The East Anglia Region - Southern England - page 312

FIG 312. Lowestoft (Fig. 294, d7 ), looking east over the town towards the North Sea.
(Copyright Aerofilms)
The Norfolk Broads authority is responsible for the Wensum and the Yare from
Norwich downstream almost as far as Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and also for
some way up the northern tributaries of the Bure and Ant. The Broads are England's
largest low-lying area of undrained wetlands and are home to many rare species of
plants and animals.
The Broads contain many shallow lakes, providing marvellous habitats for wild-
life and a great deal of boating pleasure for a large number of human visitors. Until the
1960s most people believed that the lakes were natural, on account of their size, but
in fact the Broads are largely man-made. They are the result of medieval diggings for
peat which formed in this swampy ground on the ancient river floodplains. The peat
became an important fuel as an increasing scarcity of firewood coincided with grow-
ing demands for cooking, heating and evaporating sea water to produce salt for food
preservation.
The peat diggings were usually 2-3 m deep. Deeper diggings were more likely to
have flooding problems, but the peat cut at greater depths was usually more compact
and, when dried out, provided a more efficient fuel. During the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries, flooding of the peat diggings became an increasing problem, perhaps
due to climate change and rising sea level. The year 1287 saw particularly severe flood-
ing, and the Broads were largely abandoned as sources of peat, becoming more import-
ant as sources of fish, wildfowl and reeds for thatching.
FIG 313. Looking southeastward towards Heigham Sound from a point above Hickling
Broad (Fig. 294, d9 ). (Copyright Robert Harding Picture Library Ltd)