Days Gone By – Looking back at Bishop’s Hill and Fore Hamlet

Demolition work had taken place in Fore Hamlet, Ipswich, to widen the then very narrow road when this photograph was taken around 1945/46. The trolley bus was painted in wartime grey. The tower of Holy Trinity Church is in the background Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

The former gets its name from centuries ago, when the Bishop of Norwich had a residence in what is now Holywells Park.

John Wakelings bakers shop at the corner of Albion Street and Fore Street, in the 1930s Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

He lived there when his duties brought him to Suffolk.

A crowd gathered after this Ipswich trolley bus overturned on Bishops Hill, June 8, 1955, after skidding on the wet road during a summer downpour Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

The building was where the children’s play area is now.

Cyclists heading for Bishops Hill from Fore Hamlet in the late 1940s. Albion Street is off to the left and Cavendish Street to the right (Image: Dave Kindred)

It overlooked open countryside from around the 13th Century to the time of Henry VIII, when the church was deprived of it. The moat to the building is still there, surrounding the play area.

Buildings in Fore Hamlet, Ipswich, close to the Duke Street junction, in the mid 1930s Picture by Guy Maynard, courtesy Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service (Image: Dave Kindred)

In Victorian times the area saw hundreds of tiny houses and streets built around Bishop’s Hill, as former agricultural workers from out of town moved to find work at Ipswich engineering companies like Ransomes Sims and Jefferies, who occupied the site from the dock to Back Hamlet.

Fore Hamlet, Ipswich, looking towards Bishops Hill in 1934, with Cavendish Street off to the left and Albion Street to the right. The Cobbold public house, next to the post on the right, was the Myrtle, which closed in 1936 Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

In today’s Days Gone By I have looked at changes to the area of Bishop’s Hill and Fore Hamlet, where today thousands of vehicles pass through every hour.

Bishops Hill, Ipswich, from near the junction with Myrtle Road (right), in the early years of the last century, as a horse drawn cart, loaded with coal and a group of cyclists start to climb the hill. The electric trams ran from 1903 to 1926 Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

Do any of the photographs featured bring memories for you?

A lady standing in the front garden of her home on Bishops Hill, Ipswich, June 26, 1930. This was the day the Prince of Wales flew from Northolt to open the towns new airport on Nacton Road. The Princes tour of the town included a visit to the works of Ransomes Sims and Jefferies, which occupied a large site around the Fore Hamlet and dock area. The Long Live the Prince sign in the background was on a shop at the corner of Myrtle Road Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

To submit a letter, write to David Kindred, Days Gone By, Ipswich Star/EADT, Portman House, 120 Princes Street, Ipswich, IP1 1RS or e-mail us.

Bishops Hill, Ipswich, in March 1934. The White Elm Inn is the last building on the left side of the street Picture by Guy Maynard, courtesy Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service (Image: Guy Maynard, courtesy Colchester and Ipswich Museum)

The White Elm Inn was on the North side Bishops Hill, Ipswich. It closed in March 1965. The earliest reference to an inn of this name here are found are in hearth tax accounts of 1674. Do you remember the White Elm Picture by JACK KEEN (Image: Dave Kindred)

A mid 1930s photograph of Bishops Hill looking towards Fore Hamlet. Myrtle Road is off to the left Picture: David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

A tiny grocery shop close to where Bishops Hill and Fore Hamlet, Ipswich meet, in March 1935 Picture David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

Bishops Hill, Ipswich, was widened in the first part of the twentieth century, as these two pictures taken from near the gate to Holywells Park show. One was taken in 1894 with horse drawn buggies able to stop on an otherwise traffic free hill, and the other from the 1930s has cyclists pushing their bikes up the hill Picture David Kindred (Image: Dave Kindred)

Bishops Hill, Ipswich, was widened in the first part of the twentieth century, as these two pictures taken from near the gate to Holywells Park show. One was taken in 1894 with horse drawn buggies able to stop on an otherwise traffic free hill, and the other from the 1930s has cyclists pushing their bikes up the hill Picture: DAVID KINDRED (Image: Dave Kindred)