A ceremony was held recently to unveil a bust of Cardinal Wolsey in St Peter’s Church in Marlborough. There is also a bronze figure of the Cardinal’s cat.
The two bronzes were a gift from a former trustee of the charitable Trust which runs St Peter’s Church, David Sherratt. The unveiling was conducted by the Reverend Chris Smith, Rector of St Mary’s.
Thomas Wolsey was ordained in St Peter’s Church in 1498. Quite what his connection with the church was at the time is unknown – the most likely explanation is that it was roughly halfway between Oxford where Wolsey was curate and Salisbury where his ordaining bishop came from.
At that time Thomas was a lowly prelate, but he would rise to greatness in the reign of Henry VIII and become one of the foremost clergymen and politicians of his age until his fall from grace and his death in 1530.
![Rev Chris Smith after the unveiling - clearly showing the lower level of the doorway [To enlarge click on image]](https://marlborough.news/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ST_PETERS_WOLSEY_BUST_REV_CHRIS_SMITH.jpg)
The bust and the cat are copies of a full length statue in Ipswich, the town of his birth. Sculpted by the Scottish sculptor, David Annand, the original shows the Cardinal reclining in a chair with a book in his hand and the cat at his side.
It is designed to highlight Wolsey’s reputation as a great educator. He was also a lover of cats – they travelled with him on his many diplomatic and ecclesiastical trips abroad, and it is said that one sat with him when he presided in Star Chamber.
The bust and cat are situated in an ancient doorway set into the south wall of the chancel in the church.
The depth of this particular doorwell is significantly lower than the chancel floor, and may well have been one of the original doorways on the 15th century church which had been completed only about thirty years before Wolsey’s ordination.
It may even have been the doorway through which he entered the church for his ordination service.
