But Fye Bridge has a dark past of medieval torture and punishment.

It is thought to have been the site of a sinister contraption which sealed the fate of many women accused of witchcraft - the ducking stool.

The stool was also used to punish disorderly women, scolds and dodgy tradesmen.

A simple but horrifying device, victims would be tied to a chair and submerged repeatedly into the river below.

Illustration a ducking stool from an 18th century chapbook reproduced in Chap-books of the eighteenth century by John Ashton (1834)(Image: Wikipedia)

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In this case, the River Wensum which flows beneath the old bridge, would have been used to 'test' unfortunate women accused of witchcraft.

Supposed witches would be tied to a chair and submerged in the river below repeatedly.

The theory was that if the woman survived the ducking, she was a witch and would be burned at the stake.

If she drowned, her innocence was proven - at the ultimate cost.

The bridge is believed to be the location of one of two stools in the city, the other being at the Great Cockey, known as ‘Jack’s Pit’, which is one of the city’s lost underground rivers known as........

© Norwich Evening News