The Holt and boathouse

Summary

One of a distinctive group of chalets found along the waterways of the Broads. The Holt and its associated boathouse was built in the early C20.

Reasons for Designation

The Holt and associated boathouse 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 an example of a pre-fabricated structure, likely made by Boulton and Paul, one of the most important manufacturers of such buildings;
* for its high quality exterior details, craftsmanship and use of materials distinct to the locality;
* as a rare and near complete example of this building type, with largely unaltered floor plan and high proportion of original interior fabric and fittings.

Historic interest:

* as evidence of the evolving social and recreational history of the Norfolk 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 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.

It is not clear exactly when The Holt and associated boathouse were constructed but its architectural style and evidence from mapping and photography dates it to around the early C20. The Holt and boathouse both appear on the 1938 Ordnance Survey map. The Holt was built for Mr W. Boning who had a furnishing business in Great Yarmouth. Much of the furniture present in the Holt at the time of writing was originally from Boning’s shop. The property was then purchased by Mr Churchill in the early 1930s and the property changed hands again in the late 1930s. Due to its design and similarity to other chalets, it is likely that the Holt is a Boulton and Paul pre-fabricated structure.

Boulton and Paul Ltd was a Norwich-based manufacturing company that had originated as an ironmonger's shop in 1797. During the C19 it became an iron-founders, a wire netting manufacturer, and also constructed prefabricated wooden buildings, notably producing the huts for Scott's Antarctic expedition. During the Second World War the firm was a major producer of prefabricated buildings, wire netting and wooden sub-assemblies of aircraft.

Changes to the building include the roof being rethatched and the bungalow being raised 2ft. This is in common with all the bungalows along the Thurne, to ensure that it remains above water level.

Details

An early C20 waterside bungalow and associated boathouse.

MATERIALS: half-timbered walls with horizontal shiplap boarding beneath, and thatched roof covering. All windows are timber framed.

PLAN: the bungalow is set back from the River Thurne off Candle Dyke. It is positioned on the bend of the dyke providing extensive views north and south. It is broadly rectangular with a principal range facing east over a small garden and the dyke.

Roughly 25m north-west is a boathouse facing east onto the dyke, which was built at the same time.

EXTERIOR: the single-storey waterside bungalow is Tudoresque in style, characterised by a thatched roof with a raised ridge with scalloped edge detail and half-timber walls. Beneath the timber framing is shiplap boarding.

The principal (north-east) elevation has a projecting flat roof verandah across the full length of the bungalow with an infilled central section. The verandah is supported by plain posts and it has a wooden cross balustrade. Either side of the central section is shiplap boarding with five windows above.

The rear (south-west) elevation is another flat roof projection that runs the full length of the bungalow. To the north elevation is the rear door which leads to the garden and other outbuildings. The fenestration is a mixture of small mullion windows, wooden casement windows with glazing bars above the transom, half-height windows, a leaded casement window and a two light window, the top pane is also a bottom-hinged vent.

INTERIOR: the interior retains its original plan form, consisting of a central main living space with four radiating rooms. The main living space looks out over the dyke with access to both sides through half-glazed doors with fine glazing bar details. The south-west wall has a red tile fireplace and above is a wooden framed overmantle. Either side of the fireplace are built in cupboards with linen-fold decoration to the doors. These cupboards directly correspond to the adjoining bedroom where the same built-in cupboards also survive. The kitchen is to the rear north-west of the bungalow with two pantries. There are six-panelled doors to each room with two four-panelled doors to the pantries, all retain their original handles and locks.

Throughout the bungalow are dado rails and picture rails with shiplap boarding to the walls and ceiling. There is a high level of surviving original fabric such as the two fixed sinks in both of the front (north-east) bedrooms, fixed candle holders to the rear bedroom and shelves in the kitchen and pantry.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: to the north of the building is a timber boathouse with a thatched roof and raised ridge that matches the bungalow. The walls are clad in vertical shiplap boarding and reed panels. The east elevation has two large shiplap doors that open out to the dyke. The south roof slope has an eyebrow dormer with a wooden frame semi-circular window with two vertical glazing bars. There is a shiplap door to the rear (west elevation) that provides access from land.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England- Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East, (1997)
Dutt, William A, The Norfolk Broads , (1903)
Malster, Robert, The Broads , (1993)
Patterson, Arthur Henry, 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