The history of Pockthorpe and the parish
St James the Less | Mousehold Heath | William of Norwich | St William's Chapel | the barracks | Pockthorpe Brewery | old maps of the parish | parish records
Embedded Files
Poketorp 1203, 1370 (A Short Calendar of the Feet of Fines for Norfolk (1885-6)), 1268 (Placitorium Abbreviatio (1811)); Pokethorpe 1250 (The Records of the City of Norwich (1906-10)), 1257, 1269, 1286 (Assize Rolls, National Archives), 1330 (Lay Subsidy Rolls, National Archives), 1345, 1394, 1488, 1547 (Calendar of the Patent Rolls (1891)), 1428 (Inquisitions and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids (1899-1920)), 1524 (The Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany (1877)), 1535 (Valor Ecclesiasticus (1810-34)), 1576 (Ancient Deeds, National Archives); Pokethorpe 1305 (A Short Calendar of the Deeds Relating to Norwich 1285-1306 (1903)), 1306 (Rolls of the Bailliffs' Court, National Archives , 1558 Kirkpatrick, J., The Streets and Lanes of the City of Norwich (1720), Mousehold, Pokethorpp 1461 (Kirkpatrick).
John Thirtle, Pockthorpe, Norwich (before 1839), credit: Norfolk Museums Collections
The boundary of medieval parish of Pockthorpe ran from the city walls near St James's Church, along the north bank of the River Wensum as far as the Cow Tower and up around the eastern side of Mousehold Heath. In the first post-medieval census of 1693, Pockthorpe had a population of 732.
The area has been known as Pockthorpe for several centuries. The city gate at Pockthorpe Street (now Barrack Street) was called the Pockthorpe Gate. Steward and Patteson’s brewery across from the city gate was known as the Pockthorpe Brewery. It was the big employer and owned land up as far up as Violet Road and Gertrude Road. You can still see a tower from Pockthorpe Gate and remnants of the city walls. The sole surviving part of Pockthorpe Brewery (the offices on Barrack Street built in 1928) are now occupied by QD.
Dense housing, shops and numerous pubs once existed in the area. When Barrack Street was widened, the housing was forced back over what was the barracks. Clues to the past include road names - Cavalry Drive and Hassett Close (where Hassett’s Hall once was).
Parish map
The map shows our parish boundary in blue. A walk around the edge of the parish involves going right round the northern and eastern edges of Mousehold Heath, following Riverside Road down to Bishopsgate Bridge before walking along the river to Whitefriars, and making your way back up Spencer Street to Sprowston Road, and then back to your starting point at the westernmost edge of the Heath. It may not be possible to follow the exact boundaries!
Click here for a larger scale version of this map.
Britain from Above
A detailed aerial photograph of the Pockthorpe area (including the streets near the church, part of the heath, and the area around the river) has been obtained from the Britain from Above project. The photograph, taken in 1951, shows the area before the closure of the Nelson Barracks and the Pockthorpe Brewery, but after the slum clearances of the 1930s, and the damage caused by enemy action during the Second World War.
A full-sized version of photograph will be on view in the church during our Heritage Open Days event in September.
Click here or on the image to view or download a low resolution version of the photograph.
Sources and further information
The Pockthorpe Community Group website
Pockthorpe Gate, from Invisible Works
Norfolk Archaeology (1872) - "Hassett's House, Pockthorpe, Norwich"
Sandred, Karl Inge & Lindstrom, Bengt. The Place-names of Norfolk. Part 1: The Place-names of Norwich. (English Place-name Society, 1989)
Britain from Above website
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