MULBARTON COMMON
Written by Jill Wright in 1984:
THE COMMON is the glory of Mulbarton: over 45 acres of open land, mostly within a triangle of roads. One of these is the New Buckenham Turnpike, the B1113, which links Mulbarton to Norwich, six miles away to the north.
Today, the Common is a recreation area for the rapidly increasing number of people in the village - and their dogs. Its football pitches are used by all ages.
Even in the 19th century, there were day-trips from Norwich to Mulbarton for games on the Common and liquid refreshment at the World's End. A move to enclose the Common aroused great opposition in 1865, and modern development on the perimeter has been resisted with partial success.
In earlier times, the Common must have been vital to the community: a place to graze the cattle and keep them from the surrounding open fields. The name Mulbarton is '...''Mokebertuna' in the Domesday Book, and probably means '...''an outlying dairy farm'. It is just possible to imagine that a clearing in the forest where the dairy cattle grazed has become our present Common.
(First published in the W.I. Gazette, August 1984)
Dorothy Tungate remembers:
The main part of the common is triangular in shape with at least five ponds on it. It was used for cricket matches during the summer, and football later in the year.
In the 1930s, Mulbarton Common was used for grazing cattle, and at times for sheep, and a man - or a young lad in the school holidays - used to '...''walk the green' as one old chap called it. But in the winter it was mostly used by children. When the snow lay thick and deep in those days, Charlie and Jack Cooper (who lived by the Tradesman's Arms) used to cut 2 ft wide pathways down one side of the common so the children and others could get to the school and to the butcher's shop.
More photos and information about Mulbarton Common in 'The Book of Mulbarton'
