Ipswich Castle

St Mary-le-Tower is the civic church of Ipswich and a Grade II* listed building. It was in the churchyard of St Mary that the town charter of Ipswich was written in 1200.

The Municipal Borough of Ipswich was created in 1835 by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. It was the form of local government for the ancient borough of Ipswich until the Local Government Act 1888 replaced it with the County Borough of Ipswich in 1889. Both originated from the ancient borough of Ipswich. The local authority was Ipswich Corporation. Following the passage of the Reform Act 1832, the government set up a Royal Commission in July 1833 to investigate how local councils worked. In 1974 it was replaced by the non-metropolitan district of Ipswich and Ipswich Borough Council became the local authority, with county council duties fulfilled by Suffolk County Council. Following the Local Government Act 1888, the county of Suffolk outside of Ipswich was split into East Suffolk and West Suffolk for administrative purposes and the term administrative county was introduced. There was a level of continuity as Ipswich was still run by the Ipswich Corporation, independently from East Suffolk (which surrounded it), although the county council was based in Ipswich at East Suffolk County Hall. In 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972 and Ipswich became a non-metropolitan district with borough status in the administrative county of Suffolk with the same boundaries as the county borough.

Ipswich ( (listen)) is a town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about 9.9 mi (16 km) away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. The town is the third-largest population centre in East Anglia (after Norwich which is 40 mi (64 km) to the north, and Peterborough which is 70 mi (110 km) to the north-west). The town is both on the Great Eastern Main Line railway and the A12 road; it is 67 mi (108 km) north-east of London. The Ipswich built-up area is the fourth-largest in East of England region and the 42nd in England and Wales. It includes the towns of Kesgrave, Woodbridge, Bramford and Martlesham Heath.First recorded during the medieval period as Gippeswic, the town has also been recorded as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche. The town has been occupied continuously since the Saxon period, and is contested 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.The town is divided into various quarters, with the town centre and the waterfront drawing the most footfall. The town centre is home to the town's retail shopping and the historic town square, the Cornhill. The waterfront is located south of the town centre on a meander of the River Orwell and is a picturesque setting housing the town's marina. The waterfront is a trendy area of the town housing luxury yachts, and lined with high-rise apartment buildings, restaurants and cafés. 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.

The Central Area, Ipswich is one of five administrative areas in Ipswich, through which Ipswich Borough Council divides its spending and enables feedback from local residents, businesses and community groups.The area is composed of three wards, each represented by three councillors. Each ward is also a Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA). As of the 2019 Ipswich Borough Council election, the councillors are as follows: These Councillors form the Central Area Committee of which Julian Gibbs is the chair. They are joined by three Suffolk County Councillors: The area is also covered by a Neighbourhood Watch network which comprises 35 neighbourhood watch schemes.

St Lawrence Church is a Grade II* listed church in Ipswich, Suffolk, that is now used as a community centre. The 15th-century church has the oldest ring of five church bells in the world.

The Ancient House, also known as Sparrowe's House, is a Grade I listed building dating from the 15th century located in the Buttermarket area of Ipswich, Suffolk, England. In 1980 the building was acquired by Ipswich Borough Council. The building sports detailed pargeting, and also elaborate wood carvings around the front of the house. Four panels of pargeting show a Tudor impression of the world. The continents Africa, America, Asia and Europe are shown—notably lacking Australia, which had not been discovered at the time. Africa is represented by a naked man holding a spear, Asia by a horse and a mosque-like building, Europe by a woman with a horse and a church-like building, and America by a man with a dog at his feet. The building features the Ipswich window.The front of the building as it can be seen today (in a restored state), was not an original feature—it was added by Robert Sparrowe between 1660 and 1670. It bears the Royal Arms of King Charles II, and the words "Honi soit qui mal y pense". This is Old French for "Shame upon him who thinks evil of it", and is also the motto of the Order of the Garter.

Sailmakers shopping centre (formerly known as Tower Ramparts) is a small multi-story shopping centre located in Ipswich, England. It was opened to the public in November 1986. It is currently owned and operated by LaSalle Investment Management, who purchased the centre in 2011.

Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk by Edmund Withypoll (also written "Withipoll") around 1548–50. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits by the southern gates close to the town centre of Ipswich. The mansion belonged to various noble families throughout its history but was purchased by the Ipswich Borough Council in 1884. Since 1885, the building has been used as a museum and is today run by the municipally run Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service (CIMS)organisation. The museum's rooms are preserved as past inhabitants would have known them, complete with original items such as furniture, fine clothing and children's toys. The museum also holds a collection of paintings by renowned local artists including John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. The Mansion is free to enter and booking is not required.

The Buttermarket Centre is a four-level, £65 million shopping centre located in the centre of Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The centre was opened on 1 October 1992, comprising 270,000 square feet (25,000 m2) over four levels. There is also a 430-space underground car park covering two levels under the shopping centre. There is also access from the car park to the shopping centre via lifts and stairs. The anchor stores (upon opening) were Owen Owen and C&A, however TK Maxx is now the anchor store comprising 120,000 square feet (11,000 m2) of floor space. The shopping has 32 retail units including Boots, Starbucks and Julian Graves.

Saint Pancras is an active Roman Catholic parish church serving the town centre of Ipswich, England. The neo-gothic church was built as part of the British Catholic revival in the nineteenth century, and was the target of anti-Catholic riots soon after completion.

Ipswich (listen) is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since December 2019 by Tom Hunt of the Conservative Party.

Ipswich Blackfriars was a medieval religious house of Friars-preachers (Dominicans) in the town of Ipswich, Suffolk, England, founded in 1263 by King Henry III and dissolved in 1538. It was the second of the three friaries established in the town, the first (before 1236) being the Greyfriars, a house of Franciscan Friars Minors, and the third the Ipswich Whitefriars of c. 1278–79. The Blackfriars were under the Visitation of Cambridge. The Blackfriars church, which was dedicated to St Mary, disappeared within a century after the Dissolution, but the layout of the other conventual buildings, including some of the original structures, survived long enough to be illustrated and planned by Joshua Kirby in 1748. By that time later uses had supervened and their interpretation had become confused. The last of the monastery buildings, the former sacristy, chapter house and dormitory, continued in use as a schoolroom for the Ipswich School until 1842 before finally being demolished in 1849. In 1898 Nina Layard had some success in locating buried footings. A modern understanding of the site emerged during the 1970s and 1980s, through scholarly interpretation and in excavations by the Suffolk County Council team, by which the position of the lost Blackfriars church was recognized and revealed, much of the original plan was clarified or confirmed, and former misapprehensions were corrected.The site of the Blackfriars church, between Foundation Street and Lower Orwell Street, is preserved as an open grassed recreation area where the footings of the building and a surviving fragment of the wall of the sacristy can be seen, and are explained by interpretative panels. A modern housing development covers the site of the lost conventual buildings.