B1456

The B1456 passing near the Orwell Bridge

The B1456 runs along Suffolk's Shotley Peninsula. The road was originally the A138 but was downgraded to its current number in 1971 as the road's dead-end route was perhaps insufficient for Class I status.

The road starts at a roundabout on the A137 just outside the Maidenhall suburb of Ipswich and heads southeast past a yacht club to pass under the A14 Orwell Bridge. J56 of that road is just to the west and is accessed via the A137.

We now run alongside the River Orwell for half a mile before turning inland to pass between Freston and Freston Park. A four-way junction is then met where we bear left (the road dead ahead is the B1080 but going this way requires traffic to turn right) to pass through Woolverstone and Chelmondiston (an exception to the rule that places in East Anglia have as few syllables as possible). We return to open country as we run down the centre of the peninsula.

After going through Shotley the road bears right to reach Shotley Gate. It runs down Bristol Hill through the village past the site of the former naval college HMS Ganges, ending at the bottom with the River Stour - and Harwich - ahead of us. From here an unclassified road bears left past the Harwich foot ferry pier to reach Shotley Marina.