What is notable about the part of Ipswich where you live? Does your street have any notable former residents – or has anyone dug up any ancient relics in the garden of a nearby home?
Ipswich museums have put together a new interactive map of the town so people can see instantly what has been found in their part of the town.
Staff from the Museum and Christchurch Mansion love welcoming visitors on Heritage Open Days, but as things are a little different this year, they thought they’d try something new too.
To coincide with the national festival, people can explore the town’s past through the new interactive digital map. It shows objects from the museum collections which were made, found, used and lost in Ipswich. Just click on each marker to find out more.
The museums want visitors to be curious about Ipswich and its past, and to get a sense of place from the museum collections. Ipswich Makerspace member Phil Willis helped to create the original version of the map, which featured in the 2018 exhibition You Are Here: The Making of Ipswich.
MORE: Ipswich museums reopen after lockdown
Portfolio holder for museums Carole Jones said: “The map is a wonderful way to discover more about Ipswich’s past. Our town has a fascinating history and it’s great that people will be able to explore the museum collections through their connections to places in Ipswich.”
Collections and Learning Curator Melanie Hollis said: “What’s lovely about the map is that you don’t have to read pages and pages of information to find out more about the town - these little snippets of the past, about people who used to live here, make it quite fun to explore and to build up a picture of Ipswich’s history.”
Ipswich museums will be adding more objects to the map now that it’s online, so you can keep coming back and finding out more about the town around us and under our feet.
Both Ipswich Museum in the High Street and Christchurch Mansion are open to the public again now – but visitors need to book tickets online in advance to ensure that there is space for them when they arrive. The visit to the Mansion includes the Ed Sheeran: Made in Suffolk show.
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