Lloyds Bank, 8 Thoroughfare
   2015 images
A typical bank branch with a large chunky 'BANK' above the central door. The Grade II Listing text reads: 'Late C19, 2 storey and attic, 2 windows, massive stone mullion transom, plate glazing. Rubbed red brick face. Stone cornice below parapet with moulded stone cope. 1st floor stone balustraded balcony on enriched corbels. Twin stone ornamental gables with 2-light mullion attic windows. Stone entrance case with pilasters with rounded sides. Double doors, panelled. Hanging sign.'

18-20 Thoroughfare
   2015 images
Traditional (but probably recently painted) drop-shadow capitals on number 20 reading 'GOBBITT & KIRBY'. Next door is a striking relief of a phoenix in the flames, presumably as the shop/office was an agency for Phoenix Life Insurance. The Grade II Listing reads: 'C18, 2 storey, originally built as a pair, now 5 and 3 windows, respectively. Red brick to No 20. Stucco lined as ashlar to No 18. 2 bands, parapet. Stuccoed plinth. Sash windows in flush frames, one central 3-light brick mullion window, arched centre light with key, side lights having pilasters, with frieze and cornice to No 18 and early C19 shop front with modern glazing. Door with 6 flush panels, arched plain fanlight, pilasters and open pediment. No 20, 6-panel selection moulded door with case to match No 18.'

[UPDATE 4.3.2017: David Gobbitt has sent a number of details of buildings in Woodbridge, which we include on this page with grateful thanks:
'One of the main reasons why I've been looking into Woodbridge almanacs is to discover more about the history of Gobbitt & Kirby.
The Barr family bought the premises in 1980 and decided to adopt the name of Gobbitt & Kirby when they launched their estate agency in 1989 at Kirby House (20 Thoroughfare) as they felt it was part of the town's heritage, still well known even though it hadn't been used for several years. Their website legitimately associates them with "one of the oldest and well respected business names in Woodbridge" but the claim to have been established in 1817 (perpetuated by their predecessors) omits the names of the earlier firms, Gross & Thompson (up to 1846) and James Gross & Co.
Not until 1902 or 1903 did my great-grandfather's half-cousin Frederick William Gobbitt (1858-1924) take over from James Gross & Co. at Bank Buildings, having been the proprietor of another old-established grocer's shop at 31 Thoroughfare (opposite number 40, on the corner of New Street) since 1894. He may have worked as a grocer or assistant for more than 40 years before going into partnership with his brother-in-law Bill (Robert William) Kirby (c.1872-1947) to form Gobbitt & Kirby in 1915. Bill's nephew Albert Solca carried on trading in the traditional style as Gobbitt & Kirby Ltd from the 1940s until the early 1970s.
Old photographs show three adjacent buildings (20, 20a & 22 Thoroughfare) occupied by the "wholesale & family grocers" and "wine, spirit, ale & stout merchants" spanning the entrance to what is now called Gobbitt's Yard, where I understand there used to be a bottling plant for drinks sold in the shop or delivered to customers throughout the district.']

27-29 Thoroughfare
Woodbridge, Suffolk: a fine market town on the River Deben which boasts an early example of a tide mill; it also has links to the famous Sutton Hoo ship burial of the Anglo-Saxon King Redwald (probably), just accross the river. In the Thoroughfare, the main shopping street of the town, we find this ancient-looking milepost - or is it a milestone?The town is clearly proud of its (apparently) antique slab. A shaped metal tray-like support with the angled metal flanges seen above protect the 'ecclesiastical' sign, despite the cracks in the stone. This milestone is sited close to the Co-op store.

2001 image

The naive masonic script is redolent of a distant era when a journey to Ipswich or even London on horseback or by cart or carriage must have been quite an adventure. The stone must predate the arrival of the rail link between Ipswich and Lowestoft by a considerable time. Compare the early script with signs in East Bergholt and Stradbroke. All these reveries come down to earth with a bump as we learn from the Suffolk Milestones website (see Links) that this is reputedly a 20th Century cement replacement of the original.

Here's a further contribution from Richard at the Suffolk Milestones website [October, 2004]:
"I don't have primary evidence of this [the 20th C. replacement milestone], but I have a letter dated Sept 1993 from PW Cotton, Clerk to Woodbridge town council to a resident about this.
The response was:
"To the best of my knowledge, the milestone is made of a cement mix inside an iron framework. I would not think that it is very old - it seems to have been a replacement for an old milestone of more traditional appearance which stood on the same spot, within the last 30-40 years as a guess."
This letter was passed to me by Carol Haines, which is why I used the reference to the report in her book rather than the infernal 'pers.comm'. I assume it is based on the same letter.

This sequence is odd around Woodbridge - the one before [http://www.milestonesweb.com/sites/tm261483.htm – link no longer works] looks authentically old in style to me, but curiously different to the others made by Garrett, say
[http://www.milestonesweb.com/sites/tm281506.htm. – link no longer works].

Something is different in the 7, for instance, and the lettering of Woodbridge is not radially aligned evenly with the arc, and something about the N and the O of London isn't right.
The closest date reference I have for the Ipswich to Yoxford A12 is a secondary reference to the inaugural meeting of the trustees at the Three Tuns in 1785. Stones of a roughly triangular pattern were used but eroded very bady becoming illegible, hence the move to mileposts in the early 1800s. Regards, Richard"[Many thanks to him for adding to the debate.]

[UPDATE 5.11.2012: this milestone has been 'restored'. the cracks filled and the face of the stone whitened. Was this a good idea?]
   2013 images

2014 image 2015 image

32-34 Thoroughfare
Opposite the milestone is the shop long known to Woodbridgians as 'Bon Marché' (the huge sign once completely covered the upper windows, perhaps the cause of their bricking-up):
1911 image
Today it is Peacocks clothes shop. However, Paul Smith has unearthed (almost literally) documentary evidence of an earlier existence: "I know you are mainly interested in lettering on buildings in Ipswich, but I have an interesting advertising poster from Woodbridge you may be interested in... This print was discovered under a floor in a house in Woodbridge. It had been screwed up to seal a draughty gap in a floor board. There was an Albert Scarfe living at St Johns Street in 1881. He was Grocer, Draper, General Shopkeeper & Berlin wool seller employing 6 assistants. Albert was born in Bildeston abt 1843. Had moved to Woodbridge by 1861. Albert bought this shop and a large area of sheds, meadow behind in 1875. Still there in 1892 Whites directory but by 1900 has moved to Colchester, where he may of had a shop on the High Street." Many thanks to Paul for sending his excellent images [Paul's website has a selection of period glass slide images, as well as this poster]. It appears from the pilasters shown below that originally there were two shop units here, one larger than the other.
   Retouched version
Above left: the print as scanned. Above right: the result of several hours of restoration by Paul. Below: the building in 2014:
2015image
The Grade II Listing text reads: 'Early C18, 2 storey, brick face, painted, band below high parapet. Tiles. Mid C19 shop front, modern glass. Double span roof. 1st floor, 3 windows, sash with glazing bars and flush frames.'

40-42 Thoroughfare
   2015 images
The doorstep of number 42 features a coloured mosaic (sadly no lettering) which compares favourably with 'E. Smith' at number 51.

'A.D.'  ...  '1896' are incised into the gable brickwork of number 42 in Art Nouveau-style characters.
  
The stucco'd building at number 40 also occupied by Barretts has, since 2012, featured an attractive, bracketed clock featuring an inscription.
  

51 Thoroughfare
2015 image

   c. 2010 images

in resplendant polychrome mosaic is the finest doorstep in Woodbridge which is opposite Boots in The Thoroughfare. Bits of litter and dog-ends were kicked off the step before the picture was taken. We didn't know what E. Smith sold in the shop: see the update below for more information. The Grade II Listing text reads: 'Early C19, 3 storey, red brick, partly painted. Slates. Very wide eaves, with paired brackets. Stucco band at 2nd floor cill. 6 windows with glazing bars and flat arches. Modern shop fronts. 2 doors grouped in centre with stucco arches and plain fanlights. No 49, 6-panel flush door. No 51, part original door with fielded panels.'
Morphed 2015 image
The above photograph suggests that parts of the mosaic have been repaired in the past, note the differently coloured tesserae at upper left.
[UPDATE 4.3.2017: David Gobbitt:
'I did some research after seeing the fascinating Woodbridge webpage where you ask about E. Smith, whose name has been preserved by the mosaic in the doorway of 51 Thoroughfare. ("We don't know what E. Smith sold in his shop: does anyone have information?")
The short answer is that women's and children's clothes, hats etc. were sold by Elizabeth Smith (1869-1925) in the early 20th century.
Assuming that she and her twin sister Bertha Jeary (1869-1956) shared the same birthday, Elizabeth was born at Framlingham on 8 Jan. 1869, a daughter of fishmonger George Smith (c.1829-1900) and Hannah Holmes (c.1827-1871). George married Elizabeth Plummer (c.1826-1911) in 1872 and brought the family to Woodbridge c.1880. His daughter Elizabeth died there on 29 Sept. 1925.
Costumier Miss Elizabeth Smith is listed at 51 Thoroughfare in Kelly's 1916 directory of Suffolk. By 1922, Bately's Ltd (tailors of Ipswich) had taken over. Clothier Henry Cecil Alexander was there from 1927. I don't know who stepped in when he moved to 10 Thoroughfare in 1945, but a local directory for 1967 locates T. T. Burrows ("Newsagents & Stationery") and H. H. Burrows at number 51.
If, as I suspect, this was formerly known as Regent House, Miss Smith had been in business there as early as 1900. Kelly's county directory for that year describes her as a costumier & ladies' outfitter ("wedding & mourning orders promptly executed; a choice selection of dress materials & silks" - page 373). Her address was still Regent House, Thoroughfare, in the 1912 edition.
A quarter-page advertisement in Lambert's Family Almanack for 1901 (accessible at Findmypast: image 69) adds "Fit and Style Guaranteed". Seven years later (1908, image 8 at Findmypast) she stretched to half a page, allowing her to emblazon "- E. SMITH, -" diagonally across the panel, rising from left to right, with space to mention her latest novelties in veilings, ribbons, laces, flowers, etc. and her "Speciality in Children's Millinery".

A synopsis of the town's "Building Operations and Improvements" during the past year was published towards the end of 1909 in Lambert's Family Almanack for 1910 (Findmypast image 15):
In the matter of improvements the business houses of the town have been making good progress. Most conspicuous are the alterations at Waterloo House and at Regent House, both of which have been greatly improved and very attractive and modern fronts put in.
Waterloo House was the site of Footman & Co's drapery establishment, apparently at 4 Thoroughfare, next to the Crown Hotel.']

For other mosaic doorsteps see 'Hales Chemist', Ipswich, 'Smith',

[UPDATE 5.11.2012: the outlines of these letters are even less noticeable because a whiteish paint has been rubbed over them.]
2015 image
Noticed in raking sunlight, December 2015, the 'LOAV[ES & FI]SHES' ghost lettering glinting underneath the 'Opticians signs above the shop.

picked out in white.





The Grade II Listing reads: 'Mid C19, but with a fine elaborately carved entablature with date in centre 1650, over the shop front, the origin of which seems not to be known. 3 storey 1 window front, gray brick, flank pilasters. Gauged segmental arches to windows, 3-light sash at 2nd floor, and 3-light
casement at 1st floor. Tile roof, flat gable with verge band. 4-panel door with oblong fan. Shop front with removable panelled shutters. Nos 40 to 44 (even), 52 to 84 (even) and 90 to 94 (even) form a group.'

Roundhouse, 1 St Johns Street
2001 image 2015 image
Just round the corner is a curved building at the corner of St Johns Street and St Johns Hill. The estate agents business has clearly not always occupied this place. In the curved, bricked-up window (Suffolk whites, now honey-coloured with age, unless we're very much mistaken) in the centre of the first storey there is the fading announcement:

'ANTIQUE
FURNITURE
SHOW
ROOMS'

The reddish brown serif capitals (barely decipherable lower down - not helped by the angle bracket which once supported a hanging sign) demonstrate the use of condensed and extended letterforms to occupy the measure created by the window recess. In this way the space is nicely filled, but the most eye catching word, by dint of containing the smallest number of characters, must have been 'Show' when originally painted.
The Grade II* Listing text reads: 'The Round House Nos 1 and lA. Probably circa 1843, 3 storey, yellow brick. At rounded corner with St John fill, circular portion, slightly more than half circle, with 2 sash windows with glazing bars and centre blank panels at upper floors, gauged flat arches. Slate roof, eaves soffit. Stucco ground floor with coupled pilasters, central entrance with double doors, and 4-light case-ments right and left, continuous entablature. Wing to north, No , 3 storey 3 windows, sash, small extra window, at first floor, above entrance, gauged flat arches. 3-panel door with divided rectangular fanlight. Includes also No lA with entrance at rear.'
[UPDATE 4.3.2017: from David Gobbitt:
'You focus on the faded "antique furniture show rooms" lettering at the Roundhouse, 1 St Johns Street. This dates from the days of Alfred Barnes (1840-1918?) whose various premises are finely illustrated in extensive advertisements. I've seen the "St. John's Show Rooms" in Lambert's Family Almanack for 1901 (Findmypast image 61) and 1902 (image 59). Here is St John's Show Rooms advertised by Alfred Barnes, scanned from George Booth's Illustrated Almanack for 1899.']

Advertisement courtesy David Gobbitt
And there is the lettering, clearly shown in the engraving of the shop, on the central blind window at first floor level – how satisfying. Interesting to see the artistic licence employed to show both elevations: on Vicarage Hill to the left and St John Street to the right.

2 Church Street

2004 image 2015 image  

'THE
CROSS
E^ST  1652'

stands at the crossroads of Church Street, Quay Street, Cumberland Street and Thoroughfare.  The former public house has one of the  earliest dates on this site and has often stood empty in recent years. The  sign is obscured by the inevitable street furniture, but it's good that someone cares enough to look after the lettering.  The Grade II Listing text reads: '2 Church Street, The Cross Inn. There is a modern dating on the building of 1652, but it is considered older than that. 2 storeys and attic, leaded casement dormer. Timber framed, roughcast. Early C19 pilasters to door with frieze and cornice. 3 windows, sash with glazing bars and flush frames to Church Street as well as a frontage to Thoroughfare. Ground floor 1 window left of entrance and wine shop on splayed corner with wood case. Tile roof, hipped corner. Nos 2 to 30 (even) form a group.'

2026 image

6 Church Street

   Colour images 2004
(Photograph left courtesy Daphne Lloyd, Woodbridge Local History Recorder)
Above: not far from Kingston Terrace on Station Road once stood this building. Formerly a maltings, it was used as a warehouse for:

'SUFFOLK SEED STORES L^TD.'

until demolition in 1989 to make way for housing. This photograph was taken about a year earlier. Below: the Suffolk Seed Stores sign in Church Street in 2026: now obscured even more by a metal ladder.

2026 image

Suffolk Seed Stores once traded from both Fred Smith & Co. in Princes Street, Ipswich and premises at 6 Church Street, Woodbridge. The 'leading edge' of this building still bears the advertisement which can be seen as you descend the hill towards The Cross (centred capitals on a cream background, the brickwork around the first word has been repointed; the rainwater downpipe is presumably a later addition) :

'SUFFOLK
SEED
STORES
L^TD.'

We think that the top of the letter 'D' of 'Ltd.' is just visible above the roof line. This suggests that the nearer building was added at a later date.

The Suffolk Horse Society had its office in the Suffolk Seed Stores building in Woodbridge for very many years but when the tenancy came to an end it managed to acquire the lease, through the generosity of Woodbridge Town Council, of the upper floors of the old courthouse building on Market Hill. High up above the shop fronts and the first storey, the company used the leading edge of the building to proclaim its trading position to those descending the steep hill from the Market Hill. Suffolk Seed Stores had a greengrocery business there, certainly as late as 1985. [Thanks to Daphne Lloyd, Woodbridge Local History Recorder for this information.]
[UPDATE 7.12.2011: "Wonderful web-site! I believe, though, that the office of the Suffolk Horse Society in Woodbridge was in the Church Street building of Suffolk Seed Stores (colour 'photo), and not the one shown in monochrome. Regards, Peter White." Thanks to Peter for information about the location which we had previously confused with the now-demolished Suffolk Seed Stores building.]
We have now found an original enamel trade sign for Suffolk Seed Stores which is displayed at the excellent Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket:
2012 image

'SUFFOLK SEED STORES L^TD.WOODBRIDGE AND IPSWICH'

9a Church Street

   2026 images
Now with added blue plaque:

‘MARGARET
AGNES
ROPE
1882-1953
Stained Glass Artist and
Nun lived and worked at the
Carmelite Convent here
1923-1938’

The rain hopper, rather quirkily mounted at 45 degrees in the angle of the building, is dated '1946' (with four shaving brushes?).

Below 20a Church Street
      2026 images
The short lamp post at the entrance to this lane is overburdened with signs. The SCC lamp standard number, two school signs, a one-way sign, not to mention the 'To let' sign at the top. The rather ancient dwelling sign shown above-centre is mounted very low on the wall above one of two wedge-shaped concrete shapes which protect the rain down-pipe between them. Almost directly opposite this is...

Turn Lane

Turn Lane is a remarkable thoroughfare, accessible (just about) to vehicles for part of the way and then becoming a footpath which runs all the way down to 30 Cumberland Street and the gates onto 'Woodbridge School Prep'.

20 Church Street
  
One of a number of interesting door-cases and doors in central Woodbridge. The lion's head grasping the ring-knocker in its mouth is echoed, to some extent, by the grinning, bearded man with flowing locks seen above the doorway. This motif reappears later on.

19 Church Street 'Wood House'

A door of two letter-slots: both of them named 'LETTERS'. The lower brass one clearly presents a challenge to the brass-polisher because of the recessed flap. The upper looks as if it's painted shut.

21 Church Street

2004 image
Meanwhile, three quarters of the way up Church Street is a building bearing an impressive  relief monogram:

'RW
A^o D^m 1866^'

This is number 21, now a place of trade. The decorative diaper brickwork and bottle-glass window above the front door only embellish this fine entrance (pity about the red burglar arm...). The Grade II Listing text reads: '1866, engraved tablet above entrance with date and initials RW. 2 and 3 storey front with 2 gables (left gable ½ hipped). Square oriels, up to Gables, with 4-light mullion transom casements. Oriels and gables plastered and with mock timbering. Red brick main wall face with black doper bands. Stack with clustered diagonally set shafts. 6-panel door, right, leaded oblong fan, and stone lintel. Nos 1 to 25 (odd) form a group.'

28 Church Street (Webb Bros)
   2026 images
The gold lettering with black three-dimensionality is seen above the central door on the small window. It is almost certainly painted by an expert signwriter back-to-front on the inner surface of the glass. Also noted on the shop door was an old, tinted photogrpah of the shop in the past. Noticed by chance on social media, we found this excellent quality photograph of the shop(s). We would gues that this is the 1940s, but could be earlier. Clearly, Webb Bros hardware occupied the shop at 26 Church Street advertising, above the door, 'STOVES & RANGES'. Lawnmowers are also advertised. However, the large array of galvanised and enamelled goods, garden sieves, wheelbarrows, a garden roller and a washboard are striking. Webb Bros started in business in 1781. In 1941 there were eleven hardware shops in Woodbridge; by 1965 there were still three in Church Street.
  
Moving past the upper shop owned by Webb's as it turns into Market Hill, this door is striking:
30 Church Street: 'Ye Olde Church Gates'
2026 images

Kings Head Inn, 17 Market Hill
The Listing Grade II text reads: 'Late C15/ early C16, 2 storey, timber framed, modern roughcast, tiles. Tendered windows and doors to Market Hill, except for fragment of 4-centred carved arch. The Seckford Street front is half- timbered and plastered, with part overhanging and has a small shop front. There are 5 contemporary carved heads under a bracketed window. some original narrow mullion windows remain at the front. Internally, a large room on the 1st floor with arched tie-beams, and on the ground floor. an early 4-centred arched fireplace beam with carved spandrels.'

'KINGS HEAD INN
ADNAMS'

The Town Pump, Market Hill
'Grade II Listed pump. The listing dates the pump to 1852 and despite the indication to the contrary it was erected in 1877. Built from funds provided by the Thomas Seckford Foundation, the pump and drinking fountain provided much needed water for the old thriving livestock market. It was installed by R.W. Allen Plumber of Church Street and manufactured by J. Tylor & Sons of London that traded as part of the Crane group until 1974 when it was sold to GEC and broken up.' (geograph.org.uk)
Photographed in January 2026, the Church of St Mary is in the background (below).
     
The maker’s plate on town pump is difficult to photogrpah and make out::
‘R.W. ALLAN
Plumber [?]
WOODBRIDGE’
The wonderful Village Pumps website (see Links) tells us that the lettering on the pump: 'J. Tylor & Sons, Engineers, London' confirms the manufacturer of the pump.
Below: the Market Hall is behind the pump. 'ERECTED 1876' appears on the decorative structure housing the pump.
  
The paving slightly uphill from the pump tells its own story:

     
The ceramic armorial of Woodbridge bears the motto: 'PRESERVATION AND PROGRESS'. It is surrounded by lettered paviours commemorating donors' names. The nearby panel reads:

‘MARKET HILL
RESURFACED BY
WOODBRIDGE
TOWN COUNCIL
1984’

32 Theatre Street
     
The enticing passageway is named 'Glovers Yard' on a panel at the top. Was this really the home of glovers who stitched the leather or cloth by candle-light to earn very little? Or was it the property of a family named Glover? The rather fine double-fronted, double-gabled former shop has the fancy gold lettering; 'NUNN' on the upper panes of the double doors.

8-12 Market Hill (the redbrick section)
   2017 photographs courtesy David Gobbitt
[UPDATE 28.4.2017: 'The photographs show the plaque affixed to the premises rented by the famous "wit" and poet Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883) on the north side of the Market Hill from 1860 to 1873. His landlord was a gunmaker named Sharman West Berry (1813-1873). The shop at 10 Market Hill is now Isobel Rhodes Antiques.
Reminiscing in The Sphere newspaper in 1909 (27 March, page 290) to celebrate the centenary of FitzGerald's birth, his bookseller John Loder wrote: "The house on the Market Hill has changed owners several times since his death, and is not distinguished from its neighbours by any particular difference in appearance, so I have added a modest memorial tablet with simply his initials, E. F. G., and the date he resided there.' Thanks to David Gobbitt for the photographs and information.]

4 Market Hill: The Old Court House
2026 images
A handsome three storey redbrick house at the north-east end of Market Hill.

78 New Street: the Bull Ride (now New Street Market)
As New Street runs past the side wall of The Bull Hotel, it has an interesting history, found on the website Woodbridge Virtual Museum (woodbridgevirtualmuseum.com) under 'Changes from 1840 to 2026':-
'The entrance from New Street to the yard of the Bull Hotel has change several times since 1840. At one stage, the building on the other side of the entrance was part of the hotel. In 2005 this building was gutted and converted to flats.
'John Grout, the landlord of the Bull Hotel from 1861, was also a horse dealer of world renown. By about 1880 he had purchased two houses and an extensive garden opposite the rear yard of the hotel. He had the site cleared and then used it for a large complex of stables, called the Bull Ride. It was capable of housing up to 170 horses and representatives of both the Kaiser and the Viceroy of India came there to buy horses for the imperial and vice-regal stables. After John Grout died in November 1886 his horse dealing business, and the Bull Hotel, were taken over by William Miles. Ten years later the King of Italy granted William Miles the right to display the Royal Coat of Arms and for many years it proudly adorned the front of the Bull Hotel. Miles died in 1899 and horse dealing business faded away.
'The Bull Ride has since been used for a variety of purposes. A telephone exchange was installed in the front part of the Bull Ride in 1902. The service was provided by the United Telephone Service which was taken over by the Post Office in 1912. The Bull Ride has also been used for workshops, as a picture gallery, as a wholesale outlet for arts books and eventually for the sale of antique and second-hand furniture. In 2016 planning permission was granted to convert the Bull Ride into a restaurant.
'By 1906 a Masonic lodge had been erected beside the Bull Ride. Most of a malting complex next to this building had been demolished by 1925. The remaining part, which abutted New Street, was eventually cleared to make way for a Co-Operative milk depot which was later replaced by the Co-Operative funeral parlour.
'The 1987 Town Centre Plan noted that the funeral parlour “occupies a prominent position but makes no contribution to the quality of the street. Other buildings on the site, although occupied, appear to be in a poor physical condition. It seems reasonable to expect some changes in this area in the next few years”. Yet it was not until 2016 that planning permission to implement such changes was sought and granted.'

The New Street Market has an interesting frontage with red studded doors. At first we wondered if it had been built as a Fire Station, bu the above passag makes it clear that this was The Bull Ride, a large complex of stables built by the owner of The Bull Hotel. The small red door to the left in the modern photograph once led to the Telephone Exchange.

74 New Street: Masonic Centre
Next to this building is the 1906 Masonic Lodge mentioned in the article. It is dated on the keystone over the entrrance with masonic symbols in the roundels.


103 New Street: Ye Olde Bell & Steelyard Inn
  
'Four of the public houses were on New Street including The Fox Inn which is first mentioned in 1617. It is now The Bell and Steelyard. It is not known when the steelyard was erected but it had a long history of being used to weigh loaded wagons on their way from the market to the quays by the river.' (Woodbridge Virtual Museum). Suffolk CAMRA (see Links) dates the pub back to the 15th century. The building bears the ceramic plaque advertising the products of the Bury St Edmunds brewery Greene King.

50 New Street: 'Case is Altered'

Another fine doorcase with 'CASE IS ALTERED' on the lintel; the building does indeed look like a former public house. The Case is Altered public house at 341-343 Woodbridge Road, Ipswich. 'The "Case is Altered" was first used by an Elizabethan lawyer, Edmund Plowden and referred to new evidence in a legal case. Later Ben Johnson - an Elizabethan playright - also used it as a name for a comedy (written before 1599).Mick Holland also reports that the name "case is altered" probably came from the peninsular war (during Napoleonic wars) where the Middlesex regiment were stationed at Casa de Altoria in Spain helping the Spanish and Portuguese forces defeat the French army between 1808 to 1814. At the end of the conflict soldiers were given land and money for their part and several opened pubs named after the town where they were stationed. The name got changed over the years to the "case is altered" hence the fact that today they are all over the country.' (Suffolk CAMRA, see Links) We know a pub with the same name in Bentley village, Suffolk.

16-24 Theatre Street
   2005 images

'CORRECTION'

A few hundred yards from the top of Market Hill as Theatre Street leads towards Burkitt Road, there stands the easily-missed sign above. These Houses of Correction were minor prisons, originally intended for minor offenders - the idle (regarded as subversive) and the disorderly. In addition to its function of a gaol for the rogue, it might also include a workhouse for the poor, hospital for the old, and industrial school for the young. Some date from the early 17th century, but this seems to be an 18th or 19th century building. The central projecting section, which narrows the pavement, carries the lettering incised into a bevelled stone tablet, then coloured/infilled; the weather is taking its toll. For more on this sort of institution and workhouses in general, see the Workhouse website listed in Links. The Grade II Listing text reads: 'Nos 16 to 24 (even) Theatre Street. Former house of "Correction". Early C19, 2 storey and attic, centre block 1 dormer. Lower ground floor at rear. Now 7 windows at 1st floor including 2 casements to centre. Now converted into flats. Crude stone cornice, rendered parapet. Red brick. Slates. Nos 8 and 12 to 24 (even) form a group.'

42 Cumberland Street
2004 image
The Clock House at 42 Cumberland Street provides a fascinating sundial above the front door. the unusual pierced disc gnomon provides a small spot of sunshine to highlight the hour of the day, here picked out on the rendered, painted wall in Roman numerals: X, XI, XII, I, II, III distributed evenly on either side of an internal right angle. The helpful letters below the upright 'GMT' remind us that sundials take no cogniscence of Britain's arcane Daylight Saving practices. (See Links page for Suffolk Sundials and more sundials at Aldeburgh and Guildford.)

34-36 Cumberland Street
   2015 images
Brook House has an impressive frontage onto Cumberland Street and way up high can be seen a wind vane with an early date. However, we learn from the Grade II* Listing text: 'Date on wind vane 1674 at which time considerable alterations and additions were made, but the building is essentially of latter half C16 2 storey and attic. flipped wing, left, probably C17. Original plan appears to have been E type, with projecting blocks at rear now extended on left and right with later buildings. 4 mullion transom 3-light dormers with arched transoms to centre lights, and formerly leaded. Timber framed, plastered, with "V" jointed. rusticated quoins on right and to re-entrant angle of front wing. Brick plinth. Bracket cornice. Tile roof. Central stack of 4. octagonal detached shafts on moulded brick bases; original caps partly missing. Main entrance at side of front wing, with 6-panel door, architrave, overhanging frieze, consoles and pediment. Central door, 6-panel, architrave, quasi-pediment on carved brackets. 5 windows, including advanced wing, mullion transom casements, modern glazing, shallow, bow windows, ground floor, and C18 lead rainwater head. One blocked C16 window, and 1 or 2 early doors. Oak stair and panelled room C17 with some bolection moulded mantels.'
'AW 1674'

End wall of 4 Kingston Road
2003 image
Nearby, the short, narrow Kingston Road contains the above painted lettering 'KINGSTON TERRACE' against a pale panel on the red brick. Important enough to have been lettered in the early part of the twentieth century (?), but also re-lettered on top - the ghost of the earlier lettering is visible. The encroaching modern cabling and slight damage to the name panel - an attempt to screw in a cable-hook? - marr the photograph. This end of the town contains some interesting houses of varying period and architecture. Once the main approach into the centre of Woodbridge on into the (even narrower) Thoroughfare which eventually opens onto Melton Hill, it's a sobering thought that until a few years ago, this was a two-way street carrying heavy traffic including the Grey-Green coaches from London to Great Yarmouth. We well recall travelling down the Thoroughfare on such a coach, watching the ancient eves on each side skim past the coachwork.

The Central Maltings
At the rear of Quay Street (behind the Woodbridge Quay Church), Crown Place dog-legs round in front of a remarkable building, part of The Central Maltings, which has now been converted into residential accomodation. The view from Quay Street struck us some time ago and in 2011 we got round to photographing the lettering. Here's the view across the graveyard:
2011 images
The wall bears the legend in large caps:

 
The patchwork nature of the upper sign(s) is a challenge to anybody hoping to complete the instruction/slogan. For what it's worth, 'Bitum' must surely be 'Bitumen' – we don't think there's room for 'Bitumenous Paint'. Norusta could have been a forerunner of today's Hammerite, designed for ironwork and to inhibit corrosion.
 
[UPDATE 13.1. 2019: 'Thanks for your most interesting talk at the Felixstowe Photographic Society. I discovered the attached Woodbridge signs on one of our club walkabouts – I see that you have them already on your website, but you may like to use the panoramas that I put together. You’ve got me looking up a lot more now! Best wishes, Chris Carne.' Many thanks to Chris for 'making visible' these very long pieces of lettering.'

Below: two of Chris's close-ups of the partial signs and heavily repointed brickwork, which does not help readability. Left: 'PAINTIN... BITUM'; right: 'BEST' (more likely than 'REST') with an odd small ampersand floating above it.
   Courtesy Chris Carne

1 Quay Side
Meanwhile on the corner of Quay Street and Quay Side (opposite the Riverside Theatre) is a long-established yacht chandlers - which seems to do something else these days - which features the surprisingly early date of

picked out in black paint on two Viking ship roundels against a wall of simple pargetting.

The Grade II* Listing text reads: 'Nos I to 5(odd) Quay Side. Formerly the Ship Inn, c16, 2 storey and attic, 1 gable end window and 2 dormers, timber framed, overhanging 1st floor to Nos 1 and 3. No 5 gabled. Modern roughcast, rendered plinth, good external brick chimney. Tiles. 7 windows, some early casements, mullion and transom, 1 sash (ground floor), one original window at rear. Early shaped flat balusters to stair. Fine ribbed geometrical ceiling (in No 1). A room in this house was the meeting place of the 1st Independent Chapel in the C17.'

22 Quay Side
It is not far from here to a public house ghost sign. [UPDATE 16.10.2017: 'The former Boat Inn, at 22 Quayside, Woodbridge which closed in 1957 and is now a private house and clearly shows the word "Cobbold" where the grime has settled on the paintwork and something the other end which is probably "Tolly". Tim Leggett.' Many thanks to Tim for sending images of this example which we kept forgetting to include here.]
Photographs courtesy Tim Leggett
The Boat Inn and, yes, the door still bears the name, stands on the corner with Tide Mill Way. It probably dates from the time the Charter for the Ferry across to Sutton Hoo cliff was granted, about 1530. The face of the building alongside the road was actually the back of the pub; the front looked out onto the river.

Whisstock's boatyard, Tide Mill Way
    2014 images
Above: the sign:

“Melton became a late Georgian suburb north of Woodbridge when the grand, broad turnpike was built – itself now superceded by by-pass of 1930s. Playing fields, petrol pumps, a pleasant Regency Hall, old shop fronts, a modern farming implement retailer, a charming stucco-fronted cottage, 'Plantation Place' 1833, and very well laid-out estate on Hall Farm Road.” (Norman Scarfe The Suffolk Guide 1988)

N.B.: Coincidentally, there is a Plantation House at 11-13 Burlington Road, Ipswich.

St Audreys Lane
At the corner of Yarmouth Road and St Audreys Lane stands a former toll-house – now business premises. This toll-house stood on the Ipswich to South Town (Great Yarmouth) Turnpike dealt with in our Milestones page. This was the original A12 trunk road which, having navigated the narrow bottle-necks of Cumberland Street and the Thoroughfare in Woodbridge followed Melton Hill, through the village and eventually passing this location. Despite modifications and replacement of doors and windows (still in the original apertures), the characteristic projecting wing had windows which gave a clear view each way to spot vehicles, with easy access to the road via the front door to collect the turnpike charges.
An auction poster for the sale of the toll-house in 1872 reads: 'LOT 1: The substantially erected FREEHOLD BUILDING CALLED MELTON TOLL HOUSE with Shed for water carts & tools, & a large piece of excellent garden ground having a frontage upon the Main Road of about 160 feet, and another upon the Asylum Road* of about 126 feet; also the toll gate and posts.' The last confirms that the turnpike was gated here – essential for halting travellers ans extracting tolls.
[Information from The toll-houses of Suffolk by Patrick Taylor (see Reading list).]
*Note the reference to 'Asylum Road', later changed to the more politically correct '

   2023 images
Above: the nearby GPO wall-box on Yarmouth Road bears the royal crown and 'E ... VII ... R', This is therefore an Edwardian box. Edward VII (1841-1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January, 1901 until his death in 6 May, 1910 meaning that the Edwardian era was only nine years long.