Mountergate - former Co-op shoe factory wall

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 26 Sep 2018

This wall is all that remains of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, popularly known as the CWS. A stone at another entrance a short distance further down the road gives the date as 1892 > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5921764. In the mid-20th century, Norwich had about 30 boot and shoe manufacturers, together with related trades, which employed more than 10,000 people. Today, the only major shoe factory is Van-Dal. The brick wall seen here is all that remains of the Co-op Shoe Factory > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5774185 with the only reason for why it is still in place being that it was deemed to be an effective baffle against traffic noise for the modern block of flats sheltering behind it, which is called Parmentergate Court. The name Mountergate comes from the parish in which this area is situated, which had long been known as St Peter Permountergate, but is now more correctly spelled as Parmentergate, so named after the leatherdressers, skinners and parchment makers who once used to trade here. The Rose Lane/Mountergate area was historically occupied by a mixture of workers' housing, factories and port-based industries, and redeveloped in a piece-meal fashion in the 20th century. The great majority of the buildings are described by the Norwich City Council as "negative buildings", and the approach to Mountergate from Rose Lane is identified as a "negative view".

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