Creekside Publishing East Anglian Books

The Cambria Story
Robert Simper

'The Cambria Story' is written in conjunction with the Cambria Trust. When the 91ft sailing barge Cambria was launched in 1906 she was one of over two thousand barges trading from the East Coast ports, but she became the very last one trading under sail. For most of her career Cambria didn't sail in isolation so the story covers some of the other barges of the era.
The Cambria was built at Greenhithe, on the lower tidal River Thames, for the general coastal trade. She, and her sister ship Hibernia, were the last sailing barges built by F.T.Everard the shipping firm of F.T.Everard and Sons. It was F.T.Everard's sons Will and Fred who built up Britain's largest fleet of coastal vessels and keep the Cambria sailing long after all the other barges had been converted to power vessels.
'The Cambria Story' traces, with words and black and white and then good colour photographs, the early days of Cambria, when she was just an ordinary working craft sailing to near Continental ports, to the years after World War II when she was the very last British coastal vessel trading under sail. The Cutty Sark of the short seas.
She became a 'celebrity barge' and her progress was well documented, paticularly when Bob Roberts became her skipper. This capable and colourful skipper was determined to go on trading under sail as long as possible and carried cargoes under sail until 1970.
After her trading days finally ended the Cambria slowly fell into disrepair and then rot set in. Tony Ellis set out to try and save the barge and this was a very long process, covering over twenty-two years, culminating in getting a Heritage Lottery grant. Tim Goldsack totally rebuilt this wooden barge and she was re-launched at Faversham in March, 2011.
'The Cambria Story' brings the barge's past to life while she sails on into a new era.

Published May 2012.

15,658 words, 30 photos, mostly colour 56 pages

Soft back

ISBN 978-0-9563299-2-9

Price: £7.50

Coastal Essex
Robert Simper

This book is a portrait of the rivers, creeks and coast of Essex between Harwich and Canvey Island. This is done with five chapters, with the towns, villages and sometime just creeks that contribute to the character of the coastal area. Both their past and present are discussed to portray the character of each place. The towns and villages covered have their own individual characteristic but certain themes run through the area. Fishing, traditional working boats and the people of the coastal area are recorded and Essex's tremendous battle against erosion by the sea. The chapters cover, Harwich, River Stour and Walton Backwater, Tendring Coast, River Colne, River Blackwater and Mersea Island, Rivers Crouch, Roach and the Roach Islands and down past Southend to Leigh-on-Sea.
The work is very well illustrated with colour, and some old black and white, photographs.
This is Robert Simper's thirty-seventh book, and follows his highly popular style of blending superb photographs with descriptive words.

34,636 words. 95 photographs mostly colour. Five maps. Soft back.

ISBN 978-0-9563299-1-2

Price: £12.00

Coastal Suffolk
Robert Simper

This book, is in the same style as the very popular Woodbridge to the Coast but larger. It covers the Suffolk estuaries, villages and towns on the rivers or near the coast.
It sets out to show how the various outside influences, starting with the Viking and moving on to the Dutch, have help to shape the villages and towns. It moves on to sailing barges and fishing boats of the coast and how the great nineteenth century estates rebuilt the villages and laid out the countryside for pheasant shooting. It explains the beginning of the era of the Forestry Commission who created the huge pine forests and also the bird reserves that make a considerable impact on the coastal area.
It shows how wildly different the towns of Sunrise Coast are. Southwold, Walberswick, Saxmundham, Leiston, Aldeburgh, Orford, Woodbridge and Felixstowe are only a few miles apart, but all have their very own strong identity.
It shows how the estuaries divide the coast up into a series of very different 'islands.' The villages on the Shotley, Felixstowe and Bawdsey peninsulas have a very different feeling to the heath land villages north of the River Alde.

72 colour photographs, 1 map. Soft back.

ISBN 978-0-9563299-0-5

Price: £9.99

Woodbridge to the Coast
Robert Simper

This book focuses on the history of the town of Woodbridge and the surrounding countryside and coastal areas of Suffolk. It begins with the discoveries at Sutton Hoo, and a glimpse of the Anglo-Saxon world, then progresses on to the growth of Woodbridge as a country town from its early days around the Market Hill. It moves on to take in Snape, Aldeburgh, Orford, down the coast to Shingle Street and Bawdsey and just crosses over to the Felixstowe peninsular.

The River Deben is covered from Debenham down to the sea. The water mills of the fresh water river and the Tide Mill at Woodbridge are recalled, particularly Rackham's Deben Mill at Wickham Market. It also includes details of the creation of Snape Mailings from it early days as a business venture by Newson Garrett to its present role as a music and tourist centre.
Although the author has covered this subject before this book brings the material up to date and tells the story of this unique corner of Suffolk. This is a good book, easy to read, and is brought to life with stories, interesting information and stunning colour photographs.

21,217 words, 96 pages, 1 map, 60 colour photographs. Soft back.

ISBN 978 0 9538506 9 3 & 0 9538506 9 2

Price: £9.99