The Swan Pit and Sluice the Great Hospital is a Grade II listed building in the Norwich local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 June 2002. Swan pit and sluice.
The Swan Pit and Sluice the Great Hospital
- WRENN ID
- lapsed-step-jet
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Norwich
- Constituency
- Norwich South MP: Clive Lewis (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 12 June 2002
- Type
- Swan pit and sluice
- OS grid reference
- TG 237 091
- Coordinates
- 52.6337, 1.30564
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Swan Pit and attached sluice, located at The Great Hospital, is a late 18th-century structure that was restored in the late 19th century and altered in the 20th century. It is constructed of painted brick. The large rectangular pool features brick sides, with the north, west, and south walls made of late 18th-century painted brick. The east wall was rebuilt in stock brick during the late 19th century and has an ashlar egg and dart moulding along the coping. There are brick-paved ramps at both eastern corners.
Attached to the north is a stone-sided channel that contains two 19th-century sluice gates, which connect the pit to the River Wensum. These sluices are designed to keep the pit filled at high tide and prevent it from emptying at low tide. This unique 'swan pit' was historically used for breeding local swans for the Master of the Great Hospital in Norwich, who has had the right to cull swans for feasts since medieval times.
Local climate
The Swan Pit and Sluice the Great Hospital sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 75% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings
- East Wards at the Great Hospital
- White Cottages at the Great Hospital
- Wall and Gate Piers to West of White Cottages at the Great Hospital
- Part of the Former Master's House at the Great Hospital
- Birkbeck Hall at the Great Hospital
- Cloisters Including West Wall of Former Chapter House (?) at the Great Hospital
- Part of the Former Master's House at the Great Hospital
- Refectory and Part of Former Master's House at the Great Hospital
- Church of St Helen
- Former Chaplain's House at the Great Hospital