St Michael's chapel, Norwich

Kett's Heights and adjacent Gas Hill provide one of the best views of the centre of Norwich, and in recent months the path to the top has been cleared and renewed. When you reach the top you find a ruin, little more than a single wall really, which is all that remains of the early 12th Century chapel of St Michael. It was built by order of Herbert de Losinga, first Bishop of Norwich when the city's cathedral was under construction, because it had been necessary to demolish a chapel in Tombland with the same dedication. The foundation moved up here instead. The chapel had fallen into disuse by the early 16th Century, and then was memorably used by Robert Kett and his followers as their headquarters when they beseiged and then captured the city in July 1549. Kett's Rebellion had been a protest against enclosures, and he was eventually defeated and hung at Norwich Castle, but the ruin has been known as Kett's Castle ever since. At some point, probably in the 19th Century, the ruin was repaired with brick, presumably for domestic, agricultural or industrial uses, but soon fell into decay again. Until about fifteen years ago it was an atmospheric spot, the flint and brick covered with rambling ivy, as you can see in Cameron Self's photograph below, but this has all now been removed, and while it is now easy to see what remains, it is no longer a treat for the imagination.

Simon Knott, May 2025

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