Darsham is a village in

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 ...

, England. It is located approximately north east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by

Darsham railway station Darsham railway station is on the East Suffolk Line in the east of England, serving the villages of Darsham and Yoxford, Suffolk, lying midway between the two communities. It is down the line from and measured from London Liverpool Street; i ...

, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the Ipswich-

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

East Suffolk Line. The name of the village of Darsham derives from Deores Ham — home of the deer. This name is borne out by early reference to local roadways as chaseways. There was hunting in this area as late as the 18th century. Darsham is a mixed community with six farms. The village still has a pub, The Fox, however over the past few years the village has lost its school, shop and post office. The garage on the A12, now primarily a petrol station, has a cafe and a shop. There is also a farm shop, a handmade tile factory, a pottery, a builder, an irrigation contractor, seed and feed merchants and a cafe, a private nursing home and a plant nursery with a shop and restaurant.

History

The village gave its name to the Ham class minesweeper HMS ''Darsham''. In WW2, Darsham was the site of RAF High Street, situated just off the A144 road to Bramfield and Halesworth, an early radar station part of

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

which originated at Bawdsey Manor, in

. The High Street radar station had "Type 1 radar", 4 (Receive towers) of 240 ft made from wood and five (Transmit towers) of 360 ft made of steel. The wood towers stood in a close formation. The site later became a fireworks factory. Further down the A12 towards Lowestoft there are a row of cottages, Optney Cottages, that used to be the Darsham Coaching Inn.

Darsham Marshes Nature Reserve

Darsham Marshes Darsham Marshes is a 20 hectare nature reserve south of Darsham in Suffolk, England. It is owned and managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. This marsh and fen site has two ponds and a network of dykes. The wildlife is diverse and flowering plants ...

is a nature reserve located south of the village. The reserve is in size and is owned and managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust.Darsham Marshes
Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 2013-05-29. The reserve consists of areas of marshland, meadow and fen land along the

Minsmere River Minsmere River is a river in the English county of Suffolk which flows into the North Sea at Minsmere. The river is formed from the River Yox at Yoxford before flowing through Middleton, Eastbridge and Minsmere. It flows to the south of Minsmer ...

and is designated as a County Wildlife Site.

References

External links

Picture of Darsham 'pylons' in WW2
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk