Summary
One of a distinctive group of chalets found along the waterways of the Broads, Mill View was built in the early C20.
Reasons for Designation
Mill View 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 design of its verandah.
Historic interest:
* as evidence of 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.
Mill View was constructed at some point in the first decades of the C20 and may be dated stylistically to around 1920 or before. As originally constructed the building had a verandah along the entire length of the river-facing east elevation, and a second smaller verandah at the south-western corner, providing access to the footpath at the rear of the building. This smaller verandah or porch gave access to the rear door of the building, and two smaller spaces directly from the outside (perhaps a WC and a tackle room). The verandah / porch was later in-filled to create an interior space and a new rear entrance directly addressing the footpath.
Other, smaller, changes include the addition of cedar shingles to the west (rear), north and south elevations, and the introduction of uPVC windows to the west (rear), and south elevations. At the time of inspection (2023) the roofing material was undergoing replacement. The lower part of the balustrade has been renewed at some point since its construction. Internally the kitchen and bathroom have been serially renewed and contain no fittings or floor coverings of interest.
Details
An early C20 waterside bungalow.
MATERIALS: the building is constructed of pine and the roof is covered in metal sheets.
EXTERIOR: the building is a single storey high and four bays wide. It faces east over a garden towards the River Thurne. The walls are clad in horizontal weatherboarding (supplemented on the north, west and south sides with cedar shingles). The roof is pitched, with finials at the apex on the north and south ends and plain barge boards.
The principal (east) elevation has a verandah beneath the continuous roof. It is supported by tapering, chamfered posts with sweeping ogee shoulders of an Art Nouveau style. The balustrade follows a pattern of wide, flat balusters with simple piercings flanked by smaller stick balusters. Within the verandah the wall is formed of wide horizontal boards on to which a decorative frame of pine has been applied. The lower parts of the wall are weatherboarded.
The west elevation faces the footpath and is weathboarded with additional cedar shingles. The fenestration is all uPVC and there is an entrance on the right-handside (south end).
INTERIOR: throughout the interior there is a high degree of surviving original fabric. Principally this includes joinery details around window and door frames, four-panelled doors, and matchboard panelling to the walls and ceilings. The windows looking on to the verandah are original and retain their metal latches and fittings; they are casements with paired transom lights. The ceiling of the principal living space is framed with simple battens. The fittings of the bathroom and kitchen have all been serially renewed and are of lesser interest.
