Ipswich Martyrs
The Ipswich Martyrs were nine people burnt at the stake for their Lollard or Protestant beliefs around 1515-1558. The executions were mainly carried out in the centre of Ipswich, Suffolk on The Cornhill, the square in front of Ipswich Town Hall. At that time the remains of the medieval church of St Mildred were used for the town's Moot Hall. Later, in 1645 Widow Lakeland was executed on the same site on the orders of Matthew Hopkins, the notorious Witchfinder General. Other groups of Protestants were persecuted (and some martyred) in various parts of Suffolk during the same period, notably those of Hadleigh, Beccles, Yoxford, Laxfield, Wetheringsett, Stowmarket, Framsden, Hintlesham, Haverhill, Winston, Mendlesham, Stoke-by-Nayland, East Bergholt, Dedham, Thwaite, Bedfield, Crowfield, Long Melford, Somerton and Little Stonham. The most famous was Dr Rowland Taylor of Hadleigh, burnt on Aldham Common in 1555. His ghost is said to haunt both Hadleigh and Aldham. The Protestant martyrsProtestant martyrdoms associated with Ipswich begin with:
Martyrs named on the Ipswich Memorial:
Also mentioned by Foxe:
Ipswich Martyrs' MemorialA memorial to the martyrs was erected in Christchurch Park in 1903, a short distance from Christchurch Mansion. It can be found by walking from the front of the mansion towards the children's play area. The monument has a square, stone base that bears a testament to the martyrs on the front, and lists their names on the other three sides. It was designed and executed by the Art Memorial Company of West Norwood, and is 27 ft (8.2 m) high and 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) square at the base. The base is of Ketton stone, and the shaft of polished red granite. The Ipswich Martyrs' Memorial was funded by private subscription opened in November 1902, after attention had been drawn to the story of the martyrs in a series of newspaper articles by Nina Frances Layard in the East Anglian Daily Times between 1898 and 1900, which were then reissued as a book entitled Seventeen Suffolk Martyrs in 1902 (Smiths Suitall, Ipswich). It was originally hoped to erect it on the Cornhill, the site of the original stake in the Town centre, but this was changed after the entire project met with some local opposition. It was unveiled by the Very Rev. Henry Wace, D.D., the Dean of Canterbury, on Wednesday 16 December 1903, in the presence of the deputy-Mayor, the M.P. Sir William Brampton Gurdon, K.C.M.G., the Rev Canon Samuel Garratt and many others, including a deputation from the Bury St Edmund's Martyr's Memorial Committee.[2] The unveiling address The Dean went on to speak of emancipation from Rome. The Church of Rome at that day, as the Church of Rome at this day, was a standing and eternal enemy of all liberty. With the Reformation Europe had passed through a great Revolution, and was now divided into two great parts, the one under Roman domination and the other asserting the great principles of Christian liberty. He was convinced that this country took a right step, and that we must never again part with that freedom by going back to the domination of Rome. "This country has been made by the Word of God. The effect of that Word upon the English character has been incalculable. I trust that the memorial will help to keep in mind the reading of the Bible, and above all, simple trust in God. The words of Latimer to Ridley, I would repeat to all - 'Play the man, for by God's grace we shall today light a candle in England which shall never be put out.'" Memorial texts
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