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This page shows the preserved Norfolk Wherry
Albion,
run by the
Norfolk
Wherry Trust.
Albion
was built for the firm of Bungay Maltsters, W.D. and A.E. Walker. It
was planned that she should operate mainly on the river Waveney and
the Bungay navigation. The original specification was for a steel
vessel to reduce maintenance and keep costs under control. This was
changed due to the poor reputation of these hulls for sweating.
Instead she was built as a carvel (flush planked) wherry in oak on
oak frames. She was unique in being of carvel construction whereas
all other trading wherries were of the traditional clinker
construction.
Her builder was William Brighton and she was
built at his yard on the north bank of Lake Lothing, between Oulton
Broad and Lowestoft. Her shed was an old ice house which was
demolished after she was launched in October 1898. She cost £455 to
build and, when launched, she had a green bottom and a brown oxide
top - a far cry from the typical tar coating of other wherries.
The general appearance
followed that of the typical trading wherry. An Oregon pine,
counterbalanced mast, set well forward and supported by a single
stay from the stem, to promote a large space for the cargo hold in
the centre of the hull and crew quarters at the stern. Steering was
by rudder and tiller operated from a small, deep well, from which
the single (main) sheet was also handled. The only major difference
between Albion
and other wherries, was the fact that her hull was of smooth carvel
construction, whereas all other wherries were clinker built.
By the 1940s the wherries, once a common site
on the waterways of Norfolk and Suffolk, were in decline. Pressure
from road and rail transport had starved them of their cargo, and
many were being sunk to shore up banks or used as barges or
dredgers. A letter in the Eastern Daily Press in February 1949
proposed the forming of a trust to preserve at least one wherry.
Such was the reaction, an open meeting was called a few days later
on Wednesday 23 February 1949 in the Stuart Hall, Norwich. A motion to
form the Norfolk Wherry Trust was unanimously agreed. The
fifty-year-old wherry, Plane,
formerly Albion
was made available and restored to working order. The aim of the
Trust was to have a permanent crew and operate the vessel
commercially. This proved to be uneconomic and increasingly
Albion
was cleaned for use by passengers, with hammocks set up in the hold.
in 1961 it was decided that Albion
would never carry 'dirty' cargo again, with people as her cargo from
then on. (ref:
www.wherryalbion.com/history)
Norfolk Wherry Trust
website:
www.wherryalbion.com
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