This fascinating selection of photographs illustrates the extraordinary transformation that has taken place in Ipswich during the 20th century. The book offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during this century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of Ipswich's recent history are covered, famous occasions and individuals are remembered and the impact of national and international events is witnessed. The book provides a striking account of the changes that have so altered Ipswich's appearance and records the process of transformation. Drawing on detailed local knowledge of the community, and illustrated with a wealth of black-and-white photographs, this book recalls what Ipswich has lost in terms of buildings, traditions and ways of life. It also acknowledges the regeneration that has taken place and celebrates the character and energy of local people as they move through the first years of this new century.

This fascinating selection of photographs illustrates the changes which have occurred in Ipswich. The town has experiences an enormous amount of development to keep up with its growing population. Attractive buildings, some centuries old, were swept away as part of redevelopments in the 1950s and '60s to be replaced with ugly concrete structures. The contrasting photographs remind us of what has been lost forever. Also included are images of the Wet Dock. Its Victorian planners could never have foreseen the change of its use to leisure and residential. Included are old photographs of the dock, some dating back more than one hundred years, contrasted with new pictures of the same scenes today. Photographer and writer David Kindred has toured the town and re-photographed, as closely as possible, the scenes taken by his predecessors decades before.

If you walk through Ipswich you become aware of how buildings of all periods jostle each other for space. There are remnants of fine medieval and Tudor dwellings, terraced streets from the 19th century as well as developments from the 20th and 21st centuries. David Kindred's book throws light on how Ipswich has developed since the 1880s when photography outdoors first became practical. He has drawn on a wide range of sources including some photographers whose work was outstanding. Harry Walters, for example, was making high-quality images in the 1890s. Similarly, the curator of the Ipswich museum in the 1930s, Guy Maynard, recorded areas where changes to the town were planned including photographs of the housing around Cox Lane and the Potteries. Amateur photographers have also played their part, capturing the questionable changes of the 1960s. They have photographed the recent transformation of the dock area from a commercial hub to a mainly residential and leisure scene complete with a new university building. The 300-plus photographs chosen and captioned by David Kindred bring to life the past and present of Suffolk's county town, the town on the Orwell.