This was an attempt by Robert Cobbold of Sutton to enclose 150 acres in the late nineteenth century. The 1845 Survey shows a smoothly curved bay between Methersgate and Stonnor Point. The plan was to build out earthworks at the Hams and Tips and continue until they joined up to enclose the bay, thus creating land. His men worked for 10d a day and he stopped their pay when they came over to Waldringfield for the annual ploughing match.
Trinity House objected to the enclosure as it would affect the navigability of the river.
‘Trinity House, supported by the judgement of God, halted the Cobbolds’ attempt to reclaim land by constructing the Tips’
W.G.Arnott, W G. Suffolk Estuary : The Story of the River Deben.
They were saved the trouble of enforcement when a storm destroyed, in one tide, the wall Cobbold’s men had built joining the Tips to the Hams, just before its completion.
The Tips, to the south, were twice as long in the 1930s1See RDA Archive – Jim Turner, in 1996 and comparison with early twentieth-century maps show this to be true for the Hams also.
Waldringfield Sailing Club position racing marks Hams and Tips for the season.
Footnotes
- 1See RDA Archive – Jim Turner, in 1996
Image Sources and Credits
- 1See RDA Archive – Jim Turner, in 1996