There was talk of its location, somewhere near the Corn Exchange in the centre of town.

There was also a story about how the removals man liked to go to the races at Newmarket, taking his horse and cart. And that having drunk away whatever winnings he'd had, he'd find the cart, leaving the horse to bring him all the way home to Ipswich.

Lots of talk, but little hard information to go on.

Then, one lunchtime, on a trip to the Suffolk Record Office, I was flicking through some old editions of Kelly's directory for Ipswich, going back to the early 1900s. There, in black and white, was a full page advertisement for the Freston Bros., general carters and contractors. This was in the directory for 1909.

I'd already found out from my grandmother's wedding certificate that my great-grandfather was called Frederick Freston, occupation "master carter".

I believe that his brother was Frank Freston, who possibly went on to run the business on his own (according to another Kelly's ad some years later). There was also a John Freston, who I think ran the "hay, corn and straw" part of the operation.

I'm still looking into all this, hence the speculative tone.