No deal on the Deal Ground

HIDDEN away close to the heart of Norwich is a vast derelict wasteland that next to nobody knows about.
It is called the Deal Ground and it covers 50 untapped acres between Trowse, Whitlingham and the railway station. The reason you haven't heard of it is that it is very difficult to get to. In fact it is virtually an island, hemmed in by a railway line and the Rivers Yare and Wensum. In the past I have squeezed past a gate post behind the sewage works at Trowse to explore, but this time I went by canoe.
Again from Trowse (the Yare tributary flowing alongside the meadow next to Whitlingham Lane) I paddled downstream to the Yare's confluence with the Wensum. Then I turned left to head up towards Norwich. Once you get past Carrow Yacht Club, everything on your left is the Deal Ground - so-called because it's where Colman's used to make their packaging out of soft wood or deal.
My book couldn't have been written without a little light trespass, so I pulled the canoe out of the water and had a wander. The first thing that strikes you is its size, then the silence. The sights and sounds of Norwich are all very close, but here nothing moves. Yet this is no wilderness, the hand of man is everywhere. Deserted buildings, concrete hard standing, even a Victorian kiln. I guess it is the classic brownfield site, awaiting development. But as yet there's no deal for the Deal Ground.
* More info on Colman's and the Deal Ground here.

How Lady Julian helps King Street remember

IT WAS the first working day for the newly opened Lady Julian Bridge in Norwich and a steady trickle of pedestrians and cyclists were crossing as I walked by early this morning.
The idea is to help connect a rejuvenated King Street to Riverside, with many of the developers contributing towards the £2.5 million cost. But it also struck me that the bridge will also help King Street reconnect with the river, and in doing so, turn back a page in its own history. Because in many ways King Street was the first Norwich street. The city grew up from the river and it is only in recent years that the two have started to turn their back on each other. The first thing you notice as you cross the bridge from Riverside is the magnificent Dragon Hall (pictured right) - a recently-restored medieval merchant's hall.
But as late as 1900 King Street was home to two breweries, six malthouses and numerous wharves. It teemed with activity. A tram ran the length of the street and there were three separate ferries. A quick flick through Kelly’s Directory - the 1900 equivalent of Yellow Pages - reveals tailors, butchers, boot makers, fishmongers, bakers, the Jenny Lind Steam Boat Company, a cowkeeper, corn merchants, the city mortuary, tobacconists, a lime burner and several hairdressers. Among the 19 pubs, you could choose from the Nags Head, the Boiler Makers’, The Cellar House, The Old Barge, The Green Man, The Music House and the Elephant and Castle. All that new housing has encouraged a newsagent and a cafe to open their doors in recent months, so maybe history will repeat itself - although I think a cowkeeper might struggle.

Welcome to Lady Julian

YOU wait 86 years for a new bridge across the River Wensum and then two turn up within a decade.
This picture shows the new superstructure for the Lady Julian Bridge in Norwich. It should open by the end of the month, connecting the Riverside with an increasingly gentrified King Street.
And those other bridges in chronological order? The Novi Sad bridge dates back to 2001 while the present Carrow Bridge was opened in 1923. The previous Carrow Bridge had crossed the river directly opposite Carrow Hill - the other side of what was to become Norwich City's ground. * More details on the new bridge's name here.