Name Maud

1.      What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric?

MAUD is the last surviving Norfolk trading wherry to be built by the renowned Halls Yard at Reedham and is the sole remaining example of a clinker-built wherry designed for the commercial carriage of timber.  From her launch in 1899 through to her abandonment in the early 1960s, MAUD was kept well maintained as a working vessel.  An 18-year conservation project in the early 1980s followed the original method and materials of construction.    A few original frames were conserved or repaired by re-facing, whilst those that were beyond conservation were replaced like-for-like, being formed from grown oak bends cut from locally grown English oak, with the grain following the curve of the frame. Similarly, her hatches, side decks and hold sides, where they were found to be missing or beyond repair, were recreated according to pattern or by reference to archive drawings.   Whilst her decks and some topside planking required replacement, her hog and some bottom planking survived, reflecting the quality of build and material in her original construction.  A new rig was made to the original configuration using surviving dimensional information, to include the large lead counterweight that facilitates mast lowering by one man.  The unstayed mast is made from a single baulk of pitch pine and supports a loose footed gaff sail of some 1200 square foot.  No adaptations to form or fabric were necessary to facilitate the change to passenger carrying and MAUD retains her traditional open hold. 

2.      What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

MAUD’s working life gives her strong regional associations with the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.  She was built by the famous wherry-building yard Halls of Reedham for a director of Jewson timber merchants in Great Yarmouth.  Her early career in the ownership of Walter Christmas Bunn can be traced through the records of the Jewson company and there are detailed accounts of the cargoes she carried from launch up to 1918.  Halls Yard was renowned as producing the fastest wherries of their day and took part in wherry races at sea off Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft in the early 1900s, which feature significantly in regatta press reports and of which MAUD is the last surviving example.  During her working life, MAUD was skippered by people from several locally famous families of watermen such as Powley, Farrow and Fox. Her link to the Broads was perpetuated when, at the close of her working life in the 1960s, she was purposely sunk on Ranworth Broad to end her days as river bank reinforcement.  MAUD has featured on screen in two television documentaries (2005 and 2015), the antiques programme Flog It (2007) and on Radio Norfolk (2016).  She is a well-documented vessel and her archive includes a collection of historic photographs, press cuttings and a video diary of her 18-year conservation project.  Certain fittings from MAUD’s later life as a motor wherry have been retained and preserved in a local museum, where they contribute to the wider knowledge of cargo carrying across the region. MAUD has been recorded on the National Register of Historic Vessels since 1999 and is part of the National Historic Fleet.

3.      How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

The Norfolk trading wherry emerged as a local hybrid design approximately 300 years ago, when the then existing Ceol hull was combined with the incoming Dutch innovation of the Fore and Aft rig, into a vessel of superior speed and handling characteristics, that could move a greater volume of goods at increased speed, thus enhancing the profitability in its operation.  Heavily loaded until the side decks were awash, the wherry’s build and shape allowed it to carry goods safely and effectively. MAUD was one of the larger wherries built specifically for the timber trade on the River Yare between Great Yarmouth and Norwich.  As such, she was designed to carry up to 40 tons of wood in one lading and featured a taller tabernacle than similar vessels in lesser trade, to facilitate the stacking of her timber cargo above as well as below deck, whilst retaining the ability to fully lower her mast to navigate bridges with as little as 7-foot air draft.  MAUD’s hull form remains as built and no changes have been made to her shape.  As the second largest surviving clinker-built historic vessel on the Broads today, MAUD has a huge aesthetic impact in the local environment, as her graceful sheer line and enormous black sail can be seen on the rivers from many miles away.  She is based alongside the other surviving trading wherry ALBION at the Forsythe Wherry Yard in Norfolk, in the waters where she would have traditionally operated. When on display, she is moored at riverside inns or staithes where she would have spent her working life. On those occasions, the centre hatches are lifted and stacked at either end of the hold to demonstrate how cargo would have been loaded whether manually or by using the gaff as a derrick.  MAUD now carries passengers in place of timber and acts as an education resource. 

Date: 24/04/21

Author: Wherry Maud Trust