Bury St Edmunds buildings [31]

Image: © Michael Dibb Taken: 13 Sep 2020

Numbers 53 and 54 Abbeygate Street were formerly two separate houses and shops. The red brick front to number 53 (left) is early 18th century that to number 54 somewhat later although in matching style. The ground floor frontage is circa 1910 when converted into Midland Bank. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1141140 Abbeygate Street is the principal shopping street of the town. Bury St Edmunds is a market town which is the cultural and retail centre for West Suffolk and is known for brewing (Greene King) and sugar (British Sugar). There is scattered evidence of earlier activity but essentially Bury St Edmunds began as one of the royal boroughs of the Saxons and a monastery was founded which became the burial place of King Edmund. A new Benedictine abbey was built in 1020 which became rich and powerful and the town was laid out on a grid pattern by Abbot Baldwin. After the dissolution the abbey became ruinous. A new church, later the cathedral, was begun in the early 16th century.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0