Medieval Norwich Series - The Black Tower

Exploring Some of the Medieval sites in this historic city

This cache is located along part of the remains of the city wall on Carrow Hill in the city of Norwich and near a couple of the remaining fortified towers. There is a steep access point off Carrow hill which would avoid the steep climb. Otherwise you will have stairs either up or down to cache

The Black Tower is the largest of the intermediate towers. It has an overall diameter of 10 meters and stands to a height of over 11 metres on the inner side though where the land drops away into the outer ditch on the south side it is 13.5 metres high and that is without the upper part of its parapet. Apart from the Cow Tower this is architecturally the most complex of the towers. The outer face of the wall has knapped and squared flint work finely set with little mortar (presumably the reason for the name of the tower) and the ground-floor entrance and the doorway from the tower onto the wall walk to the west have stone surrounds with the remains of hood mouldings. The tower had a lower chamber that was vaulted and the upper chamber, reached by a partly-projecting turret on the west side of the tower with a spiral brick stair, had a massive brick fireplace. The stair continued up to the roof level where, presumably, there was a parapet walk commanding amazing views out over the river and the approaches to the city from the south. The tower had two obvious main functions. First, it provided a lookout platform commanding extensive views to the south. Second, the tower with the lower tower, the wall running down to the gate at King Street and the lower wall and the Boom Tower, formed an formidable and imposing sight for those approaching the city. At a more practical level, the large upper chamber with its fireplace may have provided a space for mustering troops or the guards of the watch. .

The Cache
You are looking for a disguised micro cache. Please replace carefully and No photos of the cache please. Happy caching.