Bury St Edmunds houses [164]

Image: © Michael Dibb Taken: 11 Sep 2020

Numbers 3 and 3A Honey Hill were originally one house, now divided into two. Built straddling the Abbey's precinct wall - a thick wall of rubble flint between the front and rear rooms of the house which also extends northwards for several metres at the rear of the house. Built in the 17th century, extended in the 18th century refronted in the 19th century with later 19th century additions. Some fine 18th century internal plasterwork remains. Used as offices by Suffolk County Council for some decades, the houses were restored in 1991. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1022545 Honey Hill, with its wealth of history used to finish at Sparhawk Street from thereon it was known as Schoolhall Street when the Abbey’s song school was here. The Abbey’s St Margaret's Gate was taken down to allow free passage into The Great Churchyard. 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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