River Orwell
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The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England. Its source river, above the tidal limit, is known as the River Gipping. It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich and flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe after joining with the River Stour at Shotley. In the name Orwell, Or- comes from an ancient river-name — probably pre-Celtic; but -well probably indicates an Anglo-Saxon naming. [1]
The writer Eric Blair chose the pen name under which he would later become famous, "George Orwell", because of his love for the river. [2]
The Orwell provides a popular venue for sailing. Interest originally centred on the hamlet of Pin Mill (featured in two children's novels by Arthur Ransome: We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea and Secret Water) and its "hard". Since the 1970s marinas have opened at Levington (Suffolk Yacht Harbour, pictured), Woolverstone, Fox's (just outside Ipswich), and two marinas in the old Ipswich Wet Dock.
[edit] References
- ^ A D Mills: A dictionary of British place-names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-852758-6
- ^ George Orwell Biography. Retrieved on July 9, 2006.
