NHER 26317 (Building record) - No 72 King Street and building to west

No 72 King Street and building to west.

1970s or 1980s. Building Survey.
Rear range of No 70 briefly examined as part of Norwich Survey.
Two storey plus attic. Flint/rubble and brick façades. Stair between street and range. Block appears to have formed part of tenements running back in yard. Late 17th/18th century in appearance. Attic dormer on both main façades. Single butt purlin roof.
See record form (S1) for further details. See also copies of architect's drawings of Nos 70 and 72 King Street in file for NHER 26316 (from A. Carter archive).
P. Watkins (HES), 18 October 2017.

A short report produced by R. Smith in 1987 (S2) suggests that whilst the majority of the city's yards were created during 19th century, this was not necessarily the case with the yard to the north of this block (marked as Raven Yard on the 1885 O.S map). It is noted that whilst the building on the street frontage (No 70; NHER 26316) and the range to the north to the north (NHER 26129) both date to the 17th-century, it is the building at this west of the yard which is potentially the oldest (NHER 26318). The range in question is described as a comprising a 17th-century cottage immediately behind the street range and an early 19th-century cottage, separated by a block with "..nothing of merit left but good semi-circular headed window with metal glazing bars. The early 19th-century cottage was of some interest, being the only surviving example of this form of one-up, one-down plan. The yard to the south (now known as Swan Yard) probably dates to the 19th century.
At around the same time it was noted that records indicate that this area was location of a property inhabited by the little-known Pied Friars of Norwich. It was suggested that this substantiated Smith's claim that the building spanning the western end of Raven Yard was the oldest in the group. See file note (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 October 2017.

No 72 is amongst the buildings mention in Smith's thesis (S4), which considers the 13th- to 17th-century buildings of Norwich. It is described as a 17th-century, two storeyed plus attic, single-cell building with flint rubble walls and a gable-end stack. The internal layout relates to the 19th-century ground floor façade. It is noted that although there are two buildings immediately to the west of No 72, the number of block openings in their shared rear wall suggests that originally there were more than this. The smaller is the two buildings is the one-up, one-down cottage, which, it is now suggested, may have actually been formed out of a larger, late 17th-century building, itself formed by sub-division. The other building has a 19th-century brick-built north wall and an interior that reflects its 20th-century use as a warehouse.
The buildings to the west of No 72 were previously recorded separately as NHER 26333 (largely due to a misunderstanding about their location).
P. Watkins (HES), 18 October 2017.

1991. Watching Brief and Building Survey.
Examination of north wall of No 72 following the stripping of render during repair work.
A number of block openings were recorded that do not correspond with the present organisation of the interior space, suggesting that the wall is earlier than c. 1600 - the probable date of the extant building. The brick of the arches suggests a late 15th-century date.
Although No 72 cannot be directly associated with the Pied Friars it seems likely it relates to Beck College, which occupied the site after the order was amalgamated with the Franciscans and the house passed to the Hospital of Beck in Billingford. Beck College was certainly still in existence in the late 15th-century, being eventually suppressed in 1556. The late medieval doorways exposed in the wall of No 72 suggest that the area of Raven Yard was probably an open space during the life of the college. This is supported by the results of a watching brief maintained during groundworks adjacent to No 72, which revealed no evidence for medieval structures.
See report (S5) and published article (S6) for further details. See also NHER 26452 for further information on the results of the watching brief.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 18 October 2017.