Bus to Chelmondiston with a stop in tiny Pin Mill

The single lane road from the bus stop down to Pin Mill was lovely though, popular so we had to keep a watch out for cars.

“The origin of the place name is unknown. Several theories have been suggested. One is that many decades ago there was a mill in an adjoining field that made wooden pins (treenails) used in the manufacture of wooden boats. (Jonathan Webb of Webb’s boatyard still has a Trunell Mute used to hammer wooden pins into planks). Another suggestion for the place name is that a father gave the land to his daughter for Pin Money. (A dress allowance). A will of a John Crane in the 1600s mentions two pightles (small fields) at Pinneharde in Chelmondiston. Other wills mention Pynd Fold, either a pen for fish or cattle. But the derivation of the name remains vague.”

http://www.pinmillsociety.org.uk/index.php/history

     “The river at Pin Mill must be one of the most popular subjects on the English coast for artists.  A very picturesque spot worth a visit at any time of the year, Pin Mill is a small riverside hamlet at the end of a lane half a mile from the village of Chelmondiston.  There are a few houses, two boatyards, an art gallery, and the ever-changing river with attendant birds constantly on the move, scurrying yachts and majestic Thames barges.

     Pin Mill had links to smugglers in the 19th century – these are long gone but the 17th century Butt and Oyster Inn still exists and is a thriving pub/restaurant.  Arthur Ransome  lived close to the ‘Butt’ and used the river as his setting for the Swallows & Amazons book ‘We didn’t mean to go to sea’.   Pin Mill also featured in the popular BBC ‘Lovejoy’ series.”

http://chelmondiston.onesuffolk.net/pin-mill/

http://auctionpublicity.com/  shows Edward Seago’s Painting of the Butt & Oyster which recently sold for £39,650

Seago died in 1974 “The Prince of Wales, Prince Philip and the late Queen Mother were among those who admired and collected his pictures. The Prince of Wales was also a fan and once wrote: “Whatever the so-called experts may say, Ted Seago’s gifts will long be remembered, valued and loved. His work was in the best tradition of that peculiarly English school of landscape artists.”  http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/

As for John Constable or Thomas Gainsborough, I can’t find any specific connection with either artist and Pin Mill searching a very slow Internet. 

“The earliest building is the Butt and Oyster public house, which is mentioned in 1456 when the Water Bailiffs’ court was held there. Inquests were also held in the pub, as many instances of drowning occurred in river accidents.”

http://www.pinmillsociety.org.uk/index.php/history

Randal day-dreaming of a house in Virginia….

The best thing about good pubs is that you see men and women of all ages. 

Familiar brewery names from Ipswich history : Tollemache and Catchpole

“Yachting was a popular recreational activity and William Garrard started a boat building business c1850. Harry King was apprenticed to Garrard and in 1896 Harry took over the business. The Harry King and Sons sign near Pin Mill Common is well over 100 years old. The Kings built and repaired many wooden boats and during both wars built life rafts and dinghies for the Royal Navy. The old boatshed is long gone, but many well-known yachts were built there including Selina King for Arthur Ransome, who featured Pin Mill in his 1937 book, ‘We did not Mean to go to Sea.’ Norman and Sam King took over the business from their father and Sam’s son Geoff carried on until 2006, when he passed the business on to Gus Curtis and his wife Sarah.”

http://www.pinmillsociety.org.uk/index.php/history

Looking into Butterman’s Bay of the River Orwell and the old time sailing barges

Big ship going up to Ipswich now that the river has been dredged.

We wondered about this blue barge until we came upon this advert for a “holiday accommodation.”

          Plowed fields and purple wild flowers.

Path through some woods between the Orwell and the farm fields. 

On the way home scenes had a different perspective.

Walking through the boat-works in Pin Mill Common back towards the main road to catch the bus back to Ipswich.

You know you are in a place of sailing ships when you see models in windows.

The Orwell Bridge which we sailed under on our trip from London to Ipswich.  It was the only Ipswich landmark on my tea towel that I had no photo of; so now I do. 

“The Orwell Bridge was opened to road traffic in 1982 and carries the A14 (then A45) over the River Orwell just south of Ipswich in Suffolk, England.

The main span is 190 metres which, at the time of its construction, was the longest pre-stressed concrete span in use. The total length is 1,287 metres from Wherstead to the site of the former Ipswich Airport.

The bridge design took into consideration the impact on the Orwell Estuary, as well as the needs of the Port of Ipswich. The location close to the Southern edge of Ipswich was chosen to be convenient for the industrial areas of the West Bank Terminal and Ransomes Industrial Estate on the eastern end. The bridge was set at an angle to the river to get the best relationship to the surrounding terrain. “

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell_Bridge

http://deadinteresting.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/orwell-bridge.html is a macabre talking about deaths connected with the bridge.

The Orwell Bridge replaced the small, usually busy Stokes Bridge just near the marina.

   “ There have been  number of Stoke Bridges. There are records of a bridge existing on the site from the late 13th Century. The fact that the Domesday Book mentions Saint Mary at Stoke implies that a crossing existed much earlier. An iron bridge engineered by Ransomes was built in 1819, replacing an earlier stone bridge which was swept away in floods. It was replaced – as we show above – by the present southbound bridge which has a plaque celebrating the bridge’s erection over 1924 and 1925. A second bridge to carry northbound traffic was added in the 1982 (shown under construction on our Trinity House buoy page). The bridge was for centuries the southernmost crossing of the river in Ipswich until the construction of the Orwell Bridge in December 1982.  http://ipswich-lettering.org/stokebridge.html