Famous Norwich Colman's Historic Sites Listed

160 years of manufacturing mustard

One of the world’s oldest condiment milling producers, J and J Colman Ltd operated from the Carrow Works site in East Norwich for 160 years.

The company first acquired land to the north of the Carrow Abbey estate in 1850, regularly purchasing adjoining sections of land during the late 19th century for the expansion of their business. By 1926, the premises had expanded to cover some 50 acres.

Carrow House

Grade II listed; new information added

Between 1860 and 1861, Jeremiah James Colman extensively rebuilt a mid-19th-century Norwich villa. It became the family home, known as Carrow House. From this elevated site, Colman could oversee his expanding milling business to the north-east.

The handsome Victorian villa, built in the Italianate style, was remodelled by Norwich-based artists noted for their high-quality design and craftmanship: sculptor and carver James Minns (1828-1904), and very probably by Edward Boardman (1833-1910). 

James Minns carried out the elaborate internal wood carving at Carrow House. The decorative scheme features intricate carving of finely detailed Jacobean-style joinery, including the staircase, panelling and elaborate chimneypieces.

Surviving ground-floor business rooms show the close association between the house and the family-run Carrow Works nearby, enhancing the historic interest of the house.

Carrow House was listed at Grade II in 1986. New information has been added to the list entry to give more detail about the building and to include information about structures added to the garden in 1908. These include two ornate iron gates and, in the centre of the garden, a circular pond edged in stone, with flint inlay depicting the date ‘1908’.

Carrow House Conservatory

Newly listed at Grade II*

The Conservatory at Carrow House was built in 1895 by renowned Norwich-based manufacturing company Boulton and Paul and illustrated in their promotional catalogue of the time.

The rich detailing of the conservatory, using ornate patterns in ironwork, stained glass and mosaic, is remarkably well preserved. The conservatory still has its original ventilation and heating equipment.

Boulton and Paul Ltd originated as an ironmonger's shop in 1797. During the 19th century, it became an iron-founders and also constructed prefabricated wooden buildings, notably producing the huts for Scott's Antarctic expedition. During the Second World War the firm was a major producer of prefabricated buildings, wire netting and wooden sub-assemblies of aircraft.

Trowse Railway Station, Bracondale

Newly listed at Grade II

Built between 1844 and 1845, Trowse Railway Station was Norwich’s first (albeit temporary) railway terminus of the Norwich and Brandon line.

A pivotal moment in regional railway and communications history, the connection of the Norwich and Brandon Line with the Eastern Counties Railway Line in 1845 allowed Great Yarmouth and Norwich to be connected to London by rail for the first time.

Together with the other four principal stations of the Norwich to Brandon Line – Wymondham, Attleborough, Thetford and Brandon – Trowse is now listed at Grade II.

All five stations were crafted of knapped flint – a traditional Norfolk building material – and constructed by Thomas and William Piper, builders of Bishopsgate, London.

Late 19th-century engine house at Trowse Sewage Pumping Station

Newly listed at Grade II

The sewage works at Trowse was built to improve social conditions around 1869 by Norwich Corporation as a public response to the problems of sewage disposal caused by the rapid suburbanisation and industrialisation of Norwich in the 19th century.

The 19th-century engine house is constructed from good-quality red brick in the Italianate style. Inside the building, the attention to detail includes decorative embellishments and a grand spiral staircase rising to the engine floor.

The original steam-powered pumping machinery was removed shortly after a new engine house was opened on the site in 1909.

Early 20th-century engine house, boiler house and coal store

Newly listed at Grade II

The early 20th-century engine house at Trowse Sewage Pumping Station was built in 1909 to replace its late 19th-century counterpart.

It was built in a Free Renaissance style which was usually reserved for important civic buildings such as town halls, museums and libraries – a rare choice for a municipal utility building.

With its central clock tower, terracotta tiling and decorative embellishments, it shows how Norwich Corporation used a strong architectural design to symbolise its investment in town improvements.

The Trowse engine houses are a rare combination from two technological generations on one site. The difference in the architectural styles demonstrates the building solutions needed to meet advances in engine design, from the tall form required to house three 19th-century beam engines to the long form of the early 20th-century engine house, built to accommodate two horizontal compound engines.

Timber drying bottle kiln, Deal Ground

Grade II listed; new information added

Built sometime between 1908 and 1929, the timber drying bottle kiln was used to dry freshly sawn green timber to meet J and J Colman Ltd’s increasing demand for wooden crates and barrels. It is a very unusual example of a bottle kiln used for drying timber.

Although the timber yard in which it originally stood has since been demolished, the kiln survives little changed from when it was originally built. It was listed at Grade II in 1996. The list entry has been updated to give more detail about the kiln’s special architectural and historic interest.

East Norwich's unique heritage sites

East Norwich’s unique heritage sites were reviewed by Historic England, at the request of Norwich City Council, to clarify the level and extent of special interest and national importance across the East Norwich Strategic Regeneration Area and to inform the future management of the area.