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Sprowston () is a town and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. It is bounded by Heartsease to the east, Mousehold Heath and the suburb of New Sprowston to the south, Old Catton to the west, and by the open farmland of Beeston St Andrew to the north. It is close to Norwich. The 2021 census recorded a population of 17,126, making Sprowston the most populous civil parish in the Broadland district.
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Professor Trudgill writes: "the Anglo-Saxon man's name Sprow tells linguistic scientists all we need to know to state, categorically, that the modern pronunciation of Sprowston ought to be with the vowel of low- not of now. Everybody in Norwich used to know that. When I was a child in the 1940s and 1950s, I never heard anybody pronounce it any other way. Over the last five decades, however, there has been a tendency for some people to use a non-traditional pronunciation with the 'now' vowel. Large numbers of people have moved in from outside; they have guessed the pronunciation from the spelling, and they have guessed wrong ... The pronunciation of Sprowston with the "now" vowel is wrong. It is a mistake ... with high in-migration, errors creep in because of spelling ambiguity. But there is nothing ambiguous about older Norfolk people's desire to have the traditional, centuries old pronunciations of places in our county respected. We would like to have our place-names back, please."Trudgill, P (2016) "Dialect Matters - Respecting Vernacular Language" published by Cambridge University Press, pp. 204-205.
By 1186, one Manor was held by the Mounteney family, on behalf of Sir Richard de Luci, who kept it for some 250 years; the other, held by the de Sproustons and then the Aslakes, was owned by the Bishop of Norwich.
In 1545, the Jermy family granted Mounteney Manor to John Corbet. During Kett's rebellion in 1549, the house was broken into and looted.The English Historical Review, Vol. 108, No. 427 (Apr 1993), pp. 387–398: "Mid-Tudor Trespass: A Break-In at Norwich, 1549", C.E. Moreton. The army of Robert Kett encamped on nearby Mousehold Heath.
The first Sprowston Manor was built in 1560.
The Aslakes Manor passed to an eminent family of Norfolk gentry, the Calthorpes; it was related subsequently 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.
Monuments to the Corbet family can be found at the parish church of St Mary and St Margaret The Parish of Sprowston in Church Lane. The Sprowston Corbets were Royalists in the English Civil War; Thomas Corbet was knighted by Charles I at Royston. However, Sir Thomas' uncle, Miles Corbet, who was Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, was the last signatory to the death warrant of Charles I and was himself executed at the restoration of Charles II.
Sir Thomas Corbet became High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1612. He died without an heir and the manor of Sprowston was sold to Sir Thomas Adams, who had been Lord Mayor of London in 1645. He had given Charles II £10,000 whilst he was in exile and, in 1660, he accompanied George Monck to escort the King back to England.
Adams endowed a Professorship of Arabic at Cambridge and had the Gospels printed in Persian language, which he described as "throwing a stone at the head of Mahomet". Although he died in London in 1667, his body was brought to Sprowston for burial in a barrel vault excavated under the altar at St Mary and St Margaret; a large marble monument was erected above it.
In the 18th century, the manor was sold to Sir Lambert Blackwell, a governor of the South Sea Company and he was created a baronet in 1718. In the 19th century, the manor went through a number of families until it came into the hands of the Gurneys. In 1876, John Gurney, who was mayor of Norwich and blind, rebuilt Sprowston Hall. In 1885, he gave money for the building of St Cuthbert's Church and a new vicarage to serve the development known as New Sprowston which was being built. In 1973, Sprowston Hall was converted into a hotel Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel | Norwich Hotels | Hotels in Norwich and is the location of Sprowston Manor Golf Club.
During the 18th century, it is recorded that the population was less than 200, but by 1901 it had increased to 2,359.
Sprowston Mill was built in 1780 and made famous by John Crome, of the Norwich School of painting. It burnt down in 1933, a few days before it was to be handed over to the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, but is still used as a symbol by Sprowston Community High School and is depicted on the village sign. Norfolk Mills – Sprowston post mill Norfolk Archaeological Trust Welcome to Sprowston Community Academy
The artist Thomas Lound was born in Sprowston in 1801.Thomas Lound in "Baptisms, burials and marriages 1718-1812 Beeston St. Andrew baptisms, burials and marriages 1761/2, 1795-1812", FamilySearch ([6]).
Sprowston Community High School transitioned into an academy in 2018, becoming Sprowston Community Academy. As of 2024 it belongs to the Broad Horizons Education Trust
There are three junior schools: Falcon, Sprowston and White Woman Lane; and three infant schools: Cecil Gowing, Sparhawk and Sprowston.
There is one chapel, called Gage Road Chapel.
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