"Ipswich- between ugly duckling and... " a Ipswich Travel Page by Airpunk

If you are not looking for some information on Ipswich, you’ll ask yourself: What the hell is he doing there? Ipswich would barely make it into a top 100 list of UK destinations and most people outside of England haven’t even heard of this place. And those who know it, don’t have the best opinion of it. So, what drives me here?

As most of you know, there’s one thing in the world where I can’t resist: Ryanair giving away flights for a penny + taxes. And the temptation becomes worse when they just request you to pay the credit card fee or nothing at all. The frequency of such bookings could probably be best described in this way: If Ryanair had a frequent flyer program, I would have earned my platin status. Among these penny flights, the most convenient for me (and the one in my region which is mostly given away for free) is Lubeck – Stansted which led to several short trips to London. In mid-2008 there was a short period when I gave up counting my flights going to Stansted wiwthin the next week. And in late May, the day for another flight to Stansted was approaching. Instead of going to central London again, I looked for another place for a daytrip. And that’s how I first heard about Ipswich *. Without looking at further places, I decided to give that one a try.

* I have to admit, that I heard about Ipswich before, although I quickly forgot the name of the city. It was during
the murder series of 2006… ()

Ipswich has a population of around 125 000 inhabitants and is one of England’s oldest cities, dating back to the early 7th century when some settlements developed into a town. It was once an important port and owed its wealth to tradesmen and the local wool industry. Imagine that it was considered that important in the middle ages that it was among the places to have a separate tome of the Domesday Book (later nicknamed “little domesdays”). But as wool trading became less important and the port began to silt up, Ipswich importance and wealth declined. It suffered a similar fate as some places in the Cotswolds – once England’s seventh wealthiest town, now a place off the main roads of the UK. But there is somehting else that Ipswich has in common with the Cotswolds: It’s not the most exiting place on earth, but it has a charme of the past which makes the town worth to see. Although some modern buildings were placed in the city center, many older buildings have been preserved. Most of these are from the late middle ages and the Tudor years, which was the time of properity in Ipswich. And like every place in the UK with some history, also Ipswich has its own legends and heroes which distinguishes it from others.