Elizabeth Haynes
Jarrold

The story

Jarrold

My first ever visit to Jarrold wasn’t all that long ago, compared to many of you who are reading this. But on that occasion I was treated to something very special, something a little bit secret, and this feels like the perfect opportunity to share it with you.

Not long after we moved to Norfolk, my lovely friend Domenica – better known as the legendary Elly Griffiths – was due to launch her latest Ruth Galloway book at Jarrold. I’d known Elly for years, having first met her at a memorable Crime Writer’s Association lunch in Brighton at which we were treated to gruesome anecdotes about blood spatter analysis and decomposition by Mike Silverman, author of Written in Blood (highly recommend, if you like forensics). After that bonding experience, we couldn’t help but be friends. We’ve had quite a few adventures since then, but this is one of my favourites.

(I am, it has to be said, a little bit in awe of her as well as loving her to bits.)

Norfolk has always been Elly’s ‘home turf’ as her hugely successful series starring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is set here – so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see her introduce her book to an enthusiastic local crowd. Additionally, I didn’t know anyone in Norfolk and I was feeling a bit lonely. And besides that, Ruth Galloway feels real, like a proper friend to me – as I’m sure she does to you – and I had been anxiously awaiting the chance to read the next instalment of her life, in the continuing hope that she would finally get it on with Nelson.

In February 2016 the book in question was The Woman in Blue, a thriller involving ghostly apparitions - and, of course, murder – set in and around Walsingham.

The Pantry restaurant on the top floor of Jarrold was understandably packed. I sat near the back and listened as enthralled as everyone else as Elly told of her long association with Norfolk and how the idea for The Woman in Blue came to her on a research trip-slash-pilgrimage that she’d undertaken. My friend is a brilliant, fluent and witty speaker and the crowd was gripped by every word.

When she had finished speaking, an enormous queue formed for her to sign copies of the book; I waited and lurked until the crowd dwindled, eavesdropping on the conversations in the queue as it snaked past me.

And then she was done. We were going out for a late supper. Elly asked me if I wouldn’t mind holding on for a little while longer; she was to be treated to a special tour of a secret location. Could I come too, I asked? Yes, I could.

Crikey, I thought.

Whilst promoting The Woman in Blue Elly was busy writing and researching the next Ruth Galloway book, The Chalk Pit: a thrilling murder mystery involving human bones being found in the network of ancient tunnels under Norwich’s streets.

Apparently, there was just such a tunnel – or, more accurately, an undercroft – under Jarrold. And we were going to be allowed to take a look.

We went down the stairs into the gorgeously fragranced, serenely empty beauty department, and descended again, into the even more deliciously scented (in my opinion) book shop. I had been expecting a further descent, perhaps down a winding metal staircase. But instead we found ourselves in Chapters coffee shop, and a nondescript door behind the counter was unlocked for us, and to my surprise… there was the undercroft.

I love history. What I love most is the way the past sneaks up on you and reminds you that it’s all around us; buildings just as they were three or four or five generations ago; initials casually carved into a cathedral stone by someone unknown, centuries ago; saplings in old photographs now grown into giant trees; beautiful places full of whispered stories, waiting for us to listen.

If you were to sit in Chapters with your coffee and look at the counter, you’d think the door would lead to a storeroom, perhaps; you’d imagine shelves containing bags of coffee beans, jars of cookies. Or maybe the place where the baristas could hang up their coats and bags.

But no – behind the door is a different world: cave-like, chilly, with cobwebby brick arches and a tunnel stretching away into the darkness. It looks a little like a disused wine cellar. It was such a back-of-the-wardrobe moment I found myself turning to look in amazement through the doorway into the brightly-lit, spotless warmth of Chapters, and the book department beyond it.

We were told that this was once the stables where the horses employed in delivering Jarrold’s goods were housed. The tunnels used to run between the undercrofts of most of Norwich’s historic buildings, including Jarrold, although most of them are closed off now.

We didn’t go far. It was February, and chilly, and Elly was tired and we were both hungry. Besides – did I mention the cobwebs?

Elly’s next Ruth Galloway book – The Chalk Pit - was launched at Jarrold almost exactly a year later. My friend is, of course, a genius at creating suspense and telling a story, and this one – set in those secret places below the ancient streets of Norwich - was no exception.

We didn’t see any bones while we were down there, though. But perhaps they were just around the corner…