Natural resources

Our local natural resources

Although not big the mineral deposits of Sprowston provided a symbiotic mix, brick earth, chalk, flint and sand hence all the major requisites for the building. Unlike large beds of brick earth around Peterborough the local deposits tended to be isolated pockets resulting in widely spaced brickyards. Had it not been for the building boom as Norwich expanded many deposits with the lot of overburden would never have been a commercial viability to work. At the Norwich end of the parish there were readily accessible chalk seams this also contained flint, as the overburden increased previous quarries became mines following the chalk deposits. In this area the only source of lime was to burn chalk in the limekiln, this being used for mortar and plaster in buildings which frequently utilised the flints, an integral part of the chalk seam, or locally produced bricks. The other commodity required, sand, was readily available frequently in a very pure state under a thin layer of topsoil.

Although not large forests, trades like wheelwrights and carpenters within the parish would use locally produced timber. Quite how far one takes "natural resources" is open to debate but the soil enabled wheat to be grown which would then become a resource for the miller. Extending it further the soil supported the cows which in turn provided the dairies and ice cream makers with their raw materials. At present there are no local resources being used by the local industry.