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The History
of Ipswich
Carol Twinch
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.
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