Norwich is a an old city in Norfolk, East Anglia, England. Near the centre of the city is its tallest building, The Cathedral. For nearly 900 years the cathedral, built of stone from France, has been the centre of the Christian faith for a wide area and many visitors come to see it. Nearly as old is this street of timber framed houses. Few people live in these old streets today for nearly all the houses have been converted into shops. This street was built before the days of motor vehicles and is less than four metres wide. The stone faced castle was built to defend the city but today it is a popular museum. Norwich, then, was an important city in the Middle Ages, defended by the castle and surrounded by flint walls. Parts of these walls are still preserved but the modern city has spread out far beyond them. Norwich began to grow on the inside of a bend on the river Wensum. (00 years ago the Normans built the castle and cathedral and the old walled city grew around these buildings. Today the castle remains in the centre of the city, close to the large and important market. Many of the buildings in the city centre are shops. The city is an important shopping centre, with shops of all sizes, both old and new. Every weekday the streets are crowded with shoppers. As well as the shops, there are many offices in the central area. Some of the buildings are very large. This one is the national headquarters of a large insurance company. Shops, offices and - in another part of the city centre - factories. Most of these old factories were built beside the river. Can you guess why? In a city like Norwich many different things are made. More than six thousand people work in the boot and shoe industry, for which Norwich has long been famous. This industry started because leather could easily be obtained from local farms, but today the raw materials come from many different places. in the same way the important food industry of Norwich began with local raw materials, such as mustard. Today, many other food and drink products are made, and more than six thousand people are employed in making them. Printing is another important industry in Norwich. This works specialises in colour printing and bookbinding on a large scale. Steel is used in engineering, and timber in joinery. As we have seen, these industries developed in the valley of the River Wensum, close to the oldest parts of the city. Today, as in other cities, Norwich has grown far beyond the old city walls, as much as six kilometres in some directions. These houses, just outside the city walls, were built a hundred years ago. They don't come up to modern standards and today some are being replaced by groups of flats. Traffic is kept away from the housing areas so that even close tot he city centre, people can live quietly. Norwich is the county town of Norfolk, one of the East Anglian counties. There are many towns in East Anglia closer to Norwich than to any other town. Roads lead from these towns to the city which is also a meeting point of railway routes. Because people come to Norwich from a wide area, the streets of the city centre become crowded. Lorries and vans try to reach the shops an, offices and factories, and buses are delayed by private cars. Some streets have been closed to vehicles and people can walk to work without worrying about the traffic. Shopkeepers say that business is better than before and there is space to sit and rest. Another way of dealing with traffic problems is to build an inner ring road, taking traffic round the central area instead of through it. But a road like this is expensive to build and people living in its path have to move. To re-house these people tall blocks of flats were built on the edge of the city, several kilometres from the centre. Thousands of students study at the University. It could not have expanded in the city centre. The offices of Norfolk County Council, the County Hall, were once close to the castle but now occupy this large modern building on the edge of the city. The livestock market was also close to the castle, in the days when animals walked to market. Today, fleets of lorries bring animals from all over East Anglia and the new site on the edge of the city provides space for three thousand cattle, four hundred calves and five thousand pigs. Cattle are put in pens to await their turn to be sold. Around the sale ring farmers bid for the cattle. This bustling market clearly shows that Norwich is the centre of an important farming region. So, cities like Norwich are important in several ways. They are places to visit for shopping and for entertainment, places to work in offices and factories and market centres for a wide area. Norwich has been important for hundreds of years, even before the castle and cathedral were built. Such old buildings remain to remind us of the city's historic past, whilst all around their is constant change.

• published: 18 Sep 2013
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