July 2018 Issue 212
1924-5
ST PETER’S DOCK SPECIAL
Sailing Barge Victor leaves St Peter’s Dock via New Cut
Contents Editorial
Editorial/ New members
A recent upgrade in the web-hosting
Chairman’s remarks
Planning matters
Contents:
Editorial/NewMembers
Chairman's remarks
Planning matters
Snippets
Green & Hatfield's building
Cambridge Cemetry/King's College outing
Gateway to the Wet Dock
Bridge over troubled water
Suzanne Buck talk at the AGM
Letters to the editor/Two blasts from the past
Ipswich: memories of a special town
General Data Protection Regulations
Royal Wedding at Ipswich 1297
Ipswich Building Preservation Trust
Ipswich traffic issues
Oak tree Low Carbon Farm
Blue plaque Candidate Percy Edwards
The secret signs of Ipswich
Society Awards call for nominations
Circus poster
New guide booklet: St Clement Church
Editorial
A recent upgrade in the web-hosting software has resulted in all sorts of amusing anomalies and errors on the Society's website. While churning through the online versions of our Newsletter issues - changing fonts, checking links and repositioning images - your Editor came across two items from the April 2008 issue, reproduced on page 12. Serendipity can have some surprises up its metaphorical sleeve.
Many thanks to all our contributors this issue; we couldn't do it without you.
Robin Gaylard
New members
Brian Mateer’s aerial photograph of the Orwell (1980s) moving westwards from St Peter’s Dock at lower left, past Stoke Bridge, Princes Street Bridge, the station and Gippeswyk Park. Note also St Mary-at-Quay and St Peter
churches in the centre foreground, the lack of the Novotel by the St Peter roundabout, the Greyfriars block and the football ground stands at the upper right.
Chairman’s remarks
A somewhat disjointed Remarks column this month in that my first attempt was rejected by the
Editor because of duplication – my fault in rushing to get copy in before my holidays. This
reworked version reaches you from a Scottish island.
We are touring Scotland by train and ferry and, having reached the end of the line at Mallaig,
have crossed the sea to Skye. My first impression of the journey here is: ‘what a marvellous,
valuable asset the Victorians left – the permanent way’. Since it was first dug we've had new
rolling stock, new engines using alternative power sources and, in the majority of places, new
track but the route is everlasting. The tunnels and embankments, the bridges and viaducts would,
in most cases, be too expensive to create today but we are certainly using what we have and
moving people (and goods) swiftly, safely and efficiently.
By the same score we should support investment in infrastructure in the 21st century: a new
Upper Orwell Crossing, for example, but I remain unconvinced that a new bridge will solve
Ipswich's traffic problems – in fact it could make them worse!
Additional traffic in Cliff Lane and Station Street puts additional pressure on the junctions where
those roads meet the existing radials (Nacton Road and Belstead Road) by way of example. The
traffic models I've seen don't take into account vehicles from north east Ipswich using the new
bridge to avoid Chevallier Street.
They do make an assumption, however, about the reduction in traffic in Key Street/College Street
and suggest the latter could be closed to enhance the setting of Wolsey's Gate. A great idea… if
only. Clearly there is much to be discussed, please let me have your thoughts.
You will recall that I asked, by way of a tick box questionnaire at our AGM in April, which
building (or building site) in Ipswich you considered to be the biggest eyesore. It wasn’t a very
scientific survey and, to make it less so, I suggested some 25 possibilities to get you started. I
deliberately omitted the former Odeon cinema at the beginning of Woodbridge Road which gets
mentioned by many in casual conversation as being a contender, but nobody gave it a tick in the
replies.
Clearly those sites close to the Church of St Margaret are top of many people’s list for want of
improvement; a couple of you even suggested better uses for the former Kwikfit garage site.
The results – Bar Fontaine, St Margarets Street (30); Kwikfit site, St Margarets Green (25);
County Hall, St Helens Street (26); The Mill (23 Storey tower block) above St Peter’s Wharf
(25): Peter’s Ice Cream, Grimwade Street (17); St Peter’s Wharf and environs (14).
There are other ideas afoot, confusingly by two separate consultants. Allies and Morrison,
architects and urban planners have produced Ideas for Ipswich for Ipswich Central, whilst Steer
Davies Gleave, transport and planning consultants, have produced a Public Realm Strategy for
Ipswich Borough Council. The latter comes at the end of a lengthy period of consultation with
numerous ‘stakeholders’ and parts of the document are likely to be adopted by Ipswich
Borough Council.
Both documents contain ideas for the ‘Gateway’ to the Waterfront: St Peter’s Wharf, Bridge
Street and College Street in front of Wolsey’s Gate. I think a considerable number of vehicles
will pass Wolsey’s Gate before College Street is closed to traffic. At least a large proportion of
the Gateway building sites are now in the possession of the Borough Council.
Have a good summer.
John Norman
Planning matters
Velsheda (The Wine Rack). The crane is up and John Howard has grants totalling £20m from
various Government departments. 150 apartments will be built but will be there be buyers?
57 Henley Road. A second attempt to build a house in the garden of 57. This is a small, L-
shaped cottage, simple and boringly plain. Being smaller it takes rather less of the six flats
amenity space and has a bit more for itself. We objected to the loss of garden of a large house and
to the unpleasant little design itself and the general loss to the Conservation Area, particularly of
the brick boundary wall to St Edmunds Road and permission was refused. However, the owners
have appealed; the decision is awaited. Meanwhile, the owners have marketed the house which
does have permission to convert to flats.
Thurleston Cricket Hall, Henley Road. This derelict site has reappeared as a 68-bed care
home. Quite exciting plans for similar enterprises of decent architectural expectancy have been
approved but never built. The site has now been sold on with change-of-use permission to a large
scale developer LNT which sells them on to Ideal Care Homes. It is a routine, off-the- computer
set of plans which were done better by Victorian Local Authorities building municipal hospitals
and asylums. Considering that it is opposite a listed 1811 mansion, Sparrowe’s Nest, and a group
of listed farm buildings makes it all the worse. We shall oppose its design but not its use.
Planning permission has been granted, against the views of the Urban Design Officer and the
Conservation and Design Panel, to a somewhat modified design.
41 Cowper Street.This proposal to demolish a nice early Victorian three-bay two-storey
detached house and replace it by a three house terrace has been granted permission. Because the
house is not listed, nor in a conservation area, nor locally listed and not on the Society's 1984 list,
it was not possible for the planners to resist the application. In a Local Planning Authority where
there is insufficient land for houses, it would have failed on appeal. Interestingly, The Society has
just been requested to make suggestions for buildings in such a category to be added to the
Borough's Local List.
15 Warrington Road. This application to build a modern single-storey, two-bed dwelling in the,
admittedly, spacious rear garden of this 1938 large detached house with access by foot and
parking on the donor house front space, was withdrawn at the last moment. There is much
neighbourhood opposition as well as by the Conservation and Design Panel and The Ipswich
Society. The objective grounds are: the question of the suitability of utilising the rear garden for a
dwelling; the foot only access; the turning of the front of the donor house into a gravel car park
for a minimum of four cars which would be very destructive to the street scene of a Conservation
Area. The matter has not ended there, I feel sure.
There have been some changes to the way in which planning applications are announced to the
public. Firstly, a local Notice of the Application is no longer required to be posted on walls or
windows or lamp posts near the site. This will mean that neighbours more than two houses away
will no longer become aware of an application which might be of importance to them. Close
neighbours will still receive letters. This does save the Council Enforcement Officer a
considerable amount of time and hence they are available to do their real job.
Secondly, only important applications including all Conservation Area and Listed buildings will
be printed in the local press; householder applications for extensions and conservatories and such
minor works will no longer appear in the Archant papers. However, a full list will continue to be
published on line. Those members who do look at the weekly applications should therefore put
the IBC recent planning page on their favourites list:
https://www.ipswich.gov.uk/content/planning-applications-received
The number of applications received by the Borough in the last eight weeks has fallen by nearly
50% compared with the similar period last year. Neither I, nor the Planners, have an explanation
for this decline; it is not related to the changes in notification noted above.
Mike Cook
Snippets
Velsheda
Observant readers will have noticed from this issue’s Planning matters column that the skeletal
building on the Wet Dock known for years as ‘The Wine Rack’ was given a new name on the
planning application. Far from being named after a Nordic goddess, as your editor thought, it is
named after a large yacht. Designed by Charles Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholson in
1933 for Mr W.L. Stephenson, the owner of the Woolworth shop chain, she was built in 1933 at
Gosport. She was Nicholson’s second design for a J Class and Stephenson’s second big yacht.
‘Velsheda’ was named after Stephenson’s three daughters, Velma, Sheila and Daphne. So,
perhaps quite an appropriate name for a site near ‘Regatta Quay’ (ugh!), sorry, Albion Wharf.
Graffiti (or tagging)
While a debate can be had about whether there is a difference between these two words, there
have been spates of spray-can and marker-pen writings on buildings, street furniture and even
road surfaces in Ipswich. It is a form of permanent litter spread by residents or visitors who,
presumably want to ‘make their mark’. The Borough Council’s Graffiti Team has to navigate
property-ownership, legal indemnity and relevant permissions, in addition to the use of correct
solvents and steam-cleaning, to remove marks. In these times of shrunken budgets, and given
the growing problem, we have to be patient and encouraging of our authority. We can all play
our part by reporting new graffiti online or by telephone. The quicker it is cleaned off, the less
likelihood there is of further marks at the same site (the same principle applies to litter).
Which brings us to…
Cable ties: the new litter
Let’s not be too negative, but street advertisers/fly-posters are using more of these nylon
fixings to attach placards and notices to railings, fences and posts. If they remove posters after
an event, they often leave the almost unbreakable cable ties attached. Perhaps we should all
carry a pair of scissors/snippers in our pocket and remove these blighters when we spot them.
Photoeast festival
Photoeast returned to Ipswich in May-June 2018 for its second biennial festival of
photography. We should be grateful that this regional celebration is based at the University’s
Waterfront Building, not least because it enables the use of much of the Wet Dock quays for
events: the photography/dance/video performance Carte postale in DanceEast, billboard
exhibitions on the northern quays, Mark Power’s Shipping forecast exhibition, lectures, slide-
shows in a (very hot) container near the Cult Bar, shows in the reopened La Tour Café etc…
“Them bridges agin…”
Our photograph shows Ipswich Society Chairman, John Norman, Ipswich Mayor Cllr. Sarah Barber and our AGM speaker, Suzanne Buck SCC Team Leader on ‘The Bridges’ who summarised progresson the Upper Orwell Crossings projects on April 18, 2018 in the UoS Waterfront Building. This was certainly a topic of great interest and concern to attendees and a fuller account of the evening appears on page 11.
Buildings in St Margarets Street/Old Foundry Road
Illustrations by ‘L.R.S.’ – Leonard Russell Squirrell (1893–1979). Source: Ipswich County
Borough of Ipswich Official handbook 1965.
Previous page: these fine line illustrations of the buildings at the corner of St Margarets Street
and Northgate Street show the street scene in 1950 with two men carrying a grandfather clock
into the large double gates in Old Foundry Road: that redbrick elevation was, for many years, the
home of Cake Supreme (now in Tacket Street). Many will remember Green & Hatfield – in 1979
Mr Green was a neighbour of your Editor, who kept his car in the timber-built chaise-house next
door – but also the more recent ‘Alexandria Hair Artistry’ on the corner.
The handbook in which the advertisement appears comments:
‘Well known all over the world for its antiques is the shop of GREEN AND HATFIELD, a
business started in 1880. The shop itself, in Northgate, occupies historic ground for it is built
over the actual ramparts and ditch of the town’s northern boundary.
Ever since Samuel Green opened his shop – then in Spring Road – the business has been noted
for the range of products sold and to their variety and value to the connoisseur of historic and
beautiful things. All manner of antiques are stocked but more especially old designs in fine china
and glass and period furniture. Customers come here not only from all parts of this country but
also from the U.S.A., Sweden, Denmark, Italy and the various Commonwealth lands. Long a
family business Green and Hatfield intend giving their unique personal service in the years to
come.’
In May 2018, after languishing unloved for years the timber-framed, Tudor-style buildings at
16-18 St Margarets Plain, once the Dolce Vita night club and Bar Fontaine, designed by local
architect J.A. Sherman in 1936 (see also Croydons shop façade), plans were announced to
convert them into thirteen apartments. The rear of the building is on Old Foundry Road, which
will be renamed Foundry House. The developer and builder previously worked on the conversion
of the former E. Brand & Sons store in Tacket Street into 17 apartments.
R.G.
American Cemetery, Cambridge and King’s College Chapel
an Ipswich Society outing, 21 April 2018
Our coach took us on the Madingly Road to Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial: the
only World War II American cemetery in the U.K. Cambridge University donated the site; the
British government authorised use of the land in perpetuity as a permanent burial ground,
without charge or taxation. General Pershing promised that ‘Time will not dim the glory of
their deeds’. The cemetery has a simple design, giving it a severe and impressive dignity: two
malls at 90 degrees to each other, with the gravestones exactly spaced in the enclosed quarters.
The Great Mall, with reflecting pools of water, stretches eastwards from the flagstaff. The Wall
of the Missing extends along its length to the Memorial at the far end. The Memorial interior
contains a large battle map and small chapel; it has a mosaic ceiling.
After lunch, we convened at King’s College Gatehouse for our guide to show us the glories of
the world-famous Chapel; everyone knows it from the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols. On a
sunny afternoon the light flooded through the Flemish stained glass windows and we could
marvel at the soaring beauty of the fan-vaulting. The eastern end is fairly plain – it started to be
built in 1446 – but the western end (Ante-Chapel) is much more ornate, with plenty of Tudor
devices. The Chapel was completed in 1515.
We met for tea at Michaelhouse. St Michael’s is the oldest college chapel in Cambridge (early
14th century). After a long and eventful history, the church was ‘converted’ in the 1990s for use
by the wider community, hence its café. Many thanks to our guide and to organiser June Peck.
Richard Worman
Gateway to the Wet Dock
St Peter’s Dock from the ‘viewing platform’ (from left): Novotel, Trinity House buoy,
St Peters Street, St Peter’s-on-the-Waterfront, R&W Paul silo, Burtons building,
E.R.&F. Turner foundry, Foundry Lane and the Jerwood Dance House.
St Peter’s Dock* and its environs are seen by The Ipswich Society and others as a vital gateway
into the historic waterfront. To this end, Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) has purchased buildings
and land between Foundry Lane and Bridge Street, including the Benet Aldred 16th century
merchant’s house at 4 College Street. At the time of writing, purchase of the ‘R&W Paul’
maltings silo is still to be finalised. IBC’s enlightened position is eventually to offer all the
buildings to a developer and monitor/encourage a suitable scheme to revitalise this gateway area.
St Peter’s Dock plaza (St Peter’s Dock and Bridge Street)
Funding from the Coastal Community Fund has been secured to create an improved area of
public realm alongside the River Orwell flowing under Stoke Bridge. This area should be turned
into a new destination public space in conjunction with redevelopment of adjacent buildings,
providing sitting-out space and prioritising pedestrian movement and people activity
over vehicles.
The visual impact of the flood wall could be softened and turned into a feature referencing the
maritime heritage of the area. Paving could match the quays to east. One idea is to create a ‘wall-
walk’ in concrete to visually tie in with quay wall material, which allows people to see over the
wall and provides informal seating at places. Handrails on the existing wall with integrated,
concealed lighting would aid access. The exposed concrete on the wall could be enhanced by
adding small details in steel or corten (weathering steel), referring to local maritime heritage: as
an opportunity for public art. Raised planters would add much needed greenery.
A more radical solution would be to remove the raised concrete flood defence because of the
protection now provided by the new Tidal Barrier – or flood-gates might be installed in the wall
to enable vessels to disembark easily from the dock. Another imaginative idea would be to
investigate the installation of a wooden boardwalk over the water between Albion Wharf and
New Cut East, potentially stepping down to water level from the road.
Two-way vehicular access through the space will need to be retained for access to and from the
Wet Dock Island, but treated in special materials which encourage sharing of the space, similar to
rest of the Waterfront route. The removal of vehicle parking would reduce pollution and free up
public spaces for café-type seating and all sorts of activities.
On Stoke Bridge, the pedestrian crossing could be realigned (potentially two toucan crossings) to
facilitate east-west walking and cycling. In the long term, the feasibility of a new pedestrian and
cycle bridge between Foundry Lane and Whip Street could be investigated which would reinstate
this historic connection; this would need to open for ship access, so long as the proposed Felaw
Street bridge is also openable (see accompanying article).
These ideas would assist in the visual appeal and development of the space, resolve current road
user conflicts, celebrating the area’s maritime identity. Residents and visitors could reconnect to
the Wet Dock and New Cut, using the amenity spaces and improved accessibility, all of which
would supporting local businesses.
Bridge Street gateway (Bridge Street roundabouts)
A redesign should improve east-west and north-south connectivity, and provide a high quality
public realm setting for waterfront development. Significant improvement requires changes to
the Star Lane gyratory system, and depends on an ongoing wider review of traffic circulation. To
account for this, two phases of improvements (short-term and long-term) are proposed by IBC.
The conflict between motor vehicle movement and pedestrian connectivity remains an issue
outside the Church of St Peter: i.e. traffic flows into Star Lane and out of College Street gyratory,
whilst pedestrians walk from Stoke Bridge into St Peters Street. Add cyclists into the equation, as
well as the setting of Wolsey's Gate, and the issue becomes complex but not unresolvable. Phase
two of the Public Realm Strategy has some interesting ideas, albeit some time into the future
involving Star Lane becoming a two-way road and College Street being closed (except for
access) to become a high-quality pedestrian and cycle corridor with appropriate paving
treatment. (See also page 12 ‘Star Lane traffic system’ for 2008 discussions about this. -Ed)
The benefits would include reduced vehicular dominance creating a sense of arrival: an improved
town image, increased useable amenity space, better air quality, noise reduction, safer roads and
pedestrian and cyclist connectivity; enhancing the overall ‘legibility’ of the area – at the moment,
first-time visitors to the town must be really confused, not to mention some residents.
[*Nomenclature: Ipswich Maritime Trust describes the land side quay as a ‘wharf’, and the water
as ‘St Peter's Dock’ (occasionally ‘Stoke Bridge Dock’). Please also note that this article contains
some notes from the IBC’s preliminary Ipswich Public Realm Strategy. -Ed.]
Bridge over troubled water?
Suffolk County Council’s current proposals for three new bridges to, and to the south of, the
Island site were shown at DanceEast early in March.
The alignment of the main bridge (A) has now been settled. Discussions are continuing on the
regime for opening the centre section, vital for taller craft. The amended pedestrian/cycle
crossing at the lock, Bridge C, could well be the refurbished Ransomes swing bridge.
Bridge B is to span New Cut, from Felaw Street to the Island site. An extension of Mather Way
would look to be a better location, but the main concern is to ensure that the proposed bridge can
be opened. A fixed bridge would effectively cut access to St Peter’s Dock for craft much higher
than about 1.75 metres. That would be an unbelievably short-sighted decision which would leave
the dock practically unusable.
This is a very important location.
• 1. The dock is at the historic heart of the town. It is where trade across the North Sea began,
at the point where the navigable Orwell met the lowest ford crossing. There is evidence of
wine being imported from the Rhineland around 600 AD.
• 2. Gipeswic was the first new settlement after the Romans left Britain. St Peter’s Dock is
where it started. It is therefore one of the most historic locations in the UK. Its restoration
and re-use as, for example, a ‘Heritage Harbour’ would be of significant economic benefit to
the area and would also enhance the attraction of pedestrian links between the dock and the
town centre via St Peter’s Street.
St Peter’s Wharf from Stoke maltings showing the Orwell busy with sailing barges, tramway trucks on
the quay, the Burtons works and, in the backgroud, St Mary-at-Quay Church with its tower-top spirelet.
• 3. The dock was in regular use by commercial and leisure craft until the flood wall was put
up in the late 1960s. That cut off access to the dock; the marina in the Wet Dock was
developed, and the commercial port moved down river. The water remains.
• 4. The dock occupies a strategic location in the town’s regeneration plans. It lies at the
southern end of the north-south axis and is at the entrance to the Waterfront and the Island
site development area. If it is to fulfil the potential of that location, there must at the very
least be retained access to the dock for historic and heritage craft. This does not mean
exclusively craft with masts; smaller naval vessels, for example, would need much higher
clearance than would be afforded by a level bridge over New Cut.
• 5. Emerging planning guidance for the area envisages a footway raised to flood wall level
alongside the dock and an enhanced viewing area on Stoke Bridge. Ipswich Borough
Council now own two of the three critical freeholds which will unlock development of the
site running back from the major double roundabout to Foundry Lane.
• 6. It would not be necessary for the proposed bridge to be opened frequently, in that the
historic/heritage craft would be in the dock on a semi-permanent basis. Thus the main
purpose of the bridge, to provide a traffic link to the Island site, would not be compromised.
Ipswich Maritime Trust has put out its own ‘Vision’ showing how the dock could be transformed.
Only access down to the water and some pontoons would be required, none of which would need
major expenditure. We commissioned well-known local artist Reg Snook to envisage how the
dock might look against a back-drop of the redeveloped ‘IBC’ sites. [see the painting in the
article The changing Waterfront in our January 2018 issue, No. 210].
Within recent memory the dock has contained Thames barges, paddle steamers and a range of
leisure craft. The vision is readily achievable. The dock is there. We will lose its potential if the
New Cut bridge is to be a fixed one.
Geoffrey Dyball (Chairman of Ipswich Maritime Trust)
[Photographs on the previous page and on the front cover courtesy Stuart Grimwade (IMT).]
AGM talk by Suzanne Buck
On Wednesday April 18 2018 at 7.30pm the 58th Annual General Meeting of The Ipswich
Society was held in the 2nd floor lecture hall in the University of Suffolk Waterfront Building in
the presence of our President, the Mayor of Ipswich, Councillor Sarah Barber.
Over 150 members turned out for the evening. After the AGM Suzanne Buck, Team Leader and
Highways Engineer at Suffolk County Council, spoke to members on the proposed Upper Orwell
Crossings. Our speaker gave us a summary of progress so far and a question-and-answer session
followed. Questions came thick and fast.
Although not intended as an alternative to the Orwell Bridge when it is closed, but an alternative
for local traffic under normal conditions – particularly intended to help free up Star Lane – some
were concerned that the Landseer Road and Cliff Lane areas would become gridlocked when the
main Orwell Bridge is closed. Suzanne pointed out that this already happens; people are already
using all the rat-runs they know when the Orwell Bridge is closed.
Members were concerned that with the new bridge these roads would become much busier under
normal conditions and are not currently suitable as major through routes. Suzanne agreed that, as
traffic increases over the years, all roads are going to get busier. Many of the people who will use
the new bridge are going to these areas anyway and will use the bridge instead of Star
Lane. People entering town from Bourne Hill and wanting Felixstowe Road are more likely to
use Duke Street and probably Pownall Road via the new bridge, rather than the Star Lane route.
The concerns continued.
There was also worry that a fixed bridge over the New Cut (from Felaw Street) would make it
inaccessible to craft in the future, should St. Peter's Dock be restored as part of the Waterfront
development and perhaps become a berthing area for historic and heritage vessels etc. for public
display. Suzanne said that an opening bridge was not currently planned here.
We are going to hear much more of this as it progresses when everyone will have a chance to air
their views. The evening ended with canapés and wine when members were able to socialise.
Tim Leggett
Letters to the Editor
The Wolsey tondo by Alan Bellis from Pat Wootton
I was very interested in the article about the Wolsey Tondo. Some eighty-five years ago when
we were both children Ruth Bellis took me to the garden behind Christ Church Mansion and
pointed to the Wolsey plaque and said "My father did that". I never knew quite what she meant
but now I realise that Alan Waddington Bellis was, in fact, the designer. The Bellis family
were our next door neighbours in Gainsborough Road and Alan taught at the Ipswich Art
School. He was a well-known artist and sometimes took us with him on his painting
expeditions. I remember the Wolsey Pageant and the little red books published at the time.
Well done to Bob Allen for finding the tondo. We are so fortunate in the officers of the Ipswich
Society for their enthusiasm and expertise. Thank you.
Blast from the past
A letter from Ann Petherick from the Ipswich Society Newsletter, April 2008 [Issue 171]:
‘How can anyone in Ipswich – or anywhere else – seriously believe that building
more roads* reduces congestion? The point has been proved so many times that
increasing road capacity, whether in town or outside, generates additional journeys.’
[*Or, dare one suggest, bridges? -Ed.]
… and the following article from the same issue…
Would you Adam & Eve it? Dept.
Star Lane Traffic System
The Society believes that the current Star Lane gyratory is the most important problem
that the Borough and County Councils have to solve. At the time of writing there is only
one mode that can go from east to west – the internal combustion engine. The west to
east is little better. Whenever there is an obstruction elsewhere gridlock ensues. We
think the following points need to be taken:
• Northern By-pass: At a very high cost, a project that is not in Suffolk CC's strategic
transport plan and hence not in the Highways Agency's thoughts will not be built for
the foreseeable future.
• The East Bank Link Road will also never be built whilst the Highways Agency feels
its junction with the A14 is dangerous.
• The only relief is therefore a Wet Dock crossing. We feel that the best route is across
the lock and thence to Bath Street. The yacht traffic can be coped with by a swing or
lifting bridge. If the Dutch can do this there's no reason why we can't.
• We do not see why strategic infrastructure need wait upon the finalisation of the
redevelopment of The Island site.
• Star Lane itself should be two-way, widened by land acquisition from properties on
the north side as they are developed. It should be boulevardised with trees to prevent
it turning into an in-town motorway.
• The traffic lights at the junction with Grimwade Street should be for pedestrian
control only.
• Key Street/College Street should be for buses, taxis, access vehicles and bicycles
only. It should be a 20mph paved, shared space area.
• There should be a frequent east-west bus route along Key Street/College Street.
Architectural exhibition from Ms Indu Varma
I'm a member of the Ipswich Society and thought you may wish to know about a current
exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts perhaps for a mention in the Newsletter, in
case you are not already aware of it.
It's the 'Superstructures: the new Architecture 1960-1990’, 24 March to 2 September 2018.
There is a model of the Willis building and quite a lot of information about it too. I found the
whole exhibition extremely interesting and other members of the Society may do too.
I continue to find the Newsletter very informative and a consistently good read. Many thanks.
Book Review
Ipswich: memories of a special town by Barry Girling.
This is a new publication written by a local resident born and bred in Ipswich. On retirement, Barry Girling, together with his wife Elaine, sorted and categorised box after box of collected newspaper cuttings and ephemera; these, together with his memories, have resulted in an incomparable study of the town of Ipswich.
The Ipswich Society, the Ipswich Maritime Trust and the Ipswich Institute jointly sponsored the production of this book. Barry writes, ‘I am especially grateful for the generous assistance afforded by both The Ipswich Society and the Ipswich Maritime Trust in the use of their photographic archives. For the good ol' boys of Ipswich with whom I have enjoyed such splendid company together with their reminiscences which have gratefully been deployed.’
‘A mid twentieth-century view of Ipswich. Powerful local families, enterprise and hard labour. The coming of the dock, followed by the great works, giant mills and maltings, the arterial railway system and the home fleet of sailing vessels. Not forgetting the change in provincial culture. My personal playground of Holywells, the Barge Yard, the Lock, Orwell Works and Quayside. Of the Ipswich men that manned the machines and crewed the ships. In all a diverse, unique town.’
This could be described as a ‘coffee table book’ which can easily be picked up and browsed. Packed full of photos, this publication will bring back many nostalgic memories to the longer term residents of Ipswich as well as being an informative and fascinating induction to those who don't remember Ipswich in the twentieth-century.
Tim Leggett
Copies of the book are available at £10 each from the Ipswich Institute and a number of local outlets.
Postal copies from Bob Pawsey, 82 Westerfield Road, Ipswich, (£10+£3 p&p). Tel. 01473-252893.
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Royal wedding at Ipswich
In the year of a royal wedding, it is appropriate to remember an earlier royal wedding which
took place in Ipswich, 721 years ago. However, Ipswich was not an obvious place for a royal
wedding; there is a shortage of information and disagreement over the actual date and location
in the town.
On 8 January 1297, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, the daughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of
Castile, married John, Count of Holland at St Peter and St Paul’s church, Ipswich, now known
as St Peter’s by the Waterfront. In attendance at the marriage were Elizabeth's sister Margaret,
her father, Edward I King of England, and her brother Edward, (later King Edward II). Queen
Eleanor was already dead. The great nobles of the land and the low countries would also have
been in attendance.
There is a rival claim to the location of the wedding: the now demolished Chapel of Our Lady,
which until the reformation was a chapel on the corner of St Matthews Street and Lady Lane. It
was a major site for pilgrimage; its attraction was the miraculous healing powers of the statue
of The Virgin Mary. It is likely that the actual wedding took place in the larger church of St
Peter, but that the royal party made a devotional visit to the Chapel of Our Lady as part of the
overall wedding proceedings.
Elizabeth was 15 when she married, and her husband was 13. The marriage with Count John
was dynastic and political. Holland had close trade links with England. They were betrothed
when John was only 1. As part of the agreement, John was raised in England at Edward’s court;
effectively a hostage for his father’s continued allegiance.
The context for this wedding was a complex proxy military and trade war between England
and France, involving Holland and Flanders. The essence of the conflict was substantially
about Edward’s control of Gascony, which was the remaining province of England’s
possessions in France, and his assertion of control over Scotland. In both areas Edward was
being challenged by France. It was a great power conflict between England and France, which
drew in the Low Countries, because it was also about control of the wool trade. Wool was
England’s main export and the greatest source of tax revenue.
By the time of the marriage, John’s father Floris V Count of Holland, had been murdered in a
botched kidnap attempt in 1296, because he had changed allegiance in favour of France.
Edward I was implicated, but it is unclear how much he was actually involved. Edward
condoned the murder as it suited his purposes: he now had the successor, John Count of
Holland, in his power.
The marriage between Elizabeth and John would have become very urgent and was brought
forward to immediately after the Christmas feast. Edward would have been keen to establish
his control over Holland through John who would become his son-in-law, to stabilise the all-
important wool trade, and secure the alliances against France. King Edward invited a number
of nobles from Flanders with English sympathies, to witness the wedding and the king’s power
in the Low Countries. After the wedding John of Renesse (one of these lords) was appointed
regent by Edward I, on behalf of John count of Holland who was a minor.
St Peter’s in Ipswich would have been chosen as the location for the wedding for symbolic
reasons. In medieval times Ipswich was an important trading town and port it was crucial to the
economic and political power of the country. In particular it was the major cloth and wool
exporting port for England. The wool trade was an important source of royal revenues through
taxes on exports. Edward probably chose Ipswich to demonstrate his power over the wool trade
to the French, his own people, and his allies.
It was an Augustinian Priory of St Peter and St Paul which occupied a six-acre site. As a large
priory, it would have had the necessary buildings to accommodate the king and his retinue.
Much of the town would have been taken over for the lodgings of other notables and all the
attendant clerks, servants, soldiers, priests and others, as guests or functionaries.
Importantly for this event was that it was easily accessible by sea. It is likely that the king, his
retinue and the bride and groom travelled by sea; it being quicker and easier than by road. The
royal ships would have been able to moor very close to the priory, where College Street and
Key Street are now, which would have been the original quay. The foreign guests from Holland
and Flanders would have found it conveniently accessible by sea. It is of course also possible
that the king travelled by road from London after the Christmas feast. It is likely that much of
the king’s baggage and retinue travelled by road and arrived ahead of the wedding to prepare
the accommodation at the priory, and to finalise the arrangements for the wedding. The royal
baggage train would have brought everything for the king’s comfort; furniture, the king’s bed,
tapestries for wall hangings, plate, clothes jewellery.
After the wedding John, Count of Holland was sent to Holland to establish his authority as
ruler, although he was made to promise to heed the council of Edward’s Regent: he was
effectively under the power of Edward I. Elizabeth was expected to go to Holland with her
husband, but did not wish to go, or Edward I did not want her to go; it is not clear.
Elizabeth did join her husband in Holland in 1298. Edward I travelled with her, through the
Low Countries with her two sisters Margaret and Eleanor. This can readily be seen as a royal
progress with Edward demonstrating the extent and reach of his power. They remained for
several months and celebrated Christmas there in 1298.
On 10 November 1299, Count John died of dysentery, though there were rumours of his
murder. No children had been born from the marriage. His usefulness to Edward had been
served. Edward had negotiated a peace treaty with France. To seal that, Edward himself
married again to Margaret, the half-sister of Philip IV, King of France.
Elizabeth is only connected with Suffolk through this marriage. She was born at Rhuddlan,
north Wales in 1282, and died in childbirth, in 1316, and was buried at Walden Abbey, Essex.
She was born in north Wales because Edward was at war with the Welsh rulers of Gwynedd,
and Eleanor of Castile his wife was accompanying him as she always did.
But for all this, we have a royal wedding which took place in Ipswich for strategic reasons:
these explain its choice for a royal wedding. When Elizabeth married her second husband,
Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford in 1302 it was at Westminster Abbey.
Trevor Cooper
[The name King Street originated from the King's Head Inn (opened in 1531 and demolished
1880/1 to make way for the Corn Exchange), which was possibly on or near the site of a building
called the King’s Hall where Edward I feasted at the time of the marriage of his daughter in 1297.
So the street could indirectly have been named after the ancient 13th century hall. -Ed.]
Many of you will already know that we have a Building Preservation Trust in Ipswich, but I
suspect there are also many readers who will be wondering what the Trust is actively involved in
these days. We were set up in the 1980s with generous interest-free loans from Ipswich Borough
Council with the object of restoring and bringing back into use buildings of historic interest
within the Borough. Over the years we have acquired and renovated a number of significant
properties, the last one being Curzon Lodge at the bottom of Silent Street which was completed
several years ago. These schemes were made possible by assistance from the Architectural
Heritage Fund and by selling on the current project to finance the next one.
We have been looking for our next project for some time. This is a challenge for the Trust. Fewer
suitable properties have become available, although some large properties in the town cry out for
investment. The housing market has seen huge price inflation and our funding now seems very
modest in relation to the costs of purchase and renovation. Partnership working may well be a
possibility for the future. We continue to monitor and assess all historic properties at risk in
Ipswich, and in this we work closely with colleagues from the planning department of Ipswich
Borough Council. There is considerable expertise and experience within the IBPT committee
available to support our next scheme.
Perhaps this will be the restoration of a Freehold Land Society (FLS) property. The FLS was
historically of huge importance in providing Ipswich housing, and some of you will be aware of
the many high quality buildings still standing with their ‘FLS’ plaques. The successor to the FLS
is the Ipswich Building Society and we are working closely with them to identify and secure a
suitable property. Our restoration would be an exemplar of what can be done to preserve the
architectural features of the past and to include real upgrades in insulation and specification. We
hope to include opportunities for apprentices from Suffolk New College to be involved, and there
is considerable scope for the scheme to involve the local community and all those interested in
heritage.
We also make sure that our headquarters – Pykenham’s Gatehouse – is open for visitors every
first Saturday of the month from May to October, and arrange visits and activities for members
and friends. We expect to be visiting Broomhill Pool in the summer and the restored headquarters
of the Ipswich Building Society (Mutual House) on July 10th, and we will again be participating
in Heritage Open Days in September. Our AGM in October is open to the public and all are very
welcome. Further details will be included in the next Newsletter.
In the wider field of conservation last year we hosted a very successful event at Quay Place (the
splendidly restored St Mary at the Quay Church) for our East Anglian Heritage Trust Network.
We welcomed representatives from ten other trusts from the region; in addition we heard from
speakers representing English Heritage, The Heritage Trust Network, and The Architectural
Heritage Fund. We were also well supported by local bodies including of course The Ipswich
Society, Ipswich Historic Churches Trust, and Ipswich Archaeological Trust. The day included a
guided tour of the developments around the Wet Dock which included the panoramic view from
the island site. Altogether we felt that we had presented a vision of our town which might in
some quarters help to promote Ipswich as an excellent destination and a hub for a region with
unparalleled delights to savour.
You may be interested to know that we have vacancies on the committee. If you would like to be
involved in the future of the Ipswich Building Preservation Trust and have some time to spare we
would very much like to hear from you.
Please contact Bob Allen (Vice-Chairman) (robert.w.allen@btinternet.com or 01206 252474).
Ipswich traffic issues
I continue to be frustrated by our inability (or Suffolk County Council’s inability) to understand
that making minor adjustments to traffic light timings or moving kerb lines on the approach to
roundabouts does not make any noticeable difference to Ipswich’s traffic delays.
Generally what has happened, and is still happening, is that junctions are tweaked for the benefit
of the motorist but at the expense of public transport and the occasional cyclist.
Take for example the junction of Civic Drive and Princes Street; when the roundabout was first
taken out motorists complained that getting through the lights was taking too long. The timings
were changed to allow for right turns, but this was at the expense of the buses trying to negotiate
the junction from the length of Princes Street alongside Willis, and more importantly for those
buses descending Museum Street.
At 5pm on a weekday afternoon, and again on Saturday morning there are so many stationary
buses in Museum Street that others are diverted down Civic Drive. Half of the buses in Museum
Street are bound for Dogs Head Street and the bus station rather than the Princes Street junction
and are thus delayed unnecessarily..
Changes to the junction of Nacton Road and Maryon Road (outside the Golden Hind public
house) have resulted in what is regarded by the cycling organisations as being particularly
dangerous for two wheel users. The recommendation from Suffolk County Council (SCC) is to
cycle on the pavement. The junction is heavily used by primary school children going to
Ravenswood and by their older siblings going to the Ipswich Academy (Holywells).
Clearly SCC don’t learn, and by the time you read this the cycle lanes will have been taken out
from Felixstowe Road (Sainsbury’s to St Augustine’s) and cyclists forced on to the pavement.
The traffic problems are the result of one single issue: too many cars making too many journeys
and until we understand this – and do something about it – the situation will only get worse.
What we should be doing is encouraging motorists, particularly those that are young, fit and able
to use alternatives: public transport, pedal cycles or Shanks’s pony.
Before you leap to a conclusion that it can’t happen, it has – in Holland and Denmark. In
Copenhagen near 60% of all journeys in the rush hour, for work or education, are by bicycle or
public transport. In Ipswich cycling accounts for just 2% of the commute.
I recommend that the money which we are currently spending on road-works to speed the
motorist could be spent on alternative infrastructure, cycle lanes, bus priority junctions and an
integrated public transport network, not one with four bus stations, all some distance from the
railway station.
SCC, in making excuses for the lack of investment in cycling provision, suggest that it is because in Ipswich people don’t cycle owing to the hills. For me, that argument doesn’t hold, but there is probably some truth in the
statement so let’s start improving the infrastructure for cycling in the river valley.
There are one thousand-plus houses between Bramford Road and Norwich Road, between London Road and Handford Road and all along Wherstead Road. From every one of these houses it is an easy cycle into town, or it
would be if there was a dedicated cycle lane.
John Norman
The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm
The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm is located just outside Ipswich, in the village of Rushmere St Andrew. It was established as a social enterprise in 2012 and featured on BBC TV’s Countryfile and Escape to the Country last year. It offers something quite unique: a
Community Supported Agriculture scheme. Food is grown in an environmentally sustainable way without the use of artificial chemicals such as pesticides or herbicides. Thegrowing is led by part-time staff and supported by members
of the local community. There’s a happy, positive feel about the place as people work together to grow the food.
The scheme is educational and pioneers new ways of farming. It uses low-carbon techniques that improve the soil rather than deplete it. And this in turn improves the nutritional quality of the food. Hand tools and people-power are at the heart of what it does rather than heavy machinery which can damage the soil.
In his ‘Farming for the Next Generation’ speech back in January, Environment Secretary Michael Gove admitted that many soils had been over-farmed and needed restoration. He noted that ‘significant and destructive soil erosion cost the economy around £1.2 billion a year’ according to one study. He supported a move towards sustainable farming methods in post-Brexit Britain. And one driver for this is the warning from scientists that our soils only have a limited number of harvests left... something has to be done.
The Oak Tree Farm is ahead of the curve in this respect. It is actively improving the soil/soil
ecology, encouraging wildlife, providing high quality food to local people and also
reconnecting people with the land where their food is grown.
But the Farm struggles financially because food-growing is simply not profitable. Without
government (DEFRA) farm subsidies many smaller farms would not survive. Yet because the
Oak Tree Farm is less than 5 hectares in size it is deemed to be ‘too small’ to receive farm
subsidies. So it has to look elsewhere to plug the gap in its finances.
Currently it has support from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and a Big Lottery grant to enable
it to work with a wider community beyond its membership. It has also benefited from the
generosity of County Councillors Inga Lockington and Stuart Lawson who provided Locality
funding for much-needed farm equipment. The Farm’s key income is from membership which
it is expanding to sixty households this year. And it has diversified into running events and
selling cut flowers.
British-grown cut flowers are increasingly popular as seen at the Royal Wedding. The Oak Tree Farm grows its own
flowers from seed. So whether you are a creative bride-to-be looking for DIY wedding flowers, a local company
looking to improve its green credentials or a household wanting to buy beautiful, chemical-free flowers with no
air-miles – you might just find what you are looking for at the Oak Tree Farm this year and you would be helping the farm too. For details see: www.the-oak-tree.co.uk or email: hello@the-oak-tree.co.uk Sue Hall [An update to the article on Oak Tree Farm in the Newsletter January 2014, Issue 194. -Ed.]
Blue plaque candidate: Percy Edwards MBE Following the AGM in April I was approached by an Ipswich
Society member who suggested that the noted performer and ornithologist, Percy Edwards, should be considered a worthy recipient of an Ipswich Society blue plaque. I asked for a little more information but, unfortunately, I have heard nothing from our member since.
I have done some research myself and I would like to take this proposal further. Would the member who spoke to me please contact me either by telephone or email?
My contact details can be found on page 23 of this Newsletter.
Tony Robson
(Blue plaque co-ordinator)
The secret signs of Ipswich – a walk with Borin Van Loon
St Stephen’s Church was the starting point for our summer evening guided walk (May 27th):
an introduction to some of the fascinating detail of Ipswich’s built heritage. The south wall of the church has a small ‘Lombardic T’, all that remains of the crest of Thomas Rush, Sergeant-at-Arms for Henry VII and VIII. ‘T’ for Thomas
and the ‘R’ for Rush we found just a few metres away amidst the beautiful carvings of the old bressumer beam on the wall facing the east end of the church.
Along St Stephen’s Church Lane, we learned that the Conservative Club building was the first Freemasons’ Hall in Ipswich, its curved apse still visible through the gates. We emerged on to
Upper Brook Street for a clear view of the winged wheel Cyclists’ Touring Club sign on the
wall above the Age UK shop (the former Coach & Horses inn) opposite.
Walking north we noted the Eade and Johns designed building on the corner of Upper Brook
Street and the Buttermarket with 1900 displayed amongst the swags of terracotta fruit and
flowers above the Caffè Nero banner. The Buttermarket façade of this building has a
wonderful, large art nouveau upper window, specifically designed as a photographer’s studio.
Nearby is the Symonds for Kodaks sign hanging in the sky for all to see - J. A. Symonds was
an early 20th century chemist. We moved on to Dial Lane to look at the fabulous Charles
Rennie Mackintosh-style doorway of Pickwick’s Café and the newly uncovered lettering “John
C. Scarborow Optometrist…” on the wall to its left. Emerging into Tavern Street we looked up
above Carphone Warehouse at the ghost advertising of the long-gone Wootton’s Hairdressers.
Beginning on the left with sensible items such as leather goods and stationery, they progress
through hot baths and permanent waving to the seriously whacky high frequency treatments(?)
on the right.
Along Westgate Street, the Crown and Anchor designed by Thomas Cotman, has its date 1897
and also its name carved twice into its limestone façade – the pierced capital letters above the
coaching-door are a particularly impressive use of the limestone. And the old Grimwade’s
building on the corner is also dated – a lovely interlinked 1904 above the side door on the
Cornhill. From here we walked through Lion Street with its four street signs to Museum Street,
pausing to find the architect’s sign above the door of no. 36, ‘R C Wrinch ARIBA Architect
1906’. Then looking opposite at the ‘F’ for Frasers on the cast iron rain hoppers of the 1920s
building designed by Eade and Johns after the Frasers fire. Along Princes Street there is
another architect’s sign, this time on Britannic House, ‘Geo. W. Leighton 1901’, next to the
elegant arched window he designed. And so we moved to finish at the fabulous Mutual House,
another Cotman building, with the gold, chiselled lettering of the original Parr’s Bank Ltd
newly revealed on the green metamorphic rock cartouche of its Princes Street façade.
Thank you for a most interesting evening, Borin; we learned how much evidence visible on
today’s buildings can tell us about our town’s history.
Caroline Markham
Society Awards 2018: call for nominations
Members are reminded that we look forward to our Annual Awards evening of the 21
November, at Saint Peter’s by the Waterfront, 7.30pm.
We depend upon nominations from our members to bring to our attention new buildings, restorations or refurbishments and practical architectural projects around the town completed in the last two years.
If you have any nominations, please contact our Hon. Secretary Caroline Markham.
The closing date for nominations
is September 19, 2018.
The circus poster (on page 22)
A contemporary account of the late 19th century reads:
‘Gradually, as the years went by the street took on a new shape. I should think more than half
of it was pulled down and rebuilt in its present form. My father was always talking about it but
I never realised what was taking place. All I know is that we were lucky and that my father’s
little house was one of the few houses left. I saw the Lyceum Theatre built. I saw the site
cleared and a large hole dug out for its pit and after its short life I saw it demolished…
L.J. Tibbenham whose father’s house was 34 Carr Street: John Tibbenham, carver and gilder –
the timber-framed building is still there between the Co-op store and the former Woolworth’s.
The Lyceum opened in 1891, but was converted to a department store in 1936. The 1890
Kelly’s directory lists the addresses to the east of the East Anglian Daily Times offices as
‘Building sites’. It is therefore likely that the Olympic Circus took place on Mr Harmer’s
‘eligible ground’ at this location in mid to late-19th century, presumably under a big top
marquee. This would have been ‘nearly opposite’ the Cross Keys Inn at 24-26 Carr Street.
The packed typography of the poster is typical of the ‘Being for the benefit of Mr Kite’-era
circus advertising which inspired John Lennon. The covert racism of ‘Mr Mumbo-Jumbo, the
African’ is also typical at a time when the exotic was seen as a draw to the crowd. The
language shows that the verbiage indulged in by Leonard Sachs in television’s The good old
days wasn’t an exaggeration:
‘Battout vaulting by the whole troop of flying voltigeurs, in which they will throw some lofty
somersets 6 feet high from the ground.’
It quite takes the breath away.
R.G.
The Ipswich Society
Registered Charity no. 263322
www.ipswichsociety.org.uk | https://www.facebook.com/ipswichsociety | email: secretary@ipswichsociety.org.uk
This Newsletter is the quarterly journal of Ipswich’s civic amenity society established in 1960
(views expressed in the Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Society).
We seek a Planning Monitor (to assist Mike Cook). If you are interested, please conatct the Hon. Secretary.
Dates for your diary
Society Outings
Saturday July 21: Penshurst Place, Kent.
Wednesday August 2: a tour of Mutual House, Ipswich (limited to 25 members).
Wednesday August 15: a tour of Harwich with the Harwich Society.
Thursday September 27: Holland Park, the Design Museum and Leighton House, London.
Saturday 15/Sunday 16 September: Heritage Open Days organised by the Ipswich Society.
Winter Illustrated Talks at Museum St Methodist Church (entrance in Black Horse Lane); all
talks start at 7.30pm and free tea, coffee and biscuits are provided afterwards. All are welcome.
Wednesday 19 September: ‘Where have the houses gone?’ by Lisa Psarianos.
Wednesday 17 October: Chris Green, SCC Emergency Planning Team.
Wednesday 19 December: Brickmakers Wood, Alexandra Park – a peaceful space for cancer
patients, people with mental or physical health problems and learning difficulties, skills
workshops for children; by Jo Brooks.
Wednesday November 21: Ipswich Society Annual Awards Evening.
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.
The Church of St Clement in the summer
photograph by Tim Leggett
The new Guide to St Clement Church
On sale at £2 per copy at the Tourist Information Centre in the Church of St Stephen,
St Clement St Stephens Lane, Ipswich