The History of Ipswich

Author: Carol Twinch

The History of Ipswich

Ipswich has long been dismissed as a town without history, yet archaeology carried out over the last 30 years proves conclusively that it is one of England’s oldest towns. The Anglo-Saxon ‘Gipeswic’ was among the first formal urban centres to be established after the Romans quit the British Isles and rightly lays claim to being one of our longest inhabited boroughs.
The History of Ipswich provides an overview of around 1,400 years of life in Suffolk’s primary conurbation. It traces the story of how, from the collection of a few Roman farmsteads, the Saxons quickly established a town that developed and flourished, thus laying the foundations for the later Tudor prosperity. Status as a mint town ensured its survival at the Norman Conquest, and the Bigod family ensured a continued importance in the life of the nation thereafter. Its first Charter was granted in 1200 by King John, and influential religious orders established houses there. In the 17th century many from Puritan Ipswich set sail for the New World and became the first American settlers.
The Borough of Ipswich is both ancient and modern, retaining traces of the great days of mediaeval trade and the shipbuilding industry that made it famous in the 18th century. The industrial growth in both Victorian and Edwardian times kept Ipswich on the international map, and Portman Road is as familiar to football fans across the world as it is to the thousands of loyal Ipswich Town Football Club supporters.
The book charts the Ipswich story into the new millennium, including the major development of the historic waterfront and, in 2007, the opening of the University Campus Suffolk, bringing with it yet more diversity in the culture that is the hallmark of Ipswich.