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The Norfolk & Suffolk Broads
£19.99
Out of stock
Product Number
7200037
The Norfolk & Suffolk Broads
Author: Robert Malster
The Broads began as medieval peat pits, but the story of the region goes back long before the monasteries and salt-making helped generate the demand for fuel that gave rise to large-scaie digging of turves. In Roman times there was a great estuary providing a highway and harbours for ships carrying supplies to the frontiers of the empire. In the centuries following the end of Roman rule the estuary silted up and the East Angles were joined by Scandinavian settlers who helped to shape the landscape of Broadland.
In this authoritative new book the author entertainingly explains how grazing marshes were drained and reedbeds cut for thatching, while the courses of rivers were changed to reduce flooding or to improve transport. It is often assumed that the great Broadland abbeys, like St Benet-at-Holm, were built in the marshes to give the monks seclusion.The truth is very different; they were set beside the main highways of trade, the rivers, and were the centres of extensive estates whose administration sometimes kept the brethren from their religious duties.
The 20th century brought new farming practices and far-reaching changes in the landscape at the same time as pollution and other factors threatened to destroy the rich flora and fauna that had first attracted visitors to the Broads, stimulating a boat-hire industry and helping to sustain the local economy. Scientists have sought answers to these environmental problems, including rising sea levels, which have raised the question,'... is the history of the Broads corning to an end?' The author concludes his fascinating and beautifully illustrated narrative by looking at the future of this potential World Heritage Site.
This book will be essential reading for all who know and love the Broads.
About the Author:
Robert Malster grew up in the ancient city of Norwich, of which he is an hereditary freeman. He spent much of his early years exploring the Broads by cycle, or by water with the 30th Norwich Sea Scouts. When asked why he spent his afternoons off from school searching for sunken wherries and their history he put his tongue in his cheek and replied, 'I'm going to write a book about them.' Twenty years later that schoolboy bravado was brought to reality by the publication of his Wherries and Waterways.
After thirty years working on regional daily and weekly newspapers, he moved into publishing, editing and designing a number of significant books by East Anglian authors on local and maritime history. Now a septuagenarian freelance editor and book designer, he continues his lifelong researches into East Anglia's past; on which he has lectured for the Boards of Continuing Education of the Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia and Essex and for the Workers' Educational Association. A member of a number of archaeological and historical organisations, including the Society for Nautical Research, he has for some years been vice-chairman of the Suffolk Local History Council.
Author: Robert Malster
The Broads began as medieval peat pits, but the story of the region goes back long before the monasteries and salt-making helped generate the demand for fuel that gave rise to large-scaie digging of turves. In Roman times there was a great estuary providing a highway and harbours for ships carrying supplies to the frontiers of the empire. In the centuries following the end of Roman rule the estuary silted up and the East Angles were joined by Scandinavian settlers who helped to shape the landscape of Broadland.
In this authoritative new book the author entertainingly explains how grazing marshes were drained and reedbeds cut for thatching, while the courses of rivers were changed to reduce flooding or to improve transport. It is often assumed that the great Broadland abbeys, like St Benet-at-Holm, were built in the marshes to give the monks seclusion.The truth is very different; they were set beside the main highways of trade, the rivers, and were the centres of extensive estates whose administration sometimes kept the brethren from their religious duties.
The 20th century brought new farming practices and far-reaching changes in the landscape at the same time as pollution and other factors threatened to destroy the rich flora and fauna that had first attracted visitors to the Broads, stimulating a boat-hire industry and helping to sustain the local economy. Scientists have sought answers to these environmental problems, including rising sea levels, which have raised the question,'... is the history of the Broads corning to an end?' The author concludes his fascinating and beautifully illustrated narrative by looking at the future of this potential World Heritage Site.
This book will be essential reading for all who know and love the Broads.
About the Author:
Robert Malster grew up in the ancient city of Norwich, of which he is an hereditary freeman. He spent much of his early years exploring the Broads by cycle, or by water with the 30th Norwich Sea Scouts. When asked why he spent his afternoons off from school searching for sunken wherries and their history he put his tongue in his cheek and replied, 'I'm going to write a book about them.' Twenty years later that schoolboy bravado was brought to reality by the publication of his Wherries and Waterways.
After thirty years working on regional daily and weekly newspapers, he moved into publishing, editing and designing a number of significant books by East Anglian authors on local and maritime history. Now a septuagenarian freelance editor and book designer, he continues his lifelong researches into East Anglia's past; on which he has lectured for the Boards of Continuing Education of the Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia and Essex and for the Workers' Educational Association. A member of a number of archaeological and historical organisations, including the Society for Nautical Research, he has for some years been vice-chairman of the Suffolk Local History Council.