From where the River Gipping is bridged by the railway, just south of Clamp Farm, to the bridge over the stream as you enter Creeting St Mary, the River Gipping forms the border of our Parish. It makes for a pleasant walk, and is a shortcut on foot if you want to get to Needham Market on a sunny day.
Three years ago, the River Gipping Trust was formed, with the intention of restoring the river for navigation from the Pickerel Bridge in Stowmarket, all the way to Ipswich, whilst preserving its unique flora and fauna. As someone who has spent a morning in the river by the Pickerel Bridge, supporting the Pickerel Project's efforts to maintain the cleanliness of the environment there, I tend to the view that this is a good thing, worthy of support, so my wife and I have joined (our cheque is in the post).
It is, I admit, hard to credit that the Normans brought Caen stone up the Gipping, and then the River Rat, on its way to build the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds in the late eleventh Century or that, in 1567, timber for the roof of the Royal Exchange in London's Cornhill was taken in the opposite direction. However, in 1790 a Board of Trustees was appointed to administer the Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation, which opened in 1793, with cargoes of manure (conveyed for free!), gun cotton, corn and hops being the main sources of traffic.
Alas, when the railway came in 1846, traffic levels dropped until, in 1932, the trustees applied for a Revocation Order, as there were no funds available to fulfil their obligations to maintain the fabric of the Navigation. Now, the navigation is impassable, although it provides a home for what seem like millions of ducks.
So the Trust provides hope that the Navigation might once again become an asset to our local community, and a source of pleasure and preservation for future generations. So, if you're interested, why not join?
No comments:
Post a Comment