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.

Do we need to save St Saviour’s?

INTERESTING news from one of my favourite spots on the entire Wherryman’s Way – St Saviour’s Church at Surlingham. St Saviour’s, you might recall, is a ruin, a very atmospheric ruin a few hundred yards away from the village’s other church St Mary the Virgin. Ted Ellis is buried there and so are a few other lucky people. Anyway today I learnt from long-time Surlingham resident Fred Morris, that there is a campaign to “Save St Saviour’s”. At first I needed some convincing that it needs saving. It’s pretty perfect just sitting there, I always find. But Fred says that there are concerns that the masonry is so brittle it really needs attention and that people could do with an information board. I guess he’s right. In any case, the campaign is at a very early stage. As yet there’s no money. But if you like your ruins raw and full of nettles, you might want to get along sooner rather than later.

St Saviour's Church on a frosty morning

THE NATURALIST Ted Ellis chose his final resting place well. Both he and his wife Phyllis are buried next to the ruins of St Saviour's church, Surlingham.
The building's remains sit out on a limb beyond the village and overlooking the marshes. At 7am today on a windless, cloudless, frosty morning it looked beautiful. Somehow my photos never quite do the place justice. Even with near perfect conditions I still don't seem to have captured its eerie beauty. Maybe you have to be there.

*Read more about St Saviour's in The Guardian's country diary of January 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/

In praise of signs …and the “dumbed down masses”

YOU might remember a few days ago I mentioned plans to do up Geldeston Lock. Amongst the improvements are proposals for information boards. Uncontroversial enough you might  think, but not in some parts  of the Norfolk Broads Speakers’ Corner. One calls them “dreaded, invasive and intrusive” whilst Mardler calls the project “tosh, garbage and patronising twaddle”. He continues:

”Once again the powers that be feel a need to erect more unsightly, unwanted and unnecessary signs in order to "educate" the dumbed down masses who are, obviously, incapable of interpreting the meaning of a lock (in this case) and finding out about the history of a place themselves. This is a sad indictment of our education system and the over weaning self interest of those who would infest the countryside with these atrocities.”

Wow. I had no idea that boards could elicit such strong feelings. I can see that you wouldn’t want them everywhere. (The ruins of St Saviour’s church at Surlingham for example benefit from being uninterpreted and mysterious.) I can see that less is sometimes more. I get that. And yet and yet…. surely it has to be a good idea to give people just a hint of the wonderful history around them? Especially those incomers without a clue. I  should know, I’m one of them, or at least I used to be until some information boards in places like Reedham Marshes (pictured) and Loddon and Bramerton got me so into the Wherryman’s Way that I ended up writing a book on it.  Dumbed down masses or just people who need a nudge in the right direction? I know which side I’m on. 

* As well as Speakers’ Corner, there’s a great range of views on this subject on the Norfolk Broads Forum.

Wherryman's Way: what's your favourite stretch?

HUMPTY Dumpty brewery partner Stephen George has been in touch. It turns out he and his family have become big fans of the Wherryman's Way over the last few years. For him the best bit is the stretch between Loddon and Reedham. "I love walking over those country lanes coming down to the ferry," he writes.
Which got me thinking. What's your favourite spot? Breydon Water, Wheatfen or maybe the newly-restored Hardley Mill? For me, the best places also happen to be the most inaccessible. All those windmills in the middle of nowhere between Reedham and the Berney Arms for example. Or The Slaughters, hidden until Rockland Broad until low tide. But having toyed with the ruins of St Saviour's Church and all that history bound up in Reedham Ferry, I'm plumping for Hardley Flood (pictured). It's stunningly beautiful, especially at dusk, and yet there's never anyone else there.