NORWICH, a large, ancient, and venerable city, distinguished at an early period by the number and importance of its religious establishments, and of great note in more modern days, on account of its manufac tures, is situated not very far from the centre of the more easterly division of Norfolk, of which county it is the capital. It occupies a fine situation, chiefly on an easy eminence, a little above the confluence of the Wen sum with the Yare, which, from the sea-port town, Yar mouth, where is its efflux into the German Ocean, is na vigable to within less than two miles of Norwich, for 'xiats and barges, which the Wensum floats up to the city.* l'hus, the entire distance being only about 25 roiles, is facility given to the exportation of the valuable manufactures of Norwich. The city, very extensive, and yet, in great part, surrounded by a wall, most of the gates in which, if not all of them, are, however, now pulled down, approaches nearly to the form of a circle, diawn out, curvilinearly, a little towards the south-east. The streets are very numerous, but unfortunately, like those of most of our ancient cities, also in general very narrow. Thc mai ket-place, however, situated in the southern and larger of the two portions into which the Wensum divides Norwich, forms a spacious quadran gular area; and exhibits in the diversified character of the buildings by which it is surrounded, together with, especially on a market-day, thc motley groups of buy ers and sellers spread over its extent, an interesting ob ject of contemplation.
In 1578, Queen Elizabeth made, in one of her pro gresses, some stay here ; but after this time wc find, in the political history of the city, little that needs to be stated ; especially as wc have yet to advert to the ma nufactures of the place. The tvra of the introduction of thest, Blornefield, the historian of Norfolk, would make the reign of Henry 1.; when, he thinks, the fabri sation of worsted stuffs was begun by some of the He mings, whotit an mundation hid-dtiven from their own country, and begun at the town of Worstead, in this county. Hence the manufacture of this species of fabric Ivas removed to Norwich ; and, by a fresh impor tation of Flemings, drawn over to England in 1136, by the marriage of her king with Philippa of Ilainauit, was raised to a high degree of prosperity. In 1448, un act passed, appointing eight wardens, four for the county, and four for the city, to watch over the important ma nufacture, and prevent flimsy goods from going into the ntarket. Such care placed the manufacturers beyond the danger of foreign iivalry ; and by the time of Henry ‘1,e are told, that, including X-60,00u worth of hose, stuffs, chiefly called worsteds, sares, and stammins, were made and sold from Norwich only, to the value, annually, of X.260,000. The manufactures as they now stood, however, speedily experienced a decay. But while, in the two intervening reigns, the fabrication of other kinds of goods hacl been commenced with the teign of' Elizabeth,-a revival of Norwich manufactures was destined to take place. Harassed beyond nteasure by the persecuting fury of the Duke of Alva, the indus. trious inhabitants of the Low Countries were fleeing in hundreds from their native soil, when, with a wise and happy policy, the queen invited those who chose to accept the offer, to an asylum in her own dominions.
Numbers did accept the offer. Three hundred are said to have settled at Norwich, and to have soon increased to 1000. By them the manufactures of bays, saves, arras, and mochades, caungeantrics, tufted rnochades, currelles, and other fabrics, into the composition of which, silk, saitrie, and linen yarn entered, was vigo rously commenced, and successfully prosecuted. In 1575, they began to make bombazines, for the manufac ture of which Norwich has ever since been famous— and a new sort of which, more silky in exterior appear ance, is, under the scarcely appropriate, although not new appellation of Norwich crape, just now (1822) in vogue. About the same time, the art of printing was introduced into Norwich, by Anthony Solmpne, one of the strangers. In Defoe's Tour through Britain, the number of work people employed in the woollen, worst ed, and silk manufactures of Norwich, is, on the autho rity of a master manufacturer, his informant, stated to be 120,000 : the far greater number of whom must, however, have resided out of the city. In 1721, the court mourning wasordered to consist of Norwich crapes, a circumstance apparently proving that little foreign de mand then existed for the article so called. Since then, however, the export trade has been considerable. About 1763, there were employed 12,000 looms, each on an average, annually, producing manufactures to the value of X100 ; althea), consequently, to that of X1,200,000; from which sum one-tenth being deducted as the value of the raw material, gave X1,080000 as the augmented value produced by the process of manufacture. Then, as six persons were on an average kept in work by each loom, the number of individuals employed through the activity of the 12,000 looms, was 70,000. And although since that time the trade has experienced considerable depression, yet was it, from about the year 1790 to the year 1800, computed, that 700 000 worth of goods were not unfrequently manulactured here in 12 months. The chief articles now made are bombazines, worsted damasks, crapes, flowered satins, fine camblets, shawls.
cottons, lancy stuffs for both personal ivear and furni ture, cotton, thread lace, linen, called Suffolk hempen, &c. In being produced at market, the staple manufac tured article passes, from first to last, through the hands of about 50 individuals ; the earnings or whom vary from 3s. to SOs. per week. Alany women, and even many children, are employed ; nor were the manufactures of Norwich ever, we believe, more flourishing than, after all their fluctuations, they are at present. The wools used are chiefly those or Lincolnshire and Leicester shire. Alachinery has been extensively adopted. The population of Norwich, which, in 1693, was 28,881 ; in 1752, 36,169 ; in 1786, 40,051 ; and in 1801, 36,854 ; is now (1822) about 46,000. See 13lomefield's Essay to wards a Topographical History of the County of .A''or folk ; the Norfolk Tour ; Booth's History of Norwich ; the Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xi. Ste. Ste. (v. v.)