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Despenser Reredos

AltarpiecesPaintings depicting the Crucifixion of JesusPaintings in the East of EnglandUse British English from December 2023
Despenser Retable, Norwich Cathedral, England
Despenser Retable, Norwich Cathedral, England

The Despenser Reredos, also known as the Despenser Retable, consists of five panels of art illustrating biblical scenes from the end of Christ's life. They were commissioned by the Bishop of Norwich, Henry Despenser, in 1382 following his destruction of a rebel peasant army at the Battle of North Walsham the previous year. Historians generally consider him to have been using the opportunity to remind the peasantry of their social position following the Peasants' revolt.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Despenser Reredos (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Despenser Reredos
The Close, Norwich Thorpe Hamlet

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N 52.6319 ° E 1.3011 °
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Norwich Cathedral

The Close
NR1 4DD Norwich, Thorpe Hamlet
England, United Kingdom
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Despenser Retable, Norwich Cathedral, England
Despenser Retable, Norwich Cathedral, England
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Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites. The cathedral was begun in 1096 and constructed out of flint and mortar and faced with a cream-coloured Caen limestone. An Anglo-Saxon settlement and two churches were demolished to make room for the buildings. The cathedral was completed in 1145 with the Norman tower still seen today topped with a wooden spire covered with lead. Episodes of damage necessitated rebuilding and the stone spire was erected in 1480. The bosses of Norwich Cathedral are one of the world's greatest mediaeval sculptural treasures that survived the iconoclasm of the Tudor and English Civil War periods.The bosses in the cloisters include hundreds that are carved and ornately painted. Norwich Cathedral has the second largest cloisters in England, only exceeded by those at Salisbury Cathedral. The cathedral close is one of the largest in Europe and has more people living within it than any other close. The cathedral spire, measuring at 315 ft (96 m), is the second-tallest in England (also second to Salisbury) despite being partly rebuilt after being struck by lightning in 1169, 23 months after its completion, which led to the building being set on fire. Measuring 461 ft (141 m) and 177 ft (54 m) wide at completion, Norwich Cathedral was the largest building in East Anglia. It once had the earliest astronomical clock in England.

Almary Green
Almary Green

Almary Green is a small lawn in the Cathedral Close in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It is thought to be the site of the probably pre-Conquest church of St Ethelbert, which was burnt to the ground in the 1272 riots along with the bell tower and the Ethelbert Gate, with the latter being rebuilt by the Town on order of King John.Very little is known about St Ethelbert's church, however it is known to pre-date Norwich Cathedral and to have stood when the French Prince Louis plundered Norwich in 1217 after the barons of Norwich invited Prince Louis to seize the throne from King John in 1215. The Green itself is located just in front of the 1-4 The Close properties in the cathedral close, which, at 44-acres is one of the biggest in the country. The Green is located south-west of Ethelbert Gate and is surrounded by stately 18th-century properties. To the west of the Green (probably immediately west) is the probable location of Roger Bigod's palatium at the south end of Tombland, perhaps representing the earlier palace of the Saxon earls. The Green is thought to have been established during the mid-19th century: it is not shown on Millard and Manning's map of 1830, but was essentially as it is today (including the gates and railings at the north end) by the time of the Ordnance Survey map of 1882. A resistivity survey in the 1970s identified high resistance anomalies that may represent a building, which possibly could be the church of St Ethelbert. The long undisturbed open area of Almary Green suggests a high potential for early (Late Saxon or monastic period) subsurface archaeology.

Norwich School

Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as an episcopal grammar school established by Herbert de Losinga, first Bishop of Norwich. In the 16th century the school came under the control of the city of Norwich and moved to Blackfriars' Hall following a successful petition to Henry VIII. The school was refounded in 1547 in a royal charter granted by Edward VI and moved to its current site beside the cathedral in 1551. In the 19th century it became independent of the city and its classical curriculum was broadened in response to the declining demand for classical education following the Industrial Revolution. Early statutes declared the school was to instruct 90 sons of Norwich citizens, though it has since grown to a total enrolment of approximately 1,020 pupils. For most of its history it was a boys' school, before becoming co-educational in the sixth form in 1994 and in every year group in 2010. The school is divided into the Senior School, which has around 850 pupils aged from 11 to 18 across eight houses, and the Lower School, which was established in 1946 and has around 250 pupils aged from 4 to 11. The school educates the choristers of the cathedral, with which the school has a close relationship and which is used for morning assemblies and events throughout the academic year. In league tables of British schools it is consistently ranked first in Norfolk and Suffolk and amongst the highest in the United Kingdom. Former pupils are referred to as Old Norvicensians or ONs. The school has maintained a strong academic tradition and has educated a number of notable figures including Lord Nelson, Sir Edward Coke and 18 Fellows of the Royal Society among many others. Several members of the Norwich School of painters, the first provincial art movement in England, were educated at the school and the movement's founder, John Crome, also taught at the school. It is a founding member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), a member of the Choir Schools' Association and has a historical connection with the Worshipful Company of Dyers, one of the Livery Companies of the City of London.