The stories behind
our street names

GUNTON ROAD (Elizabeth Fry Road) and HARBORD ROAD (Colman Road)
THE wonderfully named Sir Harbord Harbord is one of the few men who have not one but two roads named in his honour.
Born way back in 1733 he was created 1st Baron Suffield of Gunton in 1786. He represented the City of Norwich in Parliament in 1756 and then from 1761 to 1786. The city leaders clubbed together to pay for Thomas Gainsborough to paint his portrait in 1783 as a mark of their appreciation for the way he had represented Norwich. He died in 1810 at the age of 77.

HANBURY CLOSE (Friends Road)
This road was named after Samson Hanbury who was the son-in-law to the powerful Richard Gurney. He married Agatha (Gatty) Gurney of Keswick and was a director of the big London brewing firm of Truman, Hanbury & Co.

HANLY CLOSE (Clancy Road)
At a time when production of the world famous Start-rite shoes has ended in Norwich, it is fitting to remember Bernard James Hanly.He was a shoe baron at the helm of one of the factories when it employed hundreds of men and women between the two world wars.
More about Bernard Hanly

HARFORD STREET (Hall Road) and
HARFORD MANOR CLOSE (Ipswich Road)
THE old map maker Blomefield said the Harford bridge separated the county of Norfolk with the city of Norwich with the River Yare as the boundary.
It is said that the bridges got their name from the family who originally built them during the reign of King John, about 800 years ago.
Apparently, their name was Hertford, but the t disappeared in the mists of time and the e turned into a — the way they do.

HANSARD ROAD (Mile Cross Road)
THIS is the story of the boy from Norwich who borrowed a guinea, went off to seek fame and fortune in London . . . and gave a new word to the English language. Luke Hansard was the founder of the family whose name is now known all over the world through the official report of Parliamentary proceedings.
More about Luke Hansard

HARMER ROAD (Mile Cross Lane)
ROADS named after a family who created a worldwide clothing empire which provided work for generations of Norwich men and women.
For more than 150 years, they were major players on the city scene and it was a sad day when the doors closed for the last time at Harmers factory in December 1989.
More about the Harmers

HARRY PERRY CLOSE
Thanks for all your calls remembering Harry Perry, the colourful, no-nonsense, Labour Lord Mayor of Norwich.
Harry was a real man of the people who died in the 1980s, but his memory lives on and Harry Perry Close is named after him. Among the letters I received was one from his daughter Lyn, who said: “He was all of the things you wrote about, but he was also a wonderful father and grandfather.
“He raised his children to believe in the rights of others and that all were equal. Being more intelligent or wealthier than someone else did not make you a better person, merely someone better placed to help others,” said Lyn.
And that’s just what Harry did — he devoted so much of his life to helping others both as a councillor, a shop steward and finally as a council employee finding work for the unemployed.
“His death in 1981 left an enormous gap in the lives of his family and I have to say that gap is still there today,” added Lyn. “He has great grandchildren now and I am sad they will never know him” she said.

HASSETT CLOSE (Mousehold St)
THIS name really is an oldie. Way back in 1615 the manor of Pockthorpe was leased to a man called Sir Edward Blenerhassett of Horning.
That’s not the kind of name you forget in a hurry.
There was a “faire house built on a piece of inclosed ground heretofore called ye Lathes Yard near Pockthorpe Gates.”
It was described as “containing many faire necessary rooms with divers outbuildings and a yard, orchard and garden and two acres of pasture land.”
The Monk’s Grange was in the possession of the Blenerhassett family from 1551 to 1702 and it must have been a grand place — in an area where poverty was widespread and most people hadn’t got two farthings to rub together. It was pulled down in 1792 to make way for the Cavalry Barracks.
The artist Ninham sketched the old house and Hassett is an abbreviation of the older name.

HAVERS ROAD (Drayton Road)
ONE man who played a leading role in Norwich life during the early part of the 20th century was Francis Curtis Havers.
And although he came from a wealthy family, he devoted much of his time to trying to ease the plight of the poor at a time when thousands were struggling to survive in the city slums.
For several years he was chairman of the Norwich Board of Guardians, which tried to look after the needs of those with no work and little food.
For a time, he was chairman of the Children’s Committee of the Board which, at times, must have been a heartbreaking role. Most of the young boys and girls who came before the board had absolutely nothing. If the guardians turned down their plea for help, it often meant the dreaded workhouse or other institutions.
Francis was born in June 1853 in Norwich and educated at Mr Henry Ling’s School for young gentlemen.
His family were Charles Havers and Sons, who ran a flourishing ironmongers and builders’ merchants business in Charing Cross.
Francis rose to become head of the business, but he always found the time to help others and served on a number of groups in the city.
He became a town councillor and an alderman and was sheriff in 1923/4.
Francis was also a founder member of the Norwich Distress Committee, which did what it could to ease the widespread suffering among the poor.
He died in 1925.

THE HAYMARKET AND HAY HILL
IT HAS been a meeting and trading place in the heart of Norwich for hundreds of years. And it was called the Hay Market because it was where the carts and waggons that brought hay into the city for sale stood — waiting for buyers.
More about the Haymarket

HEARTSEASE LANE (Plumstead Road to Gurney Road)
THERE was a time when wild pansies grew in the fields around our fine city of Norwich. They were called heartsease.
So when they developed the fields and open spaces to build homes on them they called the place Heartsease.
The herb heartsease is native to Norfolk and it was described as the “prettiest of them all”.

HEATHGATE (Mousehold)
A good name for an area which leads to Mousehold and has been used by Norwich folk for centuries . . . first to dig gravel from or graze sheep on and now for pleasure.
Let’s make sure we continue to treat this wooded playground with the respect it deserves.

HEATH ROAD (Magpie Road)
BACK in the 16th century, the countryside outside Fybriggate or the Magdalen Gates was bare and barren heath land. A track led from the gates northward to pass the Lazer or Leper House — recently the centre of controversy over its future — and it was used by people from the country to bring rushes to sell at the Rush Fair.

HEIGHAM STREET and HEIGHAM ROAD
THE name means "the homestead by the fishing place" and the old village used to be reached by a causeway over the marshes and in medieval times small vessels could still use the river.
Before the Norman Conquest it was owned by Saxon Wulfricus who later gave it to the Abbey of St Benet-at-Holme, near Horning. At the time of the Doomsday Book, Heigham is recorded as still belonging to St Benet's with a value of 100s.
Heigham was part of the Hundred of Humbleyard, though the 1556 Charter of Norwich placed it within the County of the City of Norwich. It was not until the 1890s that ward boundaries extended beyond the old city to include the expanding suburb of Heigham.

HELLESDON MILL LANE (Hellesdon Road)
ABOUT a mile to the west of the village of Heigham was the hamlet and village of Hellesdon.
In the early part of the 19th century, there was one small street of houses and a large water mill standing across the River Wensum.
To the east of the mill is Hellesdon bridge which, in 1810, was built of timber and was “passable for carriages.”
In 1841 Hellesdon comprised 2000 acres and contained 400 inhabitants.
They had their own milliner, wheelwright, inland revenue officer and numerous gardeners.

HEMLIN CLOSE (Edgeworth Road)
NAMED after the teacher who taught the Gurney children “writing and ciphering”.
Six of the powerful Gurney family were born at Gurney Court, Magdalen Street, Norwich. In the summer they would go off to their cottage at Bramerton and the master at the local school went by the name of Hemlin. It was Charles H Smith, the one-man road naming committee, who thought it would be a good idea to name this road, and several others, after lesser-known associates of the Gurney clan.

HENDERSON ROAD (Earlham Road)
HE WAS the rebel with a cause — a champion of the poor and believed to be the last prisoner on the treadmill at Norwich Castle.
His name was Fred Henderson. A pioneer of socialism. A man the people listened to and loved.
More about Henderson Road

HILL STREET (Newmarket Street)
Long before the houses were built the land was used to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers in a big market garden. And the 1864 the nurseryman and florist was called Mr John Hill. The road was adopted a century ago, in 1903, and they named it Hill Street in his memory.

HOBART SQUARE (Hall Road)
STANDING in an enclosure at Cawston is an urn known as the Duel Stone — it marks the spot where, on a summer morning in 1698, swashbuckling swordsman Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling Hall lost his life.
More about Sir Henry Hobart

HODGSON ROAD (George Borrow Road)
IT IS almost impossible now to imagine what Norwich looked like early in the 19th century unless you look at the picturesof David Hodgson, who lived in the heart of the city.
More about David Hodgson

HOLLAND COURT (The Close)
HE appealed to the people of Norwich to help restore their cathedral after the Second World War — and they responded.
No Dean of Norwich did so much in so short a time — that’s what they said about the Rt Rev Herbert St. Barbe Holland (pictured) who was Dean between 1946 and 1952.
Here was no aloof clergyman. He was a big personality. When he spoke the people listened — and they liked what they heard.
The Dean took the then revolutionary step of opening up the accounts of the cathedral to the community, proving what a financial mess they were in. For centuries the Chapter had managed its own affairs as a completely private corporation.
Bishop Holland changed all that and it was thanks to him that tens of thousands of pounds were raised and pumped into massive improvement programmes at the cathedral.
During his career he had held every office open to a clergyman except that of archbishop.
He came to Norwich in 1946 after 10 strenuous years as Bishop of Wellington in New Zealand.
He soon realised the cathedral was facing a financial crisis following the war and was in desperate need of a lot of tender loving care,
Bishop Holland revived the Friends of the Cathedral and launched an appeal with support of the Lord Mayor Eric Hinde, and leading citizens.
He abolished a fee of sixpence for admission to the eastern end of the cathedral and established a feeling of friendliness and freedom.
He melted the barriers between icy churches and the population outside.
He resigned because his health was failing in 1952 and he died in 1966, aged 84, on the Isle of Mull. At a memorial service following his death his ashes were interred in the cathedral by the then Bishop of Norwich Dr Launcelot Fleming. They named Holland Court, built by the Church Commissioners in 1961, in his honour.

HOLMES CLOSE (from Witard Road)
HE was the humble apprentice who rose to become a Norwich shoe baron employing more than one thousand workers.
This road is named after Sir Henry Nicholas Holmes who became Lord Mayor of Norwich twice and was described as nearly becoming our very own Dick Whittington.
Henry was born in Norwich in 1868. His father was Clerk to the Norwich Markets.
He went to the Boys Model School in the city and was then apprenticed to the boot and shoe industry under Mr Bostock. In 1891 he formed a partnership with W E Edwards.
The business started in a little back bedroom at the Edwards home. Henry did the "clicking" while Edwards did the "making" and his mother the machining.
Slowly but surely the business took off and they started to take on workers making shoes.
First in Pitt Street but that place had burnt down so they moved to Pottergate and then again before settling in Esdelle Street.
The partnership was dissolved in 1902 but huge expansion took place under the name of Edwards & Holmes and by 1912 the firm employed some one thousand people.
Henry was Lord Mayor in 1921 and again in 1932. He served on numerous committees and organisations. He was a magistrate and an Alderman.
During his time as mayor he bought the Bridewell, turned it into a museum and donated it to the city. It was opened by the Duke of York in 1925.
He also loved flying and music.
Henry was president of the Norfolk and Norwich Aero Club at Mousehold and he played with the Norwich Philarmonic Orchestra later serving as chairman of the society.
He married Gertrude Florence in 1894 and they had a son and two daughters. Henry died in 1940 and is buried in the Rosary Cemetery.

HONEY CLOSE (Knox Road)
This road not far from the prison was named after Charles William Honey, who served as governor of the prison from November 1952 until his retirement in the summer of 1956.
He was formerly a chief officer and had come to Norwich on promotion. His son Norman followed in his footsteps into the prison service and became governor of Wormwood Scrubs.

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