St. Margaret’s Church, in Westwick Street, has a square tower with a spacious nave, chancel, and south aisle. It is a plain building of the perpendicular period. The rood stair turret remains on the north side of the church, and on the south side of the altar is a small pedestal on which the bell that was rung at mass stood in former times. The rectory is valued at £80. The bishop is the patron, and the Rev. J. W. Cobb is the rector. The church which has been for some time disused, being in a very ruinous condition, has just been restored.
St. Benedict.
St. Benedict’s Church, at the end of the street to which it gives its name, is a small building with nave, chancel, north aisle, and round tower. The tower contains three bells, and in the chancel is a piscina. The church was repaired and re-roofed a few years since, at a cost of £150. The living is a perpetual curacy valued at £95, and was augmented by royal bounty. The Rev. J. Dombrain is the incumbent.
The Eastern District.
This side of the city has been greatly improved by the formation of a new road called Prince of Wales’ Road, from Foundry Bridge to the Castle Hill. Handsome houses have been built on each side, and broad pavements laid down. Rose Lane has been widened and improved. The Castle Meadow has been adorned by the erection of a new bank called the Crown Bank, a very handsome building in the Corinthian style of architecture. This is the finest building of the kind in the eastern counties.
The Cavalry Barracks are situated in Barrack Street on the east side of the city, on the site of an old manor house. They were built by the government in 1791 at a cost of £20,000. The buildings are of brick, and form three sides of a square, the centre being for the accommodation of the officers. The wings accommodate the soldiers to the extent of 320 men, and 266 horses. The high wall which surrounds the entire barracks, including the parade ground, encloses an area of ten acres.
The Dungeon Tower is opposite the barracks, on land called “The Hospital Meadow.” It is a large round tower of brick, originally surrounded by a battlement. It was built as a prison for the cathedral precincts. The Norfolk Railway Station stands in the hamlet of Thorpe near the Foundry Bridge.
St. Michael at Plea.
The Church of St. Michael at Plea is at the top of Queen Street. This church was so named from the Archdeacon holding his pleas or courts there. It is a cruciform church with a low flint tower, and a modern bell turret. Its transepts were formerly chapels dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary. It contains several old paintings of the crucifixion, resurrection, &c., in the panels. About two years ago the tower was restored at a cost of £250. The rectory, valued in K. B. at £6 10s., and in 1831 at £85, was augmented with £600 of Queen Anne’s bounty from 1774 to 1791, and with a parliamentary grant of £1000 in 1816. The lords of the manors of Sprowston and Horsford are patrons alternately. The Rev. C. Morse, LL.B., is the incumbent.