Borin Van Loon: Ipswich Historic Lettering: Cornhill 2

Cornhill 2

Police Station, Town Hall, Prince's Street
The same 'mistaken identity' as the old Post Office applies to the side entrance of the Town Hall and Corn Exchange itself in the upper mouth of Princes Street, now used as the Ipswich Borough Entertainments Box Office and the Age Concern tea room. Look carefully at the stonework above the door and above the date(1867) you can just make out the words:

'POLICE STATION
MDCCCLXVII'

On the photograph below, the incised letters having been filled with a compound. The Town Hall was built (and rebuilt in 1867, removing all traces of the original structure) on the site of one of the most ancient ecclesiastic buildings in the town, St Mildred's Chapel, which was probably Saxon in origin.

Ipswich Borough Police were formed in 1836 and occupied the Town Hall from 1867. The building was used as a police station from that date until the current police station was erected and opened in June, 1968 at the end of Elm Street near to the site of the long lost Ipswich Castle, (which is believed to have been a wooden structure). An officer of the law in the 19th century wore a beaver skin top hat, blue swallow-tail coat with white duck trousers for summer and blue for winter. In 2006 a blue lamp (a la Dixon of Dock Green) will be added, with a police presence in the Town Hall to give information. Another former police station (1930s?), complete with filled in lettering, used to stand in the car park of St Helens Court, County Hall, St Helens Street (this part demolished for apartments to be built).

This Police Station entrance has appeared in a Giles cartoon – Carl Giles worked a short distance away and is commemorated by the 'Gran' sculpture at the junction of Prince's Street and Queen Street nearby – of which a detail is shown below. This marked the move to Elm Street in 1968.
Giles Police Station

Incidentally, the stretch of the road directly outside this former police station entrance is notable for the fact that it is the only place in Ipswich where the original tramlines have been covered over, rather than ripped up. For a potted history of Ipswich tramways se our page including Tramway Place.

Barclays Bank, 1 Prince's Street

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Barclays Prince's Street

2012 image
Opposite and further down the street stands a typical bank branch with 'BANK' inscribed above the main door on Prince's Street. It has a similarly typical 'BANK' incised in a tablet on the corner with the Thoroughfare; but why is it so terribly high up?

Another high 'Bank' sign has been photographed in the central square in Beccles on the 'out of Ipswich' site (an example also the Felixstowe page). ('Lloyds arch' on the other side of the Cornhill also boasts the relief lettering 'Bank'.)

The Swan Inn, King Street
Round the corner in King Street stands an ancient tavern. The Swan Inn faces the rear of the Corn Exchange and although the modern lettering which names the pub (see the remnants of 'The' below) has been vandalised, the date lettering and numerals set into the old rendering survive. What does 'ISM' (or 'SIM') stand for? In 1664 Mr John Parker gave £2 a year, paid out of the profits of the Swan Inn, to provide coal for the poor people of the parish in which it stands. It was one of the twenty-four inns which existed in Ipswich by 1689. This shows the Swan to be one of the oldest public houses in Ipswich; the date 1707 on the front wall probably signifies one of the many alterations to the building which have been made over the centuries.

2012 image
[Update 5.1.10: The following information comes from the CAMRA Suffolk real ale guide (see Links):
Listed in 1844 as the White Swan. The date on the wall, 1707, is believed to be when major alterations were made to the pub (possibly undertaken to reduce the first floor overhang). The building itself probably originates from the previous century. The building exterior is a Grade 2 listed whilst the modern interior is based around a central bar. One of the oldest inns in town. A perpetual fine of £2 per annum has been imposed on the house since 1664 when the landlord, John Parker gave the money to the parish poor to buy coals on St Thomas day.

King Street itself is named by means of high painted street signs on the stonework near the arcade.

Exchange Chambers, King Street
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Exchange Chambers 1

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Exchange Chambers 1

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Exchange Chambers 2

Directly opposite and to the left of the modern entrance to the Corn Exchange and Film Theatre is the name 'EXCHANGE CHAMBERS' grandly displayed above semicircular classical arch and figures (presumably Ceres: godess of the harvest - incidentally, an 18th Century statue of Ceres, once topping the Corn Exchange roof, is now displayed in weathered condition in the foyer of the Town Hall). We don't suppose many people notice it these days. It's not even above the current main entrance to the Grand Hall and Film Theatre.

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Exchange Chambers 3

2012 images
Here it is after extensive cleaning and renovation of the exterior.

See our Cornhill 1 page for more on this area.

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