Club members were invited to the usual Summer programme trip into Norwich for a walk along the River Wensum.
Starting at the law courts car park, we walk out of the back of the car park passing Jarrold bridge.
A quick shot of the development going on at the riverside then walking further up, I get the first nice scene looking towards the bridge at Whitefriars
St. James Mill
St James Mill is an English Industrial Revolution mill in Norwich.
It was built between 1836 and 1839 as part of an attempt by the Norwich Yarn Company (established 1833 by Samuel Bignold) to prevent the collapse of the local textile trade. The architect was John Brown. The site was occupied by the White Friars (Carmelites) in the 13th century, and an original arch and undercroft survive.
When the local textile trade went into further decline, St James Mill was bought by Jarrold & Sons Ltd for use by its printing department in 1902. The building was subsequently leased to Caley’s, the chocolate manufacturer, and sold to the government as a training factory for war veterans in 1920.
Jarrolds bought back the mill in 1933 and today it is a private office complex. Among the organisations based there are Virgin Wines and Norfolk Community Foundation. The John Jarrold Printing Museum, which is open most Wednesdays is situated behind the mill.
On the bridge at Whitefriars but looking back down the river Wensum, there’s a well known scene looking towards St James Mill.
Walking across the road and up towards Fishergate, there’s. Really nice scene opposite the river of a willow tree and it’s reflection beside some apartments.
Fishergate
In the 10th century, Norwich grew rapidly. As the town grew the settlement spread to the south bank of the river. Gradually the settlement at Norwich shifted from north to south of the River Wensum.
Then in 1004 the Danes sacked and burned Norwich. (That was easy since the buildings were of wood with thatched roofs). However, Norwich was soon rebuilt and flourished once again.
The Danes left many place names in this part of England. The street name ‘gate’, as in Pottergate, is derived from the Danish word gata meaning street. Potter gata was the street where potters lived and worked. The street name Tombland is derived from a Danish word meaning empty space. Fingelgate comes from a Danish word meaning bend or elbow. The meaning of Fishergate is obvious.
This is a pleasing shot with the leading line of the path on the left, the boat and reflections in the mid-ground and the buildings in the background. The shot is topped off by the sun star effect, which I achieved by using a narrow aperture (f/20).
On reaching the bridge, I hd to get. Shot of the iconic pub The Ribs of Beef.
While I was there, I got a shot from the bridge looking down on the river.
We then walked down an alley beside ‘The Ribs’ and just along, I grabbed a nice shot of a boat with reflections.
Club members were wandering around to see what was on offer, and my last shot of the evening was this one looking back at the bridge.
I had to squeeze through some bushes and tight beside a tree to get this particular spot, and thought it might just offer something a little different.
The rowing boats are really nice and more prominent earlier on but the metallic pontoon and associated railings are somewhat ugly from that viewpoint.
We were looking to get photos to meet the monthly competition of summer colours, but the evening did not present much to meet that brief.
We had a nice walk, lots of photography chit chat and grabbed some nice shots. At this point, we walked back to the car park with the idea we’d grab a drink in the Adam and Eve pub.
The pub was closed and as the departing manager explained, since lockdown, he couldn’t justify keeping it open beyond 8pm during the week.
And with that, the evening came to a close and we all headed home for our own refreshments.
Onwards and upwards…