“On Monday we descended the river by slow stages, until we reached Buckenham Ferry, where we made fast against a thorn-tree frequented by field-fares, some of which we shot and ate, but they proved rather bitter. This was a pleasant spot, with its busy ferry and Dutch-like avenue, recalling one of Hobbema’s well-known paintings. Day and night the ferry-bell was jangling and the winch clanking as the actors of country life passed before us in endless panorama. Milk carts, carriers’ carts, waggons laden with grain, flocks of sheep attended by shepherds and barking collies, stylish ladies in smart Norfolk carts- the women I noticed were always more exacting than the men and herds of cattle. Those animals nearest the water stood with forelegs firmly planted and backs raised, bellowing with fright as they stared into the swift river as the ferry crossed over. After them passed an old granny with a child in perambulator, a shy-looking young couple with much luggage, a portly farmer going to catch a train, and lastly, the lord of the manor himself passed over.” ⎯On English Lagoons, Chapter XII, pp. 39-40

Early morning fog envelops the scene around Buckenham Ferry on the River Yare. The ferry bell can be seen suspended above a gate at left while people wait for the ferry’s arrival, its’ hulking prow reflected in the stillness of the water as it lurches towards them at right.

Author Steve Silk describes this ferry as being known in the old days as a horse ferry. (pontoon style) It made crossings here from Carleton St Peter to Buckenham as early as 1487. (1.) The ferry ended operations in 1938. From the Broadland Memories Blog, we learn a mishap involving seven tons of sugar beets being transported on a lorry, in which failure to apply its handbrake during the crossing caused the vehicle to plunge into the river, forcing the closure. (2.)

1. George Munford, An Attempt to Ascertain the True Derivation of the Names of Towns and Villages and of Rivers, and Other Great Natural Features of the County of Norfolk, Simpkin, Marshall & Company, 1870, p.76. Entry: “BUCKENHAM FERRY; in D.D.B. Bucanaham, Bucham, Buchanaham. The additional name FERRY was imposed as soon as there was a ferry over the YARE at this place, which was at least as early as 1487, for then Sir John Jermy styled himself, in his will, of BUCKENHAM FERRY. This ferry when first established must have been of some importance, as Parkin tells us, Sir Thomas Kerdeston, in the 26th of Henry VI., appears by his will to have had a third part of its profits, which came to him by descent. For the derivation of BUCKENHAM see above.”
2. Steve Silk: the Wheryyman’s Web Blog. In his book The Wherryman’s Way, published by Halsgrove in 2010, he interviewed retired farm worker and octogenarian Cecil Nicholls who used to help operate the ferry and  who remembered the events which forced the ferry to cease operating…