Norwich Cathedral Enterprises Online Catalogue

Norwich Cathedral Roof Bosses
Norwich Cathedral's magnificent roof bosses are one of the great hidden glories of medieval art. Over 1000 of these carved and painted keystones perch in the high stone vaulting, where they were placed between 1300 and 1515. Linked together in storytelling patterns they reflect a variety of subjects - pagan, folk and Christian, the history of the world from Creation to the Last Judgement, the Apocalypse, the early Ministry of Christ and the life and death of John the Baptist.

CDs of Norwich Cathedral

Books about Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral Design Products

Green Men of Norwich Cathedral

Misericords of Norwich Cathedral
A misericord is the ledge on the underside of a choir stall that was provided as a rest for the monks and is only seen when the seat is in the upright position.

Carved in the 15th Century in an intense and lively style, they are the finest oak carvings in the Cathedral. They cover a wide variety of subjects ranging from portraits of Bishops to the Seven Deadly Sins, from fighting monkeys to the Green Man. These hidden carvings are at the very heart of Norwich Cathedral.

Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-c. 1413) is considered to be one of the greatest English mystics. Little is known of her life aside from her writings. Even her name is uncertain, the name "Julian" coming from the Church of St. Julian in Norwich, where she occupied a cell adjoining the church as an anchoress. At the age of thirty, suffering from a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions. These visions would, twenty years later, be the source of her major work, called Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (circa 1393). This is believed to be the first book written by a woman in the English language.

Julian's theology was optimistic, speaking of God's love in terms of joy and compassion as opposed to law and duty (note the famous quote below). For Julian, suffering was not a punishment that God inflicted, but was a means he used to draw us closer to himself. This was different from the prevailing views of her time, which typically saw afflictions like the Plague as divine punishment. Because of her intimations that beyond the reality of hell-fire is yet a greater mystery of God's love, such that "all manner of things shall be well", she has also been referred to as a proto-universalist.

Edith Cavell
Edith Louisa Cavell (December 4, 1865 - October 12, 1915) is one of the few famous heroines of World War I.

Edith Cavell was born at Swardeston in Norfolk, where her father was rector, in 1865; she trained as a nurse. In 1907, she was appointed matron of the Berkendael Institute in Brussels in Belgium. When World War I broke out, the hospital was taken over by the Red Cross. Nurse Cavell is alleged to have helped hundreds of soldiers from the allied forces to escape from occupied Belgium to the Netherlands, in violation of military law. In 1915, she was arrested and court-martialled by the Germans for this offence. She made no defence and was shot at dawn on October 12, becoming a popular martyr and entering British history as a heroine. Her case became an important article of British propaganda throughout the war.

The night before her execution she told the English chaplain, who had been allowed to see her, "I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." These words are inscribed on her statue in St. Martin's Place, near Trafalgar Square in London.

After the war Edith Cavell was reburied in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral.

Churches of Norfolk and Suffolk

Gift Vouchers

Books About Norwich and Norfolk

Books About Cathedrals

Noah's Ark and Other Childrens Items

Christmas Cards & Calendars