Earlham Road

Earlham Road (the B1108) is a road in Norwich, England linking the city centre to the area of Earlham to the west of the city and the Norwich southern bypass (A47) beyond.

Interesting facts

The road formerly marked the northern limit of the Golden Triangle, a prime residential area of southwest Norwich that has since been expanded by local Estate Agents to include most of the southern region of the City within the outer ring-road.

At the City end of the road lies the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, a dominant Neo-Gothic building built as a church in 1882 and designed by brothers George Gilbert Scott Junior and John Oldrid Scott. Almost directly opposite lies the city's only Jewish Synagogue. Also a short walk along the road can be found St. Thomas's Parish Church, at the bottom of Edinburgh Road and Caernarvon Road.

The stretch of road between the city centre and the ring road has a number of pubs including the Black Horse, the Mitre, and the Workshop popular among the large student population in the area. Shortly beyond the ring road lies Earlham School, a secondary school that has been oversubscribed since the closure of the failing Bowthorpe School nearby.

The main entrance to the University of East Anglia (UEA) is just beyond Earlham School, and is flanked on the other side by Earlham Park, comprising part of the former grounds of the historical Earlham Hall - a building now home to the UEA Law School.

Since the building of the new Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on the B1108 on the eastern edge of the city, the Earlham Road has become the main artery out of the city for ambulances and has experienced a greater level of car traffic congestion.

Notable events

On 3 March 1988, Earlham Road was the scene of the bizarre sinking of a double-decker bus. The cause of the event was found to be the collapse of a Medieval chalk mine discovered under the road. The source of the photograph of the actual incident (right) is not known, but it has been circulated across the globe via various internet humour websites and email circulars.

The day after the bus incident, following the publication of photos in national newspapers, Cadbury's began using the photo with the catchline 'Nothing fills a hole like a Double Decker', in reference to the company's chocolate bar. The advert won a series of awards and international recognition.