The Shotley Peninsula is a rural area east of the A137

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, ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

road located between the rivers Stour and

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 ...

in Suffolk, England. The

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

is named after the settlements of Shotley and Shotley Gate which are situated near its south-eastern tip. Other villages on the peninsula include Chelmondiston, Erwarton (Arwarton), Freston, Harkstead, Holbrook, Stutton, Tattingstone, Wherstead and

Woolverstone Woolverstone is a small village and civil parish in Suffolk, England located on the Shotley peninsula. It is situated about south of Ipswich, near the southern shore of the River Orwell. In 2005 it had a population of 240,

. The population was 10,310 according to the 2001 Census, approximately 12.4% of the total population of

Babergh District Babergh District (pronounced , ) is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Suffolk, England. In 2021 it had a population of 92,300. The district is primarily a rural area, containing just two towns, Sudbury, Suffolk, Sudbury an ...

Geography

The rivers Stour and Orwell meet at Shotley Gate and merge to join with 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 ...

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

Harbour. The Stour and Orwell is a designated

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 cer ...

, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

and a

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) **

Shotley Peninsula Tours
The main crops farmed on the peninsula are winter wheat, winter and spring barley, potatoes and sugar beet. The climate and soil on the peninsula are also suitable for

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

and a vineyard occupies the valley below St. Mary's church, Shotley.For a period in the recent past the vineyard allowed to stand fallow. Under new ownership the vineyard and grape harvest has increased in size, and won awards for both the Baccus and Pinot Noir grape varieties. Footpaths on the peninsula shoreline are at risk of

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

, which is being mitigated by the efforts of the local community. In light of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and the risk of rising sea levels, a farm in Shotley has been planning to breach the sea wall in a

managed retreat Managed retreat involves the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and buildings away from risks. This may involve the movement of a person, infrastructure (e.g., building or road), or community. It can occur in response to a variety of hazar ...

(or coastal realignment) to create new habitats and landscapes, supporting tourism in the region. The Shotley peninsular experiences a maritime climate with a narrow range of temperature and rainfall spread evenly throughout the year. The nearest weather station for which data is available is East Bergholt, 7 miles west of Holbrook. See Ipswich Climate data.

History and archaeology

There is archaeological evidence of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

barrows, and late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

field enclosures. Several groups of Iron Age coins and a small group of late

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

finds have been discovered on the peninsula. In 1995, an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

fish trap dating from between 650AD and 1050AD was found on the mudflats at Holbrook Bay. Several settlements on the peninsula are mentioned in the

Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

survey of 1068. The peninsula lies within the historic Samford Hundred. Deposits of clay along the shoreline were used by brick works in the 19th and early 20th centuries at Holbrook Creek, Shotley, Hare's Creek (Shotley) and Bourne Hill in Wherstead.

Leisure activities and places of interest

The peninsula lies within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and there are many rights of way. The Stour and Orwell Walk is a coastal footpath that starts from the

Orwell Bridge The Orwell Bridge is a concrete box girder bridge just south of Ipswich in Suffolk, England. Opened to road traffic in 1982, the bridge carries the A14 road (England), A14 road (formerly the A45 road, A45) over the River Orwell. History Design ...

and extends around the peninsula to Cattawade, providing links with the Essex Way. Towards the tip of the peninsula there are extensive views of the

Port of Felixstowe The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk, is the United Kingdom's largest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a ha ...

, Landguard Fort, the town of

and Harwich International Port. The dense marine traffic criss-crossing the deep-water channels to the

Haven ports The Haven ports are a group of ports on the east coast of England. Traditionally, only the three deep-water ports of Ipswich, Harwich and Felixstowe, on the confluence of the River Orwell and River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour, were included. ...

comprises

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

s, pleasure craft and

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s. The attractive riverside hamlet of Pin Mill and marinas at Woolverstone and Shotley Gate make the peninsula a popular sailing destination.

Alton Water Alton Water (or Alton Reservoir) is a manmade reservoir located on the Shotley peninsula. It is the largest in Suffolk, with a perimeter of over . Construction Due to a shortage of water in the Ipswich area in the 1960s, a list of twenty potent ...

is a reservoir that offers a variety of activities such as birdwatching, sailing, windsurfing, walking and cycling. The Old Hall at Shotley is a 16th-century grade II listed building, with evidence of a medieval moat. Erwarton Hall, Crowe Hall (Stutton) and Stutton Hall are substantial Tudor and Jacobean houses that overlook the Stour estuary to the south. The Royal Hospital School at Holbrook is a significant landmark on the peninsula, as is the mast of the former Royal Navy Training Establishment (HMS Ganges) at Shotley Gate.

Transport

The local transport network is limited, with the B1456, B1080 and a number of minor roads linking the settlements, no rail station and restricted bus services. The B1456 road is periodically at risk of temporary flooding along the Strand near the Orwell bridge. In the summer months a foot and cycle ferry service licensed to carry up to 12 passengers operates between Shotley Marina, Harwich and Felixstowe. The South Suffolk Cycle Route crosses the peninsula, and there is a campaign to create a dedicated traffic-free cycling route between Shotley Gate and Bourne Bridge, Ipswich.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * {{authority control Peninsulas of England Landforms of Suffolk River Orwell Babergh District