THE CASTLE
Is supposed to have been built by King Canute, the Dane, in 1018; and as far the greater number of his subjects were Saxons, who, at this period, were the first architects, and most probably employed, it is considered as one of the most complete Saxon remains in England.
In confirmation of this opinion, all its ornaments are in the true Saxon style; and the bridge leading to it is unquestionably one of the noblest and most perfect Saxon arches now extant.
The inside, instead of an open yard, was filled up with floors of most magnificent and spacious apartments; traces of which may yet be seen by persons accustomed to examine buildings of this sort. On the ground floor they were vaulted over with stone, for a great part of the old vault still remains; also the great stone arches of the buttresses, and a stone vaulting where the present chapel is. It was used as a prison so early as the reign of Henry I. but not for that purpose solely:—the upper apartments of these towers, were state apartments, for the residence of great officers and their attendants.
Its length is 92 feet, 10 inches; the length of the North and South fronts, 98 feet each: the walls are 50 feet in heighth.
Somewhat resembling the architecture of the Old, is the New Castle, adjoining to it on the East side, built with Scotch granite in the year 1793; apparently of great strength and durability.
The Castle-Hill appears to have been raised by art, with incredible labour: it stands nearly in the center of the city, and commands an agreeable prospect of the surrounding buildings, interspersed with gardens, which, with the adjacent country and river, form a most delightful landscape.
Since the addition of the Gardens round the bottom of the Hill, strangers have acknowledged the view from the summit to be superior to any thing of the kind in Europe, and have justly styled Norwich ‘The City in an Orchard.’
In the Shire-House, which adjoins the Castle on the North side, the Summer Assizes and Quarter-Sessions are held, and other county business transacted.