The dark and mysterious history of Elm Hill in Norwich revealed

Named after the type of tree which was planted in its square, the street has been in use since at least the 1200s when the Normans invaded the city and set up a market in nearby Tombland.

It was thought that during the Black Death in the 1300s, Tombland and the areas surrounding what is now Magdalen Street were used as plague pits to dump thousands of bodies. 

Although the numbers are highly disputed - with some even saying the area was never used as plague pits at all - evidence of buried bones suggests the area was used because of its proximity to the river.  

Elm Hill all dressed up for Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, which was based in a fictional Norwich (Image: Newsquest)

Following the plague, Elm Hill enjoyed a period of relative prosperity due to the city's booming textiles and weaving trade.

The river that was once prized for plague ordinances became a highly important route from which raw materials were imported and finished products exported via Great Yarmouth.

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Large numbers of skilled craftsmen, weavers, goldsmiths and workers settled in the city and the settlement at Elm Hill was among the finest. 

But in 1507 a disastrous fire ripped through the city, destroying more than 700 houses - including those on Elm Hill.

Gradually the area degenerated into a slum as the city's textile trade began to dwindle into the 1800s and was chosen as the staging ground for a mysterious preacher's Benedictine cult. 

Elm Hill photographed in 1925, before the conservation survey was conducted (Image: Newsquest)

Father Ignatius was a preacher and a 'mystic' who sought to establish a Benedictine monastery in Elm Hill but its development was marred by scandals and controversy.

Rumours of an incident between a novice monk and a young boy in the care of the monastery and the unexplainable death of a woman who had blasphemed Father Ignatius eventually saw to the monastery's undoing. 

Father Ignatius spent the following 12 years unsuccessfully trying to rebuild a community in Elm Hill and died in 1908, with some believing the street to be haunted by his ghost.

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By the 1920s, Elm Hill had slipped into obscurity and the street - though still partly inhabited - was left impoverished and destitute.

It was not until 1927 that the Norwich Society - a non-profit conservation group still operating today - conducted a report finding that the hill still held much historic and architectural value. 

The hill preparing to be dressed up for the movie Stardust, in 2004 (Image: Newsquest)

The initial consensus was to clear the slums and condemn the buildings, with an aim to completely demolish the houses on the north side of the street to build a community swimming pool.

A last-minute decision prevented the hill's destruction and work to renovate the street commenced in 1927, preserving its beauty. 

Norwich City Council still owns most of the buildings in Elm Hill where today its colourful Tudor buildings are enjoyed as a film set, a shopping street and a popular tourist hotspot.