Ipswich Minster – over 1,000 years of shared history

A long time ago, when Raedwald and his kin at Sutton Hoo ruled these parts, the Anglo-Saxon traders established a settlement, or wick, on the north bank of the River Gipping. Those were the days when the old Norse gods, growing tired and grey, were losing their lustre and it was not long before some Christian monks joined the settlement and founded their churches. One of these, timber built and thatched, was situated above the flood plain. Although it was a small church, it would grow in importance as the little trading-post of Gyppeswyke became Ipswich, one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in England.

The Normans valued Ipswich as it was a port close to their French homelands. The little church next to the tower ramparts was rebuilt in stone and its significance to the town established when, in its grounds, King John’s Charter for Ipswich was presented in 1200. Ipswich now had the right to trade more freely and the church, called St Mary le Tower, became the civic church, sitting at the heart of this important East Anglian town.

Since then, Ipswich’s fortunes have waxed and waned but St Mary le Tower, twice remodelled, has remained a continuous Christian presence all that time. Like many market towns, Ipswich has been challenged in the 21^st century by the demise of the High Street, with so many people preferring to buy on-line or go to out-of-town shopping centres, as well as changes to local industries. But there is little merit in regretting the past. Far better to plan for a brighter future. On 19^th January 2025, St Mary le Tower will become Ipswich Minster.

It is fitting that the civic church, in an ancient Anglo-Saxon town, is to be given this title as the original minsters date from that period. They were communities based around a church, with both a spiritual and pastoral role. Ipswich Minster will pick up this long-standing mission of the Church: to serve the community as its beating heart. Let’s look forward together!

Written by David Matthews

Churchwarden

Who wrote this about Ipswich?

David Matthews

David is a Churchwarden, St Mary-le-Tower and Acting Chair of Trustees of Essex and Suffolk Children’s University. For the last eleven years of his professional career, David was headteacher of a comprehensive school in South London.