
The River Orwell flows through the
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
of
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
in England from
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
to
Felixstowe
Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...
. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the
River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at
Stoke Bridge, about half a mile below where the river becomes
tidal by Bobby Robson Bridge on West End Road. It broadens into an
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
at Ipswich, where the
Ipswich dock has operated since the 7th century, and then flows into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
at Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port, after joining the
River Stour at
Shotley forming Harwich harbour.
The large
Orwell Bridge carries the
A14 trunk road over the estuary to the south of Ipswich.
Name
In the name ''Orwell'', ''Or-'' comes from an ancient river-name—probably pre-Celtic; but ''-well'' probably indicates an Anglo-Saxon naming. In ''A tour through England and Wales'', written in 1722,
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...
calls the river "Orwel" (though he does this inconsistently). He also mentions that "a traveller will hardly understand me, especially a seaman, when I speak of the River Stour and the River Orwell at Harwich, for they know them by no other names than those of Maningtre-Water, and Ipswich-Water". The writer Eric Blair chose the pen name under which he would later become famous, "
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
," because of his love for the river.
A few miles north of the Orwell is another Suffolk river, the
Ore, and Orfordness, the village port of Orford with its historic
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
.
Estuary
The estuary flows through different sections as it makes its way down from Ipswich to the sea:
Freston Reach
Redgate Hard is located here. This
hard is probably post medieval.
Downham Reach
A whale was beached on Downham Reach around 1816.
Potters Reach
Lower Reach
At this point the Stour flows into the Orwell by
Shotley Point.
Sailing
The Orwell provides a popular venue for
sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
. Interest originally centred on the hamlet of
Pin Mill (featured in two children's novels by
Arthur Ransome: ''
We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea'' and ''
Secret Water''), which is home to the Pin Mill Sailing Club and its
Hard. Ransome had kept his yacht ''Selina King'' at the Pin Mill anchorage in 1937–39.
Since the 1970s marinas have opened at
Levington (Suffolk Yacht Harbour, pictured), Woolverstone, Fox's (just outside Ipswich), and two marinas in the old
Ipswich Wet Dock. Woolverstone is home to the
Royal Harwich Yacht Club that was for many years host to the Swordfish 15-foot racing
dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...
built by
Fairey Marine, in addition to its 12-foot Firefly, a derivative of the National 12-foot dinghy, both designed by the sailor
Uffa Fox. It now hosts a broad range of sailing events, such as the annual 'Junior Race Week'.
Ipswich Barrier
Ipswich has in the past been affected by flooding, both fluvial flooding from water passing down the river Gipping, and tidal flooding from tidal surges passing up the estuary of the Orwell, with the river becoming much narrower near to the entrance to
Ipswich Docks. In order to reduce this risk, the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
implemented a programme of works expected to cost a total of £58 million to improve the flood defences on both banks of the tidal river and of the
Port of Ipswich. The work included the construction of the Ipswich tidal barrier, and because the work affected the right of navigation on the New Cut, the section of the Orwell immediately above the barrier site, it required an order to be issued under the
Transport and Works Act 1992. The Ipswich Barrier Order was issued by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in August 2012.
The barrier consists of a rising sector gate, wide and high, located just to the west of the entrance to the wet dock. In November 2014, a contract for £28 million was awarded to VBA, a joint venture between VolkerStevin, Boskalis Westminster and Atkins, for construction of the barrier and associated flood defences on the banks of the river. The barrier is designed to prevent tidal surges passing further up stream, and to enable downstream fluvial flows to be controlled. It provides better flood protection to some 1,500 homes and 400 business properties. The river at the barrier site was wide, but in order to allow the construction of the barrier and the commissioning of the gate, a large cofferdam, square, extending downwards into the chalk bed of the river, was formed against the east bank. This left a much narrower channel to allow the river flows to reach the estuary and boats to continue to access the river above the barrier site.
The sector gate was designed by the German firm IRS, and was manufactured in Holland by Hollandia. Once assembled, it was floated across the North Sea, and lifted into the concrete support structure by a 600 tonne crane. The position of the gate is moved by two hydraulic cylinders, and it can be positioned to prevent a tidal surge passing up stream, or to regulate the downstream flow of the river. The concrete structure was tied in to the eastern bank early in the project, but ties to the western bank had to wait until the gate had been commissioned. At that point, both the flow of the river and boats could pass through the new structure, and the side channel could be blocked off. The new barrier was officially opened in early February 2019 by Therese Coffey, Floods Minister at the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...
, by which time the cost of the project had risen to £67.4 million. While most of the funding came from the Environment Agency, some was also provided by Ipswich Borough Council, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, and UK Power Networks.
''The Yangtse Incident''
The 1957 film ''
Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst'' was filmed on the river. The naval shore establishment at
HMS Ganges also featured in the film being used as a site for Chinese gun batteries.
Bibliography
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orwell, River
Rivers of Suffolk
Ramsar sites in England