NW CA cover:Layout 1 - North Norfolk District Council

North Walsham Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan6: Character analysis6.1 Activity, prevailing or former uses within the areaNorth Walsham first grew prosperous thanks to the Norfolk textile industry. Few traces ofthis industry remain today. Weavers’ cottages set around courtyards were once located tothe west of the church and south of Market Place. Most of the courtyards have been sweptaway, although their names survive in later developments, such as Old Bear Yard. A numberof old weaver’s cottages which remain today form part of The Terrace. There is the outlineof a large window at the rear of Mitre Tavern Yard which has been identified as a “weaver’swindow” and another on the Feathers Inn, but it is not known if there is any factual basis forthis. The large church and Market Cross can be viewed as a legacy of the textile industry;their size and high quality are at least in part due to the wealth that weaving brought to thetown.The next phase of North Walsham’s history was as a centre for the corn trade which led inturn to the development of small-scale industries (mentioned earlier). Much of the evidencefor this part of the town’s past has also disappeared. A corn hall of 1848 in Bank Loke hasbeen converted to a warehouse, while the site of the “East Norfolk Ironworks” foundry inKing’s Arms St is now part of the Paston College. Randell’s workshops on Bacton Road,where agricultural machinery was made, has been replaced by a supermarket store.The present centre of North Walsham reflects the activities and interests of a provincialmarket town. The most important open space in the centre is reserved for the market, whichserves the surrounding villages as well as the people of North Walsham. The architecturereflects a history of commercial activity over several hundred years. The shops on the northside of Market Place preserve the footprint of old market stalls once sited here. The town’slarger private houses are centred around and face Market Street and Market Place, wherethe town’s early shops would have been situated.Figure 7 : Historic buildings along theTerrace.North Norfolk District Council17