St. Lawrence Church stands upon the very spot to which the arm of the sea rose in former times, when Norwich was merely a fishing town, and this spot was the quay or landing place for all herrings brought into the city. After the water had receded, the church was founded on the same site in the reign of Edward the Confessor, in the 10th century. In 1460, the original building was taken down, and the present one was erected twelve years afterwards. It consists of a nave, chancel, aisles, north and south porches, clerestory, and a tower 112 feet high, with six bells. The roof of the church is supported by clustered columns, the inside is light and regular, and the windows are large and well filled with tracery. They were formerly decorated with stained glass, all of which was demolished by the Puritans in 1643. There is here an ancient octangular font, ornamented with shields, angels, &c. In the spandrels of an arched door, in the western side of the church, are two ancient carvings, one representing the martyrdom of St. Lawrence broiling on a gridiron, and the other a number of Danish soldiers shooting arrows into the body of King Edmund, whose head is seen lying in a thicket, as described in the old legend. The Rev. E. A. Hillyard is the present incumbent. _St. Swithin_. St. Swithin’s Church, situated between upper and lower Westwick Street, is a neat building, containing a nave, two aisles, and tower. One side of the nave is supported by pointed arches on columns, and the other by round arches and square piers. The Chapel of St. Mary, at the east end of the north aisle, had an altar, and the guild of the Holy Virgin, called the tanner’s guild, was kept there. The rectory was anciently in the donation of the See of Norwich, and in the year 1200 was annexed to the deanery of Norwich, as were the churches of St. Simon and Jude, and Corstweyt, and the deanery of Taverham, and so held till 1329, when the deaneries were separated from the churches which were then perpetually united. But notwithstanding this union, in 1546 Bishop Rugge separated the advowson from the bishopric, and granted it to William Farrar and others. In 1608, John Ward was patron, who suffering a lapse, was by the bishop collated to it; and entry being made that the bishop had collated him in full right, it has ever since been supposed to be in the bishop’s patronage, and held by sequestration or license at the bishop’s nomination. During the cleaning of this Church in 1834, an ancient portrait of Edward the Confessor, painted on a panel, was found beneath one of the seats, where it is supposed to have been placed during the civil wars. The altar piece contains portraits of Moses and Aaron, and the church has an ancient font. The rectory, valued in K. B. at £6 3s. 4d., has been augmented, and is still in the patronage of the bishop. * * * * *