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This is the recreated Great Hall at Norwich Castle Museum and they’re very proud of the work that’s taken place here. Personally, I’m not convinced, this feels like a school classroom and doesn’t show to me how majestic a room of this size and stature would have been. I’m not sure that the wooden floorboards do much here, they don’t give me vibes of castle.

Looking down the mezzanine level gives an impression look at the work that has taken place. I’m struggling to buy into this, there’s the rather beautiful stonework of the castle keep on the left and then some really rather basic looking interior decor. It’s meant to be set up for a large feast, but it more looks to me like wagamama after they’ve cleared 90% of the seating out. But, each to their own, others might be inspired by the photos.

I think that being the Mayor of Norwich, and not just once but twice, in the early sixteenth century would have certainly been quite an intriguing role. Robert Jannys (1480-1530) was a grocer who evidently did quite well, he got himself involved in local politics and then reached the dizzy heights of being Sheriff as well as the Mayor. He made a lot of money, a great chunk of which he spent on supporting local churches, particularly St George Colegate (where his rather decadent tomb still stands), although I wonder how much of that was in hope that he would have a prosperous afterlife.

This cheery little corpse dressed in rags in the painting is a reminder of mortality, that perhaps even the richest of people at that time could become very poor overnight. The artist isn’t known, but it was painted between 1600 and 1650 and placed in the Guildhall, another institution to which Jannys had donated a significant amount. There’s an inscription on the painting which reads “For all welth, worship and prosperite fierce death.”

The British Museum have this print from 1845 in their collection, although he seems to have been given a thinner face here.

I’m easily intrigued and I really rather liked this wooden statue which is on display at the Gallery of Medieval Life at Norwich Castle Museum. The museum has focused on this as they wanted to show the mitre, the bishop’s headgear as they refer to it, something which had been a thing since around 1000. Interestingly, the mitre went away in the Church of England for several centuries in this country following the Reformation, it has only come back in the last 150 years.

This rather decadent piece of carving is from St. Peter’s Church in Upwell and was added to the collections of Norfolk Museum Service in 1891. Quite what happened then I have no idea, but I assume that there was some Victorian restoration at the church. It’s a little bit too big to be a pew end carving, but I’m not sure where it was located in the church.

It’s a defaced statue. But this is exciting, it was created in 1460s but was destroyed in the Reformation when the face was smashed up. It’s difficult to understate how evil the Catholic church had become, corrupt to the core and preying on the poorest in society, but it must have been devastating to communities to see their religious icons destroyed by the mob.

This is a time where I can mention the idiot that was Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor, who recommended in his report that several medieval churches in Norwich should be demolished. Fortunately, his report was so idiotic and simplistic that it galvanised a community against him, and the decision was not to demolish several city centre churches. That’s certainly a reputation to leave, that your work was so incompetent that upset enough people to change the situation and save these churches, with the City Corporation being forward thinking and brave in their offer to take on the leases.

One of the churches that he wanted to demolish was St. Laurence’s Church on St. Benedict’s Street, which is also where this defaced statue was found discarded in the porch. There’s enough of it remaining for it to be identified as a sculpture of St. Christopher carrying Jesus Christ across a river.

Here’s AI’s attempt at completing the statue once again. It’s quite an impressive restoration to be fair.

Located in Norwich Castle Museum’s excellent Gallery of Medieval Life is this reliquary, although the backing plate has fallen off and the relic lost. This was created between 1475 and 1500 and was at a time where the number of relics on the market had reached a ridiculous level, a situation not helped by the corrupt Catholic Church. Even as the church desperately defended itself as the Reformation spread across Europe, they still couldn’t bring themselves at the Council of Trent to end the veneration of relics.

But, I digress. This likely held a relic owned by St. Anthony and the reliquary is made from gold and is highlighted with black enamel. It was found between 1850 and 1852 by “a waggon driver who was pulling into a gateway” although I’m not entirely sure I understand that sentence from the information panel in the museum but elsewhere the museum says the driver “found it in a puddle” which is rather more relatable.

Matlaske is a village pretty much in the middle of nowhere in north Norfolk, located halfway between Holt and Aylsham. Richard and I visited the village’s church there a few years ago and rather lovely the building was too…. Anyway, it’s a beautiful reliquary and I wonder whether the owner popped into the village church in the late 1400s or the early 1500s with their new acquisition.

Located in the museum’s new Gallery of Medieval Life is this really rather lovely copper allow roundel, dating from around 1400 to 1530. It shows St. Mark’s winged lion (a symbol of the city of Venice) and it was likely part of a tomb slab.

It was once in St. Michael’s Church, Coslany which is a church that is still standing, located near to the rather wonderful White Lion pub on Oak Street. This is now a redundant church, having ceased religious services in 1971, which has been used by a variety of occupiers over recent years and it currently houses the Oak Circus Centre.

I find this sort of object fascinating because of the journey that it has been on. Originally funded by a family for their relative’s tomb, it was perhaps taken during the Reformation to either save it or by an opportunist wanting to keep it. It’s survived for several generations and it has been in the collections of Norfolk Museum Service since 1977.

This, for me, is the best part of the renovation of Norwich Castle and it’s the introduction of the Gallery of Medieval Life in conjunction with the British Museum. There feels like a massive step-up in terms of the curatorship here, the signage and explanation panels are just so much better than in the rest of the museum. There are lots of delights here in terms of the exhibits, more of those in other posts.

There are numerous structural things that are also in this exhibition space, which include the castle’s original well.

As my feet show, you can step on the glass which covers the well. It’s no longer possible to throw money into the well [I’ve realised this isn’t true], that’s a change with the new renovation and it doesn’t impact me as I’m too tight to throw money down a hole. The money used to be donated to Friends of the Norwich Museums and they got several hundred pounds every year, so I’m not sure if they get money from other collection boxes instead.

Very pretty.

The well is 36 metres deep and it’s quite an impressive sight looking down. It was once 65 metres deep in the medieval period as it ran through more of the castle structure, allowing access to clean water.