Five weeks ago we travelled north to visit our friends, Jennie and John, who lived in Bury St Edmunds, a beautiful and historical market town in the county of Suffolk. It was a town we had never visited, although we did drive through it once on the way to Norwich. A very picturesque town.
It was also lovely to see Jennie and John again, the last time being when we met up in Adelaide last January, when they visited their daughter, Sonya. And it was great to sit in their beautiful shady garden surrounded by trees and flowers, and catch up on all the news.
On the first day we travelled by bus into the centre of Bury St Edmunds. And found, as we expected, streets lined with well looked after lovely old buildings, plus a beautiful park, Abbey Gardens. The gardens, and ruins, were all that remained of an enormous and powerful abbey in East Anglia.
The Great Gate (Abbey Gate), the entrance to the Abbey Gardens.
King Sigebert, the first Christian king of the East Angles, set up a religious community here during the seventh century. The town was called Bedericsworth. In 903 it became the burial place of King Edmund, the Saxon King of the East Angles, who was killed by the Danes in 869, somewhere near Thetford. Many miracles were attributed to Edmund, and he was made a saint, and pilgrimages were made to the Abbey.
St Edmund was the patron saint of England, but in 1350 King Edward III named St George the new patron saint of England. Edmund was certainly more English than George but obviously Edward preferred the more European approach to patron saints.
The Bury part of Bury St Edmunds does not have anything to do with the fact that St Edmund is buried here, although it makes a good story. In fact Bury probably comes from the German word 'burg' meaning 'fortress, castle'. There appears to be some connection with the word 'borough' too.
All that is left of the abbey is the flint stone core of the buildings. The limestone from Northamptonshire and the stone from Caen in France, have all been taken away. After the dissolution in 1539 the abbey was sold for £413, and the abbey became a quarry for local building materials.
More ruins, set among beautiful gardens.
The line up, me, Walter and Jennie in front of the map of the abbey ruins.
John , Walter and me, in a jolly mood.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral, with its new tower, a Millennium project, started in 2000 and completed in 2005.
After five weeks, I cannot remember the significance of this mask on the outside of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Looks impressive though.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral was originally part of the abbey complex, and was called St James' Church. The name change occurred in 1914.
A view of the inside of the magnificent Millennium Tower. I am looking upwards, at the ceiling of the tower. To be truthful, I took a photo of the reflection of the inside of the tower, in a mirror placed at a convenient angle for photographers. There was no way I would attempt to climb up to the top and look down. The tower is 160ft high. And I am not keen on heights. Impressive though.
After the dissolution a number of small houses were built into the west walls of the abbey.
Bury St Edmunds was also associated with the Magna Carta. Apparently, in 1214 the barons of England were believed to have met in the Abbey Church in order to force King John to accept the Charter of Liberties, the document which influenced the creation of the Magna Carta.
We went for a short walk around the streets, where there were lots of interesting buildings. This was the smallest pub I have ever seen, just a bar really. Fascinating.
The next day we set off for Southwold, a quaint seaside town on the East Suffolk coast. Although a popular holiday resort, it does not have the crassness nor glitter of many of the larger seaside towns. Southwold has a gentile atmosphere, and consequently is much quieter, even on a summers day.
John, Jennie and me, eating a delicious picnic lunch, in the comfort of one of the protected seating areas on the pier.
A line up of colourful beach huts.
The view of the town, above the beach.
Southwold Pier, minus noisy rides or games arcades; just lovely cafes and small shops plus a couple of men with their fishing lines, hoping to catch some fish.
No pebbles or mud flats on this beach, however only the bravest swam in the cold water.
There was an interesting brewery and distillery, Adnams, but the tours were booked out so we could not visit it.
There were plenty of lovely old buildings to look out, around the roundabout, shown in the photograph below. I think this was the market square.
We visited the small Amber Museum which was behind the Amber Shop. It had plenty of amber jewellery for sale, some of which had quite a hefty price tag attached. The museum showed the history of amber, which was formed 50 million years ago, and how it was used for different purposes. Amber was once gathered from the beaches and cliffs around Southwold.
A model of a sailing ship, all made from amber.
After we left Southwold we set off to have a look at Sutton Hoo, which was a National Trust property, and a place that we have always wanted to visit. I thought the 'hoo' part of Sutton Hoo meant hill, but it would appear that there were many meanings according to my Google search, including 'she' from the Old English word 'heo' or 'stuff' so who knows what it really meant. I think I prefer my definition of 'hill' as there were many small hills or mounds at Sutton Hoo, and from the cafe one could look out over a small valley.
Sutton Hoo was the site of 6th and early 7th century burial sites, with the most important one being the ship burial site excavated in 1939 by Basil Brown.
A full sized reconstructed burial chamber
King Raedwald, surrounded by his treasures. He looked a bit grim, made worse by the flash on my camera. I am not sure I really liked being with him in that 'hut'.
Posing with a 'family'.
A replica of a Viking ship. Much smaller than the real thing.
The warrier's helmet. There was a temporary display of some of the artefacts from the burial site but most of the treasures were kept in the British Museum.
The path that led to the burial mounds, which we did not follow due to feeling a little weary by this stage. Afternoon tea was needed and far more important, then wandering off on a path to look at mounds of earth, even though we would have found them very interesting.
On the third day we visited Greene King Brewery., who make various beers including Old Speckled Hen. The company was founded in 1799 by Benjamin Greene.
It was a fascinating tour lead by a very witty tour guide. My apologies, no photographs of our guide, so readers will have to make do with photos of vats.
The process of making the beer starts at the top of the building where the hops and water are put into the top vats. The process continues down through the various levels of the building. Fascinating.
Another vat.
Some of the old vehicles that used to deliver the beer around Bury St Edmunds.
The view from the top of the building was quite spectacular, especially of the storm clouds that were quickly gathering in the sky.
Another view of Bury St Edmunds.
Plus a close up view of the drinking room below. The smallest building in the photograph. A very popular place, apparently.
At the end we were able to taste the different beers. One of the barrels was nearly empty and the beer from it tasted awful, according to our beer connoisseurs, but as I was not a beer drinker, everything tasted just like beer. But I enjoyed listening to the rest of the group talking about the different beers. We bought some chutneys from the shop there and they were really tasty.
As I wrote this blog I relived the trip again. I needed to go through all my brochures and books to find out information. Consequently I have learnt so much more. I do love history. Thank you Jennie and John for taking us to all these marvellous places. We certainly had a great time.
References: - Wikipedia and Google searches, plus booklets and brochures from Bury St Edmunds.
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