The Ancient House, Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, also known as Sparrowes House, is a Grade I listed building dating from the 15th century located in the Buttermarket area. In 1980 the building was acquired by Ipswich Borough Council.

Architecture

The building sports detailed pargeting

Pargeting

Pargeting is a decorative plastering applied to building walls.Pargeting derives from the word 'parget', a Middle English term that is probably derived from the Old French 'pargeter' / 'parjeter', to throw about, or 'porgeter', to roughcast a wall...

, and also elaborate wood carvings around the front of the house. Four panels of pargeting show a Tudor

Tudor period

The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...

 impression of the world. The continents Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, America

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 are shown - notably lacking Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

 which was not discovered at the time.

Africa is represented by a naked man holding a spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...

, Asia by a horse and a mosque-like building, Europe by a woman with a horse and castle, and America by a man with a dog at his feet.

The front of the building as it can be seen today (in a restored state), was not an original feature of the building - it was later added by Robert Sparrowe between 1660 and 1670. It bears the Royal Arms

Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom

The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom is the official coat of arms of the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. These arms are used by the Queen in her official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom, and are officially known as her Arms of Dominion...

 of King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, and the words "honi soit qvi mal y pense". This is old French for "shame upon him who thinks evil of it", and is also the motto of the Order of the Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

.

History

The earliest reference to the house can be found in the 14th century, when it was owned by the knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

, Sir Richard of Martlesham

Martlesham

Martlesham is a village in Suffolk, England about two miles South-West of Woodbridge and East of Ipswich. It is often referred to as "old Martlesham" by locals in order to distinguish this old village from the much more recent Martlesham Heath development to the south although both form a...

. In the 16th century the house was owned by a string of local merchant

Merchant

A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

s, including George Copping, a draper

Draper

Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...

 and fishmonger

Fishmonger

A fishmonger is someone who sells fish and seafood...

, who acquired the property in 1567. It was Copping that commissioned the paneling of the ground floor room at the front of the house. He also built the 'long gallery'.

The Sparrowe family became the owners of the house in 1603, and continued ownership for the next 300 years.

Today

The Ancient House is currently owned by Ipswich Borough Council with Lakeland being the main tenant. There is also a small art gallery

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

 in the attic

Attic

An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...

, which houses occasional exhibitions.

Restoration

The condition of the house by 1979 was so bad that it was in danger of collapsing. The foundations had sunk, among other structural problems. In addition to this, woodworm

Woodworm

A woodworm is not a specific species. It is the larval stage of certain woodboring beetles including:*Ambrosia beetles *Bark borer beetle / Waney edge borer *Common furniture beetle...

 and dry

Dry rot

Dry rot refers to a type of wood decay caused by certain types of fungi, also known as True Dry Rot, that digests parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness...

 and wet rot had set in, and the deathwatch beetle was rife.

Renovation began in 1984, and no part of the building was untouched. Foundations were underpinned, the rot & infestations were eradicated, floors were strengthened, plasterwork was restored, windows were releaded and features were exposed. The renovation was not without its problems: the foundations had sunk, but the heavy fireplaces had sunk at a different rate.

Over 260 tonnes of concrete

Concrete

Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

 was used in the foundations, and 11 tonnes of steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

were used overall.