Black Tower

Once part of Norwich's medieval city walls, Black Tower is one of the largest of the intermediate towers. The tower was a lookout platform as well as part of the defensive and toll-collecting network of walls and gates. It included a fireplace in the upper chamber, possibly a room for guards, and may have had an upper parapet walk at roof level. The name Black Tower comes from the use of black flint, although other stories abound. It was also known at different times as Governor's Tower (as it housed a siege commander) and Mackarel's Tower (when it was privately owned in the late 18th century). At various points the tower was used as a prison, a plague house and as part of the Wilderness Pleasure Gardens which encompassed the area around the tower and Carrow Hill.