This footpath may have existed for
centuries but was firmly established by the Enclosure
Commissioners under the Martham Enclosure which took
place between 1807 and 1812. Under the Act the
river bank was required to be raised to prevent flooding
and also made broader.
In recent years it has been
strengthened and widened and the ditch on the south side
has been moved farther south and widened to improve the
drainage of the area following the increased threat of
sea surges.
The footpath runs along the highest
part of the rond bank which varies considerably in
width.
From TG425187 going east the bank is
wide enough for chalet bungalows to be built with a
paved path about four feet on the north side. It
continues like this although for a stretch there are no
bungalows and no paving, until the boatyard at Martham
Ferry is reached at TG445195. Here the footpath
goes south east along Ferrygate Lane and then round the
end of the dyke (known as Martham Staithe) and then
turns northwest along the side of the Staithe until the
riverbank is reached again. The dyke was created
during the Enclosure but a mooring staithe must have
existed on the riverbank before that. From the east side
of the entrance to the Staithe the bank is narrower but
with a level top about six feet wide along which the
path runs. At TG454204 the path goes in a small loop
around a small former staithe created at the Enclosure
but which for lack of use over many decades has become a
reed bed. From here the path continues along the
rond bank and skirts round the edge of Martham Broad to
the boundary with West Somerton Parish. On the edge
of the Broad vegetation grows each side of the path
where trees of birch, pussy willow, elder, alder and oak
have sprung up and where swallow tail butterflies are
sometimes seen.
1. The footpath at TG440192
looking East in the direction of the walk
2. The footpath at TG440193
looking west
3. Another view east at TG440192
4. The footpath looking east near the
Ferry boatyard at TG445195.
5. The footpath looking east at
TG446195
6. The footpath looking east at
TG454204 as it skirts round the former staithe
now filled with reeds
7. The footpath as it skirts
round the former staithe at TG454204
8. The footpath looking back
westwards from the edge of the former staithe