Bishop's Hill
This retaining wall holds back the raised gardens which
stand to the left
as one reaches the top of Bishops Hill (just before it becomes Felixstowe
Road). This area was clearly a desirable spot, sitting opposite the
corner
entrance of Hollywells Park and looking over the docks. This ancient
hub
of the old town has been described as dish-shaped around the entrance
made
by the great Orwell river. The combination of deep clays and green
sands
results in water percolating up from springs, filtered and cleaned and
being
unable to soak back through layers of clay. The springs used to flow
freely
down the sloping streets towards the Wet Dock (hence Spring Road -
the surrounding
streets still witness natural flows of water under brick walls and
through
tarmac).
The large houses behind the two-colour brickwork wall
shown above have,
in part, lost their gardens and been replaced by blocks of flats. This
road
is now inflicted with fast moving traffic; it is doubtful whether many
passers-by
notice the lettering. The long diamond patterning stretching up this
ancient
wall suddenly becomes 'BISHOPS+HILL', though shaded by overgrowing ivy
when
these pictures were taken. This has since been trimmed, making the
lettering
more noticeable.
However, it was not always thus. The photograph from
about 1905 (below)
shows that Bishops Hill was considerably narrower then with no pavement
on the side which concerns us here. The tram makes its way up the
centre
of the incline towards its terminus at The Royal Oak public house at
the
junction with Derby Road, while dog-carts and horse traffic fit into
the
spaces at the sides. The 1921 widening clearly involved demolition of
the
retaining wall and a decorative rebuild avec lettering involving some
loss
of gardens to the properties. For more on the history of Ipswich
tramways, see here.
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Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon, 2003.