Eagle Ward was once part of the original church of The Great Hospital- St. Helen’s. It was the church’s Chancel where the high altar would have stood.
The church of The Great Hospital was originally a huge building 198′ long. During the Reformation in C16th the Chancel and Infirmary were blocked off and a floor was put in to divide the chancel into two wards leaving the current church as it is today.
The Chancel was built in 1383 by Bishop Henry Despenser as an addition to the church rebuilt in1380. Its original, magnificent ceiling has 252 panels with spread eagles with spread eagles and 132 small and 100 large bosses.
Tradition has it that the ceiling was painted in hinour of Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard ll, during a visit they paid to Norwich in 1383. Anne was the daughter of Charles lV of Austria; the painted eagles are thought to represent the eagles of the Austrian Imperial emblem.
Having survived the Reformation, the Civil War and the ravages of Victorian oil lamps- this is now on of the finest examples of a medieval ceiling in Europe.
The fine tracery of the East window became very much decayed over years, probably as a result of the heat from the chimney built in approx. 1580 when the floor was put in. The church is the only one in England with chimneypots on its roof!
Originally Eagle Ward would have been an open ward for women residents. The screens were installed in Victorian times to provide some privacy. In the early days residents would have lived in one cubicle but in latter years they were allocated two cubicles each to provide a linked bedroom and living area.
Residents lived in Eagle Ward until 1979 when new purose built accomodation was built.
