St Julian's is a

Grade I listed 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 ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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 ...

, England. It is part of the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Church of England, forming part of the Province of Canterbury in England. Its origins trace back to the early medieval bishopric of See of Elmham, Elmham and Thetford, which were ...

. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, when the city was prosperous and possibly the second largest city in

medieval England England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Middle Ages, medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early modern Britain, early modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the co ...

, the

anchoress In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress); () is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorites are frequ ...

Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich ( – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, the Lady Julian, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was an English anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as ''Revelations of Divine Love'', are the earli ...

lived in a

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

attached to the church. The cell was demolished during the 1530s. Owing to a lack of funds, the church slowly became dilapidated during the 18th century. It underwent a restoration after one side of the building collapsed in 1845. The tower, also in danger of collapsing, was repaired in 1934. In June 1942, St Julian's received a direct hit during the

Norwich Blitz The Norwich Blitz refers to the heavy bombing of Norwich and surrounding area by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. The bombings launched on numerous British cities were known as the Blitz. Initially bombed in the summer of 1940, N ...

. The only one of the four churches destroyed in Norwich during World War II that was rebuilt, it reopened in 1953. The medieval bell, damaged in 1942, was rehung in 1992. The rebuilt church is a

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 ...

building with stone and brick dressings with a

pantile A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in profile and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses. A pantile-covered roo ...

roof. A small church, it consists of a

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 ...

, single-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, and a

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with defensive walls such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls. Castle ...

. The south chapel and

sacristry A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

and the single-storey porch was added in the 1950s. The octagonal

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

, a replacement for the original one destroyed in 1942, was moved from the now redundant

All Saints' Church, Norwich All Saints' Church, Norwich is a Grade I listed redundant parish church in the Church of England in Norwich. History The church was largely built in the 15th century, when the nave and north aisle were added, but the chancel dates back to the 1 ...

in 1977. The church has an 1860

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, which was installed in 1966.

Organisation

St Julian's is one of the churches of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of St John the Baptist, Timberhill, with St Julian's, Norwich, in the

. It lies within the

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

of Norwich East and the archdeaconry of Norwich. In January 2023, the Revd Richard Stanton, the interim priest-in-charge of the parish, was appointed priest-in-charge. The church is open each day of the week for worshippers and visitors as a place of prayer. The

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

is held on Sunday mornings.

History

Medieval period

An early church on the site of St Julian's Church was destroyed in 1004 when the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

attacked

. The medieval church was built in the 11th and 12th centuries. Between 1269 and 1305 the

associated with the nearby church of St Edward King and Confessor was united with St Julian's. The original dedication of the church is uncertain; it was possibly dedicated to

Julian the Hospitaller Saint Julian the Hospitaller is a saint venerated in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. He is the patron saint of the cities of Ghent, Belgium; Saint Julian's, Malta; and Macerata, Italy. History and patronage The earliest known ...

, but was also considered to have been dedicated to a female saint,

Juliana of Nicomedia Juliana of Nicomedia (Greek: ) is an Anatolian Christian saint, said to have suffered martyrdom during the Diocletianic persecution in 304. She was popular as a patron saint of the sick during the Middle Ages, especially in the Netherlands. ...

. Alan Butler,

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk (5 June 1686 – 20 September 1777) was an English peer and politician who was Earl Marshal from 1732 to 1777. Origins He was the third of the five sons of Lord Thomas Howard (d.1689), of Worksop (younger br ...

(1686–1777), suggested that the dedication was to Saint Julian of Le Mans, an idea refuted by the Norwich

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

Robert Flood in his 1936 booklet ''A Description of St Julian's Church, Norwich and an Account of Dame Julian's Connection with it''. In 1135,

Stephen, King of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne ''jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 ...

put the church under the authority of

Carrow Abbey Carrow Abbey is a former Benedictine priory in Bracondale, southeast Norwich, England. The village on the site used to be called Carrow (there are many alternative spellings) and gives its name to Carrow Road, the football ground of Norwich F.C., ...

. The prioress and nuns appointed the priest at St Julian's, and maintained the church. By the middle of the 14th century, Norwich likely had a population approaching 25,000, a figure not reached again until the late 16th century. Second only in size to London, it was a relatively wealthy city with a densely populated and prosperous

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning the 'land behind' a city, a port, or similar. Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated wi ...

. Besides possessing a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

, it had five

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

, a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

, and a greater number of parish churches than any city in

other than London. Through its trading links with 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 ...

and the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

, at that time the most fertile areas for religious developments north of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, the region probably had access to new religious ideas then prevalent in northern Europe.

Julian of Norwich

During the late Middle Ages, Norwich had an exceptionally large number of

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

s and

anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress); () is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, Asceticism , ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorit ...

s in comparison with other English towns. The mystic and

(or female recluse) now known as

lived in a

attached to the church, which was then in an industrial area of the city, close to the

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

s of the River

Wensum The River Wensum is a chalk river in 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 Conservation. The Wensum is ...

. Julian was born in 1343 or late 1342; her date of death is unknown, but she is thought to have died after 1416. It is possible that her name may have been taken from St Julian's Church, but ''Julian'' was a common girl's name during the 14th century, and it is likely to have been her actual name. Upon entering her cell for the first time, Julian would have been cut off from the world of the living; the cell door connecting her with the church would have been sealed, with a small window to allow her to witness

, and perhaps another to receive callers. Julian is the first woman whose writings in English have survived. Her book, commonly called ''

Revelations of Divine Love ''Revelations of Divine Love'' is a medieval book of Christian mysticism, Christian mystical devotions. Containing 87 chapters, the work was written between the 14th and 15th centuries by Julian of Norwich, about whom almost nothing is known. ...

'', was written in two versions, now usually referred to as the ''Short Text'' and the ''Long Text''. The earlier ''Short Text'' was written after she received a series of 16 mystical revelations, following her recovery from an illness that brought her close to death. It has been speculated that one of the prioresses of Carrow, Edith Wilton, provided Julian with her writing materials. In 1428, another anchoress, Julian (or Juliana) Lampet, was installed in the cell and lived there for 50 years.

Decline and restoration

As a consequence of the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

, the priory at Carrow was dissolved. No rector was appointed at St Julian's for 45 years, until the appointment of Gawin Browne in 1581. During the Reformation, the cell at St Julian's was demolished. After merchants ceased living in the area around St Julian's, the church entered a period of slow decline. By 1827, when the church was drawn by the Norfolk artist James Sillett, most of the east window had been blocked up. According to Flood, "Mrs Gunn made fifteen drawings from remains of coloured glass that lay much broken on the floor. No services were held, and the place was overrun with boys." Part of the

collapsed in 1845, by which time the church was in a very poor state of repair and no longer in use for services. Following the collapse of the east wall, an appeal was made for funds, and the church then underwent a restoration. The priest's door was blocked up, and the medieval wall paintings and biblical texts were painted over or destroyed, the interior fixtures removed and the vestry built on the south side of the building. The tower's height was reduced, and a new east window was installed. By 1860, the

thatching Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

on the roof had been replaced with tiles. By the beginning of the 20th century, the tower was close to collapsing; it was repaired in 1934.

Destruction during World War Two, and rebuilding

St Julian's suffered almost complete destruction during the

of 1942. On 27 June, Norwich was attacked by German aircraft dropping incendiaries and high explosives. The church received a direct hit by a high explosive bomb destroying almost everything except the north wall. After the war, funds were raised to rebuild the church, the only one of the churches destroyed in Norwich during the war that was later rebuilt. Redesigned by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

A. J. Chaplin, it was reopened in 1953, with a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

built in place of the long-lost anchorite cell. The Norman south doorway from St Michael at Thorn was incorporated into the reconstruction. The church's bell was made in 1450 by the

bellfounder Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use such as in churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting ...

Richard Brayser, when it was inscribed with the words '' (Latin meaning "Hail the Lord, full of grace, be with you"). One of the oldest bells in the city, it crashed to the ground and was badly damaged when the church was destroyed. After being repaired, it was returned to the church and rehung in 1992.

Architecture

St Julian's Church was granted Grade I

Listed status 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 ...

in 1954. The

building has stone and brick dressings with a

roof. It consists of a

, the single-

chancel, a circular west tower, a south chapel, and a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

. The remains of the original church possesses a number of Late Anglo-Saxon windows, though the building dates largely to the 11th and 12th centuries. Enough of the north wall has survived to preserve three Anglo-Saxon windows revealed during repairs, two of which are circular. The

was not rebuilt to its former height after the war, but is truncated at the level of the top of the nave. The south chapel and

were added during the 20th century. The single-storey porch was added when the church was rebuilt in the 1950s. The

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

doorway connecting the nave to the chapel is from St Michael at Thorn, a church that like St Julian's, was destroyed by enemy bombing in 1942.

Font

The octagonal

is a replacement for the original one, which was lost when the church was bombed. The current font was moved from the now redundant

in 1977. It has eight standing figures representing the

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

Saint Michael the Archangel Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, and two other saints.

Organ

The church has an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

dating to 1860 by Henry Jones of London, which was installed there in 1966. Originally built for a house in the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

village of

Abbess Roding Abbess Roding is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Abbess, Beauchamp and Berners Roding and the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. The village is included in the eight Hamlet (place), hamlets and villages called The ...

, it was found in a warehouse in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

, where it was rebuilt. A specification of the organ can be found on the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

Churchyard

In 1906, some stonework, thought to be from the destroyed anchorite's cell, was recovered from the

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

. During 2014 and 2015,

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

work undertaken immediately to the east of the churchyard revealed medieval features, including graves. The work done showed that St Julian's churchyard originally extended eastwards up to King Street. The lost part of the churchyard was developed by the 17th century, but it is not known exactly when this occurred.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Norwich St Julian
from the European Round Tower Churches website

from the Umilta website
Julian of Norwich
from the Friends of Julian of Norwich website * *
Norwich – Norfolk LXIII.15.9
��the 1885 edition of the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

1:5000 map that includes St Julian's, from the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

website.
Photographs of the church
by George Plunkett, taken between 1934 and 1962.
1870 plan of St Julian's Church
by Walter E. MacCarthy, from the

Lambeth Palace Library Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite b ...

collection {{Authority control Julian Julian

Round-tower churches