River Alde

Last updated

Alde and Ore
Sunset over River Alde Aldeburgh Suffolk - geograph.org.uk - 16634.jpg
The river at Aldeburgh
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Location of the river mouth within Suffolk
Location
Country England
Region Suffolk
Physical characteristics
Source 
  location Brundish
  coordinates 52°16′48″N1°18′17″E / 52.2799°N 1.3048°E / 52.2799; 1.3048
  elevation60 m (200 ft)
2nd source 
  location Saxstead
  coordinates 52°15′02″N1°18′02″E / 52.2505°N 1.3006°E / 52.2505; 1.3006
  elevation57 m (187 ft)
Mouth  
  location
North Sea
  coordinates
52°02′24″N1°27′39″E / 52.0401°N 1.4607°E / 52.0401; 1.4607
  elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Length54.4 km (33.8 mi)
The river as depicted in a 1588 map Appleton-Alb345b.1Cropped.jpg
The river as depicted in a 1588 map

The River Alde and River Ore form a river system in Suffolk, England passing by Snape and Aldeburgh. The River Alde and River Ore meet northwest of Blaxhall. From there downriver the combined river is known as the River Alde past Snape and Aldeburgh, and then again as the River Ore as it approaches Orford [1] and flows by a shingle spit before emptying into the North Sea.

Contents

Both rivers are named by back-formation from key towns on their route: the Alde is named from Aldeburgh, and the Ore is named from Orford. [2]

The first section of the River Ore flows around 18 kilometres (11 mi) from its sources west of Dennington south and east through Framlingham, Parham and Marlesford, meeting the River Alde to the northwest of Blaxhall. [3]

The source of the River Alde is Brundish near Laxfield in the same area as the River Blyth. Soon after combining with the River Ore, it reaches Snape where it becomes tidal and widens considerably. It meanders east past Aldeburgh, before being turned south and running parallel to the coastline behind a narrow shingle spit.

The River Ore is the name of the final section of around 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) of the river, from just above Orford to the sea. [4] It has one tributary, the Butley River, and Havergate Island is found at their confluence. Though it once entered the sea near Orford, the mouth of the river has now been pushed some five miles further south as shingle has accumulated over hundreds of years.

During Tudor times, the river served as a port from which four ships were launched to fight against the Spanish Armada. [5] The river no longer serves as a commercial port but as an area for yacht sailing.

The lower reaches of the river pass through marshland and shingle or sand beaches, most of which is now owned by the National Trust as the "Orford Ness National Nature Reserve". Before the National Trust took ownership of this land, it was the site of a secret military base where Cobra Mist trials of over-the-horizon radar were carried out during the Cold War. [6]

The shingle spit that blocks the river, Orford Ness, is now some 10 miles in length and is owned by the National Trust, [7] The main area through which the Rivers Alde and Ore flow is open countryside in private ownership, much of it arable farmland.

The tidal reaches (below Snape Bridge) are within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as well as being a Site of Special Scientific Interest, [8] [9] a designated Special Area of Conservation [10] and a Special Protection Area. [11] An RSPB reserve, Boyton Marshes, is situated between the River Ore and the Butley River. A registered charity, the Alde & Ore Association, exists to "preserve and protect for the public benefit the Alde, Ore and Butley Creek rivers and their banks from Shingle Street to their tidal limits". [12]

The novel What I Was by Meg Rosoff is set on the coastline where the River Ore meets the sea.

River Alde
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2km
1.2miles
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Jetty
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'Pagodas'
Orford Ness
National Nature
Reserve
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Orfordness Beacon
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transmitting
station
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Havergate
Island (RSPB)
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Cobra Mist
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R i v e r   A l d e
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R i v e r   O r e
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Lighthouse
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Castle
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Orford Ness, Suffolk, showing locations of main sites. [13]

Alde Mudflats

An area of mudflats 22 hectares (54 acres) on the southern side of the river, near Iken, is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust as their Alde Mudflats nature reserve: there is no public land access to prevent a human disturbance. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldeburgh</span> Coastal town in Suffolk

Aldeburgh is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Aldeburgh Festival of arts at nearby Snape Maltings, which was founded by Britten in 1948. It also hosts an annual poetry festival and several food festivals and other events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape</span> Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England

The Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Suffolk and Essex, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffolk Wildlife Trust</span>

Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House in Ashbocking, near Ipswich. It was founded in 1961, and is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering the Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As of March 2017, it has 13,200 members, and it manages 3,120 hectares of land in 60 nature reserves, most of which are open to the public. It had an income of £3.9 million in the year to 31 March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orford Ness</span> Coastal shingle spit in Suffolk, England

Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from the mainland by the River Alde, and was formed by longshore drift along the coast. The material of the spit comes from places further north, such as Dunwich. Near the middle point of its length, at the foreland point or 'Ness', once stood Orfordness Lighthouse, demolished in summer 2020 owing to the encroaching sea. In the name of the lighthouse, 'Orfordness' is written as one word.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldringham cum Thorpe</span> Human settlement in England

Aldringham cum Thorpe is a civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located south of the town of Leiston, the parish includes the villages of Aldringham and Thorpeness, which is on the coast, between Sizewell (north) and Aldeburgh (south). In 2007 it had an estimated population of 700, rising to 759 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyton, Suffolk</span> Human settlement in England

Boyton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about eight miles east of Woodbridge, and close to Orford Ness. Boyton is a small village in South East England and is part of the heritage coast. In the Domesday Book of 1086 Boyton was recorded under the name "Bohtuna". The village has a number of facilities within the surrounding area, for instance Hollesley primary school, a village primary school for children aged 4–11 years. Boyton village hall is becoming a focus for new village activities, and HM Prison Hollesley Bay is also located not far from the village centre. In the 1870s Boyton was described by John Marius Wilson as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iken</span> Village in Suffolk, England

Iken is a small village and civil parish in the sandlands of the English county of Suffolk, an area formerly of heathland and sheep pasture. It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape and due north of Orford. To its west is Tunstall Forest, created since the 1920s by the Forestry Commission and now part of the Sandlings Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Deben</span> River in Suffolk, England

The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising to the west of Debenham, 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 at Felixstowe Ferry. The mouth of the estuary is crossed by a ferry connecting Felixstowe and Bawdsey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Havergate Island</span> Island in Suffolk, England

Havergate Island is the only island in the county of Suffolk, England. It is found at the confluence of the River Ore and the Butley River near the village of Orford. It is a marshy nature reserve run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and is known for its population of pied avocets and terns. It is part of the ecologically important Alde-Ore Estuary and has protected conservation status as part of a national nature reserve, SSSI, SAC, SPA, Ramsar Site and is also a part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butley River</span> River in Suffolk, England

The Butley River or Butley Creek is a tributary of the River Ore in the English county of Suffolk. The river has its source in the Rendlesham Forest area to the east of Eyke.

Plomesgate is a hundred of Suffolk, consisting of 41,579 acres (168.26 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alde–Ore Estuary</span>

Alde–Ore Estuary is a 2,534 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches along the Suffolk coast between Aldeburgh and Bawdsey, and also includes parts of the Alde, Ore and Butley Rivers. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is a Grade I Nature Conservation Review site, a Special Area of Conservation, a Ramsar internationally important wetland site, and a Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. It includes two Geological Conservation Review sites, "Orfordness and Shingle Street" and "The Cliff, Gedgrave", and two nature reserves managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Alde Mudflats and Simpson's Saltings. The coastal part of the site is Orfordness-Havergate, a National Nature Reserve, and Orford Ness is managed by the National Trust, while Havergate Island is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capel St Andrew</span> Human settlement in England

Capel St Andrew is a village and a civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is near the larger settlement of Orford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alde Mudflats</span>

Alde Mudflats is a 22 hectare nature reserve west of Iken in Suffolk. It is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of the Alde-Ore Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest, Ramsar internationally important wetland site, Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and Grade I Nature Conservation Review site,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simpson's Saltings</span>

Simpson's Saltings is a 25 hectare nature reserve on the Suffolk coast east of Hollesley. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of the Alde-Ore Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest, Ramsar internationally important wetland site, Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and Grade I Nature Conservation Review site,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazlewood Marshes</span>

Hazlewood Marshes is a 64 hectare nature reserve west of Aldeburgh in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is in the Alde-Ore Estuary biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leiston - Aldeburgh</span>

Leiston - Aldeburgh is a 534.8-hectare (1,322-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Aldeburgh to Leiston in Suffolk. Part of it is The Haven, Aldeburgh Local Nature Reserve, and another area is the North Warren RSPB nature reserve. There is also a prehistoric bowl barrow on Aldringham Common, which is a Scheduled Monument. The site is in the Sandlings Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

References

  1. Ordnance Survey - Leisure Series Map 156
  2. A Dictionary of British Place-Names, by A D Mills, Oxford University Press, 2011
  3. Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
  4. Ordnance Survey Leisure series map 156
  5. "Alde and Ore Association-Protecting Aldeburgh's River" . Retrieved 29 December 2007.
  6. "The mystery of Orford Ness". BBC Suffolk. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
  7. "Orford Ness National Nature Reserve". National Trust. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
  8. Alde-Ore Estuary, SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  9. "Guidance for the Management of Coastal Vegetated Shingle" . Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  10. "Alde, Ore and Butley Estuaries" . Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  11. "Suffolk Coast and Heaths - Caring for the coast and its special wildlife". Suffolk Coasts and Heaths. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  12. "Alde and Ore Association" . Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  13. "Orfordness Visitor Map". National Trust. 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  14. Alde Mudflats, Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 2013-05-29.