Friars Quay (Norwich) the River Wensum itself. The immediate history however relates to the use of the site as a timber yard until it was made available for development. Jewsons Timber Yard was established by John Wilson Jewson who shipped in timbers by wherries from Great Yarmouth. In 1868 George Jewson purchased a 17th-century house in Colegate which was used as the headquarters of the business. His son Richard (1867 to 1949) established Jewsons as the largest timber merchants between the Thames and the Humber. Richard became Lord Mayor of Norwich in 1917. The land was purchased by Norwich City Council in 1970.
Norwich named "Venta Icenorum", literally "the marketplace of the Iceni". The Roman settlement fell into disuse around 450 and the Anglo-Saxons settled on the site of the modern city between the 5th and 7th centuries, founding the towns of "Northwic" (from which Norwich gets its name), "Westwic" (at Norwich-over-the-Water) and the secondary settlement at Thorpe. According to a local rhyme, the demise of "Venta Icenorum" led to the development of Norwich: "Caistor was a city when Norwich was none, Norwich was built of Caistor stone." There are two suggested models of development for Norwich. It is possible that three separate early