Music House, Norwich (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Issacs Hall; Jews House; Moyses Hall; Paston House; Wensum Lodge; 167 King Street

In the civil parish of Norwich.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TG23640804
Latitude 52.62399° Longitude 1.30252°

Music House, Norwich has been described as a probable Fortified Town House.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

“... At Bury St Edmunds is still to be found the strong Jew's House known as Moyse's Hall, and correspondingly the Jew's House in Norwich is still to be found although greatly disguised by reason of subsequent additions. It is in the parish of St Etheldred, and has been known both as “Paston House ” and “The Music House”. ... a conjectural drawing of the original Jew's House ... exhibits the usual method of entrance to a Norman building which was by a covered staircase leading to a door on the first floor. ... the Norman groined cellaring (has) the only remaining portion of one side of the entrance door of the Isaac's Hall, all the rest of the door, porch and staircase having been destroyed when the Jacobean portion of the Music House was erected on the south side. The bases (of this entrance door) have vertical “nicks” about 1 inches apart inside the concave moulding ... similar to the three transitional pillars of the old Infirmary of the Norwich Priory ... the date of these is believed to be between 1175 and 1190. “It appears then that the house was built by Isaac the Jew temp. Henry II. On his death it was escheated by King John and alienated in favour of Sir William de Valoines by Henry III. After passing through many hands it was in 1474 the city house of William Yelverton esq who sold it to Sir John Paston Knt. In 1613 it was purchased by Sir Edward Coke, Recorder of Norwich and Lord Chief Justice. He it was who probably built C17 addition to the south, calling it Paston House in memory of his first wife. Finding the old porch in the way, he destroyed all except the fragment shown. The “Music House” was first mentioned in the “Norwich Gazette” of 19th January 1723, the City Waits being accustomed to meet and practice there.” (http://www.the-plunketts.freeserve.co.uk/k.htm ref. Kent)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1217907
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 132310.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 604.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 66
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and Wilson, Bill, 1997, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-East and Norwich (Penguin) p. 274-5
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 262
  Ayers, B., 1994, English Heritage Book of Norwich (London: Batsford/English Heritage)
  Margeson, S., Seiller, F. and Rogerson, A., 1994, The Normans in Norfolk (Norfolk Museums Service) p. 77, 79
  Campbell, J., 1975, 'Norwich' in Lobel, M.D. (ed) The Atlas of Historic Towns Vol. 2 (London: Scolar Press/Historic Towns Trust) online copy
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 262
  Lipman, V.D., 1967, The Jews of Medieval Norwich (Jewish Historical Society) p. 27-8, 111-12
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-East and Norwich (Penguin) p. 272
  Blomefield, F., 1806, 'City of Norwich, chapter 42: South Conisford ward' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 4 p. 76-7 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Davis, Philip, 2010-11, 'Crenellated town houses in Medieval England' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 24 p. 270-91 (mention)
  Kent, E.A., 1945, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 28 p. 31-8

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

Data >	PastScape	County HER		Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio