Defining Porches in Medieval Norwich c.1250-1510

The city of Norwich possesses thirty-two parish church porches. Collectively, they offer an opportunity to consider the scope of architectural forms applied to a single type of structure built across an extended chronological period but within close proximity. This paper is an attempt to define architecturally what a parish church porch could be and demonstrates how until c.1400 little consistent definition is possible. In the 15th century a greater sense of uniformity can be observed, and it is here argued that the repeated use of elements in particular ways, namely facades and stone vaults, constitute something akin to a Norwich church porch type.