Panel 3: The Medieval Town

 Historical Content:

 Ipswich must have been glorious at this time. There were more than a dozen medieval churches and many amazing buildings which unfortunately have been destroyed in the modernisation of the town. The arches represent the Early English style. Within the left-hand arch is a cross section of the roof of St Margaret's Church, the finest double hammerbeam roof in Ipswich. The decorative corner above to the left has the merchant's mark of John Hall, dyer, who paid for the roof and clerestory of St Margaret's. The shield in the centre is the badge of the Augustinian Priory of Holy Trinity or Christchurch which stood outside the North Gate where Christchurch Mansion is today. In the top right corner are the clothier's shears from the roof of the Clothe Hall which stood in Star Lane near the Quay. Beside the river are some of the town buildings of the period. At the front are depicted the cottages behind St Mary Elms. To the left is the Isaac Lord warehouse. Behind them is the Moot Hall which stood on the Cornhill on the site of the present Town Hall. This court for the town, built in the late fourteenth century, incorporated parts of St Mildred's Church, seen on the first hanging. Behind the hall on the right is Pykenham's Gateway which led to the mansion of the Archdeacon (opposite the Central Library near the North Gate). In the background is the tower of St Lawrence Church with its decorative flint flushwork: it is in fact Victorian designed to a medieval ideal. Under the right-hand arch is the statue of Our Lady of Grace from the famous chapel shrine which stood in Lady Lane and was as great a pilgrimage site as Walsingham. A modern bronze statue now celebrates the site. The Staple seal beneath (now the Museum) was used from 1634 to guarantee the quality of cloth for export. The Staple warehouse held goods until the tolls had been claimed. Below the seal the Church of St Mary at the Quay was chosen as the waterside church where the Ipswich merchant Thomas Pownder (1525) and Henry 'Great' Tooley (1551) were buried. On the right-hand edge of the panel, beside the seal of the Staple, is the corner post from the Fox and Goose tavern which was in Foundation Street. On the opposite side are details of a post from the corner of Cox Lane. On the river is a warship built here for Edward I, also a small fishing coracle. The small boat to the right represents the importance of the river trade at the time, particularly in wine (the boatman is drinking out of a large goblet!). The fish below come from a medieval manuscript.