NHER 26481 (Monument record) - Ketts Heights

Kett's Heights.
Kett's Heights is an open space used as a park and gardens overlooking Norwich. Several structures are extant within the space, including part of St Michael's Chapel constructed by the Normans, greenhouse walls from the 19th century, and a piggery from World War 2. To the east is Ketts Castle Villa of 1857 with a number of follies (NHER 66802 and 69024).
St Michael's Chapel (NHER 600) was constructed on the site during the Norman period to replace a demolished church in Tombland.
The area became a walk and picnic area in the Victorian period, with some planting noted in 1834. In 1857, there is reference to a garden on site and a windmill somewhere in the area.
In the 19th century, the gasworks were developing the site. By 1887 the garden, on south of chapel ruins, was elaborate and possibly commercial. Paths led to the gasworks and up to the glasshouses by the ruins. Few documents remain but may have been a commercial public garden run by the gasworks company. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust say the grounds were laid out for the manager's house of the gasworks.
During the 1940s, the area was turned into allotments and piggerys, although these were abandoned in the post-war era. In 1977 it was acquired by Norwich City Council and restoration work was undertaken in the 1980s. The site restoration was then reduced and limited until 2015, when the Friends of Kett's Heights was created to restore the site once again to a public garden.
The Norfolk Historic Gardens Survey graded Kett's Heights as of regional importance.
See HES Recording Form for further details (S1).
See also Friend's of Kett's Heights website.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 July 1998. Amended A. Henderson (HES), 20 May 2025.

July 1998. Site Visit.
Site visit by E. Rose (NLA).
The footings around the chapel (NHER 600) are of brick and of slag or clinker; but throughout the gardens there are retaining walls of reject and overfired brick - and of reject pantiles! Some houses east of the site are made of similar bricks, allegedly by the gas company. Which brick and tile works did these come from?
E. Rose (NLA), 24 July 1998.

April 2025. Site Visit.
A site visit was undertaken by the HES team on 25 April 2025.
Kett's Heights is currently being restored by the Friends of Kett's Height society; the gardens are in good condition and the historical features preserved. Many paths and walls contain old bricks from the gasworks. The piggerys are still extant, with a mural of pigs painted on the side. Remains of the 19th century greenhouse are visible and are now being utilised as a herb garden. The terraces created during the 19th century by the gasworks are still used to landscape the garden. The remains of St Michael's Chapel are extant.
See photographic record (S2) for condition of piggery and wall of St Michael's Chapel.
A. Henderson (HES), 20 May 2025.