St Swithin’s Alley
St Swithin’s Alley
On the east side of the alley, overlooking St Swithin’s churchyard, stood another interesting gabled house of about the seventeenth century. This was once the St Swithin’s parsonage, but in later years it became divided into a number of tenements and degenerated so much that in 1938 it had to be pulled down. This was a pity, as when viewed alongside its thatched neighbour it made a typical “artist’s corner”. Text and photographs Copyright © G.A.F.Plunkett 2001 |
Adjacent to St Swithin’s church in
St Benedict’s Street is St Swithin’s Alley
where, straddling the lane, is an old house reconditioned
in the 1930s by the Norwich Amenities Preservation
Society. This is notable as one of the few ancient
buildings within the city walls still retaining a
covering of thatch. A yard at the rear bears the name of
the Hampshire Hog, the sign of an adjacent tavern, being
possibly the last house in England where the game of
logats was played. The logats, resembling
policemen’s truncheons, were to be tossed as near as
possible to a wheel-shaped jack which had previously been
thrown towards the opposite end of the ground; there was
some similarity to the game of bowls.