"Visit a fenland town and the floodgate which protects the land from tidal surges."
Walk directions
Leave the car park and turn right. When you reach Morrisons on your left, cut through its car park to a road running parallel to Paradise Road, and turn right. The road winds downhill, passing the White Hart pub, to a level crossing and the station. Continue past Heygates flour mill on your left, and cross Hythe Bridge over the Great Ouse Relief Channel. On the far side of the bridge cross a stile on your right. Walk along a track to a junction of paths by the river bank.
Take the left-hand fork, and cross a second stile to reach the Fen Rivers Way along the east bank of the Great Ouse. The banks have been raised to prevent flooding. After about 0.25 miles (400m) you reach a bridge.
Cross carefully over the busy A1122 and continue through a pair of gates to return to the river bank. The path continues until you reach the lock at Salters Lode. Proceed until the Denver Sluice comes into sight.
After exploring the sluice, turn left along the lane and cross the bridge over the Relief Channel. Keep to the lane as it winds through farmland and across a level crossing. After passing a huge field on your right, look for the white tower of Denver Windmill up ahead.
Pass the mill and continue along the lane for 0.5 miles (800m), then turn left up Sandy Lane. The lane becomes a track, which you follow until it ends at the junction with Downham Road.
Turn left along the course of the old road, to reach the A1122. Cross this road carefully to reach London Road. Use the pavement on the left-hand side, passing the police station on your right. Eventually you reach a mini-roundabout with a Tesco supermarket on the left.
Keep straight ahead, then fork left past the war memorial and aim for the clock tower, walking along the High Street and through the market square to the Castle Hotel. Turn left at the hotel and walk down Paradise Road a few paces until you reach the car park.
One of the Downham Market area's most famous sons was George William Manby, born at Denver Hall. In February 1807, Manby was in Great Yarmouth when HMS Snipe was wrecked on a nearby sandbar. All attempts to reach it failed and, despite heroic efforts by local people, all hands were drowned. This... traumatic experience affected Manby deeply, and he decided to find a way to secure a stricken ship to the shore. Manby devised a manner in which a line could be connected to the shot fired from a mortar on shore to the ship. Then, to use that line to get stranded seamen ashore, he produced a small boat with a number of casks fixed as buoyancy chambers, developing the principle still used as a safety measure in small boats today. His apparatus was so successful that Parliament awarded him £2,000. Manby turned to a career as an inventor, including making harpoons and harpoon guns for the whaling industry. Defending the land Denver is famous for its sluices, as well as for Manby. The first sluice was built by Cornelius Vermuyden to limit the tidal flow up the Great Ouse. The Duke of Bedford, who funded the project, was delighted to see his lands become viable for farming, but not everyone shared his sentiments. The Fen Tigers were a group who did not want to see their way of life changed by drainage. They blew up the sluice to make their point. Sailors and traders also resented the sluice, because it blocked the direct route to Cambridge and forced them to take their coal via Earith. The sluice was destroyed again in 1713, this time by the sea, and was rebuilt several times before Sir John Rennie designed the one which still exists today. It was remodelled and new steel gates added in 1928, 1963 and 1983. The Denver Sluice (1959) stands on a newer waterway called the Relief Channel. The sluice is closed to prevent seawater rushing up the Great Ouse, and opened to allow fresh water to drain the Fens. Without these gates and the pumping stations around the Fens the whole area would revert to marsh and flood plain. Downham Market has a medieval church, indicating that it was here long before the Fens were drained. If you stand at the church you will see why: the settlement stands on a ridge above the surrounding marshes. Nevertheless, most of its important buildings date from much later.
The North Norfolk Coast is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and probably the finest of its kind in Europe. Here you’ll find a string of quaint villages and small towns – Holkham, Wells-next-the-Sea and Cley next the Sea are 21st-century favourites, while Sheringham and Cromer are classic examples of a good old-fashioned seaside resort where grand Victorian hotels look out to sea.
"Visit a fenland town and the floodgate which protects the land from tidal surges."
Walk details
2hrs 30min
Difficulty:
Easy
Gradient:
Gentle
Distance:
5.75 miles (9.2kms)
Ascent:
98ft (30m)
Walk directions
Leave the car park and turn right. When you reach Morrisons on your left, cut through its car park to a road running parallel to Paradise Road, and turn right. The road winds downhill, passing the White Hart pub, to a level crossing and the station. Continue past Heygates flour mill on your left, and cross Hythe Bridge over the Great Ouse Relief Channel. On the far side of the bridge cross a stile on your right. Walk along a track to a junction of paths by the river bank.
1 of 7
Take the left-hand fork, and cross a second stile to reach the Fen Rivers Way along the east bank of the Great Ouse. The banks have been raised to prevent flooding. After about 0.25 miles (400m) you reach a bridge.
2 of 7
Cross carefully over the busy A1122 and continue through a pair of gates to return to the river bank. The path continues until you reach the lock at Salters Lode. Proceed until the Denver Sluice comes into sight.
3 of 7
After exploring the sluice, turn left along the lane and cross the bridge over the Relief Channel. Keep to the lane as it winds through farmland and across a level crossing. After passing a huge field on your right, look for the white tower of Denver Windmill up ahead.
4 of 7
Pass the mill and continue along the lane for 0.5 miles (800m), then turn left up Sandy Lane. The lane becomes a track, which you follow until it ends at the junction with Downham Road.
5 of 7
Turn left along the course of the old road, to reach the A1122. Cross this road carefully to reach London Road. Use the pavement on the left-hand side, passing the police station on your right. Eventually you reach a mini-roundabout with a Tesco supermarket on the left.
6 of 7
Keep straight ahead, then fork left past the war memorial and aim for the clock tower, walking along the High Street and through the market square to the Castle Hotel. Turn left at the hotel and walk down Paradise Road a few paces until you reach the car park.
One of the Downham Market area's most famous sons was George William Manby, born at Denver Hall. In February 1807, Manby was in Great Yarmouth when HMS Snipe was wrecked on a nearby sandbar. All attempts to reach it failed and, despite heroic efforts by local people, all hands were drowned. This... traumatic experience affected Manby deeply, and he decided to find a way to secure a stricken ship to the shore. Manby devised a manner in which a line could be connected to the shot fired from a mortar on shore to the ship. Then, to use that line to get stranded seamen ashore, he produced a small boat with a number of casks fixed as buoyancy chambers, developing the principle still used as a safety measure in small boats today. His apparatus was so successful that Parliament awarded him £2,000. Manby turned to a career as an inventor, including making harpoons and harpoon guns for the whaling industry. Defending the land Denver is famous for its sluices, as well as for Manby. The first sluice was built by Cornelius Vermuyden to limit the tidal flow up the Great Ouse. The Duke of Bedford, who funded the project, was delighted to see his lands become viable for farming, but not everyone shared his sentiments. The Fen Tigers were a group who did not want to see their way of life changed by drainage. They blew up the sluice to make their point. Sailors and traders also resented the sluice, because it blocked the direct route to Cambridge and forced them to take their coal via Earith. The sluice was destroyed again in 1713, this time by the sea, and was rebuilt several times before Sir John Rennie designed the one which still exists today. It was remodelled and new steel gates added in 1928, 1963 and 1983. The Denver Sluice (1959) stands on a newer waterway called the Relief Channel. The sluice is closed to prevent seawater rushing up the Great Ouse, and opened to allow fresh water to drain the Fens. Without these gates and the pumping stations around the Fens the whole area would revert to marsh and flood plain. Downham Market has a medieval church, indicating that it was here long before the Fens were drained. If you stand at the church you will see why: the settlement stands on a ridge above the surrounding marshes. Nevertheless, most of its important buildings date from much later.
The North Norfolk Coast is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and probably the finest of its kind in Europe. Here you’ll find a string of quaint villages and small towns – Holkham, Wells-next-the-Sea and Cley next the Sea are 21st-century favourites, while Sheringham and Cromer are classic examples of a good old-fashioned seaside resort where grand Victorian hotels look out to sea.
