Our Lady of Ipswich (also known as Our Lady of Grace) was a Marian shrine in Ipswich before the English Reformation. Among Marian shrines, only the shrine at Walsingham attracted more visitors.
Background
thumb| right|Tudor English pilgrim badge with "M" for Mary
For centuries, England has been known as 'Our Lady's Dowry'. Anglo-Saxon England sheltered many shrines to the Virgin Mary: shrines were dedicated to her at Glastonbury in 540, Evesham in 702, Tewkesbury in 715, Canterbury in 866, Willesden in 939, Abingdon before 955, Ely in 1020, Coventry in 1043, York in 1050, and Walsingham in 1061. By the High Middle Ages there were sixteen shrines to Mary in Suffolk alone.
About half of the medieval churches in Suffolk were dedicated to St Mary under a particular title or devotion. Churches not dedicated to Mary, would have contained a Marian shrine, generally at the east end of the south aisle. Some shrines became so popular that they were translated to buildings of their own. This may be how the shrine of Our Lady of Grace came to be.
History
The medieval town of Ipswich was a busy maritime centre of trade and shipbuilding. The inns and taverns of the town were full of pilgrims. The shrine to Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich is first recorded in 1152.
The shrine of Our Lady of Grace in Lady Lane was just outside the west gate of the medieval town wall of Ipswich, on Lady Lane near St Mary at the Elms Church. The site is marked by a plaque and a statue of Our Lady.
Among surviving mentions, it is recorded that Sir John Howard paid a visit in August 1463, when his main residence was at Stoke-by-Nayland. On that occasion he apparently left an offering of 2d. At a visit on 5 May, the now Lord Howard spent a total of 10s on a pilgrimage to the shrine. At a visit on 22 January 1472 he left 10d. John Howard was of royal descent and at least by 1470 a wealthy man, a grandson of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. Howard had shown himself a close friend and loyal supporter of the King Richard III. It was, therefore, now as the new Duke of Norfolk that Howard visited the shrine again, on 16 August 1483, leaving an offering of 20d, then 4d "to bow on Owr Ladys fote" (presumably a particular offering on kissing the foot of the statue) and also 11d "in almes at Owr Lady of Grace". Howard was to die with his royal patron at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485.
After the Tudor dynasty had consolidated its hold on the English throne, Henry VII's queen, Elizabeth of York, made a donation in 1502 of half a golden angel (3s 4d) to the shrine.
Between 1517 and 1522, Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon paid separate visits to the shrine, as did Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who was born in Ipswich. or "The English Lady". Radiocarbon dating places the era when the tree was felled to provide the wood of which the statue is carved at circa 1280 to 1420 with 94% certainty.
There is also evidence in the Nettuno archives that a statue arrived there from Ipswich in 1550. It was classified as being in the English iconic style in 1938 by Martin Gillett, an historian of 13th-century iconography. Although the statue had been altered (a throne had been replaced and the posture of the Christ child had changed), details such as the folds in the material and Christ's position on the right rather than the left knee suggest that the statue came from England.
At the time of the Battle of Anzio during the Second World War, Nettuno's statue was temporarily moved to Rome for safe keeping.
thumb|[[St Mary at the Elms]]
Modern devotion
thumb|A modern replica of Our Lady of Ipswich at [[St Pancras Church, Ipswich]]
A modern shrine is now in the Church of England parish church of St Mary at the Elms, a short distance away from the medieval location.
In 1987, the Guild of Our Lady of Ipswich was founded by people from the Catholic church of St Pancras and the Anglican church of St Mary at the Elms. Their aims have been: to pray for Christian unity and to plan and achieve the re-establishment of the shrine of Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich.
On 10 September 2002 a wooden replica of the Italian statue, carved by sculptor Robert Mellamphy, was blessed and installed by the Anglican Bishop of Richborough in the church of St Mary at the Elms. The ceremony was attended by the Anglican Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the Roman Catholic Dean of Ipswich and representatives of the Eastern Orthodox and Methodist churches.