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Sprowston
The name Sprow is a Scandinavian personal name and Sprow's-ton ('ton' meaning town or village) was probably founded in the 9th-century Danish invasion.
Sprowston, now the largest parish in Norfolk, was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was then a small rather run-down village with two holdings.
These two holdings (later known as Manors), which finally united, dominated Sprowston until the late 19th century.
By 1186 one Manor was held by the Mounteney family, on behalf of Sir Richard de Luci, who kept it for some 250 years, whilst the other, held by the de Sproustons and then the Aslakes, was owned by the Bishop of Norwich.
In 1545 Mounteney Manor passed into the hands of the Corbets, one of whom, Miles Corbet, was the last signatory to the death warrant of Charles I and was himself executed at the restoration of Charles II. Monuments to the Corbet family can be found at the parish church of St Mary and St Margaret, Church Lane.
In the 18th century Sir Lambert Blackwell, a Director of the South Sea Company, owned the village and was created baronet in 1718.
The other Manor mentioned in the Domesday Book, which by the 15th century was known as Aslakes Manor, lost its original family identity when it passed to an eminent family of Norfolk Gentry, the Calthorpes (subsequently related by marriage to family of Anne Boleyn). It was later sold to Sir Thomas Corbet (owner of Mounteney Manor) and in 1592 the two Manors were united.
Sprowston Mill, built in 1730 and made famous by John Crome, of the Norwich School of Painting, was burnt down in 1933.
St Mary and St Margaret's Church (http://www.sprowston.org.uk) dates from the 14th century. The tower was rebuilt in the 18th century.
Also important to Sprowston's history, and now within the boundary of the City of Norwich, is Mousehold Heath where the army of Robert Ket was encamped in 1549.
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