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In the early 1980's, this attractive, modern, lively, residential area
was a 'greenfield site'.
In the early planning stages 'AREA X' was to be a 'new village'.
There was talk of it having its own school and surgery with perhaps
the assumption it would also be designated a parish.
The various developers and housing associations needed a name
to advertise property in AREA X and settled on Thorpe Marriott.
The name has stuck. We have a bus route between Thorpe Marriott
and Norwich. The EDP and EEN newspapers regularly speak of it.
The full blown plan of a 'new village' with school and surgery didn't
materialise. But it was given shops, pub, church, village hall and large
village green. Thorpe Marriott was on its way to becoming a community.
It is not a civil parish, and its postal addresses cover parts of Drayton
and Taverham. Yet from birth in the 1980's, it has matured into a lively
and varied community with a definite identity. One that argues strongly
for Thorpe Marriott to be accepted as a 'village' in its own right . It's not
a rural village, nor an anonymous suburb of Norwich, nor a mere appendage
of its shared parishes.
Apart from not quite fitting the planners original vision, developer's decisions
have also shaped it. At first Trinity church was to be built just the Taverham
side of Marriott's Way. But the developers would only provide land for it to be
built alongside the Village Hall, shops and Otter pub. This decision placed it
with the other community buildings roughly in the centre of Thorpe Marriott -
but about 100 metres inside Drayton parish!
From the air, Thorpe Marriott joins the built areas of Drayton and Taverham.
Yet the way the parish boundary weaves between Drayton and Taverham
means about 75% of the area of Thorpe Marriott is in Taverham and the rest
in Drayton.
However, the population of Thorpe Marriott is roughly the same either side of
Marriott's Way cycle route, with Pendlesham Rise joining the two sides.
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