Sir Thomas Browne by Henry Alfred Pegram

At the top of Hay Hill, on a tall pedestal, is a statue of a man, in 17th century clothing, seated with his head rested on one arm and apparently deep in thought as he ponders a piece of broken pottery - we think by its shattered shape - and as we know him better we realise it is part of a burial urn.

This is Sir Thomas Browne, so the inscription tells us, a statue commissioned to commemorate the tercentenary of his birth. And so it has been in place on Hay Hill since 1905 and yet, very few of the good citizens of Norwich know who he is, never mind anything about him. No-one takes any notice except to place the occasional traffic cone on his head, and pigeons regularly roost around him.

But for any that care to take more notice, this statue depicts a man who was a thinker, deeply religious and moral, kind and attentive to his patients and family, curious and thoughtful. Hay Hill was his patch and he lived where Pret a Manger and Primark on Gentleman's Walk is now.

Click here for a full entry of the Henry Pegram statue on Hay Hill
​Recording Archive for Public Sculpture in Norfolk & Suffolk

Photo by Sarah Cocke