133-585: Peterborough Nene Valley is a station on the Nene Valley Railway and is the current eastern terminus of the line. Situated adjacent to Railworld , the station can be found west of the East Coast Main Line , close to the Junction of London Road and Oundle Road. The station was built in 1986 as part of the Nene Valley Railway 's Peterborough extension. The station is built on its current site because
266-422: A collegial dialogue, seeking common ground and reinforcing the well-mannered civic tradition of earlier periods. In 1797 Thomas Bignold , a 36-year-old wine merchant and banker founded the first Norwich Union Society . Some years earlier, when he moved from Kent to Norwich, Bignold had been unable to find anyone willing to insure him against the threat from highwaymen. With the entrepreneurial thought that nothing
399-656: A considerable time ago. One of the primary exhibits is a large, steel globe, at a scale of 1000 miles to 1 ft. Mountains are sculpted on in polyfiller, and the whole globe is rotated at the appropriate angle (23.5 degrees) by the wind generator on the roof. This development relies upon donations, and so its progress continues to be slow, and has been so for many years. [REDACTED] Media related to Peterborough Nene Valley railway station at Wikimedia Commons 52°34′04″N 0°14′52″W / 52.567705°N 0.247766°W / 52.567705; -0.247766 Nene Valley Railway The Nene Valley Railway (NVR)
532-437: A fly-over and a Brutalist concrete shopping centre – Anglia Square – as well as office blocks such as an HMSO building, Sovereign House. Other areas affected were Grapes Hill, a once narrow lane lined with 19th-century Georgian cottages, which was cleared and widened into a dual carriageway leading to a roundabout. Shortly before construction of the roundabout, the city's old Drill Hall was demolished, along with sections of
665-468: A great body, went through several parts of this city, in a riotous manner, cursing and abusing such as they knew to be friends of the government." However the Whigs gradually gained control and by the 1720s they had successfully petitioned Parliament to allow all adult males working in the textile industry to take up the freedom, on the correct assumption that they would vote Whig. But it had the effect of boosting
798-806: A large Victorian manor house off Old Palace Road was also demolished in 1963, to build Dolphin Grove flats, which housed many Norwich families displaced by slum clearance . Other housing developments in the private and public sector took place after the Second World War, partly to accommodate the growing population of the city and to replace condemned and bomb-damaged areas, such as the Heigham Grove district between Barn Road and Old Palace Road, where some 200 terraced houses, shops and pubs were all flattened. Only St Barnabas church and one public house, The West End Retreat, now remain. Another central street bulldozed during
931-667: A line from Blisworth in Northamptonshire to Peterborough . Completed in 1847, it was Peterborough's first railway line. It terminated at Peterborough, later 'Peterborough East' station . The line was of little significance until the late 19th century, when the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR), which had absorbed the L&;BR, constructed a line via Nassington and King's Cliffe to Seaton , below Welland Viaduct . This turned Wansford , previously an unimportant village station, into
1064-559: A major junction. Its importance increased a few years later when the Great Northern Railway constructed another line via Sutton , Southorpe and Barnack to Stamford , on the Midland Railway line. In 1884 the line received a royal visit when the royal family travelled from Peterborough to Barnwell, some 13 miles (21 km) beyond Wansford, to visit Barnwell Manor , home of the then Duke of Gloucester . The station building
1197-624: A movement towards religious reform and radical politics in the city. By contrast, after being persecuted by the Anglican church for his Puritan beliefs, Michael Metcalf , a 17th-century Norwich weaver, fled the city and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts . The Norwich Canary was first introduced into England by Flemings fleeing from Spanish persecution in the 16th century. Along with their advanced techniques in textile working, they brought pet canaries, which they began to breed locally, eventually becoming in
1330-488: A political continuum of three centuries. The first is a dichotomous power balance. From at least the time of the Reformation, Norwich was recorded as a "two-party city". In the mid-16th century, the weaving parishes fell under the control of opposition forces, as Kett's rebels held the north of the river, in support of poor clothworkers. Indeed there seems to be a case for saying that with this tradition of two-sided disputation,
1463-513: A population of 213,166 in 2019. As the seat of the See of Norwich, the city has one of the country's largest medieval cathedrals. For much of the second millennium, from medieval to just before industrial times, Norwich was one of the most prosperous and largest towns of England; at one point, it was second only to London. Today, it is the largest settlement in East Anglia . Norwich claims to be
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#17328590286021596-489: A portable building desperately in need of repair. NVR has now added a canopy. The station building was offered to the NVR for £1 plus transportation costs. The Park is open throughout the year, but most facilities such as the miniature railway and pedaloes only run from Easter to the end of October. The station is also the site of the new Night Mail Museum, with construction well under way with some exhibits open to view. Overton station
1729-523: A powerful Anglican establishment, symbolised by the Cathedral and the great church of St Peter Mancroft was matched by scarcely less powerful congeries of Dissenters headed by the wealthy literate body [of Unitarians] worshipping at the Octagon Chapel . In the middle of political disorders of the late 18th century, Norwich intellectual life flourished. Harriet Martineau wrote of the city's literati of
1862-532: A release from Wansford signalbox. Overton Station is equipped with an automatic level crossing which includes the BR prototype solid-state flash circuit driving the flashing warning lights. Access to the sidings here is controlled by a two-lever ground frame requiring the train staff. Orton Mere signalbox was brought to the Nene Valley Railway in the 1980s, and contains a 12-lever Midland Railway lever frame. When
1995-572: A riot in the city in 1274, Norwich has the distinction of being the only complete English city to be excommunicated by the Pope. The first recorded presence of Jews in Norwich is 1134. In 1144, the Jews of Norwich were falsely accused of ritual murder after a boy ( William of Norwich ) was found dead with stab wounds. William acquired the status of martyr and was subsequently canonised . Pilgrims made offerings to
2128-452: A shrine at the Cathedral (largely finished by 1140) up to the 16th century, but the records suggest there were few of them. In 1174, Norwich was sacked by the Flemings . In February 1190, all the Jews of Norwich were massacred except for a few who found refuge in the castle. At the site of a medieval well, the bones of 17 individuals, including 11 children, were found in 2004 by workers preparing
2261-557: A sophisticated system of poor relief , and a large influx of foreign refugees. Despite severe outbreaks of plague, the city had a population of almost 30,000. This made Norwich unique in England, although there were some 50 cities of similar size in Europe. In some, like Lyon and Dresden , this was, as in the case of Norwich, linked to an important proto-industry, such as textiles or china pottery, in some, such as Vienna , Madrid and Dublin , to
2394-545: A station in the shutter telegraph chain that connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth . A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Britannia Barracks in 1897. The Bethel Street and Cattle Market Street drill halls were built around the same time. In the early 20th century, Norwich still had several major manufacturing industries. Among them were
2527-489: A substantial Flemish and Walloon community of Protestant weavers to Norwich, where they are said to have been made welcome. The merchant's house which was their earliest base in the city — now a museum — is still known as Strangers' Hall . It seems that the strangers integrated into the local community without much animosity, at least among the business fraternity, who had the most to gain from their skills. Their arrival in Norwich boosted trade with mainland Europe and fostered
2660-471: A train is in section. For demonstrating the Travelling Post Office (TPO) apparatus, a starter signal can be operated from a nearby ground frame, giving the demonstration train a good run-up from a standing start. This signal is normally kept 'off' (allowing trains to pass); to operate the frame one must be in possession of a padlock key, and also a battery to power the electric lever lock in lieu of
2793-457: Is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire , England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction . The line is 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (12.1 km) in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere , Overton and Wansford . In 1845, the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) company was given parliamentary assent to construct
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#17328590286022926-491: Is a disused station between Wansford and Ferry Meadows. It closed in the 1960s and despite the NVR (which runs through it) reopening, the station remains closed. Overton (for Ferry Meadows) is located near the site of Orton Waterville station and provides access to the nearby country park . The current building was moved brick by brick from the old goods yard at Fletton Junction on the East Coast Main Line; it replaced
3059-464: Is currently planned to relocate the station building currently at Wansford Road Station (on the old line from Wansford to Stamford) to here. The Nene Valley Railway has a full-scale "replica" of Thomas the Tank Engine working a passenger and freight service on 'Thomas' events; it was the first railway in the world to possess one. The Nene Valley Railway considers its Thomas to be the "official" Thomas
3192-714: Is currently unused, though it is a current project to use it to control access to the Railworld site next-door. It contains a 40-lever Great Northern frame. The run-round loop is controlled at the West end by a two-lever ground frame requiring the Orton Mere - Peterborough NVR train staff, and by a hand-point at the East end. Communication is mostly carried by hand-held radio, but signal-post telephones are available around Wansford. Wansford and Orton Mere signalboxes are connected by block bell which
3325-519: Is divided into four absolute block sections, controlled by staff and ticket working: Yarwell to Wansford , Wansford to Orton Mere , Orton Mere to Peterborough NVR and Orton Mere to the Fletton Junction with the East Coast Main Line . The signalbox at Orton Mere can be switched out, creating a single section all the way from Wansford to Peterborough and isolating the Fletton Branch, allowing
3458-507: Is located within a ten minute walk of Peterborough City centre, well known for its historic Norman Cathedral. An Environmental centre is currently being built across the River Nene from the main part of Peterborough Nene Valley Station. It occupies land that used to be a freight yard. It was also used as a coal dump, providing fuel for the Power station. This particular power station was demolished
3591-442: Is no platform here, as Orton Mere station is only a few hundred yards close by. Peterborough Nene Valley (aka Peterborough West), is the current end of the line. Here there is a platform, a bay platform and a station building housing a ticket office, a small souvenir shop and toilets. It is a 10-minute walk from here to Peterborough City Centre. Railworld is next door to the station with a wide variety of rolling stock on display. It
3724-827: Is now a multi-storey car park, the Grosvenor Rooms and Electric Theatre in Prince of Wales Road) The Norwich Corn Exchange in Exchange Street (built 1861, demolished 1964), the Free Library in Duke Street (built 1857, demolished 1963) and the Great Eastern Hotel, which faced Norwich Station. Two large churches, the Chapel Field East Congregational church (built 1858, demolished 1972) was pulled down, as well as
3857-533: Is now preserved at Wansford station on the NVR, and is known as the Barnwell building. Between 1900 and the 1960s, the line formed an important connection from Norwich , Cambridge and eastern England to Northampton and the Midlands. The line was generally acknowledged to be a secondary main line and frequently saw large engines such as Black 5s and B1s . However, the NVR was one of the last passenger line closures of
3990-584: Is regularly used on galas and some service timetables; the block bell in Orton Mere 'box is of the BR modular "penguin" type. A block instrument and a Tyer 's No. 9 electric token instrument in Wansford 'box are not used. The line has been a location for filming over 150 TV shows, films, adverts and music videos. Between 1977 and 1979, many sequences for the BBC's wartime drama Secret Army were filmed here, principally at Wansford station. In 1982, Wansford station
4123-628: Is supposed to represent Norwich Castle and the lion, taken from the Royal Arms of England , may have been granted by King Edward III . In the English Civil War , across the Eastern Counties, Oliver Cromwell 's powerful Eastern Association was eventually dominant. However, to begin with, there had been a large element of Royalist sympathy within Norwich, which seems to have experienced a continuity of its two-sided political tradition throughout
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4256-597: The Norwich Post , appeared in 1701. By 1726 there were rival Whig and Tory presses, and as early as mid-century, three-quarters of the males in some parishes were literate. The Norwich municipal library claims an excellent collection of these newspapers, also a folio collection of scrapbooks on 18th-century Norwich politics, which Knights says are "valuable and important". Norwich alehouses had 281 clubs and societies meeting in them in 1701, and at least 138 more were formed before 1758. The Theatre Royal opened in 1758, alongside
4389-526: The Dr Beeching era , services to Northampton and Rugby having ceased in 1964 and 1966 respectively. It remained open until 1972 for freight traffic only. In 1968, the Rev. Richard Paten had bought BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 locomotive, number 73050 , for its scrap value of £3,000. His intention had been to exhibit it outside Peterborough Technology College as a monument to Peterborough's railway history. However,
4522-650: The Iceni tribe was a settlement located near to the village of Caistor St Edmund on the River Tas about 5 mi (8 km) to the south of modern Norwich. After an uprising led by Boudica in about 60 CE, the Caistor area became the Roman capital of East Anglia named Venta Icenorum , literally "marketplace of the Iceni". This fell into disuse about 450 CE. The Anglo-Saxons settled
4655-567: The Port of Norwich . Quern stones and other artefacts from Scandinavia and the Rhineland have been found during excavations in Norwich city centre. These date from the 11th century onwards. Norwich Castle was founded soon after the Norman Conquest. The Domesday Book records that 98 Saxon homes were demolished to make way for the castle. The Normans established a new focus of settlement around
4788-508: The Rhineland dating from the 8th century suggest that long-distance trade was happening long before this. Between 924 and 939, Norwich became fully established as a town, with its own mint. The word Norvic appears on coins across Europe minted during this period, in the reign of King Athelstan . The Vikings were a strong cultural influence in Norwich for 40 to 50 years at the end of the 9th century, setting up an Anglo-Scandinavian district near
4921-460: The city walls were built. At around 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi (4.0 km), these walls, along with the river, enclosed a larger area than that of the City of London . However, when the city walls were constructed it was made illegal to build outside them, inhibiting the expansion of the city. Part of these walls remains standing today. Around this time, the city was made a county corporate and became
5054-418: The 'box is not being used, a king lever renders parts of the frame's mechanical interlocking as two disconnected areas of influence, allowing the signals to be pulled off for both directions. The signalling here was substantially augmented in 2015 with the addition of track circuits and the electrification of the crossover. A 'selector locking' mechanism, by which one lever operates one of two signals depending on
5187-471: The 100-foot (30 m) tall Presbyterian church in Theatre Street, built in 1874 and designed by local architect Edward Boardman . It has been said that more of Norwich's architecture was destroyed by the council in post-war redevelopment schemes than during the Second World War. In 1976 the city's pioneering spirit was on show when Motum Road in Norwich, allegedly the scene of "a number of accidents over
5320-474: The 1930s, a Victorian era Great Northern Railway parcels van, and an ex London, Midland and Scottish Railway sorting office carriage from the Great Train Robbery . Demonstration 4 coach mail trains have been run between Sutton Cross and Wansford since 2009. Nene Valley has a large collection of vintage railway wagons , some operational and others undergoing restoration. The Nene Valley Railway
5453-595: The 1960s was St Stephens Street. It was widened, clearing away many historically significant buildings in the process, firstly for Norwich Union's new office blocks and shortly after with new buildings, after it suffered damage during the Baedeker raids. In Surrey Street, several grand six-storey Georgian townhouses were demolished to make way for Norwich Union's office. Other notable buildings that were lost were three theatres (the Norwich Hippodrome on St Giles Street, which
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5586-441: The 20th century a mascot of the city and the emblem of its football club, Norwich City F.C. : "The Canaries". Printing was introduced to the city in 1567 by Anthony de Solempne, one of the strangers, but it did not take root and had died out by about 1572. Norwich's coat of arms was first recorded in 1562. It is described as: Gules a Castle triple-towered and domed Argent in base a Lion passant guardant [or Leopard] Or. The castle
5719-528: The Carriage and Wagon Shed requires the Wansford-Yarwell train staff. The West end of Wansford station is thoroughly track-circuited ; nearby "miniature" relays pick up low Voltage signals applied to the rails and re-transmit them at 50 Volts to the signalbox where shelf relays interlock them with the rest of the signalling. Most of the track circuits are DC, but a recently-installed AC track circuit extends to
5852-582: The Castle and the area to the west of it: this became known as the "New" or "French" borough, centred on the Normans' own market place, which survives today as Norwich Market, the largest permanent undercover market in Europe. In 1096, Herbert de Losinga , Bishop of Thetford , began construction of Norwich Cathedral . The chief building material for the Cathedral was limestone, imported from Caen in Normandy. To transport
5985-661: The Catholics and eventually numbering as many as one-third of the city's population. Large numbers of such exiles came to the city, especially Flemish Protestants from the Westkwartier ("Western Quarter"), a region in the Southern Netherlands where the first Calvinist fires of the Dutch Revolt had spread. Inhabitants of Ypres , in particular, chose Norwich above other destinations. Perhaps in response to Kett, Norwich became
6118-438: The East side for pedestrian traffic when the old Great North Road was a busier route; these can be locked shut from the signalbox, and are currently being replaced. Access to the loco yard is controlled by a two-lever ground frame released from the signalbox; this is because a point motor was not available at the time, and replacing it is a job which has never been got round to. A single-lever ground frame controlling access to
6251-525: The Easter weekend, when the new 'Wansford Steam Centre' opened for the first time. Between 1974 and 1977, the line was upgraded to passenger-carrying standard and the first passenger train ran on 1 June 1977, hauled by the 'Nord 3.628' – a French 4-6-0 locomotive and 'SJ 1178' – another Swedish tank engine, pulling a set of ex-BR electrical multiple unit coaches owned by the Southern Electric Group. In
6384-484: The Ministers unless they changed their policy, deserved to have their heads brought to the block; – and if there was a people still in England, the event might turn out to be so." Hayes says that "the outbreak of war, in bringing the worsted manufacture almost to a standstill and so plunging the mass of the Norwich weavers into sudden distress made it almost inevitable that a crude appeal to working-class resentment should take
6517-547: The NVR could not access the original Peterborough East station site. The now demolished Peterborough East can be located by the extant railway sheds and platform face close to the (now demolished) Matalan store located on East Station Road off London Road. The station provides access to the extreme eastern end of the Nene park , and can be accessed by foot through the Rivergate shopping centre and from Peterborough Town bridge. The station
6650-412: The Nene Valley Railway and Railworld Nature Reserve acquired the former Wansford Road Station . Built in 1869, it served the branch line to Stamford, Lincolnshire until it closed in 1929. In 2022, the station and platform were facing demolition by National Highways for the new dual carriageway between Wansford and Sutton. It will be dismantled stone by stone and reconstructed at the eastern end of
6783-470: The Orton Mere crossover was converted from all-mechanical in 2015. The majority of the signals are upper-quadrant mechanical semaphore arms, though four lower-quadrant Great Northern somersault signals are mounted on a gantry controlling down trains out of Wansford. Lights at Orton Mere indicate that the crossover has operated correctly, and flashing white lights at Overton indicate that the automatic level crossing warning lights are showing. Wansford signalbox
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#17328590286026916-479: The Tank Engine, because it was named by Thomas' creator, the Rev. W. Awdry , in 1971. The replica engine runs at certain special events, weekends and bank holidays; however, the Nene Valley Railway does not host official ' Day out with Thomas ' events as many railways do. Unsuccessfully, HiT Entertainment tried to sue the Nene Valley Railway on the grounds that their Thomas locomotive was breaching their trademark, but they lost
7049-477: The Tudor period, it appears to have been Protestant in nature. For several weeks, rebels led by Robert Kett camped outside Norwich on Mousehold Heath and took control of the city on 29 July 1549 with the support of many of its poorer inhabitants. Kett's Rebellion was particularly in response to the enclosure of land by landlords, leaving peasants with nowhere to graze their animals, and the general abuses of power by
7182-401: The band members all performed on a Great Western Railway steam train no.3822. Another Bond film GoldenEye was also filmed on the line. For the film, a Class 20 was disguised as a Russian armoured train. In the film, a tunnel that the train seemingly goes into is in fact a small bridge over the tracks. In 2008, Penélope Cruz and Daniel Day-Lewis were among the actors who worked on
7315-590: The branch was strong enough to operate independently as the Peterborough Locomotive Society (PLS). In 1971, 73050 was moved to the British Sugar Corporation 's sidings at Fletton , where it was joined by Hunslet 0-6-0 locomotive 'Jack's Green'. Later that year, the PLS held a meeting at which the group's name was changed to 'Peterborough Railway Society' and the idea of the Nene Valley Railway
7448-508: The building stone to the site, a canal was cut from the river (from the site of present-day Pulls Ferry) up to the east wall. Herbert de Losinga then moved his See there, to what became the cathedral church for the Diocese of Norwich . The Bishop of Norwich still signs himself Norvic . Norwich received a royal charter from Henry II in 1158, and another from Richard the Lionheart in 1194. After
7581-631: The case as the court ruled that it was not breaching HiT's trademark because the Hudswell Clarke locomotive was given the name "Thomas" by the creator, Rev. W. Awdry. Nene Valley Railway's coaching stock includes not only the BR Mk. I and BR Mk. II carriages commonly seen on preserved railways in the UK, but also prewar coaching stock from France, Norway, Belgium, Italy, and Denmark. The railway also owns an ex Southern Railways travelling post office dating to
7714-414: The city council revealed what it had been working on before the war. It was published as a book – The City of Norwich Plan 1945 or commonly known as "The '45 Plan" – a grandiose scheme of massive redevelopment which never properly materialised. However, throughout the 1960s to early 1970, the city was completely altered and large areas of Norwich were cleared to make way for modern redevelopment. In 1960,
7847-436: The city had steadily developed an infrastructure, evident in its many cultural and institutional networks of politics, religion, society, news media and the arts, whereby argument could be managed short of outright confrontation. Indeed, at a time of hunger and tension on the Norwich streets, with alehouse crowds ready to have "a Minister's head brought to the block", the Anglican and Dissenting clergy exerted themselves to conduct
7980-483: The city's popular Jacobitism , says Knights, and contests of the kind described continued in Norwich well into a period in which political stability had been discerned at a national level. The city's Jacobitism perhaps only ended with 1745, well after it had ceased to be a significant movement outside Scotland. Despite the Highlanders reaching Derby and Norwich citizens mustering themselves into an association to protect
8113-428: The city's stage productions in inns and puppet shows in rowdy alehouses. In 1750 Norwich could boast nine booksellers and after 1780 a "growing number of circulating and subscription libraries". Knights 2004 says: "[All this] made for a lively political culture, in which independence from governmental lines was particularly strong, evident in campaigns against the war with America and for reform... in which trade and
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#17328590286028246-539: The city's status as an administrative capital, and in some such as Antwerp , Marseilles and Cologne to a position on an important maritime or river trade route. In 1716, at a play at the New Inn , the Pretender was cheered and the audience booed and hissed every time King George 's name was mentioned. In 1722 supporters of the king were said to be "hiss'd at and curst as they go in the streets," and in 1731 "a Tory mobb, in
8379-418: The city, some Tories refused to join in, and the vestry of St Peter Mancroft resolved that it would not ring its bells to summon the defence. Still, it was the end of the road for Norwich Jacobites, and the Whigs organised a notable celebration after the Battle of Culloden . The events of this period illustrate how Norwich had a strong tradition of popular protest favouring Church and Stuarts and attached to
8512-419: The construction of many fine churches, so that Norwich still has more medieval churches than any other city in Western Europe north of the Alps . Throughout this period Norwich established wide-ranging trading links with other parts of Europe, its markets stretching from Scandinavia to Spain and the city housing a Hanseatic warehouse. To organise and control its exports to the Low Countries , Great Yarmouth, as
8645-426: The county of Norfolk , England, of which it is the county town . It lies by the River Wensum , about 100 mi (160 km) north-east of London, 40 mi (64 km) north of Ipswich and 65 mi (105 km) east of Peterborough . The population of the Norwich City Council local authority area was estimated to be 144,000 in 2021, which was an increase from 143,135 in 2019. The wider built-up area had
8778-422: The disorder and violence that was such a common feature of Norwich election campaigns, it was only by the narrowest margin that the radical Bartlett Gurney ("Peace and Gurney – No More War – No more Barley Bread") failed to unseat him. Though informed by issues of recent national importance, the bipartisan political culture of Norwich in the 1790s cannot be divorced from local tradition. Two features stand out from
8911-454: The early 1980s, the NVR decided to extend its running line, which then terminated at Orton Mere station, along the route of the original Nene Valley Line to a new station west of the East Coast Main Line, adjacent to the new Railworld Museum. Peterborough Nene Valley opened, for the first time, on the Late Spring Bank Holiday weekend of 26 May 1986. This extended the NVR to its current length, 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (12.1 km). In 2024,
9044-429: The electrical engineers Laurence Scott and Electromotors. Norwich also has a long association with chocolate making, mainly through the local firm of Caley's, which began as a manufacturer and bottler of mineral water and later diversified into chocolate and Christmas crackers . The Caley's cracker-manufacturing business was taken over by Tom Smith in 1953, and the Norwich factory in Salhouse Road closed in 1998. Caley's
9177-406: The engine was higher and wider than British stock, it was to be a static exhibition only. During 1974, it was realised that the use of foreign stock and engines could answer the NVR's aspirations. After a feasibility study was carried out, it was discovered that only one bridge would have to be demolished to allow the running to continental loading gauge . Some reductions would also have to be made to
9310-479: The entire railway to be operated from Wansford; in this case the Peterborough NVR token key is kept physically clipped to the Orton Mere train staff. The staff for the Fletton branch was previously kept at Peterborough powerbox, but is now in possession of the NVR, along with the branch itself. All points and signals are operated by heritage electrical and mechanical systems. There are two crossovers, one at Wansford and one at Orton Mere, driven by electric point motors;
9443-415: The filming of the live-action film Nine on the Railway. TV shows filmed here include EastEnders , Casualty , Silent Witness , Dalziel and Pascoe and Poirot . 52°33′50″N 00°20′23.25″W / 52.56389°N 0.3397917°W / 52.56389; -0.3397917 Norwich Norwich ( / ˈ n ɒr ɪ dʒ , - ɪ tʃ / ) is a cathedral city and district of
9576-414: The first provincial city to initiate compulsory payments for a civic scheme of poor relief, which it has been claimed led to its wider introduction, forming the basis of the later Elizabethan Poor Law of 1597–1598. Norwich has traditionally been the home of various minorities, notably Flemish and Belgian Walloon communities in the 16th and 17th centuries. The great "stranger" immigration of 1567 brought
9709-500: The ground for construction of a Norwich shopping centre. The remains were determined by forensic scientists to be most probably the remains of such murdered Jews, and a DNA expert determined that the victims were all related so that they probably came from one Ashkenazi Jewish family. The study of the remains featured in an episode of the BBC television documentary series History Cold Case . A research paper from 30 August 2022 confirmed
9842-566: The imminent destruction of Norwich's new City Hall (completed in 1938), although in the event it survived unscathed. Significant targets hit included the Morgan's Brewery building, Colman's Wincarnis works, City Station , the Mackintosh chocolate factory, and shopping areas including St Stephen's St and St Benedict's St, the site of Bond's department store (now John Lewis ) and Curl's (later Debenhams) department store. 229 citizens were killed in
9975-449: The impact of war with Revolutionary France were key ingredients. The open and contestable structure of local government, the press, the clubs and societies, and dissent all ensured that politics overlapped with communities bound by economics, religion, ideology and print in a world in which public opinion could not be ignored." Amid this metropolitan culture, the city burghers had built a sophisticated political structure. Freemen, who had
10108-683: The inner-city district of Richmond, between Ber Street and King Street, locally known as "the Village on the Hill", was condemned as slums and many residents were forced to leave by compulsory purchase orders on the old terraces and lanes. The whole borough demolished consisted of some 56 acres of existing streets, including 833 dwellings (612 classed as unfit for human habitation), 42 shops, four offices, 22 public houses and two schools. Communities were moved to high-rise buildings such as Normandie Tower and new housing estates such as Tuckswood, which were being built at
10241-475: The landlord of Fowler's alehouse "with a glass of beer in hand, went down on his knees and drank a health to James the third, wishing the Crowne [sic] well and settled on his head." Writing of the early 18th century, Pound describes the city's rich cultural life, the winter theatre season, the festivities accompanying the summer assizes, and other popular entertainments. Norwich was the wealthiest town in England, with
10374-548: The large-scale and bespoke manufacture of shoes (for example the Start-rite and Van Dal brands, Bowhill & Elliott and Cheney & Sons Ltd respectively), clothing, joinery (including the cabinet makers and furniture retailer Arthur Brett and Sons , which continues in business in the 21st century), structural engineering, and aircraft design and manufacture. Notable employers included Boulton & Paul , Barnards (iron founders and inventors of machine-produced wire netting ), and
10507-407: The late 17th century was riven politically. Churchman Humphrey Prideaux described "two factions, Whig and Tory , and both contend for their way with the utmost violence." Nor did the city accept the outcome of the 1688 Glorious Revolution with a unified voice. The pre-eminent citizen, Bishop William Lloyd, would not take the oaths of allegiance to the new monarchs. One report has it that in 1704
10640-448: The line, was anxious that trains should start running as soon as possible – certainly before the opening of the new Nene Park in 1978. However, with the PRC's lack of stock and locomotives this looked highly improbable. In 1973, PRS member Richard Hurlock had approached the society for a home for his ex- Swedish State Railways (SJ) class S1 2-6-4T oil-fired locomotive, number 1928 . Because
10773-599: The locomotive was found to be in good working order, and there was much opposition to the idea of the engine being "stuffed", and it was decided to restore it to full working order. On 28 March 1969, the Peterborough Branch of the East Anglian Locomotive Society was formed, with the intention of purchasing and restoring the BR Pacific locomotive, number BR Standard Class 7 70000 Britannia . By 1970,
10906-417: The loss of continental markets after Britain went to war with France in 1793. The early 19th century saw de-industrialisation accompanied by bitter squabbles. The 1820s were marked by wage cuts and personal recrimination against owners. So amid the rich commercial and cultural heritage of its recent past, Norwich suffered in the 1790s from incipient decline exacerbated by a serious trade recession. As early in
11039-422: The mill village of Yarwell, but there is no vehicular access. Yarwell Junction is about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Wansford station, at the other end of Yarwell Tunnel. Wansford is the headquarters of the railway and most of the facilities are based here. The current station building was opened in 1995 and contains a ticket office, shop, cafe and toilets. The locomotive sheds are located at this station. Also at
11172-549: The most complete medieval city in the United Kingdom. It includes cobbled streets such as Elm Hill , Timber Hill and Tombland; ancient buildings such as St Andrew's Hall ; half-timbered houses such as Dragon Hall , The Guildhall and Strangers' Hall ; the Art Nouveau of the 1899 Royal Arcade ; many medieval lanes; and the winding River Wensum that flows through the city centre towards Norwich Castle . In May 2012, Norwich
11305-473: The new City Library in 1961. This burnt down on 1 August 1994 and was replaced in 2001 by The Forum . A controversial plan was implemented for Norwich's inner ring-road in the late 1960s. In 1931, the city architect Robert Atkinson, referring to the City Wall, remarked that "in almost every position are slum dwellings put up during the last 50 years. It would be a great adventure to clear them all out and open up
11438-434: The nobility. The uprising ended on 27 August when the rebels were defeated by an army. Kett was convicted of treason and hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle. Unusually in England, the rebellion divided the city and appears to have linked Protestantism with the plight of the urban poor. In the case of Norwich, this process was underscored later by the arrival of Dutch and Flemish " Strangers " fleeing persecution from
11571-596: The north end of present-day King Street. At the time of the Norman Conquest , the city was one of the largest in England. The Domesday Book states that it had approximately 25 churches and a population of between 5,000 and 10,000. It also records the site of an Anglo-Saxon church in Tombland, the site of the Saxon market place and the later Norman cathedral . Norwich continued to be a major centre for trade, described officially as
11704-621: The number had dropped to 441 pubs within the City Walls. The title of a pub for every day of the year survived until 1966, when the Chief Constable informed the Licensing Justices that only 355 licences were still operative, with the number still shrinking: over 25 had closed in the last decade. In 2018, about 100 pubs remained open around the city centre. Norwich suffered extensive bomb damage during World War II , affecting large parts of
11837-504: The official publishing and stationery arm of the British government and one of the largest print buyers, printers and suppliers of office equipment in the UK, moved most of its operations from London to Norwich in the 1970s. It occupied the purpose-built 1968 Sovereign House building, near Anglia Square, which in 2017 stood empty and due for demolition if a long-postponed redevelopment of Anglia Square went ahead. Jarrolds , established in 1810,
11970-558: The old city centre and Victorian terrace housing around the centre. Industry and the rail infrastructure also suffered. The heaviest raids occurred on the nights of 27/28 and 29/30 April 1942; as part of the Baedeker raids (so-called because Baedeker's series of tourist guides to the British Isles were used to select propaganda-rich targets of cultural and historic significance rather than strategic importance). Lord Haw-Haw made reference to
12103-459: The original city wall and other large townhouses along the start of Unthank Road (named after the Unthank family, local landowners). The roundabout also required the north-west corner of Chapelfield Gardens to be demolished. About a mile of Georgian and Victorian terrace houses along Chapelfield Road and Queens Road, including many houses built into the city walls, was bulldozed in 1964. This included
12236-503: The passing loop. It was badly damaged in 2023 by an arson attack. Following fund raising by two local youngsters the box has been fully rebuilt and recommissioned. This station provides access to the eastern end of the Nene Park. Longville (or Longueville) Junction is about 1 mile (1.6 km) from Peterborough (Nene Valley) and links to the nearby East Coast Main Line. As of March 2013, there
12369-568: The period, including such people as William Taylor , one of England's first scholars of German. The city "boasted of her intellectual supper-parties, where, amidst a pedantry which would now make laughter hold both his sides, there was much that was pleasant and salutary: and finally she called herself The Athens of England ." Despite Norwich's longstanding industrial prosperity, by the 1790s its wool trade had begun facing intense competition, at first from Yorkshire woollens and then, increasingly, from Lancashire cotton. The effects were aggravated by
12502-406: The period. Bishop Matthew Wren was a forceful supporter of Charles I . Nonetheless, Parliamentary recruitment took hold. The strong Royalist party was stifled by a lack of commitment from the aldermen and isolation from Royalist-held regions. Serious inter-factional disturbances culminated in "The Great Blow" of 1648 when Parliamentary forces tried to quell a Royalist riot. The latter's gunpowder
12635-540: The place of a temperate process of education which the earliest reformers had intended." At this period opposition to Pitt 's government and their war came – in their case almost unanimously – from a circle of radical Dissenting intellectuals of interest in their own right. They included the Rigby, Taylor, Aitkin, Barbold, and Alderson families – all Unitarians - and some of the Quaker Gurneys (one of whose girls, Elizabeth ,
12768-460: The political centres where the Jacobin propaganda had penetrated most deeply only Norwich and Nottingham had a franchise deep enough to allow radicals to make use of the electoral process." "Apart from London, Norwich was probably still the largest of those boroughs which were democratically governed," says Jewson 1975 , describing other towns under the control of a single fiefdom . In Norwich, he says,
12901-441: The popularity of shawls declined and eventually manufacture ceased. Examples of Norwich shawls are now sought after by collectors of textiles. Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1845, when a railway link was established, it was often quicker to travel to Amsterdam by boat than to London. The railway was introduced to Norwich by Morton Peto , who also built a line to Great Yarmouth . From 1808 to 1814, Norwich had
13034-641: The port for Norwich, was designated one of the staple ports under the terms of the 1353 Statute of the Staple . Hand-in-hand with the wool industry, this key religious centre experienced a Reformation significantly different from that in other parts of England. The magistracy in Tudor Norwich unusually found ways of managing religious discord whilst maintaining civic harmony. The summer of 1549 saw an unprecedented rebellion in Norfolk. Unlike popular challenges elsewhere in
13167-425: The position of the points, was removed, but is hoped to be reused at the West end of the station. Orton Mere signalbox was subject to an arson attack early in 2023, leaving much of the interior damaged and the electrical instruments destroyed. Repairs and improvements were funded by the efforts of two young local enthusiasts, and the 'box was ceremonially re-opened on 9th March 2024. The signalbox at Peterborough NVR
13300-402: The railway. Yarwell Junction is the former junction between the lines to Northampton and Market Harborough . It is the current terminus of the NVR's operating line. In April 2006 the track was realigned, allowing a platform to be built at Yarwell Junction, which opened at Easter 2007 (there was never previously a station on the site). The new station is linked by footpaths to Nassington and
13433-514: The remains were most likely Ashkenazi Jews. The paper found that many of the victims had certain medical disorders most often seen in Ashkenazi communities, suggesting that a population bottleneck had occurred among Ashkenazim before the 12th century. This challenged traditional views among historians that the bottleneck had happened between the 14th and 16th centuries. In 1216, the castle fell to Louis, Dauphin of France, and Hildebrand's Hospital
13566-406: The right to trade and to vote at elections, numbered about 2,000 in 1690, rising to over 3,300 by the mid-1730s. With growth partly the result of political manipulation, their numbers did at one point reach one-third of the adult male population. This was notoriously the age of "rotten" and "pocket" boroughs and Norwich was unusual in having such a high proportion of its citizens able to vote. "Of
13699-564: The river and two either side on the south, joined as they grew; or that a single Anglo-Saxon settlement, north of the river, emerged in the mid-7th century after the abandonment of the previous three. The ancient city was a thriving centre for trade and commerce in East Anglia in 1004 when it was raided and burnt by Swein Forkbeard , the Viking king of Denmark. Mercian coins and shards of pottery from
13832-475: The road following the wall which has always been a natural highway. Do this, and you will have a wonderful circulating boulevard all around the city and its cost would be comparatively nothing." To accommodate the road, many more buildings were demolished, including an ancient road junction – Stump Cross. Magdalen Street, Botolph Street, St George's Street, Calvert Street and notably Pitt Street, all lined with Tudor and Georgian buildings, were cleared to make way for
13965-521: The seat of one of the most densely populated and prosperous counties of England. The engine of trade was wool from Norfolk's sheepwalks . Wool made England rich, and the staple port of Norwich "in her state doth stand With towns of high'st regard the fourth of all the land", as Michael Drayton noted in Poly-Olbion (1612). The wealth generated by the wool trade throughout the Middle Ages financed
14098-458: The second half of the 20th century, notably Morgans, Steward & Patteson , Youngs Crawshay and Youngs, Bullard and Son, and the Norwich Brewery. Despite takeovers and consolidation in the 1950s and 1960s, only the Norwich Brewery (owned by Watney Mann and on the site of Morgans) remained by the 1970s. That too closed in 1985 and was then demolished. Only microbreweries remain today. It
14231-428: The serviceable ex-BR locomotives – all that was left was a collection of rusting hulks. Apart from 73050 , the society's locomotives were mostly small, industrial shunting engines and therefore not suitable for the 11-mile (17.7 km) round trip. Ex-BR rolling stock was also in very short supply following the disposal of most pre-nationalisation (pre-1948) stock. The PDC, having paid out a considerable sum of money for
14364-443: The site of the modern city some time between the 5th and 7th centuries, founding the towns of Northwic ("North Farm"), from which Norwich takes its name, and Westwic (at Norwich-over-the-Water ) and a lesser settlement at Thorpe. Norwich became settled as a town in the 10th century and then became a prominent centre of East Anglian trade and commerce. It is possible that three separate early Anglo-Saxon settlements, one north of
14497-467: The station there is a miniature railway , picnic area and children's playground. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Stamford, which diverged to the north just east of the river bridge at Wansford. The original Wansford station is located on platform three and was built in 1844–1845 in Jacobean style for the opening of the railway. This building was purchased by the railway in 2015. Castor
14630-563: The street and alehouse. Knights tells how in 1716 the mayoral election had ended in a riot, with both sides throwing "brick-ends and great paving stones" at each other. A renowned Jacobite watering-hole, the Blue Bell Inn (nowadays The Bell Hotel ), owned in the early 18th century by the high-church Helwys family, became the central rendezvous of the Norwich Revolution Society in the 1790s. Britain's first provincial newspaper,
14763-747: The surrounding district off Vauxhall Street, consisting of swathes of terrace housing that were condemned as slums. This also included the whole West Pottergate district, which contained a mix of 18th and 19th-century cottages and terraced housing, pubs and shops. Post-war housing and maisonettes flats now stand where the Rookery slums once did. Some aspects of The '45 Plan were put into action, which saw large three-story Edwardian houses in Grove Avenue and Grove Road, and other large properties on Southwell Road, demolished in 1962 to make way for flat-roofed single-story style maisonettes that still stand today. Heigham Hall,
14896-401: The time. A new road, Rouen Road, was developed instead, consisting mainly of light industrial units and council flats. Ber Street , a once historic main road into the city, had its whole eastern side demolished. About this time, the final part of St Peters Street, opposite St Peter Mancroft Church, were demolished along with large Georgian townhouses at the top of Bethel Street, to make way for
15029-413: The tunnel mouth. At the East end, the points are protected by a mechanical flange bar which prevents them from being unlocked when a train is present. At Yarwell, the run-round loop is controlled by a single-lever ground frame requiring the train staff. A possible future application of a colour-light signal is to provide an outer home signal to allow shunting to take place on the main line at Wansford while
15162-470: The two Baedeker raids with 1,000 others injured, and 340 by bombing throughout the war — giving Norwich the highest air raid casualties in Eastern England. Out of the 35,000 domestic dwellings in Norwich, 2,000 were destroyed, and another 27,000 suffered some damage. In 1945 the city was also the intended target of a brief V-2 rocket campaign, though all these missed the city itself. As the war ended,
15295-422: The war as 1793, a major city manufacturer and government supporter, Robert Harvey, complained of low order books, languid trade and doubling of the poor rate. Like many of their Norwich forebears, the hungry poor took their complaints onto the streets. Hayes describes a meeting of 200 people in a Norwich public house, where "Citizen Stanhope" spoke. The gathering "[roared its] applause at Stanhope's declaration that
15428-733: The width of the platforms. In 1973, BR gave PRS permission to use Wansford signal box and, in September of that year, the first items of stock arrived at the PRS depot. Before the stock could be moved from the BSC depot to Wansford, the missing 400 yards (366 m) of the Fletton Loop had to be rebuilt, allowing access to the Nene Valley line. The track was completed in March 1974 and the stock moved to Wansford in time for
15561-488: The years", became the third road in Britain to be equipped with sleeping policemen , intended to encourage adherence to the road's 30 mph (48 km/h) speed limit. The bumps, installed at intervals of 50 and 150 yards (46 and 137 m), stretched 12 feet (3.7 m) across the width of the road and their curved profile was, at its highest point, 4 in (10 cm) high. The responsible quango gave an assurance that
15694-517: Was a nationally well-known printer and publisher. In 2004, after nearly 200 years, the printing and publishing businesses were sold. Today, the company remains privately owned and the Jarrold name is best recognised as being that of Norwich's only independent department store . The company is also active in property development in Norwich and has a business training division. The city had a long tradition of brewing. Several large breweries continued into
15827-399: Was a textile centre. In the 1780s the manufacture of Norwich shawls became an important industry and remained so for nearly a hundred years. The shawls were a high-quality fashion product and rivalled those of other towns such as Paisley , which had entered shawl manufacturing in about 1805, some 20 or more years after Norwich. With changes in women's fashion in the later Victorian period ,
15960-480: Was acquired by Mackintosh in the 1930s and merged with Rowntree's in 1969 to become Rowntree-Mackintosh. Finally, it was bought by Nestlé and closed in 1996, with all operations moving to York after a Norwich association of 120 years. The demolished factory stood where the Chapelfield development is now. Caley's chocolate has since reappeared as a brand in the city, though it is no longer made there. HMSO , once
16093-552: Was built in 1907 around a 30-bar London and North Western Railway lever frame of 60 levers; levers 1 to 15 were removed when the Stamford Line was closed. A later addition is a mechanical gated level crossing , operated from a "ship's wheel" at the West end of the 'box. The gates were replaced with ones made new in-house over the Winter of 2022-23, replacing a previous set made in the 1990s. The Wansford crossing includes wicket gates on
16226-418: Was designated England's first UNESCO City of Literature . One of the UK's popular tourist destinations, it was voted by The Guardian in 2016 as the "happiest city to work in the UK" and in 2013 as one of the best small cities in the world by The Times Good University Guide . In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Norwich was voted one of the "Best Places To Live" in the UK by The Sunday Times . The capital of
16359-542: Was formally launched. In 1974, the Peterborough Development Corporation (PDC) bought the Nene Valley line between Longville and Yarwell Junctions and it began leasing it to the PRS to operate the railway – a major milestone in the society's history. When the PRS acquired the line, the intention was to work the line with British locomotives and stock. However, enthusiasts from other railways and preservation societies had already acquired almost all of
16492-572: Was founded, followed ten years later by the Franciscan Friary and Dominican Friary. The Great Hospital dates from 1249 and the College of St Mary in the Field from 1250. In 1256, Whitefriars was founded. In 1266 the city was sacked by the "Disinherited". It has the distinction of being the only English city ever to be excommunicated, following a riot between citizens and monks in 1274. From 1280 to 1340
16625-562: Was impossible, and aware that in a city built largely of wood the threat of fire was uppermost in people's minds, Bignold formed the "Norwich Union Society for the Insurance of Houses, Stock and Merchandise from Fire". The new business, which became known as the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Office, was a "mutual" enterprise. Norwich Union would later become the country's largest insurance giant. From earliest times, Norwich
16758-438: Was later, under her married name of Fry, to become a noted campaigner for prison reform). Their activities included visits to revolutionary France (before the execution of Louis XVI ), the earliest British research into German literature, studies on medical science, petitioning for parliamentary reform, and publishing a highbrow literary magazine called "The Cabinet", in 1795. Their blend of politics, religion and social campaigning
16891-594: Was not just the Norwich rabble who were causing the government concern. In April of that year, the Norwich Patriotic Society was founded, its manifesto declaring "that the great end of civil society was general happiness; that every individual had a right to share in the government." In December the price of bread reached a new peak, and in May 1796, when William Windham was forced to seek re-election after his appointment as war secretary, he only just held his seat. Amid
17024-432: Was renamed Overton 'for Ferry Meadows' in 2017 in conjunction with the Nene Valley Railway's 40th anniversary celebrations. Orton Mere is a two platform station with a station building built in 1983 and a signal box. Until 1986 this was the terminus of the line. Most trains depart from platform 1. Just outside the station towards Peterborough is the Fletton Loop which links the NVR to the mainline. The signal box controls
17157-472: Was seen by Pitt and Windham as suspicious, prompting Pitt to denounce Norwich as "the Jacobin city". Edmund Burke attacked John Gurney in print for sponsoring anti-war protests. In the 1790s, Norwich was second only to London as an active intellectual centre in England, and that it did not regain that level of prominence until the University of East Anglia was established in the late 20th century. By 1795, it
17290-570: Was set off by accident in the city centre, causing mayhem. According to Hopper, the explosion "ranks among the largest of the century". Stoutly defended though East Anglia was by the Parliamentary army, there were said to have been pubs in Norwich where the king's health was still drunk and the name of the Protector sung to ribald verse. At the cost of some discomfort to the Mayor, the moderate Joseph Hall
17423-407: Was stated by Walter Wicks in his book that Norwich once had "a pub for every day of the year and a church for every Sunday". This was in fact significantly under the actual amount: the highest number of pubs in the city was in the year 1870, with over 780 beer-houses. A "Drink Map" produced in 1892 by the Norwich and Norfolk Gospel Temperance Union showed 631 pubs in and around the city centre. By 1900,
17556-640: Was targeted because of his position as Bishop of Norwich. Norwich was marked in the period after the Restoration of 1660 and the ensuing century by a golden age of its cloth industry, comparable only to those in the West Country and Yorkshire, but unlike other cloth-manufacturing regions, Norwich weaving brought greater urbanisation, mainly concentrated in the surrounds of the city itself, creating an urban society, with features such as leisure time, alehouses and other public forums of debate and argument. Norwich in
17689-536: Was used for six weeks to shoot scenes featuring Roger Moore and Maud Adams for the James Bond film Octopussy . Scenes for the biplane/helicopter dogfight from the 1986 film Biggles: Adventures in Time were filmed here, involving one memorable shot where the helicopter piloted by Biggles "lands" on a flat-bed railway carriage. In 1989, Nene Valley was used for the filming of "Breakthru" (a song by queen ) where
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