Summary
One of a distinctive group of chalets found along the waterways of the Broads. Dutch Tutch, and its associated outbuilding, was erected in the early C20 by converting the tower of a C19 helter-skelter, formerly on Britannia Pier, Great Yarmouth
Reasons for Designation
Dutch Tutch 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.
* as a uniquely creative and characterful example of a Broads chalet, retaining the polygonal architectural form and appearance of its original use as a helter skelter;
Historic interest:
* as evidence of the evolving social and recreational history of the Norfolk Broads in the late C19 and C20.
* as a celebrated landmark of the local area.
Group value:
* with the other listed chalets on the River Thurne, particularly nearby Mill View
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 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 occasionally 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.
The Second World War saw a high incidence of permanent occupants living in the waterside bungalows, displaced by the war. 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 of 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.
Dutch Tutch began life as a helter skelter on the end of the Brittania Pier at Great Yarmouth. A historic postcard, sent in 1909, shows the helter skelter still in place. In December 1909, the pier caught fire and what was left of the helter skelter was moved by horse and cart to Potter Heigham. In 1910, the lower section was used to create a holiday cottage, with the very top used as a small outbuilding for storage and an outside WC.
Originally it was known as ‘The Round Bungalow’, or the ‘Helter Skelter House’, it is not clear when it was first called Dutch Tutch or why it took that name. The house is a dodecagon in plan (has twelve sides) and is two storeys, the upper floor was reached by an external staircase which, based on photographic evidence, appears to have been enclosed soon after the Second World War. Water was supplied by gravity feed from a tank attached to the back of the house, which was fed by means of a pump, but this system was modernised during the 1950’s.
Postcards of the 1920s and 1930s show a bathing platform to the river and a garden of trellis fencing and vegetation. There was a finial on top of the house but that is no longer extant. In recent years it has been the subject of an ITV documentary Maxwell’s Hidden Treasures and appears on the front cover of the classic book Timpson’s England. In 2002, the Lilliput Lane Company introduced the the Norfolk Helter Skelter House to their collection of miniature model houses, although it was depicted as having ten sides rather than twelve.
Details
Dutch Tutch, an early-C20 holiday chalet and associated outbuilding, formerly a C19 helter skelter on Great Yarmouth Britannia Pier.
MATERIALS: constructed in timber boarding with half-timbered vertical posts. Timber eave brackets and timber detailing above and below uPVC windows. The cottage was originally built with asbestos panels but these were replaced in timber in the C20.
PLAN: the cottage is a dodecagon (12 sided) on plan with a former external staircase (now enclosed) protruding from the west side (rear of the property). The ‘sides’ are described as ‘facets’ below. The small outbuilding has six facets on the east side but is flat across the west side.
EXTERIOR: Dutch Tutch is built of timber panels with half-timbered vertical posts. It is of two storeys with a large domed fiberglass roof with wide overhanging eaves. Timber brackets support the overhanging eaves.
The front elevation (east-facing onto the river) comprises a central, double-leaf door with a multi-paned window at ground-floor level. The facets flanking the door each have a single window at ground floor but are blind on the first floor. The next facet on both sides has a window at both the ground and first floor, then the third facet from the door on each side is blind at both levels. The pattern of fenestration to the rear of the building is less regular but all windows are C21 replacement uPVC and of a consistent design. Timber drip moulds above and decorative detailing below the windows at sill level are evident throughout. An enclosed stair ‘tower’ is located on the west side of the building.
INTERIOR: the interior is architecturally simple, it is subdivided into three rooms on the ground floor; a sitting room, a kitchen and bathroom, and on the first floor are two bedrooms. The whole building including ceilings is lined in match board panelling. There is a variety of panelled doors (with associated door furniture), most of which are late-C19 in date and may be original to the building when reconstructed in 1910 but may have been introduced at different points in the building’s history. The winding timber stair, reminiscent of its original purpose as a helter skelter, sits within the enclosed stair tower. It is well lit with a window at ground floor and windows wrapping around three sides at first-floor level. This provides views across the Broads landscape and delivers a huge amount of light to the first floor.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a small outbuilding to the north of the cottage is formed from the very top of the helter skelter but has been sliced in half, to form a flat ‘front’ elevation on the west side and six facets of the former dodecagon to the east. There are two plank and batten doors on the west side which provide access to storage sheds. The sloping roof creates deep overhanging eaves, supported on wrought iron brackets.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 22 October 2024 to amend details in the description
