The chapters on Trade and Commerce supply a new feature in Norwich history, and are very important to men of business. The information on this head, including the history of the Manufactures and of the Wholesale Trade of the city, is for the most part taken from Essays, by the compiler, to which the prizes were awarded at the Norwich Industrial Exhibition of 1867. The great length of the secular narrative must suffice as an apology for the brevity of the ecclesiastical details, which occupy the greater portion of Blomefield’s work. A full history of the churches in Norwich would fill many volumes; indeed, Kirkpatrick’s account of the Old Religious Houses occupies as many as 300 pages. But the general reader would not be interested by such details. A full history of Norwich, up to the latest date, has long been wanted, and the present compiler has availed himself of all sources of information, but he has been obliged to compress a great deal into a small compass. He has introduced many notices of eminent citizens of every period, including bishops and ministers of all denominations, who exercised much influence in their day and generation. Accurate views of local history afford the clearest insight into the state of society at different periods. Thus the records of Norwich Castle prove that nearly all the land in the country was either assigned to bear, or was chargeable with, the castle guard of some castle or other in ancient times. The castles being fortresses were the centres around which large towns arose, and where people most congregated for protection in lawless ages. The whole island was one vast camp during the feudal period. Monasteries were the only places of refuge for travellers, or for the destitute poor, and when the religious houses were dissolved, an entire change took place in the state of society. Local history, properly understood, is not a dry register of events, but leads from particular conclusions to higher generalisations. The predominance of certain ideas at different times produced all the events of those periods. Norwich men took an active part in all the great movements of the day,—in the Reformation, the Civil Wars, the Commonwealth, and all the agitations of more modern times. Therefore, the story of the city is interesting and important in every period, and it is identified with the whole course of events in East Anglia. Indeed, it is difficult to separate the history of Norwich, the capital of East Anglia, from that of the whole district. [Picture: Decorative mark] SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. PART I. PAGES SURVEY OF NORWICH. Rise and Progress of the City—The 9–115 Modern City—Public Buildings—Parishes and Parish Churches—Nonconformist Chapels. PART II.