In and Around Norfolk
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Industrial Archaeology in and around NORFOLK Industrial Archaeology in and around To write about the industrial archaeology of a rural county like Norfolk may seem somewhat perverse, especially to those from the major NORFOLK industrial areas of Britain. Norfolk, after all, lost its worsted industry to the steam mills of by David Alderton Yorkshire in the 1830s, and the county had no exploitable coal or mineral reserves to establish new heavy industries. However, such a view omits a number of factors. The purpose of this pamphlet is to draw attention Firstly, it is arguable that farming, and to some of the sites of industrial archaeological especially the high farming pioneered in interest to be seen on or near the main routes Norfolk by men like Coke of Holkham, should leading into East Anglia and particularly to be regarded as an industry. Certainly it Norwich. It includes museums which have required specialised buildings and increasingly substantial collections of industrial items and used new power sources and specialised preserved industrial buildings. The main criterion machinery to enhance production and reduce for selection has been accessibility: sites have labour demands. Many of the great estates only been included if they are open to the practised virtual self-sufficiency, with their public (though in some cases an appointment own water - supply (that at Houghton Hall is needed), or may be adequately viewed from a dates back to 1730), their own workshops, in- public right of way. Within this criterion, an cluding forges and foundries, their own brick- attempt has been made to cover a range of works and limekilns and eventually even their sites, but with some concentration on items own gas or electricity works. Secondly, which are especially well represented in East agriculture created demands of its own for Anglia. agricultural machinery and for fertilisers. The former was supplied by a multiplicity of foundries and workshops processing imported pig-iron, brought in by the coasters which took away grain. Some, like Burrells at Thetford, exported all over the world, others concentrated on local needs such as the demand for drainage mills and pumps in the Broads area met by Smith- dales of Panxworth and Acle. Some of the first factories in the world for the production of artificial fertilisers were built in East Anglia, like James Fison's plant at Two Mile Bottom near Thetford. Considerably earlier, the rural limekilns were supplying lime for dressing the land as well as building. There was also the need to process agricultural products: with East Anglia being a major barley-growing area, a considerable number of maltings were built, most especially where coal imported by rail or ill sea could be used to malt barley brought by m road or inland waterway, as at East Dereham or ing Yarmouth. Equally important were the steam roller mills which in the later 19th C began mp u replace the multitude of wind and p steadily to and railheads. ke water mills, again at docks However, natural power fought back, and East Dy Anglian water and wind mills were improved and modernised. The Norfolk windmill, in particular, became a virtually automated piece of plant 2 with the widespread use of patent sails and the to be done on the reasons for such local variations, fantail: some sails were even fitted with air- and also on the industries mentioned earlier in brakes. Finally, agriculture required a rapid which East Anglia was a pioneer. Norfolk system of communications for perishable foods, certainly has a contribution to-make to the and a cheap system for bulk grain: rail provided understanding of industrial change in develop- the former and sea the latter. ment in England. In addition to the industries dependent cin agriculture, there were a number of others which while having perhaps some connection with the land, were encouraged more by factors such as the availability of a pool of labour with certain skills. One example is the Norwich shoe St industry, partly encouraged by the availability ll, of leather from Norfolk tanneries such as that Mi at Whitwell, but more by the availability of small 'garret' workshops and unemployed Flour textile workers. In Diss coconut matting was woven, and in North Lopham some linen. Other industries grew in response to the demand for building materials: lime, bricks and cement were all produced, the latter two for sending Bibliography: to the London market in some cases. There were the industries supplying the needs of the Alderton D local population, such as brewing and baking. & Booker J: Batsford Guide to the Finally, there were the industries dependent on Industrial Archaeology of Norfolk's sea-coast — harbours, boat-builders East Anglia 1980 and repairers, fish-preserving whether by curing Booker J: Essex and the Industrial or with ice (there is evidence for both in Yarmouth) Revolution 1974 and from the later 19th C, tourism. Yarmouth BoyesJ & has an early cinema and one of the country's Russell R: The Canals of Eastern two hippodromes, purpose-built circus buildings. England 1977 Quite apart from the particular range of Dolman P C J: Windmills in Suffolk 1979 industries Norfolk has to offer, there are other Flint B: Suffolk Windmills 1979 factors which may make Norfolk of interest to Gordon D I: A Regional History of the industrial archaeologist. Many of the firms the Railways of Great were small scale, family businesses, supplying Britain: Vol.5, The local needs which changed little between the mid Eastern Counties 1968 19th and mid-20th centuries. Thus there was Joby R S: Forgotten Railways: little incentive to modernise or replace plant. East Anglia 1977 especially in the years of agricultural depression Scott M: The Restoration of before the Second World War. Because land was Windmills and Windpumps relatively plentiful and cheap, disused sites were in Norfolk 1977 not necessarily cleared. Buildings were often re- Smith A C: Drainage Windmills of used. The ability to supply small-scale orders the Norfolk Marshes 1978 for specialist items has kept foundries like Smith A C: Windmills in Thurton and Walsingham in business to this Cambridgeshire 1975 day, and it is possible to see plant and techniques Smith A C: Windmills in Huntingdon in use in East Anglian industries which have and Peterborough 1977 died out elsewhere. Furthermore, there are The Journal of the Norfolk Industrial certain regional variations in design of buildings Archaeological Society or plant which are of some interest: for example, Publications of the Cambridge Society for East Anglian limekilns are of a pattern not Industrial Archaeology, especially: found elsewhere in England. There is much work Hodrien R: Cambridge's Industrial Relics (2nd edition) 1976 3 East Anglia: Map showing route sections described in this guide Section 1The Southern Approaches This section is concerned with those roads which 2. Long Melford: Maltings (IL 859443). Fine approach Norwich from the South, the main large range of 19th C maltings, between routes from East London and the South-East. railway and A134 to S of town. Excellent example of a type very common throughout 1. Sudbury: Navigation warehouses (TL 873408). East Anglia. Fine pair of 18th C warehouses by basins at head of Stour Navigation. Basin holds the recently 3. Glemsford: Horsehair Manufactory (TL 832483). restored Stour lighter, which apart from the Sole surviving representative of a trade once necessary addition of a rudder (Stour lighters common throughout the district. Buildings worked in pairs, with a beam projecting from constructed in mid-19th C and little altered the bow of the rear lighter which became in since. Not open to public, but buildings may be effect the rudder for the fore lighter) is very viewed from the 81065 through the village. similar to those shown in Constable's paintings. Also in Sudbury, buildings representing the 4. Sicklesmere: Rake factory (TL 897591). stages of development of the silk industry: Wooden rakes and scythe handles still being domestic workshops (Melford Rd, TL 871420) made by craftsmen in factory equipped with larger unpowered workshops to hold a number overhead line-shafting. Open to public Mon-Fri of handlooms (Cornard Rd, TL 880410) and 0730-1630 plus weekends July-Sept. modern factories. Toll cottage (TL 877607). Nice 2-storey 4 octagonal cottage with pyramid roof and central chimney, 'Gothick' windows. To E of A134. 5. Lavenham: Horsehair manufactories (Barn St TL 917492, Water St. TI 917491, now the Lavenham Press, off High St TL 915495). Well- !it workshops still standing from the days in the 19th C when horsehair weaving was the town's main activity. Also in Prentice St (TL 917493) a good example of a 19th C steam corn mill. The display on the Guildhall (N T) includes photo- graphs relating to local industries. The whole town is a monument to the Tudor cloth industry — the decline of which is revealed by the lack of Fine 4 storey block of 1881, representing one later reconstruction. of Ipswich's most important 19th C industries, and still making underwear. 6. Layham: Watermill (TM 033405). Late mill of Tramway Depot & Power Station, Constantine 1905, with machinery from earlier timber mill Rd (TM 155443). 8 track depot built for destroyed by fire. Unusually for East Anglia, electric trams in 1903. Now used for buses, an exterior wheel, in iron. but traces of tracks remain. Behind, in similar style, the corporation power-station of the 7. Hadleigh: Coir-matting factory (TM 026422). same date. Solid workshops with large windows and heavy buttresses to take the weight. Nearby 10. Baylham: Watermill (TM 113527). Fine and (TM 025422) brick-built 3 arch medieval well-preserved example of typical Suffolk mill: bridge over the Brett.