Tag: Images of the River Wensum

Jarrold Bridge

Jarrold Bridge, Norwich. A photographic series of the River Wensum.

Canoeing with Thorpe Island Boats under the Jarrold Bridge

My River Wensum series starts with a photo tour of the bridges that cross it. I began with Carrow Bridge as it is the nearest to my apartment. Traveling along the Wensum up towards the city, the next bridge featured in this series is the Novi Sad Friendship Bridge, followed by the Lady Julian Bridge, and from there we arrived at the Foundry Bridge. If you were travelling towards the city by boat, to your left you would see Pull’s Ferry and Norwich Cathedral as you headed towards Bishop Bridge. The next curve is around the bend next to Cow Tower, with the Cathedral to the left, and apartments and offices to the right, where the next bridge is the Jarrold Bridge. 

The Jarrold Bridge

Back from ancient to modern again. Let no one say the Wensum doesn’t provide variety! 

The Jarrold bridge was designed by Stephen James of Ramboll (a company with 50 years of experience in bridge building) and built by local company R G Carter. Visit the Jarrold site to see all the awards this bridge has won and been short listed for. Truly impressive! You will also see other interesting facts there, such as the fact that the bridge slope is less than 1 in 20 for ease of use. It’s certainly nice to cycle over. If you are a bridge enthusiast and would like to know more about the construction of the Jarrold Bridge, SHStructures gives more technical information. I will tell you, however, it is just over 80m in length. I have never seen another bridge like it. I love the modern, clean curve of it and the location is perfect. 

Curve of the Jarrold Bridge over the Wensum
View to the Jarrold Bridge from the Wensum

From the top of the bridge you can enjoy the very natural view up towards Cow Tower and Mousehold Heath, lushly green with willows grazing the water. The bridge is just next to a car park, on the other side of which is the Adam & Eve pub, the oldest watering hole in Norwich. 

The view towards Jarrold Bridge in spring

The city view gives you the rear side of St James Mill, where Jarrold & Sons Ltd have their offices. Next door to St James Mill, new apartments are being built, so it is currently a construction site with a huge crane. I will return to St James Mill and the buildings along the Wensum in future posts. 

St James Mill where Jarrold have their offices.
View to the Jarrold Bridge in spring

The image above shows the ancient flint arch next to the ultra modern Jarrold Bridge.

From modern back to ancient, Whitefriar’s Bridge is the next bridge in this River Wensum series, which will feature not only bridges but go on to study the architecture, wildlife, and the current human life along the river. While the Wensum has a great history, life along the river continues to evolve and change, and I will be documenting that as the series continues.

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Bridges O’er The Wensum – Carrow Bridge

As part of my River Wensum photographic record, I am going to post about each of the bridges along the Wensum, starting here with Carrow Bridge.

Carrow Bridge is a lifting bridge. Unfortunately, I have never been lucky enough to see it lift up. I like to peer into the little control hut and imagine it in operation. Despite my best attempts to find a video of it opening, so far, I haven’t been successful. All I can find is a video of the test opening in 2018 to allow TS Lord Nelson aka HMS Vale pass through, which isn’t particularly interesting!

The current Carrow Bridge was constructed in 1923 to replace the old bridge to the South. More recently, there have been plans by the council to weld the bridge shut. Read a press release from the Norwich Society about this here. 

Reginald Dann, lived in Carrow Bridge House (the former bridge master’s house) for more than 50 years until it was sold at auction. Thankfully, a plan by the county council to demolish it was defeated by the city council.

You can see images of the bridge open here in an EDP article, when the TS Lord Nelson passed through in 2004. There is also a nice image in the article of the The ship “Paullgate” of Hull carrying cargo under Carrow bridge at the port of Norwich. Dated 20 May 1966. The TS Lord Nelson was eventually decommissioned and now rests in Bristol.

I walk across the bridge at least once every day, and I also cross it every night. I enjoy looking out over both sides of Carrow bridge, but my favourite view is looking back up the river past the Devil’s Tower towards old Paper Mill Yard.

You can read more about the history of the Devil’s Tower here – it is a virtually unique structure in England, built in the early 14th century. Directly opposite is the Windlass Tower.

I will write more about the Wensum Boom Towers in future posts.

A view further up from Carrow Bridge.

Up river towards the old Colman’s factory site.
The Broads Authority River Ranger making checks near Carrow Bridge

Carrow Bridge by night.

I frequently pass under the bridge, on the way into the city. It is a favourite spot for pigeons to court in the spring. There is also the occasional dove.

Sometimes swans sit in the wooden under-structure compartments as if they were stables. I am sure there is a technical name for the structure, but I have no idea what it is.

Carrow Bridge by night.

Eric and Erica, the Egyptian geese, like to perch on the wooden sidings that are there to guide boats through, but usually they are keeping guard on the river bank. Occasionally, a heron perches near the bridge too.

On summer nights, if you are lucky, you may catch a glimpse of bats performing aerobatics around the bridge.

Eric and Erica keeping watch near Carrow Bridge

Street Art under Carrow Bridge

Every now and then, new street art appears under the bridge. These images have disappeared now, which is a shame because I really liked them. They are preferable to the meaningless tagging that crops up everywhere (not meaningless to gangs, I guess, but still an eyesore). 

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To see old pictures of Carrow Bridge and the rest of the city, you may enjoy visiting the Francis Frith Collection.

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Sources used for this blog post: EDP24, The Norwich Society, the Francis Frith Collection, Norwich.Gov.uk, WivenhoeHistory.org.uk

Down by the River Wensum – a photographic record in the making.

Springtime on the River Wensum, Norwich has arrived at last. It feels as though it has been a long winter and although there is always something to see waterside, life gets far more interesting as the temperature rises.

I have spent the last two years photographically recording the River Wensum through the seasons, and I continue to do so. The different styles of architecture, modern and old, are fascinating to shoot. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to shoot from a boat. My choice of craft is a canoe. It can be a bit wobbly which worries me sometimes but it’s flexible in getting good camera angles. It’s a whole new city from the water!

Where once there were Wherries and ships, now there are leisure boats, paddle boards, canoes and dinghies. Industrial use of the Wensum ceased in the 1980’s. I like to imagine how the Wensum thrived as a port. The industrial buildings all have their own stories. One of my favourite buildings is the old Furniture Restoration barn (see below). The corrugated metal it was created from has worn and rusted over the years. I like the way it is described on the Geograph site as being in a state of ‘picturesque dilapidation’.

The Old Furniture Restoration Barn

There are other elderly buildings I love along the river but I will detail those in future posts.

Each post will focus on a particular aspect of the river whether it be the Cormorants, Barnacle or Egyptian Geese, my beloved swans, Kingfishers or the medieval bridges, historical buildings such as Pull’s Ferry and Norwich Cathedral. I will drop in some history but mostly it will be how I see the river through my eyes, here in 2022, as it continues to change and evolve.

There is so much to look at and investigate, I hope you will subscribe to see the River Wensum through my eyes and enjoy my observations, perhaps even adding your own. The other benefit to subscribing is that every month I create a free notebook giveaway. All you have to do is leave your email address (don’t worry about getting bombarded, I don’t post all that often!)

My next post will give a brief history of the Wensum and explore the bridges.

Til next time…

Follow me on Instagram @MyriadLifeBooks, @MyriadLifePhotoArt and @PetraKiddWriter