King Street / Lion Street / The Golden Lion / Arcade Street

2001 images
At the Princes Street end of the very short stub of King Street running behind the Exchange Chambers, we find the lettered corners of the building above. The details below show the enhanced lettering a little better:

in bluish drop-shadow caps painted over in creamwash also appears at the Arcade Street end (shown on the left image, above). Also on the Princes Street corner, darker plain caps spelling out 'KING S^T' on the block below are obscured by years of dirt. In between, there is:

indicating the position of a water hydrant. Part of the modern metal street sign can be seen at far left. Below this, against the grubby stonework, is:

Upper part of 2001 enhancement (below) – Princes Street end:
Lower example is Arcade St end (includes full stop)
We're almost certain that this unique surviving example of painted street name lettering was quite clear and sharp until summer, 2003. At this time some swine had painted over the lettering at each end of King Street with cream masonry paint; the letters are still just visible. Typical. See the 1910 photograph of this corner below.
[UPDATE May 2015: However, we just found the painted lettering 'Lion Street' (without drop-shadow) on the stonework of the Town Hall; scroll down to see it.]

Here is a photograph of the junction of what we now call King Street and Princes Street (the rear of the Town Hall visible to the upper right) just prior to demolition of the pub - note the barriers round the site.  The corner pub, The Sickle (which has the name 'Noble' above the windows and door on the Princes Street side and was probably formerly called The Wheatsheaf) will soon give way to the new Corn Exchange (opened in 1882, see our Cornhill 2 page). It is possible that both pub names came from the figure of Ceres on top of the first Corn Exchange nearby which carried a sickle and ears of wheat. Interesting to see that the three-storey right-angle corner has been built as a curve right up to the roof and is lettered to advertise the Sickle's wines and spirits and other attractions. Next door is the 'KING'S HEAD COMMERCIAL INN' labelled in a strip above the first floor windows.
1778 map
Derivation of King Street
The name 'King Street' has wandered around Cornhill in a bewildering fashion over the centuries. The present King Street was Little King Street on Joseph Pennington's 1778 map (detail above). The name may have originated from the King's Head Inn (opened in 1531 and demolished 1880/1 to make way for the Corn Exchange), seen in the above view, which was possibly on or near the site of a building called the King's Hall where Edward I (reigned 1272 to 1307) feasted at the time of the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to the Count of Holland in 1297. So the King's Head, which appears to occupy the whole footprint of the future Corn Exchange on the 1778 map, may have been named after the ancient 13th century hall***. See the following caveat:-

‘Although the Cornhill retained its name, the long roadway to Stoke Bridge saw some changes. Until the late eighteenth century, it was King Street. Parts of the street had their individual names, Sennicolastrete 1344, St. Peter’s Street, 1761, which seems very late, Bridge Street and Queen Street, 1778. But the name King Street clung to the upper part of the street until it eventually became part of Princes Street. Even then the name was not lost for what had been Little King Street or Lower King Street became King Street. It is tempting look for a particular royal connection, in which case Edward I, whose visit to the town during the winter of 1296-7 was full of colourful incident, and with whom an otherwise unknown King’s Hall is associated, appears to be the likeliest candidate. Regretfully, it has to be said that the name King Street is often a mistaken rendering of of the familiar ‘king’s highway’ (vicus regis). It may be so here.’ [Clegg, M. Streets and street names in Ipswich (see Reading list)]

A passageway on the line of the Thoroughfare ran westwards between the rear of the Moot Hall (or Town Hall) and the King's Head, which is shown on the map as a continuous building with two central courtyards. This was one of the town's most ancient inns: one of only twenty-four to appear on a town assessment of 1689. It was a notorious venue for cock-fighting in the 18th century. These premises were listed in the 1844 White's Directory, with carriers operating from the inn to Bergholt. By 1865 it was called the Old Kings Head. Note that the Market Cross (removed in 1812) is clearly shown at the upper centre of the 'Corn Hill' in 1778. The old Shambles, at this period showing signs of decay, was directly south of the Market Cross, replaced by the Rotunda, the first Corn Exchange and eventually by the Post Office building. Immediately east of the Palladian-fronted Moot Hall on the Cornhill were two buildings: an old pub originally the Three Tuns Inn but more recently named The Corn Exchange Tavern, and Richard Cole’s shop.

***Here's a fascinating article from The Ipswich Society Newsletter, July 2018 (Issue  212) by Trevor Cooper:-
Royal wedding at Ipswich, 1297
In the year of a royal wedding [2018], it is appropriate to remember an earlier royal wedding which took place in Ipswich, 721 years ago. However, Ipswich was not an obvious place for a royal wedding; there is a shortage of information and disagreement over the actual date and location in the town.

On 8 January 1297, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, the daughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, married John, Count of Holland at St Peter and St Paul’s church, Ipswich, now known as St Peter’s by the Waterfront. In attendance at the marriage were Elizabeth's sister Margaret, her father, Edward I King of England, and her brother Edward, (later King Edward II). Queen Eleanor was already dead. The great nobles of the land and the low countries would also have been in attendance.

There is a rival claim to the location of the wedding: the now demolished Chapel of Our Lady, which until the reformation was a chapel on the corner of St Matthews Street and Lady Lane. It was a major site for pilgrimage; its attraction was the miraculous healing powers of the statue of The Virgin Mary. It is likely that the actual wedding took place in the larger church of St Peter, but that the royal party made a devotional visit to the Chapel of Our Lady as part of the overall wedding proceedings.

Elizabeth was 15 when she married, and her husband was 13. The marriage with Count John was dynastic and political. Holland had close trade links with England. They were betrothed when John was only 1. As part of the agreement, John was raised in England at Edward’s court; effectively a hostage for his father’s continued allegiance.

The context for this wedding was a complex proxy military and trade war between England and France, involving Holland and Flanders. The essence of the conflict was substantially about Edward’s control of Gascony, which was the remaining province of England’s possessions in France, and his assertion of control over Scotland. In both areas Edward was being challenged by France. It was a great power conflict between England and France, which drew in the Low Countries, because it was also about control of the wool trade. Wool was England’s main export and the greatest source of tax revenue.

By the time of the marriage, John’s father Floris V Count of Holland, had been murdered in a botched kidnap attempt in 1296, because he had changed allegiance in favour of France. Edward I was implicated, but it is unclear how much he was actually involved. Edward condoned the murder as it suited his purposes: he now had the successor, John Count of Holland, in his power.

The marriage between Elizabeth and John would have become very urgent and was brought forward to immediately after the Christmas feast. Edward would have been keen to establish his control over Holland through John who would become his son-in-law, to stabilise the all-important wool trade, and secure the alliances against France. King Edward invited a number of nobles from Flanders with English sympathies, to witness the wedding and the king’s power in the Low Countries. After the wedding John of Renesse (one of these lords) was appointed regent by Edward I, on behalf of John count of Holland who was a minor.

St Peter’s in Ipswich would have been chosen as the location for the wedding for symbolic reasons. In medieval times Ipswich was an important trading town and port it was crucial to the economic and political power of the country. In particular it was the major cloth and wool exporting port for England. The wool trade was an important source of royal revenues through taxes on exports. Edward probably chose Ipswich to demonstrate his power over the wool trade to the French, his own people, and his allies.

It was an Augustinian Priory of St Peter and St Paul which occupied a six-acre site. As a large priory, it would have had the necessary buildings to accommodate the king and his retinue. Much of the town would have been taken over for the lodgings of other notables and all the attendant clerks, servants, soldiers, priests and others,  as guests or functionaries.

Importantly for this event was that it was easily accessible by sea. It is likely that the king, his retinue and the bride and groom travelled by sea; it being quicker and easier than by road. The royal ships would have been able to moor very close to the priory, where College Street and Key Street are now, which would have been the original quay. The foreign guests from Holland and Flanders would have found it conveniently accessible by sea. It is of course also possible that the king travelled by road from London after the Christmas feast. It is likely that much of the king’s baggage and retinue travelled by road and arrived ahead of the wedding to prepare the accommodation at the priory, and to finalise the arrangements for the wedding. The royal baggage train would have brought everything for the king’s comfort; furniture, the king’s bed, tapestries for wall hangings, plate, clothes jewellery.

After the wedding John, Count of Holland, was sent to Holland to establish his authority as ruler, although he was made to promise to heed the council of Edward’s Regent: he was effectively under the power of Edward I. Elizabeth was expected to go to Holland with her husband, but did not wish to go, or Edward I did not want her to go; it is not clear.

Elizabeth did join her husband in Holland in 1298. Edward I travelled with her, through the Low Countries with her two sisters Margaret and Eleanor. This can readily be seen as a royal progress with Edward demonstrating the extent and reach of his power. They remained for several months and celebrated Christmas there in 1298.

On 10 November 1299, Count John died of dysentery, though there were rumours of his murder. No children had been born from the marriage. His usefulness to Edward had been served. Edward had negotiated a peace treaty with France. To seal that, Edward himself married again to Margaret, the half-sister of Philip IV, King of France.

Elizabeth is only connected with Suffolk through this marriage. She was born at Rhuddlan, north Wales in 1282, and died in childbirth, in 1316, and was buried at Walden Abbey, Essex. She was born in north Wales because Edward was at war with the Welsh rulers of Gwynedd, and Eleanor of Castile his wife was accompanying him as she always did.

But for all this, we have a royal wedding which took place in Ipswich for strategic reasons: these explain its choice for a royal wedding. When Elizabeth married her second husband, Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford in 1302 it was at Westminster Abbey.

 1867 map
Edward White's map of Ipswich, 1867 shows the same area with some notable changes. The block of "The King's Head" of 1778 is now fragmented into thre separated blocks and we know that the Sickle stood on the lower right corner, so the King's Head would appear to have occupied only the upper right building – directly behind the Town Hall: an indication of a business in decline. The building east of the Town Hall shown here (the legend is 'Cx') is the first Corn Exchange awaiting demolition around 1880. The grand Post Office building we see today was opened in 1882 on the footprint of the demolished 1810 Corn Exchange. On the map we sees a post office (marked 'PO') at the end of Butter Market, facing the top of Queen Street. Street names have changed by 1867 and King Street now goes eastwards from the Arcade (and end of Elm Street) and turns north up to the Cornhill. Butter Market, as shown on the 1778 map, is here labelled St Lawrence Street.

[UPDATE 2008/2009: the Corn Exchange was clad in a work of art. This took the form of a sunny cornfield against a blue sky printed on plastic sheeting covering the scaffolding. Sadly, this meant yet another coat of masonry paint, finally killing off some of the King Street lettering.]
   Close-up, 1910 at  right
Above: the junction of Princes Street with King Street to the left. The painted, drop-shadow capitals are clearly shown above the cornice in a view of the Corn Exchange's corner c.1910. For another example of a street name painted on the Town Hall stone see 'Lion Street' below.

Lion Street
   2015 images
The west end of King Street today is the confluence of three streets: Elm, Arcade and Lion. The photograph of the arch above shows all three street nameplates, plus the Ipswich Society blue plaque for Jean Ingelow.
  
While many Ipswichians might think of the lane beside the Town Hall which comes out in King Street as "Golden Lion Passage", it is actually:

  
Lion Street is named at each end by the modern street nameplates bearing serif'd capitals on a dark brown background. Left: the wall of the Golden Lion Hotel, now a noodle restaurant. Right: the corner with King Street; this nameplate has the addition of a full stop.

Public lavatories at the Corn Exchange
[UPDATE 22.6.2016: 'The sign "Lion Street" on the rounded corner with King Street in the right-hand picture – arched doorway and window with iron bars – it used to be the most wonderful Victorian-style public loo! As a child in the 1950s I would ask to go in there at every visit to town because it was so pretty – lovely tiles, shiny brasswork, I would spend far too long in there, I loved it!  My father was not so happy with it as he had to wait for me outside for long stretches. I have often wondered what happened to it. I have long imagined it to still be there behind the scenes, awaiting rediscovery, though probably not, knowing the Council. Yes, [there was] an underground Gents loo: the railings along Lion Street, on the back of the old Corn Exchange, look over and down, all still there! There was often a very bad-tempered loo-attendant in the Ladies, she would watch me with deep suspicion!
I am a Collings from Norfolk & Suffolk. In King Street, the old Sickle Inn was kept by my Great Grandfather's cousin, Nathaniel Sterry in the 1860s; he died there in 1869. My Great Grandfather, George Sterry, kept The Blooming Fuchsia, The Sorrell Horse, and beer-houses in Alan Road. My Granny, Grace Collings, née Sterry, kept The Three Tuns in Commercial Road, and the Kings Head in East Bergholt. I was especially interested in your pages on Alan Road and Rosehill Road as that is where these folk purchased houses. My father, Alan Collings, was born at 119 Rosehill Road, one of his grandparents’ houses; it's probably how he got his name***! My Collings Great Grandparents purchased one of the small holdings on Foxhall Road: 2 Lincoln Villas; they ran a market garden, it is gone now sadly. They were the parents to P. Collings, grocers at Whitton and Castle Hill shops. So, your website has been very interesting to me. Your website is EXCELLENT! Thank you. Lin Jensen.' Many thanks to Lin for this memory – does anyone else recall the Victorian public toilets on this corner of the Corn Exchange?]
*** See our Street name derivations page for 'Alan Road'.
See the period photograph of the Moy Coal Office Arcade below for conclusive proof about the toilets.
   2016 images
Above left: the corner entrance which used to be the Ladies public convenience (taken from under 'The Arcade'); above right: those railings around the basement space of the Corn Exchange  in Lion Street.
  
An interesting swing-winch in cast iron is still situated behind the railings, presumably

to load supplies for the Corn Exchange from the lane and down into the area below. Right: the locked gate which would have enabled access to the underground Gentlemen's public convenience – it's quite a long way down those narrow steps. Below: let's not forget to look up at this elevation of the building. Away from the stone-faced frontage on King Street is a rather simple, attractive combination of white and pink brick details with romanesque arches and circular/half-circular windows. This is seldom noticed by passers-by in the narrow Lion Street.



Golden Lion Yard
1898 image
John Shewell Corder appears elsewhere in this website: building historian, architect and illustrator of Ipswich, also son of Frederick Corder whose department store ran between Tavern Street and Butter Market (today's Waterstone's shop). His 1898 illustration shows the coaching entrance of The Golden Lion, from Golden Lion Yard. The 2021 photograph shows it in a sorry state, definitely the 'back yard' of the hotel with intrusive metal fire escape, relying on its hotel entrance on Lion Street/Cornhill (see below).
2021 images
It is notable on Pennington's 1778 map, a detail of which is shown on our King Street page, that Elm Street appears to run up to Golden Lion Yard. One assumes that this would be the access for post coaches. The legend 'Golden Lion' appears on the map actually in the yard, rather than on Cornhill. Below: the limesone setts are in largely good condition. Compare with Coytes Gardens.


8 Lion Street

Below: a somewhat surprising advertisement from 1936 promoting a plumbing company with premises in the relatively tiny Lion Street. H. Warner & Son Ltd. were based in the Grade II Listed, 17th century building at 8 Lion Street; today it is a restaurant (in 2023 The Moloko) just north of the arcade. The company adjusts the date at which it was founded from 1854 to 1845 in the 1963 advert – or it could be a typo? One online resource states that there are company records from 1859 to 2004.
1936 advertisement   1963 advertisement
See our Street furniture page for a ground-level casting by the company.
Below: a 2019 view of the  former premises of H. Warner & Son Ltd. which stood opposite the Borough's public lavatories – perhaps appropriate for a plumbing company. Golden Lion Yard is visible in the background.
2019 image of 8 Lion Street

Grade II and a former posting house, located in one corner of the historic Cornhill. Once it stood beside the moot hall, today it is dwarfed by the Victorian Town Hall. Originally the whole hotel complex formed the Golden Lion as the large roof sign suggests. The lion statue was once gilded; small remnants of this gilding still remain. The small public house called The Golden Lion with its entrance in Lion Street was open until 2019. CAMRA adds: 'The Golden Lion Tap was listed separately from the Golden Lion in the 1861 census. The 1916 Kelly's Directory lists the Lion Hotel Vaults in Town Hall Passage (no further information), which may refer to this establishment.'
2021 images

  
The golden lion atop the building certainly appears to have been repainted at some point and doesn't look at all bad.
  
Looking down Lion Street, we see the former Wetherspoon's public house featuring a small golden lion – presumably put there by that company with the pub name beneath, The boarded-up window has the name 'THE GOLDEN LION'

  

Arcade Street
    2016 images
Above: on the other side of the Arcade (which is more correctly an extended arch, or a short tunnel). At the west end of Arcade Street is a pressed metal nameplate attached to a curving Suffolk white brick wall, which is in need of some repair. This particular building has the distinction of playing host in the story of the struggle for women's suffrage. It used to be the office of the Ipswich branch of the Women's Freedom League. It was here that the suffragette and tax resister, Constance Andrews, was feted following her release from Ipswich Gaol in St Helens Street after refusing to pay her dog licence.

'The Mansion'
Before the street was cut through, the building was a town house known as Don Read's Mansion; it marked the end of King Street. John Norman in one of his informative Ipswich icons columns in the local press (Lives lived in the shadow of our town hall 21.1.2018) writes:
'The mansion was bought by the East of England Bank in 1836, who installed William Ingelow as banker. It was an extensive six-bedroomed property with a 20-foot-square banking hall and a similar-sized dining room. His family lived there and an Ipswich Society blue plaque commemorates daughter Jean, a poetess. In 1845 the East of England Bank failed and in 1848 the house was extensively remodelled, with an arch being cut through into a new street. This ran to the corner where the new museum was being constructed and then up to Westgate Street.'
2021 image
Here is the view from King Street with Elm Street to the left and Lion Street to the right. Horse-drawn coaches would have approached the Golden Lion coaching yard from here.
Early 20th century photograph?
This above photograph was taken by William Lovell (who was the chief librarian with the East Anglian Daily Times Company for several decades) via the excellent David Kindred column Days gone by.  The revelation that the 'arcade' at this point was used as a billboard for the coal company is surprising and one wonders if the lettering still lies beneath today's layers of masonry paint. It looks as if the signwriter has executed his work on the cement render of the remodelled building.

The capitals all bear a drop-shadow with the huge 'MOY' varying in size to closely follow the curve of the arch. The reversed-out street nameplates ('ELM S^T. AND LION S^T.) on either side of the arch are a bonus – today they have modern replacements in the same positions – as is the hanging 'LAVATORIES' (probably a lit glass sign?) on the corner with Lion Street, proving conclusively that the Borough provided public toilet facilities here (see above). Not something that can oft be said today...
The shop sign at the left reads: '... MOY LIMITED'
1870s advertisement

taken c.1890 (not shown here) of the same scene. The upper, horizontal lettering reads in capitals 'JAMES HARRISON & SON.' and running all the way around the arch in condensed capitals: 'MANUFACTURING CABINET-MAKERS.' – all with drop-shadow. Incidentally, the corner property at left at this time was a public house: The Hermit was situated at 7-11 King Street and closed in 1922; it has since had a variety of uses as an estate agents and coffee bar.]

The original function of the opening here – Arcade Street having been built as an escape from Museum Street before the latter was extended to meet Elm Street – is shown by the narrow vehicle access, made narrower by a pedestrian pavement on each side. On the tarmac, to be read from the King Street side, are the white letters: 'ONE WAY TRAFFIC, NO ENTRY' (just readable in the photograph).
2023 image courtesy Sandy Phillips

Sandy Phillips was cycling towards the arch in April 2023 when she noticed and photographed the lettering painted on the rendered and blue-washed surface above. Quite a long ladder (or scaffolding tower) would have been required by the signwriter, we think. Or it may have been applied to the uneven surface as a vinyl. The small caps of the word 'STREET' are turned through 90 degrees and bracketed by two vertical rules in the centre. This is an excellent view directly down Arcade Street with part of the Museum Street Methodist Chapel frontage visible at the end.

   2018 images
There are some interesting buildings in Arcade Street, often overlooked, perhaps. Passing through the arch, and opposite the beer garden of the bar fronting Elm Street (once the Moy coal office), there is the building shown above at 2 Arcade Street. At the time of writing 2 to 6 Arcade Street is occupied by Blocks Solicitors. This perfectly-formed little white brick building features ball finials over the rather good carved supports, one of which is shown above. The window with its decorative arch is pleasing. It must date from the 1840s to 1850s when Museum Street and Arcade Street were cut through (see below).
Further down the street, past the modern Ipswich County Court – the faded royal coat of arms appears on our Blue plaques page – stands the long-empty hall which was opened as the Scout Headquarters in April 1964. Its Art Deco frontage resembles a cinema and attempts to convert the building into a bar and restaurant have come and gone. Dated rain-hoppers can be seen on the other side of the road.
Arcade Street and Museum Street are full of sizeable Victorian houses. As the professional businesses which have occupied these premises for fifty years move out, the buildings are set to return to residential use.

Street evolution
When Joseph Pennington made his map of Ipswich in the 1770s, the area between Westgate Street and Elm Street was entirely taken up with gardens, but in the 1840s plans were made for a new street linking Westgate and Elm streets. An opening for the new thoroughfare was made through part of what had been Seckford House. Thomas Seckford (1515-1587) built his mansion at this site, sometimes known as 'the Great Place' or 'the Great House', such was its prestige. See our Lost Ipswich signs page for the 'Before Willis' section: more on the streets in this area and an engraving of the impressive Seckford House. The new street ran south as far as the new Ipswich Museum, designed by Christopher Fleury opened in 1847. Today this is Arlington's Restaurant. The street hugged the Museum, taking a sharp left turn and heading eastwards. However, it did not connect with the Lion/King/Elm Street junction until 1850 with the cutting of the 'Arcade' through one of the houses (lived in between 1834-1844 by novelist Jean Ingelow – see our Blue plaques page). In 1856 Thursby's Lane (up to then linking Friars Street northwards to Elm Street) was extended to a junction with Museum Street. The east-west part of Museum Street was then renamed Arcade Street and the whole north-south street from Westgate Street to Princes Street – including the kink at the Arcade Street junction which we see today – was renamed Museum Street. The tiny stub of Thursby's Lane between Princes Street and Friars Street stayed until the building of the Willis building in 1975, when roads were reshaped or lost. [Information from R. Malster: Wharncliffe companion, see Reading list.]

2023 images courtesy Sandy Phillips

G. H. Laud & Son were a Liverpool foundry.