Attendant's View
  • Cartoons and Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Links Elsewhere
Picture

Norwich castle in pictures

17/5/2013

0 Comments

 
I went Norwich recently to bob about the Norfolk Festival. And then we decided that great British weather made the castle a safer bet (and a few pubs afterwards!) I had studied the castle briefly in uni as an example of this and the other, but had little idea of it's long use as a prison, or attached local museum and the stunning contents therein. 
Slideshow reviews are below, just click the pic to see the next one!
The castle is a strange building in all, impressive in scale it's almost hard to get your head around as we're so used to semi ruined or very rebuilt sites, and much remains the original keep. Once inside the height and space is giddying, but as we visited when it's undergoing reinterpretation, it's hard to judge the presentation and information. An area on it's use as a prison has some good hands on kids things, but felt very text heavy with most visitors skimming through, a shame as it had some excellent tales to tell. Space downstairs covering the castle being built hold some well put together but slightly tired mannikin/diorama displays and a very good CGI of the whole Norman site.

Then... we went into the musuem, where you can find out about inexplicable skeletons, LOTS of teapots and treasure and more, in the rest of the post below..... (click the read more text ->)
The museum uses the shape of the prison well, starting you off in a large airy atrium in the centre, and spanning galleries out and along the prison wings. We didn't have time to cover it all, closing at 4.30 on a Saturday they were having to almost push visitors from the building, such a shame when it was obviously popular and many people (such as ourselves) assumed it would be open until at least 5.00. Throughout it is evident that money and attention has been paid in the right ways, with displays appealing to and engaging families and casual tourists, while more detailed information is available and accessible for the nerdier sort ("My gods! I recognise that torc from a textbook!!") 

The Boudica gallery showed clever use of heavily theming areas, then the Anglo-Saxons and Celts was modern and bright, and natural history areas reuse original wooden cabinets well, fascinating children. A section on decorative arts is apparently recently renovated with two new galleries, but felt somewhat cold and lifeless compared to the other areas. We didn't make it near the art areas...

In all I'm certainly up for a second visit, not only to see how they finish the interpretation of the keep and it's displays and to see the galleries we missed, but also because there is an awful lot of stuff there and it's such an enjoyable place to look around. Busy with kids, families, groups and tourists, there is enough space and material that you can always move to see something new, and always feel a real energy and interest from all the visitors without it distracting.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Webcomic and occasional blog about the heritage sector.

    ​Follow The Attendant:

    Facebook
    Twitter
    Tumblr

    RSS Feed

    Topics

    All
    Archaeology
    Art
    Behind The Scenes
    Blog
    Book
    Cartoon
    Castles And Houses
    Complaints
    Daft Questions
    Don't Do That...
    Don't Do That...
    English Heritage
    Entrance Desk
    Forrin Tourists
    Guided Tours
    Handy Gallery Attendant Tip #
    Happy Stories
    Kids
    Mischief
    Museums
    National Trust
    Old Dears
    Parents
    Parks And Gardens
    Review
    School Visits
    Submitted
    Tourist Information
    Yuk

    Author

    All text and images are produced by and copyright of the artist, holder of the domain name of attendantsview.com
    Please contact for permission to use images, which will probably be gladly given, but it's only polite to ask first!

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Cartoons and Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Links Elsewhere