Whitlingham Park has a rich history. Once part of the Crown Point Estate owned by the famous Colman family, the site features the ruin of a monk's manor house, ancient chalk workings and evidence of Palaeolithic and Neolithic flint-knapping.
Situated at the lower end of the country park, this area has a history of mining, including flint-knapping from 4000BC, up to the 18th century.
Archaeologist have found a number of artefacts in this area, including humanly struck flint flakes and part of a chipped flint axe-head from the Neolithic period, along with a iron-stained flint blade dating back to the Palaeolithic period (500000 BC to 10001 BC).
Artists impression of a Neolithic axe
Flint-knapping stopped in the 18th century. Since then this area has been developing from open landscape to the woodland you see today.
The Great Broad at Whitlingham Park has been created through the process of gravel extraction. The extraction work at Whitlingham began in 1990 with the creation of the Little Broad. In 1995 work began on the Great Broad, with the quarry removing around 220,000 tonnes of material a year.
Gravel from Whitlingham has been used to build projects in the city such as the Castle Mall, The Forum and more recently, the redevelopment of the old Nestle site into a major new shopping facility Chapelfield.
You are looking for the original "site" of Fred and Barney's workplace, Slate Rock and Gravel Company, from the 1960's cult cartoon, The Flintstones. Fred was a working class stone-age man who lived in Bedrock, now known as Whitlingham Broad ;)
The cache is a micro cache hidden close to a busy walkway and what is now, the Norwich Rowing Club. Tweezers are advisable for extracting the cache and it's log book.
Stealth is essential as you are on a busy path which fills with muggles during the weekends and school holidays. You are also in plain sight...