the Docks
The docks have grown from the original Saxon wharfs which were constructed along the bank and gradually enroached into the river channel. The river trade grew and larger ships came alongside the commercial buildings of which Isaac Lord's is a superb example of Tudor merchant's premises.
Larger commercial building for shipping goods in and out of the town were built and the docks remained as a working area until a few decades ago. Now the area has grown into leisure and residential area, with restaurants and flats and most vessels and pleasure craft. Demolition is underway as the old buildings make way for the new and under the old Cranfields the foundations of medieval merchants house was discovered.
On the Stoke side of the docks the old Edward Fison wharehouse remains and the view from Great Whip Street shows the transition across the wet dock and the front of Webster's formerly Fison's building. The line of Great Whip Street is believed to be that of the original Saxon crossing of the river.The names of the old businesses Edward Fison Ltd, R&W Paul Ltd and Burtons can still be seen on the old facades.
Close by the docks is Holywells Park once part of the ancient hamlet of Wicks Episcopi, probably the grange mentioned in Domesday as being owned by Edith (King Harold's Queen). The Bishops of Norwich later owned the estate (hence the name of the adjacent road, Bishops Hill). Any Bishop's residence has long since disappeared beneath the parkland of the Cobbold family's family home (the home was demolished in 1962 leaving just the stable block and gardens), but evidence of the medieval site remains in the form of the boundary ditch now around the modern playarea.
The estate provided spring water for the Cobbold Cliff brewery with a series of ponds running down the park. Recent archaeological investigation of the park by Wessex Archaeology can be found at their web site http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/suffolk/ipswich/holywells/ which provides an excellent summary of the sites history.
The dock area is in the midst of a massive transition with most of the old working building being demolished. The view of College Street shows the only doorway remaining.
One block of old buildings remain surrounded by new dockside apartments, the Happy Return building on John Street, which still contains a stone inscription for Albion Street.