Norwich

[andrew george 0]

Thanks very much indeed guys for the kind compliments!

 

A

[oroen 0]

I've always loved the diagrammatical signs used at roundabouts in the UK. You don't see that sort of thing here in the States very often.

It's really amazing to go back to Page 1 and see how this region started. It was really kinda slow with few replies and seemingly little interest, wasn't it? Really goes to show what happens when you pick a region and really stick to it!

And I might add...

WELCOME TO PAGE 20!

[andrew george 0]

Thanks for the kind comment, oroen. It is true this CJ took a lot of time to get off the ground, but I think it suffers now because I simply don't have enough time to update it enough to keep folks interested in it.

 

It is also a day tinged with sadness for me, Norwich City are relegated after a 6-0 thrashing at Fulham.

 

 

Good though because Norwich has reached a) page 20; and b) 20,000 views!!!!

 

 

Thanks to all for that.

 

 

Take it easy,

 

 

A

[MayorTim 16]

This cj isn't suffering! True, it doesn't get a ton of comments due to the lack of updates, but I don't think anyone has lost interest!

[Mikeaut1 261]

This is one of the first city journals I have encountered when I first signed up to Simtropolis and this city journal is one of the best here! It may be a lengthy time between updates, but I still have it on my list to check!

[ILL Tonkso 1,237]

Norwich gone down eh, AND THE SCUMMERZ DOWN TOO YAAAAAY

[kbooms1w 1]

Sorry about your Canaries, mate. It seems that lately, the best chance to stay up is to bounce right back up with that year of Premiereship experience under your belt. Good luck next year.

Hope you find some time to work on your CJ, but it's still one of the best...

[gazzay2j 0]

Great journal! As a student at UEA it's cool to see a city styled around Norwich. Keep up the good work, don't let the football get you down!

[andrew george 0]

Thank you all for the kind and encouraging comments - much appreciated.

 

A

[andrew george 0]

Unusual Earthworks Cause Unease Amongst City Engineers

Hello, I'm Richard Lyons and welcome to an exclusive report.

On their travels to the new borough of Elmerford, Norwich's team of engineers and city planners have discovered some very unusual earthworks, with and eerie building standing atop. Beneath a tall, terraced teardrop-shaped hill, is a wide, strange-shaped ditch.....

http://img187.echo.cx/img187/7657/elmerford18nl.jpg align=baseline>

With Elm Wood in the background close to the River Elmer.....

http://img68.echo.cx/img68/4818/elmerford20vz.jpg align=baseline> 

The striking feature demanded their respect and attention, and eminated significance. Mayor George is with me. Mayor George, tell us more about what's been going on today.

Well Richard I've taken steps to protect the whole site from any form of urbanisation, I feel it's crucial to learn about what's been here before us. As a city we are very young without too much identity from a historical point of view. Wouldn't it be fantastic to have one at last!? Therefore, I've immediately commissioned a group of Norwich's finest scientists, archeaologists and historians to carry out a careful and detailed examination/excavation of the site.

Thank you, Mayor George. Well, let's meet this team.....

Dr. Richard Smith, an Archeaologist and the Curator of the Ancient History Museum in Oakhill.

Professor Michael Pearson, a leading name in the study of human settlement patterns from Brunel University in Central Norwich.

Dr. Alexia Cochrane of City College in Central Norwich, is an esteemed lecturer in the preservation and restoration of antiquities.

Professor Robert Sutton, an Archeaologist from Clarendon University.

Professor Terry Cross, a Historian from the College of Historical Studies in Rivermead.

Professor Chris Fox, a Geologist form the Royal College of Geography and Cartography in Thistlehurst.

Well they certainly haven't been here long, but they immediatedy began work. They walked the few hundred metres up the shallow slope of the hill to the mysterious tower. They then decided to not only excavate the tower itself, but to dig several trenches, with a view to finding out what people have settled here previously, and to try and ascertain the reason for the building of the tower.

 

http://img9.echo.cx/img9/8085/elmerford31xh.jpg align=baseline>

Professor Michael Pearson has decided on locations for a number of trenches in the area.....

The trench on the top of the hill is to try and find out if there were any other buildings, or if this was the only building but was once bigger. There is a possibility that the building was quarried for stone later, so we need to know exactly what was here to start with.....

http://img213.echo.cx/img213/7918/elmerford43uc.jpg align=baseline>

This trench has been dug into the ditch to try and establish a) what it was for; and b) whether it is man-made or a natural feature.....

http://img213.echo.cx/img213/952/elmerford59bt.jpg align=baseline>

This trench close by Elm Wood is to try and establish how they forested. This is an old wood so the chances are it's not changed much for many hundreds of years, so if we can find some old tools or other evidence of foresting or farming methods we can learn a little more about the people of the area.....

http://img213.echo.cx/img213/1623/elmerford61mn.jpg align=baseline>

Two trenches here are close to base camp as it is most likely that people would live close to a river source, in this case the River Elmer. Some tent structures have been made as the first port of call for any finds that are made. This is to allow Dr. Alexia Cochrane to carry out emergency preservation procedures before thay are taken to the laboratories of the Ancient History Museum. We also have to consider that the weather here is very changeable due to the pollution in the air - there is a very large industrial estate not far to the west of here in Deptwich (speaks louder to be audible above the sound of a jet taking off) and, of course, Deptwich is the location for the huge Norwich Hatchrow International Airport.....

http://img9.echo.cx/img9/8236/elmerford74kx.jpg align=baseline>

Well, Professor Pearson I wish you and your team the very best of luck. We'll be sure to stay fully up-to-date on events here as they unfold. We leave you with two more pictures of the tower, by moonlight and at dawn.

Thank you for joining us, and a very good evening to you.

http://img213.echo.cx/img213/3867/elmerford82fr.jpg align=baseline>

http://img213.echo.cx/img213/6633/elmerford95bd.jpg align=baseline>

http://img213.echo.cx/img213/2791/norwichoverview656ny.jpg align=baseline>

[Scaley McSlither 1,714]

My...God.


What a fascinating new spin on your cj. I love it!

[andrew george 0]

Elmerford Update

 

Hello again and welcome back to Elmerford. I'm Richard Lyons and I'll be updating you on the recent events here at the tower on the hill.

First off, an exclusive from the tower itself, where the digging team have uncovered a small chest. Dr. Richard Smith is here to tell us more.....

Hello Dr. Smith.
Hello Richard.
Tell us more about the chest.
Yes we recently uncovered a container, which is the best way to describe it, rather than a chest in the 'treasure chest' sense of the word. It was buried in a shallow hole inside the tower.

http://img283.echo.cx/img283/8665/oldchestoriginal0wo.jpg align=baseline>

Did you manage to get inside it?
We did. It contained an old book, a large number of parchments bound together. Needless to say the first priority was to get it down the hill to our base to protect it from the atmosphere before we can analyse it fully.

http://img288.echo.cx/img288/5354/bookcover1cd.jpg align=baseline>

http://img271.echo.cx/img271/921/bookpages9sc.jpg align=baseline>

How exciting! Do you have any further information on this discovery at the moment?

Well, we've borrowed our very own language analyst, Derek Toms, who has already noted that the text within is written in two distinct languages - Old English and Latin. We're not sure what the significance of this is at the moment and will only be able to find out once we've started to translate it.
Do we have any idea of the age?
Again, once we've done further analysis we'll have a clearer picture. Needless to say we're very excited about what we've come across here, and can't wait to find out more. As soon as we know, you'll know.
Thank you, Dr. Smith.

Well, that's what's been happening up here inside the tower, what about the guys digging in the ground outside? Let's pop just outside, to the trench at the base of the tower.

We'll have a word with Chris Watkins, he's the chap in charge of this trench and the archeology students and volunteers that are excavating. He's a sort of team leader, if you like. Chris, may I have a word please? I promise not to take up too much of your time. Could you just explain what it is you're hoping to establish here?
Basically what we're hoping for is to find out whether there were any other buildings up here. It could be that the tower here was a part of a cluster of buildings, it could have been part of one original building, it could be that it replaced an original building, or of course it could be that the
tower is a standalone monument of some kind.

Well it looks as if you've been successful in so much that you've found something.

http://img271.echo.cx/img271/3075/hilltoptrench0ig.jpg align=baseline>

What have you found so far, Chris?
We've found some stonework, probably some sort of foundation. We've got very clear, linear patterns to it with a number of right angles. This indicates that we've got some sort of extra building here.
Well what do you think it could be?
We're unsure at the moment. As I mentioned earlier it could be any one of a number of possiblities so we'll just have to wait and see. Of course if it is the same building it's very odd that the tower is left in comparatively good condition while this part is buried beneath the earth.
That's wonderful, any other discoveries?
Not at the moment. We'll keep digging of course because it may be that there's a floor of some kind to this structure that would provide more clues or indeed there could be other items up here.
Thanks very much Chris, I'll leave you to it I've got to get off this hill because it's so windy up here it'll blow me over and it's a long way down
the side of this thing! Good luck.

We'll nip down to the trench dug into the ditch and see what's happening there. We'll get a word with Paul Wainwright who's in charge here. Paul, how's it going?
Honest truth Richard is not too well. We've found nothing!
Nothing at all?
Not a sausage I'm afraid.
What were we hoping to find here?
We didn't really have any idea, digging this trench was a bit of a stab in the dark. We'll keep searching for something but at the moment we're not able to establish whether this was man-made or a natural trench in the soil.
Okay Paul, good luck.

Right let's take a quick look over at Elm Wood where our diggers are working hard.

http://img278.echo.cx/img278/9411/elmwoodtrench0he.jpg align=baseline>

Nick Crabtree, what's going on here at the moment?
Hi Richard, were digging slowly at the moment because we're find so many things it's really slow going.
Really? What sort of things?
We've found a few hand tools buried here.

This is a sickle, hand-held from the Bronze Age. Use for harvesting and gathering crops.....

http://img278.echo.cx/img278/8743/bronzeagesickle4hd.jpg align=baseline>

And this is an axe head, which has obviously long-since lost it's handle.....

http://img271.echo.cx/img271/5905/ironaxehead3dq.jpg align=baseline>

Excellent work Nick. Good luck on the rest of your hunt.

Okay, now let's visit the trenches over at base camp, and see what's happening over there. Dan Baker is the main man here. Dan, can I just ask you how you're doing?
Hi Richard. Well we've found a number of pieces of pottery and general day-to-day items which indicate that, as we suspected, the majority of the settlement was over here by the river. We've also found some animal bones which indicate that livestock was probably kept, if not here then a short
distance away and brought here when it was time to eat.

Show us some of the pieces you've found.

Well first up we've got some pottery here, these are all pieces of the same jug. Very basic, just used for carrying/storing water or maybe grain used in bread making.....

http://img278.echo.cx/img278/8938/brokenpottery5gx.jpg align=baseline>

Here we've got two ordinasry everyday items, an ornament pin and brooch.....

http://img278.echo.cx/img278/6044/medievalpin5ki.jpg align=baseline>

http://img268.echo.cx/img268/669/medievalbrooch1ao.jpg align=baseline>

But this is probably our most interesting find so far here.....

http://img278.echo.cx/img278/1392/byzantinebowl8qe.jpg align=baseline>

It's a bowl, what's so special about it?
Yes, it's a bowl. A Byzantine bowl. We know this because of the horse engraved inside, it's a classic Byzantine feature. What this means is, these people had the ability to trade with people thousands of miles away in Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire, which covered most of south-eastern Europe and Turkey from about 550AD. If they were in a position to trade with faraway lands it also probably means they were relatively well-off and well-educated for Britain at that time.

Well what a terrific first day, full of fascinating artifacts and exciting discoveries. I really can't wait to find out what's in that book, and what that building is up on the hill.

For anyone interested in seeing the cleaned finds on display, just pop down to the Natural History Museum over in Oakhill where there's a large showcase display going on.

Until next time, good evening.

[nooneatall 6]

It's been a while since I've last visited Norwich, and I can tell you that it's changed a lot! And, it is only getting better!

I really like the peel tower atop the mount, and I need to find time to read the story to go with it, now

And, I really like the look of Norwich's suburbs to the west and to the south. Probably, you should try to plan how far you will expand the city now, and then build farms a little bit aways working towards the city, so that you won't loose all demand for agriculture later on--or else you'll be leaving a big gap in your region.

I'm looking forward for more great updates, and welcome back!

[jacqulina 162]

yes what a turn around great story,excellent views,awesome work you have sure been busy

[FullStrenght 74]

I have never seen any archeological diggings in a CJ before, it's great!

[andrew george 0]

Thank you very much folks, yes I've tried to give you all something a bit varied to look at, I'm glad that you like it.

 

Cheers

 

 

A  

[andrew george 0]

Morning to all,

 

I hoped to have an update ready for you this morning before I depart for holiday, but unfortunately I have failed.

 

 

It just needs finishing touches and should be ready for when I return next weekend.

 

 

Until then friends, keep smiling.

 

A

[jacqulina 162]

lookforward to it

[ephorex_77 0]

Whoa!! The archaeological dig featured in the CJ is really very creative!! This is probably the only CJ so far with a storyline that actually interests me. No offence meant to anyone else of course .

Keep up the great stories and updates!!

[GingerBlokey 30]

Im loving this twist to the story. Very good indeed.

[andrew george 0]

Thanks for all the kind comments, I'm back from holiday (obviously) so look out for an update imminently!

 

Cheers

 

 

A

[bevanl 6]

Did you have a Nice Holiday!

Your CJ is Great! (I haven't even built a city properly, yet!), I am finding very enjoyable and it does look like a typical British City, and thank you for using my Spar building in the Picture with the Cathedral (Sorry about the Ground Texture!)

[Kaze Progressa 1]

Great twist to this CJ with the dig, and I reckon this CJ could itself go down in history. Good luck with its continuing development. And to everyone who wants to see a good CJ, to misquote Delia Smith: 'WHERE ARE YOU? COME TO NORWICH! LET'S BE 'AVIN YOU!'

[captain_cookie 0]

Wow! Nice metropolis! Very inspirational! I'm not sure if my computer can handle such a large region!

[andrew george 0]

Mayor George Wants Fresh Tourism Opportunities - We Do Love To Be Beside The Seaside

Hello to you all and welcome to Norwich's latest update. As you probably gathered from the title, Norwich's development is set to take a new turn, as the M2 is extended eastward towards the North Sea coast. With the carrot of seaside tourism dangled infront of him, the Mayor couldn't resist but build Norwich a 'satellite' city to support it in every way possible - perhaps eventually rival it! In order to link the two cities, the mayor has ordered a corridor of development to facilitate the growth of the new area.

We'll start back in Elmermouth, where the M2 is extended southwards (photo here is a south-facing orientation). Junction 1 of the motorway enables people to get to the hill digsite featured here earlier easily via the A224.....

http://img271.echo.cx/img271/6757/elmerford107dm.jpg align=baseline>

Roadsign. Mattc005 has been rendered unavailable due to a hectic study schedule, so I have made my best attempt to replace him. So, until he completes his work and can do something better, my roadsign.....

http://img75.echo.cx/img75/9986/junction15ja.jpg align=baseline>

Now the M2 enters a new area, and the start of Norwich's agricultural community. The area is called Thorpe & Great Chesterton, and is a group of villages; Thorpe, Thorpe Market, Frinton and Great Chesterton. The M2 has been sunken to remain in keeping with the landscape, no-one seeking a quiet countryside lifestyle wishes to see lorries and cars thundering by on a dirty great motorway, after all.....

http://img274.echo.cx/img274/6035/thorpe11yk.jpg align=baseline>

Our first port of call is the village of Thorpe, via junction 2 of the M2. My roadsign.....

http://img75.echo.cx/img75/9154/junction28vh.jpg align=baseline>

The A210 leads directly into Thorpe Station and on to the junction with the A224, which leads back to Elmerford.....

http://img275.echo.cx/img275/1779/thorpe20wg.jpg align=baseline>

...and another roadsign!!

http://img125.echo.cx/img125/843/thorpe6pa.jpg align=baseline>

If we take a right, not far down the road is the junction with the A2200, which runs south towards Frinton. This is pretty much the centre of Thorpe, and it's (controvertially) the home of a strip club, just around the corner from Thorpe Parish Church and Sainsbury's. What would the vicar say?! It seems as though these rural folk have a slightly seedy side to them.....

http://img279.echo.cx/img279/6716/thorpe38vo.jpg align=baseline>

Thorpe is a quiet and peaceful neighbourhood. Popular with city high-fliers who prefer the lengthy commute to Central Norwich than living in the throbbing heart of the region.....

http://img287.echo.cx/img287/3613/thorpe43rh.jpg align=baseline>

Barn conversions make popular living accomodation amongst Norwich's first farmers.....

http://img275.echo.cx/img275/4051/thorpe57ej.jpg align=baseline>

The A2200 continues it's path towards Frinton.....

http://img279.echo.cx/img279/4950/thorpe69jh.jpg align=baseline>

It passes by farms and Frinton Lake, a nice spot for a summer's picnic.....

http://img261.echo.cx/img261/2651/thorpe77wk.jpg align=baseline>

....and becomes Frinton High Street, where groceries can be bought at Lidl's.....

http://img275.echo.cx/img275/2310/thorpe83os.jpg align=baseline>

Frinton is the smallest of the local villages, almost the whole thing can be seen here surrounded by farms, with the lake just off to the north.....

http://img269.echo.cx/img269/9646/thorpe94lt.jpg align=baseline>

Homes with views of the lake are at a premium, and kids love to play baseball in a park provided by Frinton Parish Church.....

http://img271.echo.cx/img271/2642/thorpe109ap.jpg align=baseline>

Leaving Frinton, the gentle slopes to the east are home to a farming community growing stronger, with the hedgerows providing shelter for many small furry mammals.....

http://img275.echo.cx/img275/3820/thorpe114gd.jpg align=baseline>

As we head north again towards Thorpe Market, we pass by a small nucleus of hi-tech industry, where the main focus of work is researching new and more efficient methods of farming. Not everyone like working on farms around here.....

http://img275.echo.cx/img275/885/thorpe123er.jpg align=baseline>

If we had turned left in Thorpe, we would've come here to Thorpe Market. It's difficult to tell where Thorpe ends and Thorpe Market begins, the two have spread towards each other to create a sort of rural conurbation. Market Square is where the farmers bring fresh goods that they don't sell to big chain supermarkets. Fresh strawberries,

[andrew george 0]

Regional views look slightly odd, until the investigations in Elmerford run their course it will remain this way.....

Region census. Yes Norwich tops 3.6m!

Thanks for looking, please let me know what your opinion is.

Cheers.

A

[nooneatall 6]

Andrew George is back, again!
I love your interchanges, I really need to try basing a few in my region after yours. And, the road signs aren't all that bad, either
I'm liking the look of your farming regions; however, they're all infested with Perdrina's Plants! Try this MOD:
Pedriana Plants Killer Modd
It will really improve the look of your rural areas, without a doubt.

And, congradulations on making it past the 3,6M population mark!

Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to another update; or, even, a mini-update...

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Well, Norwich is looking as nice as ever, good job with getting 3.6 million.

[MissTonya 2]

that looks nice  I gotta get my hands on those trees ya feel meeh?

 

Yo itz tonya!

[jacqulina 162]

great update,nice design