Stoke is an area of Ipswich which was a densely populated area of town with several large employers, writes David Kindred.
Ransomes and Rapier and Cocksedge’s were big engineering companies employing hundreds. After years of decline ‘R and R’ saw the last crane built there leave the site in 1988.
Cocksedge’s closed during the recession in the early 1980s and The Ipswich Locomotive Depot closed in 1968. Hundreds of rail men worked there maintaining locomotives and rolling stock on the site off Wherstead Road.
The Felaw Street Maltings and the Ipswich Maltings Company premises near New Cut also had hundreds of employees on site.
The area supported several public houses supplying refreshment for the residents and workers. Now most of these have closed.
In this week’s Days Gone By I have looked back at some of those lost to “Over Stoke” as that part of Ipswich is known, as it was once a separate community over the River Orwell to the rest of the town.
See our gallery to see which have survived and what has been built on the sites of those that were demolished.
What memories do you have of these public houses or the Stoke and Maidenhall areas of Ipswich? Are you a regular at the still thriving Steamboat Tavern or the Smock?
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