80: Wherryman’s Way
It’s heaven for boaters, nature-lovers and walkers now, but once the Yare valley was Norfolk’s trade superhighway.
A reconstruction of Billy Bluelight racing
the wherry
Hathor at Bramerton to mark the opening of the
Wherryman's Way in 2005.
What, the Norfolk Broads?
Don’t let its modern use as a lovely spot for tourists and local people fool you – until a century ago this was a working river. Large cargo-carrying barges known as wherries plied the route between Norwich and Yarmouth, linking East Anglia with its trade partners on the continent and helping to bring unparallelled wealth to the region that, until the Industrial Revolution bypassed it, was the most prosperous in England. For all that it remained comparitively unknown until the latter part of the 19th century when its charms were discovered by the first well-heeled (and keeled) Victorian visitors. Now a variety of local authorities are keen to entice a new breed of tourists to take a look at the Wherryman’s Way.
Where – and what – is it?
Set in the Broads, Britain’s largest protected wetland, it is a 35-mile recreational route between Norwich and Yarmouth, taking in picturesque riverside countryside sections of which you can walk, cycle – and, of course, sail. Along the route you can see former chalk workings now converted to a leisure centre, ruined mansions and abbeys, once-fashionable watering holes, and attractive Broads villages before arriving to appreciate the great maritime heritage of Yarmouth. The route begins at Norwich Railway Station, by the River Wensum, and follows a path via the former deep chalk works, now converted into Whitlingham Country Park. Beyond the thundering A47 bypass the route rejoins the Yare at Bramerton Woods, going on via Surlingham, Rockland St Mary, Langley, Chedgrave and Loddon, Reedham and its ferry, Berney Arms, then skirting Breydon Water before finishing at Yarmouth.
What is its historical claim to fame?
Waterway traffic has been using this route since the Middle Ages. Both Norwich and Yarmouth rose to prominence in the centuries after the Norman conquest, and the River Yare was the lifeline between the two. Roads at the time were too poor to carry goods, so traders used the river instead. They carried wool, stone, coal, bricks, timber and reeds, all produced locally. The first wherries were flat-bottomed keels, but by the 19th century the distinctive single-sailed wherry dominated, specially-designed to deal with the shallow waterways of the Broads. The keel had been built since the Middle Ages and the design probably went back to the Viking invasion. After 1800, the keel disappeared, partly because a wherry could be sailed with fewer crew, and it had limited manoeuvrability and lacked speed. Most towns and villages along the route, places like Loddon and Chedgrave and Reedham, had dykes connecting them to the river and a ‘staithe’ where wherries could moor to load and unload.
What kind of life was it?
Hard, physical labour was the order of the day. An upper-class visitor, writing in the 1890s, recalled the skippers and their crews leading “a life lived in a perpetual round of weighing anchor and hoisting sail”. A tough life, but it must have been a satisfying and, for the lucky ones, lucrative. This was the engine room of East Anglia’s wealth from the Middle Ages onwards; all those great churches and country homes in the end depended on maritime trade, and great fortunes were made (and lost) on the water. Until the 19th century it could be quicker and easier to get to the continent from Norwich by water than it was to get to London by road.
When did it all end?
The railways arrived in Norfolk during the 1840s, but it was not until the first world war (1914-18) that road and rail really took over from the wherries. During the early 20th century they were left to do rough work like dredging and carrying reed. The last trading wherry, Ella, was built in 1912. They might have disappeared altogether, but the growing leisure industry which grew from the end of the 19th century saw some of them converted as pleasure craft. Today a few wherries, lovingly restored and conserved, still sail; Olive, Norada and Hathor can be chartered from Wroxham, while the wherry Albion is based at Ludham.
Any colourful characters?
During the early 20th century, as income and leisure time increased, fashionable Norwich day-trippers took boat excursions from the city. At popular landing spots like Bramerton Woods, they would be met by the famous Billy Bluelight. Dressed in cricket cap and running gear, this small, wiry man would challenge vessels to a race, claiming: “My name is Billy Bluelight, my age is 45, I hope to get to Carrow Bridge before the boat arrive.” Real name William Cullum, he made a living selling flowers and cough sweets in Norwich’s Gentleman’s Walk. A teetotaller, Billy stayed ‘45’ for many years – living until his nineties. He was later commemorated by a Norwich pub bearing his name; it recently reverted to its original name, The Freemason’s Arms. Another river character was ‘Old Scientific’, a wildfowler who lived on a houseboat on Rockland Broad. In the age of the wherries local people relied on what they could catch locally for food on the table – wildfowl, fish and eels. The author and naturalist Ted Ellis spent much of his life near Surlingham. Along with his wife Phyllis, he founded a nature reserve at Wheatfen Broad shortly after the second world war.
What about wildlife today?
The keen-eyed (and eared) should look out for kingfishers, dragonflies, lapwings with their characteristic ‘peewit’ call from the marsh; even the once-threatened marsh harrier and bittern are in evidence. This is still tranquil countryside, perfect for getting away from it all. Photographer PH Emerson, writing in 1893, wrote that “the landscape seemed asleep” and that is very much now it is now, except at busy times in the holidays when many pleasure craft are on the water.
The Wherryman’s Way is supported by South Norfolk Council, Norfolk County Council and the Broads Authority.
Websites
Norfolk Wherry Trust www.wherryalbion.com
