My Adventures 3: Snape Maltings

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On Friday the 28th of November 2020 I drove and hour and three quarters to Snape Maltings in Suffolk, where I parked for free beside the River Alde.

Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.

The original purpose of the Maltings was the malting of barley for the brewing of beer; local barley, once malted, was sent from here to London and exported to mainland Europe. Today a collection of shops, galleries, restaurants and the Concert Hall fill the old buildings. The Alde Estuary is known for wildlife and river trips.

Newson Garrett, a Victorian entrepreneur, built the Maltings in the 1800s; his name appears on plaques around the site. The river made Garrett decide to build a Maltings at this already busy port. Newson was ambitious and determined and in 1841 purchased the business of Osborne and Fennell, corn and coal merchants of Snape Bridge. From this port the Maltings began to evolve, using the River Alde to transport barley across Britain and into Europe on Thames barges. Within three years of his arrival, Newson Garrett was shipping 17,000 quarters of barley a year from Snape. Much of this barley would have been destined for breweries, where it had first to be malted. Newson saw an opportunity. Snape was in the heart of good agricultural land, and halfway between the brewing area of Norwich and London. Demand from the London breweries was growing fast, and it was becoming impractical to make malt and brew beer on the same premises. In 1854 he began malting at Snape, and was soon shipping malt, rather than barley to the breweries.

The Maltings process at Snape came to an end in the 1960s as Swonnell and Son went into liquidation and seven acres of industrial buildings were left vacant. Thirty acres of land was offered for sale, including dwellings and an inn. It was difficult to imagine how such functional structures could be put to different use. However George Gooderham, a local farmer and businessman, recognised the potential. He purchased the site and set about finding alternative uses for the buildings.

By the 1960s the Aldeburgh Music Festival was outgrowing the limited space available in the Jubilee Hall. Benjamin Britten started to look around for somewhere to build a concert hall. Britten had the vision to see the largest Malthouse, in its magnificent setting overlooking the saltings as a possible site. Negotiations began with George Gooderham and after little more than a year Snape Maltings Concert Hall was ready to be opened by the Queen at the start of the 1967 Aldeburgh Festival.

I walk up the road from the Maltings to a fork and turn left and onto a footpath shortly after.

It was still very misty and frosty, but that added to the beauty of the area.

I follow the Suffolk Coast Path along a boardwalk through a marshy area.

As I cross a dyke a kingfisher darts away from its perch, wish I had noticed it before for a good look.

I leave the boardwalks behind and walk through a field and then take a path down to the riverside.

The River Alde and River Ore form a river system passing by Snape and Aldeburgh. The River Alde and River Ore meet northwest of Blaxhall. From there downriver the combined river is known as the River Alde past Snape and Aldeburgh, and then again as the River Ore as it approaches Orford and flows by a shingle spit before emptying into the North Sea.

During Tudor times, the river served as a port from which four ships were launched to fight against the Spanish Armada. The river no longer serves as a commercial port but as an area for yacht sailing.

The tidal reaches (below Snape Bridge) are within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as well as being a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a designated Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area.

It was so peaceful here, no sound other than waves lapping at the shore and the waders crying out from the mist.

This is the area known as Iken Cliffs.

The river Alde has seen people living alongside it since prehistoric times, with the name "Iken" deriving from the word Icanho, or headland. During the 19th Century, Iken was an important fishing village, and the marshland in the area was drained to provide farmland. However, the river breached the banks between Iken and Snape in 1953 and the mudflats were created.

The protected nature of this 316 acre site also mean large numbers of curlew, black-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, grey plover, wigeon, pintail, teal and dunlin – whose shrill calls shiver across the waterscape – also use the reserve in winter. During breeding season redshank, oystercatcher and marsh harrier, a species particularly vulnerable to disturbance, raise their young here.

I reluctantly leave the river and walk up a footpath beside a field full of Pheasants.

A Pheasant perched upon a fence.

I walk a couple of hundred yards along Tunstall Road before turning left down Church Lane to head to Iken Church.

The church of St Botolph at Iken is a Suffolk landmark. sited on a low spit of land jutting out into the estuary of the River Alde. The church is mainly 15th century, but the site itself is much, much older. Parts of the nave may date to the 12th century.

ST BOTOLPH AT IKEN

Sometime in the mid-7th century, a Christian monk by the name of Botwulf requested a grant of land from the local king of what is now eastern Suffolk. Botwulf asked for a 'waste and ownerless place' on which to found a monastic cell. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in AD 654 'Botwulf began to build the minster at Icanho'. Botwulf is known to history as St Botolph, and his monastery, or minster, was one of the first in East Anglia.

The site of the new minster was not an auspicious one; as Botulph requested, he was given a bleak and marshy area, a far from hospitable place. A Christian community grew up around Botolph's minster, and when Botolph died near Burgh around 680 AD the monks buried him at Iken (an alternate version of the story says that he was buried at Burgh)

Two centuries later the Suffolk coast suffered under waves of Viking raids. Over the winter of AD 869-70 the Vikings destroyed many monasteries in Suffolk, among the Iken. Eventually, the saint's relics were removed from Iken for safekeeping and ended up at Bury St Edmunds.

A new church was built upon the ruins of the Saxon monastery and dedicated to St Botolph.

And there the story might have ended but for a chance discovery; in 1977 the county archaeologist, Stanley West, found a large Saxon cross embedded in the tower of the medieval church. On examination, the cross was found to be richly decorated with Anglo-Saxon interlace designs and the likeness of a mythical beast.

The cross dates to the late 9th century and may have been set up as a memorial to mark the site of Botolph's grave. The cross is now on display at the west end of the church, near the font. It is about 1.5 metres long, roughly half of its original height.

The 15th century font

15th century octagonal font. The bowl panels are carved with angels alternating with representations of the four evangelists, below which are angels, and on the central stem, four lions. Both the angels and the lions are found regularly on East Anglian fonts.

Entrance to rood stairs

In the north wall just west of the chancel arch, is the entrance to the rood loft stairs. Before being taken down in the Reformation, the rood loft gave access to the Rood (crucifix) above a rood beam or screen under the chancel arch.

Part of a stone cross that’s been dated back to the late 9th or early 10th century. Discovered in 1977, it’s thought this could be the lower part of a large decorated stone cross, a marker for Botolph’s original church or the only surviving relic of a later Saxon church.

The quotation for the Saxon Chronicle that reads: ‘Her Onna cyning wearþ ofslægen; ond Botulf ongon minster timbran æt Icanho’. This apparently translates to: ‘Here [in this year] Onna King was slain; and Botulf began [his] minster to build at Iken Hoo.’

St Botulph died on 17th June AD680 and was buried at the site of his famous minster. It was proclaimed that Botolph was a man of unparalleled life and learning, and full of the grace of the Holy Spirit. His tomb survived the destruction wrought by the Vikings in the winter and AD869-870, and in AD970 his bones were moved with the consent of King Edgar to a site at Burgh-by-Woodbridge near Grundisburgh. It has been said the Burgh was suffering similar problems with ghosts and marsh demons as had beset Icanho and Botolphs bones were brought here to banish the evil spirits. Whether this worked or not is not told but his relics were housed at Burgh for around fifty years until the time of King Cnut who granted permission for them to be divided between several minsters, including Bury St Edmunds where they were venerated in a shrine. The ruined crypt can still be seen there today.

The monastery built by Botolph was destroyed by Viking raiders in the winter of AD869-70 two centuries after his death but the foundations of a mid-Saxon timber-framed building have been found, thought to be Botolph’s original church just south of where his monastery stood. So origins go back more than 1300 years.

The church you see today is Norman with 15th century porch and tower and Victorian chancel. But it had to be repaired after the devastating fire of 1968 when a spark set the thatched roof alight.

I leave the Church and walk back down Church lane.

I turn right back into Tunstall Road.

It is a long walk up Tunstall Road, but it is pleasant enough and not very busy until you reach the Riding centre.

I met a very friendly horse, who trotted over when called and was even happy to have a selfie with me.

After a long walk along Tunstall Road I reach the end, I cross over a road and continue along Tunstall Road until I reach a path that leads me into Tunstall Forest.

Tunstall Forest consists of coniferous plantations, broadleaved belts and heathland areas which link up with both Tunstall and Blaxhall Common. These areas are great for ground nesting birds such as the Nightjar and Woodlark, so keep your eyes peeled for these species.

I leave the forest and walk back down Snape Road.

At the end of Snape Road I turn right and now walking back into Snape Maltings again.

I walk by The Plough and Sail Pub, sadly not open.

There has been a pub here since the 16th century, when it was a smugglers inn at the head of navigation on the River Alde. Throughout this period and right up until 1965 the pub was also the focus for the sailors who traded barley on the Thames Barges that berthed on the quayside.

I crossed Snape Bridge to get some photos of the Maltings.

Cygnet

Official No. 84028, 16 ton. Built Frindsbury 1881.

Very small working barge built with a single hold at Frindsbury of wood in 1881 by Curel and owned by Walter Wrinch of Ewarton. Later owners Payne, and Mica Brown who refitted her as a private yacht based at Snape Maltings. Reverted to tiller steering and had mizzen stepped on rudder post from 2005 under Mica Brown and Des Kaliszewski.

Snape Concert Hall

In 2006 Aldeburgh Music purchased a 999-year lease of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall, investing around £14 million in new studios and rehearsal spaces which came into use in 2009. The "Creative Campus" at Snape Maltings has four performance venues (from 70 to 830 capacity) and over 20 rehearsal and public spaces.