Wolsey's anniversary marked by launch of Ipswich project

Wolsey is believed to have been born in the Saints area of Ipswich in March 1473.

He rose from humble beginnings to become the most powerful man in the country, working alongside King Henry VIII.

The video shows Wolsey visiting the site of his college with the Tudor buildings superimposed on modern Ipswich. (Image: Ipswich Central)

The Thomas Wolsey 550 Project will run for 550 days - until autumn of next year - with the aim of using the Cardinal's life to improve 21st century Ipswich.

The project has four main ambitions:

● To create a new legacy for Thomas Wolsey, both locally and nationally

● To promote greater social mobility in Ipswich, and build on work already being done in this area

● To increase public awareness of the town’s extraordinary heritage, and develop a greater sense of pride in Ipswich

● To create and highlight opportunities for children and young people through a Schools and Careers Education programme

The project is led by Ipswich Central and has attracted sponsorship and grant funding.

Terry Hunt and Sophie Alexander-Parker of Ipswich Central at the Wolsey statue. (Image: Ipswich Central)

Terry Hunt, project chair and a director at Ipswich Central, said: “This project has the potential to be transformational in Ipswich.

"We have the opportunity to change people’s perceptions of Ipswich, and generate a much greater sense of aspiration among our young people.

“To achieve this, we will use the inspiring example of our very own Thomas Wolsey, one of the most extraordinary examples of social mobility ever seen, and someone who realised the importance of education more than 300 years before it became compulsory in this country.

“We would like every school pupil in Ipswich to hear about Wolsey, and be inspired by his achievements, which were very much against the odds.

"Ipswich is one of the very oldest English towns. It has been an important place ever since Anglo-Saxon times.

"We want our children and young people to be proud of the place where they live.”

A tower was to be a feature of Wolsey's College at what is now the Old Cattle Market bus station. (Image: Ipswich Central)

The Project is working with youth focused organisations across Ipswich to build on great work already being done to further social mobility and promote youth social action in the town.

It has signed up to the Power of Youth charter scheme, driven forward in Ipswich by Volunteering Matters. 

Stephen Skeet of Volunteering Matters said: “We are thrilled that the Thomas Wolsey 550 project has signed up to the Power of Youth charter - committing to empower young people to shape and lead change in their community.

"By signing the charter, the project becomes part of the #iwill movement, alongside other signatories in Ipswich and over 250 organisations across the UK.”

St Lawrence church bells would have been familiar to Cardinal Wolsey. (Image: Archant)

The project is being launched with a peel from the eight bells of St Lawrence, which Wolsey would have heard as a boy in Ipswich.

A short film has been made prior to the project launch, to illustrate the footprint of Cardinal College, which was Thomas Wolsey’s intended legacy for Ipswich.

A grand site on the scale of Oxford or Cambridge, Wolsey’s College would have changed the course of history for our town, but Henry VIII stopped construction of the College when Wolsey fell from grace. The project will tell this story and many more, as it develops.

The film is a ‘pop-up’ projection in the former Edinburgh Woollen Mill store in the Butter Market street.

A new beer is being launched by the Briarbank Brewery to mark Wolsey's anniversary. (Image: Ipswich Central)

Other launch activities include colourful bunting across the town centre, and a new ‘Thomas Wolsey 550’ beer made by Briarbank Brewery to celebrate the project launch.