Text notes (Glossary)
A great deal of research over several years is included in this book. The text notes that follow are intended to answer specific queries that people might feel as they read through, particularly about some of the people mentioned who might have been household names in their time but less well known today. More specific sources and detailed finding aids are listed on an open access page on the Waldringfield History Group’s website. https://whghistorybook.shortcm.li/sources
So much information has come from Waldringfield residents, past and present, and their friends. These are listed in the Acknowledgement section
We hope you will find the Bibliography useful to support quotations and to enlarge on topics. To gain full access to all the resources of the History Group and their website waldringfieldia.com it is necessary to be a member. Email the Hon Sec at Waldringfieldhg@gmail.com
Wonderful Waldringfield
p6 Many Waldringfield groups (including the History Group) and village activities are gathered on the website http://waldringfield.onesuffolk.net/ .
To Begin at the Beginning
p11 The Waldringfield History Group website waldringfieldia.com has a members’ area and an open area email waldrinfieldhg@gmail.com for information how to join.
The Ever Changing River
Material for this chapter comes from many sources and specifically ‘Further Reminiscences of Jill Atkins’ (RDA – River Deben Association – Spring 1995)
‘Pre war Reminiscences of the Deben’ Jim Turner (RDA Autumn 1996)
‘Deben River Wall Heritage’ Robert Simper (RDA Spring 2010)
Waldringfield’s stretch of the river now flows from below Cross Farm. Previously the riverside boundary was closer to Waldringfield. It was possibly moved in the 1970s when boundaries came under review, but maybe earlier. Some more recent Council maps still showed the boundary as it was in 1904 but these were incorrect.
Waldringfield before the Written Word
p26 Archaeology being an interest but not a specialism for any WHG member, we are grateful to Dr.Iain Morley, Academic Coordinator of the School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, for checking the contents.
Michael Atkinson, member and Treasurer of WHG, extracted from the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History 1903-2007 a list of archaeological finds relevant to Waldringfield. These are listed in the sources section on the website. There is also a comprehensive list of finds to be found on the heritage.suffolk.gov.uk website.
The Maybush
p49 Ronald Carl Giles (1916-1995), often simply referred to as ’Giles’, was a cartoonist best known for his work for the Daily Express. For many people Christmas was not complete without the Giles Annual. He never actually sold his creations, preferring to donate them to friends and to charitable organisations, like the RNLI, of which he was Life President, and which continues annually to issue charity Christmas cards bearing his work.
Owd Boys
p55 On the back of George Jones’s photo of Bob Button there’s a note that he was locally famous for being able to drink nine pints of beer without needing to relieve himself.
The Old Maltings
p56 Although known as Cliff House and renamed the Old Maltings in the 1930s by the Heath family, the house is often referred to locally as simply the Maltings. This is because there was an actual maltings (brewing) business carried on here by John Hill during the c19th. There are entries in The Perennial Diary of Thomas Henry Waller (1832-1920) which refer to the Maltings although at this time, the house itself was ‘Cliff House’. Occasionally this may give a feeling of inconsistency in our text.
The Cobbold Family ran the Cliff Brewery on Cliff Quay, Ipswich. The original Cobbold brewery had been set up in Harwich but, in 1746, in order to benefit from a better source of water, Thomas Cobbold (1708-1767) relocated the majority of the family brewing business to Ipswich. The current building is a tower brewery by William Bradford. It became a Grade 11 listed building in 1989.
p61 ‘Everson’s Shed’. David Green (RDA Spring 2011)
The phrase ‘hot bed of spies’ was quoted in the obituary of Sir Clifford Copland Paterson in the Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers Volume 31, Issue 1 (November 1948)
p62 ‘Deben Reflections’. Anne Whiting (RDA Spring 2015)
p65 Jack Jones’ comments were written on the back of the studio photograph.
p66 Norman Scarfe (1924-2014), born in Felixstowe, was a historian, author and local activist. Among his many achievements was the founding of the Suffolk Records Society and authorship of the Shell Guide to Suffolk and other county guides.
Jonathan Trowell (1938-2013) was an internationally successful artist and draughtsman whose landscape painting is more usually associated with Norfolk.
‘Jack Francis Jones, Naval Architect’. Julia Jones (Classic Sailor December 2015).
‘Jack Jones designed yachts to look after their owners’ Julia Jones (Yachting Monthly January 2016).
p66 Stewart Platt wrote the story of Celandine in My Three Grey Mistresses Atlantic Transport (2002).
p67 Brian Hammett was closely associated with the Cruising Association and used Avola to follow in the wake of Arthur Ransome’s Racundra. He produced two modern editions of Ransome’s Baltic cruises which were published by Fernhurst Books.
Alan Gurney (1936-2012) is remembered as one of the most innovative designers of his generation, with Chay Blythe’s Great Britain II among his notable commissions. He was also an author and a pioneer of high latitude sailing.
p68 The East Coast Sail Trust continues to support the barge Thalatta and to take groups of children to sea https://thalatta.org.uk/.
The East Anglian Group of Marine Artists is limited to 25 members and exhibits at least twice a year both in London and in East Anglia.
The Kestrel Class
p72 Gunter rig is a fore and aft sail set behind the mast. The lower half of the sail is attached to the mast, and the upper half is fastened to a spar which is approximately vertical and reaches above the top of the mast.
Bermudan rig consists of a triangular sail set aft of the mast with its head raised to the top of the mast; the front of the sail runs down the mast and is normally attached to it. The lower part of the sail is usually attached to a horizontal boom controlled by a sheet (rope).
A Walk Along the River in 1881
p84 The Cement Cottages are commonly known as such in the village as they were built by the Cement Works for their employees. They are however also referred to as the Concrete Cottages because of the innovative material used in their construction. Both descriptors are used in our text.
Working Boats
p88 Thomas Churchyard (1798-1865) was born in Melton. He trained as a solicitor, and worked in the law for many years, but his real interest was landscape painting.
p96 Sailing Barge Ena is currently decaying in a barge graveyard in the River Medway at Hoo. In 2002, Ena was featured on the Channel 4 television programme Salvage Squad – available to watch online. In 2011, it was reported that she was up for sale on eBay with the bidding starting at £85,000. But despite the high profile televised effort made to restore her, her future looks bleak, abandoned alongside wrecks at Hoo and buffeted by the elements and tides.
Extra Note:
Ben Page is the ‘native’ referred to in the closing part of the chapter on the Deben in H Alker Tripp’s book, ‘Suffolk Sea Borders’, published in 1926 and subsequently referred to in Janet Harber’s book, ‘East Coast Rivers (2008)’
Wildlife at Waldringfield
p106 The Magna Carta of 1215 includes a clause stating the Barons’ demands for the removal of the King’s (and other) weirs ‘All fish-weirs shal be removed from the Thames, the Medway and throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast’.
p106 Simpers of Ramsholt have developed both a shell fish and sea-fishing business on the Deben and adjacent coast. In recent years this has included a Shuck Festival in Woodbridge.
p107 William Cobbett’s Rural Rides, though not including Suffolk, give a vivid picture of rural poverty in the 1830s as does Ronald Blythe’s Akenfield, 100 years later.
The Impact of the Great War
p125 ‘Remembrance 2018: Pioneering WW1 aerial photographer William Walden Hammond’. Vicky Gunnell (Suffolk Magazine November 2018)
Zeppelins had been developed in Germany at the end of the c19th. In World War 1 they were used for reconnaissance but also bombing missions including London and several East Coast towns. L48 was just one month old and the first of a new class when it was brought down by British aircraft.
Waldringfield’s Links with HMY Britannia
p126 King George V’s dying wish was for his beloved yacht to follow him to the grave. On 10 July 1936, after Britannia had been stripped of her spars and fittings, her hull was towed out to sea and sunk by a Royal Navy destroyer.
The Waldringfield Anchorage 1900-1939
p128 Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883) was an English poet and writer, born in Bredfield, near Woodbridge and friendly with writers such as Tennyson and Thackeray as well as the artist Thomas Churchyard. His most famous poem is the English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
p129 ‘Driven by desire’ James Palmer’s Kestrel (Classic Boat February 2014).
Hervey William Gurney Benham (1910–1987) was the pioneering proprietor of Essex County Newspapers, an author of books on Essex and the East Coast (many focussed on traditional vessels) and a significant benefactor of local charities.
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was a prolific and successful English novelist and journalist who, though famous for novels set in the Staffordshire potteries, lived on the Essex coast from 1912-1920 where he became an enthusiastic sailor.
p132 Transcriptions of the original Logs of Enigma were loaned to WHG by the Palmer family.
p133 Later Enigma reminiscences – A longer account is available in ‘Boats of the Deben’ – Enigma – David Bucknell and John Palmer. ( RDA Autumn 2011).
p139 ‘Pre-war Reminiscences of the Deben’. Jim Turner (RDA Autumn 1996).
A Carpet-Slippered Cruise
p142 Arthur Ransome’s yacht Nancy Blackett is owned by the Nancy Blackett Trust which enables members to get involved in her maintenance and enjoy sailing her. She is laid up at Robertson’s Boatyard every year. For more information contact https://nancyblackett.org/
A Focus on the Foreshore
p154 Archie White from West Mersea was a writer and artist who advocated the joys of river and creek-sailing rather than high seas adventure.
The Boatyard and Boatbuidling
p156 ‘Deben Reminiscences’. John Adams (RDA Autumn 1997).
p162 Mike Clark’s recollections were recorded by Claudia Myatt and published in Marine Quarterly Summer 2020.
The Beach Huts
p168 ‘An Introduction to the History of Waldringfield Huts’. Linda Wilkins (RDA Spring 2016).
p170 For a detailed explanation of a 1918 Nissen Hut, please visit the reference section.
p171 Flag officer – A Naval Officer above the rank of Captain, as a fleet Admiral, Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral or Commodore, is entitled to display a flag indicating his or her rank. Yacht and sailing clubs commonly term their executives ‘flag officers’.
Waldringfield’s Contributionto the War Effort
p190 The icon used in this chapter is from detective novelist Margery Allingham’s The Oaken Heart. Her description of WW2 from her Essex village has similarities with Waldringfield’s experience.
p194 Martlesham Heath was once the site of the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental the most important RAF base in the country. It was moved to Boscombe Down in 1939. The Martlesham Heath Aviation Society (MHAS) has a museum in the old control tower at Martlesham. Further details can be found here www.mhas.org.uk.
A Walk along the River in 1944
p205 The date of D-Day was June 6th 1944, but Hitler was slow to respond as he may still have believed that the main focus of the operation was the Pas-de-Calais area and that the Normandy landings were a diversion. The first V1 (doodlebug) was launched against London on June 13th 1944.
Wing Commander Roland Beamont (1920-2001) was a British fighter pilot for the RAF and a test pilot during and after WW2. In June 1944 his unit was stationed in Kent and from 16th June was charged with intercepting the V1s.
Tadeuz Szimanski was a Polish officer flying with the RAF. He is believed to be the first pilot to flip a V1. June Scott’s family opened their home in Kent to officers from abroad who had nowhere to spend their leave or to convalesce after injury. Szimanski became a family friend.
Post-WW2 Yachting
p210 ‘The Life and Designs of Kim Holman’ (Classic Boat January 2008)
p213 Sir Francis Chichester (1901-1972) was a British pioneering aviator and sailor who named his Gypsy Moth yachts after the aeroplane he previously flew. In 1966-67 he became the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route.
Ralph Hammond Innes (1913-1998) was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels. He lived in Kersey in Suffolk after WW2 and travelled extensively to research his books. His wife Dorothy was an actress.
p214 Uffa Fox, (1898-1972) was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast who was a friend of Prince Philip and often raced with him at Cowes. One of his WW2 achievements was designing airborne lifeboats and his post war designs were notable for making use of materials developed during the conflict.
‘Dressing overall’ consists of stringing International Maritime Signal flags onto a ship from the front (bow) to the back (stern) via the top of the mast (or masts).
p215 Sir Percy Wyn-Harris (1903-1979) was an English mountaineer, colonial administrator, and yachtsman. He served as Governor of the Gambia from 1949 to 1958. From 1962-1969 he sailed round the world in his yacht Spurwing which was based on the Deben.
p216 Fran Gifford’s talk at the Tamesis Club, John Dunkley (Yachts & Yachting February 2011).
p214 Duet was built in 1912. She was originally owned by the explorer August Courtauld and then his son Rev Christopher Courtauld. Today she is owned by the Cirdan Sailing Trust who run residential holidays for small groups of people, often disabled. https://cirdantrust.org/fleet/
p217 The Felixstowe Master Mariners Club is an active organisation which meets at the Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club and whose objective is to foster comradeship among master mariners and raise money for nautical charities. https://www.mastermariners.uk/index.html
The Caravan Site
p222 Today, there are two caravan sites with easy access to Waldringfield and the river. Low Farm stayatlowfarm.com is on the Ipswich Road at the entrance to the village and the Moon and Sixpence http://www.moonandsixpence.co.uk/ is on the Newbourne Road.
Deben Week
p224 Greasy Pole: Caitlin Smail related how one year in the final she and her opponent, Tessa Young, secretly agreed to a truce and to not knock each other off, so as to share the prize.
George Jones wrote or contributed to the Yachting Monthly coast notes for many years, though he was often more focussed on the Essex area rather than Suffolk..
A Walk along the River in 1871
p228 The population of Waldringfield increases significantly in the holiday season. As the 10 year census is taken in April the figures are probably an underestimate.
p230 The names Blumfield, and Bloomfield crop up repeatedly when looking at ownership of the land freed up by the closure and demolition of the Cement Works. In 1947 Israel Vernon Bloomfield of Ilford owned Atbara in Deben Lane, having obtained some of the land by gift from Miss E.A. Bloomfield in 1924. Miss Bloomfield also owned land adjacent, where Heron’s Kiln is now, in Deben Lane. The 1924 Deed for Atbara also refers to Ernest Victor Bloomfield of Forest Gate as the purchaser.
Peter Ducks, Pandoras and Plastic
p241 The Sail Training Association is now known as the Tall Ships Youth Trust. https://www.tallships.org/
Waldringfield Sailing Club (WSC) Post WW2
p243 Bob or Robert Hill was the father of Albert Hill who was the landlord of the Maybush. His brother Henry was landlord of the Fox at Newbourne and father in law to Ernie Nunn. Prior to running the Fox, Henry had a distinguished naval career winning a Conspicuous Gallantry Medal at the Gallipoli Landings in 1915. Robert and Henry’s uncle, John Hill was a tenant at the Maltings.
p246 The River Deben Magazine Oct 2011 has an account of Bob Ruffles taking the barge Ena up river for the Clubhouse opening and being unable to turn her in the anchorage so needing to go right through until he could drop anchor and swing round.
The history of the ‘Old Lady’ on the Clubhouse as far as we know it, is as follows: in 1923 Mr AW Stollery asked Mr EA Nunn to remove this figurehead from a boat called the Annabel, an old trading boat which lay rotting in the creek beyond the Dinghy Park. This was done and the figurehead was placed in the garden of Gorse Cabin where it remained for many years. When the extension was made to the Clubhouse in 1949, Mr Goddard renovated and painted the figurehead and it was placed on the gable of the extension between the Port and Starboard Lights which were given by Mr Nunn. Later Mr Goddard re-painted and renovated the figurehead. Her earlier history is not known but the hairstyle and ruff suggest Elizabethan days. After the rebuilding in 1982, she was moved indoors as there wasn’t a suitable place for her outside.
OOD is the Officer of the Day and is in charge of racing, starting and finishing.
p251 Rosemary Schlee had been part of the Club for many years. She raised huge amounts of money towards the building of the Club House. She ran the first Sail Training Course, organised some disabled sailing and the first ‘Taster Day’, and introduced Wayfarers to Waldringfield. She also ran the highly successful Oxfam B&B scheme for which she was awarded the MBE in the late 1990s. She was a frequent sailor well into her seventies in her Wayfarer, especially during Wednesday Evening Racing, often getting ready to race when everyone else was reluctant to go because of adverse weather conditions.
p252 Cockleshell is still going strong in her 95th year, now owned by John’s son Jonty and kept on the River Hamble, Hampshire. In 2016 she inspired the founding of the Hamble Classics Regatta and has been a regular Wednesday evening racer for an unbroken 30 years at Hamble River Sailing Club, which celebrated its centenary in 2019. The complete Cockleshell story can be viewed at: http://www.cockleshell.org.uk
p255 Irish Boats at Dragonfly 70th. Julia Jones (Classic Sailor November 2019)
THE WSC Honours Boards
p256 Jack Knights was born in 1929 and won a half blue for sailing in 1952. He had a variety of other major successes in yachts both big and small. He won several dinghy national championships, as well as the ‘Round the Island’ race at Cowes. He was the yachting writer for the Daily Express and was closely associated with the London International Boat Show until his death on 26 January 1981, aged only 51. A Jack Knights Memorial Race is held at Cowes every year.
Cadet Squadron 35
p258 ISAF is now called World Sailing.
p259 There is an old Pathe News video of Cadets at the Burnham Nationals in 1959 showing these boats as described https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7J9N_8s-E
Another from 1988 features many local Waldringfield sailors and shows how the boats evolved over the years while the basic concept of having fun still remains.
The Waldringfield Dragonfly
p262 George O’Brien Kennedy’s autobiography Not all at Sea (Morrigon 1987)
p264 & p265 The PUNCH Dinghy and the BOTTLE boat are innovative designs from Roger Stollery
Flooding
p271 AONB – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
p273 SSSI – Site of Special Scientific Interest.
2020 Vision
P281 SPA – Special Protection Area RAMSAR – The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971.
p283 IFCA is Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority
