History of the Barton Broad

Here follows a chronological history of Barton Broad:

13th or 14th Century: Barton Broad was formed by people digging out peat for fuel
1730: River Ant diverted for navigation purposes to flow through Barton Broad
1760s & 70s: Admiral Horatio Nelson spent time here in his youth. His sister rented Barton Broad, and Horatio visited her when on leave from the navy. He is said to have lost a chain and locket in the Broad

1834: It was from his observations at Barton that Samuel Woodward first suggested the Broads were not natural but dug by human hand. He reached this conclusion by looking at the stripes of high ground crossing the southern end of the broad. This theory - now generally accepted - was not resurrected until the 1940s.

1840: The Broad covered 284 acres of open water
1880s: Start of higher nutrient input
1924: First sewage treatment works at North Walsham in a period of growing human population in the local villages
1950s: Beginning of seriously high levels of nutrients
1960s - 1995: Rapid build-up of mud made up of erosion from river banks and dead algal cells raining out of the water.

Large numbers of coypu did tremendous damage in the south end of the broad, burrowing through and destroying the historic peat ridges left by the early peat diggers and destroying the belts of reedswamp, great beds of true bulrush and the lesser reedmace. These destructive animals had been brought to England originally to farm for their fur, but many escaped and thrived in the wild. They did serious damage to native wildlife and habitats and even undermined river banks. They were finally eradicated in 1987 after a long, intense and very expensive extermination programme.

1970s: The water was becoming thick with algae
1980: Sewage from N. Walsham diverted away from Barton Broad
1982: Phosphate stripping equipment installed at Stalham sewage treatment works
1985: One hectare of reedswamp left
15 November, 1995: Mud pumping started
1996-7: 'Dynasand' filters installed at Stalham sewage treatment works
2000: Clearest clear water period for 25 years
August 2000: Mud pumping of main broad finished