Shotley Marina

Shotley Marina is located at the tip of the Shotley Peninsula where the Stour and Orwell estuaries meet and merge, and overlooks the port of Felixstowe on the one side and Harwich on the other. Facing East fronm the marina, the onlooker can view the open sea, though the Peninsula itself is sheltered to an extent by the protective walls formed by Felixstowe and Harwich. The marina-which operates around the clock seven days a week-boasts 350 berths and all the necessary amenities, and is also the site of the Shipwreck pub and restaurant. The marina borders the former HMS Ganges site, and there are plans for a housing development situated between the two.

Historical
Though the current Shotley Marina is a comparatively recent addition to the village, there were plans to develop a rather more ambitious marina and housing complex at Shotley Cliff put forward in late 1963by the Marquis of Bristol, whose family owned much of the area. This 'yacht harbour' was to have had a landscaped promenade and a clubhouse situated on the cliff and there was to have been a 'high class' 'yachtsman's village' of individual private homes built, each with its own boat and berth. It was envisaged that there would also be a development of presumably less 'high class' homes built nearby after consultation with the local authority, and a boat park initially for 1, 000 craft with room for extension later was to be built at the foot of the cliff on the Stour. There were to have been shops, banks, a pub (sited at the West end of the site 'to separate the general public from the harbour users'), recreation facilities including squash courts, tennis courts and a swimming pool, a dingy park for 300 craft and a petrol station. The project would have been huge even by today's standards and almost certainly entirely unsuitable for such an isolated area with such limited road access. Unsurprisingly, the plans came to nothing, though documentation concerning the proposals still exists and is reproduced below...