Norwich Market is unique in Britain. It boasts over 190 stalls and is the largest Monday-to-Saturday open market in the country. There's been a market in Norwich since Saxon times and it's been on its current site longer than any of the buildings that surround it.
Dating the beginnings of Norwich Market is a difficult business, but there is clear evidence of a well-established market in the Norwich area a millennium ago - and it is likely to have existed long before then. A mint was established in Norwich by the Saxon king Athelstan about AD 930, indicating there were goods being traded in the area, and the first mention of the market is in the 1086 Domesday book. The area which is now Norwich was settled centuries beforehand, so it is likely that the market was operating in one form or another for hundreds of years before it was recorded.
Trading first grew up in Tombland, then an empty space between scattered farmsteads and dwellings. Following the Norman invasion, it was forcibly moved by the invaders to what is now Gentleman’s Walk – where it could be kept firmly under the eyes (and control) of the new Norman castle.
By 1300, Norwich was the capital of East Anglia and the market stretched from what is now All Saint’s Green to London Street and up over the land covered by City Hall. Animals, timber, spices, hides, fish, leather tanning, honey, cheese and meat were all for sale as well as madder for dyeing, parchment, and ironwork. In 1341 King Edward III visited Norwich and granted the franchise of the market to the city’s rulers in perpetuity.
But the city’s prosperity took a blow with the arrival of the Black Death in 1349. Many hundreds died, and a few years after the epidemic many stalls were reported as “ruinous and without tenants”. By 1407 Norwich – and the market - had recovered, and work began on the Guildhall, a building designed to house all departments of civil administration and justice. This remained the only municipal building in Norwich until it was hopelessly outgrown and City Hall was opened in 1938.
In the early 1700s a committee was formed to manage the market. At this time stalls were still temporary, so on days when there was no market the site was a huge open space, used for all kinds of communal activities.
Today, Norwich is the largest Monday to Saturday open market in the country, and still bustles with people every day.
In 2006, a complete refurbishment of the market site was carried out, updating stalls and giving better working conditions for traders while remaining true to the original design.
