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No. 126 August 2014

PROGRAMME

Wednesday 10th September 2014 at 7.30pm.

Brian Cornell River Thames Watermen and Lightermen.

Brian spent his working life on the Thames, and thus brings intimate knowledge of his

subject gained from close contact.

Wednesday 8th October 2014 at 7.30pm.

John Griffiths Remembering Ipswich Airport

John worked at the long-closed airport on Nacton Road, and his history of the facility has

been published by Ipswich Transport Museum.

Wednesday 12th November 2014 at 7.30pm.

Annual General Meeting followed by:

John Jones Industrial Archaeology in the Czech Republic

John participated in the recent AIA tour to the Czech Republic, where the retreat from heavy

industry commenced later than in the UK, and the survival rate of relics is higher.

Wednesday 10th December 2014 at 7.30pm.

To be arranged.

Wednesday 14th January 2015 at 7.30pm.

To be arranged.

Wednesday 11th February 2015 at 7.30pm.

To be arranged.

Wednesday 11th March 2015 at 7.30pm.

To be arranged.

Wednesday 8th April 2015 at 7.30pm

Mervyn Russen. Fisons – from Dung to Drugs.

Mervyn, who spoke to us last year on the history of railways in Ipswich, spent his career with

Fisons, and is thus in a position to detail the history of the Bramford site, soon to be re-

developed. Fisons’ originated with Packard, who began producing fertilizer from Coprolites

(hence the reference to dung) in the mid 19th century.

Venue: All indoor meetings are held at the Ipswich Transport Museum, Cobham Road,

Ipswich. Parking and access is via the rear of the museum.

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RECENT PLANNING APPLICATIONS

Babergh District Council

B/14/00267 Fire improvement works at Flatford Mill, Flatford Lane, East

B/14/00268 Bergholt..

B/14/00286 Alterations to doors and construction of ventilation panels at

B/14/00287 Flatford Mill, Flatford Lane, East Bergholt.

B/14/00468 Demolition of existing commercial buildings at Silk Factory,

Chequers Lane, Glemsford, and redevelopment with 10

dwellings.

B/14/00499 Conversion to residential units at Walnut Tree Hospital, Walnut

Tree Lane, Sudbury.

B/14/00548 Replacement of lock gate and mechanism at Flatford Lock,

Flatford Mill, Flatford Lane, East Bergholt.

B/14/00730 Erection of two dwellings following demolition of Frithwood

Works workshop buildings, Hanningfield Green, Lawshall.

Ipswich Borough Council

IP/14/00656/FUL Change of use from general industry and warehousing to

100% warehousing and distribution at Alstons, Nacton Road.

IP/14/00657/FUL Change of use from office to bar/restaurant at Christies Ware-

house, Wherry Quay.

Mid Suffolk District Council

1254/14 Installation of extractor fan at The Old Forge, Mendlesham

Road, Wetheringsett cum Brockford.

1354/14 Removal of blown top layer of modern render finish at The Old

Forge, Mendlesham Road, Wetheringsett cum Brockford.

1754/14 Demolition of dilapidated Nissen Hut, Three Acres,

Helmingham Road, Ashbocking.

1905/14 Demolition of part of existing offices and erection of new

office at former Scotts/Fisons site, Paper Mill Lane, Bramford.

2118/14 Re-roofing The Old Forge, Mendlesham Road, Wetheringsett

cum Brockford.

Suffolk Coastal District Council/Waveney District Council (amalgamated website)

C/12/2419 Non-material amendment. Alterations, (all other buildings to

be removed) at The Old Cider Works, Tongs Lane, Cratfield..

C/13/0833 Rebuilding of Wenhaston station and coal shed, restoration of

track and bridge at Part of land south and east of Pumping

Station, Blyford Lane, Wenhaston

DC/13/2847/FUL Conversion of Grade II listed water tower to dwelling at Park

DC/13/2848/LBC Road, Aldeburgh.

DC/14/1568/FUL Remediation works at former gasworks to reduce potential

environmental issues at Former Gasworks, College Road,

Framlingham.

DC/14/1789/FUL Proposed alterations and extensions to Tollgate Cottage,

Yarmouth Road, Melton.

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DC/14/1883/DEM Demolition of buildings at former Sanyo Industries Site, School

Road, Lowestoft.

DC/14/1927/LBC Conversion of granary to form bunk house at Wortwell Mill,

Low Road, Homersfield.

DC/14/2126/FUL Replacement of existing building at Robertson’s Boatyard,

Lime Kiln Quay, Woodbridge.

DC/14/1977/FUL Removal of extensions and erection of kitchen/diner extension

at Waterloo Mill, Halesworth Road, Bramfield.

DC/14/1998/FUL Change of use at Cricket Bat Yard, Common Lane,Bromeswell.

DC/14/2403/DRC Discharge of conditions under previous planning permission.

Proposed residential development of Aldeburgh Brickworks,

Saxmundham Road, Aldeburgh.

DC/14/2152/FUL Demolition of existing redundant builders yard and erection

of three dwellings at Saunders Plumbing and Heating Ltd., Mill

Road, Peasenhall.

THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

In accordance with the Constitution of the Society, notice is hereby given of the Annual

General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 12th November 2014 at the Ipswich Transport

Museum, Cobham Road, Ipswich, commencing at 7.30pm. This is your opportunity to have

your say on how the Society is run, and to volunteer to serve on the committee. Two posts,

those of Secretary and Treasurer, need to be filled at this meeting. Please give some thought

on whether you could take on one of these posts.

Agenda

1. Apologies for Absence.

2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2013 (See minutes in the November 2013

Newsletter).

3. Matters Arising from the 2013 AGM Minutes.

4. Accounts for the Year 2013 – 2014 including the appointment of the Independent

Examiner and the Setting of Subscription Rates.

5. Election of the Committee.

6. Any Other Business.

THE NEWSLETTER

The Newsletter is produced four times a year by Suffolk Industrial Archaeology Society.

Contributions from members are welcomed.

Chairman: S.Worsley, 24 Abbotsbury Close, Ipswich, IP2 9SD (01473 405116).

Secretary: Position currently vacant.

Treasurer: Position currently vacant.

Newsletter distributor: John Jones. Those wishing to receive the Newsletter electronically

are urged to contact John at joneshines@btinternet.com. To cut costs, all who are able to

receive their Newsletters in this way are encouraged to make arrangements to do so.

Website: We do not presently have our own website, but we do have a presence on the River

Gipping Trust’s site (www.rivergippingtrust.org.uk).

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ABSTRACTS

Journals of other Societies frequently arrive on your Chairman’s doormat; in order to give

members some idea of what these contain, we reproduce the contents below. If anything

sounds to be of interest, please contact the Chairman and he will arrange for photocopies of

the relevant article to be made.

Suffolk Review, New Series 63, Autumn 2014.

‘You’ll Make a Lovely Sargeant.’ The World War One Experience of Flora Sandes, by

Janette Robinson.

Was John Ball, Reputedly a Co-Leader of the Great Rising of 1381, from Suffolk, by Dr.

John Ridgard.

The Curacy of Rev. Charles Winn, MA at St. Peter’s Church, Sudbury, Suffolk, 1643 – 1646,

by Dr. Derek Thomas.

Overcrowding and Acorns: the Post-War Housing Crisis in Lowestoft, by Peter Clements.

Suffolk Mills Group Newsletter, No 113, May 2014.

Mills of the Map – Westleton Common.

Mills in the News, by Bob Malster.

Walter Cole’s Cycling Diaries (1), by Ken and Peter Cole.

The Local Historian, Vol 44 No 2 April 2014.

Coppice Management in South-East Hertfordshire 1550 – 1910, by Peter Austin.

Records of the Lloyd George Survey of Land Values 1910: Comparisons and Insights from

Gloucestershire, by Anthea Jones.

Horses for the Great War, by Phoebe Merrick.

Industrial Archaeology Review, Vol 36, No 1, May 2014.

Contemporary and Recent Archaeology in Practice, by Paul Belford.

‘Grass Banks Between the Storage Tanks’: 20th-Century Industry on the Hoo Peninsula,

Kent, by Edward Carpenter.

Wearside Pottery: a 20th-Century Potworks in Sunderland, by Ian Miller.

The 20th-Century Revolution in Textile Machines and Processes. Part 2: Textured Yarns and

Other Technologies, by John W.S. Hearle.

Legislation and Reality: the Archaeological Evidence for Sanitation and Housing Quality in

Urban Worker’s Housing in the Ancoats Area of Manchester Between 1800 and 1950, by

Michael Nevell.

Industrial Archaeology News, 169, Summer 2014.

The Origins and Early Days of the AIA, by Angus Buchanan.

Grytviken, South Georgia Island, Austral Summer 2013 -2014, by Scott L. Smith.

Enderby Wharf, London – At Risk, by Robert Carr.

Warwickshire’s Unique ‘Gaslight’ Distance Posts, by Mervyn Benford.

Nathaniel Wheeler, Pioneering Manufacturer, by Andrew T. Rose.

The Atlanterra Project and the Development of Interpretative Animation and International

Slate Studies, by Stephen Hughes.

Roller Flour Milling, White bread and the Millennium Mills, London, by Robert Carr.

Industrial Archaeology News, 170, Autumn 2014.

Hindley Steam Engine at Sherbourne, by Geoff Ward.

Yak Hair & Old Crushed Bricks, by Mark Sissons. (Llanymynech Lime Works).

Country House Comfort & Convenience, by Chris Barney. (IA of Country Houses in Ulster)

2014 AIA Tour to Moravia and Silesia, by Clive Thomas.

Stockfish and Boat Engines, by Chris Barney. (A Norwegian museum of engineering).

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FAREWELL TO THE GREASY SPOON

The Ipswich Star of August 21st featured an interesting article on the decline of the transport

café, occasioned by the granting of planning permission to convert the former Little Chef at

Haughley to a place of worship for the Gilgal Pentecostal Church of Bury St. Edmunds.

Transport Cafes grew up to serve the road haulage industry in an age when top speeds were

much lower than today, and the road system was less suited for long haul operations.

Consequently, they sprang up at nodal points on the main road network, and at locations at

regular intervals along main roads where truckers were likely to stop for refreshment. The

growth of dual carriageway roads, higher speeds, and the ‘just in time’ culture of deliveries

has caused a decline in their numbers, and concentration on fewer locations. The article

concentrated on two surviving cafes in the region, and on the similarities and differences

between these and one of the newer establishments. Traditional transport cafes to survive in

Suffolk which the article covered are the Red Lodge Café at Barton Mills near Mildenhall,

and the Hill Top Café at Rougham Hill near Bury St. Edmunds. The Red Lodge Café lies on

the former A11, part way between Norwich and London. The main road now by-passes the

café, but its whereabouts is still known to present-day lorry drivers, and the re-routing of the

road has brought benefits. Trucks can now exit the car park on to the main road without

having to wait for a lengthy period until a suitable gap in the main road traffic appears. It no

longer operates a 24 hour day, but is open from 4am to 11pm. The shower facilities are still

appreciated by road hauliers, but the bedroom facilities have been superseded, as a Norwich –

London journey can now be made without a stop-over thanks to road improvements and

advances in lorry design. At Rougham, 6am to 8pm opening hours are observed, and truckers

may obtain a higher standard of food than was once offered. Owner Martin Walker, here for

the past two decades, worked as a professional chef at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin before

coming to Suffolk, and prepared meals for numerous visiting celebrities. Here 52 lorries can

park up in the sizable car park. A similar service is offered at the newer café, on the A14 at

the Orwell Crossing on the outskirts of Ipswich. This is an example of the transport café

moving with the times, for this is located on a new, dual carriageway road, opening in 1982

to assist the movement of traffic to the growing port of Felixstowe.

The article also featured the memories of former truck driver Phillip Hall, who recalled fleets

of tankers serving the CWS Creamery in Violet Hill Road in Stowmarket, and the

Stowmarket Aerated Water Company based at the same town’s Karnser Waterworks (a

former brewery, the façade of which remains on Station Road; the karnser also survives, a

raised footway over a frequently-flooded area). Phillip’s memories of transport cafes related

to the 24-hour Gallows Corner café in Romford, now closed. Here all the Stowmarket tanker

drivers rejoiced in the nickname of ‘Milky’.

All this is history, not from hundreds of years ago, but from the relatively recent past.

Nevertheless, history it is, and unless it is recorded now, before those with direct experience

pass away, much of the minutiae will be lost, and posterity will be forced to wonder and

create theories of what went on in the 20th century.

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FISHING TALK

Following on nicely from the closing remarks above is the publication of a new

work by David Butcher, one of the county’s foremost practitioners of oral history. Anyone

with a curiosity about the fishing industry of Lowestoft will have discovered David’s

estimable trio of books published thirty or more years ago, The Trawlermen, The Driftermen,

and Living from the Sea. David interviewed septuagenarian and octogenarian inhabitants of

the Lowestoft area who had spent their working lives in the fishing industry, and the results

add an extra dimension to dry facts about the industry. The books also do a fine job in

recording the Suffolk dialect and phraseology of the interviewees, now in decline following

increased educational opportunities, the influence of radio and television, and improved

personal mobility. Having more recently produced a substantial and scholarly book looking

at the growth of the town between 1550 and 1750, David has now returned to the fishing

industry, and its mostly-vanished jargon, for his new book. Fishing Talk, sub-titled The

Language of a Lost Industry, covers, as its title suggests, the terms used by the Lowestoft

fishermen to describe the technicalities of their profession. The superstitions of the fishing

community are also covered in detail. The book is published by Poppyland at a cover price

of £11.95,

RECORD OFFICE MOVE

A recurring theme in recent Newsletters has been the proposed move of the Ipswich branch

of the Suffolk Record Office. During the summer the County Council discussed a number of

options, with the final decision to be taken at the year’s end. The current preferred option is a

two phase scheme, with the Office relocating to University Campus Suffolk’s North Library,

with the present Gatacre Road premises being retained for storage. This would occur by

2016, and cost £2.6million. In the second phase, a new research centre would be built, linked

to the North Library, between 2020 and 2025. This building will have a ‘wow factor’ and

will be funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the tune of £7.75million. One suspects that

the HLF have yet to be approached about this. However, as we went to press an outsider was

making a sustained run on the inside from nowhere, and might well become front runner

before too long. This scheme involves the conversion of the former County Hall on St.

Helen’s Street. This building has been empty since the County Council moved to Endeavour

House in 2004, but a planning application has lately been lodged to turn the former council

chamber into a register office. Now the idea has been floated to use the rest of the building as

the Record Office. When your Chairman first carried out research into Suffolk’s history he

did so at the then Record Office housed in . . . . the County Hall on St. Helen’s Street!

Suffolk Record Office have recently issued their list of events for Autumn 2014, which

include talks, ten and five week courses, taster and ‘hands on’ sessions, and East Anglia Film

Archive shows. November 22nd will see the launch of the online version of the Manorial

Documents Register at Otley Hall, when guest speakers will explore the uses of the records

and the ways in which the register can be used for research. More information on the above

can be found in the leaflet, obtainable from Tourist Information Offices and Record Offices,

or online via the Suffolk Record Office website (www.suffolk.gov.uk/sro).

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HERITAGE OPEN DAYS

This year this popular event takes place on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September, with a

variety of sites across Suffolk open for the one weekend of the year in which they are

accessible. Other locations, regularly open, will be free to visit for the weekend. Far too

much is happening to cover in these pages, but typing the words ‘Heritage Open Days 2014’

into a search engine should bring up plenty of suggestions.

CONFERENCE SUCCESS

A successful East of England Regional Conference took place on Suffolk soil on June 7th,

when delegates from the Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex Industrial Archaeology

Societies met up in Sudbury. The venue for the conference was The Granary, an early 19th

century building erected by the River Stour and now the headquarters of the River Stour

Trust. Appropriately our first speaker was Andrew Richardson, Chairman of that

organisation, who gave an interesting and detailed talk on the history of one of Britain’s first

River Navigations, and the Trust’s plans for its future. Andrew was followed by Richard

Humphries of Humphries Weaving, who still weave silk in the town. Richard’s talk on the

story of silk and its connection with the Stour valley was enlivened by his humorous delivery

and by his visual aids, which comprised of many samples of silk cloth, all of which somehow

fitted into a fairly small bag.

Either side of the lunch break delegates were treated to a trip along the Stour in one of the

Trust’s vessels. At the restored Cornard Lock, we were permitted to go ashore to see from

close quarters the preserved Stour lighter, John Constable. Our afternoon entertainment,

enjoyed in blazing sunshine in contrast to the thunderstorms that had accompanied our

speakers in the morning session, took the form of a walking tour around Sudbury. We were

led by the extremely knowledgeable David Burnett, of the Sudbury Society. Like almost all

other towns, much has disappeared, but nevertheless enough remained to keep us busy for

around an hour and a half, with a former soda water bottling plant, hand loom weaver’s

cottages, former silk mill, an erstwhile crayon factory, and examples of the cast iron street

furniture produced locally in the town being seen. Negotiations with the staff of the hotel

which occupies the former watermill gave us access to see the waterwheel (by Wickham

Market millwrights Whitmore & Binyon) and also the mummified cat which was discovered

during renovation works and is now kept in a glass case.

Thanks to Andrew Richardson, Richard Humphries, David Burnett, and the representatives of

the River Stour Trust, the day passed most successfully, and seemed to be enjoyed by all

participants.

Next year’s event is to be organised by the Norfolk I.A. Society, and Carole and Alan Haines

have already made exploratory investigations of locations. We will publish more information

in due course.

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AROUND THE REGION

£15,717 of government funding has been obtained to repair damage to Southwold harbour

caused by winter storms. The money, from the Small Ports Fund, will be used to fund repairs

to the fishing stage, harbour office and Walberswick Quay. Elsewhere in the town, the

extensions to the Alfred Corry Museum, mooted over five years ago, could well be about to

become a reality. The museum, which charts the history of the town’s lifeboats, houses the

121-year old lifeboat Alfred Corry, which served Southwold from 1893 to 1918, during

which time it was launched 41 times resulting in the saving of 47 lives. The museum

building itself, a former lifeboat shed, dates from 1923, when it was erected on Cromer Pier.

It was dismantled and re-erected in Southwold in 1998.

The remains of the windpump on Westwood marshes near Walberswick, Grade II listed and

on the buildings at risk register, could be converted to become an observation point

connected with the adjacent National Nature Reserve. Millwright Vincent Pargeter has

surveyed the mill and is preparing a scheme which will hopefully conserve the remains for

the future.

Along the coast at the southern extremity of Suffolk, Shotley Pier has been offered for sale by

developers East Anglian Group. £195,000 should secure the purchase of the 1894-built

Bristol Pier, originally built as a landing stage for the ferry across the Stour to Harwich and

Felixstowe. The pier takes its name from the original owner and local landowner the

Marquess of Bristol. Prior to 1905 the training ship HMS Ganges moored at the pier, prior to

the establishment of the on-shore naval base which continued at Shotley until 1976, retaining

the name of its floating predecessor.

Ipswich Borough Council may possibly buy the derelict site at the entrance to the flagship

Waterfront development area based on the Wet Dock. The site of the former St. Peter’s

Warehouse, ravaged by fire in 2000 and subsequently demolished as unsafe, and the

neighbouring Paul’s concrete silo may be purchased in order to enable the area to be

redeveloped. The site is seen as the gateway to the Waterfront and the council wish to see it

redeveloped, as the current unsurfaced temporary car park fails to catch the eye.

The Mid Suffolk Light Railway, based at Brockford, Suffolk’s sole preserved railway line,

hopes to double the length of its line. It plans to lay an additional 600 metres of track and

erect a small station, Wilby Halt. The railway and the local authority are holding discussions

to advance the proposals after a planning application was withdrawn. No less than four

locomotives will be present for the lines Light Railway Gala over the weekend of September

13/4, with two visiting steam engines assisting the resident steam and diesel locomotives.

Recently added to the collection of rolling stock is a fully-restored Great Eastern Railway

horsebox of 1869, rescued from a Cambridgeshire farm. The Southwold Railway Trust, who

hope to recreate the narrow gauge line that served the seaside town in the late 19th and early

20th centuries, are currently seeking planning permission to build a replica of Wenhaston

station.