Panel 4: The Tudors

 Historical Content:

 At the beginning of the Tudor period Ipswich was still Catholic. Many pilgrims came to the town to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Ipswich, even the royal pilgrims Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. At the top of the hanging, clergy and townspeople process to the shrine. Ipswich was the birthplace of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and his coat of arms is at the top, surmounted by his cardinal's hat; while at the bottom of the post, on the left, a butcher's boy with a knife in his mouth reminds us that Wolsey's father was a butcher. Next to him is all that remains of his grand plan for a college: a waterside gateway. At the top of the panel are two spandrel carvings, St Michael the archangel on the right hand and the Dragon on the left. They were carved on the entrance to the White Hart which stood on the site of Brook Street Craft Market. On the Cornhill stood the Market Cross, removed in 1812. Two carved and painted heads top the corner posts on each side of the hanging. The post on the left comes from Brown's Yard, that on the right from an inn opposite the Ancient House in Dial Lane. Both are now in the Museum. The Shambles (slaughter house) stood on Cornhill and below this is the Royal Oak, still standing in Northgate Street at the corner of Oak Lane. During this time of religious strife martyrs were burned on the Cornhill; groups are shown suffering on either side of the market cross. Large new properties were erected on sites of religious houses suppressed or dissolved by Henry VIII. Christchurch, built on the site of the Augustinian Priory, is shown at the top of the hanging, with two of its original knot gardens in front. The mansion is now part of Ipswich Museum. Below it is the tower of the Great Place built for Sir Thomas Seckford in Westgate Street. At its base is the sundial from Smart's Wharf on the docks, inscribed 'Why stand you here idle while time passes'. This was another prosperous period for the town, the port being used by many wealthy merchants. At the bottom of the hanging are depicted, from left to right, the merchant's mark of Thomas Pownder and the coat of arms of Henry Toolye, the Merchant Adventurers and William Smart, with the merchant's mark of Thomas Drayll on the far right. The ship on the river, the Mary Wallsingham, belonged to Henry Tooley, a merchant fishing in Icelandic waters. The smaller ship, the Desire, took Thomas Cavendish of Trimley and Thomas Eldred of Ipswich around the world in the 1560s. The grampusses, or porpoises, were washed up further down the Orwell. As they traditionally belonged to the king, their tails and fins were cut off and sent to him in London. On the wharf to the right of Wolsey's Gate is the inner court of the Isaac Lord building, well restored today. Between this and the Quay is the magnificent hall and meeting place of the merchant Adventurers which also remains. The other buildings are from Brown Yard.