Richard Felaw’s house in Foundation Street shortly before demolition in 1964

Ipswich: Celebrating our local heritage as we call for town’s history to be recognised

Paul Geater Friday, March 22, 2013
3:35 PM

NO English town has a longer history than our own – so let’s give it the profile it so richly deserves.

The statue of Sir Thomas Wolsey in Ipswich has become a public toilet for the towns pigeons, much to the outrage of passers by.

We should start by proclaiming its unique place in England – as the oldest Anglo-Saxon settlement – to everyone visiting the town.

That’s The Star’s rallying cry today – with the plea to make the most of Ipswich’s amazing past.

It’s the town of Wolsey and of Chaucer’s family. It’s the town from which English troops set out at the start of the 100 years war. And it’s the town that was at the centre of the crisis which changed the course of our monarchy. Let’s celebrate our incredible heritage!

Ipswich lost some of its heritage in “modernisation” schemes since the end of the Second World War.

Historic streets were bulldozed to make way for the instantly-hated Greyfriars centre which lasted less than 20 years after it was built in 1965.

Holywells Mansion, built in the early 19th Century, was demolished in 1962, and other historic streets were changed to allow new roads to be built around the town centre.

One of the most serious losses was the demolition of Richard Felaw’s House in Foundation Street.

This dated from the 15th Century and was the original home of Ipswich School, before it moved to Wolsey’s College.

It was the school attended by Thomas Wolsey.

However in 1964 the planners could not see any future for this historic building and it was demolished. The land remained vacant for about two decades before the NCP multi-storey car park was built on the site.

We need to act now, to preserve the remaining heritage and put Ipswich on the map as England’s oldest town.

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9 comments

move over colchester lol lol lol , see naarwich history means everything

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jhughes

Saturday, March 23, 2013
Another great loss was the splendid three storey mansion-style house with garden that stood next to St. Mary Key church. It was bulldozed to make way for the widening of Star Lane in the early 1970's. Once these historic buildings are gone it is another piece of Ipswich's history lost forever.

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Ken Kernow

Friday, March 22, 2013
Greyfriars was such a wonderful and beautiful development. Any chance we can find the planners and architects of these lovely 1960's structures so we can burn them at the stake on the cornhill?

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Newsmaster Excalibur

Friday, March 22, 2013
Never mind the ancient history lesson - Ipswich has such a wonderfully diverse community (or should that be "communities"?) these days, so why do we need to even bother about those white English guys who are long dead and probably made their money exploiting poor natives in what the nasty English called the "newly discovered lands". It's great that we have so many languages spoken and religions worshipped in our schools and all those people from such exotic places as the Middle East, Eastern Europe and beyond have recently made this town such a great place in which to live and work. They bring in a brand new work ethic and a whole new outlook on life which I find so inspiring, at the same time as the descendants of those dead white Anglos have just degenerated into benefit dependent sub-class.

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Steve Blake

Friday, March 22, 2013
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I was always told that Colchester is the oldest settlement. Although Ipswich is the oldest continually inhabited...

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nikkk

Friday, March 22, 2013
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I was always told that Colchester is the oldest settlement. Although Ipswich is the oldest continually inhabited...

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nikkk

Friday, March 22, 2013
An interesting fact I found out recently that the famous philosopher Francis Bacon was M.P. for Ipswinh in the 16th century.

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GrumpyRanter

Friday, March 22, 2013
How unfortunate that the town councillors of the 60's were so short sighted. What a loss to the town some of those old buildings,shops and streets were. The quaint but attractiveness of the town I grew up in has gone forever.

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Sirius

Friday, March 22, 2013
Indeed Ipswich should clebrate it's past, as there isn't much about it's present that is worth celebrating.

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england1770

Friday, March 22, 2013