Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, lies on the estuary of the River Orwell in East Anglia. The town has a rich and varied history with continued human habitation dating back to at least the fifth century. As a result, it has grown up with England from its earliest beginnings and has witnessed untold changes from the Norman Conquest - when the town's name was recorded in the Little Domesday Book of 1086 as Gepeswiz - to the Industrial Revolution, which saw the re-emergence of the town as a thriving port.