Ipswich () is a town and borough in the county of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk and is the largest settlement in the county, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds. It is situated in East Anglia. Ipswich is the second-largest population centre in East Anglia, Norwich being the largest. It is northeast of London. The Ipswich built-up area is the fourth-largest in the East of England region and the 42nd-largest in England and Wales. It includes the towns and villages of Kesgrave, Woodbridge, Bramford and Martlesham Heath.
Ipswich was first recorded during the medieval period as Gippeswic, the town has also been recorded as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche. It has been continuously inhabited since the Saxon period, and is believed to be one of the oldest towns in the United Kingdom. The settlement was of great economic importance to the Kingdom of England throughout its history, particularly in trade, with the town's historical dock, Ipswich Waterfront, known as the largest and most important dock in the Kingdom.
Ipswich is divided into various quarters, with the town centre and the waterfront drawing the most footfall. The town centre features the retail shopping district and the historic town square, known as the Cornhill. The waterfront, south of the town centre on a meander of the River Orwell, offers a picturesque setting with a marina, luxury yachts, high-rise apartment buildings, and a variety of restaurants and cafes. The waterfront is also home to the University of Suffolk campus.
Ipswich is surrounded by two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB): the Suffolk Coast and Heaths and Dedham Vale. The town has a tourist sector, with 3.5 million people reported to have visited the town in 2016. In 2020, Ipswich was ranked as an emerging global tourist destination by TripAdvisor.
History
Ipswich is one of England's oldest towns, and is claimed to be the oldest still continuing town to have been established and developed by the English, with continuous settlement since early Anglo-Saxon times.
Roman settlement
A large Roman fort, part of the coastal defences of Britain, stood at Walton near Felixstowe (, and the largest Roman villa in Suffolk (possibly an administrative complex) stood at Castle Hill (north-west Ipswich).
Middle Ages
The modern town took shape in Anglo-Saxon times (7th–8th centuries) around the Port of Ipswich. As the coastal states of north-western Europe emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, essential North Sea trade and communication between eastern Britain and the continent (especially to Scandinavia, and through the Rhine) passed through the former Roman ports of London (serving the kingdoms of Mercia, the East Saxons, Kent) and York (Eoforwic) (serving the Kingdom of Northumbria).
Gipeswic (also in other spellings such as Gippeswich) arose as the equivalent to these, serving the Kingdom of East Anglia, its early imported wares dating to the time of King Rædwald, ruler of the East Angles (616–624). The famous ship-burial and treasure at Sutton Hoo nearby () is probably his grave. The Ipswich Museum houses replicas of the Roman Mildenhall and Sutton Hoo treasures. A gallery devoted to the town's origins includes Anglo-Saxon weapons, jewellery and other artefacts.
The seventh-century town was centred near the quay. Around 700 AD, Frisian potters from the Netherlands area settled in Ipswich and set up the first large-scale potteries in England since Roman times. Their wares were traded far across England, and the industry was unique to Ipswich for 200 years. With growing prosperity, in about 720 AD a large new part of the town was laid out in the Buttermarket area. Ipswich was becoming a place of national and international importance. Parts of the ancient road plan still survive in its modern streets.
After the invasion of 869, Ipswich fell under Viking rule. The earth ramparts circling the town centre were probably raised by Vikings in Ipswich around 900 to prevent its recapture by the English. They were unsuccessful. The town operated a mint under royal licence from King Edgar in the 970s, which continued through the Norman Conquest until the time of King John, in about 1215. The abbreviation Gipes appears on the coins.
King John granted the town its first charter in 1200, laying the medieval foundations of its modern civil government. Thenceforth Ipswich strongly maintained its jurisdiction over the Liberty of Ipswich, an administrative area extending over about 35 square kilometres centred on the town.