January 2016 Issue 202
Contents
Editorial
Beyond the Horizon : it’s worth a look
New members
St Peter’s volunteers
Chairman’s remarks
The Fair Trade Shop
Planning matters
Fore St Facelift exhibition overview
Pevsner’s Ipswich!
Views from the G.R.E. building, 1990
Fison House
Improvements to the Felixstowe line
Snippets 1
Society Awards 2016
Broomhill Pool: good news
Snippets 2
Secret Ipswich book review
Society officers and details
Membership subscription rates
Diary Dates
Parking prices in Ipswich (the truth!)
Newsletter dates
Ipswich Historic Lettering
Willis roof-garden and pool
L. to r.: Cllr Phil Smart (Portfolio Holder for Environment and Transport), John Norman (Chair, Ipswich Society), presenter Bob Kindred MBE, Nick Wilcox (IBC Holywells Park Manager), Mark Hunter (IBC Operations Manager Buildings and Designs), Robin Gape
(Chairperson Friends of Holywells Park), James Wilson (Carters) accept the Society Award of Distinction for the Holywells Park project. See page 21.
Editorial
Cromwells arrives at the corner of Cromwell Square,see ‘Independent shops’, Snippets, page 7
Over the years the Society’s Newsletter, as a quarterly 24-page publication, has found its role amongst the membership and beyond. Now, its much more recent younger cousin, the Ipswich Society Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ipswichsociety), is fulfilling a complementary role on the internet. Browsers and contributors
can react to features, text, video and photographs on a constantly refreshed and updated timeline of entries of interest to Ipswichians. For those who do not see our Facebook discussions, it is useful for this publication to reflect
some of the content from time to time. Duke Street Orwell Quay car park, Ipswich
The recent coverage of vehicle parking discussions engendered Tim Leggett’s article in this issue on the myths and realities of parking in Ipswich (see page 10). In addition, in autumn 2015, a rich seam has been mined on the subject of independent shops in Ipswich, reflected in our Snippets feature on page 7. These are useful and vibrant rebuttals to those who are always running down our town, most notably on the twin perennial subjects of parking and shopping. Add in traffic congestion and you (almost) have the full set.
R.G.
Facebook [photographs by Tim Leggett]
New members
Chairman’s remarks
‘The Vision Thing’*
A lot of publicity has surrounded the Vision for Ipswich,‘turning the town round’ and we can see a
lot of merit in the parties working together to achieve the changes necessary for Ipswich to progress. There are seven signatories to the Vision document:
Ipswich Central (the Business Investment District Company)
New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (Government money)
Ben Gummer (MP for Ipswich)
Ipswich Chamber of Commerce (Part of the Suffolk Chamber)
University Campus Suffolk
Suffolk County Council
Ipswich Borough Council
In practice there have been more than seven bodies around the table and observers have included
Archant (EADT) and The Suffolk Chamber of Commerce.
I am told that representatives of the County (3) outnumbered those from the Borough (2) and I note
that the unelected signatories outnumber those who have been democratically elected. It would be
churlish of me to suggest the political persuasion of contributors but those I spoke to suggested that
the debate (and there were robust discussions) was predominately one-sided.
Despite all of this, there is a determination to create not only a Vision but also the change brought
about by that vision. Change that will take Ipswich forward into the next decade and beyond.
Perhaps it is the newcomers to the table, those who haven’t before been drivers of Ipswich’s
destiny, who have been the reason for the progress and eventually sufficient harmony has prevailed
for all to add their signatures to the document.
The majority of the proposals are not at variance with Ipswich’s Master Plan produced by DTZ in
2012 and thus have similarities with the Local Development Plan. What is different is the joint
working party prioritising key aspects. They have agreed on a 21 point Action Plan which, in my
opinion, is very disjointed. There are proposals for immediate action (so immediate that some of
the ideas were finalised before the Vision was published) and proposals for improvements in a
short timescale thus creating the opportunity for an easy win and positive publicity.
There is a curious mix of paragraphs which suggest to ‘start construction of …’ versus those which
propose the development of a strategy for long term improvements. For example ‘to develop a
strategy for transport and signage on all main arterial routes into town’ when we are also told that
the £21 million UTMC linking the town’s traffic lights is complete. (UTMC: Urban Traffic
Management Control). And that the proposal for electronic signage informing motorists of
available parking spaces has been dropped through lack of finance.
We wholeheartedly support the inclusion of strategic planning options, the gathering of evidence
which both supports and challenges the proposals but we were bemused that the 21 point Vision
includes a number of firm proposals for change and development before an analysis has been
carried out. Changes to the station forecourt have been in the planning stages for 12 months and
converting offices to create town centre housing has been underway for some time.
Enterprise Zones
One of the little bits of good news to come out of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement was the
creation of four Enterprise Zones in Ipswich.
Futura Business Park (Cranes) (10 hectare)
Princes Street Office Corridor (2.9 hectare)
The former Sugar Beet site at Sproughton (14 hectare)
Ipswich’s Waterfront Island, between the Wet Dock and the New Cut (2 hectare)
An Enterprise Zone is a designated area where businesses are entitled to receive financial aid,
business rates discount, and speedy planning decisions.
John Norman [
*© George Bush Snr.]
Planning matters
There do seem to be signs of a new spring in Ipswich: several developments coming together – the
transformation of Tower Ramparts into Sailmakers, the announcement that the Buttermarket
centre is definitely going to be a multi-screen film and entertainment complex with restaurants
and a gym, the proposals to complete the unfinished blocks on the Waterfront, the application to
convert the Tolly Cobbold brewery into a conference centre supported by an apartment block
and, of course, the stimulus to thought and discussion that The Vision for Ipswich has brought to
your committee and to our membership.
Charterhouse Investments LLP has bought the Civic Centre site from Turnstone Estates; it has
been granted permission to use the site as a 187 space car park connected to a new 48 place
restaurant with a large terrace above the spiral car park (which will remain); additionally there will
be a new pedestrian crossing of Civic Drive. A Planning Condition is that the other works must be
completed within 12 months of the car park being opened. The design is a striking sustainable
glass box with thoughtful landscaping and planting. They will be a useful addition to the town’s
resources, which are fully supported by the New Wolsey Theatre. The former Police station will
become a temporary car park (subject to planning permission being granted).
A Community Investment Company has been formed to convert St Clement Church into an Arts
Centre; the interior will be largely stripped and painted white, the floor made a plane surface and
modern multi-purpose modular furniture (seating, platforms etc.) provided. Simon Hallsworth and
Carol Gant of UCS with architectural assistance from Richard MacRae of ERDM and others are
involved in the project. There is a need for a mid-size arts performance centre in Ipswich for our
growing young population just as churches are used in Colchester, Bristol and Norwich.
Another of the eleven town centre listed churches is taking on new life; under the care of JIMAS,
a Muslim charity, the Church of St Michael in Upper Orwell Street is to have new roof and other
essential works to become a community centre for all.
Chantry Vale. Taylor-Wimpey have made an outline application to Babergh District Council for
475 houses, employment, primary school, public open space, highway improvements (more traffic
lights on the road from the Holiday Inn to towards Hadleigh) on the farmland to the south and
north of Poplar Lane. IBC, as a consultee, strongly objected on the grounds that there is no
master plan for the western development areas including the Sugar Beet factory site, that the
design of the development is of very low quality and that the highway changes are ill thought out.
The Suffolk Preservation Society sent an extremely professional, cogent objection letter. Babergh
planners rejected the application.
Fison House, Princes Street. The new owners were granted permission for the complete rebuild
of, possibly, Birkin Haward's best office building, not listed because the fourth (east) side was
never built [see pages 5 & 6]. The developers' architects, from near Southend, have produced a
new design for the recladding. We would fully support the concept of an office building that was
of 21st century design encouraging Princes Street to become the business centre for Ipswich but
we remain unconvinced that the developers have come up with the right architectural solution.
The Tolly Cobbold Brewery is a Grade II listed building on Historic England's Heritage at Risk
Register. It has been empty for many years and its historic and valuable contents plundered. John
Lyall (architect of The Mill and keynote speaker at our April 2016 AGM) has registered an Outline
Application to convert the brewery into a 250 seater auditorium, with a brewery museum and
business startup units, a café, a gym/health club and 375 car parking spaces. The conversion
would be supported by 222 residential units, 15% affordable, in multiple apartment blocks. It is
also possible at the time of writing that the Transport Museum may move to the site. Altogether,
this is an adventurous well thought-out proposal which we must hope comes to fruition.
Mike Cook
Pevsner’s Ipswich, 1961-2015 A Winter Illustrated Talk by Dr James Bettley
Thursday 23 October 2015 saw a good-sized audience at the Methodist Church in Black Horse
Lane for what proved to be one of the Society’s best ever talks. James Bettley began his
presentation with memories of meeting up in about 2007 with the late Dr John Blatchly for an
initial walk around the Ipswich town centre to briefly view many of the historic buildings. One
of James’ photographs of that day showed John on hands and knees inspecting the font of St
Nicholas Church. When, having ‘done’ most of the county years later, the author returned to
Ipswich, but he couldn’t find the font until he discovered it with a chipboard counter built
around and over it.
It is a tribute to our speaker that he didn’t just deliver his ‘standard Suffolk Pevsner talk’,
entertaining though that would have been. We were treated to behind-the-scenes photographs,
cuttings and documents from Nikolaus Pevsner’s archive, built up when working on the
original 1961 Suffolk volume in his Buildings of England series. It was clear that Pevsner had
toured the whole county in only four weeks, relying once back 'in the office' on replies he had
received from architects and research by others for fuller information. Several letters back and
forth between him and architect Birkin Haward were shown; it became clear that, if the author
trusted his informant, he wasn’t beyond including a building in the book which was not yet
completed. The bi-monthly Ipswich information periodical published by Ipswich Corporation
was another source of information.
And so to the buildings. In his introduction to the Ipswich section of the Suffolk: East volume,
James remarks upon the decline in the economic fortunes in the 17th and 18th centuries, a
decline which may have saved many important buildings. There are a relatively large number
of medieval buildings in Ipswich and relatively few Georgian buildings (Lower Brook Street is
an exception); in other towns the medieval buildings would have been replaced or refronted,
but not in our town. A short tour of religious buildings, old and modern, finally led to the
castellated, blighted County Hall in St Helens Street, which languishes without a use in our
modern society.
From Crown Pools, via Broomhill Lido and Endeavour House we arrived at Constantine
House, the original power station for the tram and street lighting in Ipswich (now offices). It
pleased our speaker that the over-ornate tram depot next door, with its long inspection pits, is
still used to service Ipswich buses. Examples were chosen from many eras and locations to
illustrate the work of local architects (“Ipswich is just far enough from London to make it
worthwhile for talented designers and architects to stay and work here, rather than seek their
fortunes in the capital”). Our speaker reflected on the inclusions and omissions in Pevsner’s
original Suffolk book as they evoke an anecdote or gem of information.
Architect’s model of Harvest House, 1950s (photograph from the Society’s Flickr collection)
Today, we see Birkin Haward’s 1960s ‘Harvest House’ in Princes Street (“it used to stand on
the corner of Sedan Street – and where is that now?”) start to be stripped down to be reclad and
with a new corner ‘tower’. We learnt from James that this modernist home for the Fisons staff
was originally intended to have eleven storeys. Lacking its 4th side, it was therefore unlistable.
Private houses, offices, industrial buildings, schools and shops were illustrated and discussed.
The final images of the talk were of John Shewell Corder’s Mackintosh-style art nouveau shop
for Scarborow optician (today, Pickwick’s tea shop) in Dial Lane. Pleasingly, the photographer
closed the ‘spectacle gate’ at the entrance, posed a member of staff by the lit door at the back of
the shop and we see James Bettley himself sitting at a window table.
That’s in the book – authors don’t usually feature in Pevsners. R.G.
Fison’s HQ in its heyday, 1980s? (photograph by Brian Jepson, from the Society’s Flickr collection)
The unfinished end of the building – the fourth wing was never built – with its corrugated metal walls (photograph by John Norman, 2015)
Snippets 1
In October 2015 the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket became the winner of the
2015 title of Suffolk Museum of the Year at this year's Awards ceremony, organised by the
Association for Suffolk Museums and sponsored by the East Anglian Daily Times. Since 2012
Abbot’s Hall and its walled garden have been open in addition to the extensive parkland and
exhibits. Mentioned in dispatches were Bentwaters Cold War Museum and Southwold
Museum. More than 3,500 people nominated a favourite museum for the title and those
shortlisted all received framed certificates including Felixstowe Museum, Lowestoft Maritime
Museum, Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds and Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich.
A Tale of Three Cities, our special supplement written by Mark Ling and published with the
April 2015 Newsletter, has provoked much discussion about the place of Ipswich in the region.
It is now available to consult on the Ipswich Society website (www.ipswichsociety.org.uk). Just
go to the April issue (199) in the Newsletter section and open the last item in the list.
Mark’s campaign, www.greateripswich.org, continues apace: “Under Devolution Suffolk plans,
there will be major changes to local government, particularly regarding economic
development, infrastructure, health, education and delivery of services. These changes will
have a direct effect on the Ipswich and Felixstowe areas; they will impact your company, your
employees and the infrastructure in which you operate. This is an important time for our corner
of East Anglia, and your voice really matters.”
50th anniversary celebration
Ipswich Transport Museum’s 50th birthday was celebrated in November with a cavalcade of restored vehicles from the Museum’s fascinating collection in Cobham Road. The buses and fire engine travelled from the Cornhill to the Museum. The volunteers who restore the vehicles and run the Museum deserve great credit. Well worth a visit.
Independent shops
It is often said that Ipswich does not have individual, independent shops as Bury St Edmunds and other local towns
do. Ipswich is just chain shops, charity shops, pound shops and coffee outlets, apparently. (The latter applies to all towns and cities today.) However, for those who have not explored Ipswich beyond the main drag, the town has well over 170 individual shops (and counting). The size and quality of these businesses vary a lot, but they are all unique to Ipswich. It is amazing how many shops there are in the town when you start looking.
Tim Leggett has been photographing these shops and adding them to our Facebook page in batches of 42 (the maximum Facebook allows). It’s an interesting challenge to try to identify their locations in Ipswich. Tim writes: “Ipswich knocks spots off Bury for individual shops, but most visitors never venture beyond the pedestrianised areas to find them, just as most visitors to Ipswich are totally unaware of Christchurch Park, a few steps away, where you could put the Abbey Gardens and forget where you left them!”
(www.facebook.com/ipswichsociety)
The Broomhill Pool: good news In 2002, the Borough Council asked The Ipswich Society for a representative for three Scrutiny Committees set up to examine the future of the Town Hall (Neil Salmon), The Regent (John Norman )
and I, as a makeweight newcomer was ordered by the then Chairman to
Broomhill Lido. I think it’s important to remember the key role that your Society's representatives played in keeping these important civic buildings for their intended use. At the time, local authorities were faced with an additional charge on their buildings; the Asset Value Charge which, at 5% of the District Valuer's valuation was often the straw that broke the camel's back of viability.
The 1938 Pool, now unheated, was suffering declining attendances, poor management, surveys showing major problems with its early ferro-concrete structure and a £50,000 asset value charge. The only solution was to close it and to seek an alternative solution.
Thirteen years later, we have it. The Broomhill Trust persuaded IBC to let the Pool out to the best operator in England, Fusion Lifesyle. They engaged Allies and Morrison to produce a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and have been successful in gaining a £180,000 development grant to produce a business plan, detailed architectural plans and a heritage education scheme. If this is accepted the Heritage Enterprise fund will grant a sum around £3m, together with £1m from IBC and £1m from Fusion Lifestyle to restore the pool to its former glory.
The outline plan will include the pools as before, a gym/health club, a café, a restored clock tower and an enlarged car park. The debate continues on heated water and diving boards. And we are going to say 2019 for the first splash. I feel that it’s a memorial to good sense on everybody's part. I, at least, have always been 85% confident of success and it’s here at last!
Mike Cook
Founding Chairman,
Broomhill Trust Broomhill Lido during construction, 1938
Secret Ipswich by Susan Gardiner. Amberley
Publishing, 2015, 96 pages. £14.99
The latest in a line of compendium books of Ipswich curiosities, Secret Ipswich joins a growing series of Amberley Secret titles of towns such as Barnstaple and Wakefield, most with a blue plaque-style cover. There will always be a place for such attractively illustrated collections and there will always be a demand for them. The internet has, by means of many different platforms and sharing methods, ensured that many of the features here aren’t really ‘secret’ any more, but given the depth of Ipswich history there will be readers who are surprised by the historical and arcane details which the book covers. Available from the Tourist Information Centre and bookshops.
*The author, Susan Gardiner, has also written the history of Ipswich Town Football Club.
Membership subscription rates – a note from the Treasurer
Members of the Society will know that new subscription rates were agreed upon at the 2013
AGM. Those new rates fell due for the second time this year and many members – the vast
majority – have adjusted their standing orders/direct debits or paid by cheque or cash to the
correct amounts.
However, a small number of members have yet to increase their payments to those new rates
and have continued to enjoy membership, including delivery of the Newsletter (our biggest
expenditure), at old rates, some of which are now considerably out of date.
The Membership Secretary has sent out reminders over the last two years. This is a final
request to members reading this Newsletter who have yet to increase their membership
subscription to the current level, to ensure that they do so in January 2016.
I am sure all those members who are paying the correct rates would expect me to remedy what is, I am sure, an oversight by those failing to respond to the increase in rates. Failure to do so in 2016 will lead to removal from the Newsletter distribution list and then cancellation of membership if that does not prompt correct payment.
Just a reminder, the membership rates are: Individual – £10 per annum and Family membership – £15 per annum. Graham Smith (Treasurer)
Parking prices in Ipswich
It is often said by some people that they don't shop in Ipswich but go to Bury St Edmunds because it is too expensive to park in Ipswich. As one who regularly visits towns and cities such as Colchester, Bury, Norwich and Cambridge, I find this rather surprising especially with the price of petrol to get there. I will give some examples to explain why.
We all like to go shopping in other towns occasionally just for a change, a day out and sometimes the chance to buy something we cannot get in our own towns. There is not much you cannot get in Ipswich – which has many shops not found in other towns in the area. For example, Bury St Edmunds does not have BHS, Maplins, Mothercare, Primark, Tiger, Blue Inc, Java Store and many more I can list: all popular shops. Not counting the individual
businesses, Ipswich also has most of the shops found in Bury. Ipswich has its own individual shops along Tacket Street, St Nicholas and St Peters Streets and other places dotted round the town. You may have to go up a back street for some of them. As with all other towns both have their fair share of charity, pound and mobile phone shops which is the way of the world today. Bury has its own attractions and is a lovely old town. We are lucky in being surrounded by great towns and cities in East Anglia which all have their own characters and are all lovely in their own way.
The cheapest place to park by far in the region is Felixstowe where Great Eastern Square is free and if you want the sea-front, dozens of roads lead off it with free parking on either side with no time limits. However, Felixstowe would not really be considered a shopping town.
There are four main providers of car parks in Ipswich: Ipswich Borough Council, Britannia Parking, NCP Car Parks and RCP Parking, amongst others. The majority of the IBC car parks are £1 per hour and £1 for the rest of the day after 3pm. These are dotted all round the town.
NCP Car Parks, as in most towns, are the most expensive. The costliest in Ipswich is the NCP in Crown Street at £3 per hour. All the time I have lived in Ipswich, I have never needed to use it. Just across the road is IBC Crown Car Park at £1 per hour.
Britannia Parking run the Spiral and Wolsey Theatre car parks at £1.50 per hour, getting cheaper per hour after that: quite a lot more than IBC car parks but still less than other towns. RCP Parking have a car park on the docks at 60 pence an hour and another at the top of Handford Road at 80 pence an hour. Both a bit further out but walkable.
To park in the Bury St Edmunds ARC Shopping Centre car park costs £2 up to one hour scaling to £4 up to 4 hours, when it is the same as IBC car parks. In Bury town centre and on
Angel Hill (if you can get on to it), it is £1.50 for 30 minutes or £2.20 for 1 hour – maximum
stay 2 hours. Both twice the price (and more) of the IBC charges. Ram Meadow and Parkway
multi-storey on the edge of the town centre are both £1.50 for 2 hours minimum charge and not
free to disabled drivers. At 75 pence an hour these are good prices, but still more than RCP car
parks in Ipswich where you would walk a similar distance to the town.
In Norwich, Castle Mall is £1.20 per hour and £2.30 for 2 hours. Chapelfield is £1.70 per hour
and £3.40 for 2 hours. The Forum is £1.70 an hour. Again the prices are better than some
places but still more expensive than IBC Car Parks.
In Colchester, Nunn's Road multi-storey behind the former Williams and Griffin is £2.50 for 1
hour and £4.50 for 2 hours. St Mary's multi-storey on Balkern Hill is £1.80 for 1 hour and
£2.70 for 2 hours. Osborne Street near Colchester's "make do" bus station is £2.00 per hour for
the first two hours, scaling down per hour after that. All are more expensive than Ipswich.
In Cambridge the Grafton Centre car park is £2.10 for 1 hour and £3.60 for 2 hours. Park Street
is £2.10 for 1 hour and £3.60 for 2 hours. More than double IBC car parks in Ipswich.
As a visitor, these are the most probable car parks for me to use. I only use NCP if I cannot find
anything else. When in a strange town, without local knowledge, I may use one. Comparing
Ipswich parking prices with these other towns and cities it is relatively cheap to park in
Ipswich. Certainly not more expensive unless you choose to use the NCP car park on Crown
Street, or their one in Foundation Street at £2.20 for 1 hour (30 pence cheaper than the
Colchester NCP) and £4.20 for 2 hours, which no one needs to do.
In Ipswich, if you live near the town, walking is easy and we have good, award-winning bus
services. Ipswich also has a good Park and Ride (at the time of writing!). Many people drive
into town who do not need to. NCP are there if you want to pay the price, but I have never,
ever used an NCP car park in Ipswich in the forty-five years I have regularly parked there.
None of this is to criticise other towns or parking companies, but to question those who say
Ipswich parking is expensive. From my own experience I can usually park in Ipswich easily
and more cheaply than most other towns in the area. There are expensive options in Ipswich
but there are always cheaper alternatives and for those who know the town – they have
a choice.
Tim Leggett
(N.B.: Prices are correct at the time of writing.)
Colchester Nunns Road NCP
Bury St Edmunds Angel Hill
Ipswich Historic Lettering website
Eleven years ago I moved from Bury St Edmunds to Ipswich, having been a Suffolk boy all my
life. Apart from a short period in the 1970s living and working in the Marlborough Hotel on
Henley Road and as quite a regular visitor to the town for many other reasons – not least that
Ipswich had far more shops, theatres etc. than Bury (it also had a Boat show and a Banger
racing track, a Ski slope and Portman Road football and much, much more which could not be
found anywhere else in the area) – I had never actually lived in Ipswich.
When I moved here, I suddenly realised how out of touch I was with a town I thought I knew
quite well. Ipswich is steeped in history which, until you actually live here, you are not really
aware of. Even people who live here often don't realise what an incredible history the town has.
I started to research the town a bit more via the internet. I looked up things such as Fore Street
Baths, Blackfriars Monastery and Greyfriars Shopping Centre and each time this Borin Van
Loon appeared on the Google list on my screen. Thinking this must be some sort of
Scandinavian shirt maker I didn't take much notice of it, but as I continued to search it came up
again and again so I clicked on it to see what it was all about.
To my surprise it had nothing to do with shirts whatsoever but was the pseudonym of some
chap running a website called Ipswich Historic Lettering. The site had originated in July 2003
recording obsolete signage around Ipswich from old shops and businesses no longer around.
It occurred that what had started as a fairly simple idea had snowballed into one of the most
informative and well researched websites on recent Ipswich history available on the web. Borin
had not just recorded the signage but also the history behind the companies, complete with
accompanying photographs. Once you started on one subject it would lead you on to another
and yet another, all intertwined. Three hours later you would find yourself still on the site, not
at all bored and a lot wiser about Ipswich. This was far more than just historic lettering.
I started to check the site regularly, by-passing Google.
In October this year suddenly "Borin" stopped appearing and I thought I had lost an old friend
and then one of the headings mentioned a re-launch of the website on October 3rd 2015. All
the Borin Van Loon headings had gone to be replaced with Ipswich Historic Lettering and the website
now has a new address www.ipswich-lettering.co.uk
Borin was back! Borin Van Loon is the Encyclopædia Britannica of Ipswich and for those who have not
yet discovered this Ipswich gem, do have a look. You'll be amazed. Tim Leggett Borin gives our Winter Talk on Ipswich street lettering, Wednesday 20 January 2016 (details: page 23).
Beyond the Horizon : it’s worth a look I would guess that many Society members have not seen this 12 metre long glass artwork. In my opinion it is the most interesting and informative modern installation in Ipswich, but it is
rather out of the way for many people. Its location is on Orwell Quay, mounted on the brick wall of the long ramp up to the Orwell Quay flats and very close to the ‘tented’ building, the Aurora restaurant. More people do come along the quay nowadays to go to the restaurant and for the nearby departure point of the Orwell Lady, but the quayside is very wide here and you need to walk over to appreciate the artwork in detail.
Beyond the Horizon was commissioned by Ipswich Borough Council and Persimmon, the builders of the Orwell Quay flats, and followed the suggestions of IBC and the Public Art Working Group. It seemed very fitting that in 2007 Suffolk’s role in the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first British settlement in America, Jamestown, Virginia, should be commemorated in this way. The undoubted mastermind of that expedition was Bartholomew Gosnold, born in Grundisburgh, close to the Gosnolds’ ancestral home, Otley Hall. Direct connections with Ipswich itself are hard to establish. The little fleet of three ships set sail from London, but the captain of the smallest ship, Discovery, was an Ipswich man (John Sicklemore, aka Ratliffe) and a modern replica of that vessel visited the Waterfront in August 2007.
Gosnold’s determination to create a settlement in America was at first foiled when a smaller
expedition in 1602 was very soon curtailed, although it was then that Gosnold named Cape
Cod and the island of Martha’s Vineyard in what is now the state of Massachusetts. But in
1607, with the approval of King James a permanent settlement, Jamestown, was set up in
Virginia. The original site chosen was swampy and infested by mosquitoes. Gosnold himself
died within months of arriving but the settlement survived. Historians now speculate that if the
British had not made this positive move, the east coast of America would have become Spanish
possessions, and the USA would have been very, very different!
The artwork was commissioned from York-based artist Dan Savage, and unveiled on 25 October 2007. It depicts various relevant details such as a compass bearing, ropes, an American Indian, a mosquito, a map, a 17th century man in silhouette, tobacco and a (pixelated) portrait of a 17th century man’s head – not Gosnold actually, because no known portrait of him exists.
As the Society’s representative on the Public Art Group, I remember the pleasure we had in seeing the artist’s proposals. My only contribution was to suggest that his map of Cape Cod should be changed to the coastline of Virginia and the James River. Having looked at the work again recently, I thought that I’d like to share my continuing enthusiasm with members more widely. I think it’s “worth a detour” as Michelin guidebooks say.
Neil Salmon
St Peter’s volunteers
Once again I would like to thank all those volunteers who sat in St Peter’s by the Waterfront on Thursdays from the beginning of May until the end of September this year. They did a grand job, meeting and greeting visitors to the building and, as usual, working well together. I will be contacting them in March 2016 with the usual request for volunteers for May to September and would welcome any further offers of help.
My details: Jean Hill, 26 Christchurch Street, Ipswich IP4 2DJ (01473 413252).
The Fair Trade Shop
From one listed building
to another….
At the beginning of September, the Fair Trade Shop moved from its premises at 15 Orwell Place, to 20A Upper Brook Street, having been at the former for 20 years. When Fred Olsen moved out of Brook Street, the opportunity to be in a more central part of town seemed one that was too good to miss, because of the potential for greater footfall. Although the old shop had plenty of character, it was quite small and dark and ‘out of the way’
for many customers. Now the Fair Trade Shop is large, light and airy – a pleasure for the volunteers who work there, and with plenty of space for customers to browse.
All the stock is produced by farmers and other artisans who receive a price that covers their costs of production, as well as providing them with extra funds to support their own local communities. The Fair Trade Shop is unique in this area since it has its own shop in the town centre. In most other towns the FT shops are a long way from the centre of town or depend on church halls for their existence. Open Monday – Saturday 9.30am – 4.30pm, www.thefairtradeshopipswich.co.uk or on Facebook.
Bernard Westren
The Fore Street Facelift 1961 exhibition and website
The physical exhibition in the UCS Waterfront Building foyer had a successful run from 2 to
16 October, 2015. SCC Councillor Mandy Gaylard, whose division includes the southern part
of Fore Street and the UCS campus, was the first to show support for the venture when she saw
the donated architect drawings of building elevations from 1961; some funding from her
Locality budget supported the Society’s project. A long day’s work on the Thursday achieved
the hanging and display of exhibits. The next day saw two events hosted by your Society.
At the Press Launch at lunchtime, after a welcome by our Chairman, the invitees witnessed a
reading for only the second time ever of a poem by Catherine Dell. She won a countywide
competition in 1961 and, as a 16 year-old, stood in her school uniform before the Queen and
thousands of children and adults at Portman Road ground to read it aloud. His Honour the
Mayor of Ipswich, Glenn Chisholm, made a speech recognising that Ipswich, a place with a
long and ancient history, should also acknowledge more recent events in its story. 1961 saw the
first official Progress through Ipswich by a reigning monarch for 400 years (the previous
monarch being Queen Elizabeth I).
The Mayor then cut the ribbon to open the exhibition. At that evening’s Members’ Launch
event three distinguished speakers – Bob Malster, Frank Grace and Bob Markham –
entertained a packed room, before drinks and canapés were served.
John and Robin were joined on the exhibition sub-committee by Tony Marsden, Caroline
Markham and Tim Leggett whose collective hard work made the event such a success. (over
Opposite page: photographs from the Fore
Pictures from an exhibition
Preceding page: Photographs from the Fore Street Facelift 1961 exhibition at UCS Waterfront,
Friday 2 October 2015 from top left:-
- The President of The Ipswich Society and Mayor of Ipswich, Glen Chisholm, cuts the ribbon to launch the exhibition accompanied by Chairman of the Ipswich Society, John Norman; exhibition organiser, Robin Gaylard; local Suffolk County Councillor, Mandy Gaylard.
- The garlanded Eagle Tavern in 1961 (refurbished and reopened as a pub in September 2015).
- Visitors enjoy the exhibits with our Chairman and Deputy Chairman, Tony Marsden.
- Catherine Dell reprises her poem of welcome to the Queen which she originally read at the Portman Road ground in 1961.
- Civic College, newly-built on a rather empty-looking site.
- The large double-sided banner welcoming visitors at the Reception end of the UCS Foyer.
- John Norman giving his introductory talk to the invited guests at the Press Launch.
- The Eade & Johns visualisation of the Social Settlement facade, 1902.
Some entries from the Guestbook
• Very interesting, especially the comparison photos of Fore Street past and present.
• Brilliant. Lots of hard work involved. Thank you. B. & H. C.
• Excellent exhibition of Ipswich Soc. effort – then and now. B.H.
• Visiting friends for the weekend. Good to come. B.B., Shetland Islands
• Thank you for putting on this display, fascinating to see how the area has changed. J.E.,
Witnesham
• Joining! Can’t wait. W.A.
• A very interesting display of the treasures Ipswich had or has to offer! J. B-O.
• A fascinating look at OLD IPSWICH – a terrific exhibition! M.J., Debenham
• Your efforts to put on this display are very much appreciated. Very interesting. E.W.,
Colchester
• Very enjoyable. First visit to Ipswich – nice town. T.B., Carmarthen
• One of my earliest memories was coming into town with Mum to see the Queen. We waited forever, it felt to me, as I was only 2. Would I like a flag?, Mum asked – of course I would! Finally the Queen passed us in a magnificent car, wearing a yellow hat and dress. I waved that flag so hard. B.R.
• Great to see the old photographs of yesteryear. D. & J. T.
• Very interested in Fore Street – ancestor connection: Abraham RAPHAEL, Outfitter & Hatter. He was born 1810, came to Ipswich 1839 at 64-66 Fore Street. He had 5 sons and 1 daughter.
• Many memories revived. I was at Portman Road (with others from Tower Ramparts
[School]) that day and attended the Civic College full-time from 1961-1963. Happy days and well done to all for putting on this exhibition! G.H.
• A wonderful exhibition, bringing back so many memories. It was good to see so much of the Ipswich Civic College where I attended as a student in the 1960s. C.Q.
• Wonderful exhibition – even spotted my Dad, a very young marine trumpeter! J.W.
• Really enjoyed trying to spot myself on the pitch at Portman Road!! J. & A. F.
• Lovely to see the before and after pictures – some I remember. Such a shame some more of the buildings didn’t survive. J.K.
• That was a great exhibition. Well done the Ipswich Society volunteers who gave up so much of their time. P.T. (More on www.forestreetipswich1961.co.uk/press/guestbook-entries.)
“Having seen the view from your balcony in the Ipswich Society mag (7/15), Caroline, I wondered if you might be able to use these 4 views I took on 35mm from the top of the Guardian Royal Exchange building, later becoming AXA.
Rodney Garratt”
The views from the Guardian Royal Exchange buildings
“They must have been in about 1990. I was giving French tuition to a group, after work, in what they called their 'education suite' , which happened to be on the top floor and I had to go across a footbridge between two buildings at that height, a bit scary in high winds! Chris Phasey was the guy who organised it – probably still there. I did similar courses at Lucas management and Sound Programming Consultants, to earn a bit of holiday money after I had to give up teaching through MS.”
c. 1990
Improvements to the Felixstowe rail link
When the Port of Felixstowe was given planning permission for the expansion of Landguard
Terminal (Felixstowe South, Berths 8 & 9) a condition was they dualled the railway between
Trimley and Levington. The recession of 2008 delayed the expansion of the port and the work
on the railway didn’t start as expected.
Over the last two years, however, work at the port has been taking place; a new quay has been
built and ULCVs* have been bringing containers from the Far East. This work is continuing
and Berth 8 can now handle two ULCVs simultaneously.
Two further developments have taken place since the original 106 agreement (Planning
Condition) was imposed. Firstly, the so-called Bacon Curve** – which in the early years of
the 21st century was ‘undeliverable’ – has been built and is operational. Trains can now run
from Felixstowe straight through to Haughley junction, Peterborough and beyond.
Secondly, it has become apparent that with the increased traffic (now 31 container trains each day – in each direction) the bottleneck is the Westerfield junction. The single track Felixstowe line branching off
the double track of the East Suffolk Line means freight trains bound for the port are held on the East Suffolk Line
delaying passenger trains bound for Lowestoft. The Port of Felixstowe has applied, quite reasonably, for changes to the original 106 agreement in order to spend the money earmarked in a more effective way:
i) to extend the port’s Northern Feed Line which joins the Felixstowe main line at Trimley Station, effectively dualling the track as far as Keepers Lane Crossing, (i.e. creating a passing loop).
ii) to create a passing loop on the site of the original Orwell Station, (there was a passing loop here when the railway was first constructed; private trains could wait at the station for Colonel George Tomline to arrive from his nearby mansion, Orwell Park (today, the public school), whilst trains to or from Felixstowe ran through).
iii) to reorganise the junction at Westerfield to create a length of double track as far as Tuddenham Road bridge, a passing loop on which freight trains can wait without blocking the Lowestoft line.
To complete this third option it was originally planned to move Westerfield Station to the west side of the level crossing: a new station for Ipswich Garden Suburb. The engineers have, however, overcome the design restrictions, the minimum curve and the loading gauge width requirements to incorporate the new track without moving the station. Ipswich planners and the Ipswich Society are disappointed. Network Rail describes the ongoing redesign as
‘descoping’; we simply despair. How do we explain to our children that we built an estate of 3,500 houses with a railway running through the middle but without passenger trains stopping?
And don’t hold your breath; this work is scheduled to take place over the next ten years.
*Ultra Large Container Vessels, ships carrying 18,000 or more TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Units).
**The Bacon Curve (‘The Bacon Factory Curve’, ‘The Ipswich Cord’) is so called because it crosses the site of
the old Harris Bacon Factory site in Hadleigh Road. A new short length of line allows west-bound trains from
Felixstowe to join the London-Norwich line in a northerly direction.
John Norman
Society Awards 2016
On Wednesday 18 November 2015 at St Peter’s by the Waterfront, a record audience was entertained by an illustrated review of two years-worth of nominations for the Ipswich Society Awards with a thoughtful and lively commentary by Bob Allen. It was evident that there has been some movement in the design and construction of buildings and infrastructure in Ipswich since 2013. Conservation consultant, formerly with the Ipswich Borough Council, Bob Kindred gave a short overview of the current state of things and presented the awards to invited
guests.
We will include a full review of the winners in our April 2016 issue.
Commendation. The Avenue Theatre, Gippeswyk Avenue – new theatre
Red Rose Chain (David Newborn)
Design: Nicholas Jacob Architects; Charles Curry-Hyde
Contractor: Ellison Steady & Hawes (ES&H).
Commendation. Civic Drive/Princes Street Junction. Removal of roundabout
Suffolk County Council
Design: AECOM Ltd; The Landscape Partnership
Contractor: Skanska UK plc.
High Commendation. Isaac’s Upper and Lower Deck Extension
Mr Aidan T. Coughlan, Nathaniel Coughlan
Design: Nicholas Jacob Architects
Contractor: Isaac Lord.
High Commendation. Park Gate Housing development, Park Road
Landex Ltd
Design: Wincer Kievenaar Owing to the large
Contractor: Landex Ltd. number of current items and stories of
Distinction. Holywells Park Renovation – orangery; visitors’ centre. concern and interest
Ipswich Borough Council to Society members,
Design: LDA (Landscape Design Associates) Peterborough ‘Our back pages’
Dorothea Restorations (Bristol) on the Orangery returns next issue.
Contractor: R G Carter.
Snippets 2
Housing today and tomorrow
The large blocks of flats on Stoke Quay, built for Genesis, didn’t win a Society award but they
will provide many welcome dwellings on a valuable site on the Waterfront. It is disturbing,
however, that housing associations like Genesis will no longer be funded to build social
housing for rent. Furthermore, the Housing and Planning Bill proposes to drop developers’
Section 106 obligations to provide a percentage of social housing in each substantial
development and instead allow them to build small starter homes for sale.
Tidal barrier
The final phase of this £21million scheme is finally underway. The thirty metre wide flood
barrier across the New Cut will link up with the new embankments on the east and west banks
either side of the lock gates. The completed scheme will protect Ipswich Waterfront from
flood tides.
Prestige in appearance?
The entrance hall at Ipswich station is rather small and mean for a town of our size. And if
you’re waiting to greet people off a train there is nowhere to sit. The work currently being
carried out increases the size of the ticket hall and provides seats and shops for passengers but
no seating for those waiting to meet and greet, in our opinion a disappointing omission.
Pigs in town
Norwich had its dragons: now Ipswich will have its pigs.
Forty life-size pig sculptures will be artistically and uniquely
painted, and each one sponsored. They will be located
around the town centre and Waterfront to create an ‘art trail’.
At the end of the project they will be auctioned off. The aim
is to raise a substantial sum for St Elizabeth Hospice.
Hollywood transformed
The last building on the right in Princes Street as you
approach the station was a Victorian maltings. It has been
Hollywood, Kartouche, Zest and The Malthouse in modern
times! Now closed for a couple of years, it has been bought
by IBC who have aspirations of it becoming an office (e.g. for use by technology companies).
Princes Street, running from the town centre to the station, is increasingly becoming the
business district of Ipswich.
Museum lottery bid: not so good news
It is disappointing that the ambitious plan for joining up the Museum with the High Street
Gallery and former art school, etc. has failed to get Heritage Lottery Fund approval. But we
are encouraged that Ipswich Borough Council still intends to improve these great assets, even
if more modestly. [The HLF decision might just call into question the redevelopment of the
Cornhill. It was the intention of the Borough to create a heritage and cultural route from High
Street to the Waterfront (via the Cornhill). We are not sure this works without a
northern anchor.]
The Ipswich Society
email: secretary@ipswichsociety.org.uk
Registered Charity no. 263322
This Newsletter is the magazine of Ipswich’s civic amenity society established in 1960
(views expressed in the Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Society).
Executive Committee
Dates for your diary
Winter Illustrated Talks take place at the Museum Street Methodist Church (entrance in
Black Horse Lane) at 7.30pm; tea/coffee and biscuits served after the talk:-
Wednesday January 20: Borin Van Loon- 'Ipswich Historic Lettering: The Beat of the Streets’*
Wednesday February 17: Graham Henderson (Chair of Suffolk Coast Against Retreat) on
coastal erosion. *replaces previously announced speaker
Wednesday March 16: (speaker tbc).
Wednesday April 20, 7.30pm: Annual General Meeting at Dance East. Speaker - John Lyall,
architect of The Mill on the Wet Dock and the proposed changes to the Tolly Cobbold Brewery.
Society Outings are organised through the summer months, publicised via Newsletter inserts:-
Saturday April 16: Chartwell outing.
Saturday May 14: Great Yarmouth, Time & Tide Museum plus guided coach tour.
Wednesday June 8: King’s Lynn tour.
Tuesday July 19: Creeks, Cockles & Cockneys, Essex tour.
Thursday August 25: Guided tour of the New King’s Cross and Regent’s Canal cruise.
Newsletter deadlines & publication dates (the latter may vary by a few days)
Deadline for material: 1 December; Publication date: 22 January;
1 March; 2 April;
1 June; 17 July;
1 September; 9 October.
Willis roof-garden and pool, Ipswich
Heritage Open Day Sunday 13 September 2015