Welcome to Dragon Hall Heritage

The Dragon Hall Heritage Volunteers have created this website for all matters concerning the Volunteers and the history and heritage of Dragon Hall in Norwich. It is now the home of the National Centre for Writing and we, the Heritage Volunteers, work in partnership with them, particularly in helping to raise funds for maintenance of the building through our tours. Our aim is to maintain and promote knowledge of, and access to, Dragon Hall. For Venue Hire enquiries (including weddings) please contact the National Centre for Writing on 01603 877177.

What is Dragon Hall?

Dragon Hall, King Street, Norwich is a unique, Grade 1 listed, medieval trading hall dating from around 1430, renowned for its spectacular timber crown-post roof and intricately carved and painted dragon. It is one of the ‘Norwich Twelve’, the iconic buildings of Norwich, and is symbolic of Norwich’s historical role as a major textile production centre and as a city of national importance.

It is also important as an example of a building built by one 15th century entrepreneur, Robert Toppes, which was effectively ‘lost’ after his death and re-discovered and restored in the 20th century. To find information on these and many other aspects of Dragon Hall, go to ‘History of Dragon Hall’.

National Centre for Writing

The National Centre for Writing runs a year-round programme of events and courses at Dragon Hall and while these don't include tours of the building they offer a fantastic opportunity to enjoy live writing and storytelling events in a spectacular setting. See their website for details.

The Dragon Hall Heritage Volunteers offer tours.

Dragon Hall Heritage Volunteers

We act as tour guides and offer a range of talks which we can bring to your venue, usually with a Powerpoint slide show. We also run a Local History group for discussion of topics related to Dragon Hall and the surrounding area; for some documents relating to the area go to Community Voices.

Are you interested in history and/or old buildings? We are always keen to recruit new members to act as guides or assistants. We provide a lot of documents and background material, training and support for those keen to help promote and preserve this unique and wonderful building. Why not come for a trial tour before making any commitment? Please contact Heather Pfeiffer to find out more.

History and Heritage Documents

On this website you can also find out about the history of Dragon Hall and information about specific aspects of its history. View our History of Dragon Hall page for an outline of its history and then view our Archive Documents page or Films page for more detailed information.