Norwich's Heritage Open Days promise to be some of the best yet.

In the second of a series of features exploring different aspects of Heritage Open Days 2005, Jayna Makwana discovers the city's pioneers.

Norwich is a city of many firsts. Did you know for example that the city boasted the first industrial nurse in the UK, the first woman to write a book in English or the first full time amateur dramatics company? No? Then perhaps you have heard the bizarre story of morris dancing Will Kemp?

These are just some of the stories that will be told during the city’s Heritage Open Days, running from Thursday September 8 to Sunday September 11 2005. The days promise an opportunity for the public to feed their hunger for knowledge about Norwich’s rich and vibrant past whilst offering the chance to explore what lurks behind some of the city’s locked doors.

As part of the programme, the Heritage Open Days will also feature a structured set of events tailored around specific themes. One of them, ‘First and Foremost’, revisits some of the city’s firsts and bests by profiling stories that range from the truly remarkable to the plain bizarre.

The Colman factory at Carrow, where it moved in 1862 due to expansion. Courtesy Picture Norfolk.

Take the remarkable Philippa Flowerday. In 1872, at the age of 32, she became the first industrial nurse by being employed by J and J Colman, the famous mustard company. Philippa’s job was to care for the health of the employees and, according to Mike Loveday, Chief Executive of the Heritage, Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART), her job was the first post of its kind to be established in Britain.

This first industrial version of Florence Nightingale trained with the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which combined a hospital service with a home nursing service. Her duties at Colman’s included helping the doctor each morning and taking supplies from the works kitchens to the sick at home, she would carry out approximately 45 visits a week.

The rapid industrial growth in the 19th century meant an increase in debilitating injuries and a fall in general health and hygiene. Diseases such as tuberculosis were as common as injuries – just one of the factors that led to the introduction of the Factory Act in 1833, which enabled inspectors to monitor industrial working conditions. The employment of Flowerday set the model for Colman and other companies around the country in the care of their employees.

The Colman family and their mustard factory employees in 1882 - any injuries would have been looked after by Philippa. Courtesy Picture Norfolk.

Another remarkable woman from the city was Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) who was the author of the first book to be written in English by a woman: The Revelations of Divine Love in 1395.

Julian of Norwich was an anchoress, which meant that she lived in the church and took vows to live a solitary life of prayer and contemplation. She had a room beside the church that she never left and many people came to her for comfort and advice. It is thought she took her name from the church - her real name is unknown.

Her love for her God gave her inner peace, joy and courage. In her quest to know her God more intimately she prayed to God to give her three remarkable gifts that resulted in her life of solitude and contemplation.

Firstly, Julian wanted a recollection of Christ’s Passion in order to suffer with Jesus and others who loved him during the final hours of his earthly life. She wanted to understand and feel his passion and pain.

Mother Julian of Norwich. The statue can be seen on the walls of Norwich cathedral. © Richard Moss/24HM

Secondly, she wished for a physical sickness at the age of 30 in order to get to the point of death - without actually dying. Therefore she could receive the rites of the church and be cleansed by the mercy of God and go on to lead a more sacred life.

Julian also wished for three internal wounds, which she interpreted as a desire for a ‘true condition’, natural compassion and an unshakeable longing for God.

In early May, at the age of 30, Julian became very ill and received her last rites on the fourth day. Three days later, 8th May, her mother reached to close her eyes, eyes that were looking up at a crucifix held above her face.

Believing her death was imminent; Julian suddenly felt well and had a series of 16 visions that answered her request to ‘witness’ the Passion of Christ. After 20 years meditating on them, Julian wrote her visions down to create the book Revelations of Divine Love.

St Julian's Church. Courtesy Norwich City Council.

The book is now kept in the British Library, but Julian’s remarkable achievements and life will be acknowledged and celebrated, along with those of Phillipa Flowerday, during the Heritage Open Days.

Moving away for a moment from remarkable people to a group of remarkable people, the Maddermarket Theatre opened in 1921 and was the first permanent recreation of an Elizabethan theatre. Built in 1794 as a Roman Catholic chapel, the building was converted into a grocery warehouse before being bought by the founder of the Maddermarket Theatre, Walter Nugent Monck.

So began the tenure of the Guild of Norwich Players, which Monck formed in 1911. The amateur dramatics society had first performed in Monck’s house and then at the Music House in King Street before their success led to the purchase of the current premises. And once again the company provided Norwich with another of its firsts.

“It was the only theatre in the UK to have staged all of Shakespeare’s plays as he had intended them to be performed”, says Mike Loveday.

The Maddermarket Theatre. Courtesy Picture Norfolk.

The theatre will be taking part in the Heritage Open Days and lists an exciting range of events. Many of its thousands of costumes will be on display, while regular behind the scene tours will be running along with educational workshops that people can either watch or join. Other activities include face painting for children and, at time of writing, a stage fighting demonstration in the courtyard is planned. It will most definitely be a busy four days for the team at Maddermarket.

Staying with the theatrical theme, another famous character to come out of Norwich is Will Kemp. A colleague and friend of Shakespeare and a fellow shareholder in the Globe Theatre, Kemp was for a time Europe’s most famous comic actor - and morris dancer.

It is thought by many that most of Shakespeare’s clown roles were written specifically for Kemp, however in 1559 the two friends had an argument. It’s not surprising Shakespeare took umbrage, given that Kemp believed that no production of Hamlet was complete without a dog on wheels!

Will Kemp dancing his way to Norwich. From the woodcut on the titlepage of Nine Daies Wonder.

Regardless of the reason behind the quarrel Kemp wanted to prove that he was still the people’s favourite and as what can only be considered as a 16th century publicity stunt, he set off to morris dance all the way from London to Norwich; a distance of 125 miles.

Despite poor roads and bad weather he managed to complete the journey in nine days (excluding the week or so he was holed up in a hotel in Bury St. Edmunds due to heavy snow and the two half-days he chose not to advertise).

An accomplishment worthy of the Guinness Book of Records, Kemp wrote a book about his morris dancing exploits called Kemp’s Nine Daies Wonder - which gave rise to the phrase ‘a nine day wonder’.

Kemp is however just one of dozens of quirky first and foremosts that generate from Norwich. Mike Loveday provided me with some further interesting examples.

The Beguinage is at the far end. Courtesy Norwich City Council.

The earliest known reference to a Barber in England was John Belton, a Norwich barber recorded as resident in the city in 1163. Norwich is also the only English city to have supported Beguinages. These are “…religious sisterhoods living as nuns but without formal vows and retaining the power to return ‘to the world’ if they wished,” says Mike. A tradition usually associated with Flemish culture, three Beguinages were recorded in Norwich.

On a more functional note, Norwich was also the first place in Britain to experiment with the use of the postcode system of mail addressing in the 1960s, but one of my favourites is not a first but a gruesome last.

The last beheading at an execution in Britain occurred accidentally at Norwich Castle in 1885 when Robert Goodale was hanged for the murder of his wife. But when the trap-door opened the noose severed his head!

If, after reading this article your taste buds have been tantalised for more weird and wonderful facts about Norwich then keep an eye out and make sure you come along to the Heritage Open Days in September since these themselves will be another Norwich first, hopefully.

Norwich Castle - scene of the last beheading in Britain (even if it was an accident). Courtesy Norwich City Council.

After taking over the mantle of UK launch city for 2005 from Liverpool who hosted last year, Norwich has set out to put on the UK’s most ambitious Heritage Open Days.

In the past, Norwich has organised around a dozen HODs events annually and last year Liverpool put on an impressive 70 or thereabouts. So far for 2005 Norwich has 130 different activities planned and the organisers, the Heritage Economic & Regeneration Trust, think that this is a record.

So as well as getting to see the parts of heritage that the public normally don’t reach, enjoy some lectures, exhibitions, concerts and performances and find out more about quite possibly the biggest collection of firsts and foremosts in the UK.

Additional information kindly provided by Mike Loveday.

Jayna Makwana is the 24 Hour Museum/Norwich HEART Student Writer in Norwich. Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust is the groundbreaking initiative to regenerate, manage and promote one of the most remarkable heritage resources in the UK and in Europe.