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Sprowston is a small suburban town (population 14,691 in 2011) bordering Norwich in Norfolk, England. By 1186 one of its manors was held by the Mounteney family, on behalf of Sir Richard de Luci, who kept it for some 250 years, whilst 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 army of Robert Kett encamped on nearby Mousehold Heath. The first Sprowston Hall was built in 1560. The Aslakes Manor passed to an eminent family of Norfolk gentry, the Calthorpes (subsequently related 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 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 General Monck to escort the King back to England. Although Adams 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 and 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. During the 18th century it is recorded that the population of Sprowston was less than 200, but by 1901 it had increased to 2,359. [edit] Research Tips
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