A new road fit for a prince

January 4, 2006

PRINCE OF WALES ROAD

More than 140 years ago there was action in the orchard fields and marshland to the south-east of Norwich Castle.

From the single-track wooden bridge, named after the iron foundry by the river, top-hatted engineers were directing hundreds of men as they began work.

Two different views looking up Prince of Wales Road from Thorpe Station. Here, trams and horses and carts have been replaced by motor cars and there has been some major development on the right with the picture theatre adding to the streetscape.

The idea was to build a great new road to link the streets around the Castle with the Yarmouth Road and create a grand triumphal route to the new station at Thorpe.

The building of Prince of Wales Road proved to be a remarkable piece of engineering, a grand boulevard that swept into the city centre from the majestic Thorpe Station. At the time of the construction it had become obvious that a new route must be made to and from the station and Yarmouth Road. The only way to the bridge, opened in 1844, was down narrow Rose Lane and St Faiths Lane, which led through the Hop Gardens.
Here there was an extension track to the wooden bridge, and, because of this difficult byway, heavy vehicles had to reach the station via Rosary Road.

In 1859, a group of influential Norwich bankers, including Messrs Birkbeck, Gurney, Barclay and Buxton, formed the New Street Company. They got permission to build the new road and started to buy out those that stood in its way, mostly stallholders from around Rose Lane and St Faiths Lane.

Eventually plans were drawn up to cut the roadway through a block of buildings in front of the General Post Office and property on Bank Plain. A considerable number of buildings were destroyed in King Street, including the old Griffin Inn, the reputed birthplace of artist John Crome. The building work started in 1860 and for the next two years the engineers faced considerable problems. The road was very wide and had to be artificially raised from the marshy ground to form a gentle slope and three branch roads had to be built. By the end of 1862 the road was completed and amid much pomp and ceremony it was opened to traffic on November 9. The drivers of the first horse-drawn vehicles must have felt rather self-conscious as they travelled the route.

There were only four houses: two on the left going from King Street, one on the right next to where Mann Egerton’s was and the other on the site of the Regent cinema. The first houses built following the construction were the terrace of 12 at the top. Grey Holkham brick, similar to brickwork at Holkham Hall, was used and they were sold at £850 a pair. Foundry Bridge was reconstructed of iron and the Great Eastern Hotel and the Norfolk Railway House were built in the 1880s.

They set the scene for the landmark Thorpe Station, built by Youngs of Norwich at a cost of £60,000, to open in May 1886.

At the top end of the road the Agricultural Hall opened in time for the 1882 Christmas Fatstock Show and in the 1890s some of the buildings opposite were demolished to make way for the new Royal Hotel which opened on November 16, 1897.

Then the money started to run out. Ambitious plans for more grand buildings failed to materialise, opening the door to Victorian speculators, and some weren’t bothered what the buildings looked like. Slowly, but surely, Prince of Wales Road took shape. There were two cinemas, a ballroom, several restaurants and cafes with shops such as Willmotts and Wallace Kings.

It has always been the place where boys and girls met each other.
Remember when it was called the “chicken run”?

In Norwich of the 21st century it has become the centre of the booming city nightlife scene — attracting thousands of clubbers and its fair share of trouble.

It is all a far cry from the high-stepping horses on the spacious boulevard all those years ago.

I wonder what those Victorian bankers would make of it all if they took a stroll down Prince of Wales Road — at midnight on a Saturday?

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