"It is tragical to relate the furious sacrilege committed under the authority of Lindsey, Tofts the sheriff, and Greenwood; what clattering of glasses, what beating down of walls, what tearing down of monuments, what pulling down of seats, and wresting out of irons and brass from the windows and graves; what defacing of arms, what demolishing of curious stone-work, that had not any representation in the world but the cost of the founder and the skill of the mason; what piping on the destroyed organ pipes; vestments, both copes and surplices, together with the leaden cross, which had been newly sawn down from over the green yard pulpit, and the singing books and service books were carried to the fire in the public market place; a lewd wretch walking before the train, in his cope, trailing in the dirt, with a service book in his hand, imitating in an impious scorn the tune, and usurping the words of the Litany; the ordnance being discharged on the guild day, the cathedral was filled with musketeers, drinking and tobaccoing, as freely as if it had turned ale-house."
The citizens joined eagerly in the work of spoliation and burned in the open market, by order of the court of assembly, "Moses and Aaron, and four Evangelists that came from the Cathedral, and some other superstitious pictures."
The Restoration of the Monarchy caused the restoration of the Cathedral. A new organ and church plate were presented, and since that time much restoration has taken place, which has greatly enhanced the glory and beauty of this ancient House of God.
The Exterior
We enter the Cathedral precincts by the Erpingham Gate, built by Sir Thomas Erpingham, a knight who fought at Agincourt, and is mentioned by Shakespeare (Henry V., Act IV). The style is Early Perpendicular. Notice the figures of saints in the arch moulding, the donor's kneeling figure in the niche above the arch, his arms and those of his two wives on the buttresses, and the word Yenk (think) on the shafts. The other gates are that of St. Ethelbert, Early Decorated, much restored, built by the citizens in expiation of their sacrilege in 1272, and the Bishop's Gate leading to the Palace, built by Bishop Alnwyck in Early Perpendicular style.
EXTERIOR VIEW OF NORWICH CATHEDRAL
Entering by the Erpingham Gate, on the left is the Grammar School, formerly the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, founded by Bishop Salmon in 1315. Below was a charnel-house, now used as a gymnasium. The porch was added by Lyhart at the end of the fifteenth century. Here Nelson was educated, and George Borrow and many other distinguished men.