From source to the sea Life on the Deben, a book by Woodbridge residents Nick Cottam and Tim Curtis, goes with the flow of a river steeped in history Words: Nick Cottam Photos: Tim Curtis CPD-Lab/ Getty Images/iStockphoto 44 Suffolk: May 2020 life on the deben t’s hard to imagine the pretty village of Cretingham falling victim to a Viking invasion. I This is Suffolk heartland but the colourful, mosaic village sign shows a Viking ship under sail. Standing by the sign, in front of The Bell public house, there’s no evidence that any kind of ship could have got this far. Here we are along the upper reaches of the Deben, where the river is no more than a stream skirting the north of the village, on its 25-mile journey from its source at nearby Debenham to the powerful North Sea. But this is no single spring-fed river. Rather, it’s an accumulation of downward flows – numerous streams and ditches, gulleys and culverts – around the land above Debenham. “The Deben is a bit like a tree trunk,” says local resident Joan Freeman, “with its upper boughs and branches radiating out (and up) from Debenham.” Walk towards the secluded churchyard of Our Lady of Grace, Aspall, and you cross a pretty, half-hidden bridge. There’s the river again along Derrybrook, with a secretive wave flowing south and away from the village. Watery Debenham, at least Left: of Roman and Saxon times The Deben offers nothing when it rains and the Deben Abstract hand- to the present day. A more resembling a Thames Path or tributaries come alive, plays host drawn sea waves leisurely river now plays host illustration in even a Pennine Way, but you to Stony Lane, reputed to be the separate layers. to upriver ramblers and nature can still follow the course of the longest ford in the country. With lovers, swimmers, rowers and river through some of the most its steep sides and sometimes Above: yachtsmen who frequent the tranquil and beguiling Suffolk fast flowing channel the ford can A Thames barge lower, more ebullient tidal river. countryside. After Cretingham, become a river in its own right. entering the Follow the river’s course the river plays hide and seek It’s a dramatic finale to any walk River Deben at through Easton and you will Felixstowe Ferry through the rural backwaters in search of the Deben’s source. in Life on the find yourself in milling country. of Brandeston, Kettleburgh There are walks around Deben. Photo: The Ashe Abbey Corn Mill, for and Easton before eventually Brandeston and Cretingham Jemma Watts example, at Campsea Ashe, the emerging in its tidal form just where the Deben valley can old mill at Letheringham, and on north of Ufford. be kept in your sights. More to Rackhams Mill at Wickham While there is no Deben Way as quaint little bridges and Market which dates back to 1885 such, there are numerous walks snapshot sightings through the and is now a family-run retail from source to mouth, glimpses undergrowth. Enjoy another ford, operation. “I just love the river,” of a shy river along its upper this time at Brandeston, and its is how David Rackham sums up reaches before the prominent nearby smugglers’ hole where it is his rural idyll. “There’s something tidal entity takes over. From the said contraband was once hidden about the water that makes this a brooks and culverts which give for local distribution. very special place.” birth to the Deben to the great Downstream there are Deben Arguably, the first real sign sweep of King’s Fleet, and those smuggling stories aplenty, that the river is coming into its defiant Martello Towers at the including the tale of Margaret own is when you reach the water river’s Felixstowe Ferry mouth, Catchpole, who fell in love with meadows around Rendlesham you can walk with the river – or at the infamous Suffolk smuggler and Ufford. This is Saxon country, the very least a hint of the river – William Laud and was deported once presided over by powerful never far away. One 19th century to New World Australia where King Raedwald, thought to have Debenham resident recalled the she made her fortune as a sheep been the occupant of the burial discovery of a ship’s anchor just farmer. ship uncovered at nearby Sutton south of the village. Could a ship The Deben, it seems, runs Hoo with its dazzling array of really have found its way so far through a rich collage of Suffolk artefacts. upriver? No chance today. life, from the deep history “We can now be fairly certain 4 Suffolk: May 2020 45 life on the deben that Sutton Hoo and Rendlesham Woodbridge Tide Mill. There has all occupied this somewhat Above: were part of the same system of been a mill operating on the site isolated lower reach of the river. Felixstowe Ferry power,” says the archaeologist since 1170, making use of the Perhaps appropriately, in 1937 seen from the air in Life on the and historian Professor Chris natural action of the tides. the wonderfully bizarre looking Deben. Scull. “Rendlesham was their “It’s about working with the Bawdsey Manor became the living society, the site of an environment and we are totally world’s first fully operational Left: English Royal settlement, and determined by the elements,” radar station. Life on the Deben Sutton Hoo was says head miller and Tide Mill On a clear day with the sea gets its official the image they wished to project manager Dan Tarrant-Willis. Dan sparkling under a seemingly launch at the Longshed by in death.” lives near the river and believes endless Suffolk sky, the mouth of John McCarthy he has one of the best walks to the Deben can take your breath CBE. Picture: ‘Downstream there are work imaginable. away. Here the Martello towers COURTESY OF Deben smuggling stories After Ufford, the tidal Deben and the Deben bar defend against NICK COTTAM aplenty, including the tale takes centre stage. “Everywhere different types of invaders. of Margaret Catchpole’ there are boats,” remarks Look out to the powerful North journalist John McCarthy, as Sea and ponder. this is what Follow the river on its he entered Woodbridge in the becomes of those Debenham meandering course towards filmLife on the Deben – and he ditches. u Ufford and the furthest reach was right. From April onwards, The book Life on the Deben by of the tide and you can almost there are any number of boats on Nick Cottam and Tim Curtis sense the ghosts of those Saxon moorings right down the river is available at some local ancestors. The Deben drew them between Woodbridge and the bookshops and online from in as a trunk road to Suffolk and North Sea. lifeonthedeben.com. East Anglia and it has nurtured Waldringfield, Kirton, Sutton generations of riverside dwellers and Ramsholt all offer stunning ever since, from early traders and views and walks from both sides boat builders to the yachtsmen of the river. When you reach the and ramblers of today. mouth there are the delights of Take the river path from Felixstowe Ferry and its north Melton to Woodbridge where bank neighbour Bawdsey Quay. Sutton Hoo, on the opposite Rich merchants, ruthless bank, rises up to the east, and you smugglers and, more recently, eventually arrive at the landmark pre-eminent scientists have Suffolk: May 2020 47.