We have a few other structural relics still surviving in very much their
original condition, which belong to this period—probably to the early
part of the 15th century. These are the old vaulted cellars, which are
to be seen under houses near the Town Hall. There is nothing in these
structures to fix precisely the time when they were built; but they have
all the character of the 14th and 15th centuries. The bricks of which
the groins are made are small and roughly moulded, and would appear to
belong to an early date after the revival of brick-making—a trade which
seems to have been beyond the capabilities of our ancestors from the time
the Romans left the country to the beginning of the 14th century. The
bricks in these cellars are similar to those which are to be seen in the
Yarmouth walls, which we know were placed there in 1336, and which we are
informed by old records cost 20s. a last—the cost of two bricks being
equal to that of one red herring at the time. There are vaulted cellars
under old houses in Norwich very similar to those at Lowestoft. A large
cellar of this kind is to be seen in good preservation under the house
known as “The Old Bridewell,” it having been used until comparatively
recent times as an underground prison. This house was built by William
Applegard, the first Mayor of Norwich, in 1404. The Lowestoft cellars
were evidently the basements of separate houses; although near each other
they are entirely disconnected. They are much smaller, and the groins
less strongly constructed than those in the Mayor’s house at Norwich.
The houses above them would also have been much smaller. The doorways
into these cellars are arched, and not very long ago an ancient house was
in existence above one of these cellars. This house had an arched
doorway, which with the vaulted cellars underneath—so like the crypts of
old churches, induced the belief that these houses had a monastic or
ecclesiastic origin. The doorways in the Mayors house at Norwich were of
the same form. Such features were common in houses of this period, and
in no way imply any monastic origin. We cannot infer from the three
specimens of these cellars that survive, that there were many houses of
this character in our old town, nor from what we know of the wealth of
our merchants at this time, can we suppose that there were many who could
indulge in expensively-constructed cellars, however convenient they might
be for storing their “movabyll goods.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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