NHER 26100 (Building record) - 9 Elm Hill (The Briton's Arms)

February 1954. Listed, Grade II*.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Former beguinage, now restaurant. Early 15th century and later. Timber frame. Rendered. Thatched roof. Brick ridge - chimney. Three storeys and cellar, one bay to gable front with bracketed first and second floor jetties. Only a second-floor jetty on right side elevation. High rendered plinth."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Beers (HES), 09 March 2020.

Wrongly entered by R. Smith as number 18 Elm Hill, his record reads:
Britons Arms. Late 15th century building with full height, flint rubble rear wall and south gable; and timber-framed on remaining two walls above ground floor level. It has two rooms on each of its three floors that are divided by a stack, and there is an external stair turret against the rear wall. Due to the steep fall in ground level, the first floor becomes the ground floor against the south gable where there is direct access to the churchyard of St Peter Hungate. (S2) in file.
O. Beazley (NAU), 4 September 1990.

B. Ayers (NLA) notes; a beguinage is a sort of secular nunnery, named after the followers of Louis the Beguin. Despite the listed building attribution, none are definitely known to have existed in Britain, but three are reputed to have stood in Norwich. If this is one it is the only one standing in Britain.
E. Rose (NLA), 10 November 1999.
Press cuttings (S3) and (S4) in file.

Timbers (Baltic oak) in the buildings have been dated to the first decade of the 15th century (S5).

2012-2013. Dendrochronological Survey.
Dendrochronological analysis undertaken on 14 samples taken from various timbers that had been imported from the Baltic region. This analysis produced a single site chronology comprising nine samples with an overall length of 219 rings, which was dated as spanning the years AD 1188-1406. The interpretation of the sapwood on the dated samples suggests that these timbers were cut at some point during the period AD 1407-1420.
Five of the measured samples remain ungrouped and undated, while an additional 12 samples proved to have too few rings for reliable analysis.
See report (S6) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 10 March 2021.

Archival research has established links between the building and the adjacent church of St Peter Hungate from as early as 1347 (S7).
D. Gurney (HES), 17 January 2014.