Chapelfield Gardens

About

Chapelfield Gardens is a public park in Norwich. It is the earliest surviving ornamental public open space in the city, and a Grade II listed park. It is triangular in shape and features a bandstand.

Initially the site of a section of the Norwich city walls from around 1253, the name of the land now known as Chapelfield Gardens was derived from the chapel of St Mary in the Fields formerly in the area. The land was claimed by the citizens of Norwich in 1406. After the destruction of the chapel due to the dissolution of the monasteries in 1545, the land was granted to a private citizen, though was sold to the city and held in a trust from 1569.

It was subject to mixed use over the early modern period, including for military training as well as morning exercise for ladies and gentlemen of leisure. Crowds mustered in the field prior to the Great Blow riot of 1648. By 1655, citizens were given the right to walk on the land for recreation at all times.

The land had developed into Norwich's earliest pleasure garden and an entertainment district for the wealthy by the end of the 17th century, with the nearby Chapel Field House being integrated into its layout. The grounds were further developed...