Suffolk Coast and Heath Walks. Laurence Mitchell
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Walkways lead to sailing boats moored on the banks of the river Blyth near Southwold (SCP, Stage 3 and SW, Stage 7)
With the exception of the first stage, between Ipswich and Woodbridge, the route of the Sandlings Walk lies entirely within the confines of the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB. To walk the complete length, it is best to allow around five days in total. As well as combining well with the Suffolk Coast Path, the Sandlings Walk could also easily be linked with the first two stages of the Stour and Orwell Walk by taking the Ipswich Loop option of the latter, and then setting out from Ipswich on the first stage of the Sandlings Walk from there to Woodbridge. If this option were chosen, Woodbridge would be ideally placed for a rest day before continuing the Sandlings Walk north. Woodbridge might also be a useful base for completing the next two stages (Stages 2–4) of the Sandlings Walk, as there is little accommodation between Woodbridge and Snape.
Geology
In geological terms, this is a relatively young landscape that has some of the youngest rocks in Britain. Underlying the surface geology of the coastal region is chalk, the remnants of a former sea bed from 70–100 million years ago. On top of this is London Clay, laid down around 50 million years ago, and this in turn is overlain in the northern part of the AONB by a cream through to red–coloured sandy limestone, rich in phosphate, called ‘crag’ that was deposited between 1.6 and 3.5 million years ago. Of the various types of crag found here, Coralline Crag is exclusive to Suffolk.
The coastal landscape seen today is very much influenced by the last ice age – the ice sheets of the last glacial period reached as far south as the Suffolk coast, diverting rivers in their wake and depositing the sands and gravels that characterise the nutrient–poor heaths of the coastal landscape.
History of the Landscape
The coast
The coast is dominated by two landscape features – shingle beaches and soft, crumbling cliffs. Shingle beaches composed of shelves of small round stones eroded by the action of a dynamic sea are a common feature all the way along this coastline, and even give their name to one settlement south of Aldeburgh – Shingle Street. The cliffs – here composed of soft, quickly eroded crag – are seen to best advantage at Dunwich, where the constant and visible crumbling is very much on display.
Stepping out on the shingle beach at Dunwich (SCP, Stages 3 and 4)
There were several thriving ports along this coastline in medieval times, mostly notably at Dunwich, one of East Anglia’s largest settlements at the time, but also at Southwold and Walberswick. Ongoing coastal erosion in the form of longshore drift meant that the harbours eventually became silted up and, following centuries of booming trade, the maritime business fell into decline, as did the tradition of ship building. (Coastal erosion is still very much a concern, and because of this sections of the Suffolk Coast Path and the Stour and Orwell Walk have been altered and rerouted considerably in recent years to compensate.)
As a reminder of Britain’s maritime tradition, and of the threat of invasion during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, several Martello towers, small defensive forts, can be found along the coast south of Aldeburgh – the northern extremity of a continuous chain of 103 similar structures that stretches all the way down to Sussex.
Some Suffolk coastal towns, such as Southwold and Aldeburgh, underwent a renaissance in the Victorian and Edwardian period, when they were developed as fashionable resorts for wealthy urbanites. In line with this development, the resort village of Thorpeness, north of Aldeburgh, was created more or less from scratch during the Edwardian period. The coastline underwent further changes during World War II, when pillboxes and gun emplacements were established along the shoreline for defensive purposes, and the curious concrete pagodas at the formerly top-secret base on the Orford Ness peninsula were constructed for weapons testing.
The Sandlings
Inland from the coast, a vast area of heath known locally as the Sandlings once stretched between Ipswich and Lowestoft. Much of this has now gone under the plough or been afforested, but there are still considerable fragments that have been conserved, with their characteristic covering of bell heather and gorse bushes and their rich birdlife.
Settlers first arrived here in the Neolithic period, attracted by light soils that were far easier to work than the heavy clay soils of central Suffolk to the west. Forests were cleared to create land for crops and the grazing of livestock, a process that continued through the Bronze and Iron Age periods. The light, sandy soil of the region ensured that forest was not able to easily re-establish itself, and the now-familiar heaths of the Sandlings developed as a result.
The beach at Pakefield, looking north towards lowestoft (SCP, Stage 1)
Some idea of the importance and relative prosperity of the Sandlings region in the Anglo-Saxon period may be judged from the treasure found at Sutton Hoo, close to present day Woodbridge. Later, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the wealth created by wool production, resulting from enclosure and grazing of the heaths, financed the building of many fine and notable medieval churches, including those at Blythburgh, Southwold and Kessingland. However, this extensive grazing for wool production caused serious problems of soil infertility in subsequent centuries.
Large areas of heath were enclosed, ploughed and fertilised during the 18th and 19th centuries, and much of the Sandlings region was given over either to game-keeping or arable farming, or afforested with large coniferous plantations.
Forests
All three major forests within the confines of the AONB – Rendlesham, Tunstall and Dunwich – were established by the Forestry Commission in the 1920s on relatively infertile tracts of Sandlings heath. These were all quite badly damaged by the Great Storm of 1987, but widespread clearance and replanting has taken place since. As well as these modern plantations there are also some fragments of ancient woodland with a mix of broad-leaved species.
Estuaries
Estuaries are another notable feature along this stretch of Suffolk coast – with the estuary of the River Blyth separating the former fishing ports of Southwold and Walberswick; the estuary of the River Alde running inland from Aldeburgh to Snape; the estuary of the River Deben at Woodbridge; the Orwell estuary leading to Ipswich; and, to the south, the Stour estuary that marks the southern limit of the AONB and, indeed, the county of Suffolk. Although not as busy with maritime trade as they once were, each of these estuaries still has its own character, and all five are popular places for boating.
Since the medieval period, marshland close to the estuaries has been drained and protected by food walls to create additional farmland. Arable crops tend to predominate, but there has also been a trend towards raising pigs outdoors in fields in recent years, while cattle often graze the wetter meadows.
The low-tide mud flats of the estuaries are important havens for wildlife, especially wildfowl and wading birds, as are the reedbeds and marshes that fringe them. Although valuable for birds and sailors, they are sometimes less convenient for walkers wishing to stay close to the shoreline, as their presence necessitates a certain amount of lengthy detouring away from the coast or the use of some of the ferries that ply the coast.
Wildlife and Flowers
Both the coastal strip and the inland Sandlings provide specialised habitat for a range of plants, birds, butterflies and insects – the coast has saltmarsh, shingle ridges, cliffs, reedbeds and grazing marsh; the Sandlings offers heaths, commercial forest and ancient woodland, as well as arable fields and hedgerows.
Eroded cliffs along the River Stour at Sutton Ness (S&OW)
The Suffolk coast is well known for its bird-watching potential, and