Ipswich Historic Lettering: Mile End

Mile End

At the junction of Handford Road and London Road there is a row of buildings bearing a curious stone name plaque on a level with the middle of the first storey windows. A name which we hadn't heard of before:

'MILE . END.
COLEMAN Buildings
1830'

This sits above a shop-front (a sub Post Office, closed in recent years) and residential front doors. We do need to get a better image of this with, we hope, raking sunlight to pick out the chiselled characters. There appears to be a central stop between 'Mile' and 'End', but also a full stop after the name.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Mile End

So, a conjecture about the derivation. The is a milestone not far from this site up London Road on the left, which may or may not be significant. It is quite possible that this junction of a once important arterial road into Ipswich, London Road which now only serves as access to residential streets, lies one mile from the centre of Ipswich (notionally Cornhill). The name of the terrace is also of interest. We learn from our Street Names page that:
'Colman Street: cut across the garden of Dr Colman in 1821. His house and garden at the comer of Northgate Street are marked on the Pennington map of 1778.'
Perhaps Dr Colman, or one of his relatives, owned property here when the houses were completed in 1830. However, the different spelling ('Coleman') suggests another derivation.

There is a large, faint trade sign ('Corn, Hay... etc.') only a few yards away from here on the corner of Handford Road and Cullingham Road.

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