The mid 18^th century was a wealthy time for Norwich.  Communications and technology had brought an expansion in the wool and textile trade on which the wealth of Norwich rested.  Wealth, communications, technology were the visible reasons for the social changes which also took place at that time. Wealth produces leisure and all that embodies, and one of its effects was building, such as Ivory’s Assembly House 1754 where this new leisured class could meet, as was his Theatre Royal 1757. The wealth was partly made by the energy and enterprise of the merchants, and many of these men built houses for themselves, such as Thomas Churchman’s House in Bethel Street 1754 (2). The south side of Tombland, houses in All Saints Green and Upper St Giles give some idea of the private houses built at this time.

Two of the wealthiest and most influential families were the Harveys and the Ives. Anyone going into St Clements Church, Colegate would be justified in thinking they were in a family  mausoleum rather than a parish church.  Both families were great textile merchants, and by 1792 a Harvey had opened a bank known as Harvey and Hudson.  The two families were important to Norwich and between them filled the office of mayor eleven times from John Harvey in 1727 to Jeremiah Ives in 1801. The mural tablet to John Harvey in St Clements says that he was “a considerable merchant and a wealthy magistrate, who by assiduous application and exact economy acquired an ample fortune with great reputation and honer.”  Both these families built in Catton as well as Robert Rogers.

Unlike the Harveys and the Ives, Robert Rogers remains rather shadowy. He was a merchant, but not one of the wealthy ones, as the house suggests. Its fabric is high quality and expense has not been spared.  He was mayor of Norwich, but not celebrated enough to have his portrait in St Andrews Hall or Blackfriars.  Rye does not mention him and no stories, true  or apocryphal, have come down to us.  His only legacy seems to be the building of an exceptional house.