Minsmere River is a river in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

which flows into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

Minsmere Minsmere is a place in the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast around north of Leiston and south-east of Westleton within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB. It is the site of the Minsmere RSPB reserve and the origina ...

. The river is formed from the

River Yox The River Yox is a river in the English county of Suffolk. It flows from the west of Peasenhall through Sibton and Yoxford Yoxford is a village in East Suffolk, England, close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve (RSPB), Aldeburgh and ...

Yoxford Yoxford is a village in East Suffolk, England, close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve (RSPB), Aldeburgh and Southwold. It is known for its antique shops and (as "Loxford") for providing the setting for a Britten opera. The name 'Yoxfor ...

before flowing through Middleton, Eastbridge and Minsmere. It flows to the south of

Minsmere RSPB reserve RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at Minsmere, Suffolk. The site has been managed by the RSPB since 1947 and covers areas of reed bed, lowland heath, acid grassland, ...

helping to form many of the wetland habitats at the reserve. The river valley was largely drained and used as agricultural land in the past.Coastal levels
Suffolk Landscape Character Typology, ''Suffolk County Council''. Retrieved 2012-10-31. The original course of the river, the Minsmere Old River, runs to the north of the Minsmere New Cut, an artificial drainage channel built in 1812. This reaches the sea at Minsmere Sluice, a tidal sluice which discharges water from the channels into the sea.Flood protection work at Minsmere and Dingle Marshes
''BBC news website'', 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2012-11-01.

Flood defence work

A number of the drainage channels and river banks have been subject to flooding. Flood defence work has been carried out on the New Cut and associated sluices as well as at Reckford Bridge in Middleton.Minsmere sluice and embankment work
The Environment Agency, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-01.

Landscape

Between Yoxford and Eastbridge the landscape is classified as valley meadows and fens. The narrow valley, which has some peat deposits, is largely drained through a system of dykes and used as grassland with some areas of mixed woodland.Valley meadows & fens
Suffolk Landscape Character Typology, ''Suffolk County Council''. Retrieved 2012-11-01.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House in ...

maintains a nature reserve at Darsham Marshes along this stretch of the river.Darsham Marshes
Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 2013-05-29. Past Eastbridge the landscape is largely flat along the line of the river. This is known as the

Level, an area of drained and re-flooded marshland with underlying alluvial geology. The area to the south of the Minsmere New Cut is used a grazing marsh.Suffolk Coast and Estuaries Coastal Habitat Management Plan
''Posford Haskoning Ltd'', October 2002. Retrieved 2012-11-01. To the north the wetland areas are flooded and managed as part of the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

's habitat management strategy for its Minsmere reserve. The area provides a number of important habitats for bitterns,

marsh harrier The marsh harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding o ...

hen harrier The hen harrier (''Circus cyaneus'') is a bird of prey. It breeds in Eurasia. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Eur ...

avocets The four species of avocets are a genus, ''Recurvirostra'', of waders in the same avian family as the stilts. The genus name comes from Latin , 'curved backwards' and , 'bill'. The common name is thought to derive from the Italian ( Ferrarese) ...

and

Dartford warbler The Dartford warbler (''Curruca undata'') is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is d ...

s. The wetland areas include flooded lagoons and much of the area is designated as a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

The grazing marshes to the south of the Minsmere Levels provide over-wintering grounds for a variety of different waterfowl species.

Archaeology

The original site of

Leiston Abbey Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule (White canons), dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, St Mary. Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville (c. 11 ...

stood to the south of the river on the Minsmere Levels. The remains of a chapel are the only visible remains at the site of the original

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

abbey which was moved to the current site near

Leiston Leiston ( ) is an English town in the East Suffolk non-metropolitan district of Suffolk, near Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, about from the North Sea coast, north-east of Ipswich and north-east of London. The town had a population of 5,508 at the ...

in 1363 due to increased flooding of the coastal site. The chapel was built after the abbey was moved and was used until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

Eastbridge Windpump Eastbridge Windpump is a smock mill at the Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, Suffolk, England which has been restored to working order. History ''Eastbridge Windpump'' was probably built in the mid nineteenth century by Robert Martin, th ...

was one of four drainage mills which stood on the Minsmere Levels alongside the river. It is preserved at the

Museum of East Anglian Life The Food Museum, formerly the Museum of East Anglian Life, is a museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, which specialises in presenting the agricultural history of East Anglia through a mixture of exhibits and living history demonstrations. Hi ...

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

.East Bridge Wind Pump
,

. Retrieved 2012-11-01.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Suffolk