rength of the old oak beams. It
is a very ancient building, the crypt under the east end, vaulted in
brickwork, probably dating from the thirteenth century, while the main
building was erected in the fifteenth century. The walls are well
built, three feet in thickness, and constructed of uncut flints; the
east end is enriched with diaper-work in chequers of stone and knapped
flint. Some new buildings have been added on the south side within
the last century. There is a clock turret at the east end, erected in
1850 at the cost of the then Mayor. Evidently the roof was giving the
citizens anxiety at that time, as the good donor presented the clock
tower on condition that the roof of the council chamber should be
repaired. This famous old building has witnessed many strange scenes,
such as the burning of old dames who were supposed to be witches, the
execution of criminals and conspirators, the savage conflicts of
citizens and soldiers in days of rioting and unrest. These good
citizens of Norwich used to add considerably to the excitement of the
place by their turbulence and eagerness for fighting. The crypt of the
Town Hall is just old enough to have heard of the burning of the
cathedral and monastery by the citizens in 1272, and to have seen the
ringleaders executed. Often was there fighting in the city, and this
same old building witnessed in 1549 a great riot, chiefly directed
against the religious reforms and change of worship introduced by the
first Prayer Book of Edward VI. It was rather amusing to see Parker,
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, addressing the rioters from a
platform, under which stood the spearmen of Kett, the leader of the
riot, who took delight in pricking the feet of the orator with their
spears as he poured forth his impassioned eloquence. In an important
city like Norwich the guild hall has played an important part in the
making of England, and is worthy in its old age of the tenderest and
most reverent treatment, and even of the removal from its proximity of
the objectionable electric tram-cars.

As we are at Norwich it would be well to visit another old house,
which though not a municipal building, is a unique specimen of the
domestic architecture of a Norwich citizen in days when, as Dr. Jessop
remarks, "there was no coal to burn in the grate, no gas to enlighten
the darkness of the night, no potatoes to eat, no tea to drink, and
when men believed that the sun moved round the earth once in