Trowse

Trowse
Norfolk
Location
Location:	52°36’43"N, 1°19’12"E
Data
Population:	862
Post town:	Norwich
Postcode:	NR14
Dialling code:	01603
Local Government
Council:	South Norfolk
Parliamentary constituency:	South Norfolk

Trowse , also called Trowse with Newton, is a village in Norfolk, about two miles south-east of Norwich city centre, on the banks of the River Yare.

The wider parish encompasses Trowse today, as developed from the 1800s, and also a scatter of hamlets, where we find:

• Trowse Common: the main village, clustered around the Common;
• Crown Point: the high ground round the historic Crown Point pub, site of the original Newton and where a new estate was built in 2003;
• Trowse Millgate: around the River Yare;
• Trowse Magna: now a gated development at Whitlingham Hall (a former hospital);
• New Newton: an extension to the village, centred on Newton Close, built in 1968 to accommodate police from the newly built County Hall;
• Nether Trowse: the area at the far end of Whitlingham Lane, which was once recognised as the hamlet of Whitlingham (until the church burned down and the tower collapsed).

The original Newton, of Trowse with Newton, was the row of cottages on Block Hill behind the Crown Point pub, which was the model village (or new town) built by the Colman family for workers in its mustard factory at Trowse Millgate. Some of the properties still have mustard yellow front doors.

The 2011 census recoded a parish population of 862 people in 374 households, but plans are afoot to build a further 770 houses on the outskirts of the village, at White Horse Lane and the Deal Ground sites.

Name

The name Trowse derives from the Middle English word "trouse", for "a grating of wood or iron", which could be raised or lowered (like a gate) to allow water out of a dam into a mill race. The original village grew up round the local water mill, now Trowse Millgate.

History

This is one of a small family of model villages in Great Britain. Trowse was expanded by the Colman family during the 1800s for workers at Colman's mustard factory; the family still owns much of the surrounding land. It was also home to May Gurney, a major civil engineering and construction company which was acquired by the Kier Group in 2013.

The parish church, St Andrew, is a small flint building in the Perpendicular style, comprising a chancel, nave and square tower with a bell; the chancel was restored in 1879.

The Trowse village sign, located opposite the church, was presented to the parish in 1969 by the Women's Institute to celebrate their Golden Jubilee; it saw renovation projects in 1999 and 2023.

About the village

Trowse village sign

The Crown Point pub takes its name from the estate, of which it was originally part, which centred on Crown Point Hall (now called Whitlingham Hall). It was built originally by General Money who fought at the battle of Crown Point during the American War of Independence.

The River Tas joins the River Yare a short distance to the west of the Trowse Mill at an artificially created confluence; however, the old bed of the River Tas can still be seen by the church but it just ebbs and flows with the tide and is gradually silting up. The mill was demolished in 1967; what can be seen today was built recently in a style and layout remarkably sympathetic to the old mill.

The village is well endowed with leisure facilities with a sports hall, astroturf football pitch, dry ski slope, two broads in adjacent Whitlingham (one a conservation lake, the other for water based leisure activities), woodland walks, riverside picnic areas along Whitlingham Lane and a common right in the centre.

There are two pubs: the White Horse Inn and the Crown Point Tavern; with a village shop and a vegetarian café.

National Cycle Route 1 passes through Trowse on its way out of Norwich to Loddon and Beccles, passing along Whitlingham Lane. A cycle route is also provided across the Norwich southern bypass to link with Poringland and Kirby Bedon.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Trowse)

• Trowse Community
• Pictures of Trowse and the area on Geograph.co.uk
• Trowse Mill
• Norfolk Ski Club
• The White Horse public house
• Jason Middleton Photographer
• Whitlingham Adventure