River Stour rises in eastern Cambridgeshire and flows eastwards through East Anglia forming most of the boundary between Suffolk and Essex throuogh country made famous by John Constable. The Stour enters the North Sea at Harwich by tidal estuary
The river was used as a means of transport for many years but an Act of parliament passed in 1705 declared it ‘a navigable river’ (from Sudbury to Manningtree). This meant from that date there was a legal right to travel up and down the River Stour transporting goods or anything or anyone else.