Introduction
St Augustine’s is the last parish within Norwich's medieval boundaries to retain a distinctive identity; it is, for example, the only part of the city still commonly referred to by its parish name. The reason for this is partly accidental - the area has long had a marginal feel, cut off by the river Wensum from the main hubs of cultural, economic, political and religious activity south of the river; a topographical factor compounded in modern times by the Inner Ring Road, which cut a swathe through the northern city centre area in the early 1970s, effectively cutting off St Augustine's from the rest of the city centre.

The development of St Augustine's distinctive identity has also been partly deliberate. It belongs to an area that has long been regarded as Norwich’s backyard; a part of the city identified in bygone years as Ultra Aquam or Norwich ‘Over-the-Water’. For centuries it has been a place where activities and people found inconvenient or intolerable south of the river have found the space to take root
and grow.

Rus in Urbe - the Countryside in the City
For more than a thousand years the economy of
St Augustine's was principally agricultural; the fertile land here used to grow root crops, fruit and grain, and to graze cattle and sheep. The earliest known settlers here - in the 2nd century AD, during the Roman occupation of Britain - were probably farmers. This rural aspect lasted until well into the 19th century when
St Augustine’s was the last parish within the city's medieval boundaries with a substantial plot of land in horticulutural use, producing fruit on a commercal basis in nurseries and orchards off Sussex Street. Today, the name of a 1980s housing scheme in the parish -
The Lathes - links it to a farm worked here in the
15th century.

Trades and Industrial Development
Co-existing alongside its more rural aspects,
St Augustine's has also been home to some of Norwich’s chief trades and industries, including metal working,  weaving, dyeing, shoe making and even banking.

In late Saxon times East Anglia's first known mint may have been established near here, producing coin for King Aethelstan I. Almost a thousand years later, in 1775, Quaker brothers John and Henry Gurney, opened the first office of Gurneys Bank in Tooley Street off Pitt Street. The bank they founded is a direct ancestor
of Barclays.

While St Augustine's has long been hard-working and industrious, it has never been either fashionable or rich. In the 16th and 17th centuries many people, including economic migrants and religious refugees from France and the Low Countries, known collectively as the Strangers, found low rents and abundant work here, mainly in the worsted-weaving trade, where they introduced innovative weaving and dying techniques to produce their 'New Draperies', thereby helping to bring about the economic revival of Norwich's declining
textile trade. In the 19th century the area was home to several manufacturers of Norwich's celebrated silk shawls and later still to a number of boot and shoe making factories, all now gone.

A Place of Refuge for Religious Minorities
A number of religious demoninations and faiths –Quakers, Methodists, Baptists and Jews – have found refuge in
St Augustine's and neighbouring areas north of the river during periods when the practice of their faiths, including the burial of their dead, was deemed unacceptable elsewhere in the city. Norwich's second Friends (Quaker) meeting house and its first Primitive Methodist (Ranter) chapel were opened here in the 17th and 19th centures respectively. Near here may also be found the earliest surviving Quaker and Jewish cemeteries in Norfolk.

Sport and Other Revels
For centures St Augustine’s was the favoured locale for those recreations and sports considered too boisterous or hazardous to be engaged in elsewhere in the crowded city centre, including archery and jousting, which were carried on here in an area known as the Gildencroft. The 17th-century equivalent of 'raves' were also held here, forcing the City authorities to complain that all the merry-making, dancing and 'camping' (the latter an early form of mass-participation football), had to cease as was they were spoiling the grass. 

Red Steeplers - Then, Now and Yet to Be
Three centuries ago, St Augustine's church, with its distinctive red brick tower, earned its parishioners the nickname 'Red Steeplers'. Today St Augustine's Community Together Residents' Association is working to promote
St Augustine's as a good place to live, work and play by conserving, cherishing and celebrating its heritage and by helping to build a safe and sustainable community for future generations of Red Steeplers.