Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Eleventh - 1121 Revisited - Chapter IX - To Pee or to Pray; That is the Question.

Opening time at Norwich Castle Museum used to be a real pain in the butt, especially if - as is very likely here - it's raining.

Three or four coachloads of schoolchildren with their frantic teachers-cum-herders all trying to crowd into the tiny entrance hall and all yelling at once at the poor girl at the ticket machine. Anyone else trying to gain entry gets elbowed out into the rain to wait for the chaos to subside.

Not for much longer, however … The old service entrance to what was the 1960s café (round the back of the panopticon prison) will soon be the "schools" entrance, leaving the new, much enlarged reception area for Old Dive to stroll leisurely in without the shrieking riot of schoolkids.

"What's this?" I hear you gasp … A man knocking a big hole in the castle keep wall? The sacred Norman keep that Old Dive promised to protect with his life?

Scrivens, no! What we're actually doing is opening up an old doorway that was blocked in and re-faced during Wilkins' panopticon construction in the 1820s. Here are some bits of the original door's ironwork concealed behind the ashlar facing.

And here's a hinge from the other jamb. Opening up this doorway will provide a sufficiently upgraded means of escape in case of fire which will allow for the extra numbers of visitors when the Great Hall is booked for weddings and events.

Plus, of course, it is restoring an original Norman feature to the castle keep, which makes me and the Norfolk Museums folk very happy.

Meanwhile … upstairs in the corner …

He's either peeing or praying … I felt understandably disinclined to ask which or why.