Towerview

Summary

One of a distinctive group of chalets found along the waterways of the Broads. Towerview was built in the early C20, apparently from components made by Boulton & Paul, with added timberwork.

Reasons for Designation

Towerview is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an important example of a highly distinctive building type that is particular to the Broads.
* for its simple but characterful form, representative of the earliest timber chalets in the lower or southern end of the Broads, enhanced by the detailing of its veranda and false dormer.

Historic interest:

* as evidence the evolving social and recreational history of the Broads in the late C19 and C20.

History

The Broads are a network of rivers (Ant, Thurne, Bure, Yare, Waveney and smaller tributaries) and lakes which cover the eastern part of Norfolk and Suffolk. The lakes were created by peat digging which took place mainly in the C12-C14. In 1888, the Broads were conserved by an Act of Parliament and a holiday market developed. Pleasure boating had become increasingly popular by this time, and the Broads also offered the opportunity to fish and shoot. From this time and continuing into the early C20 holiday waterside chalets were built, initially for mainly affluent city dwellers who sought refuge within the wild and undeveloped wetlands. Some of the most popular areas for the chalets were around villages with transport links to major towns and cities, and those which already offered recreational facilities. Entrepreneurial boat builders and hirers began to provide tourist facilities that offered alternatives to boating, and people such as John Loynes of Wroxham and Herbert Woods of Potter Heigham, who had captured early tourists with their boat offer, had the skills to help facilitate and build the early chalets.

Local manufacturers developed their own vernacular style of simple, lightweight timber buildings, suited both to the uncertain subsoils of the wetlands and the need to transport materials which, in the majority of cases, was by water rather than road. Walls were often constructed with a timber frame and clad with timber, painted white or stained dark. On most early examples, the roofs were thatched in local reed, the best reed coming from specially cultivated Norfolk beds (which was also used outside of the Broads). Others had metal sheeting, such as corrugated iron, and felt was also later used. The earliest chalets were built around Wroxham, Hoveton, Horning and Hickling in the undulating, wooded scenery of the northern Broads, known as the upper reaches. These tended to be in a Tudor [esque] style, with half-timber walls, natural tree stump balustrading, and thatched roofs. The chalets on the lower reaches, in the south Broads, are in a more exposed area and are simpler in form, often with verandas and with large roofs for wind-resistance.


Thurne river tourism began in the late-C19 and developed in earnest in the early-C20. The first generation of waterside bungalows along the banks either side of the bridge at Potter Heigham were essentially complete between 1906 and 1938. There was a pioneering quality to the river at that time, with sparsely populated surroundings, little shelter, and only the presence of farmers, fishermen and eel-catchers to activate the landscape. The plots occupied by early holidaymakers did not always have habitable buildings and might instead have been set out to accommodate a houseboat. Plumbing, electricity and sanitation were luxuries which arrived long after the first holiday houses had been created.

Population displacement in the Second World War saw a high incidence of permanent occupants living in the waterside bungalows. Their presence in the 1950s prompted J Wentworth Day to claim the character of the river had been ruined here, calling it ‘the bungaloid slum of Potter Heigham… places originally erected by holiday makers and now inhabited willy-nilly by unfortunate people who cannot find a home elsewhere’ (Marshland Adventure). In 1983, the Broads Authority proposed the clearance of almost all the bungalows along this stretch of river. The campaign of opposition to this proposal was not fully settled until 2000 and ultimately secured 99-year leases for the affected bungalows, beginning from 1985.

It is not clear exactly when Towerview was first constructed. Its architecture suggests a date in the first decades of the C20. It was first recorded by name in 1933 when it was described as ‘bungalow and boatsheds’ with an occupier named Griffith in Smallburgh Rate Book.

It is likely to have been assembled on site by a local builder using pre-fabricated materials produced by Boulton and Paul Ltd. Boulton and Paul were a Norwich-based iron foundry and wire netting manufacturer which also constructed prefabricated wooden buildings, notably producing the huts for Scott's Antarctic expedition.

The building may have originally comprised two separate units that were reused to create Towerview. It originally had a four-cell internal plan without a corridor. Some spaces were accessed externally via the long verandah.

The building has undergone very little serious alteration though some changes have occurred. A doorway on the west verandah has been fixed shut, a late-C20 bathroom was added to the north-east corner, the north elevation has been re-clad in composite horizontal weatherboard, the windows on the north elevation have been replaced in uPVC with units that precisely match the original pattern of fenestration. Internally some diagonal matchboard panels have been added.

In common with all the bungalows along the Thurne, Towerview has been raised several times to ensure that it remains above water level.

Details

One of a distinctive group of chalets found along the waterways of the Broads. Towerview was built in the early C20, apparently from components made by Boulton & Paul, with added timberwork.


MATERIALS: the building is constructed of wood and the roof is covered in corrugated metal.

EXTERIOR: the building is a single storey high and four bays wide with small projections to each end. The walls are clad in weatherboarding (vertical painted wooden boards to the south, east and west, horizontal composite boards to the north). All the roofs are pitched and covered in corrugated metal; they have turned finials at each apex and their ends are protected by barge boards with moulded cornices.

The principal south elevation has a verandah which wraps around the western end of the building. At the centre of the elevation is a dormer window that gives the (false) impression of an attic storey. The verandah roof has scalloped fascia boards and is supported on posts with cusped braces. A balustrade with groups of three balusters runs around the outer edge of the verandah. Sheltered by the verandah are three bay windows and one flush window. The entrance is off-centre, through a pair of French doors, reflecting the structure of the Boulton and Paul units. The windows are leaded casements in wooden frames. The flush window has three transom lights.

The west elevation has a small projecting 'tackle room', above which is a uPVC casement window. The east elevation also projects outwards and has a single doorway with an upper window (a pair of wooden, four-light casements). The north elevation includes a late-C20 extension at the left (east) and a stove-pipe. It is clad in horizontal composite weatherboard and the windows have been replaced in uPVC.

INTERIOR: throughout the interior there is a mix of original and later joinery details. Some original features include the moulded battens found on the walls and ceiling of the principal living space, and the reed and bead matchboard panelling found on the ceilings and walls of some bedroom and corridor areas. While many of the floors and walls have had additional coverings placed over them (including diagonal beaded matchboard panels), the original surfaces survive beneath. Original windows retain moulded surrounds internally and metal handles. The bathroom and kitchen have had their fixtures changed serially and are of lesser interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Cornell, D, The History of the River Thurne Bungalows, (2018)
Dutt, W A, The Norfolk Broads, (1903)
Malster, R, The Broads, (1993)
Patterson, A H, Through Broadland by Sail and Motor, (1930)

Other
Kayleigh Wood, Historic Waterside Chalets of the Broads: ‘The Significance of the Waterside Chalets and the Contribution They Make to The Broads is not Fully Understood’ (MSC Dissertation, School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading), 2015

End of official list entry

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