Great Yarmouth

We take a little drive around Great Yarmouth on a fine February day. Find it at 52° 36' N 1° 42' E. The town was granted its first charter in 1208. For centuries, until the mid-20th century, it was a fishing port known for its herring catch, particularly the smoked "bloaters". Heavy bombing during World War II destroyed much of the medieval town centre, especially the famous and narrow Rows of which there were 145 and were wide only for handcarts. A few remain, one may be seen on the right of the first picture below.
The River Yare runs South through the town, dividing it into two, to turn sharply to East and discharge at right angles into the North Sea. This sharp bend requires use of tugs for even moderate sized vessels (which have to be towed out astern) and was the reason for the Norfolk Line's RoRo vessels to transfer to Felixstowe. There were plans to build a mini-Zeebrugge off the coast to allow large vessels to load and unload, and these are still on ice. Built on the herring trade, Gt Yarmouth saw a resurgence as a base for oil rig supply vessels. For maps see the www.gtyarmouth.co.uk/ site or CA Handbook 8th Ed p98.

For larger clearer pictures click on the thumbnails.


Gt Yarmouth Port Authority building overlooking river	Brittania Monument facing Nelson's birthplace (Burnham Thorpe, 1758)t	Oil rig support vessel leaving harbour	S pier end with former CG station seen over spending beach and N pier.

Looking West from entrance into bend	View from bend in river out to sea	Leading lights on tower and post at bend (at dusk)	Harbour control station on bend with signals for outgoing vessels
			...with new bascule bridge on bypass just visible above RH span
View up-river, spending beach on right	UT755 support vessel proceeding up river	Haven (double bascule) Bridge and Haven House (CG has top floor) ....
	Looking North up beach, gas-fired power station middle distance...		...and Wellington Pier (first pier N of entrance) in distance

Photos by Ray Glaister February 2002. Page created 16/2/02 Link correction 26/2/02

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