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Issue 190 Newsletter Jan 2013 


Contents: 

• Editorial: Bad and Good Publicity

• New Members

• Chairman's Remarks

• Jack Chapman

• Peter Underwood

• Ipswich Society Awards 2012

• Recent Planning Matters

• Growth & Infrastructure Bill

• Ipswich Conservation Panel

• Suffolk Preservation Society

• Future of St Mary-at-the-Quay

• Shorts of All Sorts

• Griff's Voice for Civic Voice

• Bristol and Ipswich

• Ipswich Women's History Trail

• Sir Stuart Rose at Conference

• The Night Time Economy

• Who runs the Town Centre?

• Bus Wars - Winners and Losers

• Celebrating Broke's Success

• Demise of the High Street

• Food in Pubs

• Correction - Trees on Orwell Quay

• Thursday Thanks

• News and Comment

• Puzzled

• Harman, Henry VIII, Hansa

• Shops Empty and Full

• A Day out in the Fens

• Street Markets

• Committee

• Lectures and Outings 


Editorial: Bad and Good Publicity

Sir Stuart Rose (ex-Chairman of Marks & Spencer) might have been a successful businessman but 

he wouldn't make a good diplomat. His performance at the Ipswich Beacon Town conference 

received plenty of local publicity which was probably the main aim. But if you exaggerate to get 

people listening, you run the risk of being taken literally. 


He is reported as saying, "It is the most depressing place I have ever seen. Standing in the town 

centre with the empty shops, it is a barren wasteland." As someone who shops in the town centre 

several times every week, I think Sir Stuart must only visit Ipswich on non-market days in the late 

afternoon, because it's never like that in the mornings and early afternoons. The danger is that the 

only people who might think he's right are those who don't come to town already and so they'll 

conclude "I'm right after all." Yet those are the very people you need to attract into town. 


As for clearing the Cornhill for cafe tables and special events, how many days in the year would 

that valuable space be used, compared with the four days a week all the year round of the market? 

And markets do bring visitors and vitality to town centres. They might attract shoppers with, on 

average, thin purses or wallets, when Ipswich badly needs to attract more people with fat purses or 

wallets. But a successful town centre needs both kinds of purses and wallets. John Norman has 

written on this subject elsewhere in the Newsletter, but I can't resist having my say. Have your say 

in the next Newsletter? 


I'm writing this as the Christmas lights are creating a talking point. Whether or not you liked the 

lights and particularly the 'tree', this all represented good publicity because people want to come and 

see for themselves. The whole lighting project clearly showed an overall design in silver (with some 

gold) which I thought was stylish - more Regent Street than Las Vegas! 


On pages 4 and 5, this issue of the Newsletter contains two obituaries, sad to say. Peter Underwood 

and Jack Chapman were great assets to The Ipswich Society and deserve all the praise accorded to 

them by the Society. Those who knew them personally will also remember them with gratitude and 

affection. 

Neil Salmon 


Chairman's Remarks

I am aware that although I am writing this column at the end of November it will be well into 

January before you have the opportunity to read it. However, a happy, healthy and successful New 

Year to you all. 


That might beg the question of how we measure success, a question I have been pondering in 

respect of the debate we are currently having about the Northern Fringe development. After 

considerable deliberation, with arguments both for and against individual aspects of the project, 

there are still politicians who are suggesting that we have not been focused, that the proposals aren't 

good enough and if others had done the Master Planning it would be better. 


Such comments are relatively easy from the outside without consideration of the financial 

constraints, the topography or the predictions of where residents will be employed and how they 

will travel. 


The Northern Fringe Community Steering Panel on which The Ipswich Society is represented (I am 

Vice-Chairman) continue to meet on a monthly basis, have taken the opportunity to visit Milton 

Keynes and Cambourne (near Cambridge), both new developments with good and poor components 

and have deliberated for hours in Grafton House. The exhibition of Options is taking place as this 

Newsletter is published (see below). 


The second Beacon Town conference took place with Sir Stuart Rose delivering a much heralded 

keynote address on the future of Ipswich Town Centre. His suggestion of moving the market caused 

much press comment and my own report occurs later in this Newsletter. 


The Griff Rhys Jones lecture was a very full and enlightening evening with the President of Civic 

Voice in fine form. Griff started on a lighter note but was soon into the serious matters of urban 

sustainability. Neil's report elsewhere in this Newsletter gives a comprehensive account and Ruth 

Stokes' 'Puzzled' comments are worth a read. A very special thank you to Vice-President Chris 

Wiltshire who introduced the evening with a short slide show from our newly digitalised slide 

collection. 


I am indebted to another of our Vice-Presidents, Bob Allen, for all his contributions to our Awards 

evening. He turned what could have been a fairly dull list of 'also ran' nominations into a lively 

thought-provoking evening. The judges found three worthy winners which were featured in a full 

page article in the local press. Here the lack of understanding of the link between the Question Mark 

on the University piazza and the electronic display on top of the concrete chimney across the road 

was highlighted; the published photo had been cropped to exclude the LEDs on the chimney. 


Both Mike Cook and I were asked again to contribute to the adjudication of the Civic Trust awards - 

Mike in Essex and myself in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. It really does open your eyes as to 

what is possible in these austere times. The results will be announced in Cardiff in the spring. 

There is a massive sway away from Civic Societies, particularly at national and rural levels (CPRE 

and Friends of the Lake District both have declining numbers) and many are struggling in their 

current form. This trend is causing Civic Voice concerns and the Executive of this Society have 

debated the need for a national campaigning organisation. 

John Norman 


Jack Chapman

Most members will know that Jack Chapman, our Chairman until April 2012, died on 3 October. A 

separate notice added to the October Newsletter promised this appreciation of his services to the 

Society and to the wider community. It is based on a eulogy written and delivered by Mike Cook at 

Jack's funeral on 15 October, together with information from other friends and colleagues. 

Jack was very much a Mancunian in many ways; his upbringing as a barber's son in Collyhurst, a 

suburb two miles to the north of the city centre, was in the 1930s very tough. He was selected for 

the great Manchester Grammar School; that must have been a trauma, to travel across the city some 

four miles to a giant of a school with well over a thousand pupils. 


At 18 he was conscripted into the RAF and was trained as a radar technician. He spent most of his 

service time in Ulster which even then was hazardous. After his economics degree at the London 

School of Economics he started teaching in Higher Education. He thought he was going to stay in 

London so he and Ann bought half a house with a friend. It's interesting that a new graduate in his 

early teaching career could afford to buy a house in Highgate! 


In late 1969 he was appointed Head of Liberal Studies at the then Civic College. Later he became 

Head of the Department of General and Pre-Vocational Education. This involved setting up courses 

for Youth and Adult Training in co-operation with the Manpower Services Commission. Further, he 

organised the Office of European Relationships at the Civic College and was responsible for 

exchange programmes, particularly with Czechoslovakia. He was also involved in trade union 

affairs, becoming Chairman of the College branch of the National Association of Teachers in  

Further Education. 


He became a Magistrate on the Ipswich Bench in 1971 where he continued for 32 years. In addition 

to regular Bench sittings he was elected on to various committees and appropriately was responsible 

for the training and continuing education of magistrates. Retirement from the college in 1992 gave 

Jack and Ann time for travel but this was soon cut short by the tragic early death of Ann. 


As Chairman of The Ipswich Society, Jack ensured that it should be concerned with every aspect of 

the overall development of the town. He formed good relationships with, but firmly independent of, 

the Borough Council. He held close discussions with IBC's Chief Executives, James Hehir and 

latterly Russell Williams, which were helpful to all. He was a member, then Chair, of the Waterfront 

Steering Committee and Partnership during the important years of the Waterfront's development. 

Delegation was one of Jack's great skills. Not for nothing was he a life-long Fabian, a society 

named after the Roman general renowned for wearing out his opponents by small repeated attacks 

to victory. Thus one could say that whilst Jack had no big works to his name his was a work of 

gradualism to improve life for all. In that, he was successful in many largely unsung respects. 


P.S. Jack was very fond of the dock and the river. Even so it was a pleasant surprise to learn that he 

had set aside money for friends and colleagues to enjoy a river trip in his memory as far as 

Felixstowe docks on the Orwell Lady. Organised by his son Daniel and daughter Kate. this took 

place on 9 November when some fifty people were entertained by a jazz band and enjoyed excellent 

food and drinks and, of course, good conversation. 

Mike Cook, Neil Salmon 


Peter Underwood

Peter Underwood, who died on 4 December aged 88, was the most important contributor to the 

achievements of The Ipswich Society during its first thirty years at least. He was a founder member 

of the Society in 1960 and served successively as Secretary, Newsletter Editor, Chairman and Vice-

President. His knowledge of Ipswich from childhood, from academic study and from knowing so 

many people and learning from them was matchless. (Some of this learning took place in The 

Greyhound and latterly The Dove.) 


Added to those qualities, Peter was a person of robust independence but also a natural bridge-

builder. For example, he was pleased to represent the Society as a committee member of the Suffolk 

Preservation Society because a constructive relationship between the county town and the wider 

county was always dear to his heart. (In the same way, he joined two of the relevant teachers' unions 

to encourage them to talk to each other!) 


In the early 1960s Borough councillors of both main political parties tended to be suspicious of the 

Society. More than anyone else, Peter helped to establish the Society's credentials and good faith. 

So when the Borough set up the Conservation Advisory Panel he was elected Chairman and served 

on it for decades. The Panel also inspired the creation of two charities, Ipswich Building 

Preservation Trust and Ipswich Historic Churches Trust, Peter being an executive trustee of both. 

The Society and all Peter's friends were therefore delighted when he was awarded the MBE in 1998 

"for services to the Ipswich Society and to conservation in Suffolk”. 


Much of this voluntary work was by no means straight forward. He often had to make time in his 

busy life to prepare for appearances as the Society's spokesman on controversial planning matters. 

Being a geographer, he was also in his element when involved in considering strategic planning 

issues with the relevant authorities. One of the most memorable of those planning experiences led to 

the saving of The Sailors' Rest in St Peter's Street. An hour before the hearing of the appeal against 

demolition, Peter and Don Chipperfield got into the building and jumped up and down on the attic 

floors to prove that the building wasn't about to collapse as the developers asserted. But I fear that 

Peter's biggest disappointment was Ipswich's failure to create The Gipeswic Centre which multi-

disciplined Peter tried to promote to show the international importance of Ipswich in terms of its 

geography, history, archaeology and the development of the English language from the "Angle-ish" 

first spoken here on our shores. He was always keen to point out that' our' English became the 

international language of communication in the air and at sea. 


Peter was educated at both Northgate Grammar School for Boys and Ipswich School. (Perhaps that 

combination started off his bridge-building!) He served as an RAF pilot and instructor at the end of 

the Second World War in Britain and Canada and then went as a mature student to read geography 

at University College, Oxford. After graduating, he taught in the influential Geography Department 

at Northgate before retiring in the early 1980s. 


Amongst the many other organisations Peter was involved with, I should emphasise his roles as a 

Magistrate and, with his wife Pam, as a Marriage Guidance counsellor. For many people he was 'Mr 

Ipswich', the person you went to if you wanted to find out something about the town that seemed a 

bit obscure. For me, he was also a good neighbour, a valued teaching colleague, wise man and 

friend. 

Neil Salmon 


Ipswich Society Awards 2012

Fewer nominations than usual, no big projects and very little that was really distinguished - and 

weather rather forbidding on a dark November evening. Consequently, could we expect a small 

attendance and a depressing experience? In fact, it turned out to be one of our most enjoyable of 

recent Awards events. More members than usual arrived so more chairs had to be brought out to fill 

the nave at St Peter's. And the whole evening went well thanks to good organisation with cheerful 

greeters, effective amplification so not a word was missed, an enjoyable variety of food and drink in 

the second half of the evening, and above all a constantly thought-provoking descriptive 

commentary by Bob Allen. 


Tony Marsden. who co-ordinated the Awards this year, welcomed members and guests and outlined 

our procedures. He then introduced Bob Allen, one of our Vice-Presidents and a former Chairman 

of the Society. who once again kept people interested and entertained. 

This is a brief summary of some of his comments on the various projects nominated by members 

for the judges to consider. 


Orwell Quay paving scheme: the Dock showed Victorian vision - wonderful opportunity now for 

new uses. Quality of paving divided the judges. Future planting/sculptures? 

'Just for the Day', bridal shop, Norwich Road: former Hare & Hounds pub bought by Coe's who 

have made great commitment to this street. Re-painted and tidied up. Fascia lettering? 

Clarkson Street large extension to back of big residential terrace facing London Road: valuable 

extra accommodation. Good brickwork. An odd flat roof between the gables. 

Northfields, Valley Road: 4 new detached houses with good brickwork and cladding. Not 1930s' 

pastiche but could they have been more architecturally ambitious? 

Travelodge. Duke Street: large but fits well in street scene. Good use of colours. Escape staircase 

nicely cladded in wood. Big downpipe feeding into a right angle bend! 

Park View, Chantry Care Home: different kinds of accommodation needed; reflected in the 

changes of architectural styles? The grounds pleasingly designed. 

Corn Exchange refurbishment: very important Victorian civic building which had been under 

threat as public venue. Little Waitrose neatly inserted. New doorway from Princes St. 

Fire and Rescue Station. Ransomes Europark: fire stations used to express civic pride which was 

still evident in former Colchester Road premises. This new building purely functional. 

UCS Question Mark sculpture: appropriate that universities should probe knowledge. An artistic 

statement relating also to LED display on chimney at Suffolk College which spells out Q-U-E-S-T-

I-O-N-? in successive letters. Pleasing black and white stone materials. 

Landmark House: "like an enormous ocean liner" overlooking the A14. Built for Hewlett Packard. 

now refurbished for SCC and Suffolk Police. Only the new work judged. 

Wolsey Art Gallery: early 1930s traditional style; recently refurbished with world-class air 

conditioning to allow any work of art to be safely exhibited. 

Hope Mews, Foxhall Road: an 1882 orphanage extended with some materials re-used. but part of 

the new building looks like "a collision" with the old. Good design of gates. 


Tony Marsden announced the judges' decisions as follows: 


A High Commendation for Wolsey Art Gallery: 

• Architect, Hilary Brightman 

• Builders, Seamans Building 

• Clients, IBC 


A Commendation for UCS Question Mark: 

• Designers, Langland and Bell 

• Clients, UCS 


A Commendation for Northfields, Valley Road: 

• Architects. Wincer Kievenaar 

• Clients. Landex Property 


Our President, the Mayor of Ipswich. Councillor Mary Blake. presented the winners with their 

certificates. Chairman John Norman thanked all these recipients. the judges, Bob Allen and the 

audience - with an hour or so left for us to enjoy our conversations and the refreshments. 

Neil Salmon 


Recent Planning Matters

Tesco, Grafton Way 

The B & Q store has been demolished even though Tesco's application has not yet been heard by the 

Borough's Planning and Development Committee. The Society continues to object to the principle 

but I fear the town centre is going to have to change (see my article in the October Newsletter). 

Tesco's revised drawings were received on 6 December involving an increase in the size of the retail 

store floor space by 640m sq (gross) to 9422m sq in total (gross) and re-configuration of the 

building, access and parking arrangements. Time has not permitted thorough examination of these 

latest plans but at first sight the Society's objections will be reinforced! 

Futura (former Crane's) site 

The John Lewis/Waitrose stores opened on time on 8 November to huge crowds. Parking marshals 

were employed but traffic was backed down Nacton Road and to the A14 as predicted here but 

denied by the Highways Agency and Suffolk County Council. The entrance from Nacton Road will 

be opened as soon as possible; they are also considering bringing forward other Section 106 

highway improvements. 

Town Centre 

Ipswich Central has organised a modern Christmas tree and brand new lights. There has been a 

'Marmite' response -love it or loathe it! But this is good publicity and together with a European 

market there has been a sense of revival. 

Former fire station site, Colchester Road 

Planning permission has been granted to Hopkins Homes for 59 dwellings including 25% social 

housing. The developers have agreed to several changes to the design of the gable ends fronting 

Colchester Road and reduced their height to conform to the roofline of the other houses after firm 

comments by the Conservation and Design Panel. Many other desirable changes were applied. 

Suffolk County Council requires a contribution of £388,000 for education, libraries, waste, extra 

care housing and broadband. 

Golden Key pub, Woodbridge Road 

The Borough's Planning Committee refused conversion of this Greene King pub because the 

Highways Agency stated that it would not be safe opening on to Woodbridge Road at the 

Roundwood junction. The Planning Inspector allowed the appeal with costs against IBC which were 

high because Greene King hired expensive traffic consultants who refuted the Highways Agency's 

figures with more figures. I wonder who pays - IBC or SCC? We don't know who the operator of 

the small supermarket store will be. It is still open as a pub. 

Land next to the Mermaid, Yarmouth Road 


Marstons applied to build a 28 bed lodge hotel. The design was so plain, shed-like and unappealing 

that the developers were asked to come back with a more attractive design. It is worth noting that 

the hotel employs nobody; cleaning and janitorial services are contracted out. Entry and payment 

will all be conducted by credit cards. 

16 Constitution Hill 

An application for an extremely large mansion on the site of the Victorian gardens of the Grade II* 

Listed 'Woodside' has been withdrawn. Apart from the visual aspects of the design. its size would 

have impacted severely on the green view from Valley Road. 

'The Spinney', 108 Westerfield Road 

This house designed for his family by Birkin Haward in 1960 was swiftly' Spot Listed' by our 

former Conservation Officer, Bob Kindred, to save it from demolition three years ago. Now Listed 

with great support from our former Suffolk Twentieth Century Adviser and the Society, it has been 

bought by a private buyer who wishes to carry out some updating. It has generous glazing but of 

single thickness glass and a thin roof and largely uninsulated walls. Appropriate changes have been 

designed which will have minimal impact on its appearance. 

Westbourne Library, Sherrington Road 

Through the efforts of the Friends of Westbourne Library it has been Listed Grade II. It was 

designed by the Borough Surveyor, E McLauchlan, as an air raid shelter and gas decontamination 

centre and built in 1942. It is a rare survivor of such a type of building with a tower perhaps once 

used as a look out when it was a shelter, but a decontamination centre typically had a water tank in a 

tower to serve the showers, eye douche and boiler room. There would have been an air lock, 

undressing area, showers and drying room. It was converted to a public library in 1946-7. (Editor: 

from fear in war to love of books: great!) It is also unusual in having Modernist decorations, like 

those of the neighbouring Broomhill Pool, also designed by McLauchlan. 

The Friends of Westbourne Library, led by Garath Jones, have done sterling work in saving the 

library and setting up a credit union. Mark Ling. born in Sherrington Road and Chairman of the 

Broomhill Pool Trust has driven hard with councillors, the Borough and MPs to improve what has 

been an under-resourced area. It seems their enthusiasm energy and persistence is starting to payoff. 

Mike Cook 


Growth & Infrastructure Bill

This Bill is wending its way through Parliament currently and may be more deleterious to the 

planning process and hence the built environment than the National Planning Framework. Its 

proposals include: 


• Some major planning applications (nationally significant business and commercial projects) 

will be able to be submitted directly to the Secretary of State, where Local Planning 

Authorities have a very poor record in deciding applications. 


• The affordable housing obligations in Section 106 agreements may be re-negotiated where 

the development is not viable. 


• Stopping misuse of town and village green applications to undermine planned development. 

• Cutting back the volume of paperwork which applicants have to submit with a planning 


application. 

• Making it easier for local authorities to choose, if they wish, to dispose of surplus land held 


for planning purpose, with the aim of getting more brownfield land back in use. 


• Removal of red tape around the roll-out of superfast broadband. 

Our national organisation, Civic Voice, and the CPRE are objecting but there doesn't seem to be the 

outcry associated with the National Planning Policy Framework when sustained campaigns led by 

the National Trust succeeded in moderating the original proposals. 

We have been asked to write to our local MPs and to the Planning Minister, Nick Boles; this we are 

doing before Christmas; additionally I have met with Dr Dan Poulter, MP. 

Mike Cook 


Ipswich Conservation Panel

Ipswich has had a Conservation Panel for at least 37 years. For about 25 of those years, Peter 

Underwood was the Chairman and it was through the Panel that he and Bob Kindred had such an 

enormous effect on the built environment in the town. It has always been a group of professionals 

together with councillors and planning officers who have sat monthly to discuss all planning 

applications, highway design and any other measure which might affect a Listed building or a 

Conservation Area directly or indirectly. It owes its continuing existence to enlightened regimes at 

Ipswich Borough Council over many years. The Borough has provided the Panel with its meeting 

place, officer time and administrative support. 


For a few years the Panel has been attempting to change its remit. The loss of CABE and the 

introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework have provided the final straw to make the 

changes to its constitution. One good paragraph in that document is to make it good practice for 

every local planning authority to have a design panel which should comment on every aspect of 

planning design wherever it occurs throughout the local planning authority. 


So the ' pswich Conservation Advisory Panel' has been renamed the 'Ipswich Conservation and 

Design Panel'. It has been strengthened by the inclusion of more architects and is now receiving 

training. It is strongly supported by the councillors who sit on the Planning and Development 

Committee. Hopefully, its views on urban design will be expressed more strongly and more heed 

taken of them by developers so that they will come to present a better standard of design than 

heretofore. 

Mike Cook 


Suffolk Preservation Society

Another task that Peter Underwood fulfilled was as the Society's representative on the SPS. Not 

many years ago Jack Chapman prevailed on me to follow in Peter's footsteps. Now, I have to be a 

paid up member and a trustee of the charity, not just a mere observer. 


Like many charities with full time professional staff and an office, this long recession has caused 

the SPS considerable financial problems. It has a complicated subscription structure which has 

become too low and it has relied on large bequests with their consequent income to survive. Now its 

investments have fallen in value and its income plummeted. It has been spending capital at such a 

rate that it would only survive after 2017 without paid staff. 


Cutting expenditure, re-organising its investment policy and actively seeking wealthy donors has 

increased its life by a few more years. Finally, its extremely able Director, Simon Cairns, has 

decided to move on to Colchester Borough Council as Planning Development Officer. He has been 

succeeded by his equally well qualified wife. Fiona Cairns, on two days a week basis. Clearly the 

service SPS provides will have to be curtailed. It has been agreed that Simon will remain the SPS 

representative on the Ipswich Conservation and Design Panel. 

Mike Cook 


Future of St Mary-at-the-Quay

One of Ipswich's finest medieval churches, redundant for several decades but cared for by the 

Churches Conservation Trust, now has a much brighter future. The Heritage Lottery Fund has 

awarded £3.6m for the church to become a heritage and wellbeing centre. a project set up by 

Suffolk Mind and the CCT. The grant will make possible the necessary strengthening of the church 

and a new building at the south-east corner of the church. 


Shorts of All Sorts

'Favourite Independent' business - Ipswich Central ran this competition open to the public. Votes 

were cast for 50 different businesses. Top award went to Image Beauty Salon, followed by 

Pickwicks, The Tea Boutique, More than Memorable Cheeses and Craftability. 

Vue Cinemas have received planning permission to create 9 screens inside the Buttermarket 

Shopping Centre in the big spaces where a succession of department stores have all closed. It won't 

open till summer 2014 - an indication of the scale of the work to be done. 

The impending closure of what was originally Reavells (Compair Reavell was taken over by 

Gardner Denver of USA) will sadly mark the end of nearly all large-scale engineering work in 

Ipswich after two centuries of many great achievements by many different firms. 

Aurora is the newly opened restaurant in the striking tent-like structure on Orwell Quay. Built as 

part of Persimmon's development of flats and houses there. it has remained unoccupied till now. 

UCS has been allowed by IBC to delay development (because of the recession) of the land south of 

the lames Hehir Building on Orwell Quay. UCS has bought the former Ransome's Shed 8 site 

(being used as Duke Street car park) on the other side of the Hehir Building. When UCS does build 

on both sites we should have a splendid waterfront university. 

Ipswich was considered one of the safest towns in the UK according to a property magazine's 

survey based on crime figures, house prices, health facilities. education and public transport. Exeter 

was in top spot, Ipswich 9th. 


Ipswich Maritime Trust's 'window museum' (part of The Mill. ex-Cranfield's and visible from 

the quayside in a lane) features a new display of photographs illustrating the history and 

development of the docks. It will be open for the next four months and is well worth a look. 

The New Wolsey Theatre has been acclaimed as the most welcoming theatre in the UK by the 

Theatrical Management Association. The theatre recognises the roles played by all of its staff and 

its volunteer ushers. 

John Lyall (the original architect for The Mill) is working on a scheme to demolish the remaining 

Victorian Cranfield's buildings (but retaining the waterfront façe and colonnades) and to fit out 

the rest of the 23 storey tower block. Good news for the Waterfront and for Ipswich. 

We are spending £21 m on Ipswich Transport Fit for the 21st Century which includes removing 

railings from most of the road junctions in the town centre - whilst at the same time installing new 

railings either side of the toucan crossing outside the new John Lewis in Ransome's Way. Ironical? 

(N.B. the £21m scheme does include much other work!) 

Various uses for the Cliff Brewery site are being considered by developers. The former Tolly 

Cobbold brewery itself could include a small concert hall/lecture theatre and elsewhere on the site a 

supermarket and just possibly a new home for the Transport Museum which will have to move from 

Cobham Road before its lease runs out. Whether residential uses can be included depends on the 

future of the nearby storage fuel tanks. 


Griff's Voice for Civic Voice

Griff Rhys Jones, professional actor, entertainer, broadcaster, is also President of Civic Voice, the 

national organisation which our Society belongs to. In this capacity he addressed some very happy 

members in the Atrium of Suffolk New College on Friday, 12 October. Far from being a 'celebrity 

figurehead' for Civic Voice, Griff is obviously putting heart and soul into the organisation with all 

his talents coming together. His enthusiasm and conviction that civic societies exist to be 

constructively influential came across with the humour and directness of a stand-up comedian. It 

was inspiring and refreshing. 


He values the uniqueness of each town. He'd rather go for a walk in a town than in the country and 

he's not just interested in the centres of great cities but the characters of side streets and the 

evidence of heritage and continuity there. In our case therefore it was relevant for him to say how 

he started to love Ipswich aged eight - although on that first visit it was as a relief from being on his 

father's boat day after day and they didn't get further upriver than Pin Mill. On a later visit he 

followed father's sou-wester and oilskins through our town. 


He stressed that people today should see themselves as the guardians of a town with a civic 

responsibility. But he went on to say, .I do embrace the twentieth century. I'm not Prince Charles ... 

I'm in favour of good design, imagination and creativity of people today." However, in his view, the 

twentieth century has been "the greediest and most self-centred" century with its obsession, for 

example, of driving motorways into old towns. 


At present, he thinks planning is facing a crisis with the Government's abandonment of many 

valuable and specific planning criteria to be replaced by a simplified 50+ page document which will 

favour developers and commerce. As far as towns are concerned, he emphasised the value of more 

mixed uses from now on (in line with the 'views of our Society and indeed of Ipswich Central) 

creating places where it's a joy to live. He mentioned as a nice reminder that multiple uses even in 

somewhere like London's Oxford Street mean that the shops share areas where lots of people are 

living nearby. 


However, in towns like Ipswich Griff said, "'Let the big shops go from town centres.. Trying to keep 

them is a lost cause anyway. Instead planners, residents and local politicians should work out for 

themselves what a town is for. And the future of a town involves getting our civic societies' voices 

on the agenda. 


In a following brief question and answer, Chris Wiltshire referred to an "'institutionalised low self-

esteem in Ipswich" and instead we should "glory in what we've got, our unique features. - which 

elicited warm applause. 


Before Griff's sparkling talk, Chris himself entertained us with a presentation drawing attention to 

the Society's very recent digitalisation of our large and diverse slide collection (6500+) which will 

become much more readily accessible. 


I think I can speak for all in saying that the evening was hugely enjoyable and informative. The 

College kitchens produced a wonderfully varied range of tasty canapé a very good advertisement 

for what students and staff can do. 

Neil Salmon 


Bristol and Ipswich

After spending a week in Bristol during November. I was surprised to realise how similar the paths 

of that city and our county town have travelled over the centuries. Both started as Anglo-Saxon 

settlements up a river a fair distance from the sea. In the 1800s both established enclosed areas of 

water for the purpose of improving continuous trade. Bristol with its 'Floating Harbour' and Ipswich 

its lock-gated dock and both have redeveloped their harbour areas calling them .The Waterfront'. 

Centuries earlier both had spawned merchants who were great traders and became rich men, 

sending their ships to far away ports in search of trade. One big difference was that Bristol grew 

very wealthy on the horrific slave trade and looked towards Africa and the Caribbean. From the late 

1700s onwards they both gave birth to many world renowned companies. Bristol's name being on 

Fry's chocolate, ground breaking ship building and, much later, Bristol aeroplanes. Meanwhile 

Ipswich was also becoming famous for manufacturing, with Ransome Sims & Jefferies, Ransome & 

Rapier, Fison's fertilisers, high class provisions from Burton Son & Sanders and Pretty's produced 

corsets by the thousand. 


The difference now is that Bristol has a large recently opened Museum celebrating the amazing 

things that have happened during the life of the city; it is on the Waterfront in an old quay shed 

called the M Shed. 


Returning home, I can only dream that one day my town will have such a museum where 

schoolchildren, tourists and locals can learn about the equally amazing town that stands at the head 

of the Orwell before all the artefacts and personal stories are lost. Such a museum would hopefully 

complement our existing excellent museums but tell the continuous story of the town and its 

achievements. 

Ken Nichols 


Editor: our Museum could have been The Gipeswic Centre, as Peter Underwood originally 

envisaged it. 


Ipswich Women's History Trail

On Thursday 18 October at the Tourist Information Centre, with the enthusiastic support of the 

Mayor. Councillor Mary Blake, we launched our Trail booklet which celebrates the contribution of 

women to Ipswich life over the centuries. 


The Trail takes people on a walk around central Ipswich, looking at where the most influential 

women of the town lived and worked. The booklet gives brief details of the lives of over 20 women, 

and of what makes them worth remembering - from the three women martyrs who were burned at 

the stake in the 16th century right through to 20th century high achievers. Artists, politicians. 

benefactors, writers - virtually every area of cultural life is included. Some women will already be 

familiar - Edith Cook, for example, the aviator, or the writer Jean Ingelow. Others are less well-

known: the embroiderer Judith Hayle or World War One taxi driver Olive Turney. 


The Trail has been compiled, with the help and support of lpswich Borough Council, by Ipswich 

Women's Festival Group. Group member Joy Bounds said: "Many women have contributed to the 

dynamic development of lpswich, but their achievements are not always recognised in history 

books. This walk provides an enjoyable way to learn a bit about these women and perhaps draw 

inspiration from them." In addition, for those not familiar with Ipswich, the Trail will take them to 

many of the most interesting and attractive areas of the town. The walk can be done in either one or 

two parts - one to the north of the town centre, including Christchurch Park, and one to the south 

including the Waterfront.  

Joy Bounds 


The booklet costs 75p and is available from the Tourist Information Centre and other outlets. 


A Brief Review of the Trail booklet 

I feel sure many members would find much of interest in this well presented colourful booklet. 

It is stirring to be reminded that Alice Tooley and Emma Pownder survived their illustrious 

merchant husbands and carried on their businesses successfully. One wonders whether the 16th 

century was kinder to such women than would have been the case in later days. We also learn about 

Eliza Acton who wrote the first domestic cookery book and Constance Andrews a leading 

suffragette and of course Edith Cook (pioneer aviator) and Jean Ingelow (Victorian poet) who are 

both commemorated by Ipswich Society Blue Plaques. 


The authors, perhaps wisely, allow facts to speak for themselves. It would have been understandable 

if indignation had broken through. We are simply told that one of the most distinguished women, 


Nina Layard, wrote a paper for the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1906 about her 

archaeological excavation of the Hadleigh Road Anglo-Saxon site. It had to be read by a man as 

women were denied admission to the meeting. Miss Layard is said to have sat behind a curtain to 

listen. (Marginally better than the women harpists of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra who had to 

perform behind a curtain.) And it's a reminder of how disgracefully women were discouraged or 

held back well into 'modern times' when we learn that Mary Whitmore was the first woman Mayor 

of lpswich in 1946. (Perhaps some good came out of the war?) 

Neil Salmon 


Sir Stuart Rose at Conference

Ipswich's second Beacon Town conference, 14 September 2012 


I'm not sure if Sir Stuart had read the Mary Portas Report or simply chose to ignore it but some of 

his suggestions were different from hers. Sir Stuart suggested that the town needed smartening up, 

which is true, but both Ipswich Borough Council and Ipswich Central might take exception to some 

of the detail in achieving this, given that they both make serious contributions to litter and graffiti 

removal. 


He went on to suggest a few trees would improve the impressions visitors get but fails to realise that 

it is almost impossible to plant trees amongst the mass of underground services in city streets. (We 

tried when Duke Street roundabout was changed, and there might be one, but only one, when the 

junction of Museum Street and Friars Street outside Willis is improved later this year.) 


His most controversial suggestion was to move the 'scruffy' market away from the Cornhill and 

replace it with continental style tables and chairs. Given that it has taken at least 30 years for the 

market to progress from Tower Ramparts to Crown Street to Civic Centre to the Cornhill, and that 

Mary Portas places great emphasis on a market to bring footfall, the Borough Council is unlikely to 

take up the former M&S Chairman's suggestion. However, the Council leader did jump up and 

promise £200,000 of public funds to implement some of these suggestions. I'm sure details will 

follow. 


Sir Stuart also suggested improvements to the route from the station to the town centre (clearly 

nobody had told him of the £21 million investment which includes the removal of subways under 

the Princes Street roundabout) and implied we need better signposting. My opinion is that the newly 

installed diagrammatic monoliths are simple and clear, and I note that the same map has been 

launched in a paper version as an Ipswich town centre walking map, available from the Tourist 

Information Centre. 


It was good to see a number of Ipswich Society members at the conference. I was able to invite 

them via e-mail after the last Newsletter had gone to press. If you want to be included in similar 

alerts, please let the Secretary have your e-mail address. 

John Norman 


The Night Time Economy

The mention in the last Newsletter of the 'Night Time Economy' (NTE) raises an important topic 

which is starting to be researched and understood. We should all be interested in the welfare and 

future of Ipswich's town centre, even if we claim not to go out in the evening. The NTE is an 

indicator of the health of a town's success or failure to manage its services and facilities. Too often 

evenings and nights in town centres are characterised as populated by vodka-pop swilling louts, but 

the NTE actually represents a wide range of important opportunities for Ipswich. 


The NTE can be defined as the economic, social and business activities which occur between 6pm 

and 6am ('after dark'). These include the operation of restaurants, theatres, pubs, clubs, football 

stadiums, cinemas, concerts and other cultural activities. These aspects of the economy are often 

overlooked, yet they are crucial drivers of tourism, leisure and business growth. It is estimated that 

the UK's NTE employs 1.3m people and contributes £66bn to the UK economy. Not only do these 

NTE industries provide taxes for our local authorities, although Central Government takes its share. 

but there are other employment and economic outputs. Of course there are also costs associated 

with the NTE, including policing, vandalism, cleaning and healthcare. Only by researching the net 

effects can it be shown that for most towns and cities, the benefits can contribute much more than 

most of us would acknowledge. These NTE industries provide jobs and wealth but also deliver 

social and community benefits too. The key is to have a night time experience which is safe and 

conducive to the local population and economy. 


The Cardinal Park area is an example of some of this activity being concentrated with restaurants, 

cinemas, bars and nightclubs within a short walk. This is in contrast to more isolated parts of 

Ipswich such as the Wolsey Theatre or the Regent Theatre which are comparatively cut off from the 

town centre. Additional considerations to this include traffic, pedestrian flows, customer perceptions 

and popularity of the services on offer. 


Ipswich has gained full Association of Town Centre Managers' Purple Flag accreditation. This 

means that the "centre is managing its night time experience and thus helps overcome any negative 

public perceptions that may exist." The Purple Flag also helps to promote areas like Ipswich's 

centre, attracting residents, new businesses, tourists and visitors. The Purple Flag accreditation has 

built upon the national Best Bar None scheme "promoting responsible management and operation 

of alcohol licensed premises." Whilst there are challenges to managing a night time economy, the 

benefits in getting it right can extend beyond simply the expandable pockets of chains like 

Wetherspoons! 

Monty Guest 


Who runs the Town Centre?

Ipswich Borough Council, Ipswich Central or Suffolk County Council? 

In a letter jointly signed by Mark Bee and Judy Terry in the East Anglian Daily Times on Saturday, 

17 November. I read that Suffolk County Council wish to be included in the extensive list of 

organisations running the town centre. (In addition. Suffolk County Council are taking over the 

running of the town's road network from April.) 


However, whilst Christmas is still firmly in our minds. we should question who was responsible for 

the Cornhill tree, the Christmas lights and, on the other hand, the four-day Christmas market (that 

promised 150 stalls and delivered half this number)? 


We could also ask what happened to the Ipswich Town Centre Master Plan, suggesting that we turn 

the 'Golden Mile' from an east-west well established route to a north-south (Tower Ramparts to 

Lower Brook Street) shopping experience - when the Evening Star offices are rebuilt as shops! My 

research for articles elsewhere uncovered the demise and demolition of Tollemache's Upper Brook 

Street brewery in 1961, the site of which became Tacket Street car park. If it has taken 50 years (and 

waiting) for this town centre site to be developed for retail, what hope is there for sites in Turret 

Lane? 


There was talk of a 'Vision for Ipswich' group, including input from the University; and the 

Chamber of Commerce has always had the interest of the town at heart. What is clear is that with 

many organisations pulling in different directions, particularly when the politics of town and county 

come into play. Ipswich town centre is likely to suffer from lack of steer. 

John Norman 


Bus Wars - Winners and Losers

Russell Nunn's article in the October Newsletter was of particular interest as I live in east Ipswich 

roughly in the middle of the two main contested routes and had been coming to similar conclusions 

about the unsustainable nature of the current services. 

It seems both our local Ipswich Buses and the Norwich- based part of the national First Group are 

throwing all they have into this battle, cutting fares and investing heavily in new buses and 

additional staffing to provide a more frequent service, which overall is far in excess of our needs. 

With so many buses running during the day there is currently no need to consult timetables as there 

will always be a bus of some description along soon, which is just as well as the actual timetables 

seem less well adhered to than they used to be. 

If passengers take pot luck like this, using whichever bus turns up, the patronage will remain evenly 

split and the 'war' could well be long and protracted. This will seriously drain the resources of both 

companies and is indeed unsustainable in the long term. The ultimate winner will come out of the 

battle scarred and less able to continue providing such a good and cheap service, which is not really 

in passengers' best interests. 

Rather than awaiting the outcome, I think passengers can have some say in this by exercising their 

discretion and choosing to ride with whichever company they would prefer to see running these 

services in the future. If they vote with their arms in this way, only flagging down their preferred 

bus company, their votes will count and we will sooner reach a conclusion to this unnecessary 

battle. 

Patrick Taylor 


Celebrating Broke's Success

Des Pawson of lpswich Maritime Trust, Richard Edgar-Wilson, President of the Old Ipswichian 

Club, and I are progressing with work on three ways of acknowledging Admiral Broke's success 

and abilities, and the bicentenary of his defeat of the USS Chesapeake in HMS Shannon on 1 June 

1813. We plan to: 


• Have a one-day symposium in Ipswich at University Campus Suffolk, which is linked to the 

Universities of Essex and East Anglia. 

• Hold a concert at St Martin's, Nacton, Broke's home village, where he is buried. 

• Publish a book/anthology of papers by a variety of writers for which I would provide the framework and would edit. 


We must stress that these would all be aimed at interesting the general public who are largely 

ignorant of Broke and the War of 1812, rather that the academic world, although the scholarship 

should still be of high quality. The agreed date is the weekend of 12-13 October 2013,10 am to 5.20 

pm. The symposium will be held in the 120-seat lecture hall of the UCS Waterfront building in 

Ipswich's great Victorian Wet Dock. The large attached foyer will be used for a buffet lunch and for 

the launch of the anthology, as well as a display of other relevant books, especially those of the 

speakers. The concert is being organised on the Sunday afternoon by Richard Edgar-Wilson, the 

international tenor. Broke was at Ipswich School before entering the Royal Navy at a tender age and 

the concert is doubling as the Old Ipswichians' President's Event for 2013. Please let me know if 

you feel you can contribute in any way. 

Tim Voelcker 


Demise of the High Street

Footfall in the High Streets of Eastern England fell by 6.2% during the second quarter (May to July) 

of 20l2. The number of vacant shop units rose to 11.5% and the overall picture remains bleak. The 

High Street is no longer the place we go shopping. So where do we go? 


Footfall into out-of-town shopping centres and retail parks also fell, but by an almost insignificant 

1% nationally, but spending on the web almost doubled. A noticeable factor in the downturn in retail 

spending is in areas where a significant proportion of the workforce is employed in the public sector 

(as in Ipswich). 


However, if you think Ipswich has too many empty shops, take pity on the good folk of Bradford 

West Yorkshire, Britain's fifth largest city by population. The city council gave planning permission 

for a new shopping centre in 2004, the developer dug an enormous 23 acre hole in the centre of the 

city and then pulled out as the recession hit. No matter how hard you try, you cannot fill a hole with 

charity shops, community workshops or even fly-by-night retailers selling Christmas tat. 

John Norman 


Food in Pubs

Forty percent of Greene King sales are now in food, part of a market worth £42m across the UK. 

Leading players include the Greene King Hungry Horse chain, Mitchells and Butler's Toby and 

Harvester Inns (planning permission for one of each has been granted at Ravenswood) J D 

Wetherspoon (two new pubs in Suffolk this year, viz. Bury St Edmunds' Corn Exchange and 

Stowmarket's Willow Tree) and Marston's (The Mermaid in Yarmouth Road Ipswich, with a lodge 

hotel planned on the vacant adjacent site). Family dining out has moved up from the kids' favourite 

take-away to one where price, service and ambience of the surroundings knock the traditional pub 

for six. 


Two asides to this article. The first is how amazingly popular The Mermaid has been since opening 

with a full car park lunchtimes and early evenings. Secondly, the application for planning 

permission for the Marston's lodge hotel was for an unacceptably bland building. Ipswich Borough 

Council's Development Control Committee rejected the application. 

John Norman 


Correction - Trees on Orwell Quay

The Newsletter has suggested that the lack of trees on the repaved Orwell Quay was down to an 

objection by Associated British Ports. I am asked to point out that ABP wanted to retain the 

flexibility of a clear quayside but did not object to trees in tubs (as can be seen on the east side of 

the Quay alongside the James Hehir Building). 

John Norman 


Thursday Thanks

May I thank all the volunteers at St Peter's by the Waterfront for helping out on Thursdays from 

May until the end of September 2012. It was much appreciated and I hope that they'll all be 

available to call upon for that same help in 2013. I'll be contacting them from March onwards, and 

if there are any other members of the Society who would also like to give a few hours on a 

Thursday, please contact me. 

Jean Hill 


News and Comment

'Ipswich Icons' 

Even if one thinks the word 'icon' is over-used nowadays, it's possible to be very pleased that the 

Ipswich Star and the EADT are carrying articles by The Ipswich Society on Wednesdays and 

Saturdays, respectively. The subjects covered so far are Pykenham's Gatehouse followed by County 

Hall, St Mary at the Elms, the history of the port up to the opening of the Wet Dock. the Society's 

Awards, the Custom House and the Running Buck. The articles should prove informative to the 

general reader and are good publicity for the Society. 

Buildings 'At Risk' 

English Heritage has a national list of Grade I and II* buildings which are vacant and in poor 

condition. Local Authorities are encouraged to list their Grade II buildings similarly .at risk'. IBC's 

list consisted of Cliff Brewery, the Old Bull in Stoke Street and County Hall. But they have now 

had to add St Michael's Church in Upper Orwell Street (badly damaged by fire), 4 College Street 

(house on corner of College Street and Bridge Street), and 1-5 College Street (next to Wolsey's 

Gate). IBC urges the buildings' owners to make them weather-poof and secure while still vacant. 

Two New Names 

We are getting used to 'The Saints', i.e. St Nicholas Street and St Peter's Street, a useful name for an 

area which includes a variety of shops and other businesses. The owners, supported by IBC. have 

obtained funding from the Government to help promote the area. 'Blackfriars' might take more 

getting used to. Although the remains of the Blackfriars monastery are still to be seen between 

Foundation Street and Lower Orwell Street, this is to be the 'brand' name of the wider Fore Street, 

Orwell Place, Eagle Street and poor old Upper Orwell Street. Both these 'new' areas are crucial to 

the admirable aim of linking the Waterfront to the town centre. Christmas lights in Fore Street and 

the new name should be a welcome start to what will be a long and gradual process of linkage. 

Sherrington Blue Plaque 

The Society's most recently installed Plaque was unveiled on 20 September. It is on the east wall of 

lpswich School chapel and easily visible from Henley Road. 

Sir Charles Sherrington. the great neurologist, was a pupil at Ipswich School and after retiring 

returned to the town living briefly in Graham Road and then 73 Valley Road. He was awarded the 

Nobel Prize in 1924, was President of the Royal Society and appointed to the Order of Merit. Mike 

Cook, you may remember, gave a lecture about Sherrington which was reported in the April 2012 

Newsletter. 

John Norman 


Puzzled

Griff Rhys Jones' talk on 12 October was both enlightened and thought provoking but was there not 

an elephant in the atrium? The future direction for all planning and building design, including in 

Ipswich, must adjust to any anticipated future changes, such as the climate, yet no mention as far as 

I recollect was made of this. Are we not fiddling while Rome burns, or now more likely, floods? 

Flood damage claims are already increasing significantly year on year. It seems unlikely that the 

predicted sea level rise of less than a metre this century is realistic, bearing in mind that the report 

from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on which it is based made no allowance at all 

for ice melt. Now we are experiencing ice loss in the Arctic and West Antarctic which exceeds the 

most pessimistic of the models, due to the dreaded tipping points which are already kicking in. Last 

year we experienced the wettest spring since records began some 150 years ago, the autumn rains 

caused widespread flooding and hurricanes are apparently beginning to encroach on areas 

previously thought to be safe. 


The Environment Agency now has the power to restrict residential development in flood areas, but 

it needs to go much further and faster on all fronts. We have to dramatically cut energy consumption 

if we are to keep carbon levels down to a figure which will prevent a catastrophic irreversible 

temperature rise. It's estimated that some 60% of the saving will have to come from a reduction in 

heat loss from buildings. However, our relatively puny new building regulations don't come into full 

force until 2016, and we are still giving awards to buildings with no solar collectors at all. In 

Germany, as from next year, all new buildings must be capable of producing 40% of the energy they 

consume themselves. What I wonder are Griff's thoughts on this? 


Am I being irresponsibly alarmist? We almost certainly won't know until it's too late. but surveys 

indicate that well over 90% of those scientists who have been actively involved in the research (and 

there are literally thousands of them; the Met Office alone has some 200) now accept that not only 

is global warming happening, but that man is largely responsible. Bearing in mind what a 

disputatious lot scientists are, this is probably a higher consensus than Newton enjoyed, and nobody 

has messed with him for over 200 years now. Amazingly, the first laboratory experiment to 

demonstrate the greenhouse effect was carried out by an Englishman back in 1836, and the 

investigations have continued ever since, so an extraordinary amount of work has been done on the 

path to our present understanding: far too much to sweep under the carpet. 


But little seems to be happening. Why are we not galvanised into action? What is happening to the 

proposals for large wind turbines in the area? Is anyone investigating local suitable sites for river 

turbines which are proving so popular, and in many cases profitable, in Europe? 


Griff referred to the damage done to our infrastructure and housing stock by the Luftwaffe, but this 

will prove a mere pinprick compared with any future world conflict. Am I being unjustifiably 

alarmist again? A largely ignored Pentagon paper in 1997 proposed that climate change will be a 

greater threat to world peace than terrorism. Pakistan for instance gets nearly all its water through 

the rivers that first flow through its old rival India, which itself has serious water shortages, and like 

Pakistan has nuclear weapons. 


It is my generation that must take most of the blame for the carbon level increase. (Incidentally I am 

70.) We were the first to heat the whole of our houses at the same time as we cooled local areas of 

them with fridges and freezers, one energy source fighting the other. Also there was little attempt at 

conserving all the extra heat within the area for which it was intended. Wherever you look, the 

energy consumption of our generation became profligate. We were the first to drive or fly 

everywhere. If one looks at the graphs showing atmospheric levels of carbon, it was precisely at this 

time that they started to take off so dramatically, to a level not experienced for some 4 million years, 

when temperatures were a catastrophic 4 degrees higher. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that 

humans only flourish when temperatures are within just 1 degree of the present level: a sobering 

thought. As we drove the short distance home after the meeting (I could have walked, but thought it 

might rain) 1 recollected sitting in the atrium, pleasantly warmed in an attractive space probably 

three times the volume of space needed, absorbing Griff's thoughts, and eating unsustainable 

quantities of red meat (I have to confess to the consumption of at least three sausage rolls) and with 

my feet probably little more than a couple of metres above sea level. 


I found myself increasingly puzzled by the complete lack of curiosity about these problems, either 

by Griff or by me and other members during question time. I would love to learn if there are other 

members of the Society (as well as Mike Brain, of course) who share any of the same anxiety, and who like me are having increasing pangs of guilt. 

Jo Stokes 


Harman, Henry VIII, Hansa

If you find yourself in the charming Cotswold town of Burford in Oxfordshire do try and make time 

to visit the church of St John the Baptist. As you enter the church look across the north aisle wall 

where you will observe an imposing piece of masonry, described as "not so much a funeral 

monument as a thanksgiving for a successful life set up in 1569 by one Edmund Harman.” 


Born in Ipswich in approximately 1509, Edmund's first appearance in history occurred in 1530 

when he was admitted to the Barbers' Company. Then in February 1536 he is described as being a 

King's barber and a member of the Privy Chamber. His paternal grandfather was a "gentleman" and 

his maternal one may also have been entitled to bear arms. But it is unlikely that a young man from 

the provinces would have got so far so fast without a patron. Yet it is not clear whose Edmund was.  


Wolsey of course came from Ipswich but after his fall in 1529 a connection with him would have 

been more of a handicap than an advantage. A more likely figure was Sir William Sabyn, an 

Ipswich merchant who owned the house called the Steelyard: he was not only a ship owner and 

"vice-admiral" but also a sergeant-at-arms responsible for the King's safety. His duties included care 

to see that the men who brought razors close to the royal throat could be trusted not to cut it! What 

better way of ensuring this than to choose for the job people whose background one was familiar 

with? Moreover there is evidence that Sabyn shared the progressive religious views for which 

Edmund was to be conspicuous. It may be relevant that Butts, the King's physician, also came from 

Ipswich. In 1537 Edmund had been elected as a member of the Court of Assistants in the Barbers' 

Company, appearing eleventh in the list of seniority. In 1539, described as a "Groom of the Privy 

Chamber", he became Senior Warden and in 1540, at the presumed age of 31, Master. 


In 1543 Edmund is for the first time described as "The King's Servant., a title of which he was not 

the only holder. Whereas previous grants to him had only been of positions bringing in money, he 

now received one involving tenure of land, namely the Hospital of St John Evangelist Burford, with 

certain lands belonging to it in Burford itself and in neighbouring Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire 

villages. Although this is the first mention of Bur ford in connection with Edmund, he must have 

been there already since his wife Agnes was a daughter of Edmund Silvester, a prominent merchant 

of the town. 1539 has been suggested as the date of their marriage and their daughter Agnes was 

born in 1542 followed by fifteen further children (9 boys and 6 girls) all of whom are depicted on 

Edmund's monument in the church. 


In 1546 the King's rapidly failing health increased the jockeying for position at court, so as to 

decide who should be in control when Henry was replaced by the boy Edward. But no matter who 

won the struggle, Edmund was likely to lose. There would be a reduced demand for royal barbers 

when a boy of nine became King. Edmund must have viewed the future with dismay. On 26 

October, in one of the King's last lucid intervals, Edmund Harman, the King's Servant, was granted 

for his services the Lordship and Manor, the rectory and the advowson of the vicarage of Taynton, 

which had formerly belonged to Tewkesbury Abbey. 


On 26 December Henry's illness took a turn for the worse and he sent for his will. It was found to 

require revision and was brought back again when it was signed "with our own hand" in the 

presence often witnesses among whom Edmund stood second. He also received a legacy of 200 

marks (£133) "in token of our special love and favour". After the death of King Henry the barbers 

on 1y went on being paid for two quarters and it is a reasonable hypothesis that Edmund came fairly 

soon to live as a country gentleman on his estates in the middle Windrush valley. His wife was 

buried at Taynton on 30 March 1576 and Edmund himself died at Burford on 19 March 1577 and 

was buried at Taynton on 10 April 1577. 


The 1574 heraldic visitation of Oxfordshire by Harvey and Lee recorded a Harman genealogy 

which was almost certainly supplied to them by Edmund himself. The family name seems to have 

been spelt indifferently "Harman" and "Herman", which points to them having been of Germanic 

origin. It describes his father Robert and his grandfather Paul as being of lpswich, Paul being a 

"gentleman". But Edmund's great-grandfather Peter was said to have been "of the Steelyard". The 

best known Steelyard was the depot of the Hansa merchants in Lower Thames Street, London, 

where imports were weighed on the King's Beam to assess their liability for duty. But the Hansa 

also appear to have had a minor depot at Ipswich during the fifteenth century, although its exact 

location and dates are obscure. In the following century Sir William Sabyn's house. situated near the 

quay, was known as the Steelyard. In 1460 an Ipswich merchant, John Caldewell, in making his 

will, had expressed the hope that his son might have "the place at the cay where Herman dwelleth”. 


In East Anglia other Hansa depots, also known as Kontors, were located at King's Lynn and Great 

Yarmouth. The Hanseatic warehouse in King's Lynn is the only surviving Hanseatic League 

building in England and was constructed in 1475. There is a suggestion that certain German cities 

of the League had a bias towards a Kontor; thus Bremen with King's Lynn, Hamburg with Great 

Yarmouth and Cologne with Ipswich. Sources: Tolsey Paper No 6, The Tolsey Museum, Burford, 

1988. Internet, Hanseatic League 

Michael Atkinson 


Shops Empty and Full

Empty shops throughout most of the country are blighting the look of our streets, not to speak of the 

consequences for businesses. In Ipswich the situation is not as bad as in many other towns and 

cities, but the locations of some vacant premises are particularly sad aesthetically - for example in 

The Walk and Thoroughfare, that unique and quite intimate precinct, and in Butter Market where 

Clarks and the Early Learning Centre occupied an attractive building. Yet next door the newly 

opened Patisserie Valerie has enjoyed great success and almost always there are people ogling the 

cakes in the window as well as eating inside. 


A Day out in the Fens

On 12 September, fifty Ipswich Society members set out to discover the unique blend of landscape, 

engineering and history which characterises The Fens. Our first stop, Prickwillow Drainage Engine 

Museum, is in the original pumphouse on the River Lark. It houses an Ipswich-built Vickers Petter 

diesel pump which drained the fenland here during the first half of the 20th century, pumping water 

up to the river. After a short excellent talk on the history of fenland drainage, the Vickers Petter was 

started up for us - impressive, noisy and very effective - and next door. the modem electric/

electronic pumphouse keeps up the good work. 


Our journey north to Wisbech traversed the peat fen below sea level and then the slightly more 

elevated silt fen. Bob Markham's commentary helped us to pick out features of this subdued 

different landscape. Periodically we travelled over slightly raised sections of road, identified by Bob 

as 'roddens', abandoned river courses left above the fields as the peat has shrunk after drainage. 

Most of the dwellings in this area have been built on 'roddens' for their greater stability - we saw 

many tilted telegraph poles and experienced much hummocky subsidence in the road across the 

peat! At Welney we crossed the man-made Bedford Level which carries water northwards to The 

Wash along its two great waterways separated by flood meadows. They flow several metres above 

the peat fen and the banks, needing constant care, are maintained by 'bankers' - a vital occupation in 

this part of Cambridgeshire. 


The Wisbech & Fenland Museum is free. and packed to the rafters with well-labelled specimens. 

Entering gives an immediate sense of deja-vu, time-travelling to Ipswich Museum as we know it 

from 140 year old photographs of what is now the Arlington's Restaurant on Museum Street. The 

two museums have an identical opening date, 1847. Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust and 

the Kyrle Society (forerunner of our own Civic Societies) was born in Wisbech. 2012 is the 

centenary of her death - a good time to visit her birthplace, a Grade II* Listed Georgian town house. 

Born the year after Queen Victoria's accession to the throne, Octavia was an advocate of public 

open space - as she put it. "Places to sit places to play in. places to stroll in, and places to spend the 

day in.” 


We returned home across the Suffolk fenland (yes, we have some) via Lakenheath with a stop for 

tea at the fine church here. The exterior is a mosaic of building materials from the Cambridgeshire/

Suffolk borderlands: clunch. a type of chalk found locally; carstone, brown sandstone from the fen-

edge: brown cobbles from ancient river terraces of west Suffolk and grey flints from the fields. The 

interior takes the breath away- murals as old as 12th century adorn the walls, with St Edmund 

opposite the door, watching you enter. The church has a crucifix of contemporary design made from 

bog oak from the fens. Farmers often plough up huge tree trunks out of the peat - remnants of long 

gone forests many thousands of years old. 

Caroline Markham 


Street Markets

Town centre traders certainly can't rest on their laurels in this continuing Age of Austerity. One 

sensible response is to hold street markets where some of the local shops bring their wares out into 

the open, sometimes together with other traders. Markets held in Dial Lane (October), Giles Circus, 

Queen Street and St Nicholas Street (November) and Fore Street (December) have all helped to 

bring people into some of the less 'obvious' but important streets. Ipswich town centre is so much 

more than the 'golden mile’! 


Lectures and Outings

• 13 April Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Forest 

• 21 May Legal London 

• 12 June 'I never noticed that' - an evening walk in Ipswich 

• 11 July 'Ipswich's Oldest Valley' - an evening walk in Henslow Road 

• 21 August Great Dunmow Maltings and Ingatestone Hall 

• September John Norman.s East London, including the Olympic Park

Issue 190 January 2013

© 2024 The Ipswich Society, Registered Charity Number: 263322

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