| An ever-changing coast |
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| Written by Catherine Dell, 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 Britten countrySince 2003 the shore between Thorpeness and Aldeburgh has had a new landmark, Scallop, a striking shell-shaped memorial to Benjamin Britten created by artist Maggi Hambling. Aldeburgh is synonymous with Britten.The composer lived here for over 30 years, finding inspiration for his music in the restless harmonies of wind and wave. He and his lifelong companion, the tenor Peter Pears, are both buried in the churchyard. In the church itself there is an arresting commemorative window by Jon Piper and nearby a bust of George Crabbe, the local poet whose verse portrait of accursed fisherman Peter Grimes formed the basis of Britten's first and best-known opera. In 1948 Britten, Pears and the librettist Eric Crozier founded The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts with concerts held in the church and cinema. Over the years, the Festival outgrew Aldeburgh and in 1967 it moved a few miles up the river Alde to Snape, to a disused malt house converted into a world-class concert hall. Whether or not you're into culture (there's a poetry festival as well) Aldeburgh enchants: colour-washed cottages, balconied houses, long high street, fishing boats hauled up on the shingle, fresh fish for sale at beachside huts, and a half-timbered Moot hall. When it was built in the 16th century, the Moot hall stood at the heart of the town; it is now perched on the prom and the seaward side of old Aldburgh lies submerged. Aldeburgh lost touch with its river centuries ago. A southwards-thrusting shingle spit dammed the Alde's outfall, forcing it to turn and flow down the coast. The spit is now around 11 miles long. Owned by the National Trust, it attracts visitors for its extensive plant and bird life and for relics of its past as a secret military site. Between 1913-1985, the Ness was used for research into aerial warfare, bomb ballistics and then atomic weapons and it was here that Robert Watson-Watt developed radar. The Ness is reached by ferry from Orford, where the frustrated Alde changes its name to Ore. In medieval times, Orford flourished as a busy market town and port, as is evidenced by two prominent buildings, the church and castle. The latter, erected on the orders of Henry II, incorporated a unique 18-sided keep, designed to prevent undermining. This keep still stands and provides superb views over the Ness from its roof. Nature's sabotageBy the mid 16th century, however, the Ness had pushed past Orford, blocking its harbour and thus sabotaging the town's livelihood. In 1722, when Daniel Defoe visited as part of his nationwide tour he observed that Orford, "is decayed.The sea daily throws up more land... so it should be a seaport no longer". Today Orford survives as an attractive riverside village with a reputation for oysters and a legendary merman, caught by fishermen in their nets during Henry II's reign. The Victorian poet Swinburn described the Suffolk coast as "Miles, and miles, and miles of desolation..." Poetic licence, but certainly the stretch from the Ness' tip to Bawdsey is a bleak and lonely sweep of shingle. Near the aptly named hamlet of Shingle Street, the shore is particularly vulnerable to erosion and recently lost as much as 17m (56ft) in a single year. A Martello tower, reinforced with 'rock armour', dramatically illustrated the ferocity of the sea's attack. Hereabouts, there are several Martello towers, part of a chain extending from Suffolk to Sussex. Built during the Napoleonic Wars, these round forts had walls 10 feet thick, ready to withstand an invasion that never happened. Commerce and conservationJourney's end is Felixstowe, a family resort, and around the corner, Britain's largest container port. The 'corner', Languard Point, has long had a strategic role.Its first fort was built at the express command of Henry VIII and a 17th-century replacement helped repel Dutch invaders in 1667. The present structure, begun in 1716, played a pivotal part in coastal defences until 1956. Today Languard Fort, incorporating Felixstowe Museum, is in the care of English Heritage. Not surprisingly, the adjacent area is littered with wartime leftovers such as anti-tank blocks, searchlight posts and, from the Victorian era, circular gun-practice mounts. This wasteland area of sparsely vegetated shingle is now a nature reserve with unlimited public access. Covering 35 acres, it supports over 450 species of flowering plants ranging from the rare stinking goosefoot to the more familiar yellow horned poppy and sea-holly. In John Betjeman's poem, Felixstowe, the first verse begins: With one consuming roar along the shingle The long wave claws and rakes the pebbles down To where its backwash and the next wave mingle A mounting arch of water weedy-brown... This is the restless sea that has shaped not just Felixstowe but all of the Suffolk coast - its mudflats, saltmarsh, sand dunes, heathlands, lagoons and shingle ridges: an ever-changing fragile landscape that welcomes visitors, preferably without their cars. Public transport options - including CoastLink, an on-demand bus - serve the principal towns and villages. The coast itself is best enjoyed on foot or by bike. But go soon, in case the sea gets there first. Find out more
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