Record Details

NHER Number:13751
Type of record:Monument
Name:Claxton tramway

Summary

A post medieval tramway ran from Claxton across the marshes to a wharf at the river. It was used for shipping sugar beet to the Cantley sugar factory and was removed in the 1940s.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 3373 0412
Map Sheet:TG30SW
Parish:CLAXTON, SOUTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

2'0" gauge, ran from fields of Claxton Manor Farm across 'Langley Marshes' (here meaning Claxton Marshes?) to wharf on river for shipping to Cantley sugar factory. Removed about 1940. The tracks ran from Staines Barn by Claxton Church (where rails are said to remain in the floor) through Manor Farm to a wharf at TG 344 052.

[1] states that during works to Staines Barn in 2005 the railway tracks were found beneath the floor, not of the main barn, but of the smaller sheds around the farmyard, entering each shed.
E. Rose (NLA), 14 June 2005.

(S3) in file is definitive reference, stating that motive power was a converted Model T Ford; that the tracks were temporarily loaned for building a reservoir at Cantley, and that after closure in 1936 all materials were sold to the Great Ouse Catchment Board.
E. Rose (NLA), 11 July 2005.

For Staines barn see daughter record (NHER 41844) where discoveries show that the gauge was in fact one foot seven and a half inches ((S2) in fact says about two feet).
The rails were flat bottomed and the sleepers were of iron. The barn is an important trans shipment building.
E. Rose (NLA), 5 July 2005.

However see (S3) which shows that the rails at Staines Barn were not in fact connected to the system but were a different operation.
E. Rose (NLA), 18 July 2005.

Monument Types

  • TRAMWAY (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S1>Article in Serial: Fisher, C. 1978. The Narrow Gauge Tramways of Norfolk. Journal of the Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society. Vol II No 3 pp 36-41. p 38.
<S2>*Verbal Communication: Fisher, C.. 1978. [unknown].
<S3>Article in Serial: Fisher, C.. 1985. Farmer Pyke's Forgotten Railway.. The Narrow Gauge. pp 8-11; No 108.
<S4>Unpublished Document: Fisher, C.. 2005. Report on visit to Staines Barn..

Related records - none

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