This medieval Guildhall is constructed of mostly of knapped flint, with ashlar borders, and decoration.
Knapping is when they take a Flint Cobblestone and split it in half, exposing the hard flat flint surface. you can also make square bricks shapes out of the flint cobbles. Many of the buildings in the Norfolk, East Anglia, are constructed of knapped flint.
Info below on Knapped Flint & Ashlar - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing walls, and flushwork decoration. The original Germanic term "knopp" meant strike, shape, or work, so it could theoretically have referred equally well to making a statue or dice. Modern usage is more specific, referring almost exclusively to the hand-tool pressure flaking process pictured to the right. Text Source: (
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Ashlar is finely dressed (cut, worked) masonry, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the masonry built of such stone. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally cuboid or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut “on all faces adjacent to those of other stones”, ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may feature a variety of decorative treatments from quarry faced to tooled to smoothly polished. Text Source: (
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The Guildhall was constructed to enable the greater self-governing powers conferred upon Norwich by the Charter of 1404 to be administered more efficiently. Prisoners first occupied the crypts of the building in 1412. Two timber and tile towers on the north and south sides of the building were destroyed when the roof of the Council Chamber collapsed in 1511. In 1534 a new Council Chamber was completed. As part of the works, the exterior wall of the eastern face of the new Chamber was faced with chequered flint work and freestone, and a central panel containing a fragment of the Arms of Henry VIII, flanked by the City Arms and the arms of the St George’s Company. Additions to the south side of the building were constructed in 1861 by Thomas Barry, the City Surveyor.
Civic affairs were conducted in the building until 1938, when the new City Hall was opened. Magistrates' Courts continued to be held in the old Common Council Chamber until 1977 and prisoners were held in the building until 1980. Work to restore and strengthen the Guildhall clock tower began in July 2010. Text Source: (
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The Guildhall currently serves as the offices of Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust and also contains a Caley's Café.
It is one of the 12 historic Norwich buildings in the Norwich 12 initiative, a project to develop an integrated group of heritage attractions in Norwich. See Link: (
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Name: Norwich Guildhall
Address:
Norwich Guildhall
Goal Hill
Norwich, Norfolk Great Britain
Date of Construction: 1407 - 1413
Memorials/Commemorations/Dedications:
The Bassingham gate & Blue Plaque,
Web Site for City/Town/Municipality: [Web Link]