A century ago on April 6 1912 Ipswich suffered a major disaster when fire broke out at the premises of R D and J B Fraser. The large furniture store was on a site bound by Princes Street, Museum Street and Elm Street. The fire brigade dealt with a fire on the site but later [...]
An incident in Ipswich in July 1851 resulted in the town being banned from seeing members of the royal family visit the borough for seventy-five years. The problem arose during a visit of Prince Albert to Ipswich in July 1851 to attend the annual meeting of the British Association and to lay the foundation stone [...]
“Reach for the Sky”, “Aim High”, “The Sky is the Limit”. All of these well known sayings must have run through the mind of a little girl in Ipswich over a century ago. Ipswich girl Edith Cook, became the first female pilot in the country. Edith was born in Fore Street in 1878, a poor [...]
Standing on a wooden disc about a foot in diameter and saluting does not sound too much of a challenge, unless it is 143 feet above the ground and you only have a lightning conductor to grip between your knees. This was the job of the button boy at HMS Ganges who had to shin [...]
Childhood memories of Ipswich, around eighty years ago, included playing football in a traffic free street, buying fireworks from the back room of the corner shop, Wallace Simpson’s divorce at the County Hall and buying beer in a jug for father on a hot summers night, came from Ernest Farrow who wrote from his home [...]
Thundering sounds of a press printing newspapers was a feature of Carr Street, Ipswich until publishers, the East Anglian Daily Times Company, moved to Lower Brook Street in May 1966. The roar of the rotary printing press was a regular sound day and night. Diane Roper (nee Last) said “Until the age of eleven I [...]
Thousands of people have walked through the impressive front entrance of a building in Museum Street, Ipswich, since it was first opened to the public over 160 years ago. The building, which was closed for around fifteen years, has been brought back to life as a restaurant. Built as Ipswich Museum, opening in December 1847, [...]
A drink and a meal at the Butt and Oyster public house by the River Orwell at Pin Mill, is a very pleasant experience, with thousands of locals and tourists visiting the beauty spot every year. Imagine how different it would have been in the 1930s when John Andrews was a boy and barges unloaded [...]
Film premiers, Hollywood stars as friends and a showbiz lifestyle, all sound a long way from life in Ipswich, Suffolk. American film star of the 1940s, Veronica Lake, lived in Ipswich. when Veronica was asked ‘Why Ipswich?’ She said, ‘Why not?’ Thanks to Valerie Giles of Ipswich, we now know more about the stars time [...]
A child walking from school in the middle of Ipswich would be amazed to see a herd of cattle approaching. The Ipswich Livestock market was held every Tuesday until the 1970s at sites around Princes Street. Bernard Jasper of Ipswich, was a pupil at St Matthews School, Ipswich, in the 1940s and on his journey [...]
Ipswich - The Changing Face of the Town
The new book by David Kindred
Released on 20 October 11 in hardback. Photographs are grouped in themes showing how the town has changed in over 120 years. There are over 320 photographs, many in colour with detailed captions over 176 pages. More information available at Old Pond Publishing
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