Britain s Magical Waterland Hello I m Bill Hello I m Abby Come with us to explore the Broads
02 A long time ago, about 2000 years, the whole area would have looked very different.
Sometime after the Romans left, our area was invaded by the Vikings who came from countries that today are called Denmark, Norway and Sweden. People would have come from different places to settle here. They would probably have seemed strange, and a bit frightening to those who already lived here. The Romans built towns like Caistor St Edmund near Norwich, and castles at Caister-on-Sea and Burgh near what is now Great Yarmouth. 03
About 1000 years ago... during mediaeval times, the area was drier than today. There were very few trees to burn for fuel, so peat was dug out of the ground to burn instead. Peat is formed over many thousands of years when plants die but don t rot away fully. Each village would have had its own peat digging. Had we lived in those times our Dad would have dug blocks of peat called turves and then left them to dry out. We would have helped Dad carry and stack the turves. Peat digging tools Any spare turves that people in our village didn t need to burn for heating our homes or cooking our food would have been sold. Some even went to Norwich or London. 04
Help us make this riverside scene look more colourful We would have lived in a little cottage like this. We would have eaten eels and fish caught in the rivers and grown simple vegetables in the garden. 05
From an original painting by S.F. Clarke During medieval times, about 800 years ago the monks of St Benet s Abbey had an influence over a large area, 20 miles to the north, east and south. People living in this area had to pay taxes to the Abbey including a turbary tax; anyone who wanted to dig peat had to pay this tax St Benet s was the only Abbey in England... not closed by King Henry V111 during the dissolution. Instead he gave it to the Bishop of Norwich, but the king took all the valuables away and the Abbey closed anyway. Today, although the Abbey is a ruin, the Bishop of Norwich is still the Abbot of St Benet s and holds a special open-air service on the 1st Sunday in August each year. 06
About 600 years ago... the climate was changing and sea levels were rising. Gradually the holes left by the peat diggings started to fill with water. At the same time the Black Death (a very nasty contagious disease) killed off a large proportion of the population. This meant that there were not as many people to dig the peat, keep the holes from filling up or to buy the peat turves. Eventually any attempts to dig peat were abandoned. The holes filled with water and these became the Broads as we know them today. 07
When is a windmill not a windmill? When it is a... P I W N D U M P Rearrange the letters (called an anagram) About 300 years ago wind was used to pump water from the marshes into the dykes and rivers. Removing the water meant that the marshes could be used for grazing cattle. Many of them can still be seen all around the Broads area today; some of them are in ruins. 08
Rivers have always been important transport links. local people built boats called keels which were based on the design of Viking long-boats. These keels transported people and goods around the area. Their square rigged sail meant that they could not sail into the wind. Gradually wherries were developed... with a sail design that enabled them to make better headway into the wind. During the 17th to 19th centuries they were used to carry heavy goods that would be carried by lorries today. About 300 of these distinctive and unique black-sailed trading wherries were made but only two of them are still sailing today The Albion and The Maud. The Norfolk Wherry Trust was formed in 1949 to ensure The Albion survives. 09
Wherry Diagram Gaff Wind vane Jenny Morgan Sail Blocks Gaff line Rudder Reef points Tiller Main Sheet Mast hoops Halyard Forestay Winch Quant Bow 10 Tabernacle Nosing
During the early 19 hundreds... a boat designer and builder called Ernest Collins started building Wherry Yachts. These luxurious vessels were built with yacht hulls but have the same sails and rigging as wherries. Norada, Olive and White Moth can still be seen around the Broads. Pleasure Wherries and Wherry Yachts have white sails! Nearly 150 years ago... the railways arrived in East Anglia, and they gradually transported more and more goods. The wherries were no longer needed. Some owners converted their trading wherries into pleasure wherries so that they could carry passengers. Cabins and portholes were added to make them more comfortable for paying guests. Solace, Hathor and Ardea are still sailing. 11
12 Bill and Abby Word Search
In 1935... a retired bank manager called Charles Hannaford set up a business offering river trips on board single decker, wooden passenger boats. He called his business Broads Tours. The railways allowed wealthy people... with leisure time to travel and the Broads became a popular destination. In 1878 John Loynes started to hire out boats to his friends in Norwich. The demand for hire boats grew and in 1880 he moved his business to Wroxham and built up a fleet of wooden hire boats. Soon other boatyards began to open. Broads Tours passenger boats 13
Today the boatyard in Wroxham... where John Loynes began hiring boats all those years ago is still operating. It is now owned by the Greasley family and is called Norfolk Broads Direct. It is home to the Faircraft Loynes fleet of 60 hire cruisers and the Broads Tours fleet of passenger boats and self-drive dayboats. The holiday cruisers these days are very luxurious and have WiFi, games consoles and some even have whirlpool baths! The Broads Tours fleet now has four double decker passenger boats, The Queen of the Broads, The Belle of the Broads, The Cordon Rouge and The Vintage Broadsman. A single decker passenger boat, called The Discoverer, takes school parties out on educational trips. The Vintage Broadsman 14
Modern Norfolk Broads Direct cruiser Modern Broads Tours day boat Modern Broads Tours trip boat 15
What do the flags spell out? A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Z Try drawing your name in the boxes using the flags. 16
By the late 1970s... the Broads waterways were in a bad way and heavily polluted. Water plants and animals were struggling to survive. The Broads Authority was set up by the government in 1978 to look after the area and to hopefully reverse the pollution. The Broads Authority soon discovered that toilet waste from boats entering the water was one cause of the pollution, but the main problem was a process called eutrophication or over enrichment. This is caused by chemicals entering the water, phosphates from sewage works and nitrates from fertilisers that farmers put on the land. These chemicals make the tiny floating plants called algae grow quickly making the water very cloudy. Sunlight cannot then get through to the river bed causing the other plants to die. Losing these plants means loss of habitat and food for mini beasts and fish, and as a result, these creatures also die off! Waterbirds that feed on fish, minibeasts or water plants cannot survive either. All that is left is horrible, cloudy water with algae as the dominant living organism. Nitrates and phosphates enter. Larger water plants die due to no light reaching them. Loss of food and shelter for mini beasts that feed and live on the water plants. Loss of food for water birds. Eutrophication Algae multiply the water rapidly becomes cloudy No hiding place for water fleas that eat algae. Water fleas then eaten by fish. Loss of food for fish. As the food chain breaks down, algae become the dominant living organism in the water. 17
Plans were put in place... to sort out the problem. These included phosphate strippers being installed in sewage works and more accurate use of fertilisers for agricultural crops. Boats were also required to fit holding tanks for their toilet waste. From the 1980s the water quality started to improve and this process is still continuing. As a result... of the measures that have been taken there is much more wildlife with numbers increasing almost every year. Visitors to the Broads can enjoy seeing many species throughout the area, and can also visit nature reserves and use the nature trails beside the rivers and broads to get even closer to our special wildlife. 18
Did you know that... (a) 25% of the most endangered species in the British Isles are found in the Broads. (b) Britain s biggest butterfly the Swallowtail is only found in the Broads. (c) The Swallowtail s caterpillar will only eat milk parsley which grows in reed beds. (d) The Norfolk Hawker dragonfly is also unique to the Broads. 19
Did you know that... (e) The Bittern is a rare, small, brown heron which can be heard and possibly seen around the Broads (f) About 10% of the world population of Chinese Water deer live here (g) Bearded tits, seen in reed beds, do not have a beard and are not members of the tit family! (h) Marsh harriers were very rare but are now locally common in the skies over the Broads 20
The Broads is also famous... for its reed and sedge beds. Lots of rare plants and animals rely on these habitats. The reeds also act as shock absorbers helping to protect the banks from the wash of passing boats. Reed cutting and thatching are still important locally and Norfolk reed is known as the best, longest lasting thatching material. The ridge, or top, of the roof... is made from sedge which is more flexible but needs to be replaced more often than the reed. Each thatcher had his own signature way of making the ridge. Why not design your own ridge for this thatched roof? 21
Some of the things you could do around the Broads. Fill in the blanks with the matching words or sketches. B P W B C C Sailing Taking pictures Fishing Walking 22
When on and around the Broads... please keep safe and help to protect the area by: Wearing a buoyancy aid when on the water. Being kind and considerate to other people. Make sure others do not know you have been please take your litter home. Take only pictures... not samples of plants or animals. When walking stay on footpaths and leave gates as you found them. 23
For further information Broads Tours - www.broadstours.co.uk Norfolk Wherry Trust - www.wherryalbion.com Norfolk Broads Direct - www.broads.co.uk St Benet s Abbey - www.stbenetsabbey.org Norfolk Wildlife Trust - www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk Suffolk Wildlife Trust - www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org.uk Wherry Yacht Charter Trust - www.wherryyachtcharter.org Maud Trust - www.wherrymaudtrust.org Visit the Broads - www.visitthebroads.co.uk Love the Broads - www.lovethebroads.org.uk Thurne Mill www.windenergymuseum.wordpress.com With the help of a generous grant from Love the Broads this booklet has been written and produced by Barbara Greasley for Broads Tours/Norfolk Broads Direct and Briant Smith for The Norfolk Wherry Trust. Designed by Nu Image Printed by Barnwell Print 2018