the unfinished Norwich Cathedral, and as a way of establishing Norman control over a nearby chapel. The priory was demolished in 1538 and nothing of it now survives above ground. In 1144 the body of a young apprentice boy called William was found on a part of the heath known at that time as Thorpe Wood. A false story was circulated that his death was the result of a 'ritual murder' carried out by local Jews. This was the first example in Europe of what became known as blood libel. The sheriff of Norwich succeeded in protecting the innocent Jewish population from persecution in the wake of an angry reaction from the local people. The boy later attained the status of saint and martyr, and a chapel, originally dedicated to St Catherine, was built where William's body was supposed to have been found. In 1168 it was rededicated as the chapel of St William in the Wood, and offerings continued to be made there until 1506. The overgrown remains of the site can be found on the northern edge of the present heath. In 1381 the final battle of the Peasants' Revolt took place a few days after a huge meeting on the heath occurred on 17 June. There Geoffrey Litster, later to be defeated at the Battle of North Walsham, was proclaimed "King of the Commons". 1500-1810 In the Tudor period the heath, then almost treeless, was continuously open countryside that extended from Norwich to the edge of the Broads. The local population was free to collect wood from the heath, and to allow their stock to graze there. Small villages bordered the heath: the parish of Salhouse, which was agrarian in nature, was typical of them. It consisted of a small settlement situated within a landscape of well-drained heath on slightly higher land, a mixture of woodland, marsh, arable land, and meadows on lower ground. Nearby ancient placenames such as Mouseholdheath Farm, Mousehold Cottage and Mousehold Farm, are an indicator of the proximity of the heath to Salhouse at that time. Kett's Rebellion began on 12 July 1549, during a period that became known as the 'commotion time'. Led by Robert Kett (a local landowner and tanner) and his brother, it grew from a protest about enclosures into a full-scale insurgency. It culminated in the capture of the city of Norwich (then the largest English city outside London)