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Horning Ferry Service Ceases


Oddfellow

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This is the photograph from Florence Boardman's 1915-1917 photo album showing the caption below it. I am assuming that the caption means that this is the Horning Ferry boat, but you could read it as saying that this is a boat at Horning Ferry. Of course, there might have been other boats used as well. It is possible that the captions were added later although they are in the same hand throughout the album.

Nigel

Ludham Community Archive Group

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After spending some further time looking at the writing in the album, it's my view that the date was written at the time the album was made. A fountain pen was probably used. The caption saying "Horning Ferry" was probably added later. It may even have been written with a biro which would have to be 1950s onwards. However, whoever wrote the captions had an intimate knowledge of the family and I guess it was a close family member.

Having said all this, it really does look like the boat in the photograph is a ferry and I am sure it is at Horning.

Nigel

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After pouring over the photo again, magnified and enhanced, I was again wrong with one of my deductions.

They're not sculling oarlocks, they're bicycles laid down at each end of the boat, with the handlebars sticking out.

What I took to be a long "sweep" oar is probably just a quant, so although it fits nicely with Carol's quote "The passenger ferry was a large marshman's punt", it's not being propelled by chain in this instance.

Thinking about how chain ferries used to work, they were captive, with the chain running through iron rings, so the boat could never break loose, and the larger vehicle ferry there had a hand wheel and winch mechanism on one side (in the photos).

I feel sure it's at Horning as well, we now have two quite independent photos with the same skyline and Pub sign. Presumably the Ferry Inn had a sign on that Woodbastwick side as well in those days....

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I found this from 2008 about Stanley Arthur,,,, but unfortunatly thats all I could find apart from a Bewilderwood advert

Bewilderwood do have the original "Stanley Arthur". It is now painted purple. "Stanley Arthur II" is now owned by Ferry Marina following the sale to him by Woods Dyke Boatyard. We built all the ferries at Woods Dyke.

"Stanley Arthur" was my husband's late father Stanley Arthur Facey. Hope this clears up the mystery.

Regards Frank,,,,

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I found this from 2008 about Stanley Arthur,,,, but unfortunatly thats all I could find apart from a Bewilderwood advert

Bewilderwood do have the original "Stanley Arthur". It is now painted purple. "Stanley Arthur II" is now owned by Ferry Marina following the sale to him by Woods Dyke Boatyard. We built all the ferries at Woods Dyke.

"Stanley Arthur" was my husband's late father Stanley Arthur Facey. Hope this clears up the mystery.

Regards Frank,,,,

Stanley Arthur II is owned by Freedom. Ferry Marina sold it to us about last three years ago and never operated it as a ferry itself.

The vessel is currently seeking a new owner.

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  • 4 weeks later...

What about charging people a little extra to use the service if it's needed I'm shure people won't mind paying a little extra to keep it going ....

It's something that people might need if there moored on the other side of the river at the ferry inn or outside the swan what about putting laminated sheets with info for the ferry at both place including cockshoot people moored at these three spots might want todo some swimming go to the pub do some shopping but can't get a mooring each trip will be looking at a return trip so summer could be a bumper summer for the ferry...

Jonny

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It's such a shame when it's not there people complain when it is there people are not bothered ...

It's a shame the boat couldn't be leased to somebody to take the service on full time

Jonny

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Johnny,

Happy to lease the boat on this basis, but then it has to cover two people's financial demands and it couldn't cover mine before.

There are two reasons I still have the boat: 1) I need an auxillary vessel in case of emergencies 2) I've been too busy to try and seriously sell it and replace it with another aux vessel.

Andy

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Not enough people paid the old fare Jonny, so unlikely to pay a higher price in numbers that would support a viable business model.

Absolutely right. (unfortunately)

The car killed the all year round financial viability of many of the local ferries, many decades ago.

Up until the earlier half of the last century the Horning "vehicle" ferry was a popular route to Ranworth and beyond for horse drawn vehicles, cycles and pedestrians. Since then, even ferry lane, running down to Woodbastwick is just a long, narrow, overgrown single track road that floods frequently.

Now, as with other's like Stokesby Ferry, just the short high season holiday visitor traffic couldn't sustain any business model.

Reedham survives because it has all year round demand, and can charge the equivalent of the much longer landward detours via Yarmouth or Postwick.

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