Norwich Printing Museum

Norwich Printing Museum is a rarity being one of the few remaining working printing museums in the UK.

The museum was born from a collection of printing machinery, type and bindery equipment from the early days of Jarrold & Sons Ltd, which was first established in Suffolk in 1815.

Back in 1823 the Jarrold company moved to Norwich and developed into a thriving printing, stationery, publishing and retail business. As time moved on and printing techniques developed, the company invested in automation and new technologies including photocomposition and photolithographic processes, moving away from the old traditional methods for commercial production.

Fortunately, much of the original equipment was retained and formed the basis of the John Jarrold Printing Museum (JJPM), established through the vision of Peter Jarrold and Mike Fuggle in a 13th century friary crypt (the undercroft and upper room) which was originally part of the Whitefriars monastic site in Norwich, where the printing works had been sited since the early 20th century.

In 1982 the JJPM was officially opened bearing the name of Peter’s father as a fitting tribute to the family’s printing heritage and innovation.

The original JJPM collection formed the nucleus of the now vast collection of printing presses, machinery and metal and wooden type, a functioning bindery and an eclectic archive of printed ephemera and books. Over the years, many other pieces of printing-related equipment were donated to the museum as other printing businesses closed their doors.

The JJPM thrived as a working museum, with many skilled volunteers and apprentice-trained craftsmen operating and demonstrating the equipment to the public on one day each week, while courses and classes were run for students and adults at other times. 

When the museum was advised that its existing site would be redeveloped for housing, a group of members and volunteers led the move to establish an independent museum. Our new fully-working Museum in Residence opened at the Blickling Estate in July 2021 with the aim of exhibiting part of our unique collection of printing machinery and artefacts and to pass on the traditional skills of the compositor, printer and bookbinder through regular demonstrations and specialist courses!