Eastern Chapels in the Cathedral Church of Norwich

Extract

The Cathedral Church of Norwich is remarkable for several features which rarely or never occur elsewhere. Among these the form of the two surviving eastern chapels may be mentioned. They may be described as bulbous in shape, and were clearly a part of the original work of Herbert de Losinga, the bishop of Norwich who transferred his seat from Thetford to Norwich in 1094. His great church was begun in 1096, and was sufficiently forward for consecration on 24th September 1101. The northern chapel has been called the Jesus chapel since the end of the fifteenth century, but before it had been the chapel of the Martyrs and later the chapel of St. Stephen. The south chapel is St. Luke's, used since the reign of Elizabeth as a parish church in lieu of St. Mary's in the Marsh, which stood on the south side of the Close and was then pulled down.