* home * about this site * archive * contact *

Designed & Maintained By Carol Gingell

Hosted by Horning.Org

At that time, Norfolk was primarily a farming county with most of the land being owned by the aristocracy and farmed by their tenants. Many of the regions great houses were built and extended during this time and villages, churches and schools sprung up around them as the need for workers increased.  The rivers and broads became a playground for these wealthy inhabitants and their friends, taking to the water in rowing boats and small sailing craft. While some were content to explore the waterways at a leisurely pace, others were keen to pursue more sporting pastimes on the rivers and the development of pleasure craft began as yacht racing became a highly competitive affair.

It was the coming of the railways, however, which heralded the dawn of the Broads becoming a destination for holidays. The first railway line in Norfolk was laid in 1844 and ran between Norwich and Great Yarmouth soon to be followed by the Lowestoft to Reedham line. By the 1880s a network of railway lines connected the Norfolk Broads and coast to London and the Midlands with Wroxham station being a popular alighting point. It was this that led to Wroxham becoming known as the “Capitol of the Broads”, a title which it still holds today.

The riverside was becoming a popular destination for day trips as the Victorian middle classes developed a passion for “al fresco” eating.  The landscape was very different from that which we know today. The banks were largely cleared of any trees, cut down by the wherrymen to allow as much wind as possible to reach their sails as they plied their trade along the rivers.  Those areas with small pockets of woodland such as Bramerton and Postwick Grove became popular local beauty spots where afternoon strolls and picnics could be taken. Steam boats were also starting to be used for pleasure cruises. The first steamers appeared on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast during the early 1800s, mainly used for carrying cargo and as tugs for the fishing industry, but there were also steam packets which carried passengers between Norwich , Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft  Many of these also suffered a decline in their trade as the rail network became established and some were converted into pleasure cruisers which ran day trips out of Norwich and Great Yarmouth. Small steam launches and larger passenger steamers began to be built and became a common site on the Broads.

Launched in 1879, “Jenny Lind” was a day trip vessel which would run excursions between Norwich and Bramerton Woods, C.C.Cooke in Wroxham also ran day trips in steam launches and you could hire a launch for 30s a day from A.Sabbertons yard in Norwich. The steam passenger cruisers began to get larger and larger to accommodate the increase in demand. Probably the most famous of these steamers was “The Queen Of  The Broads”. Launched in 1889, it would make regular trips from Town Hall Quay in Great Yarmouth to Wroxham carrying up to 180 passengers at a time. She continued to provide day trips for holidaymakers on the Broads right up until 1976 when she was finally decommissioned. Her sister ship “The Pride Of  The Yare” ran similar excursions from Yarmouth to Reedham and Oulton Broad.

At this time the villages of Broadland were very small in comparison to those we know today. In the 1881 census the population of Wroxham was recorded as just 374, Horning having 435 and Potter Heigham 414.  Whilst some villages were well served, having their own butchers, bakers, ironmongers etc., most had just one shop where anything from a shovel to a loaf of bread could be purchased. The Broadland villages were, of course, geared up for servicing the wherrymen and there were far more riverside and village inns than there are today. As holidaymakers began to flock to the area these establishments began to serve a new clientele.

On the rivers themselves the interest in boating for pleasure and sport was increasing.  In 1876 The Yare sailing club was formed with the Rovers Rowing club being an offshoot. Regular events were held and were usually accompanied by riverside picnics attended by the families and friends of the competitors. The wives of the members often sailed too as well as taking to rowing boats, although this was largely confined to quieter backwaters such as the river Wensum where it was considered to be safer for ladies away from the busy main river traffic. However, a new revolution in pleasure boating was about to happen, one which was to spark the birth of the hire boat industry

Local man, John Loynes, had undertaken an apprenticeship in carpentry in Bungay later moving to work in London for a short while. The lure of country life drew him back to Norwich where he set up in trade as a master carpenter. During his spare time he spent many happy hours sailing on the river Wensum eventually building his own small boat.  It is reputed that, keen to try other waters, the boat was placed on a handcart and taken to Wroxham so that he could explore the Northern rivers. He went on to build himself a larger boat and it was when asked by friends whether they could hire that boat for holidays that the hire industry began c1878. He began to build further boats which he hired out from his premises in Norwich, but most of his customers preferred to head to the Northern rivers and the boats were often left at Wroxham for him to collect after the holiday had ended. This was to become a common practice amongst those that hired out boats for a few years – a later advert for the Press Brothers at North Walsham stated: “Parties are required to go on board wherever the owners may desire, but can leave the Yachts at any place convenient to themselves by giving a weeks notice.”.

Loynes was obviously a shrewd businessman as, recognising the advantages of publicity, he took to making models of the boats he had for hire on the Broads and displayed them at exhibitions as an advertisement for his holidays.  In 1882 he charged clients between £1 10s and £2 5s a weeks to hire boats ranging from between 13 and 20 feet in length, a cost that was beyond most peoples means. By 1888 he had moved his business to Wroxham and was building cabin yachts with full sleeping and cooking facilities that also had raising and lowering roofs – an innovation which you can still see in Broads yachts today. Throughout the 1880’s many other boatbuilders were following John Loynes example and began to build and hire out cabin yachts. Some of those who began in the early years went on to become very familiar names in the hire boat industry. Robert Collins had a business in Coltishall, his son Ernest eventually taking over after it had moved to Wroxham, John Hart hired boats from Thorpe, Robert Kemp at Oulton Broad and George Applegate at Potter Heigham.

The first guide book to the area was published in 1881 and was written by George Christopher Davies, a member of the Yare sailing club.  Often credited as being “The man who discovered the Broads”, he certainly did a lot to popularise the region and encourage others to visit, and his “Guide to The Rivers and Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk” was revised and republished many times in the following years. In it he recounted a two week sailing trip, covering the rivers and most popular towns and villages. The guide included a map and featured advertisements for some of the yards which had boats available for hire. The navigable area of the Broads in the late 1800s was greater than it is today – Aylsham could be reached on the River Bure via eight locks, although passage was restricted to vessels drawing no more than two and a half feet. The navigation on the River Waveney extended up to Bungay via locks at Geldeston, Ellingham and Wangford. Just beyond Wayford Bridge on the Ant was the branch for the North Walsham and Dilham Canal which covered nine miles up to Swafield with six locks to negotiate. In the 1880s, Edward Press was hiring out the wherries “Bertha”, “Elsie”, “Kate”, “Diligent” and “Lucy” to holidaymakers from Ebridge on the canal.

Many other guide books were published extolling the delights of the area and, with the development of photography, picture books were produced.  Guides to fishing on the Broads were also being written as angling began to be promoted as a suitable sporting pastime for gentlemen. Businesses soon became aware of the power of advertising and were also keen to use the medium of photography to sell their holidays. In the late 1880’s the Great Eastern Railway commissioned the photographer Payne Jennings to produce a series of photographs of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads which were then displayed in their carriages promoting rail travel to the area as a holiday destination. These photographs were also published by Jarrolds in a book entitled “Sun Pictures Of The Norfolk Broads”

Whilst the railways opened up the possibility of travel to other parts of the country they also brought with it the decline of the trading wherry as goods could be transported far more efficiently by rail. In 1860 the first use of a wherry for a pleasure trip was recorded when the Revd T.A. Wheeler, a Norfolk parson, temporarily fitted out a trading wherry as a liveaboard to make a three week cruise of the Broads.

Continued on the next page

The first “water frolics”, or regattas as we now know them, were recorded towards the end of the 18th century. People would gather to watch the yacht and rowing races on decorated boats and wherries, many bets would be wagered, musicians would play and it was generally an event at which one could eat, drink and be merry. By the 1830s water frolics were being held at locations all over the Broads and the desire to have faster and better sailing craft led to the development of “lateener” yachts, based on a Mediterranean design. The most famous example of the lateeners, “Maria” which was built in 1827 survives today and is on display at The Museum Of The Broads in Stalham.  The lateeners were later to be superseded by the Broads “cutter” yachts which had a very large gaff sail, long bowsprit and were unique among cutters in having just one large foresail rather than the usual two. By the mid 19th century boating for pleasure had extended into the professional, middle classes. In 1859 the first sailing club was formed – The Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club.

The waterways of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads have for many centuries been used as a method of travel and as a means of transporting goods. Pin-pointing the exact time that boating for pleasure began though is a somewhat difficult task, but it certainly dates back to at least the 18th century.