The Dell - formally the "School Pit"
This area used to be an old gravel pit and provided much of the raw material needed for local house and road building during the late 19th. and early 20th. centuries.
When the gravel was all extracted it became the village / school playground. It was known as the "School Pit" and was an excellent site for sledging in the winter. The entrance to the pit from Long Road was known as the "Black Hill" and got it's name from all the ash and cinders that came from the school fire grates.
In 1993 the pit was reduced in size to provide a roundabout and safer road junction and in 1995 the Parish Council , with the assistance of the Norwich Fringe Project, Norfolk Rural Community Council, and South Norfolk Council, started a scheme to convert the remaining pit into a nature area. Landscaping and planting was carried out, pathways were cleared and made for better access, bird boxes were installed and the area was renamed "The Dell". This facility is well used and is kept maintained by the Parish Council with very welcome help by local residents.
Aerial picture of the School Pit in 1946.
The British Legion remembrance service in 'The Pit' in the mid 1940's.
School children at "The Pit" in 1942. L-R;- Des Taylor, John Leech, David Dicks, Gerald Taylor, Keith Webster, Geoffrey Cushing.
These girls sitting on the railings in 1954,
L-R;- Sheila Barnes, Eileen Lemon, Gloria Garrod, Olive Goddard, Madeleine Bales.
The School Pit in 1961.
The scene in February 1992.
The scene in February 1992.
(Pic's. R.Gooderham).
The filling in begins in 1993.
Aerial picture showing the extent of the in-fill.
(Picture copyright Mike Page).