Ipswich

Hello again, we ended up spending four nights in Ipswich so I thought I would tell you a bit about it.

It has been a successful port since the 7th century, so there is a lot of maritime history, old buildings and pubs still around. The Nelson pub just off the waterfront is one as well as some old shops and merchants houses along Fore Street. The Buttermarket also has an ancient house built in the 1400's which Charles II visited in 1668 and has on its façade the four then known continents - Australia is not included as it had not been discovered then!
Merchants house and then a pub behind the waterfront

It remained very prosperous into the 19th century as can be seen by the grand Town hall and Post Office building in Cornhill. There are also twelve medieval churches in Ipswich.

I did the Neptune Marina Historic Waterfront Trail which covered all the main buildings and businesses of old such as wine merchants Heyman, Barwell and Jones, Catchpoles Unicorn Brewery and the Tolly Cobbold Brewery.
Old houses in Fore Street

I had the delight of swimming in the Victorian Baths in Fore street, a charming pool with changing cubicles around the edge of the pool and two red tiled showers at the end. It is a popular meeting place for retired swimmers who were having a lively discussion about the car parking charges, which apparently now extend to bicycles. How do you attach a parking ticket to a bike was the topic of conversation? After much lighthearted banter one of the gentlemen remarked that he had better get back before his wife found another husband...with a bit of luck! It was nice to hear the Suffolk accent which I guess is dying out now.Talking of accents, there are a lot of Eastern Europeans here as in most large towns.
The University of Suffolk is situated on the Marina waterfront so there are plenty of students to liven the place up. Some of the town has been developed really well, the marina waterfront being an example, but other areas are very neglected. Ipswich also has it's share of homeless and there is a very large Salvation Army block just behind the waterfront.
The University and Neptune Dock on the waterfront


part of the neglected waterfront on the left.

No visit to a town, if a sailor, is complete without a visit to the local pub and we had a drink in the Lord Nelson, a very old pub just off the waterfront.



We left Ipswich on Saturday bound for Lowestoft but had disasters on the way, so I will cover that tale in my next blog.
 

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