New website

 

Please go to www.boht.info

 

The Burnham Overy Harbour Trust is a registered charity (No.287315) set up in 1982 to manage the harbour and creek for the benefit of its users. The objects of the charity are

- to manage the harbour area in line with environmental and heritage objectives

- to maintain and improve the creek and harbour and regulate access to the creek for those purposes

- to co-operate with relevant organisations to promote water safety and application of byelaws

The Trustees of the Charity are:

Peter Beck

David Hart KC

The Earl of Leicester

David de Stacpoole

 

Governance

The land and creek at Burnham Overy Harbour was bought by the Earl of Leicester (the Holkham Estate) in 1922 and is leased to the Burnham Overy Harbour Trust (the Charity) for £10 a year. To read a copy of the lease, click

Lease

The Charity operates under a constitution which ensures the harbour is managed fairly and in the interests of all harbour users and local people. To read a copy of the constitution,click

Constitution
 

Harbour Warden

 

The Harbour Trust have appointed John Thompson to the position of Harbour Warden. John is a qualified boatman and a CL65 right-holder.

 

Common Rights

Much of the land leased to the Charity forms part of CL65, a registered Common and is therefore subject to common rights. Common rights involve the entitlement to take a specific product from land belonging to another, in this case the Holkham Estate. The rights of common and the names of the rights holders in relation to CL65 are registered at Norfolk County Council. The rights holders are entitled to exercise their registered rights (grazing, wildfowling etc.) unhindered as well as such further ancillary rights as are reasonably necessary to exercise their registered rights. All other rights remain vested in the landowner who has granted a lease to the Charity which in turn may appoint a Management Committee.

 

Management

 

Officers

Hon. Chair: Wiilliam Garnett

Hon. Secretary: Toby Campbell-Gray

Hon.Treasurer: Peter Low
 

AGM 2023

The 2023 AGM will be held at 5.00pm on Saturday 8th April at Burnham Thorpe Village Hall

 

Ownership

There is some confusion over the extent of the Holkham Estate’s ownership and the land leased to the Charity. It has been suggested that the some or all of the land is by owned by the Crown Estate, the Common Rights Holders, the Parish Council and/or the National Trust, to name but a few. An extract from the 1922 Conveyance showing the extent of the land purchased by the Earl of Leicester in 1922 can be seen here.

Conveyance of 1922.·

Some of this land was subsequently sold to the Crown, the National Trust and others but the majority remains owned by the Holkham Estate and leased to the Harbour Trust. The rights holders are entitled to conduct their common rights unrestricted but they do not own the land and the management of the land is vested in the Charity for public benefit. The exact extent of Holkham Estate’s ownership can be confirmed by visiting the Government’s Land Registry Website·but this map broadly illustrates the extent of the lease granted to the Trust.

Map