Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Norwich, Norfolk

Details

Accessibility

Full information found here: https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/norwich-castle/plan-your-visit/access-facilities 

https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/30298/Access-facilities-at-Norwich-Castle

2025: "We hope that everyone who visits Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery enjoys their visit.

Visitors with additional access needs can bring a companion into Norwich Castle free of charge. Assistance dogs are welcome in Norwich Museums. "

Norwich Castle's spectacular medieval keep is now open. This follows its major transformation thanks to a multi-million-pound redevelopment supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

You can explore the keep from basement to battlements, making this the most accessible castle in Britain.

To keep everyone safe, we can accommodate up to five wheelchair users above ground floor level at any one time. This is due to the historic structure of the building and our current evacuation plans.

If someone in your party uses a wheelchair and is planning to visit the Keep, please let us know when booking so we can help your visit run smoothly.

You can contact us by email at museums@norfolk.gov.uk or by phone on 01603 629127.

Thank you for your understanding as we work within the constraints of this unique heritage site.

We recommend booking online in advance to avoid queuing at the ticket desks.

The main entrance to Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery is at the top of the Castle mound.

There is an external lift in Castle Gardens for step-free access. The lift takes you to outside the main entrance. If you do not want to use the lift, there is alternative step-free access to the castle. This is via Farmers Avenue or by the slopes in Castle Gardens. Further information on how to get to Norwich Castle.

Our text map shows detailed information and descriptions of the entrance area. https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/60159/Norwich-Castle-text-map

There are two Blue Badge parking spaces outside the main entrance. You can also drive up and drop off visitors with access needs at the museum entrance.

The closest car park is in Castle Quarter shopping centre. Levels K-N have the shortest route to Norwich Castle. Find information on city car parks on the Visit Norwich website.

Wheelchairs are available to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis. Please ask a staff member at the entrance when you arrive.

There is step-free access into the Norman Castle Keep via an internal lift and level walkway. This leads into the Great Hall. Once inside, there is step-free access to all five floors of the Norman Castle Keep. This includes the battlements.

• An internal lift provides step-free access between all five floors
• There is a platform lift on the battlements. This provides step-free access between two roof levels.

As Norwich Castle is a historic building, there are some restrictions on wheelchair access:

• To keep everyone safe, we can accommodate up to five wheelchair-users in the Norman Castle Keep at any one time. This is to ensure that we can safely evacuate the building in an emergency.
• If you use the lift as a wheelchair-user, you must be able to transfer into an evac chair in an emergency
• The garderobes (medieval toilets) are in a narrow space. This is not accessible by wheelchair.

• The museum and art galleries are across two floors. There is step-free access to the first floor via an internal lift.

  Only one wheelchair-user at a time is allowed at first-floor level. This is to ensure that we can safely evacuate the building in an emergency. If you are a wheelchair-user visiting the first floor, you must be able to transfer into an evac chair in an emergency. 

  We keep doors to all exhibition areas closed. This to maintain the right environment for the artworks. If you need help opening the doors, please ask a member of staff who will be happy to help you. 

  Our text map has detailed information and descriptions of the gallery spaces. Information on the new Gallery of Medieval Life will be included as soon as possible.

  The shop is on the ground floor, next to the main entrance and reception.

  The Castle Café is on the first floor. There are two internal lifts offering step-free access to the café. One from the reception area and one from inside the museum.

  There is a Changing Places toilet on the ground floor off the Rotunda.

  There are gender-neutral accessible toilets off the Rotunda. One on the ground floor and one on the first floor.

  There is a gender-neutral accessible toilet on the second floor in the Percival wing. This is above the café.

  There are male and female accessible toilets in the Victorian toilets at either end of the Special Exhibition Gallery.

  You can find detailed information on the facilities in each toilet in our text map."

For public transport information around Norfolk including accessible buses, visit the Norfolk County Council website

Brief description

A medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, now used as a museum and Art Gallery.

Please note that all of our photographs were taken before its major refurbishment. https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/30287/Whats-here-at-Norwich-Castle

"Norwich Castle's spectacular medieval keep is now open. This follows its major transformation thanks to a multi-million-pound redevelopment supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

You can explore the keep from basement to battlements, making this the most accessible castle in Britain. Alongside the keep, the Norwich Castle site contains a large gallery complex converted from the city's Victorian prison. The galleries are home to internationally important collections in:

• Archaeology
• Natural history
• Regimental history
• Fine, decorative and contemporary art

In addition, there is a programme of exciting special exhibitions.

Occasionally galleries and other areas are closed for a variety of reasons."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_Castle#Norwich_Castle_Museum_and_Art_Gallery

2025: "The castle remains a museum and art gallery and still contains many of its first exhibits. The museum's fine art collection includes costumes, textiles, jewellery, glass, ceramics and silverware, and a large display of ceramic teapots.[52] The fine art galleries feature works by the early 19th century Norwich School of painters as well as English watercolour paintings, Dutch landscapes and modern British paintings from the 17th to 20th centuries. The castle also houses a good collection of the work of the Flemish artist Peter Tillemans.[53] Other galleries include Boudica and the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons (including the Harford Farm Brooch[54]) and Natural History which displays the Fountaine–Neimy butterfly collection.[55] An unusual artefact is the needlework by Lorina Bulwer at the turn of the twentieth century whilst she was confined in a workhouse. The work has featured on BBC television.[56]

The Paston Treasure is a painting commissioned around 1663 either by Sir William Paston (1610–1663), or by his son Robert (1631–1683). The identity of the artist is unknown, however it is likely that it was a Dutch artist working in a studio at the principal residence of the Pastons at Oxnead.[57] The artwork can be placed within the mid-seventeenth century Dutch still life tradition, with elements that conform to the genre of vanitas. Still life paintings usually feature one or two objects which are artists' stock items, included only for their symbolism. On the other hand, the majority of the objects represented in The Paston Treasure were all real, as they correspond to an existing item in the inventories of the Pastons'. Therefore, it was not exclusively commissioned as a memento mori, but also as a record for the family's wealth and own collection and perhaps commemorative of the death of family member, William Paston.[58]

In 2018, the painting formed the centre piece of an exhibition curated by Francesca Vanke, The Paston Treasure: Riches & Rarities of the Known World. The exhibition reunited the painting with some of the objects depicted for the first time in nearly three hundred years.[59]

The Happisburgh hand axe is made of flint, and measures 12.2 cm × 7.8 cm.[60] The discovery of this Lower Palaeolithic hand axe in 2000 along the Norfolk coast at Happisburgh transformed our understanding of early human occupation in Britain.[61] Dated and shown to be 500,000 years old,[62] it is amongst the oldest handaxes ever discovered in the UK. Analysis of pollen in the silt allowed the archaeologists to build a picture of temperate woodland with the existence of pine, alder, oak, elm and hornbeam trees in evidence at the time the handaxe was made.[61]

The Cavalry Parade Helmet and Visor was found in the River Wensum at Worthing in 1947 and 1950 respectively. The items, of Roman origin, date to the first half of the third century CE.[63] They are an important testimony of the presence of Roman army personnel in central Norfolk during the later period of the Roman occupation.[63] The helmet is made from a single sheet of gilded bronze, highly decorated as to represent a feathered eagle's head on the crest, foliate-tailed beasts on either side and a plain triangular front panel with feather borders on either side at the top, with the lower ends terminating in birds' heads.[64] The visor mask complements the helmet by carrying similar repoussé decoration, depicting Mars on one side and Victory on the other.[63] These two objects are not a fitting pair, although they can be considered together as each would have originally had been coupled with a similar complementary object.[63]

The unique Anglo-Saxon ceramic figurine now known as Spong Man was found in 1979 in Spong Hill.[65] The figure is shown sat on a chair decorated with incised panelling and is leaning forwards with head in hands wearing a round flat hat. It is likely to have once sat on the lid of a pagan funerary urn and is a unique object in North Western Europe.[65] Although it is labelled as a man, its gender is unclear, as there are no distinctive anatomic details.[65] Exactly why this figurine was created is still a mystery. It is the earliest Anglo-Saxon three-dimensional figure ever found. It may be a representation of a deity whose identity is now lost, but it is still a great artifact that reminds us how little we know about religion in this early migration period across northern Europe.[66]

Also known as neck-rings, torcs were a characteristic kind of jewel used in the Iron Age across Europe.[68] They would have been worn by prominent people within society as a symbol of status and power.[69] The rare tubular gold torc known as the Gold Tubular Torc came from the Snettisham Treasure. It was found in 1948 at Snettisham, alongside a large number of other torcs, carefully disposed in the ground, confirming that burial rituals had great significance within the people of Late Iron Age Norfolk.[69]

Also known as The Seven Sorrows of Mary, the Ashwellthorpe Triptych has significant connections with South Norfolk and its long trading tradition with Holland.[70] This Flemish altarpiece was commissioned by the Norfolk family of the Knyvettes of Ashwellthorpe.[70] Christopher Knyvettes was sent by King Henry VIII to the Netherlands in 1512, when he commissioned this painting to Master of the Legend of the Magdalen.[71] Both Christopher and his wife Catherina are represented kneeling to Mary, mother of Jesus in the foreground of the composition, showing their religious devotion and wealth.[70]

Dragons in England are famous through the legend of Saint George, however, they have always been particular important in Norwich since the medieval period.[72] The Norwich Snapdragon was made to reflect the civil power and wealth of the city within Norfolk and was used during a procession which combined the celebration of the city's saint and the installation of the new major of the town.[73] The Snapdragon at the Norwich Castle, known as Snap, is the last complete example of the civic snapdragon. Like all others, it was built to contain one person, its body is made of basketwork, painted with gold and red scales over a green body and red underside, while the person's legs were hidden within a canvas 'skirt'.[73]

The Norwich Society of Artists was founded in 1803 by Crome and Robert Ladbrooke and brought together professional painters and drawing masters such as John Sell Cotman, James Stark, George Vincent as well as other talented amateur artists,[74] who were often inspired by the East Anglian landscape, and were influenced by Dutch landscape painters.[74] This oil on canvas is considered one of the finest works made by Crome. It depicts the River Wensum, near New Mills, at St Martin's Oak, close to where the artist lived, in Norwich.[74]

The Norfolk Regiment First World War Casualty Book is a unique graphic record of the Norfolk Regiment's participation in the First World War. It records details of more than 15,000 soldiers from the regular and service battalions in 1914 to their return home in 1919.[75] Each entry of the book contains the soldier's name, service number, battalion and details of their health. It also records those who perished in action.[76]

Part of a quartet of rare examples of English medieval art, the stained-glass roundel depicting December is an example of the Norwich School of stained-glass.[77] It shows clear Flemish influences, and it is possible that it has been made by one of the Norwich Strangers, immigrants of the sixteenth century from the Low Countries.[77] It is thought to have been made for the Major Thomas Pykerell's house.[77] originally there would have been twelve roundels depicting the Labours of The Months, a popular pageant in Norwich during that period.[77] This roundel in particular depicts the King of Christmas.[77] Of the original twelve only four now survive, depicting December, September, probably March and either April or November.[77]"

Address

 Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Castle Hill, Norwich, NR1 3JU

Email

museums@norfolk.gov.uk 

Phone

01603 493625 + 01603 629127.

Website

https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/norwich-castle 

Directions

Norwich Castle is situated on Castle Mound in the centre of Norwich. What3Words: snake.turkey.stores

Opening Times

Always check with the venue directly for up-to-date information including opening times and admission charges as they may be subject to change

2025: see https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/30295/Opening-times-at-Norwich-Castle + https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/30296/Admission-prices-at-Norwich-Castle

Transport

"The closest car park is situated in the Castle Quarter; levels K-N offer the shortest route to Norwich Castle.  For information about all car parks in the city, see the Castle Quarter website.

https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/30297/How-to-get-to-Norwich-Castle

Norwich Park & Ride buses stop at Castle Meadow, which is next to the museum.

Local buses also stop at Castle Meadow. For links to Norfolk's bus operators, timetables, and journey planner visit the Norfolk County Council website.

For public transport information around Norfolk including accessible buses, visit the Norfolk County Council website

For Park and Ride into Norwich, visit the Konectbus Park and Ride website or telephone 01362 851210.

For independent advice contact Travel line on: 0871 200 22 33.

There are a number of taxis in Norwich that are wheelchair friendly. The museum is about a ten-minute walk from Norwich railway station."

Amenities

Shop and cafe on site; see https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/norwich-castle/plan-your-visit/shop-cafe-and-picnics

Family facilities

Toys and other packs for using around the museum are available to borrow free of charge. Children's books are also available to read in several galleries.

There are baby change facilities throughout the museum. Visitors are welcome to breastfeed on the premises.

There are regular baby/toddler and family activities and events throughout the year. More information and resources when visiting with under 5's.

"Norwich Castle café https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/30299/The-Castle-Cafe

and shop: https://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk/article/60814/Shop-at-Norwich-Castle

You are welcome to bring refreshments with you and enjoy a picnic when on site. Please take packaging and litter home with you."