Loder's Cut and Troublesome Reach
I can add a little more detail to the history of Loder’s Cut, which was dug in 1879 in an effort to revive Woodbridge’s failing maritime trade by avoiding the aptly named Troublesome Reach.
W.G. Arnott, in his book Suffolk Estuary (published 1950), tells of how a Woodbridge bookseller, John Loder, became involved in an action for libel brought by the village schoolmaster at Rendlesham. The case was tried at Bury Assizes and the verdict was in favour of the plaintiff, with damages of £100.
Loder being a ‘much respected and trusted townsman and the inhabitants of Woodbridge were so shocked at the verdict that they raised a fund headed by Edward Fitzgerald to pay off the damages. Over £250 was subscribed and presented to him with a silver tankard.’
However, Loder felt unable to accept this money and requested it should be spent ‘on some form of improvement for the town.’ Thus the Cut came to be dug – it was apparently an undertaking he had had in mind for some time. During the operations, two old cannon, thought to have been from one of the Woodbridge men-o’-war, were found in the mud.
In Loder’s time the upper reaches of the Deben were marked with beacons. The one standing at the entrance to the Cut was known as the Suez Beacon – the great Egyptian waterway having been built a few years before this more modest affair.
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