Shardlake's Norwich

As part of the Heritage Open Days, G and I went on a fabulous guided walk this morning entitled Shardlake's Norwich. C J Sansom is a British writer of historic crime novels, best known for the Shardlake series set in the reign of Henry VIII / Elizabeth I in the 16th Century. I've only recently started reading this excellent series and am on book two, his latest is the seventh novel and is called Tombland. This is an area of Norwich, which was an important city in England at the time. Shardlake stayed at the Maids Head hotel shown in the postcard which has laid claim to being the oldest hotel in Great Britain. 

In the novel's synopsis, Shardlake gets involved in the Kett's Rebellion. Our guide explained that this rebellion came about due to a perfect storm of events. Norwich cathedral was originally a monastic church, the monks being 'kicked out' during the Reformation, one impact of that being that there was no longer any daily bread given as alms to the poor. Access to common land was restricted by the Enclosures  Act, which meant the poor couldn't hunt or fish where they used to. There was also a hard Winter. Robert Kett was one of the wealthy landowners in Wymondham whose enclosure fences were destroyed by a group of rebels, but Kett not only agreed to their demands but also to lead them to revolt in 1549. The photo of the two cathedrals in Norwich was taken from Kett's Heights where his 10,000 rebels besieged the city (these outnumbered the population of Norwich). Kett was captured by the King's Army of 14,000 men sent to put down the rebellion, tried for treason and hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle. 

So annoyed I forgot my DSLR and had to use my compact camera!!!