The City of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, England, as of 2011, had 23 parks, 95 open spaces and 59 natural areas in the care of the local authority. Wensum Park - geograph

Historic parks

The four

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed historic parks were purpose built in the 1920s and 1930s under the direction of Parks Superintendent Captain Sandys-Winsch. His designs included buildings, structures and hard landscaping which are finished in a modernist pre-cast concrete, with unemployed men providing much of the labour. By the late 1990s many of the structures had fallen into disrepair. A successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled major refurbishment to the four main parks.The Norwich Society parks audit
Retrieved 15 July 2011 *Heigham Park is located in the city's

Golden Triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...

district and opened in 1924. Amenities include a children's playground, bowling green, playing field, tennis courts and a small pond. Specimen

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

including several copper beech trees form a boundary around much of the park. In addition, there are herbaceous borders, shrubberies and a wisteria covered concrete

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

which was part of the original design. *Wensum Park was completed in 1925. The riverside park features many mature trees, flower beds, picnic area, children's playground and

paddling pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...

and still retains Captain Sandys-Winsch's concrete pavilion and architecture. As part of the city's

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

celebrations a

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

was installed in the centre of the park. *

Eaton Park Eaton Park is a large public park located in Eaton, Norwich, England. It is 80 acres in area. History The park was laid out in 1923 as part of a public works programme instigated by the city council to try and address the post-war crisis of ...

covers and lies to the west of the city centre. The flagship park was opened by the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

in 1928. Several of Sandys-Winsch's structures remain including the central rotunda, bandstand, model boating pond and

lily ''Lilium'' () is a genus of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in mu ...

pond. The park offers a wide range of sporting facilities. *

Waterloo Park Waterloo Park is an urban park situated in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on land within Block 2 of the Haldimand Proclamation, Haldimand Tract. Spanning 111 acres within the Uptown area of Waterloo, it opened in 1893 and is the oldest park in the ...

is located to the north of the city centre and enveloped between Angel Road and Aylsham Road A1024. Covering the park was opened in 1933 and boasts one of the largest herbaceous borders in a UK public park. Other amenities include a refurbished paddling pool (2011), children's playground, playing field, tennis courts and bowling green. Many of the original architectural features remain including the pavilion, bandstand and hard landscaping.

Parks

Listed below are a selection of the city's parks. Many date back to 1920s and 1930s. *Chapelfield Gardens is located in central Norwich. At its time of opening in 1880 it was one of the few public open spaces in the city centre. The park is named after the Chapel of St Mary and has always been an open space. Today (2011) facilities include a restaurant, bandstand, children's playground, pétanque court, giant

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

and

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

table. Different events are hosted in the park including bandstand concerts, annual music festival and travelling funfairs. Over 190 trees representing 45 native and foreign species can be found as well as many shrubs and flower beds. *Earlham Park lies west of the city centre adjacent to the

Earlham Road Earlham Road (the B1108 road, B1108) is a road in Norwich, England, linking the city centre to the area of Earlham to the west of the city and the Norwich southern bypass (A47 road, A47) beyond. Details The road formerly marked the northern ...

and covers of open parkland sloping towards the

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the villag ...

. Earlham Hall Park was bought by the local authority in 1925, part of which became the site for the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. Contained within the park is Earlham Hall its outbuildings and formal gardens. The open park area can be hired for public events. *Harford Park is approximately south of the city centre close to the A140 Ipswich Road. Facilities include a cycle speedway track, bowling green, five-a-side football pitch and children's play area. Also contained within the park is Harford Community Centre

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

. *Jubilee Park is located in the Lakenham area approximately south of the city centre. Facilities in the park include an adventure playground and a floodlight sports court. *Mile Cross Gardens are two identical shaped gardens located at the junction of Suckling Avenue and the Aylsham Road. The listed Grade II gardens were laid out to a design by Sandys-Winsch and contain some original features and were opened in May 1929. Today (2013) the south garden is kept as a wildlife friendly area and the northern garden is a children's playground. *St Clements Park lies approximately north of the city centre close to Woodcock Road. The open grassed area features a small children's playground. In April 2011, the park became the city's first eco-park with funding from the Big Lottery Fund and support from local schools and the community. *

Sewell Park Sewell may refer to: *Sewell (name), a surname and given name, including lists of people with the name *Sewell, Bedfordshire *Sewell, Chile *Sewell, New Jersey * Sewell's Point, Norfolk, Virginia, United States *22815 Sewell, an asteroid See also ...

is located approximately north of the city centre adjacent to Constitution Hill. The sloping south-facing park contains a children's play area, mature trees and has a close historical connection to the family of

Anna Sewell Anna Sewell (; 30 March 1820 – 25 April 1878)''The Oxford guide to British women writers'' by Joanne Shattock. p. 385, Oxford University Press. (1993) was an English novelist. She is known as the author of the 1877 novel ''Black Beauty'', her ...

, author of '' Black Beauty''. *Sloughbottom Park is located north-west of the city centre close to the A1067 Drayton Road. The park was officially opened in 1929 and was built as part of an unemployment alleviation scheme. The large, square, functional park features several football pitches, a children's playground and an all-weather sports court. Located close to its boundary with Marriott's Way part of the National Cycle Route 1 is the Sloughbottom Park

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

course. Of architectural interest is the Sandys-Winsch pavilion which is currently used as a dressing room for sports people.

Open spaces

''Listed below are the local nature reserves and the

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

located within the city boundaries''.Local Nature Reserves
Retrieved 11 October 2011

Local nature reserves

* Bowthorpe Marsh is located in Bowthorpe approximately from the city centre. Covering of low-lying unimproved

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

which is crossed by a network of drainage ditches. The site lies adjacent to the River Yare and can be reached by public footpaths. Horses graze the site throughout the year. * Danby Wood is a semi-natural broad-leaved

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

located close to the Ipswich Road approximately south of the city centre. The reserve covers on a site of a former chalk quarry. Tree species including

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, sycamore,

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

and

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

have colonised the site.

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

including

snowdrops ''Galanthus'' (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single ...

arum lily ''Zantedeschia'' is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southern Africa from South Africa north to Malawi. The genus has been introduced on all continents except Antarctica. Com ...

, bluebell and a variety of woodland birds have been recorded at the reserve. * Earlham Park Woods is located on the edge of Earlham Park and is also known as Violet Grove and the Heronry. Covering the reserve has a diverse range of habitat including dense tall

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

, unimproved neutral grassland, woodland and a pond which has been

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

creating open water. * Eaton Common lies adjacent to the River Yare in Eaton approximately south-west of the city centre. Covering of largely neutral grassland with small areas of tall herb and some broad-leaved woodland. The reserve is grazed by cattle in the summer months. * Lion Wood covers and lies approximately east of the city centre close to the Thorpe Road. The wood which was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 contains many mature trees, especially sycamore and

. Other species present are

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

, hornbeam and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

. Flora including bluebells and a range of woodland birds including

jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family (biology), family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For examp ...

and

green woodpecker There are four species of bird named green woodpecker: * European green woodpecker, ''Picus viridis'' * Iberian green woodpecker The Iberian green woodpecker (''Picus sharpei'') is a medium-sized woodpecker endemic to the Iberian peninsula. It wa ...

have been recorded. * Marston Marsh covers and is located south-west of the city centre close to the A140 road. The reserve comprises a

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

which is grazed by cattle bounded by the River Yare. Numerous dykes bisect the site which are managed rotationally. Small areas of damp woodland and five wildlife ponds can be found. Good marsh flora including orchids have been recorded. Footpaths link the reserve to Eaton Common and Danby Wood. * Mousehold Heath at is the largest open space in the city. Approximately north-east of the city centre and bounded by several main roads. Formerly

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

, the reserve is mostly given over to broad-leaved semi-natural woodland with a few pockets of heath remaining. Species of interest include heather,

lizards Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia althou ...

and woodland birds. A number of sports pitches are contained within the site. * Wensum Local Nature Reserve is located approximately north-west of the city centre and encompasses two sites; Sycamore Crescent Wood and Mile Cross Marsh. Both reserves are linked by public footpaths. The reserve has a wide range of habitat including woodland, meadows, riverbank and marshes.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

* Sweetbriar Road Meadows is a SSSI covering . The site is approximately to the west of the city centre. It consists of a series of unimproved

water-meadow A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

s which support a diverse range of habitat. The site is privately owned with no public right of way, but can be viewed from public paths which bound the site.

Gardens

''The following privately owned gardens open to the public occasionally in aid of charity.'' *The Bear Shop is a small, riverside garden to the rear of a 15th-century house (Today, retail premises) in the Elm Hill area of Norwich. Considered to be based on a design by

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

, the well stocked garden features many

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

plants and topiary. *The Bishop's House garden is located within the grounds of Norwich Cathedral. Covering , the walled garden dating back to the 12th century holds many rare and unusual shrubs and trees. Other features include rose beds, herbaceous borders, kitchen garden and a meadow labyrinth. ''Listed below are gardens open regularly to the public.'' Plantation Garden - geograph

*Grapes Hill Community Garden is a small city centre garden close to the Norwich Inner Ring road. Created from a disused, tarmaced play area, it was officially opened in 2011. The garden is tended by volunteers and contains a large number of edible plants together with a wide choice of wild and woodland flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees. Raised beds, with access for wheelchair users and individuals to grow vegetables are available for hire. * Plantation Garden is a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

city centre garden adjacent to St John the Baptist Cathedral. Sheltered by mature trees the garden comprises approximately and contains many original and restored features including a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

fountain and an Italianate terrace. Planting includes summer and winter bedding shrubs and trees.Plantation Garden
Retrieved 16 November 2011

References

External links

{{Parks and open spaces in Norwich

Parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Gardens in Norfolk