B1083
B1083 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Wilford Bridge (TM291500) | |||
To: | Bawdsey (TM345400) | |||
Via: | Sutton | |||
Distance: | 7.8 miles (12.6 km) | |||
Meets: | A1152, unclassified | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The B1083 is a rural B-road serving some of the villages close to the left bank of the River Deben, on the Bawdsey Peninsula. As such, traffic on the road is there specifically (or else lost).
The B1083 starts on a roundabout with the A1152 (the only classified road it meets) close to the Wilford Bridge over the Deben. Road signs tell you this is in the village of Bromeswell, although the actual village is over a mile away. It heads roughly south and begins by climbing quite steeply. To the left is Woodbridge Golf Club (not accessible from this road) and to the right is the National Trust site of Sutton Hoo, famous for the ship burial uncovered in 1939. At the top of the hill, the terrain becomes more open. A turn to Hollesley and the disused Woodbridge Airport is passed close to the summit of the road.
After passing Sutton Hoo and open land called Sutton Walks, it is surprising how long it takes to get to Sutton village. Although small, the village stretches along the road for quite a distance. After leaving Sutton, the B1083, which had been more-or-less straight up to this point, becomes far more bendy. The road descends reasonably slowly before crossing over an unnamed stream. The road name on the relatively steep climb back up is Ford Hill, suggesting that the bridge is a modern phenomenon. At the top of the hill, we unexpectedly meet a give way sign. To the left is the centre of the village of Shottesham but the B1083 TOTSOs to the right.
The B1083 contours anticlockwise round a low hill as far as Shottesham Hall, before climbing up a small valley past Tom's Wood (it is uncertain who Tom was). At the top of the hill the road bends sharply to the right for no apparent reason. Soon after, it descends once again into the village of Alderton, the least dispersed of all the villages along the B1083. The road zig-zags through the centre of the village. This is the last chance to turn round, as after leaving Alderton, the B1083 is now the only road, suggesting there is not much land left. The next village, Bawdsey, is met very soon afterwards. The B1083 ends at an unmarked point just past the church, at the junction with East Lane.
The road, now unclassified, carries on for nearly two miles past Bawdsey Manor, where radar was developed, as far as Bawdsey Ferry, where the River Deben is met once again. Felixstowe Ferry is on the other side of the river and a passenger ferry still links the two sides.