Edward Fison Ltd. / London Underground

Some buildings from the upper reaches of the Wet Dock. What we at first thought was 'Howard Elton Ltd.' appears faintly through the brick-red paint, while 'Websters Trade Yard' still stands out against the whitwash:

However, an anonymous email suggests that this is more likely to be a more familiar trade name. Couldn't it be 'EDWARD FISON LTD'? Thanks for the feedback - keep it coming.

A view across New Cut showing the bottom of Great Whip Street and the somewhat unattractive Bolenda Engineering Ltd.

Not far from the Edward Fison Ltd building shown at top, is the converted wharf facing Burtons across the narrowing top end of the Wet Dock (on the Stoke side). This attractive rake of buildings was modernised as dwellings and offices long before (around late 70s?) the current upheavals of the Wet Dock regeneration.
Converted wharf, Stoke-Underground sign
The famous London Underground logo of red circle and blue bar with white Gill Sans caps is a screw-on sign, so doesn't really fit into our parameters laid out on the Introduction page, but it is so incongruous that it had to be included here. Perhaps there's a secret tube platform deep down below the bottom of the Wet Dock basin with a direct electrified line to the Cabinet Rooms below 10 Downing Street and a side branch to the nuclear bunker near Mistley (see Links for pswich Underground Railway site). Actually, it used to be the site of a computerised control system used by London Underground, though why it was sited in a converted wharf in Ipswich docks is anyone's guess. This maltings was converted into a barracks in the times of the Napoleonic Wars until it was sold by the government in 1813 and reverted to its original purpose. This was one of several barracks established in Ipswich to hold troops in preparation to repel a possible French invasion (behind Albion Mills on Woodbridge Road, near Barrack Corner on Norwich Road).

Incidentally, Stoke Bridge (or more correctly 'bridges': there are two side-by-side) stands only yards away from one end of these maltings, linking Bridge Street on the town side with Vernon Street (site of the town's first Co-op) on the Stoke/Wherstead side. It is worth noting that this is the latest in a long line of river crossings on, or near, this spot. It's fairly clear that a ford nearby (the banks at this part of the river being much shallower) was used for animals and heavy vehicles in at least the tenth century. This linked the old Saxon roads later named Lower Brook Street in the town and Great Whip Street in Stoke. The ford existed alongside the bridge probably until the late 15th century.

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