Panel Four of Threads of Time. (© Sprowston Heritage Embroideries Group.)
These images are taken from Threads of Time, a community tapestry comprised of four panels created by Sprowston residents depicting the history of the area.
PANEL FOUR
What a crammed landscape - many buildings have been portrayed here in multiple designs, and many have been missed. The laburnum to the left reminds us of suburban gardens, not heathland, and the palm to the right leads us on into global warming. Industry and two world wars have changed life and we enter the living memory of some residents. This panel covers a shorter time than the others. Now 17,000 live here! After 150 years of Methodism, there's an added Chinese congregation. 'Park and Ride' helps traffic. Sprowston Community High School has a new four-storey building and Arts Specialist Status. Sprowston moves on and as newcomers settle down, they'll be curious about this area, and also make their mark on it. Welcome to the future!
Norwich Airfield was situated where Heartsease Estate is now. The first to fly here was B.C. Hucks in a Bleriot monoplane. Boulton and Paul's J.D. North designed the first aircraft in 1917. Their factory, which became Barnards in 1936, produced many Norwich City works.
Besides making miniature trains, for which test tracks were laid alongside Gurney Road, its buildings acted as a decoy in WWII to divert German bombers from the St Faiths airfields. It also monitored test bombs in Mousehold, an excellent lookout for plane spotting.
Sprowston Hall had acted as a hospital for wounded in World War One.
In World War Two (1939 to 1945), it was the HQ of the GOC Eastern Command and on the eve of D-Day Montgomery addressed several thousand troops - the whole of the Eastern Division, including Canadians, where golf is now played.
Details of Panel Four of Threads of Time depicting planes at Mousehold Heath Aerodrome. (© Sprowston Heritage Embroideries Group.)
The tapestry also features a
Bronze Age cemetery,
St Mary and St Margaret's Church,
Sprowston Mill,
the legend of White Woman Lane,
Sprowston Hall and
St Cuthbert's Church.
For more details of this project or to purchase Threads Of Time a booklet that accompanies the tapestry please contact:
thelmamacfarlene@ntlworld.com
Mousehold Heath Aerodrome, Sprowston - NHER 12415