Sea to River

These two very fine pictures by Michael Page, trace the path from the sea to the River Waveney. At top left in the image above stands a large windmill, virtually on the most easterly point of England, a harbinger of clean energy on the site of the old Gasworks; a Victorian gas holder, the last of four, still in use today. To the right of the windmill, just behind the sea wall stands the new Orbis Centre built to give support to the fledgling alternative energy business. The harbour entrance, top right, provides passage for the sea to run westwards through Lake Lothing past the railway swing bridge up to the gates of the sea lock at Oulton Broad.

Taken together the two pictures illustrate the water course taken by the Norwich and Lowestoft Navigation Co in its quest for a less fettered path to the port of Norwich in 1827. Today the Brooke Marine peninsular dominates the centre (above), to the right of it stands the Pye Television factory later taken over by Sanyo. In the expanse of water below Brooke Marine are moorings for sea going pleasure craft and the railway line from Ipswich sweeps across the foreground to join Sir Morton Peto's line from Norwich. Rail communication directly from the harbour brought sufficient development capital to add continental trade to Lowestoft's status as a Port of Refuge.

The picture below shows the freshwater side of the lock visible at the bottom right, very interesting because it is one of the gateways that connect Broadland to the sea. The road across the foreground was the main Gt Yarmouth to London road until the first Lowestoft Bridge was built in 1830. Oulton Broad itself is a highly popular centre of recreation with every kind of boating activity imaginable. It tapers into Oulton Dyke from the distant end of the broad and meanders across the marshes to join the River Waveney at Burgh St Peter, from whence it swings on (top right) to Haddiscoe and Somerleyton, see the Hovercraft page. It continues past the Roman Fort of Burgh Castle before joining the waters of the River Yare on Breydon Water and thence on through Gt Yarmouth where it meets the North Sea. The railway line from Lowestoft runs almost in a straight line out to Oulton Marsh where it arcs right to Somerleyton, Reedham, Cantley, Postwick and Norwich.