Visiting Norwich this last week caused me to think about how what is familiar and loved was once feared and hated as a foreign intrusion. Norwich Cathedral (pictured) is typical in many ways of the great churches which are seen as typically English and part of our inheritance. And, indeed, Norwich Cathedral and many others are incredibly important parts of our heritage. Yet, when they were built, they would have been seen as parts of the oppression which followed the Norman conquest of England.

In the 20 years following the Battle of Hastings in 1066 English society was transformed with new Norman leadership in both state and church, an enormous enforced transfer of resources from English to Normans and a major shift in building styles and types – for example the introduction of castles. One part of this was a complete change in the leadership of the church – very few English senior clergy remained in post – and in the nature of its buildings. In place of much smaller churches, the Normans built massive cathedrals and reordered their staffing by replacing relatively informal groups of canons with much more rigid monastic orders. Very often these cathedrals were built in new more urban contexts.

Norwich Cathedral typified this shift. Herbert de Losinga, from Normandy, became Bishop of the diocese of the East Angles, covering Norfolk and Suffolk, in 1090. In 1096 he moved his headquarters from the small town of Thetford to Norwich, the most important town in East Anglia. In just 20 years the Normans built the massive Cathedral which largely survives to the present day and with the Castle still dominates the city.

Over time the way in which the Cathedral is used has changed – it now belongs to the Church of England, not the Church of Rome; monks have been replaced by Canons who work to keep the Cathedral relevant to modern society while still fulfilling their primary purpose of worshipping God and proclaiming the message of the salvation offered by His Son Jesus through his death and resurrection.

Yet, apart from historians and some others, the origin of the Cathedral as an imposition by incomers and how attitudes have changed through time is largely ignored and these great churches are seen as part of the heritage of all of us. This is an outstanding example of how society is continually changing and how eventually that change is accepted.