The River Deben is a river in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

rising to the west of

Debenham Debenham is a village and civil parish located north of Ipswich in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publish ...

, though a second, higher source runs south from the parish of Bedingfield. The river passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

Felixstowe Ferry Felixstowe Ferry is a hamlet in Suffolk, England, approximately two miles northeast of Felixstowe at the mouth of the River Deben with a ferry to the Bawdsey peninsula. Two Martello towers dominate the sea front. The Felixstowe Ferry Millennium ...

. The mouth of the estuary is crossed by a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

connecting

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. H ...

and Bawdsey.Ordnance Survey of Great Britain

History

Both the river-name and the name of the village of Debenham are of uncertain origin and relationship, but one theory (of several on offer) is that the river's name was originally ''Dēope'' meaning 'the deep one'. The river-name, however, is not recorded in the form Deben before 1735, when it appears thus in Kirby's ''Suffolk Traveller''. The river, though still little more than a stream, is forded twice in the village, with one ford claimed to be among the longest in England. Tide mills at Woodbridge have operated off the tide from the river Deben since at least 1170. The present mill, built in 1793, is producing stone ground wholemeal flour in the traditional way.

Ecology

The Deben Estuary is a

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

and

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Suffolk Coast and Heaths

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

. Its significance arises from its over-wintering population of avocets (''Recurvirostra avosetta''). The estuary features shifting sandbanks. Plant life is dominated by the common reed (''Phragmites australis''). The

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

and intertidal mud-flats that occupy most of the area have the widest range of salt marsh flora in Suffolk.

Leisure

There are several yacht and dinghy clubs on the river Deben. These include the Deben Rowing Club, Deben Yacht Club, the Waldringfield Sailing Club, Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club and the Woodbridge Cruising Club. There are two yacht harbours, the Tidemill Yacht Harbour, close to the Tide Mill; and the Granary Yacht Harbour, further upstream at Melton. The river Deben is a popular location for many other water sports including canoeing, wakeboarding, paddle boarding and windsurfing. The area where the river Deben enters the North Sea at Felixstowe Ferry is also a popular location for the sport of kitesurfing. Kitesurfers can usually be seen around low tide when the wind conditions are favourable, ranging from NE round to SW and depending on the direction of the tide.

References

External links

River Deben Navigation Information

SPA designation

Deben Yacht Club
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deben, River Rivers of Suffolk Ramsar sites in England Special Protection Areas in England

History

Ecology

Leisure

See also

References

External links