River Ant

Ant
The river at How Hill
Location of the river mouth within Norfolk
Location
Country	England
Region	Norfolk
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Antingham
• coordinates	52.8507°N 1.3533°E / 52.8507; 1.3533
• elevation	27 m (89 ft)
Mouth	River Bure
• location	Ant Mouth, south of Ludham Bridge
• coordinates	52.6896°N 1.5131°E / 52.6896; 1.5131
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	27.3 km (17.0 mi)
Basin features
River system	River Bure

The River Ant is a tributary river of the River Bure in the county of Norfolk, England. It is 27 kilometres (17 mi) long (of which 8.75 miles are now navigable), and has an overall drop of 27 metres from source to mouth. It is said that the Ant was formerly known as the River Smale and that this is the origin of the name of the village of Smallburgh.

The Ant Broads & Marshes NNR is a national nature reserve.

From source to Honing

The river's source is just east of the village of Antingham in North Norfolk at Antingham Ponds. Just below the pools the river's route has been used as a canal in the past, starting at what was Antingham bone mill. An Act of Parliament established the North Walsham & Dilham Canal in 1812, as a wide gauge canal able to take a Norfolk wherry. It was built at a cost of £30,000 and opened on 25 July 1826, making the river navigable as far as Dilham, where the river widens and deepens. It carried manure, offal, flour, coal, and farm produce. In 1885, the canal was sold for £600, but the canal company's solicitor disappeared with the money. The flood of 1912 washed away several staithes. The wherry "Ella" made the final trading journey on the canal from Bacton staithe in 1934. The canal was never nationalised and still belongs to the North Walsham Canal Company. The river, now in its canal form, curves around the north east of the town of North Walsham passing Bacton Wood Mill. Below Bacton Mill the canal reaches a lock at Ebridge mill. The lock is in poor condition but it is hoped that this section of canal will one day be restored and made navigable again. Further on at Briggate Bridge there is another mill and another disused lock.

Norfolk Broads (The Broads Authority)

River Ant
Tonnage Bridge North Walsham & Dilham Canal River Ant Dilham Staithe A149 Wayford Bridge Wayford Staithe Moy's Drainage Mill Hunsett Drainage Mill Stalham Dyke and staithe Sutton Broad and staithe Barton Turf staithe Barton Broad Limekiln Dyke to Neatishead staithe Irstead Crome's Broad Clayrack Drainage Mill Boardman's Drainage Mill Reedham Water Turf Fen Drainage Mill Neave's Drainage Mill Ludham Bridge Drainage Mill A1016 Ludham Bridge Ant Mouth River Bure to Great Yarmouth

At Honing Bridge the course enters The Broads, administered by The Broads Authority. Here the canal cuts through a marshy wooded area called Dilham Broad and again curves to the east before resuming its southerly course to pass under Tonnage Bridge. Below the bridge, it passes through Broad Fen, an area containing many drainage channels, and meets Tyler's Cut or Dilham Dyke, which runs off to the west. It served the villages of Dilham and Smallburgh, and was the furthest north that the River Ant could be navigated prior to the construction of the North Walsham and Dilham Canal. Below the junction, the course reverts to the river, although it is no longer obvious where the original course of the river was above this point. At Wayford Bridge the river passes the Wayford Bridge Hotel and a row of chalets on pontoons, moored against the east bank of the river. The bridge is a modern concrete slab which carries the A149 road, with around 7 feet (2.1 m) of headroom, making it only passable by small pleasure craft.

River Ant at Hunsett Windmill

During excavations for a new road in 1976, the remains of what was probably a Roman boat were discovered in the peat about 40 feet (12 m) to the north-west of the bridge. The remains were dug out by a mechanical excavator, before it was realised what they were. The work also discovered part of a wooden causeway, which ran from the site towards the ford which existed prior to the first bridge being built in 1797. Just below the bridge, a wooden dug-out canoe was discovered during dredging operations on the river in 1927. It was subsequently found to date from 720, and is the oldest boat found in Norfolk. A Roman road ran from the west side of the bridge to Water Newton in Cambridgeshire, but no trace of it has been found to the east of the bridge.

Continuing downstream there are boat yards on both banks and the river passes the ruined remains of Moy's Drainage Mill, probably named after Percy Moy, who farmed land drained by the mill in the 1920s. The mill powered a single scoop wheel, which could also be driven by an auxilliary engine when there was no wind. It was operational until some time after 1935, but by 2007 only about 8 feet (2.4 m) of the tower remained, and a Lister diesel engine drove the pump. The river follows a fairly straight course until it reaches the photogenic Hunsett Drainage Mill. The structure dates from 1860, and originally drove two scoop wheels to raise water into the river. It was restored externally in 1945, but does not contain any internal machinery. The river turns to the south and passes a channel leading eastwards to the staithes at Stalham and Sutton. Stalham Dyke turns to the north-east, to reach a network of jetties and boat years, while Sutton Dyke continues dues east to the staithe, passing through Sutton Broad which is no longer open water, as the navigation channel is flanked on both sides by reedbeds. The river banks of Barton Fen are crowded with trees, marshes, and reeds, the latter formerly harvested and used for thatching for centuries past.

Barton Broad

Barton Broad

As the river nears Barton Broad it passes a triangular island called The Heater. The channels either side lead to Barton Turf staithe and its boatyard. The river now enters Barton Broad, the second largest of the Broads, its size only exceeded by Hickling Broad. It has a surface area of 170 acres (0.69 km²) and since 1995, much work has been carried out to increase the amount of open water and to dredge polluted mud from the bottom of the broad. Despite opposition from Natural England, the Broads Authority used curtains of bubbles to stop fish from entering the broad. This allowed water fleas to proliferate, which cleared the cloudy water. The broad is a nature reserve managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Barton Broad is unique in that it has an island, called "Pleasure Hill". It is believed that Lord Nelson learnt to sail on Barton Broad prior to joining the navy when he was aged 12. The broad was owned by his sister at the time. There are several staithes connected to the broad by channels, including Catfield Wood End staithe to the east and Old Lime Kiln Dyke which ends at a staith at Neatishead to the west. Britain's first solar powered passenger boat, called Ra, operates from Neatishead staithe.

The last stretch

The Ant leaves Barton Broad at its south east corner and enters a stretch called "The Shoals". All around this area can be seen numerous drainage mills. The river meanders through the flat Broadland countryside, passing the drainage mills of Clayrack and Boardman’s on the east bank, and Turf Fen Drainage mill on the west bank. Here the river passes How Hill nature reserve, which is open to the public. From here it makes a wide horseshoe bend, passing Neaves Drainage mill as it heads towards Ludham Bridge. The Ant passes under the bridge carrying the A1062 road, and turns sharply east before straightening out a little. It then turns south and enters the river Bure at Ant Mouth, close to the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey.

Shipping

The remains of a Saxon boat were found by the Environment Agency in August 2010 when working on the river during vital flood defence work. The boat, around 3 m (9.8 ft) long, had been hollowed out by hand from a single piece of oak and was found at the bottom of the river between Honing Hall and Brown's Hill. Five animal skulls were found near the boat, which was taken to specialists in York to be treated with special preservatives. Once the treatment has been completed the boat will be delivered to the Castle Museum in Norwich and put on display to the public.

A special type of Norfolk wherry was used on the Ant, measuring up to 50 by 12 feet (15.2 m × 3.7 m).

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish, and chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations. Chemical status is rated good or fail.

The water quality of the River Ant system was as follows in 2016.

Section	Ecological Status	Chemical Status	Overall Status	Length	Catchment	Channel
North Walsham and Dilham Canal	Moderate	Good	Moderate	14.0 miles (22.5 km)	20.96 square miles (54.3 km2)	heavily modified
Smallburgh Watercourse	Moderate	Good	Moderate	3.4 miles (5.5 km)	6.73 square miles (17.4 km2)	heavily modified
Ant (Dilham to R. Bure)	Moderate	Good	Moderate	8.0 miles (12.9 km)	21.13 square miles (54.7 km2)	heavily modified

The reasons for the quality being less than good are largely a result of the physical modification of the channel, and for the North Walsham and Dilham Canal section, the volume of surface water and groundwater abstracted for agriculture and land management. Some improvements have been made to this section, as it was rated Bad from 2013 to 2015.

Bibliography

• Boyes, John; Russell, Ronald (1977). The Canals of Eastern England. David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-7415-3. ISSN 0161-9284.
• Cumberlidge, Jane (2009). Inland Waterways of Great Britain (8th Ed.). Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3.
• Fisher, Stuart (2013). British River Navigations. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4729-0084-5.