Another walk in Walberswick

Last month, 16th August to be exact, we went on a Scavenger Hunt to Walberswick with Gill Moon. Today we revisited the same place, on our own, but walked in the opposite direction to see more of this lovely area.  One of the first things encountered on entering the village is the village sign, which appears to have a story behind it.The story of the village sign as in BBC news: 

A village sign which was made for the Queen's Coronation in 1953 but stolen in the 1980s is back on display. Lea and Philip Newstead had bought the sign in London in the mid 1990s, without knowing it had been stolen from Walberswick in Suffolk.

They donated it back to the village and were guests of honour on Saturday as the restored sign was unveiled. Mr Newstead said: "The sign was made for the Coronation and has come back for the Jubilee." The couple had paid about £180 for the sign, which has the locally-made HMS Basing as its centrepiece. They said they did not know Walberswick existed until they passed a sign to the village en route to a holiday in Norfolk. Mrs Newstead said: "It needed a lot of work when we had it - it was in our garden and nearly became a feature of our pond." The couple said they had received a "fantastic" welcome to Walberswick. The restored sign is now located opposite the village church.

Today, here it is in all its glory. The frame of the sign is made of steel and the design, by Clifford Russell, features a crown and a copper ship. The ship is based on HMS Basing (later HMS Guernsey), which supposedly was built in Walberswick for Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth army. Who knows? - but a good story.

Seen on the foreshore, well up from the beach but quite close to the river. I just liked the contrasting colours.

Old (Victorian possible) fishermens huts line the dunes. Once there were many more. The 31st January 1953 was a particularly dark day in Southwold and Walberswick`s history. An unusually high tide coincided with a deep depression of below 970 millibars and gale-force northerly winds. All of which combined to send a tremendous surge of water funnelling round from Scotland into the North Sea. The result was one of the worst floods in living memory along England’s entire East Coast. It was a national disaster, and 358 people died in all. I believe many of these huts disappeared at this time.

Artist in action. They do make a good picture, these huts.

Continuing our walk through the marshes, we came to Westwood Marshes Mill which was built in the late 18th century, possibly in 1798. It was worked by wind until 1940 and then damaged when used for target practice during WW2. The mill was repaired in the 1950s but in October 1960 it was burnt out in an arson attack. It remains standing in a derelict state.

Another view of the mill on Westwood marshes. It was at this point that we turned sharp right in front of the mill and headed for the woods, before reaching the road again. Then a walk back along the road to Walberswick.

One surprise, as we navigated the woods, was this WW2 Pillbox. It just demonstrated to us how much the forest had grown up in the intervening 75 years since the war. I am sure it would have been built with a clear view of the surrounding coastal area.

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