Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road

Burlington Road area (house names)

This catch-all name for part of central-west Ipswich includes houses in the area between Norwich Road (from Barrack Corner westwards) and Handford Road. The whole area can be seen as stemming from the estate of Richard Dykes Alexander, whose striking, bank-like house is in St Matthews Street (as shown on our Blue plaques page). Our Slavery abolitionist street names page tells the story and shows an 1867 map of the early street layout.

The dwellings here range from some impressively appointed "gentlemen's town houses" to very modest terraced houses. The way in which the ownership and the inhabitants of the housing has changed over the decades informs the condition of the buildings we see today. Families owning large houses are perhaps becoming rarer; such large properties are tending to be bought as 'business assets' to be rented out to a succession of short-term tenants. This latter practice leads, in many cases, to houses and gardens being neglected and even abused. Good, well-built houses usually do best when they are lived in long-term and cared for.

As elsewhere on this website, this is a selection of house names in the area and does not seek to be comprehensive.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 1

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 1

2019 images Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 2

Let's start with the junction of the upper part of Portman Road (formerly Mill Road) and Handford Road, looking north. The striking timber building at the left with its ventilated turret and weather-vane stands at the end of the garden of Sycamore Tower (see the next photographs and update); it isn't lettered but is well worth recording here. We learn from the James Bettley's Suffolk Pevsner (see Reading list) that it was built as a school of music by the original owners of the house. The rear gardens of the houses in Dalton Road experience a considerable drop in the surrounding roads with retaining walls; some have subterranean garages accessed from Handford Road. The 'music school' is suspended at the upper garden level and, judging by the two sets of gates, has been built with a void beneath it, presumably for storage of a carriage.

Dalton Road
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 3

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 3

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 4

Above: 1 Dalton Road has two capstones on the brick gate-posts; only one visible when we visited reading 'TOWER', so the other one is presumably: 'HOUSE'. Perhaps it was named after a tower windmill which once stood here on Mill Road?
[UPDATE 6.3.2023: 'Number 1, the names on the capstone are Sycamore Tower in reference to the protected Sycamore that grew there may years ago. Danielle Cutter.' Many thanks – Danielle also contributes information on no. 14 (below).]
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 6

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 6

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 7

Above left: 7 Dalton Road bears the simple plaque 'A.D. 1879' high in the gable.
Above right: Dalton Lodge at 14 Dalton Road (no lettering built-in, but the house name on a sign on the left gate-post). A fine example of the wealthier town house of the late 19th century (?).
[UPDATE 6.3.2023: 'Number 14 is actually a relatively recent build circa 2005 in the grounds of number 12 so any historical names may refer to parts of either property. For example the outbuilding, now a garage, to the left of 14 is far older than the house itself and was originally part of Number 12. Danielle Cutter.' Wishful thinking on our part – the pastiche of late Victorian house architecture and the screening wisteria were all too convincing...]
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 9

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 9

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 29

Above left: 25 Dalton Road has the lettering: 'FIRBANK' on the stone insert in each brick gate-post which support large gates. Firbank is Listed Grade II. A second set of gates, with unlettered supports, lies further up the wall to the east. The house itself, behind the wall and vegetation, has two gables facing Dalton Road; it appears in The Ipswich Society's original Local list (1985, see Reading list). It is dated at mid-19th century and was the home of noted Ipswich architect Martin Slater of the practice Johns Slater Haward. The next-door 'Plantation House' at 11-13 Burlington Road appears on our Named buildings page.
Above right: an end-of terrace house in 'DILWYN ST. WEST' displays a home-made street nameplate on the low front wall.

Stevenson Road
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 10a

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 10a

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 11

Above: 23 Stevenson Road; on the edge of the capstones are incised: 'TUMACO ... COTTAGE'. It is certainly a rather grand, double-fronted cottage. The source of the name, Tumaco, is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador in South America. The house is on the corner with Dilwyn Street West.

Dilwyn Street West
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 11a

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 11a

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 12

Above left: 2 Dilwyn Street West bears a cartouche just below the eaves reading: 'RACHEL VILLAS 1874' in slightly naive characters with a swooping initial 'V'. Above right: the nearby 31 Stevenson Road has a name in a similar position, this time in gothic characters: 'Martha's Villas 1870'.

London Road
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 13

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 13

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 15

Above: 11(?) London Road has a polychrome facade. The stone base of the central brick pillar bears three shaped panels:
'ARCHITECT B. BINYON BUILDERS E. & EC. GIBBONS'
'BAPTIST CHAPEL THIS MEMORIAL STONE WAS LAID BY SIR S. MORTON PETO B^ART OCT: 21 : 1875'
'PASTOR T.M. MORRIS'
The Ipswich Society's original Local list (1985, see Reading list) lists this building as 'Burlington Baptist Church'. The Ipswich architect, Brightwen Binyon, was also the designer of Ipswich Corn Exchange (see Exchange Chambers, King Street).

Burlington Road
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Baptist Hall

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Baptist Hall

sBurlington Road elevation
The rear of the building is adjacent to the rear of the Burlington Church Halls, whose Palladian frontage is on Burlington Road. This is Listed Grade II:
'An attractive mid C19 red brick building with grey brick quoins and dressings and a modillion pediment on the front. One storey. 2 window range on the front and 5 window range on each side, tall metal casements with glazing bars, in grey brick shouldered. architraves with keystones. The centre part is slightly recessed with brick quoins and modillions under the frieze. A central 8-panel double door with a projecting pedimented stucco Tuscan porch with plain columns is slightly recessed in a semi- circular arch with moulded brick intrados and keystone. The front pediment has a central cartouche inscribed "Burlington Sunday School 1860"*. Roof slate, with a modillion caves cornice.
No 2 (The Girls Friendly Society Hostel) and Burlington Baptist Church Hall form a group.'
*As far as we can make out the oval cartouche is devoid of lettering due to weathering.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 21

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 21

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 22

Above: 7 Burlington Road where the lintel of the porch is hand-lettered in gothic script: 'Broad Oke' (this has been whitewashed around, note the cream background behind the lettering). Listed elsewhere as 'Broad Oak', this strange spelling is reinforced by the modern sign for the care home, attached to the front wall.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 23

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 23

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 24

Above: 22 Burlington Road carries a shaped shield with decorative capitals: 'INGLESIDE'. Ingleside appears to be a non-specific name used for buildings and institutions in the United Kingdom and abroad, although one might have thought that it relates to Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 26

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 26

Above left: no. 24, the next-door house to 'Ingleside', bears a similar though damaged shield labelled, in plain condensed capitals, 'OVERSTRAND'. Overstrand is a coastal village near Cromer in Norfolk.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 28

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 28

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 27

Above: 30 Burlington Road. The thin edges of the captones on either side of the front gate display the indented words: 'BURLINGTON ... LODGE' of this large, double-fronted house on the corner with Stevenson Road.

Dilwyn Street West
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 30

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 30

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 31

Above: 16 Dilwyn Street West bears the tablet: 'BERMUDA VILLA 1870.' (now with added full stop); as elsewhere, a pleasant-sounding place-name has been applied to the house. This tablet has a 'new' look to it for that early date, so we wonder if it was a replacement when the front wall was cleaned and repointed.

Emlen Street
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 32

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 32

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Burlington Road 32a

Above: 44 Emlen Street has, above the central front door, a cartouche bearing the name 'GLEEVE VILLA'. Gleeve is a family name, so perhaps that of the first owner here.

Miscellania

1. 47 Emlen Street, 'ELVEY COTTAGES 1880'	2. 18-20 Dilwyn Street West, 'ALMER VILLA'S 1872'	3. 22 Dilwyn Street West, 'DAISY COTTAGE 1872'
4. 81-83 London Road, 'ORIEL COTTAGES 1849' (on shield)	5. Surgically-removed name/date plaque 51 London Road	6. 69-71 London Road, 'GLYDE'S DALE TERRACE 1879'
7. 98-100 London Road	8. 98-100 London Road, 'CONWAY VILLAS F.L.S. 1888'	9. 55-57 London Road. 'GORDON . TERRACE E.T.R. 1884'
10. 94-96 London Road	11. 94-96 London Road, 'BANGOR VILLAS F.L.S. 1888' (just readable)
12. 41 London Road, 'CLARENDON'	13. 41 London Road, 'TERRACE' (the 'terrace' is 39 to 43)

A striking feature of examples 7. and 10. is the impressive size and design of houses erected by the Ipswich Freehold Land Society – known more for Victorian terraces and semis.

Related pages:
House name plaque examples: Alston Road; Bramford Road; Broomhill Road; Cauldwell Hall Road; Cavendish Street; Marlborough Road; Rosehill area;
Ipswich & Suffolk Freehold Land Society (F.L.S.); California
Street index; Origins of street names in Ipswich; Streets named after slavery abolitionists.
Dated buildings list; Dated buildings examples;
Named buildings list; Named (& sometimes dated) buildings examples.
Street nameplate examples; Brickyards
Windmills in the Borough of Ipswich

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