A Comprehensive History of Norwich

by A. D. Bayne

The river Wensum flows for a distance of 30 miles from Rudham to Norwich, and winding round the city, flows into the Yare at Trowse. The Yare winds through the eastern division of the county for 36 miles to Yarmouth. The Waveney flows into the Yare at Reedham, and the Bure at Yarmouth. The three rivers, Yare, Bure, and Waveney, are 200 miles in length, and afford means of water conveyance from the city and all parts of East Norfolk to Yarmouth haven. The inhabitants of that town have made no fewer than seven havens, one after the other, at a cost of millions of money,—enough to have formed the piers and quays of solid granite.

We have already given an account of the proceedings of the corporation of Norwich respecting the improvement of the navigation from this city to Yarmouth and Lowestoft, between 1820 and 1840, and, therefore, will not go over the same ground again. We need only add that the improvement has been continued both by the authorities of Yarmouth and Lowestoft, that the channel over Breydon has been deepened to seven feet at low water, and that a handsome bridge has been built at Yarmouth, allowing of the free ebb and flow of the tidal waters. The harbour at Lowestoft has also been kept open, and the navigation from that port to the city is still carried on by means of wherries and other vessels. These wherries are peculiar to the rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk, and those used on the Yare carry from fifteen to forty tons, drawing from three to four feet of water. The mast is balanced by means of lead, so that one man can raise and lower it, and on this the sail is hoisted, being extended by a gaff. These vessels are well adapted for the windings of the stream, and are generally navigated by two hands, one of them being often a boy, or the wife of a waterman. The corporation has jurisdiction on the river from Hellesdon Bridge to Hardley Cross, a distance of twenty-four miles. This, however, does not interfere with the rights of landowners on the banks, all of whom have their respective free fisheries, &c. Ten bridges cross the river in its passage through the city and its suburbs.

Norwich and Yarmouth must ever be united in the carrying trade by water, as the river Yare flows into the sea. From the statements already made, it will be seen that for centuries past Yarmouth has been the chief port of the city and county; that from the city, and various towns in East Norfolk, vast quantities of goods have been annually conveyed along the Yare, Bure, and Waveney, to that port, to be thence shipped to all parts of England; and that Norwich merchants have brought in the larger proportion of their goods viâ Yarmouth.

In 1866, an act, the 29 and 30 Victoria, c 242, was passed for “the conservanity and improvement of the port and haven of Great Yarmouth, and the rivers connected therewith, also for the levying and abolishing of tolls and duties, and for other purposes.” This was the last Yarmouth Port and Haven Act, and under it, the tolls have been increased on all vessels coming to Norwich. By clause 144, it was enacted that, “From and after the 25th day of March, 1867, all monies received from time to time by the Norwich corporation in respect of the Norwich tolls, shall be applied by that corporation as follows:—First, in payment of interest on the £4000 secured on the Norwich tolls, or so much thereof as from time to time remains secured thereon; and after and subject to that payment. Secondly, in payment of a compensation to the Norwich corporation for the abandonment and cesser of the Norwich tolls, during the term of seven years, commencing on the 25th day of March, 1867, in sums decreasing £100 yearly, from £700 to £100. Thirdly, on payment of the principal of the mortgage debts of £4000, or of so much thereof as from time to time remains secured on the Norwich tolls.”

Thus, the Norwich tolls will be extinguished in seven years from March, 1867; in 1874.

(By Road and Rail.)

Roads and railways are as necessary as rivers for the carrying trade, and even more so. Formerly, roads were the chief means of transit, and the great roads in the eastern counties were among the best in England. The Romans made all the great roads from Norwich to Ipswich, Colchester, and London; also from Norwich to Newmarket and London; and many others.

After the commencement of the railway system, the merchants of Norwich and other towns felt that they must be placed on an equality with other parts of the kingdom. Various lines of railways were therefore projected; acts of parliament were obtained; and the Eastern Counties from London to Colchester, the Eastern Union from Colchester to Ipswich and thence to Norwich; the Norfolk from Yarmouth; Norwich to Brandon and thence to London; and the East Anglian lines, were made and opened. Afterwards the East Suffolk line was opened from Yarmouth to Beccles, Bungay, and Ipswich. The Norfolk line was opened in 1845, and caused an entire change in the carrying trade of the district. The quantity of goods sent along the line to London was soon 100,000 tons yearly, and great quantities were sent by way of Ely and Peterborough to the large towns in the north of England, from which also goods are brought to Norwich. It is evident, therefore, that a vast amount of traffic, by sea or land, was transferred to the railway. Goods which, prior to the opening of the line were forwarded by road from Norwich into the interior of the county, were sent by railway as far as Thetford, and thus escaped the tonnage dues; and when the branch lines were opened from Lowestoft to Beccles and Reedham, and from Wymondham to Dereham, Fakenham and Wells, there was a still greater diversion of the traffic. Large quantities of coal were sent by railway direct to Dereham, which soon became a depôt for central Norfolk. From all the towns along its course, the new line took the greater part of the carrying trade. It was soon a prosperous line, and proved to be of great commercial advantage to the city.

The opening of all the new lines immediately caused coaches to be discontinued, and threw a deal of shipping out of employment at Yarmouth, Lynn, and Wells. By railways large quantities of corn and malt were sent to various towns that used to be sent by sea. Goods, too, from all parts of the north of England were brought by railway into Norfolk and Norwich. For a long time the chief part of the salt of England was produced in Cheshire and sent down the river Weaver, which flows into the Mersey at Liverpool, whence it was transhipped to Yarmouth, where the consumption is immense, not less than 10,000 tons yearly being used for curing fish. The greater part of the salt then used in the eastern district was sent from Yarmouth through Norfolk and Suffolk by river conveyance; but since the opening of the line from Ely to Peterborough, large quantities have been sent by railway from Stoke Works, in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, to any station along the lines at the rate of a penny per ton per mile. Thus large supplies of salt have been brought to the city and county. What has taken place in regard to the trade in salt is only one example of what has occurred in reference to the trade in any other kind of heavy goods. The Norfolk main line was not laid out so much with a view to the through traffic from any town to London, as to catch the traffic from the city and county to the Midland and Northern Counties, by way of Ely and Peterborough; and this object was completely attained, greatly to the advantage of the city and county.

We subjoin a summary of the carrying trade for 1866–7.