Marshmen, drovers, eel-catchers, fishermen, shepherds, wildfowlers. It was a hard life on the Norfolk Broads in days of old.
They didn’t make much money but were able to earn a few extra shillings by looking after sportsmen and naturalists who headed into the wonderful waterways.
The first nature reserves were established by landowners for their autumn and winter shooting parties with conservation of wildlife in spring and summer.
Then the Norfolk Naturalists Trust and the National Trust were among those who later protected the Broads and marshes as nature reserves.
Cattle were grazing on the pastures and there was many a cargo for the wherrymen…from collecting ice in the winter for the fishing industry at Yarmouth and Lowestoft and marsh hay, much of which was taken to London for the hard-working cab horses.
Sailing and enjoying our beautiful Broads were becoming more popular with local people at first and Sir Jacob Preston kept his famous yacht Maria, built at Yarmouth in 1834, at Barton.
More yachts arrived and there were regattas at Coldham Hall, Cantley and Reedham.
In his book, Victorian Norfolk, written by our own Jonathan Mardle (Eric Fowler) and published by George Nobbs in 1981, he tells how some of the first hire craft were trading wherries, with their holds swept out and roughly furnished. They came with a professional skipper, a cook – and sometimes a cottage piano offered as an extra.
John Loynes, the grandfather of the Wroxham boat building and letting trade, was originally a carpenter in Elm Hill, Norwich, where he built his first rowing boat in 1878 and trundled it over to Wroxham on a hand barrow.
Within a few years the railways were bringing holidaymakers from far and wide to enjoy the Broads and the much-loved Horning Ferry Inn had visitors from America and across Europe. It was described as an establishment which had a reputation for good cheer and cooking.
How about this message in the visitors book, from 1883-93, from a group of jovial Yorkshiremen:
“The above fellows desire to say that this is a clinking fine shanty, and recommend the old ale, of which they have partaken liberally before writing this. Tol-lo! Them’s our sentiment! Great Scott! Shiver my timbers if they ain’t.”
Sounds like they enjoyed their holiday on the Norfolk Broads…some things never change.
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