We started our walk in St Giles and went down London Street, grabbing a takeaway coffee on the way, and into the Cathedral Close. Round the back of the Cathedral and down Bishopgate and along Riverside Road into Kett's Hill. A short walk along took us to "our surprise."
Kett's Heights is a well kept secret that is likely to become a major attraction of the city. It's a steep climb up but the views over Norwich are stunning. There's Norwich Cathedral, there's the Roman Catholic Cathedral, there's the river and Norwich School playing fields and there's City Hall and the Castle. There they all are right in front of you.
The best description of just what Kett's Heights is comes from the excellent website of the Friends Group:
"Kett’s Heights is one of Norwich’s best-kept secrets. It is steeply wooded and contains the remains of a medieval chapel, 19th century garden terraces and one of the three strategic viewpoints overlooking Norwich. It is from where Robert Kett and his 10,000 followers besieged the city in 1549.
"Following transfer to the City Council there was substantial restoration work in the 1980s. Unfortunately, this was not maintained and Kett’s Heights became overgrown and unwelcoming again.
"In 2015 the Friends of Kett’s Heights was established with the aim of restoring the site so that it is once more a welcoming and attractive space for the local community and visitors to Norwich. Working with the local community payback scheme, we have cleared trees to bring back the view and start restoring the community orchard, cleared paths and removed ivy that was swamping trees."
From the heights, 18 medieval churches can be seen. The area also has a rich history. In the 12th century the Normans built St Michael's Chapel to compensate for a church in Tombland which had been destroyed to make way for Norwich Cathedral.
In 1549, Robert Kett and his followers used the area as their headquarters before marching on Norwich. Kett used the chapel ruins as his headquarters and this became known as Kett's Castle.
In the 19th century the area became a haven for artists and Kett's Heights was laid out as a terraced garden for nearby gasworks' workers. During the two world wars the area became allotments and fruit orchards and there was also piggeries, the remains of which can still be seen.
If you want to read more about Kett's Heights they have a very informative website at https://www.kettsheights.co.uk.
That site also has a very good walking tour of Norwich based on the C.J Sansom novel "Tombland" which is set in the time of Kett's Rebellion. This gives a comprehensive tour of the history of our city.
Sansom had the following to say about the area:
"You can stand at Kett’s Heights... on the steepest part of the escarpment next to the one surviving remnant of the chapel Kett used as his headquarters, and on a clear day you’ve got a magnificent view. You feel that you can almost reach out and touch the cathedral spire."
If you live in Norwich or the surrounding area and have easy access to Kett's Heights do pay it a visit. I also hope that visitors to our wonderful city will also take the opportunity to move out of the immediate central area to get these wonderful views over Norwich.
I hope you like some of my photographs of Norwich and Kett's Heights taken on our walk. I will complete the walk tomorrow with some more photos - this time of the Rosary Cemetery.