Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > The Welcome Strangers: Dutch, Walloon and Huguenot Incomers to Norwich 1550-1750 > Status Update

‘legacy of the incomer is everywhere in Norwich. Dutch-style gables and pantiles are reminders of their influence. Why are open spaces in the city called Plains rather than Squares? This is a word brought over by refugees, in this case the Dutch word ‘plein’. Weavers’ windows, unusually large windows in attics to allow more light onto the loom, are sometimes called ‘lucams’, deriving from the French word ‘lucarne’.’

‘Dutch sailors had brought the birds back from their voyages to the Canary Islands, and adopted them as their favourite pet. When they came to Norwich they brought their canaries with them... The canary has become a symbol of the way in which the life of the city has been enriched by incomers, as well as the emblem of Norwich City Football Club.’

‘the immigrant communities were entirely responsible for looking after their own poor and sick. One proof of that is the Norwich Census of the Poor of 1570: none of the poor named in the census is an immigrant. In fact, the incomers had a double burden placed on them: they had to pay for the care of their own needy, and also to contribute to the poor rates raised in the parish in which they lived.’

‘The bishop of Norwich supported the request, saying that the incomers wanted a church where they could hear the word of God ‘according to their former manner in the town of Sandwich’. He had spoken to the mayor but found him ‘somewhat strange therein’ so he was writing directly to the archbishop. The archbishop agreed that the Strangers should be granted a vacant church in the city’

‘As freemen, they could not only trade in the city but also buy property, as de Solemne and de Hem both did... In 1598, members of the Stranger community born in England were admitted to the freedom for the first time, and once freemen, could buy and sell as readily as an English freeman.‘

‘The great majority of the incomers were connected with the weaving industry, with wool-comber as the most common single occupation. The others had an enormous variety of trades. No fewer than 204 of the Dutch heads of households were wool-combers or weavers. The next largest groups were merchants (23), tailors (18), smiths (12) and carpenters (11).‘

‘The invitation to the 30 families was made in June 1566: a year later, there were not just 300 incomers but almost 2,000. These were refugees, fleeing from the upheaval and persecution in the Spanish Netherlands described in Chapter 1. We do not know when the first invitees arrived, but by the middle of 1567 the city was probably feeling full of incomers.’

‘Medieval Norwich was heavily dependent upon one industry, weaving. By the middle of the sixteenth century the city appeared to some to be in terminal decline... According to John Pound, the number of worsteds exported from the city via Yarmouth was between 1,000 and 3,000 a year in the period between 1535. The number fell rapidly over the next quarter-century and was a mere 38 in 1561.‘

‘The English authorities kept a wary eye on the refugee communities. In October 1571 the archbishop of Canterbury wrote to the Norwich authorities, telling them to make a count of the number of Strangers attending divine service in their own languages, and also the ‘number of evil disposed people (under colour of religion and piety)’ who might corrupt the ‘natural good subjects’.‘

‘From 1404, Norwich was a city and county in its own right. For administrative purposes the area within the medieval city walls was divided into twelve petty wards, grouped together into four Great Wards. It was run by an ‘upper house’, a court consisting of the major and aldermen, and a common council. The 24 aldermen were elected for life by the freemen of each ward (two for each ward)’