Norfolk Scrapyard
Discussion
Some time in the mid to late 70s my father took me with him to a scrapyard in rural Norfolk. We were staying near Aylsham. The memory of this place has stuck with me since. There were cars there back to the 20s and 30s gradually returning to nature, hidden amongst brambles and nettles. It was huge place, cars just littered around the fields. We bought some parts from a terminally rotten Jaguar saloon. Dad found an Alvis in the undergrowth, pre war I think, way past saving. He was on the hunt for a rear axle for a Bristol, and it seemed that was pretty much the only thing they didn’t have.
A local told had told us about the place and that the owners had some ‘good stuff’ hidden away in sheds there including some Bentleys. Dad asked, but if the cars were there they weren’t going to show us. The same local told us where there was a 405 Bristol, might be for sale he thought. The Bristol wasn’t and neither was the Hispano it was garaged alongside. Huge car, an H6B I reckon, and remember Dad telling me that these were the best money could buy. Better than a Rolls.
A bit of googling suggests it was Medlars at Heveningham. There are recent pictures on Flickr.
Anyone else remember the place?
Jonathan
A local told had told us about the place and that the owners had some ‘good stuff’ hidden away in sheds there including some Bentleys. Dad asked, but if the cars were there they weren’t going to show us. The same local told us where there was a 405 Bristol, might be for sale he thought. The Bristol wasn’t and neither was the Hispano it was garaged alongside. Huge car, an H6B I reckon, and remember Dad telling me that these were the best money could buy. Better than a Rolls.
A bit of googling suggests it was Medlars at Heveningham. There are recent pictures on Flickr.
Anyone else remember the place?
Jonathan
I was going to suggest Medler's. It was an amazing place, stopped formally operating in the late '90s but there was still a fair bit of stuff there after that time. Still is, I believe.
A few poor quality scans from my visits there in the mid-late '90s. I wish I'd taken hundreds more, but back then had to consider the cost of film and processing....
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNq8X]
1971 Toyota Corona 1900 MarkII[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QStx3]
Datsun 100A (E10)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNokD]
Ford Fairlane, Medler's c.1996[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSL1J]
Ford Falcon[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNGdt]
MedlersOld39[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNFUg]
MedlersOld16[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJyu]
1965-ish Oldsmobile at Medler's Scrapyard[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJrQ]
Humber Hearse[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJ8h]
Austin Metropolitan, Medler's c.1997/98[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNW9X]
Medlers Mixture[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNWTZ]
Medlers Mixture[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QT1to]
Datsun 2000 Cedric (130)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
One day I must get round to doing some decent scans of my photos (and watermarking them!).
A few poor quality scans from my visits there in the mid-late '90s. I wish I'd taken hundreds more, but back then had to consider the cost of film and processing....
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNq8X]1971 Toyota Corona 1900 MarkII[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QStx3]Datsun 100A (E10)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNokD]Ford Fairlane, Medler's c.1996[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSL1J]Ford Falcon[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNGdt]MedlersOld39[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNFUg]MedlersOld16[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJyu]1965-ish Oldsmobile at Medler's Scrapyard[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJrQ]Humber Hearse[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJ8h]Austin Metropolitan, Medler's c.1997/98[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNW9X]Medlers Mixture[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNWTZ]Medlers Mixture[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QT1to]Datsun 2000 Cedric (130)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
One day I must get round to doing some decent scans of my photos (and watermarking them!).
singlecoil said:
Anyone with Photoshop and a bit of an idea of how to use it will swiftly dispose of any watermarks should they have a mind to do so.
Maybe so, but they would never have had the pleasure of going there. I know I took them, I nearly got in trouble with the people who ran the place for it.....There used to be a massive yard at Beck Row near Mildenhall. I used to go there in the 80's and it had some lovely cars in it. lovely 60's Alfas, Mini Cooper 's', with lots of American stuff as well. A lot of the cars were left behind by servicemen going home, and were still in pretty good shape. The Cooper 's' I took the coil bracket off for my kit car looked totally original and all there, it wasn't even that rusty.
Alfa101 said:
Spottedlaurel, , That’s definitely the place! Great pictures. Wish I had some of the place in the 70s.
Anyone know what the car is in the 6th picture down? With the rounded boot lid?
Jonathan
1956 BMW 501?Anyone know what the car is in the 6th picture down? With the rounded boot lid?
Jonathan
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNFUg]MedlersOld16[/url] by Spottedlaurel
eccles said:
The width of the rear pillar between the back window and the rear side window is a bit different, but otherwise it looks spot on.
My mistake, it's a 502 not a 501. The later 502 was the V8 with the thin pillar.
https://www.coys.co.uk/cars/1956-bmw-502
Alfa101 said:
Spottedlaurel, , That’s definitely the place! Great pictures. Wish I had some of the place in the 70s.
Anyone know what the car is in the 6th picture down? With the rounded boot lid?
Jonathan
As answered above, from memory there were two of them there! That photo was taken when they starting to empty the place in the very late '90s, with old things being dragged out of the woods.Anyone know what the car is in the 6th picture down? With the rounded boot lid?
Jonathan
When I started going there was a big field on the right of the track where they directed you for most stuff. There was a wall of cars along one side of it, we crawled through something rusty and probably on the point of collapse one day to investigate what was beyond, which turned out to be a load of even older stuff amongst the trees.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSKzL]MedlersOld17[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
I doubt much of them survived in one piece after being pulled out by Alan on the tractor.
I spent most of a weekend there wrestling a 5-speed 'box out of a Bluebird SSS for my older 180B. Parts didn't cost too much but they were very reluctant to sell complete cars.
After it had formally closed I went back and ended up being invited to go along and investigate another area, which was on the left of the track. To get around there we had to walk across collapsing roofs of pre-war cars, which were randomly interspersed with newer things.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNGkp]1959 Ford Fairlane[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSKgJ]Medler's Scrapyard miscellany c.2001[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
It's worth looking at on Google Earth Pro, where you can go back to 1999 and still see numerous cars in the big field. Recent Google Maps imagery shows the trees are gradually reclaiming the place and you'd never know now what delights used to be there.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJTW]1970/71 BMW 1600 (1602?) c.2000[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QSJLA]Morris Six at Medlers Scrapyard[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QVoGM]Singer Vogue and assorted oldies, Medler's c.1996/97[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QZsdw]1962 Plymouth Valiant at Medler's c.1996[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
Cars aside, an abiding memory I have of the place is the cats. There were a few living wild amongst the cars:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QVpVt]Mitsubishi Sapporo[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
[quote=Spottedlaurel]I was going to suggest Medler's. It was an amazing place, stopped formally operating in the late '90s but there was still a fair bit of stuff there after that time. Still is, I believe.
A few poor quality scans from my visits there in the mid-late '90s. I wish I'd taken hundreds more, but back then had to consider the cost of film and processing....
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QStx3]
Datsun 100A (E10)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
Great pictures, thanks for posting these!
That little Datsun was in much better condition than it should have been if the picture was taken mid 90's, shame it ended up there really..
A few poor quality scans from my visits there in the mid-late '90s. I wish I'd taken hundreds more, but back then had to consider the cost of film and processing....
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QStx3]Datsun 100A (E10)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
Great pictures, thanks for posting these!
That little Datsun was in much better condition than it should have been if the picture was taken mid 90's, shame it ended up there really..
SilverHarrier said:
That little Datsun was in much better condition than it should have been if the picture was taken mid 90's, shame it ended up there really..
Alan said some cars were sent there after the owner had died and their other half/family didn't want it to be seen or go on the road again.May have been the case with this one?
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNXTH]1978 Datsun 180B Estate (810) Medlers c.1996/97[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
I ended up with a bit of interior trim off it, but really it was far too good to be in there.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6QNX3K]1979 Datsun 200L (C230)[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr
This one doesn't look significantly worse than the Laurel I have now.
Like most cars of their age, they could rot away nicely underneath so might well have been worse than they looked.
I well recall the approach to the large field of scrappers at Medlars being lined with cars in various states of collapse, the aggressive shaggy burglar alarm at the "office" is the other memory.
There was another yard at Hainford Hall which was better organised and customer friendly, spent many an afternoon looking round the cars there.
There was another yard at Hainford Hall which was better organised and customer friendly, spent many an afternoon looking round the cars there.
Edited by Auntieroll on Tuesday 28th April 14:45
I well recall the approach to the large field of scrappers at Medlars being lined with cars in various states of collapse, the aggressive shaggy burglar alarm at the "office" is the other memory.
There was another yard at Hainford Hall which was better organised and customer friendly, spent many an afternoon looking round the cars there.
There was another yard at Hainford Hall which was better organised and customer friendly, spent many an afternoon looking round the cars there.
Edited by Auntieroll on Tuesday 28th April 14:45
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