England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ipswich St Stephen

The Parish

The town of Ipswich, capital of Suffolk, lies in southeastern Suffolk close to its North Sea coast. The town lies on the River Orwell and was a thriving port. The parish of St Stephen occupied much of the centre of the town. Ipswich was made up of a number of parishes each with its own small area of the city St Stephen was compact in size and small of population, being the least populated parish in the town. Collectively Ipswich supported over 25,000 parishioners St Stephen's parish held just about 500 of that total. Ipswich rises to the north from the banks of the River Orwell with much of its centre including that of St Stephen parish was at less than 10 metres above the sea rising a further 10 metres by the northern suburbs. Today's St Stephen's parish forms the heart of "old Ipswich" and holds most of the town's shopping district with much of the area now pedestrianised for the convenience of walking public. Ipswich has a long history and has extensive reference in Domesday Book where it is recorded as Gippeswyc from a tributary of the the Orwell.

The Church

St Stephen's church sits, appropriately enough on St Stephen's Lane, and is almost central within the town, the church was declared redundant for worship in 1978 and now functions as the town's tourist information centre, a role which well reflects the "old Ipswich" centre which surrounds it. Documentary evidence is rife with wills recording donations to build and improve the church dated both 1448 and 1487. These dates tie in well with the style of the church which is of the Perpendicular style common throughout the 15th century and which formed the great church building era of East Anglia. To the basic nave and chancel with western tower, a southern chapel and southern aisle were added in 1535 to complete the basic design. Two periods of restoration are noted, the first of 1846 largely dealt with the nave roofing whilst that of 1866 was a more general revival, the final Victorian act was to add an organ chamber in 1878. Given the church's location within an extensive pedestrianised area it is one to find town parking and visit on foot. There is no defined churchyard as such with the pavement of an attractive square leading directly to the former church which is surrounded by typical town centre commercial shops, the presence of a few trees and close by commercial buildings does somewhat limit the angles available to the photographer.