IPSWICH, municipal, county and parliamentary borough and county town of Suffolk, England, 69 m. from London by L.N.E.R. Pop. (1931) 87,557. It stands on the left bank of the river Gipping. In the lower and older portion of Ipswich are a few antiquarian remains. Sparrowe's house (1567), and Archdeacon's Place (1471) are two old gabled houses, while Wolsey's Gate way (1528), a Tudor brick building, is the only remnant of the Cardinal's foundation to supply scholars to his great college (Cardinal's College, now Christ Church) at Oxford. The older churches are all towered flint-work structures, wholly or mainly Perpendicular in style, with the exception of St. Peter's, which is principally Decorated, with a Norman font of marble. They in clude St. Margaret's with a beautiful oak Tudor roof, elaborately painted temp. William and Mary; St. Mary-at-Key (or Quay), with a similar roof, St. Lawrence and St. Clement's. The museum is of some importance. The grammar school, dating at latest from 1477, was refounded by Queen Elizabeth in 1565. There is a picture gallery in the Tudor mansion (1540 in Christ church Park. Industries include engineering and agricultural im plement works, railway plant works, electrical apparatus, paper, furniture and the making of artificial manures, and clothing. Im
ports are principally grain, timber, petroleum and coal ; exports agricultural machinery, railway plant, artificial manures and oil cake. There is an Anglican bishopric of St. Edmonsbury and Ipswich. The parliamentary borough returns one member.
Prehistoric finds include a Roman villa, and a Saxon settlement. In 991 the town (Gipeswic, Gipeswich) was sacked by Vikings. It owes its prosperity to its situation on a harbour admirably suited for trade with the Continent. In 1200 King John granted the burgesses their first charter, the town to be held at fee-farm, with a gild-merchant. The burgesses were definitely incorporated in 1464 and re-incorporated in 1665 under a charter which re mained in force up to its modification by the Municipal Art of 1835. The cattle market and provision market are the prescrip tive right of the corporation. A September fair, still held in 1792, was in the hands of the corporation in the 17th century. Large ironworks were established late in the i8th century. The wool and cloth trade of the 14th and 15th centuries was superseded by the manufacture of sailcloth, now represented by the sacking industry.