Berney Arms is a settlement on the north bank of the

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the villag ...

, close to

Breydon Water Breydon Water is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. It is a Local Nature Reserve, a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is part of the Berney Marshes and Breydon Water nature reserve, which ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. It is part of the civil parish of Reedham, in the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Broadland Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. The population of the local authority district taken at the 2011 Census was 124,646. Its council is based in Thorpe St Andrew. In 2013, Broadland wa ...

, and lies within

The Broads The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...

. It comprises a railway station, a windmill, a farmhouse and a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

which closed in late 2015 (though permission for conversion to a dwelling was refused, and campaigners are seeking to reopen it as a pub). In 2020, an adjacent property opened as a bistro. The area is not accessible by public road.

Geography

Berney Arms is in an area of marshland, much of which is at or below sea level. It lies on the River Yare just to the west of

. The area is part of Berney Marshes RSPB reserve and within the Halvergate Marshes

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

. These provide important habitats for a range of plant and invertebrate species as well as providing important wintering grounds for bird species such as

Bewick's swan The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the w ...

. The area is also a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

as a series of dwellings and as its base for the marshes. Berney Arms can be reached only by train, by boat or on foot and has no public road access, with only a private track running to it.

Berney Arms railway station Berney Arms railway station is on the Wherry Lines in the East of England, serving the settlement of Berney Arms on the Halvergate Marshes in Norfolk. It is from and is the only station on a short stretch of single line between and . It is ...

is a

request stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...

on the Norwich–Great Yarmouth line via . It is served by a limited number of services each day, with a more frequent service on Sundays. Berney Arms is on the

Weavers' Way The Weavers' Way is a long-distance footpath in Norfolk, England. Much of the Weavers’ Way footpath follows the old trackbed of the Aylsham to Great Yarmouth railway line, which was operated by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway an ...

and

Wherryman's Way Wherryman's Way is a long-distance footpath in the English county of Norfolk. Route Wherryman's Way is long, running between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. It follows the course of the River Yare where possible, with some significant stretches a ...

footpaths.

History

Berney Arms takes its name from The Berney Arms public house, which is situated by the

staithe A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

on the north bank of the River Yare and served walkers and boaters who pass through the area. It was closed in 2015 and the owner proposed to turn the pub into a private house, but planning permission was refused. The public house was named after the landowner Thomas Trench Berney who owned the Reedham Cement Works centred on the

Berney Arms Windmill Berney Arms Windmill is a tower mill located at Berney Arms alongside the River Yare at the south-western end of Breydon Water in the English county of Norfolk.The Norfolk Windmill Trust, Windmills to Visit Guide. 3rd Edition, 1982, Page 16. The ...

. The mill was built in 1865 and is the tallest

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

in Norfolk at tall. It was used to grind

cement clinker 200px, Typical clinker nodules 200px, Hot clinker Cement clinker is a solid material produced in the manufacture of Portland cement as an intermediary product. Clinker occurs as lumps or nodules, usually to in diameter. It is produced by sinte ...

and was later converted into a drainage mill. It closed in 1948 and is now a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

in the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. At one point the mill supported a small settlement of 11 domestic dwellings and a chapel. Berney sold the land on which the railway was built, on the condition that a stopping place was built to serve the settlement in perpetuity. Berney Arms was mentioned in

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

's children's book ''

Coot Club ''Coot Club'' is the fifth book of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1934. The book sees Dick and Dorothea Callum visiting the Norfolk Broads during the Easter holidays, eager to learn to sail and ...

'', which is in the ''Swallows and Amazon'' series.

References

External links

Berney Arms History Website
{{authority control Pubs in Norfolk Villages in Norfolk