IPSWICH: As the bells that Cardinal Wolsey would have heard as a child now ring out again over his home town, calls are growing for Ipswich to recognise its most famous son.

IPSWICH: As the bells that Cardinal Wolsey would have heard as a child now ring out again over his home town, calls are growing for Ipswich to recognise its most famous son.

As Suffolk's county town goes through dramatic changes at the dawn of the 21st century, civic leaders and businesses are looking at ways of marking Thomas Wolsey's contribution to English History.

Wolsey was Henry VIII's chief minister during the early part of his reign and during his divorce from Katherine of Aragon which provoked the split from Rome and establishment of the Church of England.

But until now there has been little to record Cardinal Wolsey in his home town - there is a plaque on a building in St Nicholas' Street near his childhood home and a school named after him.

The last surviving part of the college he established near the river, Wolsey's Gate, is a little-known and largely neglected feature well off the beaten track for most visitors.

Now, however, moves are underway to try to ensure that Cardinal Wolsey has a more prominent memorial in the town.

The need for such a memorial was highlighted last month when the bells of St Lawrence Church were re-hung and rang out again over the town.

They are believed to be the oldest complete peel in Christendom, and would have been heard by the young Wolsey as he grew up above his father's butcher's shop off St Nicholas' Street.

See Monday's Evening Star for details of how Ipswich is hoping to honour Cardinal Wolsey.