Gipping Valley River Path Part 1

Today we had a linear walk from Ipswich to Needham Market along part of the Gipping Valley River Path.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Monday October 5th - The Gipping Valley River Path. Most people want to walk the 12.5 miles from Ipswich to Needham Market. I am going to park at Needham Market Lakes and get the No 88 bus opposite The Swan pub at 9.52am. We should arrive at Ipswich Bus station at 10.25am. Grab a takeaway drink, use the toilet and we will get walking. Please bring food/drink for the whole day as we will picnic outside. If you would like to walk 9 miles to Great Blakenham then you can grab the No 88 bus back to Needham Market. "

This was our route today.

Here are some of my photos.

Six of us met at the bus-stop opposite The Swan in Needham Market...

and took the number 88 bus to Ipswich.

From the bus station, we passed through the town centre heading towards the river.

We went along Silent St with its old timber-framed houses...

...and passed Cardinal Wolsey's statue...

... and pub...

...to get to the waterfront.

We walked along the River Orwell towards the station. I liked this bronze statue of a man rowing next to Stoke bridge. It is called Against the tide and is by Lawrence Edwards of Butley. Read about it here. 

We all liked the message written in the nearby skate-park.

Having passed Stoke Bridge we were now on the River Gipping, and the Gipping Valley River Path. As the Discover Suffolk site says here... 

"The Gipping Valley River Path is a beautiful walk through history and nature. The 17 mile river path joins the Railway Stations of Stowmarket and Ipswich, and passes Needham Station, offering opportunities for return trains. In Stowmarket the route meets the Mid Suffolk Footpath enabling walkers to extend their travels.

There is evidence that the river was used for navigation as far back as the thirteenth century, but in 1793 the river was canalised when 200 men built 15 locks along the Gipping. Industries then developed rapidly as the improvements allowed barges to easily travel from Stowmarket to Ipswich. Today the area remains a significant industrial location. 

 The River Gipping Trust work to restore and improve the path which follows the route of the old tow path to Ipswich. The river path enjoys an abundance of flora and fauna, and is attractive all year round. The route passes old water mills and navigation locks, including Bosmere Mill and Lock, and Sproughton Lock."

You can find out more about the River Gipping Trust and the route here. This is their map of the path.

This is the marker used on posts to waymark the route.

We stopped at the station to wait for Jane and have some coffee.

Onwards back onto the path along the river. Here we passed another statue - The Navigator by John Atkin. 

As the nearby panel explains...

"The sculpture was inspired by Ipswich's maritime history and industrial past. Influences 

were found amongst a variety Of sources, from 19th Century stern castings for ships and 

navigational instruments to tailoring pattern templates and the 'wheels' of industry. John 

Atkin does not make representational figures: he suggests human presence through the use of 

forms that allude to recognisable objects such as tools. This mix of reference to human anatomy 

and industrialisation has been a consistent aspect of Atkin's work to date, as has the use of metaphor instead of depicting figures.  The 'Navigator' has been constructed using Cor-Ten steel, a material which recalls the area's past industrial use. It stands five metres tall, watching, guarding - a sentinel to a new era as well as a navigator for the future." 

We passed under the Sir Bobby Robson bridge.

We came to our first of the locks on the river -  Handford Sea Lock. This disused lock, now a weir, was the final lock of 15 between Stowmarket and Ipswich when the River Gipping was navigable as the 'Stowmarket Navigation', until 1920. This view is upstream, towards Stowmarket.

We found a lot of the river was covered with a green carpet of pondweed.

We criss-crossed the railway a few times.

I found some wild hops here, and again further on.

We came to the A14 and walked under it.

Some houses have lovely gardens backing onto the river.

We passed Sproughton Mill.

This bridge is new.

We could see fish in the river from it.

We came to Bramford Meadows, but it was a bit early for lunch so didn't stop at the picnic site.

We saw St. Mary's, Bramford with its spikey spire across the river, previously visited on this walk in 2021.

Sometimes the path was a bit narrow, but it was never too overgrown.

It is sad to see how the invasive Himalayan Balsam is spreading, even if the flowers are pretty.

This is the site of the former Packard's loading dock. In 1854 Edward Packard built a warehouse at the side of the river here. He pioneered the production of artificial fertilisers on an industrial scale and was joined in 1858 by Joseph Fison who constructed his chemical works nearby. The factory closed in 2003 and burnt down in 2019, as reported here.

It's hard to imagine now that steam barges used to dock here.

This house nearby is sadly derelict...

...but the former mill has been converted into housing.

We passed close to the Great Blakenham Suffolk Energy from Waste facility, which we visited in December 2024 (see here).

We stopped by this small picnic site just outside Claydon for our lunch.

Passing Barham Lakes, we could see the water level was a bit low.

This is what used to be Blakenham Lock.

This group photo is a reflection in the river running under the bridge.

Here we said goodbye to Dan who was taking the bus back to Needham Market from a busstop just up the path to the left of the pink house.

We saw a couple of closed river crossings.

We came to an area with open fields to the left of the path.

This was our next former lock - Sharmford lock.

Our path was joined by a circular walk from Baylham.

On the other side of the river we could see these pigs at the Rare Breed Farm. We also saw some alpacas there.

We crossed the river again at the Grade II listed Baylham Mill.

The river flows through the former Baylham lock here.

Between here and the A14 was the site of the Roman fort of Combretovium. There were settlers here from 43AD to 409AD.

We recrossed the river via Howard's bridge, which is on the site of a wooden road bridge constructed in 1792 by John Rennie, architect of the Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation and its 15 locks.

We came to familiar territory for the last part of our walk. Here at Pipp's Ford is a replica of the mathematical bridge.

The Pipp's Ford lock.

Nearly back now. This is Alderson Large Lake.

Bosmere Mill is just by...

...the sadly now closed Duck & Teapot Café. I wonder when it will reopen?

What a great walk in lovely weather and with so much to see and so much history. Thank-you Joyce for leading us along the path and to everyone else for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 12.6 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos (including pictures of the display boards along the way) here on Flickr.

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

• Ramblers Needham Market Walk (Apr 2019)

• Needham Market and Darmsden Walk (May 2020)

• Needham Market Walk (May 2021)

• Quarries Quest Walk (May 2021)

• Sproughton Walk (May 2021)

• Needham Market Walk (Jun 2021)

• The Big Hoot Art Trail (June 2022)

• Needham Market - Off the Grid Walk (May 2022)

• Suffolk Energy from Waste Facility (Dec 2024)

• Needham Market Walk (May 2026)