A Cardinal Error

A compilation of shots, mainly from the area of Ipswich where Thomas Wolsey was born , circa 1470, over his father's butchers shop - believed to have been on the corner of Silent Street - although the exact location is not known for sure. The history of Cardinal Wolsey, once the most powerful man in England after his master, King Henry VIII, whom he served as Chancellor as well as his role as  head of the Church in England, is well documented, so all I need add is a reminder that he fell from power and was arrested for treason after failing to obtain the Pope's consent for Henry's first divorce - an event which led to the monarch declaring himself head of the Church of England.

There is so much history here that space only allows brief mention of a few snippets such as the surprising fact that the first (and so far only) statue of Ipswich's most famous son (on the right) was only erected as recently as 2011 although many locations, institutions, a pub and a theatre have long borne his name, and his image was used all over town in the bleak years of the 'noughties'  when high street shops were closing at an alarming rate and the council attempted to disguise reality with life-size photo-murals to give the impression of 'business as usual.'

I should also mention that the name Silent Street may have originated when hay was strewn on the cobbled road to muffle the sound of horses' hooves to allow patients at a nearby hospital to recover in peace - a nice story, although probably apocryphal - and that the now unused Victorian post box and the antiquarian bookshop have no connection with Wolsey but are included because they are unmissable features of this colourful street corner.