We shall never know who planned and designed the Norman Cathedral in Norwich, but a huge workforce of masons, craftsmen, glaziers and labourers worked on it.
The skilled workers were mainly Normans, the unskilled, Saxons. Herbert de Losinga was undoubtedly an inspirational leader, because planning, money-raising and building work progressed with great speed. By 24 September 1101 enough had been completed for the building to be consecrated and for worship to begin.
By 1145 the building had been completed, under the direction of Bishop Herbert’s successor, Eborard de Montgomery.
The Cathedral was established as a Benedictine monastery with its ‘rule’ based on worship, hospitality and learning.
The monastic community was led by the Bishop, but day-to-day responsibility rested with the Prior.
Religion certainly had a central role in medieval society, with the Church being the channel through which the will of God was made known. Up to the Dissolution in the sixteenth century, all Church lands and properties were outside the authority of the King and the emerging civil authority in the City.
In Norwich, this often led to friction and on one occasion to violence, when the Prior and citizens claimed sole rights of fees charged for fairs held in Tombland, an area immediately outside the Cathedral walls.
On 11 August 1272, serious riots and fighting erupted between the citizens and servants of the Priory, resulting in almost all the Norman monastic buildings, including the cloisters, being destroyed by fire.
For three days the violence continued, with many casualties. The Cathedral was plundered of vestments, books, gold and silver vessels and ornaments.
Such was the gravity of the dispute and ensuing riot that King Henry III came to Norwich to resolve the problems. Punishments were harsh: over 30 citizens were executed, the Prior was imprisoned and lost his lands, and the City itself was excommunicated! Repairs to the Cathedral were completed in 1278 and it was re-consecrated on Advent Sunday in the presence of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor.
The rebuilding of the cloisters began with the east walk in 1297, but was not completed until 1430. This was partly due to the terrible impact of the Black Death, which reached Norwich in 1349.
The fourteenth century continued as one of strife, with the timber spire falling in a hurricane in 1362 and with the eruption of the so-called ‘Peasants Revolt’ in 1381. Bishop Henry Despenser, ‘The Fighting Bishop’, led troops to defeat the local uprising at North Walsham and gained a reputation for ruthlessness in pursuing the fugitives. It was Despenser who commissioned for the Cathedral one of its greatest treasures, the reredos now in St Luke’s Chapel.
The fifteenth century saw the Cathedral’s next great building phase, following a disastrous lightning strike on the timber spire in 1463. The resulting fire not only destroyed the spire, but also the organ loft and the nave’s timber roof. Bishop Walter Lyhart decided to replace the nave roof with stone vaulting and embellished it with an unrivalled collection of biblical roof bosses. His architect was probably Reginald Ely, who had worked at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. Lyhart’s successor, Bishop James Goldwell, extended the vault to cover the presbytery and rebuilt the spire, using brick encased in stone. Raising it higher than any of its predecessors, this is essentially the same spire which dominates the City today.
On 2 May 1538, Prior William Castleton together with 38 monks assembled in the chapter house to hear, read, and then to sign the document which would end 442 years of continuous Benedictine monastic rule at Norwich Cathedral. It is perhaps easy to imagine the Reformation as a process that everywhere was accompanied by destruction and ruin. Yet voluntary surrender, such as at Norwich, could lead to reward, with the Priory being refounded immediately to continue much as it had done before, but now as a secular institution. William Castleton became the first Dean with the majority of monks becoming canons, minor canons and singing men. Nevertheless, the Reformation brought huge changes to the City, instantly removing the economic, educational and social benefit of the monastic houses.
The century after the Dissolution saw great upheavals in Norwich, as elsewhere, frequently marked by disputes between the parishes and the established Church as represented by the Bishop and the Cathedral. Kett’s Rebellion in 1549 and the arrival of Dutch, Flemish and Walloon-speaking refugees added to the political and social upheavals.
By the seventeenth century there was growing tension throughout the country between the King and Parliament, which ultimately led to the Civil War between Royalists and Parliamentarians. Though no major battles were fought within Norwich, the conflict had a major impact on the City and Cathedral. In May 1643 a mob, supported by a Parliamentary ordinance, entered the Cathedral and removed everything thought to be superstitious or idolatrous. This included images in stone, glass and wood, vestments, organ pipes, crucifixes and alter rails. Bishop Hall wrote in his book Hard Measure of the ‘clattering glasses’ and ‘beating down of walls’. The Cathedral was then ‘reordered’ according to Puritan sensibilities, and in 1650 there were calls for the entire building to be pulled down and the stones used to repair the piers and workhouses of Great Yarmouth. With the Resoration of 1660 came a new organ and refurbishment, although many of the Civil War changes are still in evidence.
The revitalisation of English cathedrals during the Victorian era brought new vigour and vitality. In 1891 one commentator spoke of the ‘wonderfully increased strength’ of cathedrals and their ‘really noble work for the church of the nation’. The major restoration work at Norwich was conducted by Anthony Salvin in the 1830s and Sir Arthur Blomfield in the 1890s. Whilst agreeing that the Cathedral needed to be kept in good repair, some have seen this work as a little overdone and often more elaborately ‘Norman’ that the Norman work itself. The Victorians certainly left their mark in numerous details all over the building. In 1930 work began on St Saviour’s Chapel, on the site of Herbert de Losinga’s original foundation, and in the same year the Friends of Norwich Cathedral was formed. Through the continuing generosity of the Friends, the Cathedral has been maintained to a high standard. The Benedictine themes of worship, hospitality and learning continue to inform the vision of ‘the Cathedral of the People’ where the mystery and glory of God’s love can be experienced and celebrated in every age.