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Designed & Maintained By Carol Gingell

“Fine Lady 1” on South Walsham dyke in May 1983.

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The following photographs were submitted by Pete Sanders and date from the early 1980s.

A photograph taken at Wroxham in 1982 - a scene which looks very different today! On the left is one of Jack Powles sheds, whilst the building on the right was the former Ernest Collins & Sons yard. These buildings were later demolished and a new housing development was built on the land.

Also taken at Wroxham in 1982, the photograph above shows the damage caused to R636 “Fair Hilton” when it was taken under Wroxham Bridge with the sliding wheelhouse canopy still up. Pete Sanders remembers towing the canopy, which ended up in the river, back to the yard using the rowing boat which he was in when the incident occurred.

Another photograph of the damaged “Fair Hilton”.

This is the wherry “Lord Roberts” pictured at Wroxham in 1983 shortly after it had been re-floated and moved there, having been sunk at Womack for a number of years. The Lord Roberts was built c1899 by Ben Benns at Somerton and apparently took three years to complete. She was used in her later years as a lighter to transport dredging spoil and, in 1969, was donated to the Norfolk Wherry Trust. The costs of maintaining  their existing wherry “Albion” have meant that the planned restoration of The Lord Roberts has not been possible, and she has remained submerged in a provate dyke at Wroxham ever since.

Another picture of The Lord Roberts taken in 1983 showing the stern and rudder.

A closer view of The Lord Roberts.

Another closer view showing the stern and tabernacle.

The final picture of The Lord Roberts taken at Wroxham in 1983.