A re-survey of parish and other boundary stones in Ipswich
by Paul Horne
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Boundary marker M1 thumb
Introduction
I noticed the parish boundary marker on the County Hall many years ago, but only recently did I take a more in depth look at the boundary markers of Ipswich. From the Ipswich record office index I discovered that a survey had been carried out 33 years ago, I therefore used this as my baseline to re-survey the boundary stones.
The Ipswich Historical Society carried out their survey in 1979 to identify the boundary stones still in place within the town. Their plans to investigate the Borough boundary stones was abandoned, as it was felt there were so many building and road changes making it impracticable. Muriel Clegg published the results in 1979 and in 1982 added a handwritten addendum of two further stones making a total of 25.
On the Ordnance Survey map of 1902, the boundaries are marked by BS (boundary stone) and BP (boundary post); in the intervening 110 years many of the roads and buildings have changed making the search a difficult one. I have only investigated markers, which are visible from the public highway and have not knocked on doors asking for access to back gardens or sought access to the now redundant County Hall adjacent to Grimwade and St Helen’s Streets.
The results have been tabulated, indicating the 1979 & 1982 finds alongside those, which were located in 2012. There is always the chance that more will come to light as buildings are modified plus of course the real risk of some of those registered being lost. The County Hall was available to be checked in 1979, but the building is in the midst of major changes at the current time. It is also quite possible that I have not found stones which are still out there, the Upper Orwell Street marker took me four visits before I could see where it was hidden.
All the photos were taken by the author in the early part of 2012, with the exception of C6, which has been used courtesy of Simon Knott, his photo shows when the stone was more visible in 2007, it is now mostly covered by ivy.

Description of the boundary stones
For the most part, the extant markers are either free standing small square columns or a brick type mounted in walls. The Borough boundary is marked mostly by half round small gravestone type shapes. A surprise find was a stencilled painted mark on a house wall on Woodbridge Road at a point indicated as having a BS in 1902, this suggests that there may have been other substantial markers used as time went by, no doubt a more intensive search could identify more of these. The boundaries, which were delineated, included those of the town’s parishes, the borough, the gaol, churchyards and the military barracks.

The Parish Boundaries
Within Ipswich the parishes varied in size considerably as the town grew, and in the late nineteenth Century new churches and parishes were also created to cater for the expanding population in the suburbs e.g. St Johns, and All Saints. These new Churches acquired their own boundaries, although by this time the need for boundary stones had passed.
The parishes had been responsible for raising some taxes, running educational charities and after 1601 each parish was responsible for it’s own poor. Each parish was required to maintain a poor house and as a result the marking of the boundary was a matter of financial and social importance as it was key to know where your responsibilities stopped. It was not until 1837 that a purpose built workhouse for the whole town was created and the importance of the individual parish reduced.
Although the parish as an entity had less significance, there are records of perambulations around the boundaries even into the early twentieth Century. An account of the perambulation around St Clement’s parish described in some detail the route that was taken which included crossing Mr Cowell’s garden, over the double roof of Mr Curtis Plumb’s house and even through Mr Byles house and exiting through his hall window. Leaving the town, the boundary was still marked, but with the way being indicated by posts and trees. Even with the descriptions and maps showing the boundary stones it is not easy to find any remaining stones on the ground.

The Barrack Boundaries
The barracks were established in the area north of St Matthew’s Street in 1795 with the Victoria Milita Depot built 60 years later. The stones, which remain, are around the original perimeter; they carry the War Department arrow with an indication of the distance to the boundary of the barracks in feet (ft) and inches (ins). Barrack Lane (WD1 & WD7 –  standing for 'War Department') still contains the entrance pillars to the artillery barracks leading up from St Matthew’s Street.
Paul Horne   29 April 2012

Click on linked Photo numbers to view images
Location
 Clegg
 2012
 Photo
 Notes
St Clement’s Parish



Foxhall Road St Clements Hospital at West
side of second brick pillar from the east
marked St C B 26
 82
 Y
 C7
Asylum Lane between St Clements Hospital
& rear of Chilton/Temple Roads mid way
down lane
 82
 Y
 C10
 Approx 225m
from Foxhall Rd
end of lane
Alexandra Park inside railing facing Grove
Lane marked 19*
 79
 Y
 C8
 At Grove Lane
fence
Alexandra Park*
 79
 Y
 C1
 Nr Lodge at Grove
Lane
Alexandra Park*
 79
 Y
 C2
 Nr play area
overlooking College
Alexandra Park*
 79
 Y
 C9
 In the fenced play
area above pond
Back Hamlet house 117, low brick wall in
front of house
 79
 Y
 C3
Bond Street house 40
 79
 N
Unable to locate, 4
properties north of
Eagle St junction
Lower Orwell Street – former Barwell &
Jones wall, opposite to the lane leading to
Smart Street*
 79
 Y
 C4
Salthouse Lane Jewish cemetery entrance, exterior
 79
 Y
 C5
Salthouse Lane Jewish cemetery north wall interior
 79
 Y
 C6
 Behind a locked
gate & a layer of ivy,
photo taken 2007
St Margaret’s Parish



St Helens Street - on old County Hall opp
Orchard Street – marked Mgt B 37x
 N
 Y
 M1
Upper Orwell Street marked Mgt B 32
 N
 Y
 M2
Paget Road nr Anglesea Road junction, side
wall of 46 Anglesea Road marked MB
 N
 Y
 M3
 Possibly a modern copy
Northgate Street house 9, south of house
part hidden by extension to number 7
 79
 N
Unable to locate
St Helen’s Parish



372 Woodbridge Rd opp Khartoum Road marked
St H B 1900
Y
 H1
 Painted on side of former
shop property wall
St Mary le Tower Churchyard



South of churchyard marked - Tower Church
Yard Boundary marked TCYB 1862
 79
 Y
 T1
 "possibly moved during
Tavern Street widening
(1979)" loose & not
in situ (2012)
South of churchyard marked - Tower
Church Yard Boundary marked TCYB 1862
 79
 N
"possibly moved
during Tavern Street
widening (1979)"
not found (2012)
Prison Commissioners



Grimwade Street inside entrance to County Hall
right hand side at site of former County gaol
 79
 N
Not accessible in 2012
Grimwade Street inside entrance to County Hall
right hand side at site of former County gaol
 79
 N
Not accessible in 2012
Artillery Barracks



Anglesea Road, house 23 marked No 12 1Ft
in front
Y
 WD8
Anglesea Road, entrance to Geneva Road, East
Side marked W D No 8  3ft ?? in front
 79
 Y
 WD3
Anglesea Road, entrance to Geneva Road, West
Side marked WD No 11 1 ft
 79
 Y
 WD2
Berners Street house 89, back garden wall
marked W D 3ft No. 5 1ft in front
 79
 N
Unable to confirm
Berners Street west side service area
behind St Matthews Street on North Wall
marked W D 15 ins in front
 79
 Y
 WD5
Berners Street west side service area behind
St Matthews Street on North Wall  marked
19 ??? The boundary of the barracks
15 inches from the face of this wall
 79
 Y
 WD6
Barrack Lane near Cecil Road brick entrance
pillars capped with stone ball, west side
marked W D No 1 10 ft in front
 79
 Y
 WD1
Barrack Lane entrance pillars

WD1,7
Militia Barracks



Anglesea Road West side of radiotherapy unit -
1859 the boundary of the ground belonging to
the East Suffolk Militia depot extends thirty
inches beyond the face of this stone
79

Unable to locate §§§
Anglesea Road East side of radiotherapy unit -
1859 the boundary of the ground belonging to
the East Suffolk Militia depot extends twenty
three inches beyond the face of this stone
 79

Unable to locate §§§
Unconfirmed



St Margaret’s parish boundary stone -
Dyke St unconfirmed
 N
 Y
 M4
 Potential stone,
St George's Street
car park rear wall
Berners Street another artillery barracks
stone, unconfirmed
 N
 N
Mentioned in
Clegg, unable
to locate
Ipswich Borough boundary stones



Foxhall Road o/s house 661 stone
N
 Y
 IB1
Norwich Road o/s house 569 stone +++
 N
 Y
 IB3
 Milestone
Hadleigh Road - Chantry Park Gates IBC
concrete marker IBC
 N
 Y
 IB2
Whitton Lane, stone to side and below
Graham plumbers merchants off Anglia
Parkway North
 N
 Y
 IB4
Tuddenham Road, stone, at north west
corner of rail bridge near Humber Doucy
Lane junction
 N
 Y
 IB5
§§§: We think that these two boundary markers (listed as on one of the walls of Ipswich School in Ivry Street) are shown on our Militia Depot page.
+++: Listed as: "Low milestone on the Norwich road in Ipswich. The bolt would indicate that there had been a plaque at some point." See it on our Mileposts page and for other the cast iron examples.
*St Clement's Parish markers: Ipswich Borough Council's Local List (buildings of townscape interest) [adopted July2021] lists three of the Alexandra Park boundary markers as Locally Listed. Also the one in Lower Orwell Street.

Bibliography
The boundaries of St Clements Ipswich – perambulation on Wednesday May 14th 1902 describing the boundary marks ascertained and performed May 7th 1807 [Ipswich Record Office 942-64]
A record of thirty years work by Caesar Caine (vicar of All Saints Parish, Ipswich) 1902 [Ipswich Record Office]
Report on a survey of parish and other boundary stones in Ipswich carried out by members of Ipswich Historical Society August & September 1979 [Ipswich Record Office] with additional handwritten note from M Clegg 26/5/1982
Victorian Social Reform - E C Midwinter 1968
Rags and Bones – F Grace 2005
The Way We Went – M Clegg 1989
Ipswich Through the Ages – L R Redstone 1969
A History of Ipswich – R Malster 2000
Ipswich at War – J Smith, N Wylie, R Malster & D Kindred 2002

Paul's research builds on that of Muriel Clegg (see Reading List) and of  The Ipswich Historical Society and we are proud to make it available on the Ipswich Historic Lettering website.

Suspected boundary markers
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Boundary marker 2   Ipswich Historic Lettering: Boundary marker 12016 images
There is no trace of lettering on this stone tablet which is set into the redbrick side wall of number 9 Northgate Street (the first room back from the street is Georgian, the remainder to the rear is Tudor), and facing the car park of The Ipswich & Suffolk Club – with Pykenham's gatehouse at the other end. It may or not be a marker for St Mary-Le-Tower, but there must be some reason that this stone cube has been incorporated into the brickwork.

[UPDATE 26.10.2016: ‘Hello Borin,  I spent an enjoyable morning in Ipswich looking up your boundary stones… While in Hadeigh Road looking for IB2 I spotted the attached stone remnant containing what looks like a large letter 'B' outside 190, close to the modern metal town boundary sign and at the foot of the wooden telephone pole. The owner of 190 was unaware of it but knows she has the first house in town. It is at NGR TM 14128 44494. Kind regards, Mike Bardell.' Many thanks to Mike for spotting and recording this – if anyone can shed light on the stone, do contact us.]
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Hadleigh Rd Boundary marker 1   Ipswich Historic Lettering: Hadleigh Rd Boundary marker 2
'B'
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Hadleigh Rd Boundary marker 3Photographs courtesy Mike Bardell

Related pages:
Cauldwell Hall Road house names; Marlborough Road house names; Rosehill house names
Named buildings list; Named (and sometimes dated) buildings examples
Dated buildings list; Dated buildings examples; Dated rain-hoppers/weather vanes
Origins of street names in Ipswich; Streets named after slavery abolitionists
Street index

Historic maps of Ipswich
Timeline: historical eras, events and monarchs
Monasteries
Freehold Land Society
Ipswich coat of arms
Pubs & Off licences
Brickyards in Ipswich
Listed buildings in Ipswich


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