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The people who lived in East Norfolk in the Middle Ages would be astonished to learn that the peat pits they dug in their marshy region to provide fuel now form part of one of Britain’s most popular leisure waterways. The Norfolk Broads offer about 130 miles of navigation along a network of rivers and those medieval peat diggings, flooded from the 15th century to form stretches of broad, marshy lakes and meres.

The rivers – the Bure, Waveney and Yare and their tributaries, the Ant, Thurne, Chet and Wensum – have always served as highways. In the old days, even before the Normans arrived, they formed important trade routes and helped in the development of a reasonably prosperous agricultural economy.

The trade routes system became even more complex with the flooding of the peat diggings. Dykes were dug to connect villages with the rivers and broads and there was a brisk traffic along the waterways in reeds – used as thatching – grain and coal, which could now be imported from mines in the North of England.

The lumbering, square-rigged sailing barges of old evolved into the Norfolk Wherry – a gaff-rigged, clinker-built and elegant

Section Index
Broadland background
Boating on the Broads
Go by canoe
Bure Valley Railway

craft which plied the Broads as trading vessels until just after World War II. Most of them were then scrapped, but thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts seven have been recovered and restored and are now sailing the Broads again. A programme of wherry cruises is organised by the Broads Authority.

Wherry cruises are just one aspect of the attractions which draw some 500,000 visitors a year to the Broads. Power cruisers, traditional sailing yachts and motor boats are available for hire on a short and long term basis. You can rent a rowing boat or take a guided trip aboard a steamer. On Whitlingham Little Broad, near Norwich, you can go windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking or dinghy sailing in the summer months. And wildlife enthusiasts will find lots to see, including the Broadland Conservation Centre at Ranworth.

Information from the Broads Authority, 18 Colegate, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1BQ; tel: 01603 610734.