Bury St Edmunds buildings [223]

Image: © Michael Dibb Taken: 8 Sep 2020

The former St James Infant School at number 139 Eastgate Street, was built in 1872 on land donated by the Marquis of Bristol. Constructed in knapped flint with stone and ashlar dressings, the property is now holiday accommodation. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1363683 Until the second half of the 20th century, there were almost no buildings east of the River Lark except along Eastgate Street which has a number of 16th and 17th century houses. Now there are several large housing estates and a fairly large industrial estate. 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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