Fritton Lake or Fritton Decoy is a lake on the border of the English

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

close to the towns of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

and

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

. It is located within the parishes of

Fritton and St Olaves Fritton and St Olaves is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The parish comprises the villages of Fritton and St. Olaves, together with the surrounding rural area.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map OL40 - The Broads''. . The ...

and

Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet is a civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is north-west of Lowestoft and the same distance south-west of Great Yarmouth and is in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district. ...

. A private member's club operates on the Fritton side of the lake, owned by the Somerleyton Estate.Somerleyton.co.uk , Fritton Lake Activities in Suffolk, UK
website of the owning group, related to Lord Somerleyton seated at nearby

Somerleyton Hall Somerleyton Hall is a country house and estate near Somerleyton and Lowestoft in Suffolk, England owned and lived in by Hugh Crossley, 4th Baron Somerleyton, originally designed by John Thomas. The hall is Grade II* listed on the National Heri ...

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...

lived in a cottage rented from 2nd Lord Somerleyton on the north bank of Fritton Lake during the 1930s.

Past uses

The lake may be pre-medieval but was largely dug in medieval times to extract

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

for burning. It came into use as a duck decoy, a site designed for the large-scale hunting of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

. Artificial water channels covered with net-tunnels were constructed around the lake. Ducks would be encouraged to swim down the channels using dogs or food and would be trapped on reaching the end. At one point, 21 such channels were in operation around the lake, four remained in operation in 1918. During the Second World War, a secret training facility was located at Fritton Lake. Its purpose was to train tank crews of

DD tank DD or Duplex Drive tanks, nicknamed "Donald Duck tanks", were a type of amphibious swimming tank developed by the British during the Second World War. The phrase is mostly used for the Duplex Drive variant of the M4 Sherman medium tank, that w ...

s – amphibious versions of British

Valentine Tank The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during World War II. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in eleven marks, plus various specialised variants, accounting for approximately a quarter ...

s and American-made

Sherman tank } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...

s. Between April 1943 and May 1944 British, American, and Canadian units came to Fritton Lake to be trained in the use of these tanks. One tank that sank during training remains in the lake. The site remained in military use into the early 1950s as part of the Specialised Armoured Development Establishment, during which further amphibious experiments and trials were undertaken. The waterline was raised in 1954 by the building up of a weir.

Current uses and amenity

Adjoining are a range of attractions: *The Fritton Arms, a large

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 ...

with outdoor areas (open to members and their guests and paying holidaymakers only) *Fritton Lake Woodland Lodges. ;Admittance Fritton Lake is a private members' club and holiday resort; non-members are not admitted other than as guests of members, or as holidaymakers staying in the retreats on site.

Events

Fritton Lake

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

includes an open-water swim in the lake. Unseen reeds in parts of the lake mean that unsupervised swimming has been flagged by the owners as dangerous and forbidden.

References

External links

Fritton Lake tourism website
*Duplex Drive Tank Websit

{{authority control Lakes of Norfolk Tourist attractions in Norfolk