Pulls Ferry and the mediaeval Ferry House by the river in Norwich, saved by a bequest from a poet

Pulls Ferry by the banks of the River Wensum, once the water gate to Norwich Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

As we were strolling around the Cathedral Quarter in Norwich during our recent visit, we came to Pulls Ferry by the banks of the River Wensum, one of the ‘signature’ views of the city and the riverside. The channel running up to the ferry point is far older than the ferry house and was built even before the cathedral.

The ferry and the ferry house are a picturesque part of the Cathedral Quarter and cherished landmarks in Norwich, still closely linked with the cathedral, and they were saved almost 80 years ago through a bequest to the cathedral from the Norwich-born poet and artist Camilla Doyle and fundraising by the Norwich Girl Guides.

Pulls Ferry was once the water gate to Norwich Cathedral and its story goes back to the 12th century, when the monks cut a canal from the River Wensum that ran under the arch, so that building materials could be unloaded on the spot.

Heavy building materials were difficult to transport in the Middle Ages. Roads were poor and building materials were often transported by boat. Before work began on Norwich Cathedral in the 12th century, a narrow chance or canal was cut from the River Wensum to the building site to bring in stone, timber, and iron used in building the cathedral.

The stone from Caen was brought up the rivers Yare and Wensum to the canal and from there to the cathedral site, along with timber from the Baltic and iron from Sweden, as well as peat from the fens in East Anglia, which uses as fuel in the priory kitchens.

An arched gateway guarding the approach to the cathedral was built across the canal in the 15th century, and the gateway remains the most obvious historical feature of Pulls Ferry today.

An arched gateway guarding the approach to the cathedral was built across the canal in the 15th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Priory at Norwich Cathedral was dissolved along with other monastic houses at the Tudor Reformation in the 16th century. The current Ferry House, a flint building, was built in 1647, incorporating the earlier gateway. The house was both an inn and a home for a ferryman carrying people across the Wensum.

Thomas Howes, or Holmes, was the first ferryman, and the building was once known as Sandling’s after an early ferryman. The 12th century canal was filled in ca 1772-1780, and the only reminder of it is the course of the modern slipway leading from the river to the mediaeval arch.

The name Pulls Ferry comes from John Pull, who ran the crossing from 1796 until he died in 1841 at the age of 73. He was probably the last licensee to run the Ferry House as a pub.

The ferry continued to operate until 1943, when the buildings had fallen into dilapidation. The ferry house and the watergate were saved in 1947 thanks to a bequest from the poet and painter Camilla Doyle and fundraising by the Norwich Girl Guides.

The poet and artist Honor Camilla Doyle (1888-1944) is best-known for her poem ‘The Town Rabbit in the Country’ published in volume of poetry, Poems, in 1923. She was born into a family of Irish descent in the Cathedral Close in Norwich and lived there for most of her life.

Her books include 16 New Poems (London, 1920), Poems (Oxford, 1923), and The ‘General Shop’ and other poems (London, 1937). She was also known as an artist and craft designer, and her paintings and furniture were exhibited widely. Her painting ‘Lock 75, Cassiobury Canal’ is in Norwich Castle Museum.

The 12th century canal was filled in ca 1772-1780, and the only reminder of it is the slipway leading from the river to the mediaeval arch (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Camilla Doyle died in Norwich in 1944 and in her will she left half her estate for the maintenance of Norwich Castle Museum. Both the Ferry House and the archway were restored in 1948-1949 by the architect Cecil Upcher (1884-1972), who was involved in all aspects of restoration in churches around Norfolk. His other works include the World War I Memorial Cottages at Mousehold, to provide support for wounded soldiers and a Chinese-style boathouse in Cawston Park.

The restored Ferry House at first became offices for Upcher’s architectural practice and the watergate became the headquarters of Norwich Girl Guides Association in 1949.

Pulls Ferry and Ferry House are a five-minute walk from Norwich Railway Station and are privately owned. The only real reminder of the history of the site is a small plaque at the top of the drive leading down to the ferry. The Watergate Room can be hired for a variety of activities including meetings, parties, award presentation ceremonies, sing songs and picnics by the river. A footpath leads along the river from Bishop Bridge, but perhaps the best view of the ferry is from the facing side of the river, off Riverside Road.

The ferry house and the watergate were saved in 1947 thanks to a bequest from Camilla Doyle and fundraising by Norwich Girl Guides (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 35, Wednesday 28 January 2026

‘And these are the ones sown on the good soil’ (Mark 4: 20) … a glimpse of a garden in the cloisters in Arkadi Monastery in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is the last week in the 40-day season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation next Monday (2 February 2026). This week began with the Third Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany III, 25 January 2026), and today the Church Calendar remembers Thomas Aquinas (1274), priest, philosopher and teacher of the faith.

Later this evening, I hope to be part of the choir rehearsals for Candlemas in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The Sower and the Seed … an image in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 1-20 (NRSVA):

1 Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ 9 And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

10 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12 in order that

“they may indeed look, but not perceive,
and may indeed listen, but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven”.’

13 And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17 But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

‘These are the ones on the path where the word is sown’ (Mark 4: 14) … spring growth on the pathway to the beach at Platanias in suburban Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflections:

Chapter 4 in Saint Mark’s Gospel is the ‘parables chapter,’ recalling parables that make this chapter the central teaching section of his Gospel. Christ is in a boat beside the sea teaching a very large crowd who are listening on the shore (see Mark 4: 1-2), and in this morning’s reading (Mark 4: 1-20), he describe the ‘kingdom of God’ using images of a sower scattering seed on the ground in the hope and expectation of growth and the harvest.

I am not good at sowing, not good at growing plants or trees, and certainly not good at growing them from seed.

I like to explain this away by excuses such as heavy hay fever since childhood or claiming I do not have green fingers. But to tell the truth it may be because of a combination of faults: because I expect quick results and because I expect perfection.

I enjoy sitting in the garden, reading, eating in the open, listening to the fountain, but not wedding the flower beds, tending the plants or mowing the lawn. In short, I don’t do gardening, I don’t do garden centres.

But some years ago visiting both the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin and the Lavender Field at Avoca in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, on the same weekend I found myself unexpectedly appreciating gardens and growing and growth. In both cases, these are places where people with vision did not expect immediate results.

The Botanic Gardens were founded in Glasnevin in 1795 by people with vision such as the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, John Foster. But it was another 40 years or more before the basic shape of the gardens was established by 1838.

David Moore, who was appointed curator that year, had the vision to develop the glasshouse accommodation, and he commissioned Richard Turner, the great Dublin ironmaster, to provide an iron house to replace the previous wooden house.

Work on the main curvilinear glasshouse started in 1843. It was a vision for the future and a gift to the future. Those who planned it and devoted their energy to building those glasshouses in Glasnevin had no idea of the pleasure they were bequeathing to future generations, and today the glasshouses in the Botanic Gardens stand as a great achievement of Victorian engineering, planning and vision.

In many ways, the buildings they planned and the seeds sown in them have brought forth not just thirtyfold, but sixtyfold, a hundredfold, and perhaps even more. Today, the living collections at the National Botanic Gardens include over 300 endangered species from around the world, and six species already extinct in the wild. These are a vital resource, and the staff there speak of them like a ‘Noah’s Ark’ for the future.

In those glasshouses, Victorian architecture, engineering, art and science come together. Without careful, measured, timing and proper planning we would not see the results today.

The Lavender Field in Kilmacanogue, outside Bray, is a more recent example of planning carefully and reaping the benefits in measured ways over the years.

The Lavender Farm owes its origins to Brian Cox and Donald Pratt, who had the idea in 1983 of starting an Irish perfume company, and moved to Kilmacangoue in 1987. Some of their fragrances are sourced from lavender from their own field, across the road from their offices in Kilmacanogue.

Forty years or so later, this ‘field of dreams,’ nestling between the two Sugarloaf mountains, is producing top quality lavender oil and provides the inspiration for many of the company’s ideas. The lavender is harvested every summer and the Lavender Harvest Party celebrates nature’s amazing gift of the golden oil from the lavender.

Some of the lavender is actually growing along the roadside, even on the rocky waste left on the margins of the motorway. But without the seed that had fallen by the roadside and the rocky places, I might never have noticed the lavender that is growing on the deep, rich soil, and producing this abundant harvest.

Nonetheless, this lavender field has taken a generation to reach the maturity that is its glory today.

Too often we expect immediate results. And too often we judge whether a project is a success or a failure by asking whether it is producing immediate, measurable, visible apparent results. If not, we dismiss that project as an immediate failure.

Just because something works now does not mean it is right for the future. Just because something does not work now does not mean it is wrong for the future. Like the Victorian engineers who had vision in Glasnevin almost two centuries ago, we may not see the growth that follows our work today. Like a sower scattering seed, I sometimes think of God sowing seeds in the minds of many people that eventually grow into full bloom.

In one of his less well-known poems, ‘The Last Laugh’ (1974), John Betjeman wrote:

I made hay while the sun shone.
My work sold.
Now, if the harvest is over
And the world cold,
Give me the bonus of laughter
As I lose hold.

The Victorian glasshouses in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, are a visible lesson in planting seeds with hope for the future (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 28 January 2026):

The theme this week (25-31 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Connections That Last’ (pp 22-23). This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from Paula de Mello Alves, a Brazilian lawyer and theologian, Executive Secretary of the Southern Diocese, and former co-leader of the Anglican Communion Youth Network (ACYN).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 28 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Father, we thank you for the space ACYN provides for young Anglicans to feel seen, supported, and inspired to grow in faith.

The Collect:

Eternal God,
who enriched your Church with the learning and holiness
of your servant Thomas Aquinas:
give to all who seek you
a humble mind and a pure heart
that they may know your Son Jesus Christ
as the way, the truth and the life;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Thomas Aquinas to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Spring growth and spring colours on Tsouderon Street in Rethymnon (Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Lavender Field, Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow … an example of planning carefully and reaping the benefits over the years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)