St Peter Hungate, Norwich

St Peter Hungate stands in Norwich’s old Hungate district, a Grade I listed church now without a congregation. Its name comes from the medieval Hundegate, meaning ‘dog street’, and it was one of four Norwich churches dedicated to Saint Peter. The building has a nave, chancel, north and south transepts, a south porch and a west tower, all arranged around a small churchyard. The church’s history reaches back to at least 1247, when an anchorite received a bequest here. Wealthy parishioners the Pastons rebuilt large sections in the 15th century, and in 1556 a Norwich School master wrote a pageant performed outside for the new mayor. Later, puritan rector William Bridge was ejected in 1638, and in the 19th century William Hull led ritualistic services that drew fashionable congregations. After services ended in 1897, the building faced demolition before local antiquarians and Prince Duleep Singh secured its restoration. Today visitors find a medieval flint church with a Perpendicular-style nave and transepts rebuilt in 1458. The chancel, rebuilt in 1604 after collapse, shows rough rubble under plaster and a lower roof than the rest. Inside, the space houses Hungate Medieval Art, an exhibition of church heritage with replica monumental brasses for rubbing. The churchyard remains a quiet corner near the old street name that once gave the building its identity.