The Francis Frith Collection.
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Pin Mill

Pin Mill photos (12 available)

Old photo of Pin Mill

Pin Mill maps (2 available)

Old map of Pin Mill

Pin Mill books (15 available)

Pin Mill memories

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You can also read memories of nearby places in Suffolk below.

Suffolk memories

Buying a new drum for the Whitethorn Morris Band in Chelmondiston

Chelmondiston, Composite c1955


I have been the band leader for the Whitethorn Band for more than twenty years and in 2002 we decided we needed a new drum. By chance we discovered Barry Askew in Chelmondiston who used his woodworking skills to hand make perfect drums suitable for morris musicians.

We commisioned a new drum and one fine Autumn day in 2002 I drove several of our band for a day's outing to Suffolk where we met Barry Askew and tried his drums. Having seen his workshop and completed our purchase we then had a splendid meal and dirnks in a river side pub at nearby Pin Mill.  It was a lovely outing in a beautiful part of the country and ...read more here
A memory of Chelmondiston contributed by John Howard Norfolk

Family History

Shotley Gate, Bristol Arms c1955

My ancestors owned this public house in the late 18th century. Prior to this they were tenants of the Duke of Bristol and the head of the household was the ferryman. He was mentioned in a letter to the Duke from a disgruntled customer claimed that his attitude was unbecoming!
We have visited the area many times during my search for my ancestors.
A memory of Shotley Gate contributed by Mark Cuckow

HMS Ganges

Shotley Gate, Bristol Arms c1955

Until the mid '70s Shotley Gate was the home of HMS Ganges, a Royal Navy training establishment. As 15 year old boys under training in 1964 we were allowed to visit the Post Office (see photograph in this collection) to draw money out of our Post Office savings books - usually to buy food of some sort as Ganges food was so bad!! The Bristol Arms was out of bounds to us boys but I did finally get a drink there about 30 years later.
A memory of Shotley Gate contributed by Phil Smith

St. Lawrence Street 1960s

Ipswich, St Lawrence Street 1921

Back in the 1960s there was a beautiful Magnolia tree oposite the church in front of a solicitor's office in St. Lawrence Street.
Forty years have passed and I live the other side of the world.
I wonder if that tree is still there.
A memory of Ipswich contributed by First name Last name

Extracts From Pin Mill & Suffolk books

Pin Mill, the River Orwell 1909

Before the deepening of the channel to Ipswich, ships stopped at Butterman’s Bay to be unloaded into barges from Pin Mill. Arthur Ransome described Pin Mill with its ‘crowd of yachts and its big brown sailed barges and steamers going up to Ipswich or down to the sea’. Esther Garrard, one of three boat builders, has her yard over on the left.
An extract from from"Suffolk - A Second Selection Photographic Memories".

Pin Mill, The Butt and Oyster c1955

This open space was created as a car park in 1921 by demolishing a cottage. The single-storey extension to the pub also dates from 1921, when Hiskey Golding was the landlord. Where the Austin Sevens are parked is now a beer garden. One of the sailing barges that used to work the coast and the River Orwell is laid up at the water’s edge. The maltings here at Pin Mill are a reminder of the days when grain was loaded into the barges en route for Ipswich.
An extract from from"East Anglia".

Hadleigh, St Mary's Church 1922

St Mary’s, one of the largest in Suffolk, is not a typical Suffolk wool church, and has an elegant lead spire. Inside is the 600-year-old Angelus Bell, one of the oldest in the country, which is inscribed ‘Ave Maria Gracia Plena Dominus Tecum’. Perhaps the man who made the bell had other things on his mind when it came to putting in the inscription, as he forgot to invert the words laterally in the mould, and they appear backwards on the finished article!
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".

Ipswich, the Power Station c1955

A 20th-century means of pro- ducing power shares the banks of the Orwell with vessels which harness one of the oldest forms of power. With shallow mudflats along the banks of the tidal Orwell estuary, moored sailing boats end up on their keels twice a day.
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".

Ipswich, Tavern Street 1896

We are looking east along Tavern Street from Cornhill. On the left is the red brick and stone Lloyds Bank building, with its fretted skyline, while to the right is the neo-classical Post Office, built in 1881.
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".