Norwich is a cathedral city in eastern England and the county town of Norfolk. It stands on the River Wensum, roughly 100 miles north-east of London and 40 miles north of Ipswich. The 2021 census recorded a population of about 144,000 within the city council boundary, an increase of 8.7 per cent on the 2011 figure. The wider built-up area, which extends into the suburbs of Costessey, Taverham, Hellesdon, Sprowston and Thorpe St Andrew, had a population of 213,166 at the 2011 census, while the surrounding travel-to-work area is estimated at around 376,500.
The city is the largest settlement in East Anglia and the seat of the Diocese of Norwich. From the medieval period until the early years of the Industrial Revolution, Norwich ranked as the second-largest town in England after London, and the wealth accumulated through the wool and weaving trades shaped much of its present townscape. Norwich claims to be the most complete medieval city in the United Kingdom. The cobbled lanes of Elm Hill, Timber Hill and Tombland survive in the centre, alongside St Andrew’s Hall (a 15th-century friary church), the half-timbered Dragon Hall and Strangers’ Hall, and the Norman keep of Norwich Castle, which now houses the city’s main museum. The Royal Arcade, designed by George Skipper and opened in 1899, is an example of Art Nouveau architecture.
Norwich was designated England’s first UNESCO City of Literature in May 2012. The decision drew on a literary record that includes Julian of Norwich, the 14th-century anchoress whose Revelations of Divine Love is the earliest surviving book in English written by a woman, and on the creative writing programme founded at the University of East Anglia in 1970 by Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson, whose graduates include Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro. The university itself, on the western edge of the city, was established in 1963.
The city has appeared regularly in national rankings of British places to live and work. The Sunday Times listed Norwich among its “Best Places to Live” in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and a 2016 Guardian survey named it the happiest city in which to work in the United Kingdom. The local-government district covers 20.3 square miles and, with around 9,600 residents per square mile, is one of the most densely populated in the East of England.