The Wet Dock
The very heart of the ancient town was the natural
right-angle bend in
the
river and its sudden narrowing down towards the site of the present
Stoke
Bridge (close to the the confluence of the fresh water River Gipping
and the
brackish
River Orwell). The earliest crossing point of this broad and sweeping
waterway,
so central to the establishment and development of Ipswich as an
international
port, would originally have been a ford between the site of Great Whip
Street
and the present St Peter's Dock. The fact that it could be forded at
all,
shows how marshy parts of early Ipswich must have been, the nineteenth
century
Wet Dock coming to a deep-channelled 'nip' near this point, bordered by
the heavy industrial quaysides we know today. Incidentally, the walls
of
the cellars which abutt St Peter's dock are, in part, said to be
composed
of the archways of the cloisters of Blackfriars Priory, which was one
of
several monastic esablishments in Ipswich eradicated by Henry VIII.
These enormous structures in brick and concrete have
largely replaced
the
timber-framed buildings built by Tudor merchants and are now in turn
demolished and tower blocks built.
However, there are
some
survivors: The Neptune Inn building fronting Fore Street once had a
string
of structures behind it reaching the quayside. The Isaac Lord
merchant's
house with a similar frontage nearby uniquely retains its warehouse,
maltings
and stables, so that the corn exports and coal imports could be loaded
and
unloaded, processed and carted away under the eye of the owner. Here is
the earliest house in Ipswich (although Pykenham's Gatehouse
beats
it by a few years and St Mary Elms, for example, has a nave, the
original
small church, built in the 14th century with a Norman Doorway from the
11th
century.)
The signwriters have, over the years, worked to proclaim the company
names
on the frontages of the wharves overlooking the sweep of water formed
by
the magnificent Wet Dock which was opened in January, 1842 and at 33
acres
was the largest area of water of its kind in England.
John Good and Sons
Isaac Lord
& a second Isaac
Lord page, the
frosted 'E. Jowle Chemist' door the Captain's Houses in
Grimwade Street
Burtons,
R.&W. Paul maltings also one on
Princes Street, The Bull Tavern
The Mill new addition to Ipswich's skyline
Bridge
Street
Edward
Fison Ltd,
Bolenda
Engineering Ltd, 'London
Underground' (!)
Coprolite
Street
Ransomes
A chance to
compare Wet Dock 1970s with 2004.
Ipswich
Whaling Station?
A
diagrammatic map of the Wet Dock giving the
wharves and quays.
Outside
the Wet Dock...
'A Victorian Vision: The building of Ipswich Wet
Dock' by Bob
Malster
and Bob Jones see Reading List.
[Our background letter 'O' is taken from the John
Good & Sons
building.]
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throughout the Ipswich
Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission