Forgive Me,maybe A Stupid Question,

[mikeyboy1966]

I’m a newbie on here,but,

live been reading up on historical threads and one thing that strikes me is,

there is a lot of chat about river levels,high tides ,flooding etc etc,

so my question,

would it not be possible to build a sea lock at Yarmouth?

it could be built with a hydro electric scheme ( given the volume of water flowing)

Water levels could be controlled better perhaps.

As I said,forgive me if it’s just plain silly but I’ve been pondering all day

mike

[grendel]

historically, sea going ships could navigate into norwich, so adding a lock would just have made that more difficult, as for the volume of water, if you restricted the rivers outflow, that would probably cause flooding more often, the flooding issue is generally caused by high tides restricting the outflow at great yarmouth, putting a lock in would not help that.

[mikeyboy1966]

Hmmm,

I get that ,

but surely a lot of the water in the broads must be salt water?

unless I’ve completely misunderstood the need for booms at potter Hw

or is that a different thing completely?

[Wussername]

13 minutes ago, grendel said:

historically, sea going ships could navigate into norwich, so adding a lock would just have made that more difficult, as for the volume of water, if you restricted the rivers outflow, that would probably cause flooding more often, the flooding issue is generally caused by high tides restricting the outflow at great yarmouth, putting a lock in would not help that.

Historically sea going ships could navigate into Norwich. It would seem that ships should be able to navigate into Norwich. Why would they wish to navigate to Norwich?

Why?  Who are they?  How many?

..

?.

[CambridgeCabby]

The excessive levels throughout the high tides would most certainly be reduced if they resumed the dredging of the Upper Yare so the water in the system could flow out prior to the next incoming tide , each year the salt surges seem to be reaching higher and higher up the river systems , I’m amazed the environmental bodies , who normally scream loudest , haven’t realised this .

[marshman]

Perhaps they haven't screamed yet, because  your idea might not necessarily achieve what you would expect?

 

[ChrisB]

1 hour ago, Wussername said:

Historically sea going ships could navigate into Norwich. It would seem that ships should be able to navigate into Norwich. Why would they wish to navigate to Norwich?

Why?  Who are they?  How many?

..

?.

From Broadland Memories

[Bikertov]

I seem to have vague memories of our late 70's broads trips, when we went south a few times, seeing biggish ships on the way to Norwich. 

[unclemike]

taken by me in the 70s

[Chelsea14Ian]

Saw coasters often when  we were on the broads  in the sixties. Think they stopped around  mid seventies. 

[MauriceMynah]

14 hours ago, unclemike said:

taken by me in the 70s

Did they catch you? And why the hell did you take it in the first place. Seems very out of character to me

 

[annv]

Hi Mike You dont need a lock as this would just maintain a higher level of water with little rise and fall of water level ie no tide. this could cause ecology problems . BUT what would work at far less cost would be a gate to swing across the river at the bridge in Yarmouth which would only need to be closed at very high tides to restrict the inflow of water for an hour or so it wouldn't need to be water tight just restrict the incoming water to manageable levels, then when the outside tide drops the gate would swing open on the falling tide.this would prevent excessively high tides across Brayden and along with the rest of the rivers but not alter the tide rise and fall during normal times. John

[TheQ]

There is another technical problem Caister through to GY is one big sand and gravel bar putting in a dam at GY would cause big problems. it's known some of the water flows beneath GY as it is. A dam could cause GY to be washed away..

 it also may cause problems at at Sommerton / Horsey putting a pressure differential between the sea and dykes in the area..

Ecologically it would also cause big problems, the Lower broads are a mix of salt water and fresh, all above a dam would become fresh.

 

And worst of all!!!

It would make the 3 Rivers Race too easy, not having to work out where to be for the tides.. (The Yare Navigation Race would become fairly pointless as well).

An odd one, the Broads Authority have according to their charter keep the broads as they were so should never be able to give planning permission..

[Wussername]

ChrisB

Forgive me I have not explained myself very well.

Historically sea going ships could navigate into Norwich. It would seem that ships should be able to navigate into Norwich. Why would they wish to navigate to Norwich?

Why?  Who are they?  How many?

The historic bit is correct. I remember some of the photographs, or similar. I went to school in Norwich, have lived in Norwich (Thorpe St Andrew actually) all my life. I remember the factories, the flour mills, the wood yards, coal yards, metal scrap yards, the coasters. But thanks for the photographs anyway.

Bridges, not only tides determine access to Norwich yacht station.

As for coasters coming into Norwich, as a young boy I can remember the manful mourn of a coaster marooned on the bends of Whitlingham , the havoc as it passed through the fleet of Norfolks sailing in the winter at the Frostbight sailing club. The surge of water leaving the tributary rivers of the Yare and the Wensum, the dykes and culverts, drained for that brief moment in time  as they passed through.

The history of Norwich, Thorpe St Andrew is very close to me. I am of an age that I have lived it. I was there when the coasters came upriver. My family traded with the crew of the coasters. Best not to go into that !

Bridges, a very controversial subject.  Does the bridge have to conform to the boat, or the boat to the bridge?

A contest of which there is an inevitable conclusion. 

One which our community of boating people will have to live with.