No. 129
May 2015
PROGRAMME . Wednesday 13th May 2015 at 7.30pm. Visit to Felixstowe Museum. £4.00 per head. The museum is at Landguard Point, adjacent to the (signposted) Dock Viewing Area, where there is ample free parking. Saturday 6th June 2015. The East of England Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference at Denver, Norfolk, at 10.00am. Will include talks on fenland drainage and a guided visit to Denver Sluice. Further information and a booking form appear elsewhere in this Newsletter. Wednesday 10th June 2015 at 7.30pm. Walk around Woodbridge, concentrating on the town’s industrial archaeology. Meet at the car park adjacent to the railway station. Wednesday 8th July 2015 at 7.30pm. Visit to the Cold War Museum, Bentwaters. £5 per head. The museum is situated on the former Bentwaters air base, south of the A1152. At the roundabout east of Rendlesham, turn south (right if driving from the Ipswich direction) which will bring you to the security barriers at the original base main entrance. Follow the signs to the BCWM car park. If you have a sat-nav, the postcode is IP12 2TW. OS map reference TM346533. Wednesday 9th September 2015 at 7.30pm. To be arranged. Venue: All indoor meetings are held at the Ipswich Transport Museum, Cobham Road, Ipswich. Parking and access is via the rear of the museum.
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS We welcome new member Mr. T. Burrows, who was recruited at the final indoor meeting of the season. We hope he gains enjoyment from his membership of the society, and we look forward to seeing him at future meetings. Peter Goodwin, who has been a member for a number of years, suffered a medical emergency recently and spent time in hospital recovering. He has now been allowed to return to his home in Ipswich. We trust his recuperation continues and hope he is soon back in full health and able to participate in society events.
FELIXSTOWE AND BENTWATERS Felixstowe Museum, the destination for our May visit, presents the military and social history of this popular seaside resort in 14 galleries. Even the building it is housed in is of historical interest as it was once a submarine mining establishment. The Bentwaters Cold War Museum, which we will visit in July, opened its doors to the public for the first time in May 2007, following six years of planning. What had begun as a scheme to use a room in the control tower to display memorabilia grew and the former Wing Command Post was adopted as the home of the museum. This building was the nerve centre of the Bentwaters and Woodbridge ‘twin base’ complex during excercises, and would have taken the same role in the event of war. In April 1986 the Command Post was manned for Operation El Dorado Canyon, the USAF raids on Colonel Gadaffi’s headquarters in Libya, and it was again used during the first Gulf War in 1991. The BCWM portrays the history of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge from the Second World War through to USAF withdrawal from both bases in 1993. Supporting the displays are a collection of cold war-era aircraft, including a Sepecat Jaguar, Gloster Meteor, English Electric Lightning, McDonnell Phantom and a Hawker Hunter.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS Some years ago, when visiting the East of England Tank Museum, which was located at Barnham, south of Thetford (it has since relocated to Old Buckenham in Norfolk), the chairman was informed that the breckland around Barnham had been used to train the first tank crews before their introduction into battle in the First World War. The full story of the use of the Elveden estate in the north of the county for this purpose has now been put in print for the first time. Author Roger Pugh covers the birth of the tank as a means of overcoming the stalemate of trench warfare, the search for a secret training area, the development of a mock ‘western front’ re-created in the Suffolk countryside, and the men who were selected to undergo training in the new machines. He also follows them into battle in France. Entitled ‘The Most Secret Place on Earth’, the 144-page book has been published by Larks Press with an ISBN of 1978 1 904006 76 3, priced at £8.50. Copies have been seen on sale at both Jarrolds and the City Bookshop in Norwich, and at Waterstones in Bury St. Edmunds. Transport by road before the advent of the internal combustion engine was slow and expensive, and limited by the only source of power available, the horse. John Gale has studied this period and this has resulted in the publication of ‘Transport in Suffolk in the Coaching Era’. Leiston Press have published the book (ISBN – 978 1 907938 65 8) which has 69 pages and is priced at £10.00. The chairman’s copy came from Browsers Bookshop in Woodbridge, but the Ipswich Record Office also have copies for sale.
ABSTRACTS Copies of the following Newsletters and Journals have found their way to the Chairman. Should their contents be of interest to members, please contact the Chairman who will arrange for photocopies to be made. Industrial Archaeology News, 172, Spring 2015. Gas Holders – The End of an Era, by Ian West and Robert Carr. The Historic No.2 and No. 5 Gas Holders at the Bethnal Green Holder Station, by Tom Ridge. Gas Holder No. 1 at Hornsey Gasworks: a Structure at Risk, by Colin Marr. Newman Brothers, Coffin Furniture Works, Birmingham, by Colin Bowden. Butterley Gangroad Community Archaeology Project, Ian Mitchell. Clipsone – The History and Technology. (20th century coal mine in Nottinghamshire). Suffolk Review, New Series 64, Spring 2015. Burnt at the Stake: Thomas Bilney and his Suffolk Ministry, 1527 – 31, by Rev, Michael Stone. Woodbridge During the War with Napoleon – Part 2, by Vic Harrup. Thomas Cutting (1796 – 1876), Soldier and Settler, by Brian Seward and Alison Stephenson. ‘Robert Louis Stevenson used to Drink Here. . .’ A Literary Ramble around some Inns of St Edmundsbury, by Peter Hepple. The Local Historian, Vol 45 No 2, April 2015. Zen and the Art of Local History: Some Transatlantic Perspectives, by Alan Crosby. Ideal and Reality: The Principles of the Garden City Movement and the First Council Houses in Worcestershire, by Janet Dunleavey. The History and Heritage of Lincoln’s Council Estates: Local History and ‘Critical’ Public History in Practice, by Andrew J.H.Jackson. Housing the Middle Classes in late Victorian and Edwardian Surbiton, by Christopher French. Fervent Rejoicing and Muted Protest: London at the Time of King George V’s Silver Jubilee, by Neil Robson. THE NEWSLETTER The Newsletter is produced four times a year by Suffolk Industrial Archaeology Society. Contributions from members are welcomed. Thanks are due this time to John Jones for the article on the County Gaol. Chairman: S.Worsley, 24 Abbotsbury Close, Ipswich, IP2 9SD (01473 405116). Secretary: Position currently vacant. Treasurer: Position currently vacant. Newsletter distributor: John Jones. Those wishing to receive the Newsletter electronically are urged to contact John at joneshines@btinternet.com. To cut costs, all who are able to receive their Newsletters in this way are encouraged to make arrangements to do so. Website: We do not presently have our own website, but we do have a presence on the River Gipping Trust’s site (www.rivergippingtrust.org.uk).
RECENT PLANNING APPLICATIONS Babergh District Council B/15/00220 Application to extend opening hours at Kersey Mill, Hadleigh Road, Kersey. Ipswich Borough Council IP/15/00351/FUL Part change of use of front area of site at Station Yard, Derby Road Station, for car sales. Mid Suffolk District Council 3795/14 Change of use of railway station building to use as an Indian 3796/14 Restaurant at the Railway Station, Station Hill,Thurston. 0851/15 Replace sole plate and insertion of damp proof course at The Old Forge, Mendlesham Road, Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford. 0943/15 Re-laying of track on existingtrackbed and erection of Wilby Halt at Mid Suffolk Light Railway, Hall Lane, Wetheringsettcum-Brockford. Suffolk Coastal District Council/Waveney District Council (amalgamated website) DC/15/0532/FUL Refurbishment, repairs and alterations to the Transmitter Block, DC/15/0533/LBC Alexanders International School, Bawdsey Manor, Bawdsey. DC/15/0558/FUL Demolitions of existing rear extensions and erection of extensions at Sibton Mill, Pump House Lane, Sibton. . DC/15/0936/LBC Alterations to The Forge, Main Road, Bucklesham. DC/15/1035/DRC Discharge of Conditions – Demolition of Quayside Mill, Quay Side, Woodbridge, and erection of 7 dwellings, 2 commercial units and 4 apartments. DC/15/1055/FUL Replacement of KX100 telephone call box with traditional K6 model to house a defibrillator unit adjacent to Bell House, Bridge Street, Kelsale-cum-Carlton.
FROM ALDEBURGH TO DUNKIRK The former Aldeburgh lifeboat, the Lucy Lavers, restored at a cost of £100,000 in 2013 by the charity Rescue Wooden Boats, is to undertake a 75th anniversary return to Dunkirk on the 22nd to 24th May. The Lucy Lavers was one of the many ‘little ships’ which sailed to rescue the 340,000 trapped allied soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships is organising the anniversary with the aid of around 60 of the surviving vessels which took part in the original evacuation. The Lucy Lavers set off on her journey from Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk on May 1st, and is scheduled to be in port at Lowestoft (Heritage Quay) from 8th to 10th May, will call at Southwold for two hours on May 11th, and continue to Aldeburgh, her original home, arriving at noon the same day. She will depart from Aldeburgh on the 13th, will call at Levington (Suffolk Yacht Harbour) on the 14th /15th, and will visit Harwich Quay on 15th/16th. The vessel will be open to the public who will be able to board her and learn more of her story. The dates and times may vary according to weather conditions, so intending visitors are invited to check the latest information of the website, www.rescuewoodenboats.com.
CLOSURE OF RAILWAY LINE?
The award-winning tourist attraction, the Colne Valley Railway, which runs along a route of around a mile at Castle Hedingham in Essex, may well be forced to close when its lease expires on December 31st. The site is owned by Australian businessman Christopher Young, who acquired it from the Colne Valley Railways’ founder, Dick Hymas, in 2006. It has since been leased by the CVR Preservation Society with the aim of buying it at the end of the year. To this end a Heritage Lottery Fund ‘stage one’ grant of £66,000 was obtained last November to allow the society to produce plans for a new restoration and overhaul centre and museum. It was hoped that success with this scheme would unlock a £1.65million grant (with equivalent funding matched by the Society) to enable them to buy the entire site. This has now been put on hold until November in the hope that the situation has become clearer by that time. Meanwhile, the society is determined to carry on and are seeking other sites, hopefully in Essex, to which they can relocate. The society have agreed to handle the disposal of the track, signalling, and items of rolling stock which Mr. Young owns, and would be in a position to acquire any items they would need when relocating. Other items are owned by the society. The buildings on site do not form part of the owner’s plans for the site, and would be available for taking down and moving elsewhere. Should the society be forced to move, they hope to be open on a new site in 2017.
ANOTHER MILL TO GRIND AGAIN?
A season of fundraising events is planned this summer with the aim of raising £120,000 to allow the restoration of Billingford Mill. The Grade II-listed tower mill, just off the A143 near Diss, dates from the mid nineteenth century and was the last to operate commercially in Norfolk and is now owned by the County Council. Volunteers and key holders Herbert (a former mill worker) and Julie Websdell, from Harleston, opened the mill on Easter Monday for a new season of guided tours. They hope to raise the profile of the mill, increase attendance at the events planned for the year, and thereby raise the money to fund the purchase of new sails and restore the mill to working order.
BARN RESTORED
The attractive brick-built Tudor tithe barn at Copdock Hall on the outskirts of Ipswich, which dates from around 1570, has officially opened its doors after a twoyear restoration programme. It now has a new lease of life as a wedding and events venue. The building was acquired three years ago by Ian and Diane Evans, who have also planted a vineyard as part of their plans for their business. A public open day is planned for June 28th in conjunction with the adjacent St. Peter’s Church.
The County Gaol You may have notices an unusual-looking house advertised for sale recently. Now known as The Fort, it stands in Sicklesmere Road, Bury St Edmunds. Of four storeys with a flat roof, it is roughly octagonal in shape, or perhaps square with the corners cut off diagonally. Built in 1805, this was originally the Governor’s house for the County Gaol. The four wings radiated out from the corners of the house on what was known as the panopticon system, so that the central building commanded views of all the exercise yards. White’s Directory of 1845 gives a description of the Gaol: “It consists chiefly of four wings, 69 feet by 32; three of these are divided by a partition wall along the centre, and the fourth is parted into three divisions; by which means the different classes of prisoners are cut off from all communication with each other. The gaol enclosure is of an octagon form, 292 feet in diameter. The entrance is in the turnkey’s lodge, on the leaded flat of which, executions are performed. The House of Correction stands in the centre of an enclosure of about an acre, adjoining, and consolidated with the gaol. ……. Here is the first Tread Mill of the kind ever erected, in which from 80 to 100 men can work at one time, in four different rooms, according to their classes in the prison. They are employed in grinding corn, &c., and have two-fifths of their earnings.” There was a similar treadmill, although probably smaller, in Walsingham Gaol in Norfolk and one can still be seen in Beaumaris Gaol, in Anglesey. The extract (right) from the 1884 Ordnance Survey map shows that by that time the gaol was disused and the four wings had been demolished, although the outline of the surrounding wall is clear. The rusticated stone entrance, or turnkey’s lodge according to White’s, still stands prominently beside the Sicklesmere road at TM 864632: both it and the former governor’s house are listed Grade 2.
EERIAC XXV Denver, Norfolk Programme & Booking Form
Saturday 6th June 2015 Venue: Denver Village Hall, 24 Sluice Road, Denver PE38 0DY Parking available at the hall.
10.00am 10.30am 11.15am 12.00 noon 12.30pm
Registration, tea, coffee, view displays A review of industries in the Denver area A history of Fen drainage - Peter Filby EERIAC AGM. Lunch break. Food available at Denver Bell inn, café at windmill, and Jenyns Arms on far side of sluice. Please remove displays by 1.30. 1.45pm Re-assemble in car park at Denver windmill for short visit, then drive to car park near Denver Sluice for walking tour around the 5 sluices and 2 locks led by Dan Pollard, Environment Agency (duration approx. 90 minutes). Optional visit to Salters Lode Sluice, approx. 500m away. 4.00pm approx. Close of conference.
Organised by Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society. Any queries - Carol Haines (01603 867825).
✂- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Booking Form for EERIAC XXV Saturday 6th June 2015 Detach and send this form with cheque to EERIAC, 5 Hoynors, Danbury, Essex, CM3 4RL as soon as possible, and no later than the 24th May. Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope if you require an acknowledgement. Please book . . . . . places at £10.00 per person, total £. . . . . Please enclose cheque (payable to EERIAC) for the total amount above. Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phone no/email address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Please advise when booking if display space is required. Directions: Denver is one mile south of Downham Market. By car, turn west off A10 into Ely Road, then left just past the church and the Bell Inn into Sluice Road. The Village Hall, marked with arrow on map below, is on the right (PE38 0DY). The nearest train station is Downham Market (c. 11/2 miles). Denver windmill and Denver sluice (not shown on map) are about 1/2 mile and 2 miles, respectively, further along Sluice Road.
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East of England Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference
EERIAC XXV Denver, Norfolk Denver Village Hall, 24 Sluice Road, Denver PE38 0DY Saturday 6th June 2015