Bury St Edmunds features [50]

Image: © Michael Dibb Taken: 12 Sep 2020

Seen from St Andrews Street South is this wall and gateway at the rear of number 70 Guildhall Street. The doorway has a surround of stone blocks with a crenellated top. An inscription above it of a Star of David enclosing an ornate letter B and 'No.266 Wool 1792' below. The wall is a mixture of stone, flint and red brick. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1245004 Much of the centre of the town has suffered from redevelopment and most buildings are later than the mid 19th century. There are some uninspiring modern buildings along Parkway and the Arc shopping centre is particularly ugly, especially the building occupied by Debenhams. 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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