St Julian's Church, Norwich

An early church on the site of St Julian's Church was destroyed in 1004 when the Vikings attacked Norwich.[5] The medieval church was built in the 11th and 12th centuries.[1] Between 1269 and 1305 the parish associated with the nearby church of St Edward King and Confessor was united with St Julian's.[6]

The original dedication of the church is uncertain;[7] it was possibly dedicated to Julian the Hospitaller,[8] but was also considered to have been dedicated to a female saint, Juliana of Nicomedia.[9] Alan Butler, chaplain to Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk (1686 – 1777), suggested that the dedication was to Saint Julian of Le Mans, an idea refuted by the Norwich stonemason Robert Flood in his 1936 booklet A Description of St Julian's Church, Norwich and an Account of Dame Julian's Connection with it.[6][10] In 1135, Stephen, King of England put the church under the authority of Carrow Abbey.[11] The prioress and nuns appointed the priest at St Julian's, and maintained the church.[12]

By the middle of the 14th century, Norwich likely had a population approaching 25,000, a figure not reached again until the late 16th century. Second only in size to London, it was a relatively wealthy city with a densely populated and prosperous hinterland.[13] Besides possessing a cathedral, it had five monasteries, a convent, and a greater number of parish churches than any city in medieval England other than London.[note 1] Through its trading links with the Low Countries and the Rhineland, at that time the most fertile areas for religious developments north of the Alps, the region probably had access to new religious ideas then prevalent in northern Europe.[15]

Julian of Norwich depicted in an interior window in the church

During the late Middle Ages, Norwich had an exceptionally large number of hermits and anchorites in comparison with other English towns.[16] The mystic and anchoress (or female recluse) now known as Julian of Norwich lived in a cell attached to the church, which was then in an industrial area of the city, close to the quays of the River Wensum.[17][18]

Julian was born in 1343 or late 1342; her date of death is unknown, but she is thought to have died after 1416. It is possible that her name may have been taken from St Julian's Church, but Julian was a common girl's name during the 14th century, and it is likely to have been her actual name.[18]

Upon entering her cell for the first time, Julian would have been cut off from the world of the living; the cell door connecting her with the church would have been sealed, with a small window to allow her to witness masses, and perhaps another to receive callers.[19]

Julian is the first woman whose writings in English have survived. Her book, commonly called Revelations of Divine Love, was written in two versions, now usually referred to as the Short Text and the Long Text. The earlier Short Text was written after she received a series of 16 mystical revelations, following her recovery from an illness that brought her close to death.[20]

It has been speculated that one of the prioresses of Carrow, Edith Wilton, provided Julian with her writing materials.[12] In 1428, another anchoress, Julian (or Juliana) Lampet, was installed in the cell and lived there for 50 years.[21]

Lithograph of the church by James Sillett (1828), Norwich Museums Collections

As a consequence of the English Reformation, the priory at Carrow was dissolved. No rector was appointed at St Julian's for 45 years, until the appointment of Gawin Browne in 1581. During the Reformation, the cell at St Julian's was demolished.[22]

After merchants ceased living in the area around St Julian's, the church entered a period of slow decline. By 1827, when the church was drawn by the Norfolk artist James Sillett, most of the east window had been blocked up. According to Flood, "Mrs Gunn made fifteen drawings from remains of coloured glass that lay much broken on the floor. No services were held, and the place was overrun with boys."[23] Part of the chancel collapsed in 1845, by which time the church was in a very poor state of repair and no longer in use for services.[24]

Following the collapse of the east wall, an appeal was made for funds, and the church then underwent a restoration.[25][note 2] The priest's door was blocked up, and the medieval wall paintings and biblical texts were painted over or destroyed, the interior fixtures removed and the vestry built on the south side of the building. The tower's height was reduced, and a new east window was installed. By 1860, the thatching on the roof had been replaced with tiles.[26] By the beginning of the 20th century, the tower was close to collapsing; it was repaired in 1934.[27]

St Julian's suffered almost complete destruction during the Norwich Blitz of 1942, when in June that year it received a direct hit.[1] After the war, funds were raised to rebuild the church, the only one of the churches destroyed in Norwich during the war that was later rebuilt.[17] Redesigned by the architect A. J. Chaplin, it was reopened in 1953,[1][note 3] with a chapel built in place of the long-lost anchorite cell.[29]

The church's bell was made in 1450 by the bellfounder Richard Brayser, when it was inscribed with the words Ave gracia Plena Dominus Tecum. One of the oldest bells in the city, it crashed to the ground and was badly damaged when the church was destroyed.[30][31] After being repaired, it was returned to the church and rehung in 1992.[17]

Interior view of the church, facing west

The church's baptismal font

The octagonal baptismal font is a replacement for the original one, which was lost when the church was bombed. The current font was moved from the now redundant All Saints' Church, Norwich in 1977. It has eight standing figures representing the Apostles, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint George, and two other saints.[32][note 4]

The church has an organ dating to 1860 by Henry Jones of London, which was installed there in 1966. Originally built for a house in the Essex village of Abbess Roding, it was found in a warehouse in Chelmsford, where it was rebuilt. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[34]

In 1906, some stonework, thought to be from the destroyed anchorite's cell, was recovered from the churchyard.[35]

During 2014 and 2015, archaeological work undertaken immediately to the east of the churchyard revealed medieval features, including graves. The work done showed that St Julian's churchyard originally extended eastwards up to King Street.[17] The lost part of the churchyard was developed by the 17th century, but it is not known exactly when this occurred.[17]