OCTOBER 14TH, 2009
By ADMIN

Ipswich

Ipswich Suffolk Computer Services

Approximate Population: 121,000

Ipswich is a non-metropolitan district and the county town of Suffolk, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. Nearby towns are Felixstowe in Suffolk, Harwich in Essex and Colchester also in Essex. The town of the same name overspills the borough boundaries significantly, with only 85% of the town’s population living within the borough at the time of the 2001 Census, when it was the third-largest settlement in the United Kingdom’s East of England region, and the 38th largest urban area in England.

Under the Roman empire, the area around Ipswich formed an important route inland to rural towns and settlements via the Orwell and Gipping. A large Roman fort, part of the coast defences of Britain, stood at Felixstowe (13 miles, 21 km), and the largest villa in Suffolk stood at Castle Hill (north-west Ipswich).

Ipswich is one of England’s oldest towns, and took shape in Anglo-Saxon times as the main centre between York and London for North Sea trade to Scandinavia and the Rhine. It served the Kingdom of East Anglia, and began developing in the time of King Rædwald, supreme ruler of the English (616-624). The famous ship-burial and treasure at Sutton Hoo nearby (9 miles, 14.5 km) is probably his grave. The Ipswich Museum houses replicas of the Roman Mildenhall Treasure and the Sutton Hoo treasure. A gallery devoted to the town’s origins includes Anglo-Saxon weapons, jewellery and other artefacts.

Ipswich is set to be the main hub for University Campus Suffolk, which will give Suffolk its first university, though it is essentially a collaborative project between Suffolk College and two other regional universities. It is hoped that within a decade, a University of Suffolk in its own right will become established out of UCS.