Ipswich--Or Somewhere Near There

On  September 10, we weighed anchor and made a quick journey up the River Orwell, where Rob would catch a train from Ipswich to go home after two weeks with us. I had understood that we were going to Ipswich, but Peter had booked the dock, so I found myself not on the waterfront in Ipswich but in a boat yard and marina somewhere outside of the city. I did not hesitate to express my lack of enthusiasm for his choice. I suspect he intentionally did not reveal to me where we were going. Peter absolutely loves being in boatyards and I categorically do not. Invariably, they are located in the middle of nowhere.

Nonetheless, here we are, five days in. Rob had just left to get an Uber to the train station (which, obviously, is not close by), having bid us goodbye under the hull of a large sailing vessel on the hard (You can't imagine how picturesque it is!), when we encountered Gus Wilson, a fellow sailor who, with his wife Helen, are full-time live aboards with a home port at St. Katherine Docks, London. This is where we got to know them. They are here for a couple weeks living on their boat on the hard while work is being done by them and the experts in the boatyard. We joined them for lunch at the restaurant, Outlook, overlooking the boats in the marina. 

Afterwards, I did four loads of laundry. The two sets of bed linens actually were 98% dry well before sunset. (That's about as good as it gets.) The towels had to be unpegged and brought in to the pilot house to be re-hung the next day. Peter and I spent some time planning our upcoming trip (by air) to Kenya and Tanzania and did chores around the boat. I researched things to do in Ipswich and ways to get there. Gus and Helen had informed us that Heritage Days was going on in Ipswich, offering tours and openings of buildings usually closed to public. They dropped by for a chat in the evening, which was pleasant. Helen has hearing problems and really couldn't participate in the conversation over lunch at the restaurant, so it was nice that she could join in the quiet on our boat.

The next morning, leaving Peter to the joys of tinkering on the boat and having access to a very good chandlery on site, I left to visit Ipswich. Google Maps indicated that it would take 45 minutes by bus or I could walk there in 43. I chose the latter, thinking I would get a chance to see more by walking. Indeed, I saw a lot, most of which was visually unappealing. After leaving the boatyard, I walked across an old arched brick bridge, now used only by pedestrians, and walked along Wherstead Road in a town I think is called Maidenhall, which is maybe part of Stoke. The two-lane road had constant and noisy traffic both ways. Obviously, it was pick-up day for garbage and recyclables because the sidewalk was lined on both sides with bins just on the outside of the brick walls or wooden fences in front of an endless row of particularly unattractive duplexes and terrace housing. I understand that England has experienced a long, dry summer, but that does not, in my opinion, excuse the utter lack of plant life within the narrow little front yards between the walls and the front of the buildings. There were no lawns, either drought brown or British green, and no flowering plants to be seen. Less than a dozen small trees grew along the mile long busy street. Although people surely lived there, it seemed desolate. 

Finally, I arrived at the bridge across the River Orwell into Ipswich and passed into a historical and visually interesting area. This port town and borough is the largest city in Suffolk. First recorded in the medieval period as Gippeswic, the town has been continuously inhabited since the Anglo-Saxon period in the 7th and 8th centuries. (It claims to be the oldest continuously occupied town developed by the English in England.) It became the main port of trade of the Kingdom of East Anglia under King Rædwald from 616 to 624. (The nearby Sutton Hoo site is probably the burial site for him, his ship and his treasure.) 

Ipswich prospered as an independent trade city but fell under Viking rule in 869. Eventually, the English took control again. The town was granted its first charter in 1200 by King John. Over the next four centuries, Ipswich was a very wealthy city with numerous priories, churches, hospitals, mansions and public buildings.

During the 14th to 17th centuries, Ipswich was a designated trading port, or kontor, of the Hanseatic League, a network of merchant guilds and market towns in central and northern Europe comprised of almost 200 settlements. The league dominated maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas. Hanseatic merchants operated private companies and had greater access to commodities, privileges and protection abroad. The league protected its ships from pirates, built lighthouses and negotiated low custom duties and special tax exemptions for its members. Its economic power even enabled it to create blockades and engage in war.

Trade is not Ipswich's only claim to fame. The city's most well-known son is Thomas Wolsey, who was born in Ipswich in 1473 and was educated with the help of wealthy relations. Cardinal Wolsey was one of King Henry VIII's closest political allies and his Lord Chancellor, until he wasn't. He failed to obtain the annulment of Henry and Catherine of Aragon's 22-year marriage, and Henry stripped him of his government office and property and accused him of treason. On route to London for trial, he became seriously ill and died at Leicester Abbey in 1530. He was buried in a simple pine coffin, dressed in his episcopal robes with his cross, mitre and ring. After the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541, the abbey was was razed and the site of Wolsey's burial was lost.

However, there is a outsized statue of him on St. Peter's Street; currently the eyes are accented in blue, no doubt a fashion statement. The statue includes a cat by his seat because Wolsey was known to be a feline lover who often brought them to formal events, state dinners and church services.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and a cat

Before passing by this sculpture, I detoured into a medieval courtyard surrounded by Tudor buildings with walls of brickwork and plaster sandwiched among large timbers as well as leaded glass windows. I learned that one design feature of the medieval structures is the slight overhang of the upper story. Apparently, the buildings have tilted over time or the construction workers had not yet learned to use a plumb line.

Medieval courtyards

At the corner of St. Nicholas and Silent Streets, is an early Tudor building called Curson Lodge. Inside the ground level of the corner part of the three building former lodge is a new age shop where it is possible to see the earlier interior structural elements. Like most old buildings, additions were made over time, and the joints reveal where these occurred.

Curson Lodge

A newer carved beam joined with an older, darker one

The streets and alleys are lined with medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian and other styled architecture. The most striking building is Ancient House, also known as Sparrowe's House after one of the former owners. The original part of the house dates back to the late 14th or early 15th century, when it was owned by Sir Richard of Martlesham. In the 16th century, a series of local merchants occupied and added to the house, including George Copping, a draper and fishmonger who acquired the property in 1567 and the Sparrowe family, who bought it in 1603 and owned it for 300 years. The elaborately carved structural wood posts and lintels are topped by the milk-white first story, which was added by Robert Sparrowe between 1660 and 1670 and bears the arms of King Charles II and the motto of the Order of the Garter. It features detailed pargeting, a decorative relief technique in plaster. In addition to the garlands and other motifs, it features four panels representing the Tudor idea of the world--the continents of Africa, America, Asia and Europe. (Australia was yet to be discovered.) The four bays have beautiful oriel windows.

Ancient House

Ancient House pargeting detail

Of course, I stopped at every church I passed. St. Peter's by the Waterfront was not open that day, but I admired it and St. Lawrence from the outside. Ipswich still has twelve churches from medieval times, over half of which are still functioning as places of worship of the Church of England (although they were all built as Catholic churches). Architectural features of the exterior of these churches are the walls constructed of flint stones and the square bell towers. St. Lawrence has the oldest ring of five bells in a Christian church, all dating from the 15th century; they are rung only at lunchtime on Wednesdays and the first Sunday of every month. The former sanctuary is now a cafe. The Victorians added to the facade on the top portion of the church tower so that, while quite attractive, it no longer reflects the original building style. 

St. Lawrence's church and tower

Victorian facade above the original flint and limestone walls

Flint and limestone details at the bottom of the exterior walls of the church

In Christchurch Park on the north side of the main town, I admired the Wolsey Garden by the Christchurch Mansion and Wolsey Art Museum. The buildings are closed on Fridays, so I continued with my perambulation and found St. Margaret's Church. 

TO BE CONTINUED!