Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA

There's an Ipswich in Massachusetts, USA. The link is to the official town site, and there's a great site at http://www.ipswichma.com/ which has more pictures, and more information for tourists. It's in the county of Essex (!) about 30 miles from Boston, and was settled in 1633, with a principal leader called John Winthrop, who came from our Ipswich. These early settlers took over the native population's settlement, which was known as Agawam.

Early settlers were farmers, but you can get a sense that the skills of the old world were present. They fished, took molasses from the West Indies and started a distillery and started making lace, later smuggling in the first stocking-making machine (in 1822) to America.

It's a proud place, proud that it still has 58 houses built before 1725 - perhaps our local officials should muse upon the need to preserve heritage as they rip apart our docks, and allow apartment blocks to reach for the sky. What shall we leave for our children?

Welcome Ipswich, MA. We'd love to hear from you. After all, deep down, somewhere, we probably share some DNA.