Manningtree

Station walk - by Michael Anderton

Background

This walk is in the Stour Valley and is ideal for anyone who likes to travel to the countryside by train, the route is easily

accessible from Manningtree Station, just 10 minutes away from Ipswich. The route explores the lower reaches of the River Stour on both the Essex and Suffolk sides of the river and includes a visit to Flatford, where John Constable's father was the miller, and the area where the painter portrayed the surrounding countryside in his paintings.

Manningtree is not only the smallest town in the country and the junction for the branch line to Harwich but it was the gateway to the start of railway development into Suffolk. It was from here that a railway line was built, with great difficulty, north over the river and through the deep cutting at Brantham, to bring the first trains into Suffolk and onto Ipswich. The main line opened for public passenger traffic on 11 June 1846 to provide the first link from Ipswich to London, long before the branch line to Harwich was completed and opened on 15 August 1854.

Walk Route

From the station building turn right down the slope to the car park and turn left across the grass on the path marked to

Flatford and Dedham. Turn right along the lane parallel to the railway and, at the junction at the end, turn right through the red brick arch under the track. Follow the long straight lane ahead, turning left at the end on another long straight section. At the end, turn right to reach a kissing gate leading to a well defined path leading to the river bank path. Turn left through another kissing gate and head off upstream towards Flatford.

At the next kissing gate Dedham Church can be seen ahead in the trees up the valley and, over to the right, the flood control known as Judas Gap where the tidal salt water meets the fresh water coming down the valley from the source of the river in Cambridgeshire.

Pass through the next kissing gate and turn right across the grass, along the edge of the concrete flood protection barrier, to a steel gate at the other end. There is a set of steps welded onto the bars of the gate to act as a stile to reach the path at the other end of the concrete. Follow this well worn path along the fresh water section of the river towards Flatford.

Pass Flatford Mill and the boat lock, restored by the River Stour Trust in 1991. The work of making the river open to navigation was started in 1708 with the construction of thirteen wooden locks and a basin and warehouses at the terminus in Sudbury. Barges constructed in the dry dock across the river, carrying cargoes of up to 13 tonnes, were pulled by horses between the Cattawade Barrage and Sudbury. Below the barrage the barges were floated on the tide down to Mistley. Barge traffic continued until 1928 when the last barge is recorded up to Dedham Mill.

Cross the river via the wooden bridge by the thatched Bridge Cottage, a National Trust property housing an exhibition on John Constable. Across the road the Visitor Information Centre and toilets can be found. Turn right along the road towards

Flatford Mill, passing the restored dry dock on the right, a feature of one of Constable's paintings, on past the Granary Barn Museum and Valley Farm on the left. At Flatford Mill pause before passing through the gate and look at Willy Lott's Cottage and the water ahead, the scene of Constable's most famous painting of The Haywain. Follow the drive towards Willy Lott's cottage and bear left in the meadow, following the path around the field.

Ignore the double gate at the first corner and continue to the right around the field. Look out for a left turn marked with a footpath sign, leaving the National Trust trail which continues around the field. Walk down a dip through the trees to a stile and meadow on the other side of the hedge. Walk along the right edge of this field, past a pylon to reach a stile in the corner. Turn left along the left hedge through a series of gates and stiles to a double stile at the end of the section.

The other side of these stiles is a little muddy where the cattle have been standing, continue along the left edge to reach a stile by an oak tree at the corner. Follow this shady path between the chain link fencing and hedge and then a field edge path leading out to the road.

Turn right along the roadside footway, passing the site of the former Brantham Mill and on towards Cattawade. At the end of the roadside footway turn right at the brown tourist information picnic site sign and walk along the old section of road, past the entrance to the picnic site and car park, and on through the bollards to reach the A137 road. Cross to the other side with care and follow the path to the short section of road in front of the Fontana Chinese restaurant. Continue on to the Crown pub and turn right through the bollards over the old red brick Cattawade Bridge.

From the bridge look out for the ramp with rollers over to the left, now the only means of transporting small boats from the lower tidal section to the upper reaches of the river. This has replaced the last lock on the river that once allowed the barges to negotiate this section. The legal right of navigation on the river still exists and this ramp is the point where boats can be transferred between the salty tidal section and the fresh water of the upper reaches. The old locks that provided for the passage of barges up and down the river earlier this century have now become disused and only small craft can negotiate the rollers on the ramp.

Bear right along the old section of road out to the footway alongside the A137, initially behind the crash barrier. Continue into Essex via the newly rebuilt White Bridge at the Cattawade Barrage and on to reach the railway crossing and underbridge. The footway over the level crossing provides the safest means of continuing although it is possible to proceed via the underbridge, but the footway is not continuous. At the other side of the railway turn right up the station approach road to return to the start of the walk at the station.

Thank you for taking the time to explore this walk. We would love to hear your comments about this site and about your day out.

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