page_title: Ipswich
section_title: Early-modern era
hierarchical_section_title: Ipswich / History / Early-modern era
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Ipswich from Christchurch Park c.1746-9 by Thomas Gainsborough RA (1727–88)
context_page_description: Ipswich is a historic county town in Suffolk, England. The town is located in East Anglia about 10 miles away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line railway and the A12 road, it is 66 miles north-east of London, 54 miles east-southeast of Cambridge, and 45 miles south of Norwich. Ipswich is surrounded by two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Suffolk Coast and Heaths and Dedham Vale.
  Ipswich's modern name is derived from the medieval name Gippeswic, likely taken either from an Old Saxon personal name or from an earlier name given to the Orwell Estuary. It has also been known as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche. The town has been continuously occupied since the Saxon period, and is contested to be one of the oldest towns in the United Kingdom. Ipswich was a settlement of great economic importance to England throughout its history, particularly in trade. The town's historical dock, present-day Ipswich Waterfront, was known as the largest and most important dock in the kingdom.
  Ipswich is a non-metropolitan district and is a large settlement despite its town status.
context_section_description: During the 14th to 17th centuries Ipswich was a kontor for the Hanseatic League, the port being used for imports and exports to the Baltic.
  In the time of Queen Mary the Ipswich Martyrs were burnt at the stake on the Cornhill for their Protestant beliefs. A monument commemorating this event now stands in Christchurch Park. From 1611 to 1634 Ipswich was a major centre for emigration to New England. This was encouraged by the Town Lecturer, Samuel Ward. His brother Nathaniel Ward was first minister of Ipswich, Massachusetts, where a promontory was named 'Castle Hill' after the place of that name in north-west Ipswich, UK.  Ipswich was also one of the main ports of embarkation for puritans leaving other East Anglian towns and villages for the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1630s and what has become known as the Great Migration. 
  The painter Thomas Gainsborough lived and worked in Ipswich. In 1835, Charles Dickens stayed in Ipswich and used it as a setting for scenes in his novel The Pickwick Papers. The hotel where he resided first opened in 1518; it was then known as The Tavern and later became known as the Great White Horse Hotel. Dickens made the hotel famous in chapter XXII of The Pickwick Papers, vividly describing the hotel's meandering corridors and stairs.
  In 1797 Lord and Lady Nelson moved to Ipswich, and in 1800 Lord Nelson was appointed High Steward of Ipswich.
caption: View of Ipswich from Christchurch Park by Thomas Gainsborough c.1746-9
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