Links / Reading List (scroll down)

General History of Ipswich
History of Medieval Ipswich at http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/ipswich1.html Stephen Alsford's excellent and extensive website on early Ipswich (one of several capsule histories of East Anglian towns): includes good links section.
A brief history of Ipswich by Tim Lambert.
UK Genealogy Archives.  The Ipswich page is very informative (Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5: spelling and turn of phrase idiosyncratic!); with links to further sources.
Ipswich Tourism.
Local History Online: for news, resources, information, courses and nearly 1,000 local history links. Also a calendar of events and local history books for sale online.

Painted wall signs & mosaic shop steps ('Ghost signs')
[Note: this is a growing area of interest to enthusiasts; try putting 'Ghost signs' into  a search engine for additional collections.]
W.J. Leggett paintings  Dennis Bugg recommended this website in March 2012 for which our thanks. "This website records paintings in Ipswich Museum. WJ Leggett was a sign writer based in Dogs Head Street. He appears to have recorded many examples sign writing in Ipswich in the nineteenth century." 53 fascinating, slightly naive architectural studies (with, ironically, even more naive forshortening on the building lettering); he includes his own premises and trade sign. Probably early-mid 19th century.
Ann Williams' enviable collection of tradesmen's lettering, mosaic doorways, brewery insignia, mileposts and much more. Includes the Lymington Rand & Sons sign.
Painted signs and mosaics.  Sebastien Ardouin's fine blog of 'Ghost signs' and mosaics; includes the Spitalfields Gillette sign and many more.
History of Advertising Trust (HAT). Set up to photograph, research and archive the last survivors of this fading advertising medium: advertisements painted by hand directly onto the brickwork of buildings in the U.K.
Home of the Ghostsigns Project. A collaborative national effort to photograph, research and archive the remaining examples of hand painted wall advertising in the UK and Ireland. Links to the archive galleries in the HAT site (above).
Sign of the times.  Tom Bland's ode to the traditional methods of advertising that existed before the arrival of giant screens and revolving billboards: graphic design, typography, paint and craftsmanship.

Enthusiast sites
Freston.net. Ed Broom's site of Ipswich arcana, including TFG: things 'Taken For Granted' in the town. And now also...
The Seven Wonders Of Ipswich. Intriguing, huh?
Ipswich In Old Postcards run by Ed Broom.
Paul Horne's Ipswich site has some of the wall advertisments and diverse local information and history.
Guess Where Ipswich a great quiz site for identification of detail images taken around Ipswich; contains some lettering examples.
Ipswich Underground Railway website. A delightful confection, beautifully excuted (see also Simon's Suffolk Churches).
Planet Ipswich. Stephen Pestle's intriguing website dedicated to detailing the history, geography, people & interesting facts about the suprising number of places called Ipswich around the globe.
K.M. Dersley (or The Derz) has an interesting site on Ipswich, local history, poetry, music and more.
Cheltonia - a site after our own heart - gives all sorts of insight into the history of Cheltenham.
Ray Whitehand's Suffolk Historical Reserch Service website has a biography of Scarborrow architect J.S. Corder.

Special subject areas
Simon's Suffolk Churches at http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/churchlists.htm
Simon Knott's excellent site covering over 600 Suffolk churches including most of the large number in Ipswich.
Rossbret Institutions Website mentions Belle Vue Retreat.
Workhouse - The Story of the Workhouse in Britain at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/index.html
Peter Higginbotham's wonderful odyssey through the lost world of the Union Workhouse in Britain; contains section on Ipswich, but no mention of BelleVue Retreat, sadly.
Public Art In Ipswich (replaces Jonathan Clift's excellent but out-of-date site); most of the growing number of works of art on the Ipswich streets.
Des Pawson's Museum of Knots & Sailors Ropework, Ipswich, reflecting a lost craft from Ipswich maritime history.
Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society (Suffolk page) runs an intriguing website listing including some ceramic lettering on/in buildings.
urban75 website featuring Brixton photographs, including the Bovril sign featured here.
Kindred spirits by the Evening Star's David Kindred features reminiscence, period photographs and comment about the way in which the town changes over the decades. It now takes the form of a blog on the Star's website. Also see KindredSpiritUK on the Flickr site for a huge collection of vintage images.
Stopped Clocks. A niche website (like ours!) which encourages the restoration of public clocks which are stranded in time. Pictures of the Leeds Time Ball Building clocks.
My favourite sundials in Suffolk, England compiled by John Davis, author of 'Suffolk Sundials' (sadly doesn't include any photographs). See our Aldeburgh page.
The Milestone Society have a developing website of great interest to roadside lettering-spotters. Sadly the Suffolk Milestones site which detailed over 100 milestones and included an interactive map of all seven Ipswich milestones is apparently now defunct.
Village pumps is Dick William's  delightful site surveying this central feature of bygone village and town life throughout the U.K. with a good section on Suffolk pumps.
Fountains Society encourages the active restoration, use and development of fountains, cascades and water features. Lists the Byles Memorial fountain in Alexandra Park.
Fludyer's Arms, see our Felixstowe page.
Harwich Old Books (featuring the 'Smith' mosaic doorstep on our Harwich page).
Electric Palace vintage cinema, Old Harwich, Essex.
CAMRA's Suffolk Real Ale Guide. The page on The Rose & Crown, 77 Norwich Road and The Globe to name but two.
Lost Pubs Project, for Ipswich. Includes the former  Eagle Tavern which has the 'Palmer's Door Mats' sign and the Mermaid ('Meremayd') on the same page.
Cyclists' Touring Club who use our Upper Brook Street image (on the Roundels page) of the CTC emblem in their Winged Wheels collection.
The Brewery History Society: Defunct Brewery Liveries with interesting descriptions and pictures of Tolly Cobbold, Lacons and other lettering.

Organisations
Ip-art arts festival.
Ipswich Arts Association represents local arts groups and individuals in and around the town.
The Ipswich Society. Keeps a watching brief on the past and the future of our town.
Ipswich Building Preservation Trust has a page about The Globe public house in St George's Street.
Ipswich Maritime Trust for information about the Wet Dock and Ipswich as a port.
Suffolk Local History Council exists to encourage, promote and assist the study and research of local history in the county of Suffolk.
Dedham Vale Society article on Sherman's Hall, Dedham (pdf file).
Saxmundham Town Council for local historical information e.g. the Long family mentioned on the Saxmundham town pump,
Tewkesbury Museum (see our Tewkesbury page) will appeal to those snappers-up of unconsidered trifles who like this website.
British Listed Buildings website is full of useful information.
Colchester Historic Buildings Forum is an excellent resource giving detailed information, good photographs and paeriod postcards of older buildings in Colchester. Lots of lettering, too. Would that Ipswich had such a website!

Borin Van Loon: professional illustrator/artist/writer/publisher/head cook & bottlewasher.

Reading List

We've been asked to collect citations from this site into one list...

Anderson,  R.C. : 'Tramways of East Anglia'. Light Railway Transport League, 1969.
Burnett, David: 'Sudbury, Suffolk - the unlisted heritage'. Sudbury Society, 2002.
Clegg, Muriel: 'The Way We Went: Streets in 19th Century Ipswich'. Salient Press, Ipswich, 1989 (ISBN 0 86055 197 0). The story of the making and naming of streets in Ipswich.
Cobb, Stephen: 'Ipswich to Felixstowe: 125 years on the line'. Ipswich Transport Musem, 2002. Information on the history of this circuitous railway line.
Gordon, Dr Ian & Simon Inglis: 'Great lengths - the historic indoor swimming pools of Britain'. English Heritage, March 2009 (ISBN: 978 190562 4522).
Headley, Gwynn: 'Follies - National Trust guide'. National Trust, 1987.
James, Trevor: 'Ipswich inns, taverns and pubs'. Fuller-Davies, 1991.
Malster, Robert: 'The Wharncliffe companion to Ipswich: an A to Z of local history'. Wharncliffe Books, 2005. The doyen of Ipswich local history produces a wonderful treasure trove of arcana about the historic town (even though most people who live there and run the town don't know or acknowledge it, as he points out).
Malster, Robert & Bob Jones: 'A Victorian Vision: The building of Ipswich Wet Dock'. Ipswich Port Authority, 1992.
Markham, R.A.D.: 'A Rhino in the High Street'.  Ipswich Borough Council, 1990. The history of Ipswich Museum.
'People & Places: A pictorial history'. Ipswich and Norwich Co-operative Society Limited, 2000 (ISBN 0953966305). The Co-op history, obviously.
Twinch, Carol: 'Ipswich: street by street'. Breedon Books, 2006. Similar in its approach to Malster's 'A to Z'; full of interesting facts.
Webb, John: 'Great Tooley of Ipswich'. Boydell Press, first published 1970 (Suffolk Records Society).
Weaver, Carol and Michael: 'Ransomes 1789-1989: 200 years of excellence (a bicentennial celebration)'. Ransomes Sims & Jefferies plc, 1989.

Some of the comments received since the site opened

We no longer operate a Guestbook due to endless spamming. Comments are welcome via our Contact page.

[Earliest first]

Margaret
Comment :   This site is right up my street, so to speak. It looks excellent already, and yet its still under construction. Keep up the good work Borin.

Ed
Comment :   Thanks for giving me a different perspective on my home town. I seen a majority of those of these signs & never even gave a second thought before.  Many thanks

Ed
Comment :   Stumbled across this site from Google - mightily impressed, Borin. Minor gripe: background images dont help readability one jot. Chock full of interesting info. Keep it up!

Comment :   Could it be Edward Fison Ltd on the end of that building?

Andrew S
Comment :   Great work; just shows what treasures there are just above the modern shop fronts; interesting to speculate about the people whose job it was to paint these signs.

carol
Comment :   there are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.... actually its just nice to see someone taking an interest in things like this. capital.

Mike
Comment :   Its great to see a minority interest in action.Your record will be invaluable to future historians. Im engaged on another minority interest myself,viz church monuments.I take photos around Suffolk and add notes from various sources Best Wishes Mike

dennis
Comment :   Just come across your site from the Ipswich Society site. Fascinating!!

Simon
Comment :   Found your website when I Googled my families old company name, J Pooley and Co (Ipswich) Limited in Ranelagh Road, Ipswich. Sadly the business closed in 1999 and the land sold to Western Homes who built those awful flats on the site! Still it was nice to see a picture of the old site, if you want any information to add to the page, the company started in 1869 and was originally based in Tanners Lane (where Civic Drive and the AXA building now stands). The old newsagents was built in the early 1960s and originally called “Rogers”, the shop used to stand on the entrance of Pooleys before the company moved there in 1963. There were also a row of terrace houses from there the offices stood up to the newsagents, but these were lost when the council widen Ranelagh Road. The lettering on the company office was originally white wooden letters nailed to the front, but these used to keep getting stolen, so my dad removed the rest of the letters and painted the name on by hand! Didn’t do a bad job I reckon!!
 
Martin  
Comment :   Absolutely fascinating! Bits of Ipswich I didnt know were there, and bits that I shall make a point of looking out for too. Thank you :o)

Trevor
Comment :   As an ex-Ipswichian exiled in Norfolk ( left in 1957 )what a fascinating insight to the history of old trades I missed whilst a resident. N.B. possibly the building opposite to the Walk was Woottons the hairdresser - keep up the good work.

Rob Hudson
Comment: Amazed to see the pictures of 184 Bramford Road. I lived there when it was a shop from the 60s to the 80s. On the other wall facing towards Ipswich my father put the letters ROOKES vertically. This was what the locals called the shop which was founded by my grandparents, the Rookes. After setting up a greengorocery handbarrow after the First World War, my Grandfather opened a shop  near the bottom of what was then Sallows Lane at 176 Bramford Road.  The shop passed on to my parents after his death in the Sixties.  My parents were forced to move out in the early 60's when the Council made a compulsory purchase.  They moved the few yards up the road to 184 buying the business from Mr. Bowman where they stayed till the 80's.
The shop was well known for its friut and veg display on the forecourt.  Though my parents were called Hudson, the shop was always  Rooke's Stores to the local customers, or Rookies. After my parents retired from what was a successful business, the shop went downhill under the new owners.  Shortly afterwards it was converted into a residential property only.
That sign on the wall, obscured by the new building always fascinated me and I was amazed to see it on your site.  I had completely forgotten about ity till then.
Thanks! Rob Hudson

I find your photos of the various signs around Ipswich of very great interest. I love local history and many of of your pictures were fascinating. I attach two which I took recently in Carr Street which you may find of interest. The first one shows two decorations and under them is a metal sign which I have enlarged in the second one. Hope you find them of interest.
Best regards, Mike O'Donovan

Dear Borin
I am shortly to purchase a house in Gibbons Street and wonder if this Street was named after AA Gibbons?
Thank you for your great website.   I am very keen to find out all I can about the house I am buying.
With best wishes, Sandy Phillips

Hello Borin,
Thank you for getting in touch about the quote from my Cheltonia site [see link above]. Yes, you're very welcome to use it and I'll add a reciprocal link to Cheltonia next time I do an update.
Your site is fascinating and you're doing great work. It's interesting to see that you're an illustrator as well as historian. My day job is graphic designer (working in book publishing) and I am especially fascinated with typography - easily distracted for hours by the pleasure of gazing at historic lettering. I think this love of typography is a big factor in my collecting photographs of street signs such as the Centre Stone (and hundreds of others which I haven't got round to adding to the site).
I have ancestral connections to the southern part of Suffolk, particularly Dedham, and so I've very much enjoyed the pictures on your Dedham page, especially the scratch-graffiti on the bricks. This kind of lettering is so personal, being a direct connection with the people who lived in our towns before us.
Thanks for the link to Louisa's music ... I will go and have a listen. Best wishes, Rebsie

Borin.
I found your site whilst Googling for people who used to live in my house, in Nelson Road, and the information you have is fascinating. I realise that Humber Doucy Lane is outside Ipswich but do you know how it got its name? Btw my row of terraced cottages is called Henslow Cottages, which I hope is after John Stevens Henslow, Darwin’s mentor.  Thanks to your site I will research Ernest Lee, who may well have built the Victorian houses in my street.
The author Sir V S Ptitchett spent time, reluctantly, in Ipswich and went to school in Caudwell Hall Rd or around there before WW1. It's worth reading for a look at Ipswich then. Also there were Ipswich printers (W.S. Cowell in the Buttermarket) who initiated a lithography process used by the author of Orlando the Marmalade cat [19 illustrated children's books written by Kathleen Hale between 1938 and 1972].
Funnily enough I, too, try to imagine Ipswich before the great Victorian burgeoning. Ipswich is a lovely working town and long may that continue... My row of houses in Nelson Road has very long – 100’ – gardens though of course they are very narrow.  And they back on to similar gardens facing the other way from Boston Road so there is a lovely large square of open land which is so restful. I don’t like what’s happening around the churches down by Dance East.
Talking about Ernlee [Ernleigh Road see Street name derivations], I recalled that in Bexleyheath, Kent, there is a road I used to walk by called Ethronvi Road, which surely must commemorate Ethel, Ron and Vi!  Having said that, there is an Ernle family who have a peerage or baronetcy or something and according to Google are named after a Sussex village called Earnley.  There is an Ernle road in Wimbledon.
Norma Laming
[This enquiry prompted us to put a derivation for Nelson Road/Roundwood Road on the 'Street name derivations' page. Humber Doucy has always been a puzzle; we have failed to find any source for it – anyone know?]


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