Ipswich, Ancient Saxon Capital of Suffolk, UK
One of England's Earliest Towns dating to the 7th Century AD
May 26, 2009
Sometimes overlooked for the attractions of Norwich and Cambridge, Ipswich has its own charm and is compact enough to visit many of the sights by foot from the town centre. With a number of attractions in the nearby region Ipswich is a good base to explore some of the riches of Suffolk and the beautiful Suffolk coast, including Minsmere Bird reserve and Dedham Vale.
Ipswich has about 130,000 inhabitants now, with good road and rail connections to London (about 70 miles away and just over an hour by train to Liverpool Street Station) and Norwich. The A12 leads straight from the M25 to Ipswich, with the journey taking about an hour and a quarter.
Attractions and Sights in Ipswich
All of these are in easy walking distance of the town centre; the Tourist Information Centre which is attractively and discreetly set within St Stephen's Church near the buttermarket shopping centre.
50 yards from the Tourist Information Centre is the Ancient House. This was previously a bookstore, now a kitchen utensils store. The outside, at first floor level is a fabulous example of the Suffolk art of pargetting, the creation of bas-relief in plaster. The building dates from the 15th century though the pargetting was done in the 17th. Each of the panels depicts one of the four continents of the world known at the time (Australasia had not been discovered by Europeans at the time).
A short distance away is the Cornhill, the market square in front of the Town Hall, Looking downhill from here the futuristic Willis building can be seen with its striking black glass curtain wall, one of Norman Foster's first designs, built in 1975.
Retracing one's steps back along the pedestrianised shopping streets to Northgate street, at the junction is the Great White Horse Hotel, where Charles Dickens stayed in 1835. Then known as The Tavern, Dickens described the labyrinthine corridors in the Pickwick Papers. Turning left up Northgate Street the mediaeval half-timbered architecture becomes apparent at first-floor level, with some half-timbered houses and the 15th century Pykenham's Gatehouse. Carry on up and cross the main road to get to the lovely open spaces of Christchurch Park on the right, which is home to Christchurch Mansion and its museum is gallery to a number of paintings by John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough.
History of Ipswich
The original 7th Century Saxon settlement then called Gippeswyk was on the north side of the river in the area which is now the Buttermarket shopping centre. This makes it one of England's earliest continuously settled towns - although Roman settlements obviously pre-dated this the Saxons who followed them tended to avoid Roman settlements for some reason, letting Nature reclaim the town-sized settlements.
The location at the tidal limits of the Orwell made the town a hub for trade with mainland Europe and it received a Royal charter from King John in 1200. In mediaeval times the town grew rich on the trading of cloth with the continent, and some of the wealth is apparent in the large number of churches and merchant buildings in the town centre. Henry VIII's right-hand man Thomas Cardinal Wolsey was born in Ipswich in 1471.
The painter Thomas Gainsborough, noted for his landscape painting of the region, lived in Ipswich in the 18th century.
Nearby Attractions to Ipswich
The surrounding countryside holds several attractions. Dedham Vale and Flatford Mill are beauty spots that inspired the painter John Constable. Lavenham is a step back in time with well-preserved mediaeval half-timbered architecture, and the attractive nearby town of Woodbridge is only a few miles away. Nature-lovers will find the RSPB's flagship bird reserve Minsmere a delight.
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