This is the first of a series of posts which will explore our walk of the Walsingham Way in more detail, with an emphasis on the differences in sensory experiences for the medieval and modem pilgrim.
Our Start: Norwich Cathedral and The Close[1]
Norwich Cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was both the seat of the Bishop of Norwich and a Benedictine Monastery until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1548. It had been founded in 1096 by the Normandy-born Herbert de Losinga (c.1054—1119). He had travelled to Rome in 1094 and, on his return, transferred the episcopal see from Thetford to Norwich, becoming the first Bishop of Norwich. He was buried in front of the high altar. Work was completed on the Romanesque structure by 1145, with walls built of limestone imported from Caen in France, a wooden spire covered in lead, and wooden cloisters. The cloisters were rebuilt in stone as we see today following the partial destruction of the original timber structure during riots in the late-13th century. There were many later improvements and rebuildings, including the addition of the stone-faced brick spire in the late 15th century.
The cathedral and its spire remain spectacular even though they are now dwarfed by the high high-rise buildings familiar to most visitors: we can only imagine the impression they made on the medieval pilgrim, seen from afar rising above the skyline. This sense of awe continued on entering the cathedral, with the vault which must have seemed to reach to heaven, its rich and colourful decoration — the bare stone we see today was mainly covered in blue, red and gold paint—and the smell of incense made from precious frankincense brought from distant lands.[2] There were also the sounds—prayer, chanting and bells. For many pilgrims, this overwhelming sensory experience was probably part of a spiritual experience. The cathedral was, in William Whyte’s words ‘an architecture of affect and sensation’.[3]
The cathedral building opposite the late 13th-century Priors Hall, where we convened on Day 1, originally comprised the old refectory and an Infirmary, with the Infirmary Garden between them. The infirmary was not only for the resident monks: under the Rule of St Benedict, caring for the sick was a sacred duty and monks would have treated the ill from the surrounding town as well as visiting pilgrims. The main medicine was made from herbs —sage, rosemary, hyssop, comfrey, betony and others—grown in the garden tended by the monks.[4] These would have been used in infusions and salves, but also scattered on the floor of the sickrooms and burned to dispel bad air. Their smell would have also helped to cover that of the latrines: the waste from which was washed into the nearby Wensum River through a small canal at Pull’s Ferry. The animals and their dung in the nearby stables would also have contributed to the prevailing odour.[5] Although such prevailing smells of everyday life would have simply become part of the background, the contrast to those in the cathedral would have added to a sense of displacement.
However, in addition to the Infirmary garden, there were vegetable gardens and fruit orchards in the cathedral grounds to support the community of monks. The river edge was planted with willows and osier to provide wood for weaving and building, and branches from other trees throughout the 44-acre site were used for firewood. All these would have been a habitat for birds whose songs would have joined those of the cathedral bells and chanting. They were probably also an inspiration for some of the carvings of the Green Man, a pre-Christian figure, in the cathedral vaults.[6]
The trees were not restricted to the cathedral precincts. In 1662 the historian Thomas Fuller described Norwich as, “either a city in an orchard, or an orchard in a city, so equal are houses and trees blended in it”.
The Infirmary was demolished in 1804 to improve the view from the Deanery—formerly Prior’s Hall—but the garden and other parts survive in the mid-19th century building now on the site. This is the home today of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Culture (SISJAC). One of the key archaeological features within the Institute’s headquarters is the remaining structure of one of the windows that once formed part of the monastic infirmary and now sits just outside the main administrative office.
In the next post we will consider the route through medieval Norwich with its many churches, slaughterhouses, tanneries providing a rich sensory experience for our medieval pilgrims.
Susan Whitfield, October 2026
Further reading
Colonel Unthank’s Norwich. 2018. Norwich: City of Trees. https://colonelunthanksnorwich.com/2018/09/15/norwich-city-of-trees/
Dewez, H. 2013. Medieval Accounting Memoranda from Norwich Cathedral Priory in J. Burton P. Schofield & B. Weiler (eds.) Thirteenth Century England XIV: Proceedings of the Aberystwyth and Lampeter Conference, 2011. Boydell & Brewer: Suffolk.
Dewez, H. ‘Stone, wood, wattle and daub: Locating and interpreting building expenses in medieval monastic accounts’ in A. Rodriguez & S. Carocci (eds.) Textualization and Petrification. Written Sources, Identity and the Materiality of Buildings (Proceeding of Colloquium), Jun 2021.
English Heritage. 2021. “7 ‘Magic Potions’ Grown by Medieval Monks | English Heritage.” https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/blog/articles/7-magic-potions-grown-by-monks/.
Kieckhefer, R. 2004. Theology in Stone: Church Architecture From Byzantium to Berkeley. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Negus, T. 2003.Medieval Foliate Heads: A Photographic Study of Green Men and Green Beasts in Britain. Folklore, 114, 247-261.
Norfolk Historic Environment Service. 2017. “Cathedral Close (Cathedral-Precinct) – Norfolk Heritage Explorer.” https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details
Raglan, L. 1939. The “Green Man” in Church Architecture. Folklore, 50, 45-57.
Whyte, W. 2017. Unlocking the Church: the lost secrets of Victorian sacred space. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
[1] For more information, see the Norfolk Heritage Explorer entry
[2] This, the smell of the burning beeswax candles and the high ceilings would also have helped mask the smell from the people in the church.
[3] Although he was discussing 19th-century church design, many of Whyte’s arguments are applicable to the medieval church. William Whyte, Unlocking the Church: the lost secrets of Victorian sacred space (OUP, 2017). Richard Kieckhefer argues that the psychological displacement on entering a church which gives a sense of insignificance which is resolved and interpreted as a spiritual relationship (Theology in Stone: Church Architecture From Byzantium to Berkeley (OUP, 2004)).
[4] See https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/blog/articles/7-magic-potions-grown-by-monks/
[5] Dewez, H. ‘Stone, wood, wattle and daub: Locating and interpreting building expenses in medieval monastic accounts’ in A. Rodriguez & S. Carocci (eds.) Textualization and Petrification. Written Sources, Identity and the Materiality of Buildings (Proceeding of Colloquium), Jun 2021. https://hal.science/hal-03894625v1/document . See also Dewez, H. “Medieval Accounting Memoranda from Norwich Cathedral Priory.” Chapter. In Thirteenth Century England XIV: Proceedings of the Aberystwyth and Lampeter Conference, 2011, edited by Janet Burton, Phillipp Schofield, and Björn Weiler. Thirteenth Century England. Boydell & Brewer, 2013. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/thirteenth-century-england-xiv/medieval-accounting-memoranda-from-norwich-cathedral-priory/E516D15E2B8D7D390EE89FD80124FB35
[6] For more information on the imagery of the Green Man, see Negus, T. 2003. Medieval Foliate Heads: A Photographic Study of Green Men and Green Beasts in Britain. Folklore, 114, 247-261 and Raglan, L. 1939. The “Green Man” in Church Architecture. Folklore, 50, 45-57.
[7] Thanks to https://colonelunthanksnorwich.com/2018/09/15/norwich-city-of-trees for this reference and image