. Peter's Hungate, or Hounds' Gate, owes its name to the fact of the
hounds belonging to the bishop being formerly kept close by. The old
church was demolished in 1458, and the new one, commenced the same year,
was finished in 1460, as appears by the date in a stone on the buttress
of the north door, where there is an old trunk of an oak, represented
without any leaves, to signify the decayed church; and from the root
springs a fresh branch with acorns on it, to denote the new one raised
where the old one stood.

St. Michael at Plea takes its name from the Archdeacon of Norwich holding
his pleas or courts in the parish; it has some curious panel paintings of
the Crucifixion, Resurrection, the Lady of Pity, Judas, John and the
Virgin, St. Margaret and the Dragon, St. Benedict and St. Austin.

In the church of St. Simon and St. Jude, is a curious monument of a
knight in armour, with a number of other figures grouped around the altar
on which he lies. In this parish is the bridge where the "cucking stool"
was wont to be kept, an instrument of punishment for "scolding and
unquiet women," of as ancient origin as the time of the Anglo Saxons; the
offender was seated in a kind of chair, fixed at the end of a plank, and
then _ducked_ in the water; a cheating brewer or baker subjected himself
to a similar degradation.

St. George's Tombland, so called from the burial ground upon which it
stood, has also some curious monuments; near it is a house, commonly
called Sampson and Hercules Court, from two figures that formerly
supported the portico, but which now stand in the court. The house was
formerly owned by Sir John Fastolf, afterwards by the Countess of
Lincoln, and in the time of Henry VII., by the Duchess of Suffolk.

"St. Martin's at the Plain" stands close by the scene of the memorable
battle between the rebels under Kett, where Lord Sheffield fell, and many
other gentlemen and soldiers: the conflict lasted from nine o'clock on
Lammas morning until noon. The World's End lane leads hence to the
dwelling of Sir Thomas Erpingham, long since transformed from a sumptuous
mansion into the abode of poverty, its chambers subdivided and parcelled
out, defaced and disguised by whitewash and plaster, and yet more by the
accumulations of dirt and decay; until it needs the microscopic vision of
an archaeologist to trace even its outline, among such a mass of
confusion and rubbish.

"St. Helen's," which belonged to the monks, is