IPSWICH, a borough and port and market-town, in
the liberty of IPSWICH, county of SUFFOLK, 25 miles (S.
E. by E.) from Bury-St. Edmund's, and 69 (N.E.) from
London, containing, exclusively of that part of the parish
of Westerfield which extends into the borough,
17,186 inhabitants. This place had a mint in the
early period of the Heptarchy,
and was fortified with walls and.surrounded by a
moat: of the former there are still some remains in a
garden near the church of St. Nicholas, and ofthe latter
the memorial is preserved in the name of the northern
suburb, called the Ditches. Though of considerable antiquity,
it is not distinguished by any event of historical
importance prior to the Conquest: in Domesday-book it
is named Gyppeswid and Gyppeswic, from the river Gyppen,
or Gipping, which falls into the Orwell, near the town,
and from which its present appellation is immediately deduced.
The walls, which were greatly damaged in 991
and 1000, when the town was plundered by the Danes,
were repaired in the reign of John, and had four gates,
called from their situation respectively, the North, South,
East, and West gates; of these, two were remaining
within the last few years, but in the more recent "improvement
of the town they have been totally removed.
Soon after the Conquest a castle was erected here, which
Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, defended against Stephen,
to whom he at length surrendered it, and which was
afterwards demolished by Henry II., insomuch, that
scarcely a vestige can be seen. Isabel, Queen of Edward
II., who had made a visit to France, landed here
on her return, with a force of nearly three thousand men,
and being joined by the discontented barons, laid siege
to Bristol, where she put the elder Spencer to death,
and compelled the king to take refuge in Wales. In
the 26th of Henry VIII., Ipswich was made the seat of
a suffragan bishop, who was consecrated by Archbishop
Cranmer, and had a mansion in the parish of St. Peter,
the remains of which are now used as a malt-house.
During the persecutions in the reign of Mary, several
individuals suffered martyrdom in this town, for their
adherence to the Protestant religion. Queen Elizabeth,
in her progress through Norfolk and Suffolk, visited
this borough, where she remained for four days, and
sailed down the Orwell in great pomp, attended by the
corporation in their robes of office. Charles II., after
his retreat from the battle of Worcester, is traditionally
said to have been for some time concealed in an ancient
house in the parish of St. Lawrence, erected in 1567, by
Robert Sparrow, and still occupied by his descendants;
the walls are profusely ornamented with emblematical
devices, and in the roof is an apartment fitted up as a
private oratory, and ingeniously screened from observation
the family still possess portraits of several of
the Stuarts, and a miniature portrait of Charles himself,
splendidly set in gold, and stated to have been presented
by that monarch to his host on quitting his hospitable
asylum -, but notwithstanding this presumptive evidence,
it is very doubtful whether Charles was in this
county at all after that decisive battle. Among the
sovereigns who have visited Ipswich are, George II;
on his way from Lowestoft, upon which occasion a
congratulatory address was presented to him by the
corporation; and his late majesty, George IV., -when
Regent. The town is pleasantly situated on an acclivity
bordered on the west and south by the river.
Orwell, over which is a handsome iron bridge, an
another at the entrance into the town from the London
road: the streets are irregularly formed, and were for.-
merly inconveniently narrow. Under an act passed in
1816 the town was paved, and is now lighted with gas,
and a fund has been raised for its general improvement.:
the houses, many of which are ancient and ornamerited:
with carved work, are in general well built, and the re-,
cent erection of several ranges of building and the construction
of some handsome streets, have added much,
to the regularity of its appearance; the inhabitants are
amply supplied with water from the river and from
springs;.the air is salubrious and the temperature mild,
the townbeing sheltered from the colder winds by the hills
which rise, to the north and north-east. The environs
are pleasant; the higher grounds command a fine vievv
of the town, the river, and the adjacent country, which
abounds with pleasingly diversified scenery, and with ex
tensive rides and walks, including Christchurch park,
the property of the. Rev. Charles Fonnereau, in which
are some of the finest Spanish chesnut and beech trees
in the kingdom, and which, from its extent and the beauty
and variety of its scenery, forms a delightful promenade:
it is open during the summer to the public, for whose
entertainment a military band frequently attends. The
barracks, in various parts of the town, which during
the war were adapted for the reception of eight or nine,
thousand troops, have been taken down since the peace,
or converted to other purposes, with the exception of
the cavalry barracks, a neat range of building at the
entrance from the London road, which contains com
plete accommodations for six troops of cavalry, but only
three are usually stationed here. A Philosophical. So?,
ciety was established in 1818; there is a library for the
use of the free burgesses, founded by Mr.W. Smart in
1612, and originally attached to the free grammar school;
but recently removed to Christ's Hospital in this town;
and there are a public subscription library, three subscription
news-rooms, a mechanics institution, with a
good library and museum, established in 1824, and also
a horticultural society. The theatre, a neat and commodious
building, is opened twice in the year for a few
weeks by the Norwich company of comedians; it was
at Ipswich that Garrick made his first appearance on
the stage, in 1739. The subscription assembly-rooms
are extensive and elegantly fitted up; and races take
place annually in the first week in July. There are
commodious public baths of all kinds on the quay.
The port of Ipswich has a jurisdiction extending
for a considerable distance on both sides of the
Suffolk coast, and beyond Harwich on the coast of
Essex; it carries on a small foreign, and a very considerable
coasting, trade; the latter consisting chiefly.in
corn and malt, and in timber for ship-building, with
which it supplies the dock-yards: the number of vessels
belonging to the port is one hundred and twenty-nine
averaging a burden of sixty-three tons each; twentysix
British and nine foreign vessels entered inwards,
and nineteen British and five foreign vessels cleared
outwards, at this port in 1826. The river Orwell is navigable
from this town to Harwich, and the Stowmarket
canal, constructed in 1793, at an expense of £26,380,
affords great facility for inland navigation. " The quay,
which is accessible to ships of two hundred tons burden,
is commodiously adapted to the loading and unloading
of vessels; the custom-house is a neat building of brick.
Boats sail with every tide to Harwich, affording an
aquatic excursion of twelve miles, which derives much
interest from the beauty and variety of the scenery
on the banks of the river. The principal articles of
manufacture are snuff and tobacco, paper made by
steam, patent ploughs and ploughshares, and yarn for
the weavers at Norwich; the town was formerly celebrated
for the manufacture of broad cloth and Ipswich
doubles, and the best canvas for sail-cloth, now transferred
to the West of England. Ship-building is carried
on to a considerable extent; fourteen vessels were built
in 1826: there are different rope-walks for the supply
of the shipping. A manufactory for stays affords employment
to upwards of seven hundred women and girls:
there are an extensive pottery, and a manufactory for
Roman cement. There are also several ale and porter
breweries: a great quantity of grain and malt is
sent to the London market,- and there are extensive
chalk pits in the neighbourhood. The market days are
Wednesday and Saturday, the latter for corn-: the fairs
are, May 4th, called St. George's fair, for toys and lean
cattle; August 26th, for lambs, of which one hundred
and thirty thousand were sold in 1828 j and September
25th, for butter and cheese, which last has almost fallen
into disuse. The corn market is held in the corn exchange,
a large building commodiously arranged, erected
on the site of the old shambles said to have been built
by Cardinal Wolsey. The new market-place, constructed
in 1811, at an expense of £10,000, comprises two spacious
quadrangular ranges of building, supported on columns
of stone1, adjoining which is an enclosed cattle market.
Ipswich was a borough at the time of the Norman
survey, and obtained a grant for a free market _ from
William the Conqueror: the burgesses, were first incorporated
by King John, who granted them extensive privileges;
since that time the inhabitants have received
seventeen charters, of which the most important are
those of Edward IV. and Charles II., under which
latter the government is vested in two bailiffs, a high
steward, recorder, twelve portmen, and twenty-four
common council-men, assisted by a town clerk, two
coroners, and other officers. The bailiffs are chosen
annually from among the portmen, or common council-
men, by a majority of the burgesses, and sworn
into office on the 29th of September: the portmen and
common council-men are elected by a majority of their
own body, as vacancies occur. In consequence of the
corporation having omitted to fill up vacancies in the
body of portmen, the number has been reduced to five,
which is insufficient to constitute a great court; so
that the present charter will very soon expire. The
freedom of the borough is inherited by all the sons
of a free burgess born after the parent has taken
up his freedom, acquired by servitude to a freeman,
whether resident or not, or obtained by gift from
the corporation. Among the privileges which it confers
are, exemption from all tolls and other customs,
and, for the resident burgesses, from serving on juries
at the assizes or sessions for the county. The bailiffs
and the recorder, with four assistants chosen from the
portmen, are justices of the peace within the boroug
and liberties, and are also entitled to waifs, estrays, and
goods cast on shore within their admiralty jurisdiction.
Heirs are considered of age when fourteen years old.
The corporation hold quarterly courts of session for
the determination of all civil and criminal causes, except
such as relate to capital offences, the cognizance of
which is reserved for the judges travelling the circuit:
these sessions, from the small number of prisoners, are
held only twice in the year, a short time prior to the
assizes for the county. They also hold a court of record
every alternate Monday, under their charter, for
the recovery of debts to any amount. A court of requests
is held every Tuesday, by commissioners appointed
by an act passed in the 47th of George III., for
the recovery of debts not exceeding £5. The town-hall
was built on the site and partly with the materials of the
ancient parochial church of St. Mildred, which was a
building of extraordinary beauty; it is principally appropriated
to the public business of the corporation,
and the sessions are held in the shire-hall, a large brick
building commodiously adapted to the purpose, but possessing
no peculiar claim to notice. The borough gaol
comprises six divisions for the "classification of prisoners,
exclusively of two solitary cells; and the house of correction
for the borough contains two wards. The common
gaol and house of correction for the county, in the
parish of St. Helen, is spacious building of brick, and
one of the first erected on the plan of Mr. Howard:
it is well adapted to the classification of prisoners, and
comprises eleven divisions, each containing a dayroom,
and an airing-yard, radiating from the keeper's
house in the centre: this is the first prison into which
the tread-mill was introduced, it having been the invention
of Mr. William Cubitt, an inhabitant of the town.
This borough obtained the elective franchise in the 23rd
of Edward L, since which time it has continued to return
two members to parliament: the right of election
is vested in the burgesses generally not receiving alms,
of whom there are about eleven hundred, but not more
than four hundred are resident: the bailiffs are the
returning officers.
Ipswich comprises the parishes of St. Clement, St.
Helen, St. Lawrence, St. Margaret, St. Mary at Elms,
St. Mary at the Quay, St. Mary Stoke, St. Mary at the
Tower, St. Matthew, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, St. Stephen,
the parish of Whitton with Thurleston, and part of the
parish of Westerfield, all in the archdeaconry of Suffolk,
and diocese of Norwich. The living of St. Clement's is
a rectory not in charge, held with that of St. Helen's,
rated in the king's books at £8. 13. 9., and in the patronage
of the Rev. J.T. Nottidge: the church of St. Clement
is a neat edifice of freestone, and that of St.
Helen is an ancient structure. The living of St. Lawrence
is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £ 600 royal
bounty, and in the patronage of the Parishioners; the
church was erected in the early part of the fifteenth century,
by John Bottold, and the chancel built by John
Baldwyn: in 1808, Sir Robert Kerr Porter, in six days,
executed a painting of our Saviour disputing with the
doctors in the temple, which he presented to the parishioners.
The living of St. Margaret is a perpetual curacy,
endowed with £200 private benefaction, £400 royal
bounty, and £1500 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage
of the Rev. Charles Fonnereau: the church
is a handsome and spacious structure, but was materially
defaced and. stripped of its decorations by the
parliamentary visitors, .who destroyed the paintings,
and removed the statues of the Twelve Apostles; in this
church the bishop of the diocese holds his confirmation.
The living of the parish of Sk Mary at Elms is
a perpetual curacy, endowed with £400 private benefaction,
and £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of
the parishioners; the church is a small edifice of brick,
erected on the spot where St. Saviour's church formerly
stood. The living of the parish of St. Mary at the Quay
is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £200 private benefaction,
£1000 royal bounty, and £1100 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Parishioners: the
church was rebuilt soon after 1448, of stone given for that
purpose by Richard Gowty, whose will is dated in that
year. The living of the parish of St. Mary Stoke is a
rectory, rated in the king's books at £12, and inthe
patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Ely: the church
is an ancient edifice, on the south side of the Orwell,
and from a hill near the church-yard is an extensive
and delightful view. The living of St. Mary at the
Tower is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £1000
royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant, and
in the patronage of the Parishioners; there is also a
lectureship, endowed by the corporation, who attend
divine service here upon all public occasions; the
church is spacious, and had formerly a lofty spire,
for the rebuilding of which, Mr. William Edgar bequeathed
£200; but, from the apparent want of strength
in the tower, the design has not been carried into effect.
A handsome marble tablet has been recently erected
by subscription among the parishioners, to the memory
of Mrs. Elizabeth Cobbold, a lady distinguished for her
literary talents. The living of St. Matthew's is a discharged
rectory, rated in the king's books at £5, endowed
with £200 royal bounty, and £ 600 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Crown: the church
contains the tomb of John, Lord Chedworth, many
years chairman of the quarter sessions, who devised
property to the amount of £183,050 in legacies to various
persons, several of them inhabitants of this town,
but not related to him. The living of St. Nicholas is
a perpetaul curacy, endowed with £800 royal bounty,
and in the patronage of the Parishioners: the church,
an ancient structure, sustained considerable injury
from the parliamentary visitors, in 1648, who destroyed
the paintings and removed several brasses. The
living of St. Peter is a perpetual curacy, endowed
with £600 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and
£1500 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of
the Rev. Charles Fonnereau: the church is an ancient
edifice, and contains a large font of great antiquity and
curious design. The living of St. Stephen's is a discharged
rectory, rated in the king's books at £4. 12. 8., endowed
with £200 private benefaction, £800 royal
bounty, and £1100 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage
of the Rev. William Marsh, with reversion to
the Rev. Charles Fonnereau. Within the precincts of
the borough are the churches of Whitton and Westerfield,
and the remains of that of Thurleston, which
have been converted into a barn. There are places
of worship for General and Particular Baptists, the
Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists
and Unitarians, a Roman Catholic chapel, and a synagogue.
The free grammar school is of uncertain foundation;
it was endowed by Henry VIII., with £38.13. 4.
per annum, from the fee-farm rent of the "borough,
which endowment was confirmed by a charter of
Elizabeth, in the eighth year of her reign, and augmented
with £11 per annum from a benefactionby
Richard Felaw, who in 1482 bequeathed lands and
tenements, the produce of which is now principally
appropriated to the support of Christ's hospital. The
school is kept in an apartment of the hospital, and
there are thirty-five scholars on the foundation. There
are two scholarships at Pembroke College, Cambridge,
for boys educated in this school, with pensions of £3
per annum each, given by William Smart, in 1598 \
four scholarships with £5 per annum each, founded-by
Ralph Scrivener, in 1601; and two exhibitions to the
University of Cambridge, one of £ 14 and the other of
£6 per annum, founded, in 1621, by Richard Martin,
for boys educated in this school, who are also entitled
to share with the school of Bury-St. Edmund's, in a
scholarship founded at Trinity College, by Dr. Mopted,
in 1558. The master is appointed by the corporation,
subject to the approval of the Bishop of Norwich. The
Blue-coat school was established in 1709, and is supported
"by subscription and donations, among which
is one of £500 by Dudley North, Esq.: the income
amounts to £500 per annum, and is expended in the
clothing and education of seventy boys and fifty girls;
on leaving school, the boys receive £8 each, as an
apprentice fee, and the girls £2 in addition to what
they may have earned whilst in it. The Red-sleeve
school, established in 1752, for the clothing and education
of thirty-six boys, is supported by subscription.
A school of industry for females, in which one
hundred are educated, was established and is supported
by Mr. Henry Alexander, a member of the Society of
Friends. A charity school for eighty girls; the ladiesassociation
for the education of African children; a central
school on the National plan, in which one hundred
and eighty boys and one hundred and twenty girls are
taught; and a Lancasterian school, in which are two
hundred children, are supported by subscription; and
a school for ten boys and eight girls is supported by
the congregation of Independents. Mr. Henry Tooley,
portman of Ipswich, bequeathed estates, in 1550, for
the erection and endowment of almshouses for ten aged
persons: the revenue at present arising from these
estates is nearly £1000, and, in addition to those
maintained in the almshouses, there are sixty out
pensioners, who are relieved from the funds of this institution,
which is under the direction and superintendence
of the corporation. Mr. William Smart, in 1598,
bequeathed, in trust to the corporation, lands producing
at present about £480 per annum, for the maintenance
and education of poor children, for the employment of
the poor and other charitable purposes, -which are under
the management of the wardens of Mr. Tooley's charity:
Christ's hospital, founded by the corporation in 1569,
has an endowment of about £400 per annum, arising
from a portion of Mr. Felaw's gift, and from other benefactions,
which is applied to the maintenance, education,
and apprenticing of poor children: the building, which
is near the site of a monastery of Black friars, is also
appropriated as a bridewell or house of industry for
the employment of the poor. Twelve almshouses were
founded in the parish of St., Mary at Elms, for twelve
aged women, who receive a weekly allowance in money
and other supplies, in pursuance of the -will of Mrs. Ann
Smyth, who, in 1729, bequeathed property now vested
in Old South Sea annuities, producing £132. 19. per
annum. Fifteen almshouses were built, in 1515, by Mr.
Daundy, in the parish of St. Matthew, to which two
more were added, in 1680, by Mr. Sheppard; they are
kept in repair by the parish and are let rent-free to the
poor, as are also five almshouses in the church-yard of
St. Clement's. Mr. John Pemberton, in 1718, bequeathed
estates in this county for the purpose of establishing
a fund for paying £25 per annum each to widows and
orphans of clergymen of the established church: these
funds have been so far increased by donations and
subscriptions,. as to enable the trustees to distribute
annually the sum of £1500, in sums of £30 each.
A. similar institution, called the Suffolk Benevolent
Society, was formed in 1799, by the dissenters, the
funds of which at present have accumulated to £4000.
A public dispensary, a society for the relief of married
women in child-birth, a society for clothing the infant
poor, and numerous other charitable .institutions, have
been established, and are liberally supported.
Among the monastic establishments formerly existing
here were, a priory of Black canons of the order of St.
Augustine, originally founded in 1177, in Christchurch,
which, being destroyed by fire, was re-founded soon after,
by John, Bishop of Norwich, for a prior and six canons,
the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £88. 6. 9.;
a priory of Black canons, founded in the reign of
Henry II., by Thomas Lacey and Alice his wife, in
honour of St. Peter and St. Paul: Cardinal Wolsey suppressed
this, and erected on the site his college for a
dean, twelve secular canons, eight clerks; and eight choristers,
with a grammar school intended as a nursery
for his college at Oxford: upon that statesman's fall,
this was demolished; only the gateway, an elegant edifice
of brick, now remains. A monastery of Black friars,
in the parish of St. Mary at the Quay, was founded here
in the reign of Henry III., of which the existing portions
present the most perfect relic of antiquity in the
town; it is appropriated to the use of Christ's hospital,
and for the purpose of Mr. Tooley's endowment. An
hospital for lepers was also founded here in the reign
of John, and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and St.
James. There was a monastery of White friars in the
centre of the town, of which there are no remains; and
a house of Grey friars, founded in the reign of Edward I.,
by Sir Robert Tiptot, of which some portions of the
walls are still remaining.
There are several mineral springs in the neighbourhood;
and an ancient warm spring, called Ipswich
Spa, was in great repute during the last
century, though now not used. Cardinal Wolsey was
born in the parish of St. Nicholas, and received the
rudiments of his education in the grammar school of
this town; a considerable part of the house in which
his father lived is still standing, but the front has been
modernised. Among other distinguished natives of
Ipswich are Dr.William Butler, physician to James I.;
Dr. Laney, successively Bishop of Peterborough, Lincoln,
and Ely; Ralph Brownrig, Bishop of Exeter, of
which see he was deprived at the commencement of the
parliamentary war; Clara Reeve, authoress of " The Old
English Baron," and other works, whose father was
for many years minister of St. Nicholas parish; Mrs.
Sarah Trimmer, the ingenious authoress of elementary
works for young people; and Thomas Green, author of
" Extracts from the Diary of a Lover of Literature,"
and a liberal and enlightened critic. Among eminent
persons who have resided here are, Sir Christopher
Hatton, Lord High Chancellor; Sir Harbottle Grimstone,
Speaker of the House of Commons during the
Long Parliament; Nathaniel Bacon, grandson of the
Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon, and author of the
Annals of Ipswich, now in the possession of the corporation;
Jeremy Collier, master of the free grammar
school, and author of an Ecclesiastical History of Great
Britain; and Mr. Capel Lofft, a learned civilian, elegant
writer, and patron of literature. Ipswich gives the title
of viscount to the Duke of Grafton.