Strangers' Hall

Over het museum

Strangers' Hall is one of the oldest and most historic buildings in Norwich. There has been a substantial building on the plot since the thirteenth century or earlier, and the vaulted undercroft is thought to date from the 1320s, when Ralph de Middelton owned a house here and used the cellar to store and perhaps display goods for sale. The Great Hall was probably built in the fifteenth century for the cloth merchant William Barley. In the sixteenth century the grocer and mayor Thomas Sotherton owned the house, and his family added the crown post roof and the stone-mullioned bay window. The house is named after the 'strangers', Dutch, Walloon and Flemish weavers who fled religious persecution in the sixteenth century and were encouraged to settle in Norwich.

Later owners kept changing the house. The grocer Francis Cock installed the Walnut Room and the staircase in 1627, the year he became mayor, and the Great Chamber is shown as the private room of Sir Joseph Paine, who lived here from 1659 to 1667. In 1748 the house became the official lodging of the assize judges, and the Georgian dining room was created for them. By the 1890s it stood empty and derelict.

In 1899 the solicitor Leonard Bolingbroke bought the building, saving it from demolition, and furnished it with his own antiques. He opened it in May 1900 as a folk museum, one of the first of its kind in Britain, and in 1922 gave the museum and its contents to the City of Norwich. Since 1974 Strangers' Hall has been managed by the Norfolk Museums Service, and its rooms now show life in Norwich from the medieval period to Victorian times, with a garden looked after by the Friends of the Norwich Museums.

Hoogtepunten

• Medieval vaulted undercroft, thought to date from the 1320s
• Tudor Great Hall with crown post roof
• Georgian dining room made for the assize judges
• Victorian parlour and nursery, Walnut Room and Toy Room
• Elizabethan-style knot garden looked after by volunteers
• One of the first folk museums in Britain, opened in 1900

Vaste collectie

• The historic rooms of Strangers' Hall – Period rooms from medieval to Victorian times, including the undercroft, Great Hall, chambers, Georgian dining room, parlour, Sotherton Room, Walnut Room and Victorian rooms.

Opgericht

1900

Beheerder

Norfolk Museums Service

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

The listed prices are the standard rates; a more recent page of the museum's website gives 'from £6.75' for adults and 'from £5.85' for children when booked online in advance. Admission is free with a Norfolk Museums Pass and for several groups, including foster families, looked-after children, students of NUA, UEA and City College, members of the Friends of Norwich Museums, National Art Pass holders and Museums Association members; proof may be requested. Tickets can be bought on the door or booked online, and are not refundable.

Toegankelijkheid

• Rolstoeltoegankelijk: niet aanwezig
• Lift: niet aanwezig
• Aangepast toilet: niet aanwezig
• Gehandicaptenparkeerplaats: geen informatie
• Hulphonden welkom
• Tastmodellen / voelbare objecten: geen informatie
• Rondleidingen in gebarentaal: geen informatie
• Informatie in eenvoudige taal: geen informatie
• Audiodescriptie: geen informatie

The museum is not accessible to wheelchair or pushchair users, and its toilets are not accessible to wheelchair users. A virtual tour presentation of the museum is available at ground-floor level in the schoolroom; it is best to call to check availability, as the room is also used by school groups. Carers are admitted free, assistance dogs are very welcome (ask at reception for a water bowl), and information can be provided in other formats such as braille or large print on request.

Kinderen & gezin

• Kinderwagenvriendelijk: niet aanwezig

Children under 4 enter free, and the house includes a Toy Room and a Victorian nursery. The museum is not accessible to pushchairs.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

Coaches can drop off and pick up outside the Strangers Tavern on Charing Cross, where there is a bus stop.

Service & horeca

• Café: niet aanwezig
• Restaurant: niet aanwezig
• Museumwinkel

There is no café on site, but there are many cafés and restaurants nearby. A small selection of souvenirs is sold at the reception desk.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

• Ruimtes te huur

Single rooms such as the Tudor Great Hall, Georgian Dining Room or medieval Undercroft can be hired separately or combined, with the Elizabethan knot garden and a marquee also available.

Je bezoek plannen