Sprowston
| Sprowston | |
| Norfolk | |
|---|---|
| File:Sprowstonsign.JPG Sprowston Village sign | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TG252121 |
| Location: | 52°39’22"N, 1°19’16"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 17,126 (2021) |
| Post town: | Norwich |
| Postcode: | NR6, NR7 |
| Dialling code: | 01603 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Broadland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Norwich North |
Sprowston is a small town in Norfolk, close to Norwich.
The town is to the west of Heartsease and to the north of Mousehold Heath and a suburb, New Sprowston. Old Catton to the west, and by the open farmland of Beeston St Andrew to the north. It. The 2021 census recorded a parish population of 17,126.
The name locally os pronounced "Spro’stun".[1][2] It is from the Old English Sprowes tun, meaning simply "Sprow's village.[3]
History
Sprowston is recorded as Sprowestuna in the Domesday Book of 1086.
By 1186, one Manor was held by the Mounteney family, on behalf of Sir Richard de Luci, who kept it for some 250 years; the other, held by the de Sproustons and then the Aslakes, was owned by the Bishop of Norwich.
In 1545, the Jermy family granted Mounteney Manor to John Corbet. During Kett's rebellion in 1549, the house was broken into and looted.[4] The army of Robert Kett encamped on nearby Mousehold Heath.
The first Sprowston Hall was built in 1560.
The Aslakes Manor passed to an eminent family of Norfolk gentry, the Calthorpes; it was related subsequently by marriage to family of Anne Boleyn). It was later sold to Sir Thomas Corbet (owner of Mounteney Manor) and, in 1592, the two Manors were united. Monuments to the Corbet family can be found at the parish church of St Mary and St Margaret[5] in Church Lane.
Sir Thomas Corbet died without an heir and the manor of Sprowston was sold to Sir Thomas Adams, who had been Lord Mayor of London in 1645. He had given Charles II £10,000 whilst he was in exile and, in 1660, he accompanied General Monck to escort the King back to England.
Adams endowed a Professorship of Arabic at Cambridge and had the Gospels printed in Persian, which he described as "throwing a stone at the head of Mahomet". After his death in 1667, his body was brought to Sprowston for burial in a barrel vault excavated under the altar at St Mary and St Margaret; a large marble monument was erected above it.
In the 18th century, the manor was sold to Sir Lambert Blackwell, a governor of the South Sea Company and he was created a baronet in 1718. In the 19th century, the manor went through a number of families until it came into the hands of the Gurneys. In 1876, John Gurney, who was mayor of Norwich and blind, rebuilt Sprowston Hall. In 1885, he gave money for the building of St Cuthbert's Church[5] and a new vicarage to serve the development known as New Sprowston which was being built. In 1973, Sprowston Hall was converted into a hotel[6] and is the location of Sprowston Manor Golf Club.
Sprowston Mill was built in 1780 and made famous by John Crome, of the Norwich School of painting. It burnt down in 1933, a few days before it was to be handed over to the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, but is still used as a symbol by Sprowston Community High School and is depicted on the village sign.[7][8][9]
Churches
- Church of England:
- St Mary and St Margaret's
- St Cuthbert's
- Methodist: Sprowston Methodist Church.
There is one chapel, called Gage Road Chapel.
Pictures
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Sprowston) |
-
The Pavilion on the Recreation Ground
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The Millennium wood
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Effigy from the tomb of Sir Thomas Adams
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Gage Road Chapel
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St Cuthbert's Church
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Wroxham Road Methodist Church
-
Mediæval glass in the parish church
Outside links
- Sprowston Town Council
- The Parish of Sprowston
- Sprowston Community Academy
- Threads of Time, work by Sprowston Heritage Embroideries Group
References
- ↑ Friends of Norfolk Dialect
- ↑ Trudgill, P 'Dialect Matters - Respecting Vernacular Language' (Cambridge University Press, 2016) pp. 204-205
- ↑ Rye, James (1991). A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place names. Larks Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-948400-15-3.
- ↑ The English Historical Review, Vol. 108, No. 427 (Apr 1993), pp. 387–398: "Mid-Tudor Trespass: A Break-In at Norwich, 1549", C.E. Moreton.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Parish of Sprowston
- ↑ Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel | Norwich Hotels | Hotels in Norwich
- ↑ Norfolk Mills – Sprowston post mill
- ↑ Norfolk Archaeological Trust
- ↑ Welcome to Sprowston Community Academy
- Tricker, Roy W. (1976). Parish of Sprowston (1st ed.).