Strangers' Hall
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Strangers' Hall is a Grade I
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
and
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
of domestic history located in
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, UK. Throughout its 700-year history, Strangers' Hall has been the home to numerous Mayors of Norwich and has served both domestic and commercial functions. A
courtyard house A courtyard house is a type of house—often a large house—where the main part of the building is disposed around a central courtyard. Many houses that have courtyards are not courtyard houses of the type covered by this article. For example, ...
, the oldest part of the building is the 14th-century
undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and Vault (architecture), vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area whi ...
while further additions were made through to the 17th century by various merchants and mayors, most notably the Sotherton family, Francis Cock and Joseph Paine. The house ended up in the hands of the
Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
before being bought by Leonard Bolingbroke, who converted it into a
folk museum A folk museum is a museum that deals with folk culture and heritage. Such museums cover local life in rural communities. A folk museum typically displays historical objects that were used as part of the people's everyday lives. Examples of such ...
at the start of the 20th century. He then gave the house to the city of Norwich, which has since run it as a museum of domestic history. Although other theories have been proposed regarding the origins of the name of the house, it is named after the
Strangers A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to another person or group. Because of this unknown status or unfamiliarity, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, chara ...
, a group of Protestant refugees seeking political asylum from the Catholic
Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...
from 1565, some of whom lived in the hall.


Description and use

Strangers' Hall is located to the south of Charing Cross (originally Shearing Cross),
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
on the south bank of the
River Wensum The River Wensum is a chalk river in Norfolk, England, Norfolk, England and a tributary of the River Yare, despite being the larger of the two rivers. The river is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservatio ...
in the parish of Saint John Maddermarket, an area that was historically central to the city's cloth industry. The building is a
courtyard house A courtyard house is a type of house—often a large house—where the main part of the building is disposed around a central courtyard. Many houses that have courtyards are not courtyard houses of the type covered by this article. For example, ...
, with the oldest parts of the building dating back to the 14th century, although additions were made from the structure until the 17th century. Strangers' Hall has been well preserved, with several centuries of construction surviving to the 21st century. The building contains two floors, with an east, west, south-east, and south-west range, which all span both floors. The south-west range contains a Georgian dining room on the ground floor and the Oak Room above. A north range with accompanying cellars and an undercroft fronts the building. There are three courtyards; one to the south, one in the centre, and one to the west. The hall is on the first floor, above the
undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and Vault (architecture), vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area whi ...
and adjacent to the north chamber block. A 17th-century staircase leads from the hall down to the south courtyard. To the east, there is a service range on the ground floor with a chamber block located above. There is a
squint Squinting is the action of looking at something with partially closed eyes. Squinting is most often practiced by people who suffer from Refractive error, refractive errors of the eye who either do not have or are not using their glasses. Squint ...
located on the ground floor, which allows a view of the entrance from a porter's lodge. Strangers' Hall occupied both a domestic and commercial function, with various parts of the building suited to different uses. The undercroft was "presumably" a space for the storage and display of goods. The central courtyard, which was used as the entrance into the building, led into the undercroft and the porter's lodge allowed the regulation of goods and people into the area. The west courtyard allowed for the loading of goods to and from the south-west range and into cellars below.


Name

Strangers' Hall is named for the
Strangers A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to another person or group. Because of this unknown status or unfamiliarity, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, chara ...
, a group of Protestant refugees from the
Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...
who settled in Norwich in the 16th century. Thomas Sotherton, mayor in 1565, obtained a royal license for 24 Dutch and 6 Walloon families to move to Norwich to boost the textile industry with the introduction of new methods and goods. The Strangers were also motivated to emigrate due to the anti-Protestant policies of
Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
, which resulted in between 50,000 and 300,000 refugees leaving the Low Countries. Sotherton allowed some of these Strangers to live in Strangers' Hall. Within two years, the number of Strangers in Norwich had reached 1,471, two years later there were 2,866, and in 1582 there were 4,678, roughly a third of the city's population. Leonard Bolingbroke suggested that the term "Strangers" does not refer to these immigrants, but instead to the fact that the hall was used as the residence of various visitors to the city in the 18th and 19th centuries. Another theory was that the hall was named after Sir Lestrange Mordaunt, 1st Baronet, owner in 1610.


History

The first structure on the site of Strangers' Hall was built in the 14th century. The site was purchased by the merchant Ralph de Middleton in 1286–87, and it was "probably" him or his descendants who constructed the original structure. The structure likely contained domestic accommodation with an
undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and Vault (architecture), vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area whi ...
, dating to around 1320 located beneath. The three-bayed undercroft, which has
chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...
ed
ribs The rib cage or thoracic cage is an endoskeletal enclosure in the thorax of most vertebrates that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum, which protect the vital organs of the thoracic cavity, such as the heart, lungs and great vessels ...
supported by wall piers, along with
quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...
in one of the courtyards, still exist. The 15th century saw the building "substantially remodelled" under the ownership of mercer and
alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
William Barley and, from 1485, under mercer and Mayor of Norwich Thomas Caus. Cellars were built to the east of the undercroft. A door was cut into the north side of the undercroft giving access to the central courtyard. The east range, built in the late 14th or early 15th century was also incorporated into the house. The hall was constructed above the undercroft and cellars and was long and wide, with the walls built of
flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
-rubble. The two-storey north chamber block, built of brick with stone quoins, was attached to the hall via a passage. The service rooms to the east were present, although the service doorways were a later addition, so it is not certain whether these were part of the building. The south-west range was also built in the 15th century and was connected to the hall by a
newel A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar around which a helical staircase winds. It can also refer to an upright post that supports or terminates the handrail of a stair banister (the "newel post") ...
staircase. The staircase was later replaced in the Georgian era. To the north, the range which now faces Charing Cross was constructed along with an undercroft underneath the west of the range and cellars to the east. The building during this time had a commercial purpose, with loading bays on the ground floor and storage areas above. The north range may have been divided and leased separately from the house. Nicholas Sotherton, grocer and alderman and later Mayor of Norwich, bought the hall in the early 16th century. During his mayorship, which began in 1539, construction took place on the building, especially on the hall and chamber block. Two service doors were added to the east wall of the hall, connecting to the service rooms. The service rooms were connected by an archway and the north service room had a staircase down to the cellars. A three-sided
bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...
was built into the south wall of the hall. The bay is decorated with shield
spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...
s and an internal arch with
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
s. The addition of this window coincided with the dissolution of the monasteries, and so historian Chris King posits that the window was likely taken from a monastic house. The south wall was heightened to support a new roof, comprising tie-beams and shield spandrels decorated with Sotherton's
merchant's mark A merchant's mark is an emblem or device adopted by a merchant, and placed on goods or products sold by him in order to keep track of them, or as a sign of authentication. It may also be used as a mark of identity in other contexts. History ...
and
Saint George's Cross In heraldry, Saint George's Cross (or the Cross of Saint George) is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with ...
. Arch-braces are supported by
corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...
on the walls. The north wall was also heightened and a new window overlooking the central courtyard was inserted. The chamber block was extended and a
bressumer A bressummer, breastsummer, summer beam (somier, sommier, sommer, somer, cross-somer, summer, summier, summer-tree, or dorman, dormant tree) is a load-bearing beam in a timber-framed building. The word ''summer'' derived from sumpter or French ...
was incorporated into the structure while a fireplace was inserted. New stairs were built leading from the central courtyard into the hall via a new stone porch and porter's lodge, whose squint overlooked the entrance. Sotherton also oversaw changes in other areas of the building. Walls in the south-west range were rebuilt in flint and brick rubble and the west range was constructed. The function of the range is unknown, despite its presentation as a kitchen in the modern museum. The west range contains a fireplace above which a lintel, containing Sotherton's merchant's mark and the Grocers' arms, sits. Following his death in 1540, the remodelling of the house was completed by Sotherton's wife, Agnes. Following her death in 1576, the house was occupied by their son John. Another of their sons was Thomas Sotherton who was mayor in 1565 and both John and Thomas were married to daughters of politician Augustine Steward. John's son John later came into the possession of Strangers' Hall while his older brother Thomas II became mayor in 1605. Following Nicholas' death, the period of ownership under the Sotherton family saw no "substantial modifications" to the commercial areas of the building. A new brick range was built in the south-east corner; this contained a
parlour A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...
on the ground floor and chamber on the first, with
mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...
and transom windows overlooking the south courtyard,. The south-west range was also extended. The house came into the possession of Sir Lestrange Mordaunt, 1st Baronet (who was married to Thomas Sotherton II's widow Frances) in 1610 and was sold in 1612 to grocer Francis Cock, who became mayor in 1627. In 1621, when remodelling the north range facing the street, he incorporated a
fascia A fascia (; : fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; ) is a generic term for macroscopic membranous bodily structures. Fasciae are classified as superficial, visceral or deep, and further designated according to their anatomical location. ...
and new portal to the central courtyard, with an accompanying
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...
with
bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
s depicting a lion and unicorn over a
jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber framing, timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of incr ...
first floor. In 1627, a staircase was placed in the east end of the hall leading up to a
minstrel's gallery A minstrels' gallery is a form of balcony, often inside the great hall of a castle or manor house, and used to allow musicians (originally minstrels) to perform, sometimes discreetly hidden from the guests below. Notable examples *A rare example ...
overlooking the hall. A bay protruding from the south wall was built to accommodate the staircase and doors leading to rooms on the east side were added to the gallery. A new staircase was also added between the two floors of the north chamber block. A year later, Cock died and the house passed to his wife, Sarah and then to Charles George Cock in 1646. The building was bought by
hosier Hosiery, (, ) also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically ...
Sir Joseph Paine in 1659, who became mayor in 1660. Both Paine and Cock hold potential relationship to American
Founding Father The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...
Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...
. Under Paine, the south-west range had three tall windows installed in each room. He created the Oak Room by installing oak panelling and an
overmantel The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and ...
which encloses a painting of the city as viewed from
Mousehold Heath Mousehold Heath is a freely accessible area of heathland and woodland which lies to the north-east of the Middle Ages, medieval city boundary of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. The name also refers to the much larger area of open ...
. Paine lived in the house until 1667 and died in 1673, having received a
knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
for his support of Charles II following the Restoration. The next 150 years of history for Strangers' Hall has been described as a "considerable mystery", and King has noted that in the later 17th century, the house's status declined and it was divided into several
tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...
s. The central part of the house was used as a lodging for the
assize The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
judges in 1748, while a panelled dining room was built in its 16th century parlour. Starling Day was in possession of the house in the 1830s, with the Day family having potentially owned it since 1731. A tenement came into the possession of the
Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, whose priests constructed a chapel in the rear yard by St John's Alley; this is now the
Maddermarket Theatre The Maddermarket Theatre is a British theatre located in St. John's Alley in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Nugent Monck, and is situated next to Strangers' Hall. Early history and conversion The theatre was originally bu ...
. The house contained the studio of Italian sculptor Pellegrino Mazotti in 1819 and Norman priest Thomas de Eterville, language teacher of
George Borrow George Henry Borrow (5 July 1803 – 26 July 1881) was an English writer of novels and of travel based on personal experiences in Europe. His travels gave him a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure strongly in his work. Hi ...
, tenanted the house. In 1846, a meeting was held to consider its demolition, which was ultimately rejected.


As a museum

By the 1890s, the building was empty and derelict and in 1896, was put up for auction by the Catholics in a lot with the nearby chapel and school, and sold for a price of £3,250, despite a suggestion that it should come under the care of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society. Leonard Bolingbroke, solicitor and grandson of Norwich painter James Stark, bought Strangers' Hall in 1899 for £1,050 to save it from demolition. He moved his collection of antiques and topographical prints into the house and opened it as a public
folk museum A folk museum is a museum that deals with folk culture and heritage. Such museums cover local life in rural communities. A folk museum typically displays historical objects that were used as part of the people's everyday lives. Examples of such ...
on 1 May 1900. The house underwent repairs from builder C. F. Harrison and Bolingbroke wished to preserve the house for its historical significance, citing other merchant's houses which had been destroyed in the city. In May 1904, the Norwich Corporation Officials'
Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...
Club opened a
bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
to the rear of the hall. In 1909, the hall was visited by a correspondent from '' The Times-Democrat'' based in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
,
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, United States, who wrote the following: In 1914, a replica of the hall featured at the Anglo-American Exposition in White City,
Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...
. Bolingbroke offered the museum, hall and stock to the city of Norwich and it was officially opened by the city in July 1923. The opening ceremony was attended by the likes of H. Rider Haggard, Eustace Gurney, and George Henry Morse. On 26 February 1954, the museum became a Grade I
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. The building is particularly vulnerable to pests such as
woodworm A woodworm is the Xylophagy, wood-eating larva of many species of beetle. It is also a generic description given to the infestation of a wooden item (normally part of a dwelling or the furniture in it) by these larvae. Types of woodworm Woodbo ...
and damp, and is thus subject to annual deep cleans by workers and volunteers. In January 2023, during one deep clean of the premises, volunteers found charred remains of parish records dating back 250 years from St Bartholomew Church, a place of worship in the city which was bombed in 1942. The museum's assistant curator of social history, Bethan Holdridge, theorised that the documents may have been misplaced at Strangers' Hall in 1994, following the fire at Norwich Central Library that year. Extensive woodworm was found in March 2023, and several pieces of antique furniture were moved to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse for freezing, which eradicates the larvae.


See also

* Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell *
Norwich Castle Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror (1066–1087) ordered its construction in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England. The castle was used as a ...


Bibliography

* * * * *


References


External links


Norfolk Museums page
{{Coord, 52.6305, 1.2922, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Historic house museums in Norfolk Museums in Norwich Mayors of Norwich Buildings and structures in Norwich Grade I listed buildings in Norfolk