There and Back

When it was reported in a local newspaper that the world's largest container ship was in Felixstowe docks, (that's Languard Point,) we made our way to see this mammoth. Luckily, we had planned a visit for another reason already!Making our way to the car park close to the observation area, it was obvious that the news travels fast - there were a lot of people about for the same reason no doubt. World's largest container ship MSC Loreto at Felixstowe It has the capability of holding more than 24,346 containers. A view of the MSC Loreto with a large Stena Line passenger ferry passing by. The Stena Line ferry rounds the river mouth against a backdrop of a radar tower and a line of shallow water markers Parts of the timber pier which once carried rail lines to the end of the jetty. The railway was linked to Landguard Fort where, in the latter part of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century, a system of using submerged mines was devised to protect the approaches ...

Felixstowe is the nearest seaside town to us and seems to be gaining in popularity judging by the number of people seen there. A couple of visits within a few days and here are some images from those visits, including my first sight of the new Ferris wheel. But to start, some images from the Languard end of Felixstowe. Many ferries as well as container vessels are visible at virtually any time. Looking inland there is the beautiful Nature Reserve. Here with part of the old fort in the background. Then, of course, the busy container port. The Port of Felixstowe is the United Kingdom's largest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as the 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a handled traffic of 3.85 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). In 2019 it was ranked the UKs 7th busiest port - shows how it`s growing! Mind you, if you travel the A14 in the area you will see evidence of its growth with a c...

Today I made a visit to the village where I used to live - Boxford in Suffolk. My aim on this visit, was to take a few photographs of the lovely Church. The origins of the Boxford church are unclear, but there is indirect reference to it in the Domesday Book (1086) via an entry for the Manor of Kodenham, which lay in what is now the Parish of Boxford. In that reference the church is recorded as having 20 acres of Glebe Land, an area which remained constant right up to the twentieth century. By 1286 the village is recorded as Boxford and paying dues to the Abbots of Bury St. Edmunds. The boundaries with the parishes of Groton and Edwardstone, to the north and west respectively, used to run to within a few meters of the northern boundary of the churchyard. The church therefore probably served the scattered populations to the south. However, with the growth of the wool industry, Boxford expanded north across the River Box into the area now occupied by Broad Street and the bottom end of Sw...

John Winthrop was famous as the leader and founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in what is now the USA. He was born on 12 January 1588 to wealthy parents Adam and Anne Winthrop in Edwardstone. In 1613, when John was twenty-five, his father transferred the family holdings in Groton to him, so then he became Lord of the Manor at Groton. He was a lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of colonists from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies in addition to those of Massachusetts. The Puritan population in England had been growing for several years leading up to this time. They disagreed with the practices of the Chu...