A Wealthy Yeoman Joins the Revolt
Robert Kett was, by the standards of 16th-century Norfolk, a man of substance. A yeoman farmer from Wymondham with lands held since the twelfth century, he was roughly 57 years old when, in the summer of 1549, he made a decision that would place his name among the most storied in Norwich’s history. Rather than resist the rioters who came to tear down his fences, Kett joined them; he then helped the crowd destroy the enclosures of Sir John Flowerdew, a local landowner with whom he had earlier clashed over the demolition of Wymondham Abbey.
The grievance was land enclosure. Wealthy landowners across Norfolk were fencing off common land and converting arable fields to sheep pasture, leaving peasants without grazing and forcing tenants from their farms. Inflation, rising rents, and falling wages compounded the distress. What began as local rioting at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 quickly gathered momentum.
The Camp on Mousehold Heath
By 12 July, Kett and thousands of followers had established a vast encampment on Mousehold Heath, the heathland rising to the north-east of Norwich. From this position they could overlook the city, then England’s second largest, and control the approaches along the River Wensum. The rebels drew up a list of grievances and maintained a surprisingly organised camp, with Kett acting as leader and arbiter.
The city authorities were not sympathetic. On 22 July, Kett proposed a truce; the offer was rejected. The rebels then prepared to take Norwich by force.
The Storming of Norwich and Royal Defeat
On 29 July, the rebels attacked Bishopsgate Bridge, charging from Mousehold Heath and swimming the Wensum despite volleys of arrows from the city defenders. Norwich fell rapidly. The rebels seized guns and supplies, imprisoned civic leaders at Surrey House on Mousehold, and settled into occupation.
The Crown responded by dispatching the Marquess of Northampton with roughly 1,400 men, including Italian mercenaries. Northampton entered the city after Deputy Mayor Augustine Steward opened the gates. Yet the rebels had withdrawn to Mousehold Heath, and on the night of 31 July they launched hit-and-run attacks through the narrow streets, inflicting heavy casualties. The following day, 1 August, Lord Sheffield led cavalry to investigate a false report of surrender at Pockthorpe gate; his horse fell, and he was killed by a rebel, reputedly a butcher named Fulke. With a senior commander dead and his force fragmented, Northampton ordered a retreat. It was a humiliating defeat for the royal army.
The Earl of Warwick and the Battle of Dussindale
The government then sent the Earl of Warwick with a far larger force of around 14,000 men, bolstered by Welsh, German, and Spanish mercenaries. Warwick attacked into Norwich on 24 August, forcing entry at St Stephen’s and Brazen gates. The rebels retreated through streets they set alight to slow the advance, and bitter fighting continued around Bishopsgate as the rebels tried to seize Warwick’s lost baggage train and artillery. By 25 August the rebels had regained the northern part of the city, only to be driven out again after further street fighting.
The decisive blow came on 27 August at Dussindale. Kett had moved his forces from Mousehold Heath to lower ground in preparation for battle, and there they faced Warwick’s well-armed troops, including 1,400 German landsknechts. The rebels were routed. Approximately 3,000 of Kett’s men were killed, against roughly 250 of Warwick’s. The exact site of Dussindale remains debated, with battlefield debris pointing to Long Valley in Norwich or ground further east near Great Plumstead.
Capture, Trial, and Execution at Norwich Castle
Kett was captured the night after the battle at Swannington. He and his brother William were taken to the Tower of London and tried for treason. Both were found guilty.
On 7 December 1549, Robert Kett was hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle. His brother William met the same fate on the same day, hanged from the west tower of Wymondham Abbey. The execution at the castle, in the heart of the city Kett had briefly held, sent an unmistakable message from the Crown.
A Shifting Reputation and Enduring Norwich Legacy
In 1550, Norwich’s authorities declared 27 August a holiday to mark "the deliverance of the city," a tradition that continued for more than a century. Early chroniclers such as Nicholas Sotherton and Alexander Neville treated Kett as a traitor, but by the 19th century his image had shifted; he became a folk hero and a symbol of resistance to injustice.
Today, Kett’s presence is woven into Norwich life. A plaque on the wall of Norwich Castle, unveiled in 1949, commemorates him as a "notable and courageous leader in the long struggle of the common people of England to escape from a servile life into the freedom of just conditions." Kett’s Oak, near Hethersett, is preserved by Norfolk County Council as a traditional rebel meeting place. Schools, streets, a University of East Anglia residence hall, and pubs such as Kett’s Tavern all bear his name. In 1988, the composer Malcolm Arnold wrote the Robert Kett Overture (Opus 141), and on 7 December 2011 a memorial march reached the castle gates to lay a wreath.
What began as a summer of riot ended as a permanent thread in the city’s identity; the heath, the castle walls, and the street names of Norwich still recall the yeoman who chose the rebels’ side.