River Yare
The River Yare is a river in Norfolk, whose lowest reach forms the boundary with Suffolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. It rises near East Dereham, flows to the south of Norwich and after swallowing the River Waveney it opens out into Breydon Water and soon after leaving that mere it reaches the North Sea at Great Yarmouth.
Course
The river rises south of East Dereham close to the village of Shipdham. From there it flows in a generally eastward direction passing Barnham Broom and is joined by the River Tiffey before reaching Bawburgh. It then skirts the southern fringes of the city of Norwich, passing through Colney, Cringleford, Lakenham and Trowse.
At Whitlingham below Norwich the Yare is joined by the River Wensum and although the Wensum is the larger and longer of the two, the river downstream of their confluence continues to be called the Yare.
Flowing eastward into The Broads, the Yare passes the villages of Bramerton, Surlingham, Rockland St Mary and Cantley. Just before Reedham at Hardley Cross (erected in 1676[1]) it is joined by the River Chet. The cross marks the ancient boundary between the City of Norwich and Borough of Great Yarmouth. Beyond Reedham the river passes the famously isolated marshland settlement of Berney Arms before entering the broad, tidal lake of Breydon Water.
At the head of Bryedon Water the Yare is joined by the Rivers Waveney and Bure; the Waveney having marked the county boundary with Suffolk all the way from its source, the Yare now assumes this task to the sea. Breydon Water extends to the outskits of Great Yarmouth just a mile from the sea, its waters discharged as the River Yare, which runs almost parallel to the seacoast for a final three miles of so between Gorleston-on-Sea and Great Yarmouth before entering the North Sea.
The river is tidal as far as Trowse Mills in Norwich, with a tidal range of 2ft 6in to 3ft at Reedham and 1ft 6in to 2ft at Norwich. High water at Reedham occurs some 1 hour 30 mins after high water at Yarmouth, and at Norwich it is 4 hours 30 mins after Yarmouth.[2]
The river in art
The Yare is the frequent subject of landscape paintings by members of the early 19th century Norwich School of artists. Joseph Stannard depicted the river in Thorpe Water Frolic, Afternoon (1824) and Boats on the Yare near Bramerton (1828) which is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. John Crome's oil painting entitled Moonlight on the Yare is renowned too (now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington in the United States).
The river is navigable to small coastal vessels from Norwich to the sea, and in former times carried significant commercial traffic to that city. At Reedham the river is joined by the Haddiscoe Cut, a canal which provides a direct navigable link to the River Waveney at Haddiscoe avoiding Breydon Water.
The river provides a navigable link between Norwich and the North Sea, but silting has been a long-standing problem.
In 1698, a private Act of Parliament was obtained which allowed duty to be collected for any coal traffic using the river. The money raised was to pay for improvements to the course of the river and to the harbour at Great Yarmouth, but the majority of it went towards harbour improvements, and little improvement of the river occurred. Three more Acts followed and failed until in 1772 a new Act of Parliament specified how the tolls were to be used; 15 per cent was to be given to Norwich for river improvements between the city and Hardley Cross, 25 per cent was given to Yarmouth for improvements to the lower river between Hardley Cross and the town, with a further 40 per cent set aside for maintenance of Yarmouth harbour. Other rivers benefitted from the remaining 20 per cent.[3]
The shallow channel crossing Breydon Water limited the vessels which could pass, and so all goods arriving from the North Sea had to be trans-shipped to smaller vessels at Yarmouth. In 1814 the merchants of Norwich commissioned William Cubitt to look for a solution and his proposal published in 1818 involved dredging a new channel and making improvements to the river; John Rennie The Younger however advised Yarmouth Corporation that the plan might result in silting of the harbour. Cubitt's alternative, to link the Yare to Lowestoft, was also opposed by the Corporation but went before Parliament in any case 1826.[3] Opposition and fears of the flooding of farmland defeated the Bill though a new Bill came in the next session. Evidence came of thieves' preying on the trans-shipment process: a spy hid in a wicker basket to record the conversations and activities of the thieves, and ultimately 18 men were convicted of taking the goods and one of receiving it. The Act was passed on 28 May 1827
The new Act allowed the Norwich and Lowestoft Navigation Company to raise £100,000 as capital, with an additional £50,000 if necessary. Work started at the Lowestoft and Alderman Crisp Brown of Norwich cut the first sod. The lock and channel between Oulton Broad and Lake Lothing were completed by 1829, and the first vessel used Lowestoft harbour on 3 June 1831. Costs overran, and to complete the Haddiscoe cut, the additional £50,000 authorised by the Act was raised by taking a loan from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners. The cut was completed in 1832, and the improvements of the remaining 32 miles to Norwich were finished by the autumn of 1833. A grand opening was held on 30 September 1833, when it was planned that the Jarrow would tow two vessels, the City of Norwich and the Squire, which were moored at Lowestoft, to Norwich. Unfortunately, The Jarrow was at Yarmouth, and the Corporation refused to open the bridge at the head of Breydon Water to allow the vessel to pass. The captain eventually cut down the funnel, but the delay resulted in him missing the tide, and he had to wait to cross Breydon Water. The convoy reached Norwich the following day, where 10,000 people lined the banks of the river to witness the event.[3]
For all this, the venture was not a success. Operating costs exceeded revenue, and the loan from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commission could not be repaid. The arrival of the railways added an element of competition, and the Commissioners took over the Haddiscoe Cut in 1842, selling it on to Sir Samuel Morton Peto, a railway developer.[3] A new cut was made at Thorpe in 1844, where the railway crossed a loop in the river. The bridges at both ends of the old course restrict headroom to about 6 feet.[2] The City of Norwich attempted to buy the navigation in 1848, but were again opposed by Yarmouth, and withdrew their bill from Parliament. Silting of Lake Lothing became a problem, and traffic gradually reverted to using the route through Yarmouth. A grandiose plan to build a ship canal between Yarmouth and Norwich with a commercial dock at Whitlingham and a naval base at Rockland Broad, proposed in 1908, came to nothing, but steam tugs continued to haul barges of coal to Norwich until the 1960s.
Commercial traffic has now been replaced by leisure boating.
Wherryman's Way
Opened in 2005, the 35-mile-long Wherryman's Way follows the route of the historic Broads trading wherries between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. It winds through existing footpaths, open marshes, reedbeds, grazing meadows and riverside villages along the banks of the River Yare. The path passes numerous information panels, sculptures and audio posts which seek to bring to life the characters and history of the route.[4]
Outside links
- Map of source: 52°37’11"N, 0°50’19"E
- Map of the confluence with the Waveney: 52°35’17"N, 1°38’33"E
- Wherrymans Way
- River Yare Literary Links
References
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about River Yare) |
- ↑ Norwich Boundary Crosses
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Inland Waterways of Great Britain, (2009), Jane Cumberlidge, Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson, ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Canals of Eastern England, (1977), John Boyes and Ronald Russell, David and Charles, ISBN 978-0-7153-7415-3
- ↑ Wander the Wherryman's Way - Broads Authority