Where is Beccles

Beccles is situated on the river Waveney, around 10 miles upstream of the estuary at Lowestoft the most easterly town the Great Britain.

Map Showing Location of Beccles

Courtesy of multimap.com

Brief Introduction

Beccles is a market town, with a market every Friday, historically it was used by the Saxons as a sea port with herring coming in from the north sea, to be sold at the market, on the river Waveney which is now used by pleasure cruises and small yachts. It is situated on the Broads being the southern most point of the Norfolk Broads.

The St. Michael's church and the 97 foot tall bell tower disconnected form the church at the east end of the church as opposed to the traditional west end where there is a cliff. This bell tower can be seen from the surrounding area. St. Michael's church held the marriage of the parents of Lord Horatio Nelson in 1749.

Economic and Employment

Beccles' main economic input is no longer from the herring trade but from the tourism of the broads, and the print industry with the William Clowes print works at one time being the largest employer in Beccles though through down-sizing and the use of computers the works is employing less and less people. Now the plastics manufacturing industry is becoming the largest employing trade with the M and H Plastics company and Algroup Wheaton Plastics (Fibernlye) factories around the town.