Bury St Edmonds

We decide on another medieval town today. Bury St Edmunds, supposed by some to have been the Villa Faustina of the Romans, was one of the royal towns of the Saxons. Sigebert, king of the East Angles, founded a monastery here about 633, which in 903 became the burial place of King Edmund, who was slain by the Danes in 869, and owed most of its early celebrity to the reputed miracles performed at the shrine of the martyr king. The town grew around Bury St Edmunds Abbey, a site of pilgrimage.

The abbot controlled the town in medieval times, and resentment of the power of the church finally led to a riot in which a mob from the town broke through the abbey gates and sacked the abbey. This event in 1327 was followed by further violence in 1381 during the Peasants' Revolt, when the Prior was beheaded as he fled the monastery.

The town is associated with Magna Carta. In 1214 the barons of England are believed to have met in the Abbey Church and sworn to force King John to accept the Charter of Liberties, the document which influenced the creation of the Magna Carta. By various grants from the abbots, the town gradually attained the rank of a borough.

The weather is magical today. Warm with a hint of coolness and sky deep blue.

The abbey gardens were just beautiful.

The Abbey grounds contained lots of abbey ruins in it.

The Cathedral was magnificent against the blue sky. Had to keep taking photos from each angle!

This was an interesting example of how the ruined abbey was used a house had been built into the back of the wall and windows made into the front.

There were even squirrels

Norman tower in the town square.

Then we went on in search of the town of Ashley. It was a lovely village with lots of thatched cottages.

We drove through lots of little villages with thatched rooves.

Geoff wanted to walk on the Ickfield Path which is one of the ancient footpaths in England. We had several attempts to find it which we did finally do but it was a bit boring so we re traced our steps and found another path. This was lovely as it ran past farmland, streams and forest.

It must be around here somewhere.........

At 5 o'clock I refused Geoff's offer to go into Cambridge to have a look around. I thought 8 hours sightseeing is enough for one day. So we drove back to our accommodation and had some Chinese food for tea.