The River Waveney is a river that forms the border between the English counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, for most of its length in the Broads. The „ey“ part of the name means „river“. Its elevation is 25 m and it measures 95 km.
The course of the river
The River Waveney rises in a ditch on the east side of the B1113 between Redgrave in Suffolk and South Lopham in Norfolk. Ditch on the other side of the road is the source of the Little Ouse, which follows the county boundary and crosses the Great Ouse to enter the sea at King’s Lynn. It is therefore argued that in times of heavy rain Norfolk can be considered an island. The explanation for this peculiarity is that the valley in which the rivers rise was not formed by these rivers but by water poured out of a periglacial lake known as Lake Fenland, a periglacial lake from the Devensian glaciation fifteen to twenty thousand years ago. The ice sheet closed the natural outflow of water from the Vale of Pickering, the Humber and The Wash.
Thus a complex lake has formed in the Vale of Pickering, the Yorkshire Ouse, the Lower Trent Valley and the Fenland catchment. This valley drained into the southern part of the North Sea basin and from there into the English Channel basin.
Flow of the river
The river rises near the 25m contour and flows eastwards through the towns of Diss, Bungay and Beccles. From its source it forms the southern boundary of the towns of Bressingham and Roydon before reaching the town of Diss. At Scole it is crossed by the route of the Roman Road, with the modern A140 bypass to the east.
There is a weir at Billingford and a short distance north of the river is Billingford Windmill. Beyond Billingford Bridge, the River Dove joins on the south bank, flowing north from the Eye. It is crossed by the Mid Suffolk Footpath and the river drops 20m below the contour at the next weir. It turns to the north-east to reach Brockdish and Needham before turning south from Harleston. There are several lakes on the south bank, the largest of which is 40 ha in area. It was once a gravel pit, Weybread, but is now used for fishing.
