Bury St Edmunds buildings [91]

Image: © Michael Dibb Taken: 13 Sep 2020

Moyses Hall built circa 1180, in flint and stone, as a merchant's house is one of the oldest domestic buildings in England still in use and a rare surviving example of Norman domestic architecture. The south and west walls are original 12th century, most of the rest is Tudor, with some Victorian restoration. It may be that it was a dwelling for scholars at the Abbey and as a pilgrim's hostelry. The clock turret was added in the 19th century. Additional galleries were created in the 1970s from an adjoining 16th century building (see Image). Moyses Hall has been used as a dwelling, an inn, a gaol and a police station and is now a museum of local life. Listed, grade I, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1076931 Cornhill, Buttermarket and The Traverse are the commercial heart of the town. Cornhill incorporates the market areas set out in the 12th century where twice weekly markets are held, Buttermarket with The Traverse extend to the south connecting with Abbeygate Street and Guildhall Street. The area has some of the town’s finest and most important buildings. 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.

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