Bury St Edmunds

Of all the urban centres in Suffolk, Bury St Edmunds probably remains the most famous, not least because of the historical context of the Abbey that gives it it’s name.

The abbey was build as a shrine to Saint Edmund, the Saxon King of the East Angles, who was killed by the Danes in 869 AD. The town initially grew around Bury St Edmunds Abbey as a site of pilgrimage

In 1214 the barons of England are believed to have met in the Abbey Church and swore that they would force King John to accept the Charter of Liberties, the document which influenced the creation of the Magna Carta.

Afterwards, Bury St Edmunds developed into a flourishing cloth making town by the 14th century.

The abbey was largely destroyed during the 16th century with the dissolution of the monasteries but Bury remained a prosperous town throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

Buy St Edmunds is also slightly infamous for its involvement in two Witch trials, the first under the direction of the Witchfinder General, the second used as a reference in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693.