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Civic Drive, IPSWICH, IP1 2AL

The AXA building on Civic Drive, Ipswich. The building curved to follow the line of the road.

Looking south-southeast.

A fine display as the sun sets behind the AXA building on Civic Drive, viewed from a first floor apartment in Lower Brook Street. Crepuscular rays are formed by sunlight passing through gaps in broken cloud and falling on dust and haze in the atmosphere. The rays are actually almost parallel, only converging 93 million miles away at the sun - the radiating effect is merely perspective.

Situated immediately behind St Mary-at-the-Elms Church, this cottage is the oldest inhabited building in Ipswich, dating from the 1470s. Behind is the Civic Centre, built in the 1960s and now redundant.

This piece was written before the serious fire on Saturday 25th of July 2010. The church is back in use and little of the information below has changed. See also > http://www.stmaryattheelms.org.uk/st_mary_at_the_elms/Home_Page.html Deceptively old with its ‘new’ Tudor red-brick tower. The neat crenelations, octagonal corner-posts and double belfry openings make it quite attractive and comfortable in the modern office-block surroundings. The porch and walls seem more ancient than they are, having been deliberately aged by facing with knapped flint in the Victorian period. The church has Norman origins, as the south doorway will bear out, with an engaged shaft to each jamb. Even the ironwork may be contemporary. Much was altered on the inside too. The chancel was added in 1883 and the north aisle lengthened, and at the same time the fine hammerbeam roof was constructed. The west gallery was removed and the fittings replaced with new. All this modernisation took place while the building stood in open ground. It is now virtually surrounded by houses and offices, diminishing its lovely appearance, as with so many lovely Ipswich churches.

The church of St Mary at the Elms in Elm Street was originally a Norman building dedicated to St Saviour. In the 14th century it was rebuilt incorporating some of the Norman work and rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. As three other Ipswich churches had this title the locational suffix, referring to the elm trees that formerly surrounded the building, was added. See also the church website http://www.stmaryattheelms.org.uk/st_mary_at_the_elms/Home_Page.html and Simon Knott's site www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/stmaryelmsips.htm

The perpendicular nave and north aisle at The Elms have three bays, of which the most easterly is remodelled from the transept of the original Norman church. The chancel was added in 1883 by the architect Edward Fernley Bisshopp [sic]. The interior was restored following the St James Day fire of 25 July 2010, which sadly destroyed the stained glass in the tower window and the Royal Arms of Charles II. The restored shrine of Image is in the niche on the south (right) side, in front of the pulpit.