Category:Agriculture

Agriculture in Sprowston

From the earliest times Sprowston's existence revolved around agriculture, not only producing food for its own population but as a supplier to the growing City of Norwich. This agriculture took several forms, large estate farms, family farms, tenant farms most of these being mixed farms with one or two dairies. Another group must be included in agriculture the smallholders and market gardeners, not for them large quantities of cereals but crops to fulfil the needs of the local population, some even specialising such as tomato or fruit growers. The growth of Norwich requiring copious quantities of bricks meant much agricultural land was swallowed up to get to the valuable brickearth beneath but this still left considerable agricultural acreage. Starting just after the First World War yet more housing for those employed in Norwich brought about the sale of agricultural land to developers to build residential properties. This process has continued with the ever increasing pace until the agricultural land still available in Sprowston is miniscule, with the plans which are afoot it will not be many years before all agriculture ceases in Sprowston.