Ipswich. Ipswich is a historic county town in Suffolk, England. The town is located in East Anglia about 10 miles away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line railway and the A12 road, it is 66 miles north-east of London, 54 miles east-southeast of Cambridge, and 45 miles south of Norwich. Ipswich is surrounded by two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Suffolk Coast and Heaths and Dedham Vale. Ipswich's modern name is derived from the medieval name Gippeswic, likely taken either from an Old Saxon personal name or from an earlier name given to the Orwell Estuary. It has also been known as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche. The town has been continuously occupied since the Saxon period, and is contested to be one of the oldest towns in the United Kingdom. Ipswich was a settlement of great economic importance to England throughout its history, particularly in trade. The town's historical dock, present-day Ipswich Waterfront, was known as the largest and most important dock in the kingdom. Ipswich is a non-metropolitan district and is a large settlement despite its town status. The urban development of Ipswich overspills the borough boundaries significantly, with 75% of the town's population living within the borough at the time of the 2011 Census, when it was the fourth-largest urban area in the United Kingdom's East of England region, and the 42nd-largest urban area in England and Wales. In 2011, the town of Ipswich was found to have a population of 133,384, while the Ipswich built-up area is estimated to have a population of approximately 180,000 in 2011. The town is split into various quarters, with central and the waterfront drawing the most footfall. Central is home to the town's retail shopping and the historical town square, the Cornhill. The waterfront is located south of the town centre on the bend of the River Orwell and is a picturesque setting housing the town's impressive marina. The waterfront was historically an industrial port but has since been transformed into a trendy area lined with high-rise apartment buildings, restaurants, bars and cafes. The waterfront is also home to one of the UK's newest universities, the University of Suffolk, which was formed in 2016. Ipswich has become a tourist hotspot in the UK with 3.5 million people reported to have visited the county town in 2016. In 2020, Ipswich was ranked as an emerging global tourist destination by TripAdvisor. Ipswich was voted as the 7th most desirable place to live and work in England by the Royal Mail in 2017. In 2007, Ipswich was awarded the cleanest town award, and in 2015, Ipswich was rated as the third happiest place to live in the UK. Ipswich is one of England's oldest towns, if not the oldest. At its core Ipswich was and is the oldest still continuing town to have been established and developed by the English. It has an unbroken history of community as a town since early Anglo-Saxon times. Under the Roman empire, the area around Ipswich formed an important route inland to rural towns and settlements via the rivers Orwell and Gipping. A large Roman fort, part of the coastal defences of Britain, stood at Walton near Felixstowe, and the largest Roman villa in Suffolk stood at Castle Hill. The modern town took shape in Anglo-Saxon times around the Port of Ipswich. As the coastal states of north-western Europe emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, essential North Sea trade and communication between eastern Britain and the continent passed through the former Roman ports of London and York. Gipeswic arose as the equivalent to these, serving the Kingdom of East Anglia, its early imported wares dating to the time of King Raedwald, supreme ruler of the English. The famous ship-burial and treasure at Sutton Hoo nearby is probably his grave. The Ipswich Museum houses replicas of the Roman Mildenhall and Sutton Hoo treasures. A gallery devoted to the town's origins includes Anglo-Saxon weapons, jewellery and other artefacts. The seventh-century town was centred near the quay. Towards 700 AD, Frisian potters from the Netherlands area settled in Ipswich and set up the first large-scale potteries in England since Roman times. Their wares were traded far across England, and the industry was unique to Ipswich for 200 years. With growing prosperity, in about 720 AD a large new part of the town was laid out in the Buttermarket area. Ipswich was becoming a place of national and international importance. Parts of the ancient road plan still survive in its modern streets. After the invasion of 869 Ipswich fell under Viking rule.