In this episode, I speak to artist, museum professional and researcher, Lisa Temple-Cox about the life of Thomas Birch Freeman. We talk about his work as a pioneering Anglo-African Methodist minister, missionary, colonial official and farmer in West Africa. We also explore his work as a highly capable botanist who corresponded with Kew Gardens.
If you want to know more about Thomas Birch Freeman, you can read a learning resource about him written by Lisa for Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service here (https://ipswich.cimuseums.org.uk/sdm_downloads/hh-thomas-birch-freeman/)
If you would like to see some of Lisa's artwork, you can take a look at some examples here (https://axisweb.org/artist/lisatemplecox)
The podcast artwork is by Kelly Wadsworth. You can see more of her work excellent work here (https://www.instagram.com/kellys_art_space?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==) The music is by Caleb Howgego.
You can read more local history at my local history website here (https://ipswichhistory.com/)
19 May 2025
Episode 8 - Dickensian Ipswich
Mike Garland from the Ipswich Tour Guides Association explores locations in Ipswich that appear in the works of Charles Dickens with the host in this interview episode.
23 Oct 2023
Episode 7 - Cardinal Wolsey
In this episode I speak to Phil Roberts the author of a book called Cardinal Wolsey: For King and Country that was published in 2022.
Phil talks about the Ipswich Wolsey would have known as a child, explains how Wolsey managed to rise to such power, and what his achievements were. Phil also explains how Wolsey fell from power and how he died.
Interviewee:
Phil Roberts
Podcast Artwork:
Kelly Wadsworth
Music:
Caleb Howgego
For more local history visit www.ipswichhistory.com
20 Jul 2020
Episode 6 - Ipswich and the Hanseatic League
In this episode I speak to Pat Grimwade from the Ipswich Maritime Trust about her new publication about Ipswich's little-known connections to the Hanseatic League.
The Hanseatic League was a confederation of merchant gilds that once dominated much of the Late Medieval Period European trade, connecting ports from Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the Baltic as well as a few in Britain, including Ipswich. At its peak the Hanseatic League even put together a military force that won a war against Denmark.
Pat tells us about how Ipswich came to become a Hanseatic port, what kind of things were traded to and from Ipswich during that period, and what physical evidence remains of the town’s Hanseatic connections today.
Interviewee
Pat Grimwade
Podcast Artwork
Kelly Wadsworth
Music
Caleb Howgego
For more local history visit
www.ipswichhistory.com (//www.ipswichhistory.wordpress.com)
13 Jul 2020
Episode 5 - Early Prehistoric Ipswich
This episode features a conversation with Hannah Cutler from the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service about early prehistoric Ipswich.
Hannah talks about what the area that would one day become Ipswich was like during the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). Hannah also tells us about the work she is currently doing to update the Historic Environment Record for this area, which involves improving the information held online that members of the public can explore for themselves by visiting https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/ (//)
We also hear about some historic local excavations of early prehistoric finds, including by Nina Layard, a pioneering early female archaeologist and antiquarian.
Interviewee
Hannah Cutler
Podcast Artwork
Kelly Wadsworth
Music
Caleb Howgego
For more local history visit
www.ipswichhistory.com (//www.ipswichhistory.com)
6 Jul 2020
Episode 4 - The Rights of the River
In this episode I speak to Andy Parker about how the River Orwell came to be gifted to Ipswich by King Henry VIII in 1519 and why it is that Ipswich appears to be the only town in the country to own a river.
Andy volunteers for the Ipswich Maritime Trust, which seeks to protect and promote the astonishing maritime history and heritage of the River Orwell and Ipswich. Andy wrote an article for the Ipswich Star explaining how Ipswich came to be gifted the River Orwell that you can read by following this link: https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich-icons-the-history-of-the-ownership-of-the-river-orwell-1-5508519 (https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich-icons-the-history-of-the-ownership-of-the-river-orwell-1-5508519)
I also speak to my Dad, David Howgego, about how he came to be a Freeman of Ipswich and what additional rights (if any) Freeman are actually entitled to today.
Interviewees
Andy Parker
David Howgego
Podcast Artwork
Kelly Wadsworth
Podcast Music
Caleb Howgego
For more local history visit
www.ipswichhistory.com (//www.ipswichhistory.com)
29 Jun 2020
Episode 3 - Smugglers Pond
This mini episode of the podcasts looks at the history of Chestnut Pond, located on the eastern outskirts of Ipswich in Rushmere St. Andrew, and its past connections to smuggling.
It also retells another local story about how a place called Cat House once played a part in smuggling on the River Orwell.
You can view some photographs of Chestnut Pond in a blog post for this episode as well as a map of its location by visiting www.ipswichhistory.com
You can read some notes about the history of Smugglers Pond/Chestnut Pond on the Rushmere St. Andrew Parish Council website:
http://rushmerestandrew.onesuffolk.net/information/history/smugglers-pond/ (http://rushmerestandrew.onesuffolk.net/information/history/smugglers-pond/)
Podcast Artwork
Kelly Wadsworth
@kellys_art_space on Instagram
Music
Caleb Howgego
For more local history visit
https://ipswichhistory.com/ (https://ipswichhistory.com/)
5 Nov 2019TRANSCRIPT
Episode 2 - 17th Century Ipswich and the East Anglian Witch-Hunts
In the year 1645 the biggest witch-hunt in English history got underway and East Anglia was at its grim centre. Hundreds of people were hanged in East Anglia during the following few years after being put on trial for alleged crimes of witchcraft. However, one woman named Mary Lackland who lived in Ipswich was sentenced to the especially extreme sentence of being burned for her purported crimes.
In this episode of the podcast I speak to David Jones about his book The Ipswich Witch, Mary Lackland and the Suffolk Witch Hunts.
We talk about what life would have been like for people living in 17th century Ipswich, David's ideas about what may have led to Mary Lackland's trial and execution, methods used by witch-finders to test for the innocence or guilt of the accused, and what might have been behind the emergence of witch-trials at such an extreme level during the 1640s.
Interviewee
David Jones
Podcast Artwork
Kelly Wadsworth
Music
Caleb Howgego
Here's a link to David Jones' book The Ipswich Witch, Mary Lackland and the Suffolk Witch Hunts
www.amazon.co.uk/Ipswich-Witch-David-L-Jones/dp/0752480529 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ipswich-Witch-David-L-Jones/dp/0752480529)
For more local history visit
www.ipswichhistory.com (//www.ipswichhistory.com)
1 Nov 2019
Episode 1 - Basil Brown
This first episode of the Ipswich History Podcast explores the life and work of Basil Brown, who is best known for his excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship burial in the summer of 1939. But, as we will discover, there was much more of interest to the man than that.
Interviewees
Gilbert Burroughes
Jude Plouviez
Philip Wise
Podcast artwork
Kelly Wadsworth
Podcast script and music
Caleb Howgego
Sources
Durrant, Chris, Basil Brown, Astronomer, Archaeologist, Enigma, (n.p., 2004)
Marzinzik, Sonja, The Sutton Hoo Helmet, (The British Museum Press, 2007)
Plunkett, Steven J., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58933 (https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58933)
For more local history visit
www.ipswichhistory.com (https://ipswichhistory.wordpress.com/)
Inside a recent episode
Episode 2 - 17th Century Ipswich and the East Anglian Witch-Hunts
Published 5 Nov 2019 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Yeah. So it could have been something like that. But my feeling was, well, first of all, 1645, everyone is extra on edge because the Civil War is kicking off. There's danger all around. Even if it's no fighting, there's a possibility you don't know quite where everybody else is loyal, what is life? […]
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