Introduction
One evening I was scanning Google satellite imagery of the Norwich area, not even to find places to visit, I was just bored. Then I came across all of these derelict greenhouses. I didn’t take too much notice until I saw some old brick chimneys which caught my attention. I met up with Jake a couple of nights later, we planned to take a look at a couple of redundant pumping stations in the area but we decided to stop here on the way past. We were pleasantly surprised with what we saw. On our first visit, neither of us had our cameras which was annoying as the evening sun was beautiful. A few days later we returned to cover and photograph the entire site.
Information & History
The Nurseries is a piece of land east of Norwich consisting of a large array of greenhouses, workshops, outbuildings and three boiler houses. Operations began here in the early 1900s and expanded rapidly. The site served as both a plant nursery and a large orchard. Between the 1940s and 1970s, the entire site was covered with apple tree orchards.
A source online reveals Evan Jones as the owner of the site, and it expanded further in the 1930s to include more greenhouses and worksheds. Around the same time, staff toilets and a pig shed were constructed. The site had around 20 permanent employees in the 1940s and up to 100 seasonal fruit pickers were hired during harvest time. These came from local schools and the Little Plumstead Lunatic Asylum. Three coke-fired boiler houses and several hot water tanks were constructed on the site in the early 1950s. These were used to heat the greenhouses with hot water.
The business declined in the 1970s following the UK’s entry into the European Commission which enabled access to cheap imported fruit from Europe. Due to this, Orchards began to wind down and close across the country and many were converted to arable land. The plant nursery side of the business carried on up until 2021, but many of the greenhouses on the site fell into disuse much earlier than this. According to a couple of sources online, the company last traded as ‘Select Seeds & Plants’.
The 42-acre site is now surrounded by heras fencing and has been acquired by Orbit Homes. The housebuilder plans to build over 280 homes on the site in addition to a primary school. As part of the plans, Orbit Homes is set to restore one of the original apple orchards.
The Explore
The initial evening recce and the revisit were both very chilled out and we didn’t see a soul. We experienced all sorts of weather on the second visit, it started cloudy then decided to chuck it down with rain and thunder, and then 20 minutes later it was sunny again. My favourite parts were the boiler houses, they were so nice and are the sort of things I would travel several hours to see, so it was nice to see something like this within a 40-minute drive.
Photos
Starting off with the boiler houses as I think that’s what most people will be interested in.
The first boiler house contains two Robin Hood New Senior boilers. These were built in the 1950s and were manufactured by The Beeston Boiler Company Ltd. which were based in Nottinghamshire.
The second boiler house was hidden beneath lots of overgrowth and if it wasn’t for Jake seeing it I wouldn’t have found it. This boiler room mirrors the setup of the first boiler house, but is set slightly further underground.
The third boiler house only contains one boiler but the building was of a similar size. Perhaps there were plans to add another one in future or one was demolished. It was beautiful in here with the ferns coming through. I still can’t decide which boiler house was my favourite.
The hot water tanks are becoming very overgrown now. The one on the left was the largest of them all, there were plenty more dotted about other than these two.
Near the first boiler house is a small workshop which also houses some shelves used for storage.
There are numerous greenhouses on site. Some have been disused for many years and are simply inaccessible due to the vegetation.
Moving further south reveals a small toilet block with separate rooms for Ladies and Gents.
This 1940s shed originally housed pigs but was later used for storage. Note the small brick building covered in vegetation to the right-hand side, this once housed a large backup generator.
A pathway led to a larger complex of buildings which were used for storage, packing and offices. There was also a large water tank on top of the building.
Thanks for looking!
One evening I was scanning Google satellite imagery of the Norwich area, not even to find places to visit, I was just bored. Then I came across all of these derelict greenhouses. I didn’t take too much notice until I saw some old brick chimneys which caught my attention. I met up with Jake a couple of nights later, we planned to take a look at a couple of redundant pumping stations in the area but we decided to stop here on the way past. We were pleasantly surprised with what we saw. On our first visit, neither of us had our cameras which was annoying as the evening sun was beautiful. A few days later we returned to cover and photograph the entire site.
Information & History
The Nurseries is a piece of land east of Norwich consisting of a large array of greenhouses, workshops, outbuildings and three boiler houses. Operations began here in the early 1900s and expanded rapidly. The site served as both a plant nursery and a large orchard. Between the 1940s and 1970s, the entire site was covered with apple tree orchards.
A source online reveals Evan Jones as the owner of the site, and it expanded further in the 1930s to include more greenhouses and worksheds. Around the same time, staff toilets and a pig shed were constructed. The site had around 20 permanent employees in the 1940s and up to 100 seasonal fruit pickers were hired during harvest time. These came from local schools and the Little Plumstead Lunatic Asylum. Three coke-fired boiler houses and several hot water tanks were constructed on the site in the early 1950s. These were used to heat the greenhouses with hot water.
The business declined in the 1970s following the UK’s entry into the European Commission which enabled access to cheap imported fruit from Europe. Due to this, Orchards began to wind down and close across the country and many were converted to arable land. The plant nursery side of the business carried on up until 2021, but many of the greenhouses on the site fell into disuse much earlier than this. According to a couple of sources online, the company last traded as ‘Select Seeds & Plants’.
The 42-acre site is now surrounded by heras fencing and has been acquired by Orbit Homes. The housebuilder plans to build over 280 homes on the site in addition to a primary school. As part of the plans, Orbit Homes is set to restore one of the original apple orchards.
The Explore
The initial evening recce and the revisit were both very chilled out and we didn’t see a soul. We experienced all sorts of weather on the second visit, it started cloudy then decided to chuck it down with rain and thunder, and then 20 minutes later it was sunny again. My favourite parts were the boiler houses, they were so nice and are the sort of things I would travel several hours to see, so it was nice to see something like this within a 40-minute drive.
Photos
Starting off with the boiler houses as I think that’s what most people will be interested in.
The first boiler house contains two Robin Hood New Senior boilers. These were built in the 1950s and were manufactured by The Beeston Boiler Company Ltd. which were based in Nottinghamshire.
The second boiler house was hidden beneath lots of overgrowth and if it wasn’t for Jake seeing it I wouldn’t have found it. This boiler room mirrors the setup of the first boiler house, but is set slightly further underground.
The third boiler house only contains one boiler but the building was of a similar size. Perhaps there were plans to add another one in future or one was demolished. It was beautiful in here with the ferns coming through. I still can’t decide which boiler house was my favourite.
The hot water tanks are becoming very overgrown now. The one on the left was the largest of them all, there were plenty more dotted about other than these two.
Near the first boiler house is a small workshop which also houses some shelves used for storage.
There are numerous greenhouses on site. Some have been disused for many years and are simply inaccessible due to the vegetation.
Moving further south reveals a small toilet block with separate rooms for Ladies and Gents.
This 1940s shed originally housed pigs but was later used for storage. Note the small brick building covered in vegetation to the right-hand side, this once housed a large backup generator.
A pathway led to a larger complex of buildings which were used for storage, packing and offices. There was also a large water tank on top of the building.
Thanks for looking!
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