History of the River Stour (Suffolk)

During the reign of Queen Anne in 1705 an Act of Parliament was passed 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. This was one of the country's earliest statutory navigations and was in continuous use for commercial traffic for over two hundred years. Nowadays, the river is really only suitable for small manually propelled pleasure boats.

The River Stour Trust was formed in 1968 to protect and enhance the public’s right to navigate the River Stour.

Since its formation, the Trust has restored the locks at Flatford and Dedham and numerous landing stages along the length of the river. Because of pressures to take away the right of navigation, the Trust has become a vigorous campaigning body, and further restoration of the navigation is planned.

An award has been made under the Millennium Lottery Fund towards the construction of a new lock at Great Cornard, which will extend the navigable distance from Sudbury to Henny. At Sudbury, the basin has been excavated and has water in it again, and the old granary is now the headquarters of the River Stour Trust with offices, an interpretive centre and a function room overlooking the basin.

The Trust’s other projects include:

• maintenance of the Stour Lighter, recovered from Ballingdon Cut in 1974;
• reconstruction of the lock at Stratford St Mary;
• operating the cruiser Stour Trusty to give a regular passenger service in the summer;
• continued maintenance and operation of the working locks and general improvements to the navigation.