St Andrew's Hall and Blackfriars' Hall or The Halls are a Grade I listed complex of former friary church and convent buildings in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, dating back to the 14th century. They make up the most complete friary surviving in England. The complex is made up of several flint buildings. The centrepiece is St Andrew's Hall. The halls are now used for conferences, weddings, concerts, beer festivals and meetings. The maximum capacity is 1,200 people. It is one of the

Norwich 12 Norwich 12 was an initiative by Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) to develop 12 of Norwich's most iconic buildings into an integrated family of heritage attractions to act as an international showcase of English urban ...

heritage sites.

History

In the mid 13th century a religious order called the

Friars of the Sack A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

settled in Norwich, in the parishes of

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Pete ...

and St Peter Hungate. By the early 14th century, the group was in decline. In 1307 the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

, also called the Black

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

s because of the colour of their

habit A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

, took over the site by royal licence under the condition they cared for the last remaining friar.

The first church and buildings were destroyed in 1413 in a serious fire which destroyed a large part of the city. The second church building which survives today was completed in 1470. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

of the new church now forms St Andrew's Hall; the chancel (of five bays), Blackfriars’ Hall. There is also a crypt,

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

and

cloisters A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

. During the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the site was saved by the City Corporation, which bought it from the king for use as a 'common hall.' Since then the complex has been used for worship, as a mint and as a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

.Norwich 12 Leaflet, Norwich HEART, 2010Norwich 12 Guidebook, Norwich HEART, 2008. It has been used regularly for civic occasions since 1544, when the first Mayor's feast was held for the inauguration of Henry Fuller. The Norwich Triennial Festival, the third oldest in the country, began here in 1824.

References

External links

Official website

Norwich Blackfriars Online
{{Coord, 52.6311, 1.2957, type:landmark_region:GB-NFK, display=title Buildings and structures in Norwich Monasteries in Norfolk Norwich, St Andrew's Hall

History

See also

References

External links