Fringe Project This leaflet is one of a series of self-guided trails that will help you enjoy the Norwich Fringe countryside. The Norwich Fringe Project aims to promote informal recreational facilities in the Yare Valley countryside surrounding Norwich...... Y Walk – ar e A 1 River 4 V 0 a he River Yare is some 58 miles in Horsford l and Ridge le length, rising at in the y Section BreTcks to its mouth at . C Just over half the river is within the A47 i Broads National Park. In the Norwich r A47

c area the valley is very variable from the u Hethersett broad flood plain in the Easton area, to

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a the relatively steep wooded slopes as A r

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the river reaches Thorpe and . 4

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. Norwich Fringe Countryside Management Project

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. Mile Cross Central Depot Admin Building

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. Mile Cross Road, Norwich NR3 2DY .

. . . . . Telephone: 01603 423303

Email: [email protected] Website: www.norwichfringeproject.co.uk

www.norwichfringeproject.co.uk LE A D N CO A Yare Valley Circular Walk – River and Ridge Section BR The walk is approximately 7 miles (11.2 km) from start to finish. y a r r u L T R Much of the river is considered to be of

he River Yare is some 58 miles in M L E I I E V R E W N H ST R County importance for the wildlife it h E Y H length, rising at Garvestone in the t N H A I u H T T R L E supports. The attractiveness of the R O I Brecks to its mouth at Great Yarmouth. J N

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H countryside owes much to its river valleys. b N Just over half the river is within the R A O M n L I N These not only provide quite striking g

Broads National Park. i G L A s

TROWSE e R N In the Norwich area the valley is very changes to its appearance with green slopes O E d

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and rolling hills, but also areas of consider - e D

variable from the broad flood plain in l f

able wildlife interest. a

6 e 4 R the Easton area, to the relatively steep I 1 V L A E MT AP ONE wooded slopes as the river reaches R A The Yare Valley typifies this, but is perhaps Y S A Thorpe and Trowse. R RI E VE all the more special because it is within easy R R a i reach of the population of Norwich. lw a Lion WHIT y E FARM Wood LANE THORPE 0 0.5 1 km HAMLET A 10 Telegraph E 42 M N 1 mile To Acle and U Plantation S 0 0.5 A C ROAD S H YARMOUTH

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SS PA BY- ERN TH OU 7 S A 4 The Yare Valley River and Ridge Walk

E MAP TWO provides a path of nearly seven miles N A L following both the valley bottom with its B M RA C A O H grazing marsh and fens and the wooded N Maps are based upon or reproduced D G A IN from Ordnance Survey material with slopes high above the river. This finally LE L T Key I the permission of Ordnance Survey on H behalf of the Controller of Her joins up with the Riverside Walk along the W Yare Valley Circular Busy Road Majesty's Stationery Office. © Crown River Wensum forming a circular route. Walk Route Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may Site of interest Parking lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Please find the route description for TROWSE Norwich City Council Licence No.100019747 2004 features 1-15 on the next page. NEWTON The walk is approximately 7 miles (11.2 km) from start to finish. Yare Valley Circular Walk – River and Ridge Section MAP ONE MAP TWO Take care to ensure that no trains are The woodland was over-exploited and approaching as you cross the Norwich to today only a few fragments of the original 1. A convenient place to start the walk is 5. Country Park was Great Yarmouth railway line. woodland remain, allowing Lion Wood Trowse Millgate , which marks the upper created following sand and gravel to be recognised as a very special place. navigable reaches of the River Yare. extraction used for the building of local 9. St Andrews Hospital dates from 1814 As you walk through the wood you will landmarks including Castle Mall and and was originally the county asylum. notice that the tree cover changes from 2. The Church of St Andrew can be traced the Southern Bypass. According to records, straight jackets, iron pine and birch on the higher plateaus to back to the 13th Century when it was first The park now features walks, cycle belts and handcuffs were the norm; oak, beech and hornbeam on the valley mentioned in the Charter of Trowse paths, two beaches and a water sports during both world wars it was used as a sides and bottom. Newton. base. A river bus brings visitors from casualty hospital. In spring, in the open areas you may be It is situated opposite Whitlingham Lane the city centre. lucky to find bluebells, wood anemone whose name is derived from an Anglo- 10. Over the next few years Thorpe and wood sorrel in flower. Saxon word meaning “the home of the 6. The River Yare rejoins the road by the Marsh will be developed into a series of sons of the family Wit” that settled there White House. water related wildlife habitats to enhance 14. The Rosary was the first private (ham=home, ling=sons of, Wit=family In the 19th Century a tramway used to the wildlife value of this area, as part of cemetery of its kind in and was name). cross the lane here and carry chalk down the site is dug for gravel. established “on the broad principle of to the river from a huge quarry behind the Christian equality”. 3. At the edge of Trowse Newton Village woodland. Here it was loaded onto 11. You will now be walking up onto The site was purchased in 1819 and on the right-hand side of the lane a wherries and taken down river to cement Thorpe wooded ridge. developed on a commercial principle squeeze stile marks the point of Trowse works at and . During the 19th Century, Thorpe was a where families could buy their own grave Wood . If you walk up onto the ridge of very desirable place for businessmen to plots. It came into use in 1821 and covered Trowse Wood you can get a fine view of 7. A few ivy clad ruins are all that remain live. Most of the estates have gone, but 5 acres that later extended to 13 acres. the City and Old Crown Point Hall, (now of St Andrew’s Church , Whitlingham, some of the large houses still survive in Parts of the cemetery form a conservation Whitlingham Hospital), which was first which stands on the verge of a steep hill the form of flats or nursing homes. area, acting as a haven for birds and erected in 1784 and rebuilt about 1865. on your right. The church only becomes wildlife on an attractive sloping hill site visible in winter. Before the tower became 12. Pilling Park , along with Lion Wood in the inner suburb of Thorpe Hamlet. 4. The Ruins of Trowse Newton Hall , a ruin, it had upon its summit several and Telegraph Plantation were part of the some parts of which date back to 1350, heraldic monsters whose image, the local estate belonging to Mousehold House 15. Near here in Thorpe Hamlet, chalk once belonged to Norwich Cathedral people of that time believed, were seen to which was first built in 1821. pits existed which were notorious in the Priory and was used as a country walk at night. 16th Century as a place for burning residence by the Priors until it was passed 13. The history of Lion Wood goes back heretics (religious agitators). The chalk on to the Deans after the dissolution of 8. Upon the bridge fine views of the valley at least to Domesday, when mention was workings and lime kilns were fully the monasteries in 1540. The Deans later are afforded. On the far side of the bypass made of “Thorpe Wood” which covered exploited by the early 19th Century and leased the building out as a working farm is Whitlingham Sewage Works , which much of the northeastern part of Norwich were the only industries to exist here until until the 1860s when, after being sold, it deals with the dirty water from a popula - and extended out as far as Woodbastwick. the gas works arrived in 1830. was intentionally transformed into a ruin tion of 250,000 in the greater Norwich The woodland was considered a valuable as part of the landscaped gardens of area and outlying villages. resource and was used for fuel, building Crown Point Hall. Another feature of the The works today are a far cry from the materials and even fattening pigs. gardens was the avenue of lime trees, original sewage farm that was opened which are still visible today. They were after a cholera epidemic in 1830. Then, While every effort has been made to include accurate planted in the 1860s and lined the road sewage was pumped to the Kirby Hills and up-to-date information, the Norwich Fringe Project leading from Trowse Newton Hall to and allowed to percolate down through does not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. Crown Point Hall. the land and into the river! Crossing the If you find any inaccuracies we would be very pleased valley takes you into Postwick. to hear about them. www.norwichfringeproject.co.uk