Blackfriars monastery (Dominicans) by Airpunk
Once, five monasteries (two convents and three friaries) stood in Ipswich and none of them survives today. In fact, only the ruins of the Blackfriars Monastery give an idea of how a medieval monastery looked like while the others have completely disappeared. In 1263, the friary was founded and remained there for over 250 years. Like everywhere else, Henry VIII also ordered to dissolve the monasteries in Ipswich and give their property to the state. After the closing in 1537, the monastery buildings were left standing - unlike their church of St. Peter and Paul whose ground was used to build a college. But in the 17th century they fell into disuse and some of them were quickly pulled down. After some decades, only the four arches remained visible, giving upcoming generations a hint that there was once a religious building on this site. It wasn?t until the 1980s that the rest of the monastery was uncovered again and preserved. This measures also uncovered one of only three surviving stone altar structures in Suffolk. Sometimes it just needs a city redevelopment project to preserve the past ? even if it?s a 1980s one which includes a car parking lot.
