Cornhill
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The Cornhill, at the heart of the old town, is named to
commemorate the
enormous wealth conferred on the town's merchants by grain trading and
exports.
In the post-medieval period the sheep was the dominant economic force
in
East Anglia. The huge 'wool churches' such as that at Lavenham are
testament
to this dominance. (In Ipswich we have the triumvirate of St Clement's,
St Mary's and St Peter's dockland churches to mark the importance of
this
asset to the town.) However, the lighter soils and sparse rainfall (if
it
wasn't for the rivers, rural Suffolk could be classified as a desert by
one climatic yardstick) are more suited to arable crops than husbandry.
One of the finest buildings in Ipswich (above) was erected by the
Corporation
in 1881 on the site of the old Shambles on Cornhill, where once all
surrounding
streets had been untilised for market trading. Many strange things have
happened on Cornhill, from the ritual burning of religious martyrs to
the
bating of bulls (it was believed that this sport would tenderise the
meat
before slaughter in the nearby Shambles.). Another strange thing
happens when a purpose-built structure,
complete with its name in the stonework, changes its role. So, Ipswich
is
the proud owner of a grand central Post Office with Doric columns, fine
statuary and its name chiselled into the cornice. Except that the post
offices
are now tucked away in small shops in Tower Ramparts and Carr Street
and other organisations now occupy this
great temple.
This postcard of the Post Office dates from about 1909.
The carefully
posed postal force are clearly very proud of their motorised mail van;
such vehicles didn't fully replace horse or hand-drawn carts until
1926. The statues over the entrance of the 1881 building represent
Industry, Electricity, Steam and Commerce.
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The attractive public house nearby proclaims its name
twice - the older
block caps set in relief on the upper wall above echo The
Halberd Inn and have the possessive inverted comma. MANNING'S is
somewhat
overshadowed by the Golden Lion Hotel (to the left of this picture),
but
remains a fine old inn which has been threatened with closure on more
than
one occasion. The 1926 picture shows Ipswich mounted police on duty
outside
Mannings during the general strike.
The area between Post Office and pub was blockpaved in a reddish colour
in modern times and became known as 'Red Square' for a while - perhaps
because
of the predominantly Labour nature of Ipswich Borough Council (unitl
2004)
and the town returning (with one exception in recent history) a Labour
M.P.
to parliament. The scandalous neglect of a once flourishing open market
has finally resulted in its move from the Civic Centre car park to the
Cornhill
and demand for more space for stalls from potential stallholders.
Apparently,
before the upper portion of Princes Street (dealt with in the Cornhill
2 page) could be used to accomodate more market stalls, an Act of
Parliament
had to be passed. This was achieved in 2004.
Facing the old Post Office is the Loyds Avenue arch.
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Once blocked off from the lane behind, which was
widened to create
Lloyds
Avenue, the only access was via an alleyway through the original
buildings,
now replaced by the frontage created by Thomas W. Cotman, architect of
the
Crown and Anchor Hotel, further up
Westgate
Street. To the right of the main arch, once a busy thoroughfare thick
with
cabs and traffic until pedestrianisation, is the doorway to the main
banking area.
A fine porch is flanked by Corinthean-style columns, resplendant with
three grotesque masks and the clean lettering 'BANK' incised in a
decorative
curved cartouche. Compare with the Barclays 'Bank'
sign in Princes Street opposite and examples in Beccles, Lowestoft and Felixstowe.
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Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon, 2003.