History Is Present

Norwich Castle

Norwich is a city on the River Wensum in the beautiful rural county of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom.

Norwich Castle

When the Normans conquered England in 1066, Norwich had 25 churches and a population of over 5,000 English Saxons. With its easy access to Europe via the river Yare made it a thriving trade centre, but the Normans did not realise the potential of the town and area.

The heart of Norwich at that time was based around the ancient crossroads at Tombland where the market place and the houses of the officials who administered the town. The Normans looked for high ground to build their castle. Ninety-eight Saxon homes were demolished to build the William’s royal palace.

Shortly after the castle was built Ralph Guader the Earl of East Anglia, tried to seize it but failed and escaped to France leaving his wife, Emma at Norwich Castle. William’s army of over 300 men, laid seize to the castle for three months and Emma had no choice but surrender.

William returned to Norwich at Christmas in 1075, and ordered that many of the castle’s defenders were executed or had their hands cut off or their eyes cut out. By 1122 the castle was complete and William’s son, King Henry I stayed at the castle.

In 1100, work began on a stone keep to replace the timber castle which was built of flint and faced with stone from Caen, Normandy, France. It took 20 years to complete the task.

The Castle and its fee (the area covered by the outer defences) were controlled by the Sheriff of Norwich, who was responsible directly to the King. The Cathedral Priory was a law onto itself, and controlled the area of the Cathedral precincts which are still walled off to this day.

Small conflicts between the Normans, Saxons and Vikings continued, but eventually the town became stable enough to receive a royal charter from Henry II in 1158 and another one from Richard the Lionheart in 1194.

Bigod Crest

During the Revolt of 1173–1174 when Henry II's sons rebelled against him starting a civil war, Norwich Castle was put in a state of readiness. Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk was one of the more powerful Earls who joined the revolt against Henry. With 318 Flemish soldiers that landed in England in May 1174, and 500 of his own men, Bigod advanced on Norwich Castle. They captured the castle and took fourteen prisoners who were held for ransom. When peace was restored later that year, Norwich was returned to royal control.

The Normans introduced the Jews to Norwich and they lived close to the castle. A cult was founded in Norwich in the wake of the murder of a young boy, William, for which the Jews in Norwich were blamed. In Lent 1190, violence against Jews erupted in East Anglia and on 6^th February (Shrove Tuesday) it spread to Norwich. Some fled to the safety of the castle, but those who did not were killed.

When the barons rebelled against King John in 1215, the Prince Louis of France was invited to seize the throne of England. Louis captured Norwich Castle in 1217 and plundered the town.

The town was again plundered in 1266 by 'disinherited barons'.

In 1297 work began on building the city walls for 37 years. All inhabitants had to contribute to the cost. The walls and the 12 gates helped control the influx of people into the town, and the collection of tolls.

In 1349, the Black Death arrived in Norwich, and further outbreaks of the plague in 1362 and 1369 led to the deaths of over a quarter of the population.

In 1380 a charter was obtained giving the Bailiffs and committee of 'Twenty Four' who were rich merchants, the power the make and alter by-laws. A charter in 1404 replaced the Bailiffs with a Mayor and two Sheriffs, but control of the city was still in the hands of the rich merchants. Two more charters in 1414 and 1417 made Norwich a legal corporation and a county in itself.

In the 14^th century, Norwich Castle was no longer a favourite residency of the King but was used instead as a prison but no prisoners were kept there until the 15th century. 

By 1707 prisoners were escaping due to bad repair of the castle so they were kept in chains. By 1810 only a few were chained up as most prisoners were sentenced to death; flogging was not common at Norwich prison.

It was no different to any other prison and by the late 18th Century the gaoler charged the prisoners for almost everything including, furniture, bed clothes, drink, visitors and for releases. The poor were given a bread allowance and relied on friends or other people for food. 

During 1824 the prison was rebuilt to accommodate 255 prisoners and 250 prisoners in 1845. Tunnels were built from the Shirehall to the castle, to transport prisoners. Tunnels also ran from the Guildhall, the Cathedral and the Crown Derby Pub.  On the 2^nd of August 1887 the prisoners were transferred to the new prison.

While the castle was a prison, Saturday was the day for the hangings on the bridge between the two gatehouses, attracting up to 30,000 onlookers. During 1849 trains were laid on for the hanging of James Bloomfield Rush for the murder of Isaac Jeremy who was the recorder of Norwich) and his bones were buried within the castle walls. Robert Kett was captured and hung from the top of the castle for his rebellion against Edward VI. A hanging in 1854 lasted 5 minutes with the person struggling and the last pubic hanging was in 1867. Some prisoners were burnt at the stake in the castle ditches. 

Norwich Castle was purchased in 1887 to become a museum and still is today, the castle was a prison for 900 years.

Ghosts and Death

Norwich Castle’s oldest ghost is King Gurgunt. During roman times he built a castle at Norwich, and when he died the mound that the castle is now on was built for him and it is thought that he still sits on the mound, with a sword in hand and next to a table piled with silver and gold.

Martha Alden

Kett’s ghost is reported to have been seen hanging from the top of the castle, rotting in a swinging cage.

The most popular and most sighted ghost of the castle is of a woman in black. She was first seen in 1820 by several prisoners who were scared half to death.  She is thought to be wearing Victorian clothing and wanders around the art exhibition area of the museum; she turns the corner and vanishes. This area where she haunts was once part of the prison. She has also been seen in the grounds of the castle, floating around and the staff of the museum have witnessed in this area.

This is Martha Alden, who lived at Attleborough with her husband and on the 18^th July 1807, she murdered her husband by cutting off his head with a billbrook, she then proceeded to take her husbands’ body to a dry ditch in the garden with help from Mary Orvice before moving it two days later to a pond on a nearby common and the body was soon discovered. 

Martha’s defence for killing her husband was that he had beaten her, threatened to kill her and was drinking away their inheritance. Martha’s hanging took place on the 31^st July 1807 to a rowdy Attlebrough crowd, on a hurdle which represented a mark of shame. Once she had died her body was handed over for dissection. The crowd burnt the cottage down that she once lived in, but a few days later a ghostly figure was seen on the castle hill and it was identified as Martha.

Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes

Two of Norwich Castle’s most famous inmates were Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes.

Henry was born in 1763 in Laxfield, Suffolk as the son of Henry Kable and Dianna Fuller. Susannah was born in Surlingham, Norfolk in 1763.

Kable was known for being a businessman, but was convicted of burglary at Thetford, Norfolk, on 1^st February 1783 and sentenced to death. This was commuted to transportation for fourteen years to America, but the American Revolution meant that transportation to there was no longer possible. Henry was returned to the Norwich Castle prison.

Susannah Holmes was sentenced to death after being found guilty of theft from the home of Jabez Taylor. Mr. Justice Nares donned his black cap and sentenced Susannah to be ‘hanged by the neck until she was dead’. The judge who passed sentence then recommended that she be given a reprieve, which was granted by the king.  was then sentenced for transportation to the American colonies for 14 years.

Susannah and Henry began a relationship whilst prisoners.

In 1786 Susannah gave birth in her Castle cell to a baby boy who she called Henry. That same year mother and baby were sent to Dunkirk prison at Plymouth to await transportation. An order from London forbade Henry from going with Susannah and their child. He must have thought he would never see his family again.

Mother and baby were also cruelly separated. Captain Bradley who was in charge of the prison had orders only to receive Susannah and turned her baby away. “The frantic mother was led to her cell execrating (cursing) the cruelty of the man and vowing to put an end to her own life.”

A man called John Simpson, the Norwich prison warder who had escorted mother and child to Plymouth took the baby to London to see Home Secretary Lord Sydney who was finalising plans for the first convict fleet to sail for Australia. Simpson was refused entry but slipped in a side door only to be told that he would have to wait several days to see Lord Sydney.

“Not long after, he saw Lord Sydney descend the stairs and he instantly ran to him. His Lordship shewed an unwillingness to attend to an application made in such a strange and abrupt manner. But Mr. Simpson described the exquisite misery he had been witness to and expressed his fears that the unhappy woman in the wildness of her despair should deprive herself of existence.”

Sydney not only ordered that mother and child be reunited but gave instructions that Henry should be allowed to join them as well. So Simpson collected Henry Kable from Norwich. Together with the baby, they made the final journey to Plymouth and a remarkable reunion.

The new family were transported to Australia in the very first famous fleet of convicts. Susannah and Henry were married among on 10^th February 1788 in Sydney; they were the first to marry in the new colony.

They fought and won the first court case in Australia’s history. Henry became the Colony’s first Chief Constable and the first of these reluctant settlers to step ashore on Australia.

In the years that followed the Kables thrived. At first, conditions were harsh in the primitive hovels gathered round the bay. Famine was ever-present. But Henry was undaunted. He was made an overseer of convict gangs, then a constable and finally Governor Phillip appointed him as the first Chief Constable of New South Wales. As with so much of this young family’s life you simply could not make it up.

Susannah gave birth to ten more children and all but one survived. The family grew rich and powerful. For a while Henry ran a public house called the Ramping Horse, the first stage house in Australia, was named after Rampant Horse Street in Norwich.

The first ship of any size in the new colony was named after their eldest daughter Diana. It was built by Henry as part of a fleet that traded across the Pacific.

Diana married a senior civil servant who had come to help establish the colony. It was Australia’s first ‘society’ wedding. By then her parents had served their sentence and the family had grown wealthier with several estates and trading partnerships.

Henry Kable died in 1846 at the age of 82 ad was buried alongside Susannah who had died 1825.

Ten generations later the dynasty they founded is thriving and meets appropriately enough at Kable’s restaurant in Sydney to remember their celebrated forebears who famously became known as the First Fleeters.

Susannah is regarded as one of Australia’s founding daughters. A few years ago she was voted one of that country’s most influential historic figures.