The town has a fascinating history and remains an area of great culture to this day.
As among England's oldest towns, Ipswich began to form in Anglo-Saxon England during the seventh to eight centuries. While the Roman trade ties had collapsed in the previous centuries, they began to reform about this time. Ipswich, which was then known as Gipeswic, became one of the principal trading ports and links to the continent for the Kingdom of East Anglia during the reign of King Raedwald, who rose to become the Bretwalda, or supreme ruler of the English peoples, during his rule of 616 to 624. The Ipswich Museum still contains replicas of the Sutton Hoo treasure which is believed to be the burial ship of King Raedwald, along with the Roman Mildenhall Treasure. Another gallery that is dedicated to the origins of Ipswich features Anglo-Saxon jewelry, weapons and armor, and various additional artifacts. It is interesting that remains of the seventh century town, which was based near the quay, remain and can still be seen to this day in the ancient road plan which survives in Ipswich's present day streets. Following the viking invasions of 869, Ipswich came under Viking rule. The earth made banks encircling the center of the town were likely raised up by the Vikings around the year 900, when they were attempting to keep the English from recapturing it. Their efforts failed, and the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Wessex retook Ipswich and reunified all of modern England under their rule. One of Alfred the Great's descendants, King Edgar, ran a royal mint in Ipswich in the 970's. This operation continued in the town through the Norman invasion and conquest, and it endured all the way to the reign of King John, who ruled around 1215. These coins are still in existence to some degree today, and they contain the town's abbreviated name Gipes on them.
The town attained its royal charter in 1200 when it laid the medieval basis for its modern civil organization. Over the following four centuries, Ipswich grew wealthy through the trade of Suffolk made cloth to the Continent. Five important medieval religious orders had houses in the medieval town. There were also a few hospitals located here, and its Marian Shrine Our Lady of Grace proved to be a famed destination for pilgrims, such as Henry VIII and his wife Catherine of Aragon. In the late middle ages, Ipswich became a Kontor of the Hanseatic League, since its port found regular use as a center of export and import to and from the Baltic Sea. In the early modern age, Ipswich was still important. During the years 1611 to 1634, the town played a role as a significant center of emigration to the colonies in New England. During the 1630's, the town became a major port of departure for puritans headed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the time known as the Great Migration. Charles Dickens himself worked in Ipswich, using it as the setting for some of the scenes in his beloved novel The Pickwick Papers. The hotel that he stayed in then was called The Tavern, and it had opened back in 1518. Today it is called the Great White Horse Hotel. The hotel became famous in the novel, which described its interior in great detail. Among the first of the Mechanics' Institutes was formed here in Ipswich in 1824, and it still survives in the present day form of the Ipswich Institute Reading Room and Library. Among the famous residents of Ipswich in those days was the High Steward of Ipswich, Lord Horatio Nelson.
Ipswich was bombed by the German Zeppelins in World War I. World War II proved to be far harder on the town. Great damage was sustained in the German bombing runs of the Second World War. The docks and surrounding areas suffered heavy damage. Today, Ipswich's history and culture still shines through, despite the major gentrification projects which are robbing the town of its maritime and industrial quarters' history. University Campus Suffolk will be based here, providing Suffolk with its very first university. The town is the residence of numerous artists, and contains art galleries at the Town Hall, Christchurch Mansion, the Artists Gallery in Electric House, and the Ancient House gallery as the most famed ones. Other interesting museums located in Ipswich include the Ipswich Museum, as well as the Ipswich Transport Museum.
Ipswich also boasts a nice assortment of performing arts in the town. Numerous cultural hubs are based here. The New Wolsey hosts the annual Pulse Fringe Festival every May and June. This festival brings in emerging, new work from international and national companies to various theater venues around Ipswich. A visit to the historical and cultural town is sure to thrill its visitors. The Tourist Board can advise on Suffolk Hotels and Ipswich Hotels or check milsomhotels.com
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