Mousehold Heath

Mousehold Heath is a freely accessible area of heathland and woodland which lies to the north-east of the medieval city boundary of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk.

The name also refers to the much larger area of open heath that once extended from Norwich almost to the Broads, and which was kept free of trees by both human activity and the action of animals grazing on saplings.

The heath was in the past used by the local population to collect fuel, food and housing materials, as well as to extract sand, clay and gravel.

Parts of it have previously been used as a cavalry training ground, a race course, a United States Army Air Forces base, an aerodrome and a prisoner-of-war camp.

Nowadays the last remnant of the original Mousehold Heath, managed by Norwich City Council, is surrounded on all sides by housing and light industry.

Mousehold Heath is a 184-acre (74 ha) public area of heathland, woodland and recreational open space to be found to the north of Norwich city centre.

It was once an area of heathland that extended to the north and east of Norwich, which has since been largely converted to woods and farmland, or lost to housing development.

[1] The landscape of Mousehold Heath (as it was before enclosure occurred at the beginning of the 19th century) is part of an outwash plain created by fluvial processes.

The geology of the area is complex, consisting of a set of vertical layers of glacial deposits from the Anglian Stage resting on a bedrock of Cretaceous chalk and the Norwich Crag Formation.

[5] About two million years ago sands, gravels, quartz pebbles and clays were deposited across the area of Norfolk that now includes the heath.

It later became altered when silts were blown over the topsoil, when the ground churned as a result of temperature variations and when sludge layers moved downhill during warmer seasons.

According to the Domesday Book, the original area of Mousehold Heath was still substantially wooded, but the landscape changed as more trees were felled for fuel, and it eventually became largely treeless.

[10][page needed] St Leonard's Priory was founded on the heath close to the city boundary in around 1094, as a temporary home for the monks of the unfinished Norwich Cathedral, and as a way of establishing Norman control over a nearby chapel.

[12][page needed] The sheriff of Norwich succeeded in protecting the innocent Jewish population from persecution in the wake of an angry reaction from the local people.

The boy later attained the status of saint and martyr, and a chapel, originally dedicated to St Catherine, was built where William's body was supposed to have been found.

After unsuccessfully petitioning the authorities for fairer treatment, they were able to defeat an attempt to oust them by the Marquis of Northampton, but a much larger government army, led by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, succeeded in regaining control of Norwich and forcing them to abandon their camp.

A wide-open space crossed over with numerous paths and lanes, the heath dominated the countryside east of Norwich, and was entirely accessible to the local population.

[20] The entire heath was turned over to arable land and pasture by Parliamentary Enclosure Acts between 1799 and 1810, a process that produced long straight roads and new farms.

Parks surrounding large houses, such as at Sprowston, Rackheath, Thorpe St Andrew and Little Plumstead, became enlarged by the acquisition of land, and new views were created for their owners by the removal of existing woodland and the planting of new belts of trees.

Many artists at the time preferred to depict what was considered to be the ideal form of landscape: lush, harmonious farming countryside containing pictorial devices such as woodland, which contrasted directly with the remote, barren environment of a heath such as Mousehold.

[27][28] During much of the 19th century, the people of Pockthorpe, situated between Norwich's defensive walls and the heath, were relatively free from the control of local factory employers, being able to use Mousehold to graze their animals, and to collect food, fuel and raw materials for brick-making.

The population of weavers, shop-keepers and labourers (as well as smugglers) was largely left to its own management, as local magistrates and the officials of Norwich Cathedral were more involved in city affairs.

[30] The ownership of the remaining heathland was transferred to the city authorities in 1880, when the Church of England donated the land to the Corporation of Norwich, on the assurance that it prevented "the continuance of trespasses nuisances and unlawful acts" and held the heath "for the advantage of lawful recreation".

[46] In the heatwave and drought of August 2022 hundreds of goldfish were humanely removed from the pond where they had been dumped and had bred, feeding on the native amphibian species.

[50] The 67 acres (27 ha) Harrison's Wood, which was once originally part of the heath before it was enclosed and turned into a tree plantation, was opened to the public in May 2016.

As well as most common urban birds, the heath holds breeding sparrowhawks and tawny owls, as well as nuthatches, treecreepers and great spotted woodpeckers.

[60] Heathland plants to be found on Mousehold Heath include Sheep's Sorrel,[61] bracken, Wavy Hair-grass,[62] Mossy Stonecrop, Trailing St John's-wort, Common Cudweed and Viper's Bugloss.