Whitlingham is a small churchless parish, 3 miles (5 km) east of Norwich, on the south bank of the River Yare, reached from Trowse along Whitlingham Lane.
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Church
The Church (St. Andrew) was dilapidated about 1630, and now forms a picturesque ruin, near the verge of a lofty precipice, overlooking the river. The tower collapsed in 1940. See Whitlingham Church for more details.
Broads and Country Park
The Great Broad at Whitlingham Park has been created through the process of gravel extraction. The extraction work at Whitlingham began in 1990 with the creation of the Little Broad. In 1995 work began on the Great Broad, with the quarry removing around 220,000 tonnes of material a year.
Gravel from Whitlingham has been used to build projects in the city such as the Castle Mall, The Forum and more recently, the redevelopment of the old Nestlé site into a major new shopping facility Chapelfield.
An Outdoor Education Centre has now been built on the South bank of the Great Broad 'offering a wide range of land and water based activities', see Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre. Construction of the Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre was funded by the National Lottery and Sport England and the centre is run by Norfolk County Council. Norfolk County Council leases the Great Broad from the Crown Point Estate which is represented by the Whitlingham Charitable Trust.
The Little Broad has a beach. Since late 2008 swimming has been discouraged. The Broads Authority are planning to bring in bylaws to make swimming illegal, except in organised groups run through the Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre.
Both Wherryman's Way long distance footpath [1] and National Cycle Route 1 pass through the park.
The park was visited by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in July 2008, at the start of his East Anglian holiday. [2]
Woods
Situated at the lower end of the country park, this area has a history of mining, including flint-knapping from 4000BC, up to the 18th century. Archaeologists have found a number of artefacts in this area, including humanly struck flint flakes and part of a chipped flint axe-head from the Neolithic period, along with an iron-stained flint blade dating back to the Paleolithic period (500000 BC to 10001 BC). From the 18th century until the early 20th century the area produced chalk and lime, the deep chalk pits are still present though overgrown and a Lime kiln is reached by a signed footpath from Whitlingham Lane. Since then this area has been developing from open landscape to the woodland of today.
Railway station
Whitlingham railway station is situated to the north of the River Yare close to Thorpe St Andrew. It used to be served by trains out of Norwich, but is now closed.
External Links from www.bbc.co.uk
References
- ^ Wherryman's Way- Whitlingham walk Retrieved July 29, 2008
- ^ EDP news item Retrieved July 28, 2008
Coordinates: 52°37′20″N 1°19′29″E / 52.622252°N 1.324754°E
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