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City of Stories Visit Literary Locations in Norwich and Norfolk

Visit Literary Locations in Norwich and Norfolk

Visit Literary Locations in Norwich and Norfolk 

by Katie Thompson

Norwich is known as the City of Stories. And with such a rich literary history, it comes as no surprise that the city has been the location of novels and their film adaptations alike! 

With 2026 a National Year of Reading, there’s no better time to explore Norwich’s literary locations, whether you prefer audio books or comics, novels or autobiographies. 

For any bibliophile, the city is an ideal reading and writing retreat. Here, we’ve got fairytale streets like Elm Hill, a myriad of independent book shops, and we’re home to Norwich Book Festival, the UK’s only American Library and the National Centre for Writing. We’re also England’s first UNESCO City of Literature!

So, step into the pages of your favourite tale, these are the best literary locations in Norwich and Norfolk!

Norwich 

Norwich Cathedral 

Norwich Cathedral is the location of fairytales and historical dramas

One of the very first forms of reading we experience are fairytales, from the Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Anderson. Based on English tales Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer, 2013 film Jack the Giant Slayer brought folklore to Norwich Cathedral, where our Romanesque Norman cathedral doubled for the king’s castle! 

Norwich Cathedral also transformed into the Abbey of St Ursula for Tulip Fever, a 2017 film based on Deborah Moggarch’s 1999 historical romance novel of the same name. The final scene sees Judi Dench and Alicia Vikander amid the convent gardens (which you’ll recognise as the cloister!).

Norwich Market and the Royal Arcade 

Spot the Royal Arcade in Strike novel The Running Grave

A more recent literary location, Norwich is the backdrop for scenes in Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowling’s) seventh story in the Comoran Strike series, The Running Grave. The story follows a cult based in Aylmerton, a small village near Cromer, with much of the story occurring here and in Cromer at recognisable pubs and hotels. One of these is Hotel de Paris, designed by local Norwich architect George Skipper. Skipper is also known for designing our Art Nouveau Royal Arcade, which also features in the novel alongside Norwich Market as Strike’s partner Robin Ellacott goes undercover.  

Filming for the 2026 BBC series of this Strike novel took place in Norwich Market, the Royal Arcade and on Cromer beach and Cromer Pier.

Mousehold Heath and Cathedral Quarter 

Tombland is a novel set almost completely in Norwich, with much of the story on Mousehold Heath

CJ Sansom’s final and best-selling novel Tombland takes its name from our city’s Anglo-Saxon marketplace. Set in Norwich during the time of Robert Kett’s Rebellion in 1549, the story sees lawyer Matthew Shardlake entangled in both sides of the fight. Throughout, he visits many of the city’s locations, including Norwich Market, but most notably in our Cathedral Quarter. Think Augustine Steward’s House, the Great Hospital, Bishop Bridge, Lollards Pit and more. A large portion of the novel takes place on Mousehold Heath, where Kett’s army set up camp.  

One of the best ways to experience Tombland for yourself is with Paul Dickson’s guided ‘Shardlake’s Norwich’ walking tour (£12pp), which will take you from the Maids Head, through our historic centre, and up to Kett’s Heights (named for this brave rebel). 

And if you’re visiting Norwich, why not stay at the Maids Head Hotel in one of their characterful rooms with views of Tombland? While you’re here, walk up to Mousehold Heath for panoramic city views and visit Norwich Castle, where a blue plaque commemorates Robert Kett.

The Julian Shrine 

Visit the site of Julian of Norwich’s cell where she wrote Revelations of Divine Love

Another incredible literary figure, Julian of Norwich wrote her Revelations of Divine Love in her anchoress cell at St Julian’s Church, found between Rouen Road and King Street. It was the first book to be written by a woman in English.  

Detailing 16 visions from God while on her deathbed, today The Julian Shrine is a site of pilgrimage for visitors worldwide. You can see the site of her anchoress cell and visit The Julian Centre next door for information on this pioneering woman alongside translations of her work and her contemporaries.

Sainsbury Centre 

Looking into the Sainsbury Centre's Modern Life Cafe from outside, with grass in the foreground and autumnal trees in the left background. On the left of the grass is a white sculpture. The building is rectangular, modern and has large glass windows.

Avengers assemble! immerse yourself in Marvels comics at the Sainsbury Centre

The National Year of Reading includes all forms of reading and that goes for comics, too. And when it comes to comics, you can’t get much better than Marvel.  

At the Sainsbury Centre, this superhero story came to life when the art museum’s futuristic Norman Foster-designed building was used as Avengers HQ in blockbusters The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant Man (2015) and Spiderman: Homecoming (2017). While the exact interior location is not accessible to the public, you can see the wing from the outside and have lunch in the Modern Life Cafe, which also features!

Norfolk 

Great Yarmouth 

Great Yarmouth is a seaside town with links to literary greats Anna Sewell and Charles Dickens

Norwich is linked to one of the biggest selling books of all time- Black Beauty. Written by local author Anna Sewell in the city and published by Jarrolds in 1877, it was one of the first English novels to be written from an animal’s perspective and has since led to numerous adaptations. You can visit her birthplace, Anna Sewell House in Great Yarmouth, now a museum dedicated to the author and her influence on animal welfare run by Redwings Animal Sanctuary (who have a black beauty of their own, Maya).  

And did you know that parts of Charles Dicken’s bildungsroman David Copperfield are set in Great Yarmouth? In this story, it’s here the eponymous character enjoys time with his housekeeper’s family. For the 2019 film The Personal History of David Copperfield, starring Dev Patel, Norfolk’s King’s Lynn and Weybourne were used as alternative filming locations.

North & West Norfolk 

Norfolk is the location for Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, with Holkham seen in the film adaptation

The University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing MA has produced more than a few incredible alumni, including Booker Prize Winner Ian McEwan and Booker Prize and Nobel Prize Winner Kazuo Ishiguro.  

Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian fiction Never Let Me Go is set in an alternative England and follows the lives of three boarding school students. In the novel, the students travel to Norfolk, with Holkham beach the chosen destination for the 2010 film adaptation starring Keria Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield.  

Meanwhile, West Norfolk acted as the backdrop for the 2007 film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s award-winning 2001 novel Atonement, with the villages of Walpole St Andrew and Denver taking the place of WWII-era Dunkirk.  

And if it’s historical fiction you’re into, head to Blickling Hall. As the actual birthplace of none other than Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn, the Hall has been the location of many a tale, including Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl and its 2008 film adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman.