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 martyrs Protestant martyrdoms associated with Ipswich begin with: Thomas Bilney, who was plucked from the pulpit of St George's Chapel in St George's Street, just north of the Westgate, Ipswich, as he preached in favour of the Reformation in 1527. He had previously preached in St Margaret's church. This was during a preaching-tour undertaken with the Norfolk mass-priest Master Lambert. After being forced to recant he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a year, and then returned to Trinity Hall, Cambridge for two years in great torment of conscience. In 1531 he went to Norwich and declared his convictions, and was there burnt at the stake. Martyrs named on the Ipswich Memorial: Nicholas Peke (N. Peke), 1515 of Earl Soham. (Burnt at Ipswich) - Kerby, 1546. (Judged in Ipswich together with another man named Roger Clarke, and both being condemned, Kerby was burnt at Ipswich and Roger at Bury St Edmunds.) Robert Samuel, 1555. (A minister of East Bergholt, burnt at Ipswich.) Agnes Potten, 1556. (Agnes Potten and Joan Trunchfield, both of Ipswich, were condemned together and burnt together in one fire at Ipswich.) Joan Trunchfield, 1556. (See above.) John Tudson, 1556. (John Tudson of Ipswich was burnt at London.) William Pikes, 1558. (William Pikes of St Margaret's, Ipswich, was burned at Brentford.) Alexander Gooch, 1558.(Alexander Gooch (of Woodbridge, Suffolk) and Alice Driver (of Grundisburgh, Suffolk) were arrested together at Grundisburgh and both burnt on one day and in one fire at Ipswich.) Alice Driver, 1558. (See above.) Also mentioned by Foxe: Anne Bolton (burnt at Ipswich) John and Michael Trunchefielde (both of St Leonard, Ipswich, condemned to be burnt) Agnes Wardal (of Ipswich, persecuted but escaped) Ipswich Martyrs' Memorial A 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