of the Cross in St. Julian's Church.














The memorial to Mother Julian, pictured here, sits inside the chapel on the site of the cell where she lived. Incidentally, the church is not named for her; rather, she apparently took her name from the church, which was dedicated in medieval times to St. Julian of Mans. Indeed, Julian of Norwich was never officially beatified by the Roman Church.














This is another view of Mother Julian's cell.












The next three pictures are of Dragon Hall, a good example of medieval building still in Norwich. It now houses a museum and shop.













Unfortunately, the museum was closed by the time we got there.












The timbering is quite pretty.













After a long (and enjoyable) day, we made our way back to the train station, a wonderful Victorian structure.














Oh, and look what we found in the Norwich rail station. Have you ever seen anything so disgusting? French fries from a vending machine? Ready in only 45 seconds! Yuck!