Before the First World War (1914-18) a large proportion of Norwich citizens lived in dark, over-crowded and often insanitary tenements overlooking a small courtyard and connected to the main street by a narrow alley usually known as the passage. There were hundreds of these ‘yards’, as they were mostly known, all over the city, with at least 40 in St Augustine’s alone. Today only a handful can still be identified in the St Augustine's area, these include Hindes Yard, Nichols Yard, Prince of Wales’s Yard (unnamed but situated alongside the Private Shop in St Augustine's Street), Rose Yard and Wine Cooper’s Arms Yard (all off St Augustines Street), and Dog Yard and Talbot Yard (off Oak Street).

Rose Yard, which once stretched between St Augustines Street and Edward Street, was one of the largest yards in Norwich, with rows of two- three- and even four-storey tenements, a pub, a couple of small shops run from householders' front rooms , a shoe factory, stables, a communal washhouse, and even at one time a Primitive Methodist chapel: more of a street in its own right than a yard.

Like many such yards in Norwich it seems to have been named after a nearby public house, in this case the Rose Tavern, which had stood at the junction of St Augustines, Botolph Street and Pitt Street since at least the 14th century. Entrance to Rose Yard from St Augustines Street is still through the pub's coaching arch. The tavern or inn stood to the right of this arch. The building is still there but there hasn’t been a pub here since the early 1970s. This end of the yard was known as 'the top of the yard', while the end near Edward Street was called 'the back end'. Narrow passages lead off to smaller yards known as the Back Way.

The other side of the arch has been occupied from the 1870s to the present day by a succession of connected business: DeCarle's Drug Stores, Coleman & DeCarle and, today, Coleman Opticians. The buildings to the rear of the shop were for many years used for the manufacture and bottling of the chemist's own patent cough medicine, Lungene, as well as mineral waters and fruit drinks (see image to right).  

Rose Yard had a strong community spirit. People helped their neighbours when money was short or there was illness in the family. They also took the opportunity to have fun when they could. Between the wars there were occasional carnivals in the summer, for which the locals made their own costumes, and Christmas parties for the local children in the upstairs room of the Rose Inn. Royal occasions, such as King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935, were also celebrated with street parties in the yard (see photo to right).

PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION --- to be continued ...