Traffic and Road Safety
Over the centuries the main roadways through Stowupland seem to have remained consistent, it is just the traffic over them that has changed from mainly foot traffic, to horseback or various horse drawn wagons, cyclists and motor cyclists through to cars, HGVs and heavy farm equipment.
As well as the major roadways, Stowupland has always had a network of footpaths criss-crossing the fields.
It is not just the type of vehicle that has changed but also the volume and its speed. See our page on Road Traffic Incidents.
As traffic usage changed, so the names of our roads have been modernised. In previous eras today’s A1120, which carries much traffic around Stowupland, was known by names which better described its relevance to the local environment.Before the 19th century our knowledge of local road names is limited, indeed some roads were little more than footpaths.
The section before the Co-op did not exist till the A14 was built, but from there it became the Front or Main Road as opposed to the Back Lane (across the Green), becoming Crown Hill as it passed Crown Farm, then becoming Church Road after Holy Trinity Church was built, Pitman Road before the school was built on Pitman’s Land, finally Church Walk before leaving Stowupland with a right hand bend near Stowupland Hall into Stonham Lane.
However at various periods road names were flexible: Main Road could be synonymous with Stonham Road, at another time Saxham (Saxeham, Saxon) Road or Mendlesham Road reached nearly as far as Crown Hill!
Speed restrictions did not arrive in the village till the the late 20th century.
In 1983 the police carried out speed checks along Church Road and some High School children carried out a survey of traffic along Saxham Street. Over a period of 3 hours they counted 450 vehicles, of which 10 % were lorries.
In the early 1980s a request was made for speed restriction signs to be placed in Saxham Street. but the S.C.C stated that the “conditions in Saxham Street do not meet the criteria for a speed limit.
In the 1980’s a local councillor requested weight limit retriction signs be erected for Rendall Lane. This never happened
1981, Mary Bloom and Sidney Scarlett reported to the parish council that articulated lorries were using Debenham Lane as a short cut. It was agreed to write to the ‘county authorities with a view to ensuring that such heavy traffic use the proper route’ {Bury Free Press: 07 August 1981}
In 1973, following complaints by local mothers about the dangers of walking along the busy A1120 when taking their children to ,the County Council ordered the compulsory purchase of 134 sq yards along the front of Stowupland Hall for constructing a footpath. (At the time there was no speed limit and no alternative route for mothers with young children pushing prams and pushchairs along the road side).
In October 1963 the parish council discussed asking the County Council to erect ‘appropriate signs at 2 dangerous junctions
- traffic from Old Newton using Rendall Lane was at risk of serious collisions at the junction near Water Run Farm. (The parish council commented that traffic speed was inappropriate for the narrowness of the road.)
- a right angled bend to the left of Broomspath estate (the road layout here has now been changed)
On The Buses
In 2026 space in the bus shelter was used as a free lending library. See also Adrian Love
