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In the latest in my series of posts from the Norwich Mercury of 200 years ago…..

“Singular Discovery – On Tuesday, as some men were employed in sinking a well upon a piece of land belonging to Mr. Sendell, situated within a hundred yards of the site of St. Giles’s gate, they suddenly found themselves over a vault when about 35 feet from the surface of the earth; naturally alarmed at such an appearance, they left their work until the afternoon, when they provided themselves with stronger tackle and proper implements for ascertaining the “depth below”, they soon found that no danger was to be apprehended in descending to explore the cavern, and accordingly proceeded with a supply of lights, and found very beautiful and extensive vaults, running in almost all directions.

Encouraged by this account, Mr. Sendall and some friends descended to view these unexpected excavations. The air was perfectly pure, and the soil, which is a fine solid chalk, quite dry and of snowy whiteness. On lights being placed at various turnings the appearance was extremely interesting; at what period these places were in use cannot be ascertained, as neither record or remembrance of them exist. They they are growing over the mouths of 60 to 70 years of age, yet the marks of the tools appear very fresh, and the stains of smoke remain in the small niches where lamps were placed by the workmen. A great anxiety to see them has been manifested by the public, and in order to gratify such curiosity we understand Mr. Sendell has waited upon our worthy Chief Magistrate for permission to exhibit them, which permission has been very handsomely granted, and the exhibition will commence as soon as a comfortable entrance can be effected at the front of the hill. It is a singular fact that many marine shells have been taken from the solid chalk in the sides of these arches.”

There’s a whole network of these chalk mines around Norwich which have caused some excitement over the years, not least when a bus fell into one near to the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Earlham Road. They were caused by mining for flint and chalk and plenty are still under the city centre, although many have also been filled or their entrances closed by nervous  property owners and councils. The city council makes reference to these discoveries in their recent notes for the St Giles conservation area.

“It is believed that for several hundred years after the 11th century (and maybe earlier) the area was closely associated with chalk and flint mining. In 1823 an extensive system of tunnels were rediscovered under Earlham Road. They became a tourist attraction and candle-lit tours took people through various tunnels with names including Beehive Lane, Bacchus Street and Royal Arch. One cave was found to contain the inscription ‘John Bond 1571’.”

There is a map of the streets in the area from 1823, but I haven’t yet been able to locate a copy. Although tucked a little away in the Norwich Mercury, the discovery was certainly one which caused some general excitement amongst the denizens of Norwich. Urban explorers still try and find entrances to various chalk mines across Norwich, but I’m not brave enough to do that (there are limits to even my bravery).

Back to my series of posts about what was happening in Norwich 200 years ago this week. And, it’s yet another reminder of just how dangerous a city it was at that time, crime seemed to be rocketing and this is another example of the problems that were faced. The Norwich Mercury reported:

“On Sunday last an inquisition was held at the Workhouse, in the parish of St. Andrew, before Mr William Bell, coroner, on the body of Elizabeth Chaney, aged 19 years, who was picked up in the River Wensum, near Blackfriars Bridge. Septimus Sterey and John Plummer deposed, that they took the body out of the water that morning about 9 o’clock; marks of violence appeared on her face and blood on her cap. Jane Nixon, of the parish of St. Andrew, stated that she has known the deceased upwards of seven months, who, occasionally, came to her house to clean; that deceased was a very steady girl, and was a good character; had in her pocket, when she left witness’s house, one shilling in silver, which she had not had when found; deceased left between 10 and 11 o’clock on Saturday night.

John Cook, living in the Water Lane, in the parish of St. George’s Colegate, said he heard a scuffle in the lane about 11 o’clock on Saturday evening; went to the door, and saw a man and woman (cannot say that she was the deceased). The man appeared to use violence, and the woman ran away; the man followed her. The man had on a dark coloured coat and light trowsers [I like this old style of spelling trousers]. Jeremiah Sexton stated he lived in Water Lane; on the Saturday morning, sweeping there, found a pair of pattens near the staithe, and by the water side saw foot steps. Sarah Nixon deposed, that the deceased lodged at her father’s, and slept with her; knew the pattens to belong to the deceased by the strings, for she gave them to her.

The Coroner said, as there was no evidence adduced to prove how or by what means the poor girl came into the water, the Jury could return no other verdict than found drowned under very suspicious circumstances.”

As the Coroner hinted, this was a murder, but with no evidence to ever prove anything, but it seems to me to the worst of domestic abuse. I didn’t know what a ‘patten’ was, but it’s a clog or sandal. St. Andrew’s Workhouse, housed in St. Andrew’s Hall, was in operation between 1712 and the 1850s, before larger premises were constructed in Dereham Road. Also, Water Lane is now known as Hansard Lane. These were certainly challenging times for the city.

In the latest in my riveting series of posts from 200 years ago, this was published in the Norwich Mercury in January 1824.

“On Monday evening some person or persons cut a hole in a papered pane of the shop window of Mr Steward’s repository, in Magdalen Street, and took through the same three bottles in japan ink. A similar trick was played a week or two since at the window of Mr Brown, baker, of the same street.”

I hadn’t heard of papered panes before, although having thoroughly researched the matter (looked briefly on Google), they seem to have been relatively common and were also a feature in the early United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greased_paper_window) for those who couldn’t afford glass or weren’t able to have anyone nearby who had the skills to make it. Indeed, glass windows in residential properties wasn’t much of a thing for the poorer classes until the early seventeenth century. Having paper windows certainly feels rather sub-optimal though, not least because some pesky people cut through them to steal stuff.

Anyway, I digress, more interesting posts to come.