alt=|thumb|250x250px|Bank of the River Orwell
The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, about half a mile below where the river becomes tidal by Bobby Robson Bridge on West End Road.
Technically the River Orwell is not a river, but an estuary.
It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich, where the Ipswich dock has operated since the 7th century, and then flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port, after joining the River Stour at Shotley forming Harwich harbour.
The large Orwell Bridge carries the A14 trunk road over the estuary to the south of Ipswich.
Name
In the name Orwell, Or- comes from an ancient river-name—probably pre-Celtic; but -well probably indicates an Anglo-Saxon naming. In A tour through England and Wales, written in 1722, Daniel Defoe calls the river "Orwel" (though he does this inconsistently). He also mentions that "a traveller will hardly understand me, especially a seaman, when I speak of the River Stour and the River Orwell at Harwich, for they know them by no other names than those of Maningtre-Water, and Ipswich-Water". The writer Eric Blair chose the pen name under which he would later become famous, "George Orwell," because of his love for the river.
A few miles north of the Orwell is another Suffolk river, the Ore, and Orfordness, the village port of Orford with its historic castle.
Estuary
The estuary flows through different sections as it makes its way down from Ipswich to the sea:
Freston Reach
Redgate Hard is located here. This hard is probably post medieval.
thumb|left|April 2008 showing remains of Redgate Hard
thumb|right|Freston Reach, January 2008
Downham Reach
A whale was beached on Downham Reach around 1816.
thumb|left|Beached whale as recorded by [[George Frost (landscape painter)|George Frost]]
Potters Reach
thumb|left|Potters Reach, August 2009
Lower Reach
At this point the Stour flows into the Orwell by Shotley Point.
The Yangtse Incident
The 1957 film Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst was filmed on the river. The naval shore establishment at HMS Ganges also featured in the film being used as a site for Chinese gun batteries.