Tag Archives: History

Churches of the Deben – Cycle Routes

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Regular readers of the RDA Journal will remember Gareth Thomas’s impressive project to visit and write about all 40+ of the Deben Churches. To be fair, he had no idea at the beginning of his project that there would be so many…

Gareth’s main purpose was to share his enjoyment with others and to remind people what architectural and historical gems lie tucked away, often in small villages from which the earlier congregations have moved away. But how should people reach them? Some of the walks on this site are designed to link two or three churches together — but what about cycling (or long distance running?) 

We asked keen cyclist Digby Thorogood to devise a route that linked these churches. He divided them slightly differently from Gareth (and skipped a couple) but produced a set of four cycle rides which can be enjoyed separately or as one long day’s pedalling (depending on the availability of Bawdsey ferry).  

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Astrid Dixon / Llewellyn: skippered first all-female crew in the Tall Ships race

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by Julia Jones

Dusmarie.

No-one, sailing through Ramsholt in the later part of the c20th will have failed to notice Dusmarie, moored just below the entrance to Kirton creek, unique, beautifully maintained and always with that indefinable air of capability and class. But what of the people connected with her? Astrid Llewellyn (née Dixon) who has recently died (22.1.2026) grew up on Dusmarie, sailed many thousands of adventurous miles on board, was the first woman to skipper an all-female team in the Sail Training Association Tall Ships race and supported her mother in making a distinctive contribution to girls’ outdoor education.

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So, who’s the oldest boat on the river? A report from the Boats Still Floating 2025 project

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By Julia Jones

The Boats Still Floating project was an attempt to list as many as possible of the boats on the Deben during 2025 (including houseboats) which had been built before 1950. We found 66. Click HERE to go straight to the list. 

Thank you to all who contributed.

I won’t keep you waiting for the answer: in 2025 the oldest boat, still floating on the Deben is TRY AGAIN, built in Guernsey by George le Maitre in 1861. Then, she was registered as an oyster fishing boat. These days she’s a thoroughly capable family yacht, moored at Ramsholt during the summer and owned by Matthew Longfellow. Many ‘owners’ of these historic vessels – Matthew may be one of them – prefer to describe themselves as custodians. They know that it takes unremitting vigilance, care, effort and expenditure of both time and money to ensure that the boat will continue floating even when the former owners are six feet under.

Try Again (1861).

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Beyond the tides: how salt shaped Suffolk’s economy and coastline

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By Ned Biggs

The unassuming coastline of Suffolk holds a fascinating and ancient secret: it was once a hub for sea salt production, an industry that has ebbed and flowed with the tides of history. From prehistoric fires to Roman industrialisation, and from medieval monasteries to the Victorian era’s final curtain, the story of salt-making in Suffolk is a compelling one, and one that is now seeing a modest, modern revival.

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Woodbridge Regatta – an intergenerational event

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Interview with Geoff Holdcroft, former chairman by Julia Jones

Geoff Holdcroft moved to Suffolk in 1985, working for BT. At first, he missed the hills of North Staffordshire where he had grown up but soon discovered the different beauty of the River Deben. He learned to sail on the BT boats at Waldringfield, then bought himself a Mirror dinghy – and after that, a Jaguar 22.

(courtesy Alan Comber)

Within ten years Geoff had joined the Deben Yacht Club in Woodbridge and was involved with people who were involved with the Woodbridge Regatta. His first job as a volunteer for the DYC, however, was to gain advertisements for the annual handbook. This put him in touch with many more interesting people running businesses around the town and surrounding area. Among them was Alan Readhead, a colleague at BT who introduced him to the Regatta committee   ‘We need someone to do the same for the Regatta programme,’ said Alan. The Regatta handbook then ran to eight pages so the revenue from advertisements also helped support the costs of the Regatta infrastructure – items such as the public address system and First Aid attendance. Geoff took on the job.

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I just want to record my memories of this area

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A review of Shingle Beaches and Tidal Rivers: the River Stour to Southwold by Robert Simper

Published Creekside Publishing £16.50

By Julia Jones

This is Robert Simper’s farewell to the stretch of Suffolk coast that he has known and loved over more than 80 years. In its introduction he recalls his wartime childhood living at Bawdsey watching bombers coming and going and sometimes aerial dogfights between the RAF and attacking German planes. He was clearly an inquisitive child and one who was shaped by his East Coast environment. ‘The North Sea was in front of us. It looked a cold and unwelcoming place and as time when by I found out it was just that. However, I was fascinated by the rivers and places beside the sea and felt I had to explore them.’

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Maid Marion

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by Julia Jones

Maid Marion passing HMS Severn with the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS).

Maid Marion (PZ 61) has been a familiar sight on the River Deben for over 60 years. It was in 1964 that her new owner John Hunt, together with David Mellonie of Small Craft Deliveries brought her from her original home in Cornwall to the mooring at Ramsholt, just down river from the Quay, which she has occupied ever since. This year, 2025, she reaches her 100th birthday.

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‘Cachalot’ (1898): a ‘gentleman’s yacht’ and a Dunkirk ‘little ship’

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by Steve and Beverley Daley-Yates

Steve and Beverley Daley-Yates, current owners of Cachalot, were the first to send their yacht’s details to the RDA ‘Boats Still Floating 2025’ project. This year-long project aims to identify boats currently on the Deben which were built during 1950 or before. During the year we will be building a database of such vessels, large or small. You can find it HERE. We will also run occasional articles giving some of their histories, as they are part of our river heritage. Thank you, Steve and Beverley, for starting us off.

Cachalot came back to the River Deben in September 2005 and made her home in the Tidemill Yacht Harbour, Woodbridge. She had certainly visited the Deben prior to this and possibly spent some of her neglected years sitting in the mud of the Woodbridge Town Dock. Built in Folkestone in 1898, she has spent most of her life on the East Coast. Her major restoration took place ashore at the Tidemill, 2007 – 2017. She regards the River Deben as home.

2022: Felixstowe [Josh Masters].

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Pre-1950 Boats Still Floating, 2025

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By Julia Jones

How many boats on the Deben are more than 75 years old?

The RDA Journal is beginning a year-long project to identify our oldest boats of any type and size. The only criterion is that they must still be floating for at least part of the time — either with the tide, if they live on a beach or are in use as a houseboat, or seasonally if they are laid up ashore for part of the year. Venerable wrecks like the Lady Alice Kenlis (1867) who no longer rises with the flood, or the longer term inhabitants of the Woodbridge Boatyard’s ‘rehoming shed’, can’t qualify – unless their fortunes change.

The Dragonfly class was created for members of the Waldringfield Sailing Club and turned 75 years old last year. [Photo: Alexis Smith]

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The Last Wooden Kestrel on the Deben?

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By Ned Jones, Julia Jones and Bertie Wheen

and with acknowledgement to the book Waldringfield: A Suffolk Village beside the River Deben (Golden Duck 2020).

Kestrel Sail Emblem

Box containing the designers name (J Fancis Jones)

The birth of the Kestrel in Waldringfield  (Julia and Bertie)

The Kestrel class of small, wooden cruiser-racer yachts was conceived in Waldringfield in the mid-1950s, then spread across the country during the 1960s and 70s. 150 were built in wood, 250 in GRP. Their story began when local sailor Paul King, who had owned a Waldringfield Dragonfly, wanted a small yacht with similar characteristics. He and Harry Nunn – of Waldringfield Boatyard – built a model to embody their ideas, then took it to Jack Jones at the Old Maltings to finalise the design and provide the necessary technical details.

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