Heritage Open Days 2024

Heritage Open Days (HODs) will again be celebrated in Ipswich this September with many free events and experiences at participating venues around the town between 6 and 15 September 2024.

HODs bring people together to celebrate their local heritage, community and history. Visit Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich Town Hall, The Hold, Ipswich Regent Theatre, Sailing Barge Victor on the Waterfront and many more venues for free this autumn. It’s over the three decades (yes thirty years!) since Heritage Open Days first began the event has grown in scope and scale with the sterling support of The Ipswich Society and Ipswich Maritime Trust.

What first began as a weekend dedicated to revealing buildings not normally open to the general public has now exploded into a ten-day festival that many look forward to every year.

This year’s theme is Routes – Networks – Connections, bringing together the past and present in a festival that includes workshops, talks, hidden spaces, walks and activities for all the family.

Ipswich historic buildings taking part this year are:

• Sailing Barge Victor, outside the Old Custom House
• Masters House, 19 Lower Brook Street
• The Hold – home of Suffolk Archives
• New Wolsey Theatre
• Ipswich Regent Theatre
• Ipswich Town Hall and Corn Exchange
• Ipswich Magistrates Court, Elm Street
• Ipswich School, Henley Road
• St Margaret’s Church
• St Peter’s by the Waterfront
• Ipswich County Library
• The Admiral’s House, Tower Street (home of Ipswich Institute)
• Unitarian Meeting House
• Christchurch Mansion
• Ipswich Citadel (Salvation Army) Woodbridge Road
• Broomhill Pool
• Fore Street Pool
• Pykenham’s Gatehouse
• Bethesda Baptist Church
• Christ Church United Reformed Baptist Church
• Ipswich Masonic Hall
• Woolverstone Hall
• St Mary at Stoke Church