A couple of weeks ago I visited Kett's heights, Thorpe Hamlet on the edge of the city centre. There have been many uses of this site over the years from alotments to parkland to camp site of a rebelious mob. I became interested in this site after a discussion with a friend regarding a photo he had taken of the site. In the photo were some flint walls. The reason for my interest is that I had read an article and had knowledge of there being religious buildings on this site from around the 11th Century. I had heard and researched St Leonard's Priory. I will not go into this monastic house in detail here as I will post this seperately.
Please visit the blog of my friend to view the photos that started my interest in this area of the city. http://eastscapes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/on-top-of-city-ketts-heights.html
Having visited the site and walking around it for a few minutes I cam across what I was looking for. I found the old flints walls which mark the location of the Chapel of St Michael on the mount. In the late 11th Century Bishop Herbert De Losinga, the first bishop of Norwich, embarked upon building the Cathedral and in the process several Anglo-Saxon churches were demolished, one such church was St. Michael's. So as to build bridges and make amends with the Ango-Saxon population Bishop Herbert had a small chapel built on the mount and called it St. Michael's. The chapel was cared for and managed by the monks from St Leonard's, with their duties including daily services at the chapel.
Around 400 years later, St Michael's chapel fell into disuse as a chapel. However is 1549 during the rebellion lead by Robert Kett the Chapel of St. Michael was used again. This time it was used as the headquarters for Kett's campaign against the city. Using the remains of the chapel on the mount as his 'castle' it gave him a great vantage point to view what was going on in the city below him.
No comments:
Post a Comment