Bowthorpe

This article is about the village near Norwich, England. For other uses, see Bowthorpe (disambiguation).
Bowthorpe
Bowthorpe
 Bowthorpe shown within Norfolk
Population 11,683 (2011.Norwich Ward)[1]
DistrictNorwich
Shire countyNorfolk
RegionEast
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town NORWICH
Postcode district NR5
Dialling code 01603
EU Parliament East of England
UK ParliamentNorwich South
List of places
UK
England
Norfolk

Coordinates: 52°38′10″N 1°13′00″E / 52.63624°N 1.216736°E / 52.63624; 1.216736

Bowthorpe is a village located in the west of Norwich, England. It is primarily a residential area, but includes a large Industrial Estate (predominantly occupied by the technology sector) and one small out-of-town shopping centre, containing a supermarket and various smaller retail outlets. A police station and community hall are situated close to Bowthorpe Town Centre. Most of present-day Bowthorpe has been developed from the 1970s onward.

The majority of Bowthorpe is covered by the "NR5 9" prefix Postcodes and has its standard telephone numbers allocated within the (01603) XXXXXX pool, from the Costessey telephone exchange.

Bowthorpe is divided into four distinct areas:

The largest of these areas is Clover Hill, a mix of council development and private housing, making up almost two-thirds of Bowthorpe. Clover Hill, situated to the east of the other three areas was developed in the 1970s and 1980s. Further development of the mainly private housing estates, Chapel Break and Three Score took place in the 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1549 Robert Kett briefly camped at Bowthorpe at the beginning of the rebellion that was to bear his name. On 10 July the sheriff of Norfolk, Sir Edward Wyndham, was nearly pulled from his house by the rebels in the village as he tried to persuade them to disband. This helped to inspire further people from Norwich to join Kett at his camp in the village. Kett quickly decided that Bowthorpe was too exposed for a rebel camp and moved on to Mousehold Heath.[2]

Bowthorpe differs from the nearby estates of Earlham and Costessey by having a high variability of housing stock, and a centrally planned network of bus and bicycle-only lanes. Large open spaces and parks border the periphery of the Bowthorpe housing estate, with Bowthorpe Park between the north of the estate and Dereham Road, and the Wensum Marshland and Bowthorpe common bordering the south and west of the Estate.

Politically, it falls within the Norwich South constituency (despite being located slightly north), held since 2015 by the Labour MP Clive Lewis. Although it returned several Conservative councillors to Norwich City Council in the late 2000s, it is presently a safe seat for the Labour Party and is represented by Councillors Sally Button, Sue Sands and Mike Sands.[3]

Education

Bowthorpe possesses three schools; made up of two infant schools and one junior school. One infant school is located in Clover Hill, the other schools are located in Chapel Break.

There was originally a Bowthorpe High School, which was actually located in nearby Earlham. Bowthorpe High School has since been knocked down and replaced with a fire station. The nearest high schools to Bowthorpe are Ormiston Victory Academy (previously Costessey High School) and the City Academy Norwich (previously Earlham High School).

Transport

Bowthorpe is served by a frequent bus service, operated by First Norfolk & Suffolk, to the University of East Anglia, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, West Earlham, Norwich City Centre and Old Catton.

Sport

Bowthorpe makes a significant contribution to local sport, providing grounds for Norwich's largest 5-a-side football complex. Also, it has been home to a few sportsmen, including Paul McVeigh. Bowthorpe also was the home of Sunday League team Wendene Wanderers, who folded towards the end of 2010 due to lack of finance. Wendene was mainly a youth club, with many teams ranging from Under-6s to Under-16s.

Famous residents

References

  1. ↑ "Norwich Ward Population 2011". Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Cornwall 1977, 140
  3. ↑ http://www.norwich.gov.uk/YourCouncil/CouncillorsDemocracyAndElections/Councillors/Documents/CouncillorInformation.pdf

Bibliography

  • Cornwall, J. 1977 Revolt of the Peasantry 1549. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul

External links

Media related to Bowthorpe at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, January 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.