Monument record SUF 091 - River Waveney Navigation

Taken from NRHE Record:
Before the 1650s the Waveney was navigable up to Bungay, but by 1670 vessels could only reach near Beccles. An Act of 1670 restored the navigation to Bungay. Later there were ideas of extending up the Waveney and down the Little Ouse to Brandon. During the late 18th century the navigation prospered. Up to Beccles there were no locks, but to Bungay, 7.5 miles upstream, there were three. In 1847 the Waveney below Beccles was the subject of an Admiralty enquiry, aimed at improving the navigation to that town from Yarmouth. By this time there were two steam tugs working between Yarmouth and Beccles. In 1889 the improved navigation above Beccles was bought by the local maltsters W D & A E Walker, who were succeeded in 1919 by the brewers Watney, Combe, Reid and Co. Ltd. By the 1920s the navigation was declining and in 1934 it closed.