Pottergate

The widest part of Pottergate is St Benedict’s Plain. All the old houses that made it a spot beloved by artists have now gone, including No 106, the seventeenth-century house with twin gables which stood at right angles to the road and which with No 107 (right) closed the view at the end of the street. No 106 was severely shaken by the bombs and had later to be taken down. Contemporary houses facing the street, Nos 102 and 104, still survive, however, No 104 – Kinghorn House (below) preserving to us the memory of a former minister of St Mary’s Baptist church, the Reverend Joseph Kinghorn, who died in 1832 aged 66. He was described as a man of fine presence and great ministerial power whose appearance was so striking as to make an indelible impression on all who had once seen him.

No 107 Pottergate facing eastwards down the street, together with its neighbours Nos 109 and 111 standing behind it and facing south, were typical Norwich houses of the Tudor period. In October 1936, they became the centre of a heated argument when being considered as to their fitness under the Slum Clearance Acts. The City Council at the time were planning to construct a relief road for St Benedict’s and as its path was to pass across the site the owner claimed that if the houses were required for that purpose she should be paid a fair value for them and not clearance area value.

Among much other evidence was a letter from the Norwich Amenities Preservation Society claiming that No 107 was one of the oldest houses in the city and in the event of the owner not being prepared to do anything required, the society would like to take it over. The occupier backed this up in a letter to the Press by saying that it was the best house he had ever lived in and that its oakwork was marvellous. Speaking for the Corporation, the Town Clerk reportedly said that they did try, without prejudicing their duties under the Acts, to work in with the Preservation Society, but Norwich was “littered with old buildings” of archaeological interest and if they were never to interfere with any such, it would scarcely ever be possible to widen a street or make a new one.

The outcome of the inquiry was that the houses had to go, but because the war intervened the new road was never built. It may offer a crumb of consolation, however, to realise that some five years later the St Benedict’s bombing would undoubtedly have brought them to ruin.

Leading from the northwest corner of St Benedict’s Plain, the church alley descended two or three steps and then, after cutting diagonally across one corner of the churchyard, made its way past the west end of St Benedict’s church to the main street of the parish.

Until ruined by the blitz there was to be seen inside the church, on the south wall of the chancel, a tablet to the memory of one James Wilkins (died 1820) on which he was described as “an eminent plasterer of this parish”. This was an occupation over which Ian Hannah waxed exceeding wrath, declaring that “half Norwich is his monument...much of mediaeval Norwich...lies imprisoned by such as he...they trusted future generations should think the city was moulded of the material they loved”.

Backing upon the churchyard from the north side of St Benedict’s Plain were Nos 103 and 105 Pottergate (right), a handsome pair of houses of brick and tile construction, the front wall plastered and painted. Could this have been some of James Wilkins’ work? Built late in the Georgian era, the houses had overhanging eaves and three rows of sash windows with slender glazing bars very typical of this period. However, the principal features of these houses were undoubtedly the handsome doorways, each consisting of two disengaged pillars, fluted, standing on small stone bases and supporting an entablature enriched with a row of triglyphs alternating with various emblems.

One of the most notable residents at No 103 was Starling Day, who was Sheriff in 1775, Mayor in 1782 and 1812 and an Alderman for Wymer ward. A wool factor, merchant and banker, he lived and carried on his business here, opening a bank in 1806 but transferring it later to offices in a court off the north side of the Market Place. He died in 1820 aged 85.

Next door at No 101 (left) was another house of that same period. The upper windows were all casements but those on ground floor had sashes with semicircular heads, the glazing bars interlacing at the top. A narrow plain frieze or stringcourse extended across the front of the house level with the springing of the window arches. The central doorway with shallow fluted pilasters was plain in comparison with those next door, and was of a type almost mass-produced about this time, being similar to a number of others scattered about the city. Here at the beginning of the nineteenth century Starling Day had his workrooms, but during the latter years of its existence it was occupied by the firm of W. J. Pack and Company, printers. This and the two houses previously described were all severely shaken during the 1942 bombardment and had later to be demolished.

When the city walls were built early in the fourteenth century no outlet was provided for Pottergate, presumably either because the street was not considered of sufficient importance or because of its close proximity to the gates of St Giles’ and St Benedict’s. Instead a tower was built, situated on the site of the present junction of Pottergate with Wellington Lane, and it was not until 1825 that a way was cut through, linking the street with West Pottergate a few yards further down Grapes Hill.

Full Pottergate photo archive

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