The East Norwich sites are steeped in history and have played a significant role in the development and growth of the city. East Norwich’s remaining heritage assets and unique location, situated at the transition point between the urban centre and rural Broads, will play an important role in informing the site’s future and shaping the masterplan design.
History of the site
The Carrow Works site was home to the famous Norwich manufacturer, Colman’s, for 160 years. Production at the Carrow Works site began in 1865 when it was transferred from Stoke Holy Cross Mill on the River Tas to a large factory at Carrow Road on land at Thorpe Hamlet, bought from the Norfolk Railway.
The Colman family are thought to be pioneers in social welfare for employees, opening a school for employees’ children in 1857 and employing a nurse to help sick members of staff in 1864. In 1903, Colman’s acquired a rival mustard maker, through which it also acquired the Robinsons barley water. By 1909 the company employed 2,300 people. Colman’s became part of Unilever UK Ltd in 1995, and in 2020 the factory closed its doors for good, with production moved to Burton-on-Trent and Germany.
The Carrow Works site is also home to East Norwich’s most significant historic structures, including the The Grade I listed Carrow Abbey, a former Benedictine priory; and the Scheduled Monument Carrow Priory ruins, a former Benedictine nunnery founded in the mid 12th century. The priory ruins had largely disappeared from view by 1880 when a major excavation, undertaken by J. J. Colman, exposed the surviving elements of the church, the chapter house and the eastern range.
The Deal Ground comprises an extensive area of disused former industrial land and buildings on the south-eastern fringe of Norwich situated between the main Norwich-London rail line and the confluence of the rivers Wensum and Yare. The site has been home to a number of industries through the years and a number of designated heritage assets remain on the site, including the Grade II listed brick “bottle kiln” in the north part of the site, which is in a poor state of repair and on Norwich’s Buildings’ at Risk Register and Trowse Pumping Station within Trowse Millgate Conservation Area to the south.
