Publications
Books
We support a wide range of publications that celebrate Ipswich’s maritime history and the many local stories connected to it. Below you’ll find some excellent examples of the books and publications we’ve helped bring to life over the years — each one shining a light on a different part of our town’s rich maritime past.
Sailing Barges – The Dunkirk Story by Barbara Butler
The story of Dunkirk is well known, especially the incredible effort of the seven hundred-plus small boats that helped rescue Allied troops and bring them safely back to England. But for the first time, Barbara Butler turns the spotlight onto the sailing barges — a group often overlooked in the history books. By 1940, these 19th Century barges were already becoming rare, and today they’re almost unheard of. You could say that their role in saving a stranded army was their greatest moment in all their years at sea.
In this remarkable book, Barbara brings together the real voices and memories of the barges and the bargemen who sailed them to Dunkirk. It’s a powerful collection of firsthand stories: the letter Lem Webb wrote to his son when he returned home, Charlie Webb’s written account, and the note Johny sent to his mum before he died — just a few of the deeply personal insights shared by those who were there.
The book is available through various booksellers and on Amazon.
The Port of Ipswich; Its Shipping and Trades by Richard W Smith and Jill Freestone
This book has been a 12-year labour of love for the two authors who both grew up within sight, sound and smell of the Ipswich Docks and River Orwell. Both Richard and Jill have vivid childhood memories of the paddle steamers, sailing barges, mills, and cranes that typified the working port and have compiled these, along with their research, into the magnificent 382-page book telling the story of 150 years of the working port, incidents on the Orwell in both war and peace, and bringing to life characters, ferrymen as well as their dogs.
This is an important book for those interested in the development of Ipswich or more generally in ports and shipping. Although the history of shipping in Ipswich dates to Saxon times, this book deals with the past two centuries. This is a period that saw the town’s engineering companies, based around the Dock, grow to have worldwide fame and then decline; a period that started with sail, went on to steam and ended up with a ‘Waterfront’ jangling with moored pleasure yachts. The book is beautifully illustrated by photographs brought together by the authors including several from our Image Archive.
It’s a brilliant read for anyone interested in how Ipswich developed, or for those who simply love ports, ships, and maritime history. While Ipswich’s shipping story stretches all the way back to Saxon times, this book focuses on the last two centuries — a period that saw the Dockside engineering companies rise to global fame and later decline, and a time when the port moved from sail to steam and eventually to the modern Waterfront filled with moored pleasure yachts.
The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs carefully gathered by the authors, including several from our own Image Archive.
Ipswich: A Hanseatic Port by Pat Grimwade
This booklet began life as an Occasional Paper written by Pat Grimwade for the Ipswich Maritime Trust, but it quickly became clear the topic deserved something bigger and brighter — so it grew into a full colour publication. Ipswich was a major Hanseatic port in the 14th and 15th centuries, trading with cities all around the North Sea and the Baltic. Yet, until
now, very little of that story has been accessible to everyday readers, aside from a few academic texts.
In 2017, Ipswich applied to join the New Hanse League, a network of over a hundred European cities connected by their shared trading history. This special status has given Ipswich the chance to celebrate and share its Hanseatic past on an international stage.
This illustrated booklet is the first of its kind to focus on this remarkable period of prosperity — a chapter of Ipswich’s history that hasn’t been explored in depth before. It brings together research, visuals, and storytelling to shine a fresh light on the town’s role within the Hanseatic League.