The Stowmarket Navigation

 

The Stowmarket Navigation, often referred to as the Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation, was constructed by making the River Gipping navigable between the two towns. At the port of Ipswich, the river mysteriously changes its name to the tidal River Orwell giving access to the combined estuary with the River Stour where the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich are located.

The source of the Gipping is to the North East of Stowmarket and the terminal basin can be seen upstream of the bridge by the town's railway station. At the South of the town the Gipping is joined by its major tributary, the River Rat. The Gipping then flows on a South Easterly course on the 17-mile journey to Ipswich.
 
 

Early use of the River Gipping

In the year 860 the Danes sailed up the river and established the village of Rattles-dane near the source of the River Rat. From this village now known as Rattlesden they attacked the Saxon stronghold of Haughley Castle. Stowmarket, a few miles South of Haughley, was of little significance then.

In 1065 Caen stone for Bury St. Edmunds Abbey was imported from Normandy and transported in flat-bottomed boats to Rattlesden. Stowmarket church bells were re-cast in the l7th century after being transported down-river.

The first proposal for the construction of the navigation was in 1719, but Ipswich objected, fearing loss of trade. It was not until 1789 that six local gentlemen (two were vicars!) with foresight realised that because of poor transport, due to badly-maintained turnpike roads (what's new?), the population and industries were dwindling in the Stowmarket area. They engaged William Jessop, who employed Isaac Lenny as the surveyor and a Parliamentary Bill for the construction of the navigation was passed on April 1st 1790.

Construction of the Navigation

Work started that year at the Ipswich end but the contractors Dyson and Pinkerton were dismissed due to problems with trespass. A local contractor was employed to continue work at the Stowmarket end and in 1791 John Rennie was consulted. He reported that three turf and timber locks had been constructed between Stowmarket and Needham Market, the other main town on the waterway, advised that further lock structures should be of brick and stone and estimated costs to complete the works. This amount was raised by a Parliamentary Bill of 1793.

The navigation was completed in 1793 and three barges loaded with coal made the 17 mile trip from Ipswich to Stowmarket on September 14th, rising 90 feet through 15 locks of broad construction each 55ft by 14ft, the draught being 3.3ft.

The Navigation in use

Initially the boat numbers were in single figures but doubled in the following year. Serious flood damage occurred in 1795 reducing traffic and receipts. Shipments increased and at the turn of the century over thirty trips were made weekly with coal, slates, manufactured and imported goods upstream, whilst gun-cotton, beer and agricultural produce were carried on the return run. Manure, by order of the original Act of Parliament could be carried free of tolls! The return trip took about 16 hours.

Stowmarket prospered after the navigation opened. Within a few years the population had doubled and industries were springing up by the river. Many of today's main industries in Stowmarket owe their origins to the navigation and retain their riverside sites. The country's main ICI Dulux paint plant evolved from Prentice's Chemical and Explosives works and the iron foundry, the home of Suffolk Colt and Punch lawnmowers is now the main production facility for Atco-Qualcast. The town was the largest exporter of malt in the country and Fisons still have modern riverside maltings.

The arrival of the railway

The navigation flourished; however in 1844 the Eastern Union Railway proposed an extension from Ipswich to Stowmarket along side the navigation. This now forms part of the London to Norwich InterCity route. Fearing loss of trade the trustees negotiated for the railway to lease the navigation. Following the negotiations, an Act was passed in 1846 allowing the railway to rent the navigation for 42 years. The Act had an interesting clause which required the railway company to keep the navigation in the same condition as it was on the date the Act was passed.

The trustees made a wise decision to lease the navigation, as for the next 42 years dividends were paid. When the lease came up for renewal in 1888, the railway refused to enter a new agreement for they were paying out for a transport system which was no longer a competitor, and from which they derived little income.

Compensation was received from the railway for the bad state of repair of the navigation this was as a result of the maintenance clause mentioned earlier - and from 1888 the navigation company were running the waterway again.

Decline and closure

Traffic declined; by 1900 trade on the navigation to Stowmarket had virtually ceased, but on the lower reaches the companies based at Bramford continued to use the waterway until the 1920s. These companies had sulphuric acid works on the site and the largest "artificial manure" works in Europe. Tar was also produced there. They eventually combined to form Fisons and much of the original works are intact and still in production, now known as Levington Horticulture.

These companies used the navigation be cause off difficulties with rail transport. They paid no tolls as they agreed to maintain the navigation, so they can be credited with keeping the waterway open for those final years. Fisons and Packards had their own fleets consisting of steam tugs each towing two barges of about 35 tons capacity. They worked day and night to catch the tides at the sea lock (Handford Lock, yes, Mike likes that!). About 600 tons of fertiliser were shipped daily.

In 1917 the trustees of the navigation ordered severe cost-cutting. Unfortunately finances did not improve and in 1922 the deficit was such that the trustees agreed to close the navigation; however some traffic did continue.

Eight years passed before the trustees met again, and in 1932 the Stowmarket Navigation Revocation Order was passed. The trustees wound up the business at their final meeting in Ipswich in 1934.

Restoration begins

The IWA Ipswich Branch has always been involved in the promotion of the River Gipping for leisure activities. In the early 1970s efforts were concentrated under the leader ship of our founder member and current retiring IWA Chairman, David Stevenson, in clearing the towpath. This was successful and it is now a very popular walk at the heart of the Gipping Valley Countryside Project, a collaborative venture between Mid Suffolk, Babergh and Suffolk County councils to con serve the character and enhance the recreation potential of the valley.

In the mid 1980s some of our members decided to get involved in restoration and work parties were held on the River Stour, with the River Stour Trust. Meanwhile we realised that no organisation was active in preserving what remained of the Stowmarket Navigation. Something had to be done, so behind-the-scenes negotiation began with councils and a presentation of our proposals for restoration was given to the Gipping Valley Countryside Project. Over twenty representatives from local and national organisations and councils were invited and surprisingly only two of these expressed objections.

Towards the end of 1989, the branch revived work parties on the river, by undertaking piling and revettment work, to assist the Countryside Project warden. This continued on a bi-monthly basis. Due to the success and praise of our work with the Country side Project, permission was given to start scrub clearance at Bosmere Lock on Mid Suffolk Council's Needham Lake countryside site, in Needham Market, in March 1992.

Restoration of Bosmere Lock

After further discussions with the NRA, work commenced on the lock structure in March 1993, when WRG BITM visited to install a ten ton sandbag dam and commence chamber clearance, in preparation for our first WRG canal camp in August. This was extremely successful under the leadership of Darryl Foster, resulting in the removal of coping stones and decayed brickwork from one chamber wall, chamber clearance and the casting of a new top cill and invert. Following the camp, the branch worked every week end, helped by visiting WRG groups from Essex and London, to rebuild the top wing walls and install the stop planks. The first dam was lost in the October floods, the worst for ten years. We installed a second ten ton sand bag dam, including sheet piles and three telegraph poles, and to quote John Gale "we did a lot of white-water bricklaying". The second dam was destroyed in the January floods, What a year to begin restoration! Needham Lake, near the lock, overflowed and the NRA, who were working downstream on Sharmford Lock, lost their massive steel dams, and work was held up for three months.

In spring 1994 the stop planks were finally installed. No more dam worries, (excuse pun) Work continued steadily until August 1994, when BITM visited again at the start of the second WRG canal camp. They were installing dams (now their speciality!) so that the banks above the lock could be reinforced with armlock blocks, This was completed by the WRG work camp, very ably led by Dave Brooker, assisted by Roger Burchett; one chamber wall is virtually rebuilt and the other is up to about half the required height. Some of the coping stones have also been repositioned. An extremely successful week which far exceeded our expectations, The final weekend of the camp was assisted by a small group from Essex WRG.

If you want to see what the working navigation looked like, the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation is virtually identical, as 50 of the 200 Stowmarket navvies went with the resident stonemason and engineer to build that navigation.

Finally I would like to sincerely thank all the volunteers who have worked on the restoration of Bosmere Lock, helping to achieve what I have dreamed of and campaigned for over the years, the restoration of the Stowmarket Navigation.
 

Bob Kearney
 
 

Reproduced with permission of the author.  Originally published in 'Navvies'.