The Ipswich Martyrs' Memorial was funded by private subscription opened in November 1902, after attention had been drawn to the story of the martyrs in a series of newspaper articles by Nina Frances Layard in the "East Anglian Daily Times" between 1898 and 1900, which were then reissued as a book entitled "Seventeen Suffolk Martyrs" in 1902 (Smiths Suitall, Ipswich). It was originally hoped to erect it on the Cornhill, the site of the original stake in the Town centre, but this was changed after the entire project met with some local opposition. It was unveiled by the Very Rev. Henry Wace, D.D., the Dean of Canterbury, on Wednesday 16 December 1903, in the presence of the deputy-Mayor, the M.P. Sir William Brampton Gurdon, K.C.M.G., the Rev Canon Samuel Garratt and many others, including a deputation from the Bury St Edmund's Martyr's Memorial Committee.