Our Lady of Ipswich
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Our Lady of Ipswich by Tiger as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Our Lady of Ipswich
Image: © Tiger Taken: 4 Aug 2012
The name of Lady Lane, an alley off Westgate, recalls that on this site stood the medieval shrine of Our Lady of Grace http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/ipsolg.htm. Among the Marian shrines in England, only that at Walsingham attracted more visitors. Along with many other such shrines, it was abolished in 1538 at the behest of Henry VIII, but it is believed that the oak statue was rescued by some sailors and after many wanderings found its way to the small port of Nettuno, near Anzio in Italy, where it is now venerated as La Madonna delle Grazie. This theory was corroborated in the 20th century when the Nettuno image, during restoration, was found to bear an inscription in Middle English. See http://www.nettunocitta.it/monumenti/madonna%20delle%20grazie/madonna%20delle%20grazie.htm (in Italian). This metal replica, based on the image at Nettuno, was made in 1990 by Robert Melamphy, who also carved a version in English oak which is now in Image which is the nearest parish church to the site of the original shrine.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.05883
Longitude
1.14909