Norwich – Norwich Castle Museum (Fuller’s House by Henry Ninham)

This artwork is in the collections of Norwich Castle museum and was painted by Henry Ninham (1796-1874). The artwork was painted in the 1840s and was donated to the museum as part of the 1946 Russell James Colman bequest. Ninham nearly exclusively painted Norwich scenes and was enormously useful at recording the history of the city in the period just before photography.

The building in the painting is Fuller’s House, also known as Fuller’s Hole, which was a residential property owned by Alderman Fuller, who it is frequently mentioned was the Mayor of Norwich, but I can’t find any evidence of that in the lists.

Unfortunately, this building was pulled down amongst nearly everything else in the area as part of slum clearance in the 1930s. I’m not sure that the area is much better today in terms of architectural merit, it’s the St. Martin’s Close area of the city. If this would have somehow survived, as Elm Hill only just managed to do, it would have been full of character although the splitting of Oak Street in two by the flyover has rather broken this part of the city away.

I’ve felt the need to get AI to bring it to life a little, I think it adds a slightly interesting perspective to matters.