Jurnet’s House in the heart of medieval Norwich is now reimagined as a centre of Jewish learning, culture and heritage with a university department of Jewish studies, spaces for learning and performance and for the celebration of a faith and culture which has played such an important role in this ancient city with stories yet to revealed. The story of Norwich Jews is the story of Norwich. Jews came to England with William the Conqueror and there was an important community in Norwich right up to the expulsion or forced conversion of the English Jews in 1290 by edict of Edward 1st. Centuries of European antisemitism have an important origin in Norwich when it was alleged that a small boy called William was murdered by Jews. There is no evidence that this was a real event although certainly a St William was an important fiction for a cathedral competing for wealthy pilgrims with cathedrals at nearby Ely and Lincoln. There is however real evidence for the murder of Jewish families with the unearthing of skeletal remains of unfortunate Jews thrown in a well revealing the earliest DNA samples of Jews ever studied in Europe. These are contrasting stories that need to be told today in Norwich which is called the “city of stories”.

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Jurnets house  has stories to tell through many centuries .  Sir John Paston was resident after 1478. The Paston family are famous because of the “Paston Letters” which have been described as the richest source there is for every aspect of the  ordinary lives of the English in the middle ages. From 1613 the house was occupied by Lord Chief Justice Edward Coke (1552 -1634) one of the three or four most significant lawyers in all English history.  A Norfolk man educated at Norwich School he rose to become Chief Justice. He led the prosecution of Earl of Essex 1600 , Sir Walter Raleigh 1603 and the gunpowder plotters in 1605 -all executed.
 

His judgements curtailed the power of the monarchy and his Petition of Rights 1628 is one of the great constitutional documents of English history declaring no tax without consent, habeas corpus and the illegality of martial law etc. These judgments formed the basis of the American Bill rights in 1791 creating a fascinating American connection to Jurnet’s House.

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There are  few houses in England with such a story of religious and historic significance. A Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is being established to carry out the restoration and preservation of Isaac Jurnet’s house and to use it as a community asset and a space for learning, research, and exhibitions.