Bury St Edmunds
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Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...
, cathedral town and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008.
Bury St Edmunds Abbey The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suffolk, England. It was ...
is near the town centre. Bury is the seat of the
Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...
of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, with the
episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
at
St Edmundsbury Cathedral St Edmundsbury Cathedral (formally entitled the Cathedral Church of St James and St Edmund) is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is the seat of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and is in ...
. The town, originally called Beodericsworth, was built on a grid pattern by Abbot Baldwin around 1080. It is known for brewing and malting (
Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. ...
brewery) and for a
British Sugar British Sugar plc is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods and the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet, as well as medicinal cannabis. British Sugar processes all sugar beet grown in the United Kingdom, and produces about two-t ...
processing factory, where Silver Spoon sugar is produced. The town is the cultural and retail centre for West Suffolk and tourism is a major part of the economy.


Etymology

The name ''Bury'' is
etymological Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...
ly connected with ''
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...
'', which has
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s in other
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
such as the German meaning "fortress, castle";
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
meaning "wall, castle"; and
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
meaning "city". They all derive from
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
meaning "fortress". This in turn derives from the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
root meaning "fortified elevation", with cognates including
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
' ("stack") and
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
''-'' ("high, elevated building"). The second section of the name refers to
Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...
King of the
East Angles la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles , common_name = East Anglia , era = , status = Great Kingdom , status_text = Independent (6th centu ...
, called Edmund the Martyr, who was killed by the
Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
in the year 869. He became venerated as a saint and a martyr, and his shrine made Bury St Edmunds an important place of pilgrimage. The formal name of the diocese is "St Edmundsbury", and the town is colloquially known as Bury.


History

An archaeological study in the 2010s on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds (Beodericsworth, Bedrichesworth, St Edmund's Bury) uncovered evidence of Bronze Age activity in the area. The dig also uncovered
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
coins from the first and second centuries. Samuel Lewis, writing in 1848, notes the earlier discovery of Roman antiquities, and as with several other writers connects Bury St Edmunds with ''Villa Faustini'' or ''
Villa Faustina A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became sm ...
'', although the location of this Roman site is also discussed by E. Gillingwater (1804), who notes the lack of evidence for it being here. The town was one of the royal boroughs of the
Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
.
Sigebert Sigebert (which means roughly "magnificent victory"), also spelled Sigibert, Sigobert, Sigeberht, or Siegeberht, is the name of: Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kings * Sigobert the Lame (died c. 509), a king of the Franks * Sigebert I, King of Austrasi ...
, king of the
East Angles la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles , common_name = East Anglia , era = , status = Great Kingdom , status_text = Independent (6th centu ...
, founded a
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
here about 633, which in 903 became the burial place of King Edmund the Martyr, who was slain by the
Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...
in 869, and owed most of its early celebrity to the reputed miracles performed at the shrine of the martyr king. The town grew around
Bury St Edmunds Abbey The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suffolk, England. It was ...
, a site of
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
. By 925 the fame of St Edmund had spread far and wide, and the name of the town was changed to St Edmund's Bury. In 942 or 945, King
Edmund I Edmund I or Eadmund I (920/921 – 26 May 946) was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death in 946. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. After ...
had granted to the
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
and
convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
jurisdiction over the whole town, free from all secular services, and
Canute Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...
in 1020 freed it from episcopal control.
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æth ...
made the abbot lord of the franchise.
Sweyn Sweyn is a Scandinavian masculine given name which may refer to: Kings: * Sweyn Forkbeard (960–1014), King of Denmark, England, and Norway as Sweyn I * Sweyn or Svein Knutsson (c. 1016–1035), King of Norway as Sweyn II * Sweyn II of Denmark (10 ...
, in 1020, having destroyed the older monastery and ejected the secular priests, built a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
abbey on St Edmund's Bury. Count
Alan Rufus Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz ( Breton), Alain le Roux ( French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II o ...
is said to have been interred at Bury St Edmunds Abbey in 1093. In the 12th and 13th centuries the head of the de Hastings family, who held the Lordship of the Manor of Ashill in Norfolk, was hereditary Steward of this abbey. On 18 March 1190, two days after the more well-known massacre of Jews at Clifford Tower in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, the people of Bury St Edmunds massacred 57 Jews. Later that year, Abbot Samson successfully petitioned
King Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
for permission to evict the town's remaining Jewish inhabitants "on the grounds that everything in the town... belonged by right to St Edmund: therefore, either the Jews should be St Edmund's men or they should be banished from the town."Jocelin of Brakelond, Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, trans. Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989) This expulsion predates the
Edict of Expulsion The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by King Edward I of England on 18 July 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. Edward advised the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints' D ...
by 100 years. In 1198, a fire burned the shrine of St Edmund, leading to the inspection of his corpse by Abbot Samson and the translation of St Edmund's body to a new location in the
abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...
. The town is associated with
Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
. In 1214 the barons of England are believed to have met in the abbey church and sworn to force King John to accept the
Charter of Liberties The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, or Statutes of the Realm, was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne in 1100. It sought to bind the King to certain laws regarding the ...
, the document which influenced the creation of the Magna Carta, a copy of which was displayed in the town's cathedral during the 2014 celebrations. By various grants from the abbots, the town gradually attained the rank of a
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...
. Henry III in 1235 granted to the abbot two annual fairs, one in December (which still survives) and the other the great St Matthew's fair, which was abolished by the Fairs Act of 1871. In 1327, the Great Riot occurred, in which the local populace led an armed revolt against the abbey. The burghers were angry at the overwhelming power, wealth and corruption of the monastery, which ran almost every aspect of local life with a view to enriching itself. The riot destroyed the main gate, and a new, fortified gate was built in its stead. However, in 1381 during the Great Uprising, the abbey was sacked and looted again. This time, the prior was executed; his severed head was placed on a pike in the Great Market. On 11 April 1608 a ''great fire'' broke out in Eastgate Street, which resulted in 160 dwellings and 400 outhouses being destroyed. The town developed into a flourishing cloth-making town, with a large
wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...
len trade, by the 14th century. In 1405 Henry IV granted another fair.
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
in 1562 confirmed the charters which former kings had granted to the abbots. The reversion of the fairs and two markets on Wednesday and Saturday were granted by James I in fee farm to the corporation.
James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
in 1606 granted a charter of incorporation with an annual fair in Easter week and a market. James granted further charters in 1608 and 1614, as did Charles II in 1668 and 1684. Parliaments were held in the borough in 1272, 1296 and 1446, but the borough was not represented until 1608, when James I conferred on it the privilege of sending two members. The
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...
reduced the representation to one. The borough of Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area, like much of
East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
, being part of the
Eastern Association The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian mi ...
, supported
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
sentiment during the first half of the 17th century. By 1640, several families had departed for the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
as part of the wave of emigration that occurred during the Great Migration. Bury's ancient grammar school also educated such notables as the puritan theologian
Richard Sibbes Richard Sibbes (or Sibbs) (1577–1635) was an Anglican theologian. He is known as a Biblical exegete, and as a representative, with William Perkins and John Preston, of what has been called "main-line" Puritanism because he always remained in ...
, master of St Catherine's Hall in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, antiquary and politician
Simonds d'Ewes Sir Simonds d'Ewes, 1st Baronet (18 December 1602 – 18 April 1650) was an English antiquary and politician. He was bred for the bar, was a member of the Long Parliament and left notes on its transactions. D'Ewes took the Puritan side in the Civ ...
, and
John Winthrop the Younger John Winthrop the Younger (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an early governor of the Connecticut Colony, and he played a large role in the merger of several separate settlements into the unified colony. Early life Winthrop was born ...
, who became governor of Connecticut. The town was the setting for
witch trials A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...
between 1599 and 1694. Notestein, Wallace ''A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718'', American Historical Association 1911 (reissued 1965) New York Russell & Russell,


Modern history

The population had reached 12,538 by 1841. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of the Militia Barracks in 1857 and of Gibraltar Barracks in 1878. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
used Rougham Airfield outside the town. On 3 March 1974 a
Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the w ...
DC10 jet Flight 981 crashed near Paris killing all 346 people on board. Among the victims were 17 members of Bury St Edmunds Rugby Football Club, returning from France.


Notable features

Near the abbey gardens stands Britain's first internally illuminated street sign, the Pillar of Salt, which was built in 1935. The sign is at the terminus of the
A1101 A11, A 11 or A-11 may refer to: Military * Aero A.11, a Czechoslovakian bomber produced before World War II * Consolidated A-11, an attack version of the Consolidated P-30 fighter plane of the 1930s * HMS A11, HMS ''A11'', an A-class submarine of ...
, Great Britain's lowest road. There is a network of tunnels which are evidence of
chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
-workings, though there is no evidence of extensive tunnels under the town centre. Some buildings have inter-communicating cellars. Due to their unsafe nature the chalk-workings are not open to the public, although viewing has been granted to individuals. Some have caused
subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...
within living memory, for instance at Jacqueline Close. Among noteworthy buildings is St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds, where
Mary Tudor, Queen of France Mary Tudor (; 18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533) was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of ...
and sister of Tudor king
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
, was re-buried, six years after her death, having been moved from the abbey after her brother's Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
had a
stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
fitted into the church to commemorate Mary's interment. Moreton Hall, a Grade II*listed building by
Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
, now houses the Moreton Hall Preparatory School.British Listed Buildings
Moreton Hall School, Bury St Edmund's
(English Heritage Building ID: 466967)
Bury St Edmunds Guildhall Bury St Edmunds Guildhall is a municipal building in the Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. It is a Grade I listed building. History The Guildhall is one of the largest and most impressive secular medieval buildings in the country, a ...
dates back to the late 12th century. Bury St Edmunds has one of the full-time fire stations run by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service. Originally located in the Traverse (now the Halifax bank), it moved to Fornham Road in 1953. The Fornham Road site (now Mermaid Close) closed in 1987 and the fire station moved to its current location on Parkway North. Since March 2015, Bury St Edmunds has been the home town of the London and South East Regional Divorce Unit and the Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre (for issues with maintenance payments outside Greater London). The former processes divorce documents from across London and South East England as one of five centralised units covering the United Kingdom. Both units are based with Bury St Edmunds County Court in Triton House, St Andrews Street North.


Geography

Bury is located in the middle of an undulating area of East Anglia known as the East Anglian Heights, with land to the east and west of the town rising to above , though parts of the town itself are as low as above sea level where the Rivers Lark and Linnet pass through it.


Climate

There are two
Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...
reporting stations in the vicinity of Bury St Edmunds, Brooms Barn (elevation ), west of the town centre, and Honington (elevation ), about north. According to Usman Majeed, head of Honington, it ceased weather observations in 2003, though Brooms Barn remains operational. Brooms Barn's record maximum temperature stands at , recorded in August 2003. The lowest recent temperature was during December 2010. Rainfall is generally low, at under , and spread fairly evenly throughout the year.


Religion

The town has a Christian heritage dating back to the foundation of the abbey in 1020. Today there are many active churches in the town.


Abbey

In the centre of Bury St Edmunds lie the remains of an
abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...
, surrounded by the abbey gardens. The abbey is a
shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...
to Saint Edmund, the Saxon King of the East Angles. The abbey was sacked by the townspeople in the 14th century and then largely destroyed during the 16th century with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the town remained prosperous throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, only falling into relative decline with the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
.


Anglican Churches

Until the building of St John's in 1840, the town had just two parishes, St James's and St Mary's. The former has now become the cathedral. The town now has seven Anglican churches in six parishes, St Peter's being in the same parish as St Mary's.


Cathedral

St James' parish church became
St Edmundsbury Cathedral St Edmundsbury Cathedral (formally entitled the Cathedral Church of St James and St Edmund) is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is the seat of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and is in ...
when the
Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...
was formed in 1914. The cathedral was extended with an eastern end in the 1960s. A new Gothic revival cathedral tower was built as part of a Millennium project running from 2000 to 2005. The opening for the tower took place in July 2005, and included a brass band concert and fireworks. Parts of the cathedral remain uncompleted, including the
cloisters A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
. The tower makes St Edmundsbury the most recently completed Anglican cathedral in the UK, and was constructed using original fabrication techniques by six masons who placed the machine-cut stones individually as they arrived.


St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church is the civic church of Bury St Edmunds and the third largest parish church in England. It was part of the abbey complex and originally was one of three large churches in the town (the others being St James, now St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and St Margaret's, now gone). It is renowned for its magnificent
hammer-beam A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...
"angel" roof, and is the final resting place of
Mary Tudor, Queen of France Mary Tudor (; 18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533) was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of ...
, Duchess of Suffolk and favourite sister of
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. St Mary's is also home to the Chapel of the
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
and
Royal Anglian Regiment The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...
s. The town has other Anglican churches: * All Saints, Park Road; built 1953 *Christ Church, Moreton Hall; founded 1983, built 1993 * St George, Anselm Avenue; built 1951 * St John, St John's Street, built 1840 * St Peter, Hospital Road (district church; daughter church of St Mary's); built 1856-58


Non-Conformist Churches and chapels

* Baptist Church, Garland Street *Beacon Church Bury St Edmunds, Oakes Road, an evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal church; part of
Assemblies of God in Great Britain The Assemblies of God in Great Britain (AoG GB) is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in Great Britain. It is affiliated with the World Assemblies of God Fellowship. Its headquarters are in Manchester, England. History The Assemblies of God in ...
*Bridge Community Church, West Road, until September 2021 known as West Road Church; affiliated to the
Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and societ ...
*Horringer Court Community Church, Glastonbury Road *Kingsgate Church, Grove Road; affiliated to the
Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and societ ...
* Evangelical Presbyterian Church, St Olaves Road *
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
Meeting House, St John's Street *Seventh Day Adventist Church, Fornham Road, built as a
Railway Mission The Railway Mission is a British mission devoted to the rail industry. It was founded in 1881 based in mission halls, and now operates a chaplaincy service. In the early days of the Railway Mission there were a number of mission halls at rail ...
"
tin tabernacle A tin tabernacle, also known as an iron church, is a type of prefabricated ecclesiastical building made from corrugated galvanised iron. They were developed in the mid-19th century initially in the United Kingdom. Corrugated iron was first us ...
" *Southgate Church, Caie Walk * Trinity Methodist Church, Brentgovel Street * Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate Street, built as Presbyterian Meeting House * United Reformed Church, Whiting Street, formerly Congregational Church * Westgate Chapel, Hospital Road, an independent evangelical church; affiliated to the FIEC * West Suffolk
Vineyard Church The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination.Despite the fact that some might see denominational labels as divisive, the founder of the movement John Wimber sai ...
, Northern Way


Catholic church

St Edmund's Catholic Church, located in Westgate Street, is the Roman Catholic parish church of Bury St Edmunds. Founded by the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
in 1763, the present church building is
grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. It was built in 1837. It is administered by the
Diocese of East Anglia The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church covering the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Peterborough in eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic As ...
in its Bury St Edmunds deanery.


Former churches

Bury St Edmunds has several former church and chapel buildings: * Methodist Chapel, 4A St Mary's Square (converted to residential) *Rehoboth Strict Baptist Chapel, Out Westgate (now called Chapel House) *Victory Congregational Chapel, Northgate Street (converted to commercial) *Chapel, St Botolph's Lane (now called Old Mission House)


Culture

The Theatre Royal was built by
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
architect William Wilkins (architect), William Wilkins in 1819 and is the sole surviving English Regency, Regency Theatre in the country. The theatre, owned by the
Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. ...
brewery, is leased to the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust for a nominal charge, and underwent restoration between 2005 and 2007. It presents a full programme of performances and is also open for public tours. An additional arts venue, The Apex, was built on the site of the former cattle market in 2010. Moyse's Hall Museum is one of the oldest (c. 1180) domestic buildings in East Anglia open to the public. It has collections of fine art, for example Mary Beale, costume, e.g. Charles Frederick Worth, horology, local and social history, including Witchcraft. It holds an original death mask of William Corder who was hanged for the infamous 1827 Red Barn murder. The Market Cross, today an events venue, was a market cross restored by
Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
in the late 1700s. Between 1972 and 2018 the Market Cross was an art gallery called Smiths Row, hosting a programme of changing contemporary art and craft exhibitions and events by British and international artists. Artists featured in the Gallery included Cornelia Parker, David Batchelor (artist and writer), David Batchelor, Anri Sala and Mark Fairnington. The town holds several festivals a year. The largest festival is held in May and includes concerts, plays, dance, and lecturers culminating in fireworks. There is an annual Christmas Fair in the town, with food, drink, local crafts and fairground rides available, stretching from the abbey gardens to the Arc Shopping Centre. Bury St Edmunds is home to England's oldest Scout group, Scouting in Suffolk#Scout Groups, 1st Bury St Edmunds (Mayors Own).


Sport

The town's main association football, football club, Bury Town F.C., Bury Town, is the fourth oldest non-league team in England. They are members of the Isthmian League and have played at Ram Meadow since moving from Cemetry Road, Kings Road in the 1970s. Suffolk County Cricket Club play occasional games at the Victory Ground, which is also the home ground of Bury St Edmunds Cricket Club. The cricket club previously played at Cemetry Road. Bury St Edmunds Rugby Football Club has an extensive history, including the devastating Turkish Airlines Flight 981, plane crash that killed several members who had attended a 1974 Five Nations Championship match. Eastgate Amateur Boxing club was established in 1981. The club has been headquartered at various locations in and around the town, but are now training in an old World War I gym in Rougham. West Suffolk Swimming Club formed in 1998 from the merger of two local swimming clubs and operates from pools in Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill and Culford. West Suffolk Athletics Club are based at the West Suffolk College sports ground.


Public houses

Many pubs in the town have closed over the years, but the town still has a variety of pubs


Local economy


Tourism

The Angel Hotel, a Georgian architecture, Georgian building on Angel Hill, was used by Charles Dickens while giving readings in the nearby Athenaeum, Bury St Edmunds, Athenaeum and mentioned in ''The Pickwick Papers''. Angelina Jolie also used the hotel as a base during the filming of ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider''. A coaching inn has stood on this spot since the 15th century.


Brewing

The nation's largest British-owned brewery,
Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. ...
, is situated in Bury St Edmunds, as is the smaller The Old Cannon Brewery, Old Cannon Brewery. Just outside the town, on the site of RAF Bury St Edmunds, is Bartrums Brewery, originally based in Thurston, Suffolk, Thurston. The Greene King pub The Nutshell is situated in the centre of the town, and is one of several that claim to be Britain's smallest Pub, public house.


Sugar Beet

Bury's largest landmark is the British Sugar plc, British Sugar factory near the A14 road (Great Britain), A14, which processes sugar beet into refined crystal sugar. It was built in 1925 when the town's MP, Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, Walter Guinness, was Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Minister of Agriculture, and for many of its early years was managed by Martin Neumann, former manager of a sugar beet refinery in Šurany, then part of Czechoslovakia. Neumann was invited by the British government to oversee the refinement of sugar in Bury St Edmunds and, with his family, immigrated to the United Kingdom. The actor and writer Stephen Fry is a grandson of Martin Neumann, as recounted in the BBC programme ''Who Do You Think You Are? (British TV series), Who Do You Think You Are?'' The refinery processes beet from 1,300 growers. 660 lorry-loads of beet can be accepted each day when beet is being harvested. Not all the beet can be crystallised immediately, and some is kept in solution in holding tanks until late spring and early summer, when the plant has spare crystallising capacity. The sugar is sold under the British Sugar, Silver Spoon name (the other major British brand, Tate & Lyle, is made from imported sugar cane). By-products include molassed sugar beet feed for cattle and LimeX70, a soil improver. The factory has its own power station, which powers around 110,000 homes. A smell of burnt starch from the plant is noticeable on some days.


Governance


Parish Level

The town council was formed in 2003. The election on 3 May 2007 was won by the "Abolish Bury Town Council" party. The party lost its majority following a by-election in June 2007 and, to date, the Town Council is still in existence. In March 2008 a further by-election put Conservatives in control but in the council election of May 2011 the lack of Conservative and other parties' candidates resulted a Labour majority before the election was held. By 2013 a number of by-elections put Conservatives in control again and in the 2015 election Conservatives won 14 of the 17 vacancies. In 2020 it was announced that the Town Council would meet in the Guildhall, the historic home of the Borough Council between 1606 and 1966.


District Level

Bury St Edmunds has been part of the non-metropolitan district West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk since April 2019. Before April 2019 Bury St Edmunds was part of the district and borough of Borough of St Edmundsbury, St Edmundsbury which in turn was created in April 1974 as a result of the merger of several smaller districts, including the Borough of Bury St Edmunds which had been established in 1835. This led to the loss of the town's Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status which had been held since 1606. No charter trustees have taken on the charter. West Suffolk Council has offices in Bury St Edmunds at West Suffolk House, Western Way.


County Level

Bury St Edmunds has been in the unified county of
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
since April 1974. Previously the town had been part of the county of West Suffolk (county), West Suffolk of which Bury St Edmunds was the county town. The county of West Suffolk had been established in 1889. Since 2009, Suffolk County Council has its Bury St Edmunds offices at West Suffolk House.


Parliamentary Constituency

Bury St Edmunds is also the main town of the Westminster parliamentary constituency also named Bury St Edmunds (UK Parliament constituency), Bury St Edmunds. Since becoming a single-seat constituency in 1885 it has always returned Conservative Party (UK), Conservative MPs. The current representative, Jo Churchill, was first elected in the 2015 General Election.


Notable people

Notable people from Bury St Edmunds include Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, Lord High Chancellor of England Stephen Gardiner, the 18th-century landscape architect Humphry Repton, the hymn writer Alice Flowerdew, the artist and photographer William Silas Spanton, the author Maria Louise Ramé (also known as Ouida), the engineer and inventor Hiram Codd, the cyclist James Moore (cyclist), James Moore, and the portrait painter Rose Mead. More recent figures from the town include artist and printer Sybil Andrews, artist and suffragette Helen Margaret Spanton, Canadian World War II general Guy Simonds, Winston Churchill's secretary Elizabeth Nel, theatre director Peter Hall (theatre director), Sir Peter Hall, Norwich City F.C., Norwich City footballer Liam Gibbs, Canadian journalist and author Richard Gwyn (Canadian writer), Richard Gwyn, actors Bob Hoskins and Michael Maloney, speedway rider Danny Ayres, television presenter Becky Jago, digital writer and artist Chris Joseph (writer/artist), Chris Joseph, and writer/director Adrian Tanner. Thomas Clarkson, a leading Abolitionism in the United Kingdom, abolitionist, lived in the town for parts of his life. Though born in Bedford, actor John Le Mesurier grew up in the town. Sir James Reynolds, junior, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, lived in the town for much of his life and was buried in the Cathedral in 1739. Messenger Monsey, later physician to the Royal Hospital Chelsea and a man notorious in London society for his bad manners, practised in Bury in the 1720s. Children's writer A.M. Howell moved to Bury St Edmunds in 2001. Notable bands and performers from Bury St Edmunds include Jacob's Mouse, Miss Black America (band), Miss Black America, The Dawn Parade and Kate Jackson (singer), Kate Jackson of The Long Blondes. Among notable people who have chosen to retire to or have second homes in Bury St Edmunds are former members of parliament and government ministers Norman Tebbit, Lord Tebbit, John Wheeler (British politician), Sir John Wheeler, Sir Eldon Griffiths, and former senior Royal Air Force commander, Reginald Harland, Air Marshal Sir Reginald Harland.


Education


Primary and secondary

At present Suffolk County Council operates a two-tier school system. However, some state school, state education in Bury St Edmunds and its Catchment area (human geography), catchment area form a Three-tier education, three-tier system. On 17 February 2014, Suffolk County Council announced that its cabinet would be advised to recommend moving 20 schools in the town from three-tier to a two-tier system – including the closure of four middle schools. Under the recommendations, Hardwick, Howard, St James and St Louis middle schools have all closed under the changes in September 2016. State primary schools that serve the town are Howard, Westgate, Hardwick, Sebert Wood, Abbot's Green, Sexton's Manor, Guildhall Feoffment, St Edmund's, St Edmundsbury and Tollgate Primary Schools. The towns middle schools are Westley and Horringer Court Middle Schools. Shortly after the appointment of Sally Kennedy as headmistress of County Upper School, it was announced in January 2022 that the trust governing the school and others in the town had the intetntion of closing Horringer Court and Westley Middle Schools. Pupils and staff would be re-located to Tollgate Primary School, and the schools – following years of standing against the system – would be brought in line with the two-tier system in place across the county. The town has three upper schools: County Upper School, King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds, King Edward VI School, and St Benedict's Catholic School. The Public school (UK), public school (for a period post-war, a Direct grant grammar school) Culford School is located just north of the town in the village of Culford. The town has one independent preparatory school, South Lee School. Moreton Hall Preparatory School closed in 2020.


Higher and further

The town's largest further education provider is West Suffolk College, with over 10,000 students studying with the college every year. The college was set to expand in September 2018, following a £7m government grant to help pay for an £8m energy, engineering and manufacturing teaching centre. From 2015, students have been able to study foundation and undergraduate degrees at the University of Suffolk, University of Suffolk at West Suffolk College.


Transport

Bury St Edmunds railway station serves the town, operated by Greater Anglia (train operating company), Greater Anglia, on the Ipswich to Ely Line. Trains run seven days a week, every two hours to Peterborough and hourly to Ipswich railway station, Ipswich and Cambridge railway station, Cambridge. Trains from Peterborough railway station, Peterborough continue to Ipswich after Bury St Edmunds. Onward train connections from Cambridge railway station, Cambridge link with London King's Cross railway station, London King's Cross, Liverpool Street station, London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport railway station, Stansted Airport, whilst Ipswich railway station, Ipswich provides connections to Liverpool Street via Colchester railway station, Colchester. The main interchange for bus and coach services for Bury St Edmunds is the bus and coach station, located on St Andrews Street North in the town centre. Bus services link the town centre with the main residential housing areas of the town. From November 2012 Sunday bus services were introduced over some of these routes. There are regular bus services to the neighbouring towns of Brandon, Suffolk, Brandon,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, Diss, Norfolk, Diss, Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, Ipswich, Mildenhall, Suffolk, Mildenhall, Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Stowmarket, Sudbury, Suffolk, Sudbury and Thetford and many of the villages in between. Daily National Express Coaches, National Express coach services between Victoria Coach Station in London and Bury stop at the town's bus and coach station, as does the cross-country service between Clacton-on-Sea and Liverpool which travels via Cambridge, Peterborough, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester.


Twin towns

* Compiègne, Oise, Picardy (region), Picardy, France * Huy, Wallonia, Liège (province), Liège, Belgium * Kevelaer, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Xi'an, Shaanxi, China


Affiliations

*HMS Vengeance (S31), HMS Vengeance: Royal Navy Vanguard Class SSBN


Literature

Bury St Edmunds is a location mentioned several times in the short ghost story The Ash-tree by M.R. James published in ''Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'' in 1904. Author Norah Lofts, though born in Shipdham, Norfolk, bases many of her stories in Baildon, a fictionalised Bury St Edmunds, where she was educated and lived.


Arms


See also

*Cloisters Cross, Bury St Edmunds Cross


References


External links

*
St Edmundsbury CouncilBury St Edmunds Past and Present SocietyWe Love Bury St Edmunds! Reference Gallery

"The delightful English town with a very horrible history" by Tom Ough, "Daily Telegraph" 17 February 2020"
{{Authority control Bury St Edmunds, Towns in Suffolk Market towns in Suffolk Towns with cathedrals in the United Kingdom Civil parishes in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury