IPSWICH - ENGLAND |
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Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk in East
Anglia, England, and a local government district, on the estuary of the
River Orwell.
It was successively a Stone age, Iron age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement
known as "Gippeswic".
King John granted it its first charter in
1200, and in the next four centuries it made a living trading Suffolk cloth
with the Continent.
Ipswich is still a flourishing port today, handling several million tons of
cargo each year. The town used to also feature a small grass-runway airpoart
(ICAO code: EGSE) with regular flights to the Netherlands, but this is now
being developed as housing.
The area around Ipswich, or Gippeswick was sparsely settled until the
withdrawal of the Romans. After that time its position as a harbour
convenient on the North Sea meant that it proved convenient to Saxon
settlers, and is claimed to be the first Anglo-Saxon town. The kingdom of
East Anglia for a time centered around Ipswich. |
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The Ipswich Museum houses replicas of the Mildenhall treasure and the Sutton
Hoo treasure, as well as Saxon weapons and jewellery.
During the Middle Ages the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Grace was a popular
pilgrimage destination, and attracted a number of royal pilgrims. The statue
was taken away to be burned, although it is now believed to have survived
and still exist in Nettuno in Italy.
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, the son of a butcher, was born in Ipswich in about
1475. He founded a college in the town in 1528, which is now known as
Ipswich School.
In 1555, the Ipswich Martyrs were burnt at the stake for their Protestant
beliefs.
From 1611 to 1634 Ipswich was a major centre for emigration to New England.
This was organised by the Town Lecturer, Samual Ward. His brother Nathaniel
Ward was first minister of Ipswich, Massachusetts.
The painters John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough lived and worked in
Ipswich. In 1835, Charles Dickens stayed in Ipswich and used it as a setting
for scenes in his novel The Pickwick Papers. In ca. 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer
satirised the merchants of Ipswich in the Canterbury Tales.
Modern figures with Ipswich connections include the musician Nick Kershaw,
the children's TV presenter Brian Cant and the cartoonist Carl Giles.
Tolly Cobbold Brewery, built in the 19th century and rebuilt 1894-1896, is
one of the finest Victorian breweries in Britain. There has been a Cobbold
Brewery in the town since 1746. Felix Thornley Cobbold presented
Christchurch Mansion to the town in 1896
Ipswich is the last place in the area to have an independent bus company
which has the unusual practice of naming its buses. |
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