Half-pint, half-monster: Rockland’s ugly duckling

FIVE elegant timbers symbolically rise from the ground at Rockland Staithe to symbolise the submerged hulks of 13 sunken wherries on Rockland Broad. The wherry was of course one of the most graceful, beautiful vessels ever to be designed. And then just across the staithe, there’s this. Not exactly Brooms of Brundall is it? You might call it a monstrosity. But actually it is so spectacularly, hideously awful it’s almost a masterpiece. Closer inspection reveals the roof to be made of garden decking while the windscreen is a household window. Various other pieces of wood combine with angle-irons to keep the whole contraption together. Inside there’s even some loft insulation wedged against the uprights. How? Why? Who? If you know who Half Pint belongs to please drop me a line. I have so many questions for the designer.

* Thanks to Tony P for the tip-off. There’s more on this at the Norfolk Broads Forum.

The Yare Valley's mysterious deserted churches

FOLLOWING on from Monday's post on the ruins of St Saviour's Church, Surlingham, the obvious question is why? Why does Surlingham have two churches? And why did St Mary's prosper while St Saviour's perished?

St Mary the Virgin (pictured) is actually the older church in the village, dating back to 900 or 1000AD, while St Saviour's is probably 12th century.

Surlingham's late historian Jack Points suggests two possible answers - the Black Death of 1348 or a "Great Flood" of 1607. The Black Death killed one in three people in this part of the world and had a huge impact. Perhaps there were two villages and St Saviour's was hit hardest, leaving the survivors to regroup in one parish? Perhaps the 1607 flood washed away low-lying houses surrounding St Saviour's, again leading to a slow abandoment? The honest answer is that no-one really knows.
But intriguingly Surlingham is far from alone in this regard - even along the Wherryman's Way. St Andrew's Whitlingham has been mentioned in an earlier post while upriver from here, Kirby Bedon has two churches almost opposite each other - one intact the other in ruins. Downriver, the remains of St Margaret's Rockland lie in the very churchyard of Rockland St Mary. When it comes to churches, the Yare Valley holds a lot of secrets which History seems unwilling to relinquish.

* For more on Norfolk's ruined churches - click here and follow the links.

What's new on the Wherryman's Web

AT LONG last I've got this site talking to the photo-sharing site flickr.
Click on the black slide show section in the right hand column to see one photo per chapter - with the option of going full screen. Today was spent researching the circular walks at Bramerton and Rockland. It was a dreadful day for photography with a fierce wind sending thick white clouds scudding across the sky. So I've had to rely on this photo taken at the Woods End moorings early on a bright spring morning a month ago. Find out more about the circular walks at http://www.wherrymansway.net/circularwalks.html.

Rockland Broad: a bolt from the blue

STRANGE islands are strung across the width of Rockland Broad. Strange because they are all roughly the same length and follow a straight line. Mature trees might grow there and swans may make their nests , but these islands were not built by nature.

Instead they are the remains of at least a dozen wherries, sunk during the Second World War. They are known as the Slaughters - an appropriately gruesome name you might think.

Unfortunately you can't see the islands from the path that Wherryman's Way walkers take as they head out from Rockland Staithe towards Claxton. But one day last summer, I paddled my canoe down from that same staithe to take a closer look. Because they say these hulks emerge at low tide. At first I saw nothing; low tide at Rockland, I discovered, is an awful lot later than the quoted figure for Yarmouth in the tide tables book.

But as I was about to give up I suddenly found my canoe grounded on the unmistakeable remains of ship's timbers. Peering beneath the murky surface, I could also make out some sort of bolt with a rounded head - you can just make it out at the bottom of this photo. One arm went in up to the shoulder - no easy job in an unstable canoe - and ten seconds later I was the proud owner of a 27" iron bolt.

The remains of Star of Hope, Gleaner, Unexpected, Diligent, Chieftain, Providence, Cambra, Madge, Tiger, Empress, Leverett and Myth all lie beneath the Broad. I can't prove it but I reckon my bolt belonged to either Chieftain or Providence. Whatever ...it's a proper bit of wherry history - and it's mine.

So why won't Mrs Silk let me keep it on the mantlepiece?