Norwich – Horse Fair

I’ve never paid much attention to Horse Fair (or Horsefair) which is located along St. Faith’s Lane. It’s visible in the above map from the 1880s in two separate chunks, but somewhere around the 1950s this was shrunk down in size to what remains today.

And this is what remains, a squashed oval shape (I’m sure there’s a better mathematical word for that) of greenery.

People can go inside it if they want some grass, although I’d suggest that there are better nearby locations.

The entrance has cut iron railings, I assume taken for the war effort.

Norwich School now occupies the offices that overlook the area, suitably named Horsefair House.

The nearby plaque is getting hard to read now, but it says:

“The site of the Horse Fairs during the reign of King Edward I (1272-1307) and King Edward II (1307-1327). It was moved to the Castle Ditches by order of King Henry VII in 1500.”

And, as something else I found out about later, there’s also a bridge under the road by Horse Fair.