Dragon Hall

When

Key dates in the history of Dragon Hall:

• Anglo-Saxon period A number of huts were located on the Dragon Hall site
• 13^th century The first substantial houses belonging to the Abbey of Woburn were built on the site
• 1330 A merchant called John Page lived here. He built a brick vaulted undercroft which survives today
• 1427-30 Robert Toppes completely remodelled the site
• 1467 Toppes died and the building was sold
• 15^th - 19^th centuries The building was gradually altered and divided
• 19^th century Dragon Hall accommodated a number of different homes, businesses, shops and pubs and a warren of tenement houses spread down towards the river
• 1930s The maze of houses behind the Hall was demolished during the slum clearance
• Second World War The area was heavily bombed but Dragon Hall escaped serious damage
• 1979 The Norwich Brewery Company sold the building to Norwich City Council who carried out essential building work
• 1987 The Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Trust was set up to care for Dragon Hall and the building was opened to the public 
• 2005-06 Dragon Hall was restored and developed with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and numerous other organisations and individuals