Located outside the home of 1. FC Kaiserslautern this statue commemorates the five players from the south-west German club that helped their nation to victory in the 1954 World Cup Finals.

From left to right they are Werner Liebrich, Fritz Walter, Werner Kohlmeyer, Horst Eckel and Ottmar Walter.

The West Germans defeated Hungary 3–2 in the final in Berne, to give them their first international title.

Considering that the Germans had lost to the Puskas inspired Hungrians 8-3 in a first round game the turn around in their fortunes and form in getting to and winning the final was nothing short of miraculous and this was soon dubbed “The Miracle of Bern” by fans back home.

Fritz Walter, after whom the 1. FC Kaiserslautern stadium is named, was captain of the ’54 side and played for Kaiserslautern throughout his career.

Photo Credit.

More football statues here.

The original lock gates (1842) for the wet dock were located in the New Cut channel – roughly on the other side of the cut from the Steamboat Tavern – to protect them and the docks from inclement weather and tidal surges along the Orwell River.

However, manoeuvring into the out of the wet dock required shipping to make close to a ninety degree turn.

This proved to be quite a challenge for larger vessels and in 1881 a new and more practical lock at the south end of the wet dock was opened.

In this now more familiar location shipping was, and still is, able to enter and exit the wet docks directly from the estuary.

The Grampian Dawn and Grampian Princess fishing trawlers (pictured in 2005) where moored on a jetty just shy of the Orwell Bridge for many years until they were finally scrapped last year.

Originally christened Ben Strome and Linden Lea, respectively, they were built by J Lewis & Sons of Aberdeen in the early sixties for the Aberdeen fishing fleet.

After twenty years of use as trawlers they were converted for use in the North Sea oil fields as rig support ships during the oil boom years off the east Scottish coast.

By the early nineties they had found their way to London but changes in marine craft legislation effectively put an end to their working lives and they were towed out to Ipswich.

A saviour appeared to have been found at the turn of the millennium when they were purchased by an offshore radio devotee who planned to have them fitted out as radio ships, a plan that ultimately failed.

More pictures of the pair can be found here and here.

Prior to the completion of the Wet Dock in 1842, the Common Quay (above) was the only wharf in Ipswich where merchant shipping could legally load and unload cargo and, located in front of the original customs house (a timber framed forerunner to the present day building), they would have to do so under the watchful eye of revenue officers. The earliest reference to the quay is dated 1477 so it is probably some six hundred years old.

The bottom two shots show the wet dock from Albion Wharf (just to the west of Common Quay) and Ransomes Quay (the eastern side of the waterfront).

Top of the bill was this seal (skin colouring suggests to me that it’s a pup/young adult) which was basking in the sun (what there was of it) on an old wooden pontoon in front of the Steamboat Tavern on New Cut West.

Some research once we got back home revealed that it’s a relatively common occurrence to see seals on the River Orwell and not that unusual for them to make it all the way up the river to the Ipswich docks. Thoughts of putting in call to the RSPCA quickly disappeared.

On the opposite side of the docks – on the Orwell Quay – we were surprised to see, within the space of a minute or so, what later proved – after more internet research – to be a Little Egret and an Oystercatcher.

So surprised that I was only able to catch one of them on camera (the Egret) and then out of focus.

The Egret has been hunted to virtual extinction twice in this country. In the fourteen, fifteen and sixteen-hundreds it was such a popular item on the dinner table of the aristocracy that it was almost eaten out of existence and again in the nineteenth century as egret feather adorned hats became a major craze.

It has since made a comeback and is now regularly seen in Southern England and here in the East.

The Oystercatcher (picture from here) breeds on almost all of Britain’s coastlines but in recent years more and more of them have started to do so inland.

As their name suggest oysters and other shell fish are a favourite the latter abundant on the mudflats of the Orwell.

Built in the Victorian era Suffolk Camra show the Steamboat Tavern as having been a licensed premises since at least 1860.

Located on New Cut West it was ideally located to serve travellers on steamboats such as the “Orwell” (pictured in the gallery) that used a nearby landing stage.

Opened in 1890, the Grand Hall Olympia, in London, was the largest roller skating rink ever constructed with a skating area measuring 68,000 square feet.

An assortment of rinks had opened many years before this but by now “Rinkomania” was firmly established and roller rinks began to open further afield as this new “fad” radiated outward from the capital.

Skating equipment was advertised for children as well as adults, and the rinks became a new opportunity for men and women to socialize.

By March 1909 Ipswich had its first rink, “The Palace”, and in much the same way as multiple buses arrive at the same time, just four months later a second, “The Empress”, had opened for business.

“The Palace” was built in just 19 days on the site of the Old Provision Market in Falcon Street. It had a Maplewood “skating” floor measuring 140 x 50 feet and was illuminated by fourteen large gas lamps.

“The Empress”, on the corner of Portman Road and Portman Walk (the area now occupied by the car park behind the Sir Bobby Robson Stand) was a much grander affair and boasted an orchestra, tea-rooms and a pleasure garden.

Despite initially impressive attendance figures – opening night at “The Empress” had attracted 3,000 visitors – by 1920 “The Palace” had closed and I assume, “The Empress” was gone soon after.

Addendum June 14:

More on that to follow.

Three cranes operating on a site just south of Stoke Bridge as the construction of new homes and commercial premises picks up pace on a triangle of land between Great Whip Street, Stoke Quay and Felaw Maltings.

In relatively recent years the land had been occupied by various commercial premises including the former Graham’s builder’s merchant but, as a team from Oxford Archaeology discovered during a dig last Autumn, the land had been in use by man since at least the Middle-Late Saxon era.

Among the discoveries was an 11th Century cemetery containing approximately 300 individual graves, the lost church of St Augustine’s and various artefacts, including shroud pins and a piece of lead with runic inscriptions.

The remains – which are to be reburied elsewhere – contain mostly the very young and the very old, some thought to have had leprosy and syphilis, suggesting that this may have been a paupers cemetery.

As this area is adjacent to the first possible crossing point moving up the Orwell from the estuary – prior to modern development it would have been quite shallow and easy to ford – it is perhaps no surprise to find signs of an early settlement in this very location.

Ipswich Town v Colchester United at Portman Road, 5th February 1938.

This photograph, original size around 20″x10″, was included in the programme for the game against Bath City a fortnight later on 19th February.

Several interesting things to note:

(1) The people lying on the roof of the North Stand (left).

(2) The inventive use of a plank to get up to the back of the West Stand.

(3) The children hanging onto the back of the West Stand railings.

(4) The buildings in the cattle market across Portman Road.

(5) The SIZE of the crowd! 23,983 according to the photograph legend. Pretty impressive for a non league game

St Mary’s Church, Mildenhall, is the largest in Suffolk, and its 120 foot tower looms over the surrounding town.

There has been a church on the site for close to a thousand years but most of what is visible today dates from the early part of the 13th century.

Monies from the lucrative Suffolk wool trade funded a major rebuild of St Mary’s in the 15th century including a huge two-storey porch (again the largest in Suffolk) and a rather impressive roof filled with angels (although not, IMHO, as impressive as the roof at the St Wendreda’s Church, March).

Amongst the many gems inside the church is the tomb of Sir Henry North – one time MP for Suffolk – and its line of mourners.