Ipswich
It’s Suffolk’s county town and steeped in old English history, but is there really much more to Ipswich than meets the eye?
WANDER along the high street of any UK town these days, and you’re in danger of feeling like you’re taking an uninterrupted de ja vu-style tour of a regurgitated retail existence.
You’ll see the same shopfronts screaming back at you no matter how far you’ve removed yourself from your normal stomping ground.
But, cast your eye a few feet upward, and that’s where a town like Ipswich leaps into a class of its own.
Unlike many of its other modernised town centre siblings, Suffolk’s county town still proudly boasts many ancient and attractive buildings.
She’s enjoying a major regeneration at the moment, with the waterfront and the town itself bringing modern homes, eateries and the like, but she still holds on to her roots.
Perhaps her proud associations with the likes of Cardinal Wolsey – no less – are a huge part of that historic pride.
It was Thomas Wolsey, the son of an Ipswich butcher, who was born in the town in 1471, and went on to become the Cardinal and Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII.
Still in the town today as a symbol of his affection for his birthplace, lies the creation known commonly as Wolsey’s Gateway.
Barely an hour’s train journey from the heart of London, Ipswich is only now being viewed by city-dwellers as a very “acceptable” and accommodating bolthole.
Perhaps that fact alone explains an awful lot about the town’s most recent development plans and long-term investment ideas.
Along with waterfront apartments and loft-style living in converted factories, more retail, entertainment and business opportunities have come to light in recent years.
Chain cafes now find their place among independent boutiques, salons and prestigious jewellers.
The town’s port is still a major note of significance in British industry – and when combined with Harwich and Felixstowe, is second in Europe only to Rotterdam by scale.
(Photo above courtesy of Simon Knott - simon@simonknott.co.uk)
She also boasts some 13 Medieval churches to her name – possibly more than any other town in Britain.
Her reputation is highly likely to be enhanced even more in the coming months and years, as a new university comes to the town and yet more people realise one of the jewels in the East Anglian crown.
10 things you might not know about Ipswich:
Ipswich was granted its first Charter in 1200.
Ipswich’s Ancient House dates back to the 15th century and is rumoured to have been the hiding place of Charles II after his defeat in the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
The Cornhill has been the centre of town life since medieval times. It was here in about 1555 that the Ipswich Martyrs were burnt at the stake for their Protestant beliefs.
The Grandma statue on the corner of Princes Street and Queen Street commemorates the famous cartoonist Carl Giles, and is designed to be looking up at the office where Giles worked for many years.
George II, King Louis XVIII of France and Lord Nelson have all stayed at the Great White Horse Hotel – as has Charles Dickens.
The Town Hall was built in 1868. Above the entrance porch are statues representing Commerce, Justice, Law and Learning, and Agriculture.
Christchurch Mansion was the site of the Augustinian Priory of the Holy Trinity founded in the twelfth century.
The Round Pond and Wilderness Pond are fed by natural springs and supplied the monks with carp, tench, roach and gudgeon.
In 1536, during Henry VIII's reign, the Priory was suppressed and it's estates seized by the Crown.
Paul Withypoll, a successful London merchant, bought the site in 1545 and in 1548 his son Edmund began to build a house on the ruins of the Priory.
Ipswich Attractions
A Guide to Ipswich Hotels
Accommodation in and around Ipswich
Eating out in Ipswich
Pubs in Ipswich
WANDER along the high street of any UK town these days, and you’re in danger of feeling like you’re taking an uninterrupted de ja vu-style tour of a regurgitated retail existence.
You’ll see the same shopfronts screaming back at you no matter how far you’ve removed yourself from your normal stomping ground.
But, cast your eye a few feet upward, and that’s where a town like Ipswich leaps into a class of its own.
Unlike many of its other modernised town centre siblings, Suffolk’s county town still proudly boasts many ancient and attractive buildings.
She’s enjoying a major regeneration at the moment, with the waterfront and the town itself bringing modern homes, eateries and the like, but she still holds on to her roots.
Perhaps her proud associations with the likes of Cardinal Wolsey – no less – are a huge part of that historic pride.
It was Thomas Wolsey, the son of an Ipswich butcher, who was born in the town in 1471, and went on to become the Cardinal and Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII.
Still in the town today as a symbol of his affection for his birthplace, lies the creation known commonly as Wolsey’s Gateway.
Barely an hour’s train journey from the heart of London, Ipswich is only now being viewed by city-dwellers as a very “acceptable” and accommodating bolthole.
Perhaps that fact alone explains an awful lot about the town’s most recent development plans and long-term investment ideas.
Along with waterfront apartments and loft-style living in converted factories, more retail, entertainment and business opportunities have come to light in recent years.
Chain cafes now find their place among independent boutiques, salons and prestigious jewellers.
The town’s port is still a major note of significance in British industry – and when combined with Harwich and Felixstowe, is second in Europe only to Rotterdam by scale.
(Photo above courtesy of Simon Knott - simon@simonknott.co.uk)
She also boasts some 13 Medieval churches to her name – possibly more than any other town in Britain.
Her reputation is highly likely to be enhanced even more in the coming months and years, as a new university comes to the town and yet more people realise one of the jewels in the East Anglian crown.
10 things you might not know about Ipswich:
Ipswich was granted its first Charter in 1200.
Ipswich’s Ancient House dates back to the 15th century and is rumoured to have been the hiding place of Charles II after his defeat in the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
The Cornhill has been the centre of town life since medieval times. It was here in about 1555 that the Ipswich Martyrs were burnt at the stake for their Protestant beliefs.
The Grandma statue on the corner of Princes Street and Queen Street commemorates the famous cartoonist Carl Giles, and is designed to be looking up at the office where Giles worked for many years.
George II, King Louis XVIII of France and Lord Nelson have all stayed at the Great White Horse Hotel – as has Charles Dickens.
The Town Hall was built in 1868. Above the entrance porch are statues representing Commerce, Justice, Law and Learning, and Agriculture.
Christchurch Mansion was the site of the Augustinian Priory of the Holy Trinity founded in the twelfth century.
The Round Pond and Wilderness Pond are fed by natural springs and supplied the monks with carp, tench, roach and gudgeon.
In 1536, during Henry VIII's reign, the Priory was suppressed and it's estates seized by the Crown.
Paul Withypoll, a successful London merchant, bought the site in 1545 and in 1548 his son Edmund began to build a house on the ruins of the Priory.
Ipswich Attractions
A Guide to Ipswich Hotels
Accommodation in and around Ipswich
Eating out in Ipswich
Pubs in Ipswich
