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View River Yare Bridges in a larger map
Until the opening of the Postwick viaduct as part of the Norwich Southern Bypass in the early 1990s, there were no road crossing points on the River Yare until Great Yarmouth. The Yare does have a very long history of ferry crossing points however and, during the 19th century, there are thought to have been more than twenty of them operating at various points between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. Many of these were foot passenger ferries, where a ferryman would simply row you across the river.
An 1827 map marks there having been foot ferries at Whitlingham, Surlingham, Coldham,
Buckenham, Cantley, Langley and Reedham amongst others. The last, traditional foot
ferry to operate on the River Yare was at Coldham Hall. The landlord of the inn from
the late 1930s was Harry Last who also ran the ferry, a pontoon on the opposite side
of the river had a bell which could be rung should you require passage. In John May’s
“The Norfolk Broads Holiday Book and Pocket Pilot” published in 1952 he makes mention
of the ferry, the fare for which was one ha-
In 1806, Francis Blomefield wrote “The Ferry called Surlingham Ferry is a very great
passage over the river and the ferry-
The Ferries Committee report in 1949 was quite scathing of Reedham, claiming that the wooden ramps used for boarding actually damaged vehicles and that drivers were detouring to Norwich or Great Yarmouth to cross the Yare rather than use it. They recommended that it should be withdrawn from service and that a road bridge should be built instead. Despite several calls over the years for a road bridge at Reedham, the ferry shows no signs of being replaced any time soon! It has been run by the Archer family since 1949; the ferry at that time was capable of carrying two cars across the river. It operated for nearly fifty years before being replaced in the early 1980s with the current one. It was designed and built by Fred Newson at Oulton Broad and is now powered by two Nanni diesel engines with a hydraulic winch. Rather than detour to avoid using it, the ferry has become quite a tourist attraction in its own right over the years.
Postwick Viaduct -
Heading downstream on the Yare from it’s junction with the Wensum at Trowse Eye, Postwick (pronounced Pozick) Viaduct is the first bridge you will encounter, and is only road bridge to cross the river until you reach Great Yarmouth. The bridge is part of the A47 Norwich Southern bypass which was opened in September 1992 at a total cost of £62 million.
Thorpe St. Andrew Rail Bridges – clearance: 6’
The rail bridges at Thorpe St. Andrew were originally built as part of the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway which opened in May 1844, engineered by George and Robert Stephenson. This line became part of the Great Eastern Railway Company in 1904, and then part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923.
The Cooke & Wheatstone telegraph machine installed on the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway in 1844
The electric telegraph mentioned is significant because, on opening, the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway was the first in the UK to have a telegraph “block” system installed along its length to convey messages between stations. Prior to this, messages had to be written down and either sent with the next train or, if urgent, delivered via horseback. Whites Directory noted: “By means of the Electric Telegraphs on the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway, a question may be asked at one end of the line, and an answer returned from the other almost instantaneously.”
The Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph system used machines which had two needles which operated in a similar way to Morse code with each letter of the alphabet being represented by a different set of deflections of the needles rather than dots and dashes.
In crossing the River yare at Thorpe, the low, fixed rail bridges were obviously going to become a serious navigational hazard for river traffic coming in and out of Norwich and so a new cut was dug to bypass Thorpe Green, thus creating what we now know as Thorpe Island. The first bridges were built of timber and the line was single track. In the early 1870s, the track was widened to become double track, and the nearby Whitlingham station was built.
In 1874, whilst still awaiting inspection before the new line could be opened, a tragic and devastating accident occurred near to the eastern bridge at Thorpe when two trains collided. The London to Yarmouth Express train had been delayed at Norwich and would usually be given straight passage through, any other trains heading from Great Yarmouth were held on a side track at Brundall until it had passed. Confused communications between stations meant that the mail train heading to Norwich was given the go ahead to proceed before the express train had gone though. Despite desperate attempts to telegraph messages of the error through to Brundall, it was too late to stop the mail train which collided at high speed with the oncoming express train. The explosion could apparently be seen in Norwich, 25 people were killed and hundreds of others were seriously injured.
The current rail bridges were constructed by the LNER (London & North Eastern Railway) which was formed after the railways company’s grouped together in 1923.
The eastern Thorpe St. Andrew Rail Bridge -
The western Thorpe St. Andrew Rail Bridge -
As mentioned, the original course of the River Yare runs under the rail bridges and
alongside Thorpe Green. Spanning this section of the river is another bridge which
was constructed by the Jenner’s boatyard during their expansion in the late 1960s.
At that time the yards of Wards, Jenners and Hearts were almost operating as one
yard, the bridge was to provide a means of getting customers over the river to the
island. Shortly after the bridge was built, Jenners was taken over by the Caister
Group who redistributed the fleet and closed down the yard at Thorpe. The land where
the yard once stood was re-
Whites Directory of 1845 said of the new line: “The Yarmouth and Norwich Railway is a single line, with electric telegraphs, and has commodious stations at each terminus, and smaller stations at the Brandon Junction, (one mile from the Norwich station,) at Brundall, Buckenham, Cantley, and Reedham, from the latter of which it is now proposed to make a branch line direct to Lowestoft. Its length is 20½ miles, and passing along the vale of the Yare, within a short distance of the north bank of the river, its gradients are so favourable, that Messrs. Grissell and Peto contracted for the execution of the whole of the works at the rate of £10,000 per mile. It was opened to the public May 1st, 1844, and the event was marked with great festivity and rejoicing; for, though there are different opinions as to the benefits conferred by railways, so general has been there adoption, and so effectually do they draw all inland communication into their vortex, that no place of consequence can rest satisfied without connecting itself with the main lines which now traverse the kingdom in all directions.”
The old Jenner’s footbridge at Thorpe St. Andrew -
Reedham Swing Bridge -
The first swing bridge at Reedham was opened in 1847 by Sir Samuel Morton Peto on behalf of the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour Company. This line branched off of the main Norwich to Yarmouth line, crossed the Yare at Reedham, running alongside the Haddiscoe New Cut before crossing the Waveney at Somerleyton and heading into Lowestoft. The original Reedham and Somerleyton swing bridges were built at the same time and are thought to have been almost identical. They were attributed to George Bidder who was the principal assistant to Robert Stephenson. Reedham Swing Bridge had a cast iron deck with timber piles, was single track and was operated by a hand winch. A wire was attached to the bridge framework just below the deck, this ran from the winch to the central pier where it looped around a pulley and then came back to the winch.
The first Reedham Swing Bridge -
When the Great Eastern Railway took over the line in 1904, they began a series of modernisation and improvements which included the replacement of the bridges at Reedham and Somerleyton. The line became double track, the new bridge at Reedham being built alongside the old one before the main line was finally realigned to connect with it. This bridge is the one which is still in use today over 100 years after it was first opened. The bridge rests on two end piers, with a central pivot pier constructed of brick with timber piles. The central pier is 27ft 6in in diameter and supports the central pivots when the bridge is closed. Three wrought iron girders measuring 139ft in length bear the live load and these rotate on 16inch cast iron wheels when the bridge swings to allow passage for river traffic. Two truss girders bear the weight of the bridge when it is open. The winching system is very similar to that which operated the original bridge, although this is now done by electrical means rather than by hand.
Reedham Swing Bridge -
Breydon Rail Viaduct -
Breydon Viaduct 1903 -
Postwick Viaduct -
Reedham Ferry -
The first bridge to span Breydon Water was a rail swing bridge which was built by the Midland and Great Northern Railway Company. Construction began in 1899 and the bridge was opened in 1903, connecting Great Yarmouth Beach Station with the Great Eastern Line’s South Town Station at Gorleston. At 800 feet in length, the Breydon Bridge was the largest structure on the MGN line, cost over £38,000 to build and consisted of five spans set on pilings, one span which swung open to allow passage for river traffic. The opening span swung centrally on a cast iron plinth which, when open, gave two 60 foot channels for vessels to pass through. The line was single track, with a signal box at either end and river traffic was given priority over the trains. The bridge could be swung by just one person, although it could apparently take up to ten minutes to open fully in adverse weather conditions.
The building of the bridge coincided with it the development of Gorleston into a major holiday resort, as between 1898 and 1903 the whole area of the seafront was remodelled by the borough surveyor, J.W. Cockrill. The beach gardens were laid out, the Cliffside was grassed, Marine Parade was extended and the shops on the promenade were built. A ravine was cut into the cliff with a bridge across the top and ornate “Roman Shelters” were constructed. With the expected influx of visitors the new rail bridge would bring, many new hotels and other buildings were also erected.
Aerial photographs taken during the war years showed that the bridge was heavily fortified to defend what was a major transport route. A large, barbed wire enclosure lay on either side of the line, immediately north of the bridge and a number of military buildings were erected along with a possible spigot mortar emplacement. What was considered to be the very real threat of an enemy invasion during WW2 led to all of the bridges within the area being heavily guarded. The remains of pill boxes can still be found in the vicinity of some of the Broadland river crossings and a few of the bridges are known to have had chambers fitted where explosives could be laid, ready to destroy them to try to hamper enemy troops should an invasion occur.
In the years following the war, it was thought that the Breydon Viaduct would be likely to need some major and costly repairs due to its age. It was felt that this would not be economically viable and the bridge was closed in September 1953. It was left standing for ten years before finally being demolished in 1963 when it was then sold for scrap, although the pilings were left in situ until the building of the Breydon Road Bridge in the 1980s
Thorpe St. Andrew Rail Bridge -
Breydon Viaduct 1903 -
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The River Yare
Bridges Of The Norfolk Broads
This is the second in a series of articles on the bridges past and present of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads which aim to provide a little bit of the history surrounding them, along with photographs old and new where possible. Alongside the articles you will also find an interactive map for each river which marks the positions of the bridges and gives brief historical notes.
In the early 20th century there were also three, larger pontoon ferries running on the Yare at Reedham, Buckenham and Surlingham. Often referred to as “Horse Ferries” because they were capable of carrying a horse and cart across the river, these were hauled from one riverbank to the other by a rope or chain, initially by hand but later by mechanical winch.
It is thought that there had been a ferry operating at Buckenham since the middle
ages, but just how vital a service these ferries provided, and how busy they were
was colourfully illustrated by Peter Henry Emerson in his book “On English Lagoons”
which was published in 1893. On mooring up at Buckenham he wrote: “Day and night
the ferry-
The ferry at Buckenham ceased operating in the early 1940s.
Surlingham Ferry c1900 -
