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Old Blakes Map


Vaughan

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I was given an old Blakes map of the Broads and have taken it out of the frame for repairs, before hanging it again in our new house.  Sadly, there is no date on the back.  It was printed by Jarrolds (on linen) for Blakes and is clearly based on a one inch O.S. map

So I wonder what the date was?

 

 

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The railways are shown as LNER (London and North Eastern) and also show the M&GN (Midland and Great Northern) so it must be after 1923.

Blakes address on the back is shown as 22, Newgate St, London, at the time when they were also booking agents for the LNER. They were at this address until 1939 and moved to 47, Albemarle St. after the War. They then moved to Hoveton in the late 60s. So it must be some time between 1923 and 1940 but was the map based on something earlier?

 

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Thorpe is just a row of houses along the Yarmouth Rd, with no development northwards, to the Plumstead Rd, where Harvey Lane stops, instead of continuing on the Norwich ring road, as it does now. 

 

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Wroxham looks a bit different as well!

 

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Here we see the old triangle railway junction to the North of Reedham swing bridge, which I think was removed when they built the new double track bridge. 

Also the two levels at Haddiscoe station, where the line between Norwich and Lowestoft is still running and the high level, between Yarmouth South Town and Beccles went over the old Herringfleet swing bridge.  I notice that Fritton Lake (Fritton Decoy) is shown as connected to the main river.

My own guess at the date would be about 1930. Any other ideas?

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5 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Re Herringfleet swing bridge, you've helped me learn what those concrete posts and signal box once were.

The signal box is at the end of the old high level station platform. Actually, the map shows the original station site, which was moved to the site of the flyover crossing, with stairs to connect the two stations. That might help to date the map.

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10 minutes ago, LizG said:

Is the Halt at Potter Heigham Bridge shown?  It says according to Mr Google it opened in 1933? So between 1923 & 1933?

No, there isn't!  Stations are shown as a black dot, but I don't know whether they would have bothered to show the halt. There is a small cross beside the railway bridge which is certainly not a church!

This map was obviously modified by Jarrolds to show the Broads from Blakes' point of view, so a lot of other detail is missing.  O.S. Maps often had revised editions over the years, without actually being re-drawn, so it would be very hard to tell its original age.

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I have just noticed that Berney Arms halt is shown by a black dot, but Potter Heigham halt is not.

Having a "gander" at the Brundall area, it is just a small village on the top road, with no apparent boatyard dykes or buildings at all at the riverside.  Surlingham Broad has no navigable connection to the river and Rockland Broad has only the long dyke, but not the short one.

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19 hours ago, Vaughan said:

The railways are shown as LNER (London and North Eastern) and also show the M&GN (Midland and Great Northern) so it must be after 1923.

Fascinating map, love looking at these when I know an area 

But just to be pedantic, it's full name was the M&GNJR - the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, which included the run up to Cromer and beyond, some of which is now preserved as the North Norfolk Railway through Sheringham to Holt.

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1 hour ago, Bikertov said:

it's full name was the M&GNJR

Indeed it was. Affectionately known as the Muddle and Go Nowhere.

In fact Cromer had two stations, Cromer High and Cromer Beach, served by the GER from Norwich and London as well as the M&GN from the Midlands via Kings Lynn and Melton Constable. 

The two companies are very important to Broads history as, both pre-war and post-war, they were very largely responsible for the boating tourism industry that we know here today.  This is why, apart from Horning, every main centre of boating on the Broads grew up right beside an old railway station.  A close study of this map will show exactly what I mean.

Edited to add :

The Norfolkman Express (ex Norfolk Coast Express) was still running a buffet car service, direct from London to Cromer without changing trains, in the late 50s.

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Even up until it's close in 59 the Beccles to Yarmouth Southtown was our only means of getting to town. Which involved a 3/4 mile walk uphill and down dale (yes there are hills in Norfolk) to St Olaves thence to Yarmouth and then the same on the way home.

A bus service was put on at the demise of the  rail service but never as good as being hauled behind a J5

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On 29/10/2021 at 22:47, Stationerystill said:

They started building in Thorpe in the 1920's so I would think c.1923 

Well, it looks as though Malcolm's guess is the winner! Many thanks to Liz for all her detective work.

Personally I still have a feeling that the actual O.S. map on which this is based, is rather earlier and may even be pre 1st World War. I have seen other old O.S. maps, where the date of the first impression is shown, as well as the date of any revisions. It is quite possible that the name of the railway was changed from GER to LNER when the map was revised. At least I know that Whitlingham junction station and the line to Wroxham and Cromer, were opened in 1876, so it can't be before then!

On 29/10/2021 at 20:10, Vaughan said:

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By the way, I have noticed that Harvey Lane in Thorpe (part of today's ring road) is following its original course down what is now Stanley Avenue, before it meets the Yarmouth Rd.  Nowadays it is straighter, and comes out in front of Carey's Meadow, at the end of the island.  If the council have records of when that was done, it may be another clue. 

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On 29/10/2021 at 20:10, Vaughan said:

 

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And now, it gets even earlier!

I have just looked more closely at Norwich and noticed that Thorpe Station is on its original site, halfway down Riverside Rd.  This was later used as a goods station and carriage works.  The existing Norwich Station, sitting beside Foundry Bridge, was built in 1886.

 

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This would mean that the M&GN and some other lines were added at a later edition of the map.  I wondered why that triangular junction at Reedham was still there! The original Norfolk Railway, from Norwich to Gt Yarmouth via Reedham, was built in 1844. The Acle line was 1883 and the line from Yarmouth to Beccles through Haddiscoe was 1859. The M&GN was a mixture of several smaller companies in the 1850s, which finally ran all the way from Kings Lynn to Yarmouth in 1893.

So basically, we are probably looking at a map of the Broads in the days of the trading wherries.  No wonder it doesn't seem to show many boatyards and no wonder Gt Hoveton Broad is shown in dark blue!

By the way, the page is scanned from Norfolk's Railways, vol 1,  by Mike Handscomb and Philip Standley.

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I have noticed that my photo of the whole map doesn't blow up well in focus. I can't scan it, as too big and too fragile, so I have taken some close ups, for those interested in more detail.

 

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Where it says P&T 5 min, or P&T 2 min that is the length of the walk between "your yacht" and the nearest post and telegraph office.

 

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I notice the Hundred Dyke, which was the old course of the Ant, between Ludham Bridge and Coldharbour farm, on the Thurne.

 

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I notice ferries at Runham and Mautby swims, also that Hermitage, Upton and Thurne dykes are all leading to their staithes. Tunstall dyke is not in blue, as it was cut off to navigation when they built the railway.

 

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There is development at Burgh Castle for the huge cement factory and we can see the old brickworks complex at Somerleyton, which included the rows of workers' cottages and the Duke's Head Pub.

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Brundall has just the lane leading down to the ferry at Coldham Hall but no sign of any boatyard buildings. No sign of the Whitlingham sewage works yet : always one of my favourite places on the Yare!  :default_gbxhmm:

Rockland has only one Dyke, and who knew about Buckenham Broad? I didn't!

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Better include one for Jenny Morgan, if he's reading this!

If anyone wants a closer picture of anywhere, let me know soon before I put the map back in its frame.

I think what strikes me most about this, is how little or nothing seems to have changed, apart from all the modern housing development and the riverside businesses. Maybe this means we haven't been looking after the place quite as badly as we sometimes think, for the last 135 years?   :default_coat:

 

 

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I notice the waterways to the right of Barton Broad and Irstead, some of which are still accessible - probably a shadow of when the map was made - in dinghies etc.

I didn't know that they were there until, when moored at Irstead about three years ago, a chap got into a dinghy with outboard and whizzed straight across the river and disappeared into a dyke on which the entrance was so overgrown with vegetation that it was almost invisible.

The dyke is marked on one of Vaughan's maps.

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The Back ground map is much older than the foreground map, the configuration of Hoveton Little broad coincides with the 1842 Ordinance Survey map. But not with the 1879 map which is more like todays broad.

Therefore they've used a very old map overprinted with later things like the railways.. Probably to avoid paying OS licence fees...

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