In 1827, Francis Stone, the County Surveyor repaired the east elevation of the keep (where Soane's building had been demolished) and re-faced it in Bath stone to the original design using the skills of stonemason James Watson (of whom more next time).
The lovingly repaired and glowing east elevation naturally made the rest of the keep look a tad tatty and smoke-blackened and so the proposal was made to repair and re-face the other three sides. Francis Stone passed away in 1835 and - chastened by their previous error in letting neo-classicist Soane desecrate the castle - an authority on mediæval military architecture, one Anthony Salvin was appointed to carry on Stone's repair work and to reface the rest of the castle where it was too far degraded to mend.
Cue much spuffling pomposity in the letters page of the Norwich Mercury. The Rev. E. T. Daniell, prominent in the late period of the Norwich School of Artists wrote to the Mercury in protest:
"With unnecessary, misguided and hastening zeal, these 'Mock-Normans' are pegging away at that which is all but as durable as the odium which will attend the measure (whatever that meant), and foisting in its stead the abomination that will perpetuate its shame!"
The artists and antiquarians were up in arms, demanding that the castle keep remain a "picturesque ruin" to rot away and fall down over the centuries in a fashionably early-nineteenth-century "Romantic" manner. Fortunately they didn't get their way …
Prior to the ranty Rev. Daniell joining their ranks, the early Norwich School artists, such as J. S. Cotman and John Crome, together with topographical artist Henry Ninham left us something of incalculable value: a wonderful record of the tumbledown timber-framed glory that was Georgian Norwich.
Most of these buildings and views would be long gone by the time photography came around so they form a pictorial record that can be kept in the head while wandering the modern streets.
Next time, Hugh and Old Dive turn detective in an attempt to figure out how Salvin re-faced the keep well under budget. Some admirable Georgian sneakiness is involved.
Sources:
The Annual Register: A View of the History, Politicks and Literature of the Year: Edmund Burke (ed) and successors: 1758 to Present
Norfolk Museums Service and the Norfolk Archæological Society
East Anglian Archæology Vol. 132: Norwich Castle: Excavations and Historical Survey: 1978-1988: Part II: c.1345 to Modern: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2009
The Printed Plans of Norwich 1558-1840, A Carto-Bibliography: Raymond Frostick: 2002
Norwich Cathedral - Church, City and Diocese: 1096 - 1996: Various Eds. 1996
Norwich Since 1550: ed: Carole Rawcliffe & Richard Wilson: 2004
Norwich - The Growth of a City: Barbara Green & Rachel M R Young: Norfolk Museums Service: 1981
Norwich Houses Before 1700: Vernacular Architecture, Vol 14: 1983
4 comments:
The Ninham paintings are so lovely, and it must be especially nice to wend your way around Norwich while keeping them in mind. I don't know how to phrase it best, but you will know what I mean: walking amidst and upon the past has rich romance to it.
It certainly does, Petrea. Fortunately, as you'll see in a later post some of it was saved from the wrecking ball and there are still streets you can walk down that are virtually unchanged for four-hundred and more years. The only down side of course is the amount of days they are shut off for movie and TV location work.
Hey, if that preserves them, it's a blessing. Can't wait to see those photos.
It's a blessing indeed, Petrea. I love spotting places I know in odd historical dramas or movies. We do get some odd ones, however. As you'll see later, the scenes in Full Metal Jacket of US helicopters strafing Vietnamese villages were filmed on the marshes where I cycle at weekends.
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