Abbey of St Edmunds 1000 Year Celebrations

The Abbey Gardens, in the heart of Bury St Edmunds, is the perfect spot for enjoying peace and quiet whilst watching the world go by. And it is FREE to visit!

The award-winning 14-acre Abbey Gardens is on the site of the former Benedictine Abbey, the Abbey of St Edmund, once one of the richest, largest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. People came from all over England and further afield to visit the Shrine of St Edmund and it became one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage locations in England, visited by royalty.

Internationally renowned for its colourful and attractive displays and the heritage of its backdrop make the gardens a very special place to visit and visitors come from all over the world to see it. According to VisitEngland, the Abbey Gardens and ruins in Bury St Edmunds is the fifth most visited free attraction in England!

The gardens are framed by the abbey wall that runs from the 13th century Abbot's Bridge via the imposing Abbey Gate to St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

It is not hard to understand why the Abbey Gardens have won the prestigious Green Flag Award on numerous occasions, it is a stunning venue for the many and varied cultural events which take place in Bury St Edmunds including the annual Bury St Edmunds Festival.

Created in 1831 by Nathaniel Hodson, the Abbey Gardens was originally a botanic garden laid out in the same style as the Royal Botanic Gardens in Brussels. In 1936 the concentric circles were replaced by the sixty-four island beds which, together with illuminations, formed part of the Coronation celebrations for George VI in 1937.

Today, approximately 20,000 plants are bedded out in the spring for the summer display plus 12,000 plants and 20,000 bulbs in the autumn for the spring display.

Visit our Abbey Gardens Guide to find out more about this beautiful attraction in the heart of Bury St Edmunds.

Facilities:

Abbey Gardens Shop

Grounds Cafe - Abbey Gardens

Tennis Courts

Crazy golf - available from April to October. Charges: £1.50 per person, per game (plus £1 deposit).

Children’s play area

Wildlife feeding area - near the dovecote, past the children's play area and over the bridge. Please only feed the local wildlife near the dovecote as this will encourage them to stay close to it.

Entry to the gardens is FREE. Opening Times. Download the West Suffolk Council Abbey Gardens Visitor Guide now.

In Medieval times, The Abbey of St Edmund was one of the richest, largest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. People came from all over England and Europe to visit the Shrine of St Edmund and it became one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage locations in England, visited by royalty.

Edmund, King of East Anglia, was killed by The Danes on 20 November 869, after refusing to give up his Christian faith. He was tied to a tree and shot full of arrows before being beheaded.

In 903 the remains of Saint Edmund, the original the Patron Saint of England, were moved to the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Beodericsworth (later known as Bury St Edmunds) where the site had already been in religious use for nearly three centuries.

St Edmund’s body was moved to London in 1010 for safe keeping when The Danes were again marauding through East Anglia but three years later his body was returned to Bedricesworth.

In 1020, King Cnut had a stone church built for Edmund's body and the first abbots arrived. This was the beginning of the Abbey of St Edmund and it became a site of great pilgrimage as people from all over Europe came to visit St Edmund’s shrine. In 2020 Bury St Edmunds celebrates the Abbey's 1000-year anniversary of its founding with a 'Year of Celebrations'.

Abbot Baldwin

In 1081, Abbot Baldwin embarked on a building programme that was to last well over 100 years, culminating in a Romanesque Abbey church. He was also responsible for laying out the town in 1065, which is considered the oldest purposefully laid out town in the country, the medieval grid is still evident today. The monks charged tariffs on every economic activity, including the collecting of horse droppings in the streets! The Abbey even had the power to mint its own coinage.

The great Abbey church was consecrated in 1095 and the bejewelled shrine of St Edmund stood behind the high altar. The Abbey church’s final length was 505 feet (154 metres) with the majestic West Front 246 feet (75 metres). At over 150 metres long the church was one of only a few of its date to be built on such a large scale in this country.

Abbot Samson

During the abbacy of Abbot Samson (1182 - 1211) Moyse’s Hall (now the town’s museum) was built and the wonderful Bury Bible by master Hugo was written.

Hugo may also be responsible for carving the Bury St Edmunds Cross - an unusually complex 12th-century Romanesque altar cross, carved from walrus ivory, now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A replica is on display in St Edmundsbury Cathedral Treasury.

Much is known about Abbot Samson from The Chronicle of Joscelin De Brakeland, a monk of the abbey who kept a diary towards the end of 12th Century.

The Abbey and The Magna Carta

Near the ruins of the Abbey of St Edmunds, nestled in the Abbey Gardens, is ‘Our Liberty’, a lasting memorial to Bury St Edmunds’ link to the Magna Carta.

The Magna Carta is widely recognised as one of the most important documents in the world and Bury St Edmunds played a very crucial role in its creation.

A group of Barons met at the Abbey in 1214 and swore an oath to compel King John to accept the Charter of Liberties, a proclamation of Henry I. The most likely date for this meeting is November 20, 1214 because that was St Edmund’s Day. This act led directly to the Great Charter or the Magna Carta, agreed at Runnymede on June 15 1215 which helped form the basis of the United States Constitution, and the Human Rights Act.

The people of Bury St Edmunds have celebrated this link for hundreds of years with the town’s motto ‘Shrine of the King, Cradle of the Law’, which refers to our historic links with King Edmund (the first patron saint of England) and the Barons’ meeting which led to the creation of the Magna Carta.

Riots, Disputes, Fire and Destruction

The Abbey continued to thrive throughout the 13th century but relations with the townspeople were rarely cordial. Matters came to a head in 1327 in a summer of riots, though disputes rumbled on throughout the 14th century. The Abbey suffered other problems too, notably damage to the west tower through collapse and later a serious fire.

Despite these setbacks Bury St Edmunds remained politically important throughout the 15th century. In 1539, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII. It was sold on by the Crown, the Abbot’s Palace survived as a house until 1720 but the Abbey precinct became a quarry for building material for the townsfolk and the shrine of St Edmund was stripped and broken. The whereabouts of St Edmund’s body remains a mystery today.

In 1831, after 300 years of neglect, the grounds (owned by the Marquis of Bristol) were laid out as a botanic garden created by Nathaniel Hodson and became the Abbey Gardens you see today.

The Abbey Gate

Visitors enter the abbey complex today through the impressive Abbey Gate complete with its portcullis. The original gateway, entrance to the great courtyard of the monastery, was destroyed in 1327 during the riots by the local people, who were angry at the power of the monastery. The Abbey Gate you can see today with its west side arrow slits was built in the 14th Century.

Norman Tower

The Norman Tower, was the principal gateway into Bury St Edmunds' great Abbey church, and was built between 1120 and 1148 facing its great west door. It is one of the oldest Norman buildings in England and one of the most complete Norman buildings in the UK as it has never been altered. It still serves as the bell tower of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, formerly St James’ Church.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral

A church has stood on the site of the cathedral since at least 1065, when St Denis's Church was built within the complex of Bury St Edmunds Abbey.

In the early 12th century the Abbot Anselm had wanted to make a pilgrimage along the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela. He was unsuccessful and instead rebuilt St Denis's and dedicated the new church to Saint James, which served as the parish church for the townspeople.

The church was largely rebuilt, starting in 1503, in the Perpendicular style by John Wastell, a master mason who also worked on King's College, Cambridge.

St James’ Church became St Edmundsbury Cathedral in 1914.

St Mary’s Church

The last great procession to enter the Abbey Church before its dissolution was the funeral cortege of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Duchess of Suffolk and Henry VIII’s favourite sister. She was buried in the Abbey Church in 1533.

She is now buried in St Mary's Churchwhich was built between 1290 and 1490 as part of the Abbey precinct for the townspeople. However, there is nothing visible in the present structure that survives from the Norman church.

Entry to the Abbey Gardens and the Abbey Ruins is FREE.

Garden opening times

Opens Monday to Saturday 7.30am, Sunday 9am

The closing times for the gates are given as a guide: November to February 4.30pm, March to May and October 6pm and 7.30pm to 8pm from June to September.

1000 years since the founding of the Abbey of St Edmund will be marked with a year of celebrations in 2022. Find out more with our 'Abbey of St Edmund 1000 Guide!'

For over 1,000 years, the site of Suffolk ’s Cathedral has been one of worship and pilgrimage.

The death of Edmund, King of the East Angles, at the hands of the Danes in 869 led to the building of an abbey to house his remains. St James’s Church was built within the precincts of the Abbey, becoming a Cathedral in 1914. The Cathedral building has continued to develop over recent years with the addition of the Millennium Tower, completed in 2005, and its magnificent painted and gilded vault, added in 2010. In 2009 the Cathedral changed its dedication to become the Cathedral Church of St James and St Edmund.

Visitors are welcome to look around the Cathedral on their own. Entry is free but donations gratefully received. A free introductory leaflet is available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Polish. Visitors are most welcome to attend any of the daily services. Guided Tours of the Cathedral run Monday to Friday at 11am daily from the font. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, tours are currently limited to 5 people per tour. Tickets can be purchased at the Cathedral Shop. Occasionally a tour may have to be cancelled if another event is taking place in the Cathedral. If you are travelling some distance, please do ring the Cathedral office to check. These tours last approx 1 hour and cost £5 per person (under 16s free).

St Edmundsbury Cathedral Tower Tours - Experience a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour of St Edmundsbury Cathedral's Millennium Tower with fun and knowledgeable guides. Explore heady heights with amazing views from the top of the tower, the highest point in Bury St Edmunds! Don’t forget your camera!

St Edmund Statue by Dame Elisabeth Frink - A trip to Bury St Edmunds would not be complete without a photo of the iconic St Edmund statue by Dame Elisabeth Frink. The statue can be found outside in the Great Churchyard of the Cathedral.

Cathedral Lego Project - St Edmundsbury Cathedral has launched an ambitious project to recreate the Cathedral out of 200,000 LEGO bricks! Visitors can see the Lego Cathedral being built before their eyes and donate a brick to be part of this amazing project. The Lego Cathedral is located in the South West corner of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Opening times may vary based on volunteer availability.

The Ancient Library - The Ancient Library was founded by Dr Miles Mosse in 1595 as a resource for clergy training. There are over 550 books, mainly printed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The library, in a room over the north-west porch designed by Stephen Dykes Bower in 1960, has bookcases made by Leonard Goff in 2004. If you would like to visit the library, please contact the librarian through the Cathedral Office on visits@stedscathedral.org or 01284 748730.

Pilgrim's Kitchen - after touring the Cathedral why not relax with a cuppa at the Cathedral's cafe?