I was planning to write about a rail journey from Radom to Warsaw, but I can get very distracted and I was intrigued by this. This rather lovely view of Norwich is an etching with hand-colouring by Thomas Rowlandson (1757–1827), published in 1799 and now held by the British Library.
Bishop Bridge is particularly interesting here, as its medieval gatehouse had been demolished in 1791, eight years before the print was published. The gatehouse formed part of the city’s defences, controlling entry across the river, but its weight was damaging the bridge. I’m pleased that the bridge didn’t ultimately fall down as I walk across it most days and I rather like the heritage that it has.
It all feels very peaceful, although there appears to be a fair amount of artistic licence going on here. I’m not entirely confident that Norwich Castle used to look like that, although I wasn’t around in 1799 and even my friend Richard probably doesn’t recall that period. I’ll still ask him, although he tends to be vague about anything before the railways.
The reality is that Norwich wasn’t a quaint little backwater at this time, it was a busy city with plenty of crime and an awful lot of poverty. The artist has made Norwich look wonderfully peaceful, presumably by leaving most of Norwich out.
Anyway, my documenting my rail journey to Warsaw will resume shortly, subject to no further developments in eighteenth-century Norwich.