Wherries

[JennyMorgan]

The Dragon at Oulton Broad:

[Tobster]

A little too far gone for restoration!

[MaceSwinger]

I've never seen that before, although I've never had reason to go to that part of the broad. Had to use Google Maps to have a look!

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[ChrisB]

I received my copy of The Gaff Line from WYC a couple of days ago and it had this picture of the Ernest Collins built Olive. The young lady in the Sailor Suit is his daughter Olive after whom the vessel was named.

It has not downloaded very well I am afraid.

[kramer]

On 09/04/2018 at 07:08, JennyMorgan said:

A wherry yacht being towed out of a dyke in Oulton Broad.

You are correct, Golden Hinde did end up at Pin Mill on the Orwell.

I know this because I bought her in the latter half of the sixties. I acquired her from a chap that raised her from a sunken situation that I have no knowledge of. Just to say that she had no mud or bad staining in or on her.

She did have a bad leak from a broken beam shelf in the starboard quarter. I borrowed a thirty ton jack from a friend and jacked her up between tides as she lay against the hulk of a Thames barge. I then plated the beam shelf with steel plates and bolted through the shelf. She stopped leaking. I think from memory she was teak planked.

I loved that boat but had to sell her because I was drafted overseas .

At the time I was a diving instructor at H.M.S. Ganges.

I sold her to a gentleman by the name of Southgate. 

In 1972 I moved to Australia and have yet to make a return journey.

[JennyMorgan]

On 08/12/2020 at 06:14, kramer said:

In 1972 I moved to Australia and have yet to make a return journey.

You'll be welcome back! 

Thanks for making contact and for the interesting update on the Golden Hind. 

During the 60's I spent quite a lot of time down at Pinmill. Spent a couple of summer there as an instructor at the sailing school, also became friends with Giles, the cartoonist who kept his boat there. I suspect that I would have seen Golden Hind down there amongst the house boats but afraid I don't recollect her being there, probably more interested in birds rather than boats, or pints in the Butt, despite walking along the foreshore several times a day! I do remember her being sunk though.

Are you in the picture as GH was being towed out of the dyke?

Here's her under sail:

http://norfolk.broads.org.uk/wiki2018/index.php?title=Boat_Photograph&photo=_29898&BoatId=19004&BoatHistory=29898

 

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

I do remember her being sunk though.

On Oulton Broad that is. Indeed I believe she went down twice, mind you that was in a shallow dyke so she wouldn't have gone under. 

[JennyMorgan]

Pleasure Wherry 'Reindeer' on Oulton Broad with Swonnell's Maltings in the background. Built by Ernest Collins and possibly his father, Robert, in the late 19th Century at Norfolk Broads Yachting Company on the Hoveton bank below Wroxham Bridge. Described in August 1916, "Slept ten persons in four cabins and cost £14 4 shillings to hire for a week", and again in 1926 “Her accommodation plan is doubtless the best that can be produced for a Pleasure Wherry and she is one of the best fitted Wherries on the Broads." Pre-WWI. (Colourised by Russell Walker of Lowestoft & reproduced with his permission).

[Vaughan]

I notice the two yachts behind with their forepeak awnings rigged.  There would be two bunks under the deck and with the forepeak hatch off, the awning made it into a comfortable cabin!

I have fond memories, as a boy, of waking up with the dawn under an awning like that, on Wroxham Broad , Barton or Oulton.

[JennyMorgan]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

I notice the two yachts behind with their forepeak awnings rigged.  There would be two bunks under the deck and with the forepeak hatch off, the awning made it into a comfortable cabin!

Or a privy with a degree of privacy! 

My daughter's Spray had such forepeak berths, complete with bucket.  Height of luxury! A friend of mine had the wherry-yacht Olive, good memories of that forepeak, apart from the aromatic aroma of the ancient cushions. 

[Canarytops]

On 29/06/2020 at 16:40, JennyMorgan said:

The Dragon at Oulton Broad:

May I share this image with the Norfolk Wherry Trust's online archive ?

[JennyMorgan]

Any of my wherry images that you wish.

[Canarytops]

On 14/10/2018 at 15:20, JennyMorgan said:

Yet another Wherry picture, this time a wherry-yacht at Beccles, possibly 1930's. Anyone know the name of her, she must be unique with that clipper bow?

Apologies if I've "missed" the answer but with ref to The Postcards from the Norfolk Broads website this was the "Rambler" available for hire from Leo Robinson from 1916 and known to be available (as a houseboat) in 1959.

[Canarytops]

On 09/04/2018 at 08:55, marshman said:

At a guess the wherry mast is just half cocked so he can see where he is going - when they are right down they can be a bit of a pain - literally as it gets in the way of your head and impacts visibility. Easier just to let it go and it will move into that position by virtue of the counterweight.

The winch barrel has been left open so he probably has a bridge or lock to negotiate soon and all he would have to do is pull down on the halyard to bring it down.

Any clue as to where it is?

The Wherry Trust's archive has this as a Florence Boardman photo (as collected by Mike Seago) and is captioned "Ella approaching Beaumont's Drainage Mill". As she passed, the photographer took another image showing her passing the "Stalham Trader" under sail with the mill adjacent. Both photos are dated 10th April 1930.

[Canarytops]

I wasn't sure whether to post here or in the location thread, decided to start here !

The NWT hold this photo in their archive and the wherry is described as heading upstream, approaching the junction with the New Cut just before the Reedham railway bridge. However the railway infrastructure doesn't seem to fit that location ? I did wonder about Whitlingham but again it doesn't seem quite right. Another option would possibly be Haddiscoe as there is plenty of railway infra there but again I can't "make it fit".

Any alternatives or views supporting any of these locations ?

[webntweb]

29 minutes ago, Canarytops said:

I wasn't sure whether to post here or in the location thread, decided to start here !

The NWT hold this photo in their archive and the wherry is described as heading upstream, approaching the junction with the New Cut just before the Reedham railway bridge. However the railway infrastructure doesn't seem to fit that location ? I did wonder about Whitlingham but again it doesn't seem quite right. Another option would possibly be Haddiscoe as there is plenty of railway infra there but again I can't "make it fit".

Any alternatives or views supporting any of these locations ?

Is it Haddiscoe if you flip the pic horizontally?

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, webntweb said:

s it Haddiscoe if you flip the pic horizontally?

It is not the Herringfleet bridge as there is no signal box and no high level station on the embankment. Haddiscoe had two stations.

I would go for the first photo, especially as we can see a sail going upriver in the distance behind the railway. Again there is no signal box, but are we looking at the original Reedham bridge? The existing one was built in 1903.

[Vaughan]

On the other hand, could it be Somerleyton and the cut on the left is going up to what became the Beaver Fleet boatyard?

There used to be a works of some kind up there, which might have had a dyke for loading wherries.  I notice the very high signal post at the bridge, which may have been to give trains a sight of it as they came round the bend at the station.

[LizG]

42 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

On the other hand, could it be Somerleyton and the cut on the left is going up to what became the Beaver Fleet boatyard?

There used to be a works of some kind up there, which might have had a dyke for loading wherries.  I notice the very high signal post at the bridge, which may have been to give trains a sight of it as they came round the bend at the station.

I was just going to suggest Somerleyton because of the trees and long run up. Just the buildings confused me? An old map should confirm if there were any?

[Vaughan]

I think the building may be the station.

[marshman]

Hi Trev - looks like its right to "flip" the picture and I think it could easily be the top of the New Cut where it meets the Yare. Currently there is of course a boatyard/marina there - I agree the trees make it unlikely to be Somerleyton.

The trees are perhaps the giveaway as behind where the yard is now is an old embankment - those believing the Great Estuary will know that used to be the old shoreline or "cliffs" - look at the O/S map and you will see the contours rise from 0m to 5m just about there - why wouldn't it have trees on it?

I will let Vaughan suss out the signals as they are just sticks to me but remember that just north of the bridge is that old spur branching off towards Yarmouth - is that now gone because somewhere I read of that being reinstated? 

The only puzzle to me remains that long low shed in the left hand distance  - Halls the wherry builders? Any pictures of that shed closer up????

 

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, marshman said:

The only puzzle to me remains that long low shed in the left hand distance 

I think that shed is the swing bridge.

[marshman]

Oh yes - it looks as though it is. The only issue I still have is that between the New Cut and the bridge, the river is fairly straightish and the picture shows perhaps a bigger bend. Is the original view the correct one but its taken upstream of the bridge rather than the New Cut end.

I like these puzzles as Canarytops knows only too well !!!

[LizG]

I've turned an old map of Somerleyton and I still think it is Somerleyton.  The station building is just to the edge of the trees and there is something marked beyond the bridge whereas the signal box would have been right up by the bridge.  The tree line is quite close and relatively close to the marsh.  Both Reedham and Haddiscoe the trees were / are on the ridge (I think).  There are two cuts marked as well?

Some years back JM posted some old photos of Somerleyton but I can't find them.

[Vaughan]

51 minutes ago, LizG said:

There are two cuts marked as well?

And notice the big brick works. That's where the wherries loaded! A lot of the ruins are still there in the ground and I guess that must have been the reason for the Duke's Head as well.