The Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell – Model of Norwich City’s Former Nest Stadium

This the museum’s model of the Nest, which was Norwich City’s football stadium between 1908 and 1935 after they had moved from their previous Newmarket Road site. It was squeezed into a former disused chalk mine site and despite the best efforts of the club at the time to modernise and expand the facilities, it wasn’t large enough and in 1935 they moved to their current Carrow Road ground. After 1935 the site returned to industrial, then became Bertram’s Books and is now a housing development called Bertram Way.

The rather hilly and bumpy area before Norwich City decided to build the Nest.

An excited crowd at the Nest in a photograph dating to 1924. The club’s move made a great deal of sense as there’s no way that the site would have been large enough as there was nowhere for them to expand into. If they had continued here they would have ended up with the situation that Luton Town have with their odd entrances in the middle of terraced housing. The Nest site today has a supporting wall on one side where the stand used to be, otherwise there’s no other trace of the site, but there is a statue remembering that the stadium was once here.

The museum’s model shows how the stadium would have looked in 1935, just before their move to Carrow Road. There are surprisingly few facilities, no such treats as the Gunn Club…..