Scheduled Ancient Monument: WOLSEY'S GATE, COLLEGE STREET (SF31)

`A fine brick gateway originally belonging to a proposed college which Wolsey was to set up at Ipswich. Over the door the coat of arms of the cardinal. The gateway was erected in 1528'. (IAS 5302) 2007:Examination of two test-pits to examine the condition of the ground conditions. The north-south wall component of the standing monument was measured at approximately 0.9 metres thick and at its junction with the gateway is clearly constructed from 2 inch thick Tudor bricks, as is its entire western face seen in the adjacent churchyard. However, the covering of render on its eastern side, to the north of the gate, prevents examination of the face and in the test-hole all of the exposed brickwork was clearly of much later date, sitting on a concrete footing, both of which predate the two phases of concrete slab. The most obvious interpretation is that the wall has been at least partially underpinned, probably in sections, as at least two adjacent components of concrete footing were identified. However, without being able to examine the above ground wall fabric on the eastern side of the structure, a more wholesale rebuilding/refacing of this stretch of the wall cannot be ruled out. The use of concrete combined with the type of brick used suggests the earliest the underpinning could have occurred would be later in the 19th century, although a 20th century date is more likely. What was immediately apparent was the robustness of the reinforced slabs and their close proximity to the wall. Any removal of these slabs would clearly cause significant vibration in the vicinity of the standing monument. However, the excavated test-hole did not uncover evidence relating to the unaltered base of the monument, and further investigations may be necessary. With access to the rear of the gate restricted, one possibility would be to manually excavate small trenches against the western side of the wall in St. Peters churchyard.