Monument record SUF 067 - East Suffolk railway line

The line runs between Ipswich railway station and Lowestoft railway station. The original line ran between Halesworth and Haddiscoe in 1854. The whole line opened in 1859. It remains in use.

From NHRE record:
The Halesworth, Beccles and Haddiscoe Railway was incorporated in 1851 to join the river ports of Halesworth and Beccles to the Reedham - Lowestoft line of the Norfolk Railway with which, in 1852, it was empowered to make a working agreement. Operated by the ECR, it opened in 1855. Renamed the East Suffolk Railway in 1854, in that same year it gained authorisation to raise further capital to extend to Yarmouth and South to Woodbridge, where the EUR had undertaken to meet it from Ipswich. The scheme included branches to Leiston, Framlingham and Snape. The extension and branches opened on June 1st 1859, the same day that the Ipswich - Woodbridge section was opened by the ECR. Passenger traffic North of Beccles ceased in 1959, and there was threat of total closure. However in 1965, the whole line was designated a `basic' railway, and was singled, with passing loops at Woodbridge, Saxmundham, Halesworth and Beccles. Stations South of Beccles remain open.


2004: Desk Based assessment identified a high potential for archaeological remains from the prehistoric to modern periods. There is evidence form the site for a Bronze Age cremation cemetery and there is likely to have been Anglo-Saxon settlement associated with the nearby Boss Hall and Hadleigh Cemeteries. The area was also the site of an extensive factory complete as well as two branches of railway which have likely disturbed the survival of archaeological deposits (S2).