Norwich Audio Tour: At Work

Explore Norwich at your own pace

Norwich was rich long before England had factories. Six centuries of worsted weaving, a third of the population speaking Dutch, a 1583 'house of correction' that put women to spin and men to grind malt, a Wensum canal that floated Caen stone to the cathedral works yard, fifteen per cent of the city in shoe factories by 1900, an insurance giant born above a wine merchant's vaults, and an Edwardian architect who built the offices, arcades and department stores where the new clerks and shop-girls worked: it all happened inside one square mile. This self-guided audio tour walks that mile. From Strangers' Hall - the merchant's house where Mayor Sotherton lodged refugee Dutch weavers in 1565 - through a 1670 weaver's cottage, the friary where the Strangers worshipped in Dutch until 1929, the Elizabethan Bridewell that 'set the poor on work', the Norman market that has traded since 1086, the medieval Guildhall, a bespoke shoemaker still hand-stitching on the same shopfront since 1874, the only independent department store in the city, George Skipper's Art Nouveau arcade, the Marble Hall of Norwich Union, the keep where Robert Kett was hanged, the Anglo-Scandinavian first marketplace, the cathedral gate built by Agincourt's Sir Thomas Erpingham, the medieval water-gate that delivered the cathedral stone - and ending at the seven-bay medieval trading hall of merchant Robert Toppes, who exported the Norwich worsted that built it all. Walk slowly. The buildings still hold their shape, and the working lives still hold their names.

Photo: Jack Coble, Unsplash

Tour details

• Duration: 1 hour 37 minutes, entirely at your own pace
• Distance: around 4.5 km (2.8 miles)
• Stops: 14 landmarks, including Norwich Castle, Dragon Hall, Norwich, Pulls Ferry, Norwich
• Audio: up to 35 minutes of narration
• Starts at: Norwich Castle

Map data by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors

How it works

• Book here and a redemption code arrives by email within minutes.
• Download the free AudaTours app on your phone and enter the code.
• Download the tour once and the whole thing works offline.
• Walk to the first stop and press play. The audio for each landmark starts automatically as you approach it, so your phone can stay in your pocket.

There is no fixed date and no start time. The date you pick at checkout does not matter, and the tour stays on your phone permanently, so you can use it whenever you next visit and walk it again as often as you like.

What is included

• Professionally narrated audio that plays automatically at each stop
• An interactive map showing the walking route between landmarks
• Full offline access once downloaded, so you need no data or signal
• Freedom to start, pause and resume whenever you like
• Lifetime access - your code never expires

Where you will stop

• Norwich Castle
• Dragon Hall, Norwich
• Pulls Ferry, Norwich
• Erpingham Gate, Norwich Cathedral Close
• Tombland, Norwich
• Sherwyn House, 63 St George's Street, Norwich
• St Andrew's and Blackfriars' Hall, Norwich
• Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell
• Bowhill and Elliott, 65 London Street, Norwich
• Royal Arcade, Norwich
• Norwich Market
• Jarrolds, London Street, Norwich
• Norwich Guildhall
• Strangers' Hall

Image: AudaTours

What is AudaTours?

AudaTours turns a walk through a city into a story. Our guides bring landmarks to life with the history, the scandals and the detail you would never get from a plaque.

• Immersive: real stories about the places in front of you, not a dry commentary
• Offline: download once and use it with no data, anywhere
• At your own pace: start, pause and resume whenever you want
• Accurate: every story is built from verified historical sources and checked before release

Good to know

• This is a self-guided audio tour on your own phone. There is no in-person guide.
• It does not include entry to any building or site along the route.
• The landmarks on the tour are not affiliated with AudaTours.
• You need a smartphone with Android 7.0 or later, or iOS 16 or later.
• Bring headphones and start with a charged phone.

Who it suits

Solo travellers, couples, families and small groups who would rather explore on their own schedule than follow a guide and a fixed departure time. It suits a first visit, and it suits anyone who has already seen the famous sights and wants to know what actually happened in them.

Image credits

Photos: Neil Smith, Jack Coble, Harry Borrett (Unsplash).