The first ideas for this brand new Council Estate. with attractive lay-out and varied styles of houses. began to emerge in 1918. It was to be the first of its kind in England. In this 20th century development the roads are named after people and places of long historic interest to the citizens of Norwich. thus weaving together a fascinating blend of old and news.
What we now call ‘Mile Cross’ was once part of Hellesdon and that the area has been populated over many centuries. An aerial photograph taken by Derek Edwards in June 1980 gave rise to an archaeological survey of a ring ditch on Sweet Briar Road by the Norfolk Archaeological Unit in the summer of 1882.
The site produced a uniform collection of flints of Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age type, as well as fragments of Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery and a Romano-British iron brooch. The disturbance of the site caused by ploughing, combined with the acidic nature of the subsoil had resulted in poor preservation of the features, artefacts and organic matter. It was thought the site represented remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. Cremations has been buried within the mound at some stage but no original ground surface remained. A cremation outside the ring-ditch suggests prolonged use of the site for funerary purposes. Only two shreds of medieval pottery were found compared with an abundance of post-medieval material.
Coins some of which are listed below, have been found by local people using metal detectors and show the wide span of time during which the site may have been occupied.
John 1199-1216 - ‘short-cross’ silver coin
James I 1603-1625 - silver penny
Wm. & Mary 1688-1694 – farthing dated 1694
William III 1694-1701 – penny dated 1694
George II 1727-1760 – farthing
William IV 1830-1837 farthing dated 1830
Queen Victoria 1837-1901 – half penny dated 1830, three penny piece dated 1860 and a sixpence, date unknown.
Great Yarmouth token
Leeds 18th Century token (Richard Paley)
Hellesdon was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and in later documents. Galley Brakes and other familiar names are recorded. In Charters of the 15th and 16th centuries the ten boundary crosses that surrounded the City & County of Norwich are listed and two of these crosses, one that stood in Hellesdon and the other at the Boundary, would have marked the boundary of our present Ward of Mile Cross.
The base of one of these crosses can still be seen outside a nearby public house.
The other, heavily restored in 1902, still stands near the Sweetbriar Road / Dratyon Road / Boundary Road Junction.
There is a similar Cross in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Hellesdon.
The Ward is dominated by two important highways, the Aylsham and Drayton Roads. In the 18th century, on leaving Norwich by St. Augustine’s gate the road forked, one part leading to Cromer and the other to Fakenham. At the fork stood one of the many horse troughs seen in Norwich at that time and we are told that another stood outside the Mile Cross Tavern. Road surfaces were rough and were not systematically improved until the Turnpike Acts were passed from the 1660’s onwards.
We do not know why the great prestigious housing estate built in the 1920s was called Mile Cross.
In ancient charters the cross at the boundary was called either "Le Whytecrosse" or "St. Faith's Cross", and yet we have Mile Cross Lane. Before the naming of the estate roads Mile Cross Road was called Half Mile Lane and Half Mile Road did not exist.
Measurements show that the junction of the Mile Cross and Aylsham Roads is one mile from St. Augustine's Gates. Early 19th century leases speak of "two great closes in Mile Cross", and as early as 1659 Bloome was hung in chains at Mile Cross for murdering a man. So where was Mile Cross in 1659 and why was the estate so called?
CONGRATULATIONS TO SUSIEBEAR&CO ON FTF