Isaac Lord buildings / Fore Street

At the dock end of Wherry Lane we find:
'ISAAC... LORD'
(just visible: see the enhancement below) lettered either side of the middle loading door displaying the white architect's sign.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Isaac Lord faint-
At the Key Street end of Wherry Lane the trade name appears again in bold caps above and to the left of The John Russell Art Gallery (photo above right).
Back on the quayside, the warm Suffolk reds on the face of the ancient building, discoloured above, set off the white lettering; next door is the former Malt Kiln pub (recently renamed "Isaac's":
-
The photograph above right shows the whole rake of linked buildings, running back to Fore Street. The gabled end of the crossway (see here for more infomation) is half-way down.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Fore Street Ipswich Historic Lettering: Isaac Lord house2011/12 images
The row of buildings above is the Neptune Cafe, The Old Neptune Inn, unknown building, entrance to Salhouse Hotel and the Isaac Lord building. Above right: the Fore Street facade of the Isaac Lord buildings (facing The Lord Nelson pub) which dates back to the time of merchant Henry Tooley (died 1551), benefactor of Tooley's Almshouses in Foundation Steet. The image on the right is from 2011 after the fascade had a facelift; the 'Salthouse' sign on the next door gates can be seen, indicating a hazardous goods entry for the hotel fronting the Wet Dock (see John Good & Sons). Typically, the photograph was taken in a tiny gap in the speeding traffic.

The Key Street/Star Lane dual race-tracks which currently cut off the Wet Dock from the main part of the town have much to answer for. Not least, the ignorance of many (including us until the Heritage Open Days in 2002 when these photographs were taken) about this gem. Fore Street was a bustling dockland street in the heyday of shipping at the Wet Dock. Wool and grain by the cartload, Gascon wine and Icelandic cod, dockers and sailors and all that came with them: pubs, brothels, pawnbrokers such as Sneezums further up Fore Street, extreme poverty and wealthy merchants' houses. The ideal spot for your dwelling was clearly fronting Fore Street, so that you could show off your status by handsome, carved breast-summer (pronounced 'bressummer') beams (these examples are situated above and below the timbered section at left of the frontage. An original frontage was truncated in the seventeenth century and the present jettied frontage erected. These Tudor merchants' houses could then be linked to warehouses, and - later - granaries and maltings stretching right down to the quayside. The merchant could keep an eye on his workers - and his ships coming in - and live not above, but in front/back of the shop. Here are the numerals and lettering carved and highlighted in the bressumers:
'1636
...
H
WF'
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Isaac Lord house date  Ipswich Historic Lettering: Isaac Lord house HWF
Sadly, researchers into the history of Isaac Lord's are unable to identify the worthy whose initials are 'H.W.F.', though '1636' is certainly the date of erection of this frontage. On the other side of the archway into the yard is a more modest house facade, which was also owned by the Cooper family. Dendrochronology on this side revealed that an internal beam was felled in the spring of 1478 and so the date of erection was about 1480. This is claimed to be is the oldest surviving dwelling house in the town (although now that the Cooper family have moved out, we don't know if the house is occupied). Older than the Ancient House - the core of the oldest part of that building is the 'Chapel Room' leading off the art gallery above Lakeland Kitchenware - and older than the Sun Inn (more recently Atfield & Daughter: collector's bookshop) in St Stephens Lane, another fine old building being lovingly restored by the owner family. It is arguable that Pykenham's Gatehouse - opposite the County Library in Northgate Street (built in 1471 and famous for its Tudor brick front: all that remains of the former Archdeacon's Palace) has an earlier claim. But is it a 'house'? Also the cottages behind St Mary at Elms may lay claim to this title: still inhabited and built in 1487.
For a nearby dated bressumer, see The Captain's Houses page.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Isaac Lord house doorbell  Ipswich Historic Lettering: Isaac Lord house plaque
It was only in  April 2012 that we noticed the nameplate, numeral (80 or 80a?) and bell-pull to the left of the cart entrance. Compare with the lettering on the external water pump in the nearby yard here.

The Old Neptune Inn, 86 Fore Street
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Neptune Inn 1  Ipswich Historic Lettering: Old Neptune Inn2012 image
The former Neptune Inn lies a few doors away from Isaac Lord's. It similarly had a range of buildings running down to the quay but these were sold off at some time. The period picture above shows the tremendous use of painted lettering when the building was a public house. As it ceased to be a pub in 1936, this image must predate that. The close-ups show the large date '1639' painted either side of bracket below the eaves with a decorative font and frame and the brewer's name and products above the ground floor window. The delightful use of the small 'AND' inside curving parallel lines give it a flourish, despite the unnecessary full stop at the end. Sadly, all is gone except the tarnished metal plate inn sign (enhanced image below shows a cloaked Neptune with horse at lower left). Originally built in1490, a wealthy wool merchant extended the house and added two floors in 1639.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Old Neptune inn  Ipswich Historic Lettering: Old Neptune Inn plaque2012 images
The back of the inn is even older supporting the view that a merchant's house has existed on this site for many hundreds of years. Once a centre for paying off dockworkers on a Saturday night, after its days as a pub, the Neptune was a workplace, then it was bought and restored as a home in the 1960s by Bodley Scott, a director of Cowells, an important printer in the town with premises between Buttermarket and Falcon Street. It was later Neptune Antiques and a photograph we recall of the interior showing the sale items in situ to potential buyers highlighted the rich decoration and historic fabric of the building in good repair. The '1639' date is carved above the widows; it is difficult to make this out from the pavement, particularly with a bright sky behind the building profile. We only managed to capture the carved date by pointing a camera upwards and enhancing the images (it's ina frame at the upper left of the top image).
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Old Neptune Inn beams  Ipswich Historic Lettering: Old Neptune Inn date2012 images
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Old Neptune Inn plaque
For other early dates carved into the fabric of Ipswich buildings, try The Captain's Houses in nearby Grimwade Street,  6 St Helens Street ('1636') and The Old Cattle Market ('1620').

The Isaac Lord story continues
E. Jowles, Chemist
At number 97 Fore Street, almost opposite the Isaac Lord frontage is a survivor from the days when this was the bustling heart of the town and proprietors were proud to display their names and trades on frosted glass shop doors. In 2002 this was the Labour Party Eastern Region offices (note the posters on the office wall in the second picture).
'E. JOWLES
CHEMIST'

with decorative border and a pestle and mortar motif is displayed in curly decorative font, the name curving round the motif and the frosted background following that curve. Unfortunately this would have been easier to photograph if the white back of a leaflet stand hadn't been placed against the inside of the door; however, it's even worse now as there are security bars against the inside of the glazed door and it obscures the lettering even more. The third photograph shows that this double-fronted shop with its curved top windows would have been quite an impressive emporium. Apart from the 'Jugs' frosted door on the Duke of York public house on Woodbridge Road lost during refurbishment, there is the 'Glasses Only' frosted door of  The Old Bell Inn on the corner of Vernon Street and Stoke Street, which will appear here soon. Incidentally, just round the corner of 97 Fore Street - to the immediate right of the long view below - is a metal 'Maritime Ipswich 1982' plaque (cast by Crane Ltd)  telling us that this was the site of the house of Thomas Eldred (1561–1624), circumnavigator of the world. Eldred was an Ipswich merchant and mariner who sailed with Thomas Cavendish (also of Suffolk) on the second English circumnavigation of the globe 1586-88. Sir Francis Drake's voyage 1577-80 was the first.

E. Jowles Chemist-E, Jowles door

E. Jowles building  Ipswich Historic Lettering: Eldred plaque
Eldred is also celebrated at 97 Cedarcroft Road, Castle Hill in Ipswich by a public house of the same name.

For other named chemist's premises see Symonds Chemist for a chimney sign and Hales Chemist for a doorstep sign.


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