The Great
Broad at Whitlingham Park has been created through the process of
gravel extraction. The extraction work at Whitlingham began in 1990 with the creation of the Little Broad. In 1995, work began on the Great Broad, with the quarry removing around 220,000 tonnes of material a year. The quarry is owned and was run by Lafarge Aggregates. The Whitlingham Quarry is now closed and has been turned into a car park and campsite for the country park users. Gravel from Whitlingham was used on construction projects in the city such as the
Castle Mall,
The Forum, and the redevelopment of the old
Nestlé site into the
Chapelfield shopping centre. An activity centre was built on the south bank of the Great Broad; construction was funded by the
National Lottery and
Sport England and the centre is run by
Norfolk County Council. Norfolk County Council leases the Great Broad from the Crown Point Estate which is represented by the Whitlingham Charitable Trust. The Little Broad had a beach. Following a fatal accident in late 2008, swimming has been discouraged. There was a further double drowning in 2015 on the third broad on the Thorpe side of the river. The
Broads Authority is planning to bring in byelaws to make swimming illegal, except in organised groups run through the Whitlingham Adventure Centre. Such events include the annual Norwich Triathlon in July. Both the
Wherryman's Way long-distance footpath and
National Cycle Route 1 pass through the park. The park was visited by Prime Minister
Gordon Brown in July 2008, at the start of his
East Anglian holiday. ==Woods==