238 NORWICH. 
appears by the following eftimate of the moitconliderable 
places in the kingdom. York contained 11 iS families, 
Norwich 738, Ipl'wich 538, Exeter 315, Canterbury 262, 
Hertford 146, Warwick 113, Southampton 84, Bath 64, 
and Northampton 60. 
Enjoying an interval of domeftic peace in the reign of 
William Rufus, and the bifhop’s fee being removed here 
from Thetford, a conliderable addition was made to its 
population, by the vail influx of Jews, who about that 
time came over from Normandy. They had firft been al¬ 
lowed to fettle in England by the Conqueror, as chapmen 
.for the confifcated goods of his fubjeCts ; and, encou¬ 
raged by his fon and fuccefior, their numbers had greatly 
increafed. In the reign of Henry I. the government of 
the city was feparated from the caftle jurisdiction ; and 
in the following reign of Stephen, Baker in his Chroni¬ 
cle fays, “ the king gave licenfe to the city of Norwich 
to have coroners and bailiffs ; before which time they 
had only a fergeant for the king, to keep courts.” This 
was confidered as the dawn of the corporation ; and in the 
time of Richard I. A. D. 1193, the inhabitants of Norwich 
were recognifed under the title of citizens. In confe- 
quence of a reprefentation how much the place had fuf- 
fered in the rebellion of the barons again!! king John, 
and at othertimes, the citizens obtained leave tofurround 
the city with a wall, and to ereCt gates and bulwarks for 
its defence. Thefe were begun in the year 1297, and 
finifhed 1320; but they were not completely fitted-up and 
fortified till the reign of Edward III. A.D. 1342. At 
that time, Richard Spynk, a wealthy citizen, ereCted ad¬ 
ditional walls, and towers, with portcullifes to the gates, 
and furniflied the garrifon with various military engines, 
ammunition, &c. 
The year 1336 will ever be memorable to the inhabit¬ 
ants of Norwich, for the influx of a numerous body of 
ingenious Flemings, and the introduction of the worfted 
manufactures, which are {till denominated Norwicli-Jhffs. 
This city has fu fie red greatly, at various times, by the 
plague and fcarcity; and few places have fuftained 
greater loll'es from accidental fires. Thefe are attributa¬ 
ble, not only to the quantities of timber ufed in building, 
but to the imprudent practice of covering the houfes 
with ftraw; a cuftora not yet entirely difufed. Two def¬ 
lating fires, which happened at theclofe of Henry VHth’s 
reign, induced the corporation to iflue an order, that no 
new-ereCted buildings in the city fhould be covered with 
thatch. The profperity of the place, which had begun 
to decline, was revived in 1566, by the fettling hereof 
330 Dutch and Walloons, who had fled from the Nether¬ 
lands during the perfecution under the duke of Alva. 
In 15-71 the number had increafed to 3925; and, by 
the invention of bombazines and other articles in the 
weaving-manufaCture, they contributed much to the 
general population of the place. In 1574, when a ru¬ 
mour was fpread of invafion, by means of the invincible 
armada, Norwich, towards the general defence, exhi¬ 
bited on its muftef-roll 2120 able men, four hundred of 
whom were armed. In 1578, queen Elizabeth made a 
,progrefs through the county, and took up her abode for 
Several days in this city, where file was entertained with 
great hofpitality and loyalty. In the time of Charles I. 
the city declared for the parliament, and was pofleffedby 
their forces, till Cromwell was declared proteCtor of the 
realm. In the year 2663, the charter was renewed by 
Charles II. it was refumed by James II. orat leafl the pri¬ 
vileges fufpended, and reftored to its full extent again in 
1688. By virtue of this, the government is vefted in a 
mayor, recorder, fie ward, two fheriffs, twenty-four aider- 
men, of whom the mayor is one, and fixty common- 
council-men ; a town-clerk, chamberlain, fword-bearer, 
and other officers. In the third year of queen Mary’s 
reign, A. D. 1556, the extent of ground, called “the 
City and County of Norwich,” was afcertained and con¬ 
firmed, by which it appears to be fourteen miles in cir¬ 
cumference, comprehending nearly 6630 acres. The 
meafurement from the Guildhall in the Market-place; £0 
Mile-crofs on the north, is one mile and fix furlongs; 
to Thorpe, eaft, one mile and four furlongs ; to Harford- 
b ridges, fouth, two miles and two furlongs; to Earl ham 
Bounds, weft, two miles and four furlongs. 
Norwich was early reprefented in parliament; it re¬ 
ceived the firft fummons in the twenty-fifth year of Ed¬ 
ward I. to fend members to the national council. In 
1403, the fourth year of Henry IV. the king’s writ fum- 
moned four citizens to be returned to parliament for this 
city : but fo far was amplitude of reprefentation then 
from being confidered an extent of patronage, that the 
city employed John de Alford to obtain the king’s licenfe 
to fend two only , as before ; whofe fervices were remune¬ 
rated by the payment of three pounds. The king evi¬ 
dently meant to confer additional honour upon the citi¬ 
zens by this extraordinary privilege; but burgefles in 
parliament at that period were allowed wages for their at¬ 
tendance, and the citizens objected to this diftinguifhed 
mark of royal favour, upon the ground of additional ex¬ 
pen fe. The city at prefent fends two members; and th« 
fheriffs for the time being are the returning officers. 
The right of election is in the freeholders, and fuch free¬ 
men of the city only as are entered in the books, and 
do not receive alms or charity. Number of voters, 3000. 
Till within a few years, the population of Norwich had 
been increafing. From the year 1693, in which the firft 
accurate enumeration was taken, to 1752, the number 
of inhabitants had increafed 7288, which is rather more 
than 12 3 § annually. From the year 1752 to 1786, th® 
increafe was 3882, or rather above 121 for each year. 
The number of inhabitants in 1811 was 37,026, being 
3025 fewer than in 1786; and the females exceed the 
males by 6000. The number of houfes is 8251. The 
market-days are Wednefday and Saturday ; fairs, Mon¬ 
day, Thurfday, and Saturday, before and after Eafter 
and Whitfuntide, and Monday and Tuefday following. 
No place in the kingdom, Manchester excepted, has 
made a more diftinguifhed figure in the weaving-trade 
than the city of Norwich. At what era of our hiftory 
the art of manufacturing cloth from wool was firft prac- 
tifed in this ifland, is not recorded. Like many other 
neceflary and ufeful arts, its origin is wrapped in the 
oblivion of diflant ages ; and, from that circumflance, it 
is highly probable that it was amongft the moft early dif- 
coveries. Anterior to the time of William the Conque¬ 
ror, woollens of various qualities and texture compofed 
the principal manufactures ; but foon after that period a 
fort of cloth-work was introduced, which, though not a 
new difcovery, had not been previoufly praCtifed in Eng¬ 
land. This was a totally different production from what 
had ufually been denominated cloth; the preparation 
being by.a combing, inftead of a carding, procefs. By 
the former, the wool is drawn out to a very long, in 
the latter to a fhort, ftaple ; that is, the fibres of the 
fleece are extended the whole length in the one in- 
ftance, and broken and interneCled in the other. The 
art of combing wool is attributed, as a difcovery, to 
Blafius, a bifhop of the eaflern church, in the fourth cen¬ 
tury, who is ftill venerated by the wool-combers as the 
patron-faint of their trade. RefpeCling the time it was 
firft exercifedin this county, different opinions have been 
entertained. Owing to an inundation in Flanders, num¬ 
bers of the inhabitants of that province came over to this 
country in the time of Henry I. Some of them fettled 
in Pembrokefliire 5 and Blomefield fuppofes, that others 
fixed their abode, firft at Worftead, and afterwards at 
Norwich s and, from their fetting-up the making the 
articles manufactured from jerfey, or combed-wool, at 
the former place, fuch have ever fince been denominated 
worfted-fluffs. In the reign of Edward II. a patent was 
granted to John Pocock, inverting him with the exclu- 
five privilege of meafuring every piece of worfted-ftuft' 
made in the city of Norwich, or county of Norfolk: but, 
tins having been found to operate as a reftramt on the 
trade. 
