Norwich Elm Hill

Summary

Norwich’s best-preserved medieval street — a cobbled lane of 15th and 16th-century timber-framed merchant houses running from Princes Street to the River Wensum, with a continuous period streetscape.

About this location

Elm Hill is a short cobbled lane in central Norwich running from Princes Street down to the River Wensum. The street is paved with 16th-century cobbles and flanked on both sides by timber-framed buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries — Norwich’s wealthy cloth-trade merchants’ houses, mostly in good condition. The buildings have overhanging upper storeys, herringbone infill panels, and a continuous line of period facades without significant later interruption.

At the top of the street, the Britons Arms (a thatched 15th-century building, the only thatched building to survive the 1507 Norwich fire) functions as a cafe. St Peter Hungate Church at the top of the hill is now a museum. The bottom of the street meets Wensum Street at the point where a bridge crosses the river.

For productions, Elm Hill gives one of the most intact medieval streetscapes in England — a functioning commercial street with period paving, period buildings, and period scale, within walking distance of the Norwich Cathedral Close and the Castle. Norwich City Council handles filming permits.