The region known as the Norfolk Broads (although it extends into Suffolk as well) is Britains's most varied, attractive and important wetland habitat. It contains many sites of scientific and natural interest of not only national, but also international importance, most especially because of its enormous bird populations, both native and migratory. In 1989 it was at last given the status of a National Park - albeit 50 years later than most people think it should have been - and placed under the control of the new Broads Authority.

History and Geography

You might think from all the talk of th scientific and natural importance of Broadland in the Introduction that we are dealing with a wild and unspoilt environment untouched by man. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact the hand of man has been so important for so long in the evolution of the Broadland landscape that it is impossible to separate its history from its geography. Even the Broads themselves are not natural - they are entirely man-made! We used to think that they were drowned natural depressions in the land, perhaps the remnants of a much larger salt water estuary, but archaeological and historical evidence uncovered in the 1960's proved beyond doubt that they were actually mediaeval peat diggings dating mainly from 1100 to 1400, when peat was a vital source of fuel.

The very courses of the rivers themselves have even been altered by man! This was mainly done in the 18th and 19th centuries in order to make navigation easier for the keels and wherries: the sailing craft which for several centuries were the only means of carrying bulky goods around the region. An example of this is the straight channel between Ant mouth and Fleet Dyke which cuts off a huge meander in the River Bure.

Many villages grew up along the waterways of Broadland and in their day they were not only flourishing little inland ports, each with its landing quay or staithe, but also bustling centres of industry based on local goods, such as the milling flour or the malting of barley. The arrival of the railways beginning in the 1840's however, heralded a period of change for Broadland. The riverside villages slowly lost their importance as centres of trade as the keel boats and the wherries lost their supremacy as a means of transport. Local industries remained, but by the end of the 19th century the rivers were no longer the vital arteries of trade that they had been for so long.

The Twentieth Century

The decline in the importance of the waterways and villages of Broadland continued as competition from road transport was added to that from the railways. It was, however, these very means of transport which, by a strange turn of fate, gave the area a new and completely different lease of life. The Broads were probably used for "water frolics", as regattas used to be known, throughout the last century, and probably even earlier than that. Towards the end of the Victorian period however, we find records of the first boatyard offering wherries and yachts (each with its own skipper and steward) for hire. It was run by John Loynes and started business at Wroxham Bridge in 1878. The modern firm of Faircraft-Loynes still trades at exactly the same location down to the present day. It was the Edwardians though, in the early years of this century, who really discovered the potential of Broadland as a playground. They also used Roys of Wroxham, to obtain their provisions.

In 1907, a London businessman named Harry Blake told John Loynes he could double his boat lettings if he acted as his agent in London. Blake's first brochure was published in 1908 and by the outbreak of world War II in 1939, hire fleets totaled 277 yachts and 310 cruisers (the first year in which cruisers outnumbered yachts). After the war however, boat hire really became big business - and a serious threat to the Broadland environment. The Blakes agency was joined in 1949 by another one, Hoseasons, which has become nearly as big. Between them they offered for hire in the peak year of 1981 no less than 109 yachts, 2150 cabin cruisers and 450 motorized day boats! Wroxham remained, as it always has been, the "capital" of the Broads with 449 boats for hire.

The numbers of craft for hire have declined during the years of economic recession, but we are still looking at figures in excess of 100 boats per kilometre of navigable waterway! We must also remember that hire craft are only part of the picture. There are over twice as many privately owned craft on the Broads as hire boats: 5627 at the last count! Many, however, are only used for a short part of the year, so they do not add to the congestion anything like as much as their number suggest. You will notice, in fact, that private boats are quite a rarity compared with those with the Blakes "B" flag or the Hoseasons bluebird emblem on their bows.

more to come :-))

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