Stoke Tunnel SSSI

A new community information panel, sponsored by Abbey New Homes with information by GeoSuffolk

When the tunnel approach was dug in the 1840s no one expected to find elephants! These and many other 210,000 year-old fossils are celebrated on this board. They represent a warm phase in the 'ice age' when the area was a shallow river or lake. Many animals came to drink at 'Lake Ipswich', including lions, rhinoceros, wild horses, oxen, mammoths, bears and tortoise. Their fossil remains, now in Ipswich Museum, bear witness to this interglacial when the climate was perhaps slightly warmer than at present.

The SSSI, a triangular area between the new housing development, the railway line and the tunnel approach is protected for future generations and for research. The panel explains the science behind this for the benefit of those who live in the new homes and for the people of Ipswich.

BOB & CAROLINE MARKHAM