The medieval churches of Ipswich

Day 2 of our course on the history of Ipswich took place last night and it was a slight diversion from the timeline, as we considered the surviving Domesday churches in the town.

I have to admit that I'm not a huge architecture enthusiast. Yes, I can admire a well-turned arch as much as the next man but, in general, I'm not really a detail person. However, Elizabeth Serpell was a lively guide to Ipswich's collection of old churches.

It's my suspicion that Ipswich's gradual fade from one of England's major towns to a relative backwater meant that its churches survived, after a fashion, in that most of them survived, albeit rebuilt and, in some cases, drastically redesigned.

There are exceptions. St Mildred's, which was on the Cornhill, became the Guildhall and was then demolished to make way for the Victorian-era Town Hall. But churches like St Mary Elmes, St Helen's and St Clement's, which are in locations that are slightly off the main thoroughfares, tend to go unnoticed. You know that they're there, but their exact location tends to escape your mind when asked.

In truth, you could argue that Ipswich's churches are not particularly marvellous, particularly in the context of Suffolk. Indeed, Simon Knott, in his glorious paean to the churches of the county, doesn't include a single Ipswich church in his top sixty in the county.