River Stour, Suffolk

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The Stour at Manningtree, Essex

The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km (47 m) long^[1] and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes though Haverhill, Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the North Sea at Harwich. The name Stour derives from the Celtic sturr meaning "strong". ^[2]

The first settlement on the river in Suffolk was at Great Bradley, where man has had a recorded presence for over 5,000 years.

The River Stour was one of the first improved rivers or canals in England. Parliament passed 'An Act for making the River Stower navigable from the town of Manningtree, in the county of Essex, to the town of Sudbury, in the county of Suffolk' in 1705, mandating public navigation rights and providing the basis of a joint stock company of London and Suffolk investors who raised £4,800 to cut and manage the river. Although partly supplanted by railways, lighters were still working on the Stour almost until WW2.

Constable's Dedham Vale of 1802

The Stour valley has been portrayed as a working river by John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough and Paul Nash. Today much of the Stour valley is designated an Area of Outstanding Beauty.^[1] and forms the spine of Constable country.

The River Stour Trust, a waterway restoration group, was set up in 1968 and has restored the Gasworks Cut and the 19th century Granary Building, now used as the Trust's Headquarters.

RSPB Stour Estuary is a nature reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

[edit] See also

Rivers of the United Kingdom

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Environment Agency - River Stour (HTML). www.environment-agency.gov.uk (November 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
^ Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names (2003)