A tour round the vice-counties of Suffolk

A TOUR ROUND THE VICE-COUNTIES OF SUFFOLK H . MENDEL

Readers expecting a guide to the more exciting night life to be had in Suffolk will be sorely disappointed! The object of this paper is to define the limits of the area we know as 'Suffolk', for recording purposes - the area recognised by the Suffolk Biological Records Centre.

Distributional work on Britain's flora and fauna has traditionally been by county, and generations of naturalists have taken great pride in recording their area. It is on this tradition that the Suffolk Naturalists' Society was founded, and recording the changing status of the county's animal and plant species remains a primary object. This is all very well, but what do we do if the politicians change the boundaries of our area of study? It has been known for naturalists to spend months making corresponding amendments to their county's lists. Hopefully most of us have better things to do.

What are the alternatives? We can throw out the county system all together and use an arbitrary grid, such as the National Grid, for recording purposes. This works well, and it has now become usual to record by grid Square rather than by parish, within the county area. However, perhaps because of the long history of biological recording, naturalists tend to be loyal to their counties rather than to grid squares. It has to be admitted that the 'Suffolk Naturalists' Society' somehow has a better ring to it than say the 'TL/TM Naturalists' Society'. County boundaries have the advantage of following discernible landscape features and so can easily be identified in the field, but must be fixed if they are to be of any use for recording purposes.

Fortunately they have been fixed and the fixed areas are known as the vice-counties.

Hewett Cottrell Watson (1804-1881) was the originator of the vice-county system which may be said to date from 1852 (Dandy, 1969). The boundaries adopted were essentially the administrative boundaries of the day, except that the larger counties were sub-divided. Differences of opinion as to the precise line of boundaries were settled by the sub-committee on maps and censuses, set up by the Systematics Association in 1947-8. The agreed boundaries were marked on a set of one-inch Ordnance Survey maps deposited at the British Museum (Natural History) and these maps are still available for study.

How do the Watsonian Vice-countries differ from today's administrative county of Suffolk, as marked on the 1:50000 Ordnance Survey 'Landranger' Series (1980-81) of maps? Fortunately not too much.

Starting at the south-east 'corner' of Suffolk the vice-county boundary (v.-c.b.) follows the centre of the deep water Channel from the sea into the estuary of the River Stour (Fig. 1). The administrative boundary (a.b.) follows the low water mark, and the two coincide at TM 213327, following the same course along the Stour as far as Sudbury.

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A TOUR ROUND THE VICE-COUNTIES OF SUFFOLK

Just before Sudbury, at T L 879406 the a.b. leaves the Stour, heading off to the south-west and only rejoining it at its junction with Belchamp Brook at T L 863424. The v.-c.b. stays with the Valley of the Stour (Fig. 2).

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adminstrative Suffolk outside the vice-county

vice-county Suffolk outside the administrative county

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From the junction of Belchamp Brook and the Stour the two boundaries follow the same course along the Stour, almost as far as Haverhill. They part ways at T L 707439, the a.b. meandering to the west, the v.-c.b. continuing north along the Stour to Kedington, leaving the river at T L 706461. From here it follows a series of footpaths and other landscape features across the fields and through Haverhill, meeting again with the a.b. where the drive to Haverhill Hall leaves the minor road between Haverhill and Heiions Bumpstead at T L 665438 (Fig. 3).

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Fig. 3.

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The boundaries then coincide as far north as Newmarket, parting Company at TL 649638. From here the v.-c.b. follows the line of the A1304 whilst the a.b. turns south and follows the railway (Fig. 4).

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The boundaries come together again west of Newmarket, at TL 629622 and follow the same course to Kennett where at TL 706681 they separate once more. The v.-c.b. follows the R. Kennett whilst the a.b. follows a course not far to the east until they meet, on the R. Kennett at TL 695692 (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.

They follow the same path from here north to the R. Little Ouse and then east along the Valley of the river towards Thetford. The v.-c.b. stays with the Little Ouse through Thetford, but the a.b. strikes S.W. at TL 848870 following an apparently arbitrary line through Thetford Warren, and rejoining the Ouse to the South of Thetford at TL 866807 (Fig. 6).

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A TOUR ROUND THE VICE-COUNTIES OF SUFFOLK

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Fig. 6.

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Apart from a very slight difference at Bamham (Fig. 6) both boundaries then follow the course of the Little Ouse to its source near Redgrave, and from there the R. Waveney to a point beyond Somerleyton at TM 462982. Here the a.b. cuts across through Fritton Decoy to the sea, whilst the v.-c.b. stays with the river following the deep water Channel through Breydon Water, finally meeting the coast at the mouth of the estuary between Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea (Fig. 7).

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The boundary described encloses the Suffolk we recognise for recording purposes - the Watsonian Vice-counties of East Suffolk (No. 25) and West Suffolk (No. 26). The line dividing East and West is the line of longitude 1°E - marked on the 1:50000 Ordnance Survey sheets by a series of blue crosses (see TM 055470). Suffolk naturalists are strongly recommended to adopt the Watsonian Vice-counties of Suffolk as their recording area.

Acknowledgements I thank the library staff at the British Museum (Natural History) for access to the series of 1" Ordnance Survey maps marked with the definitive vice-county boundaries.

Reference Dandy, J. E. (1969). Watsonian Vice-counties of Great Britain (Publication No. 146). The Ray Society, London.

Howard Mendel, The Museum, High Street, Ipswich IP1 3 Q H

Suffolk Birds 1983 I have decided not to write an ornithological review for 1983 in this edition of the Transactions, mainly because records are still under consideration and also because this year publication of Suffolk Birds should be closer to that of the Transactions than in earlier years. I hope that Suffolk Birds will be published by November Ist 1984.

Members will be interested to learn that two new species were added to the County breeding list in 1983, Fulmar and Ruddy Duck. One new species was also added to the fĂźll County list, Red-breasted Goose in November/ December.

D. R. Moore Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 20