Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk is a very old town. Originally having the Anglo Saxon name of Beodricsworth, the change to the name the town is known by today has its origin in the death of Edmund, King of East Anglia at the hands of the Danes in 869, and his burial and shrine in the Abbey that once dominated the town until the mid 16th century Dissolution of the Monasteries.

In July 1952, my father along with two of his friends from National Service, were cycling around Suffolk and he took a couple of photos whilst visiting Bury St Edmunds. We had a day in the town in July 2026 to track down the location of these photos, and to explore the history of the place.

This is the Grade II listed Cupola House, at number 7, The Traverse, photographed by my father on the 23rd of July 1952:

My photo of Cupola House, 74 years later, almost to the day, on the 27th of July 2026:

Cupola House is a 17th century building, that started as two separate properties before being converted into a single house with a large shop of the ground floor.

Thomas Marco came into possession of the house in 1679 and increased the height of the building, added the balcony and the cupola at the top of the building, which gave the house its name.

Cupola House was used as a greengrocers and a wine and spirits merchant, and in the mid 19th century, the grocery business was phased out and the building continued as a pub.

It became part of Clarke’s Brewery, a small brewery in Bury St. Edmunds, which later became part of Greene King in 1917.

The building continued as a pub until 2002, when it was sold by Greene King.

It reopened as a bar and restaurant, however in June 2012 a fire destroyed much of the building’s historic fabric. The front façade, including the balcony, survived, but much of the interior was destroyed, including original panelling.

Cupola House was rebuilt, retaining as much of the original fabric as was possible, and was strengthened by the use of an interior steel frame.

After completion, Cupola House reopned as a resturant. Today it is the Sakura Japanese Food Restaurant.

In the following extracts from the 1952 and 2026 photos there is some rather nice continuity as there are bottles in the two bay windows when it was a Greene King pub in 1952, and as a restaurant today:

Comparing the two photos reveals some differences. The side window to the left and door to the right have been removed allowing the bay windows to be moved outwards from the central door. I assume this happened during the rebuild after the 2012 fire.

The Suffolk Chronicle on the 22nd of September 1933 repeated a story about Cupola House, that the house was “for a time the residence of Daniel Defoe”.

Whilst Defoe did visit Bury St. Edmunds, there is no documentary evidence that he stayed in Cupola House

It must have been a wonderful market town pub.

My father took another photo during his visit to Bury St. Edmunds. This is on the outskirts of the town, on the A1101, Fornham Road, where in 1952 were some remains of St. Saviours Hospital:

Walking up to the site today, you can see the houses on the left, two of which partly appear in the 1952 photo. The remains of the hospital can be seen behind the white car:

The structure we see today are the remains of the medieval Hospital of St Saviour, which was founded between 1184 and 1185 by Abbot Sampson.

Looking at a map of Bury St. Edmunds today, it is not fully clear why a hospital would be established at this place, on the outskirts of the town. The town has grown significantly in the late 20th / early 21st century, and as well as housing and business premises, there are many new roads, inclduing a large road that bypasses the towm.

If we go back to the end of the 19th century, we can see a street plan that had not really changed for centuries. I have marked the location of the hospital with a red arrow, and it can be seen that it was alongside the only road running north from Bury St. Edmunds, so the hospital would have been on a well travelled route:

(‘Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland“)

The remains of the hospital in 2026:

In both the 1952 and 2026 photos there is a plaque above the arch:

Humphrey Plantagenet was, as the plaque records, the Duke of Gloucester, son of Henry IV, brother of Henry V and uncle and guardian of Henry VI. The reference to being guardian to Henry VI, was down to Henry VI becoming king when he was eight months old, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester was appointed Lord Protector and Defender of the Realm and when John, Duke of Bedford (one of Humphrey’s brothers), was out of the country, and his role in the Regency further increased after the Duke of Bedford’s death.

Humphrey was born on the 3rd of October 1390. He was the fourth son of Henry IV, so was never expected to take on the role of king, although he held a range of key positions and was very influential in politics and the court up to the time when the young Henry VI came of age and took on the full role of king, after which he started to appoint and listen to younger members of the court and aristocracy, and Humphrey gradually became less influential.

One area he was very passionate about was the king retaining British lands in France, and styling himself King of France. This had been the ambition of his brother Henry V, and after Henry’s death, Humphrey continued to champion his dead brothers cause.

Whilst Humphrey had the same aims as Henry V, he lacked the dead king’s political abilities, forming alliances, and ability to raise finance, as ongoing wars with France had left the country in considerable debt.

In the early 1420s, Humphrey had married Jacqueline of Hainaut, who held lands in the Netherlands, and in marrying Jacqueline, Humphrey could see a route to taking on the rather strange mix of titles of Count of Holland, Zeeland, and Hainault.

Humphrey’s failure to take over his wife’s contested lands meant that he could see no further use for her, and he caused a scandal by leaving his wife for the chambermaid Eleanor Chobham.

The choice of a chambermaid as a wife for a high born Duke, and Humphrey’s divorce of Jacqueline and marriage to Eleanor gave his rivals and enemies a further reason to challenge his judgement, in addition to his championing of wars with France.

Despite military defeats and ever increasing costs and debts, Humphrey continued to support aggressive military action in France, despite regular failures and losses of land that English forces were experiencing.

One of the contributing reasons for why Humphrey died in the Hospital of St Saviour in Bury St Edmunds was down to his new wife Eleanor allegedly consulting astrologers for any signs that her husband would one day be king. At the time, the new king Henry VI had not yet married and therefore had no heir.

This was at a time when talking about, or taking any action that might imply the king’s death, was considered a treasonable crime.

Henry VI had been negotiating for a truce and peace with France, and these resulted in the Treaty of Tours along with the agreement that Henry VI would marry Margaret of Anjou, who was the niece of the King of France.

Margaret of Anjou was not a rich woman, and Humphrey was very critical of the marriage, declaring that the king “had bought a queen not worth ten marks“.

In 1447, Parliament was planning to discuss and make a decision on peace with France. The decision to move Parliament’s meeting to Bury St Edmunds was taken as Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester was known to have strong support in London, and Bury St Edmunds was under the Duke of Suffolk’s influence. Suffolk was a supporter of the terms with France and an enemy of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester..

Humphrey arrived in Bury St Edmunds on the 20th of February 1447 and was staying at in inn along with a small group of supporters. During his stay, he was arrested on charges of treason, and held in confinement. I cannot tell whether he was held in the Hospital of St Saviour, or whether he had been taken ill and moved to the hospital, however just three days later on the 23rd of February, he had died in the hospital.

Whether this was a natural death, or whether intentional, such as by poisoning, has never been confirmed. The shock of a sudden arrest and potential trial for treason may also have contributed.

He was buried in St. Albans Cathedral.

I always like to find a London connection when writing these out of London posts, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester has a key connection with Greenwich.

Humphrey inherited the land that today makes up Greenwich Park in 1427, and in 1433 he was the first to enclose the park, and he also built a tower on what today is the site of the Royal Observatory.

After Humphrey’s death, the Greenwich estate was taken by Margaret of Anjou, the wife of King Henry VI, and under her ownership, it was renamed the Manor of Pleasance or Placentia.

In my father’s 1952 photo the entrance arch in the ruins was walled up. Today it is open and we can walk through to see what is left of the hospital:

These low walls were found during excavations of the site between 1989 and 1996, when the area was being cleared for a large Tesco store. The brick wall at the far end of the above photo is a very small part of the Tesco buildings.

The structure that remains is believed to be the entrance to the Great Hall and Chapel, and would have been the main area where travellers looking for the hospitality of the hospital would have been welcomed. Fascinating to imagine who may have walked through that door over the almost four centuries that the hospital was in use:

St. Saviour’s Hospital lasted to 1539, when during the dissolution of religious establishments, Henry VIII took posseion of their lands and buildings, and frequently sold these onwards or gave to his supporters.

Much of the stone of the hospital was demolished and taken away, and apart from the walls we see today, the remains below the surface lay hidden until the coming of Tesco, when excavations took place to discover the extent of any remains..

There is much more to discover in Bury St Edmunds, including what must be one of the most impressive direction signs that I have seen:

This is the Pillar of Salt road sign which is Grade II listed and is in a prominent position in an open space between the old abbey grounds, and the rest of the town.

In the early 1930s, road traffic was increasing rapidly, and the local council wanted a direction sign that was worthy of being installed in such an important location.

The design was by the East Anglian and London architect Basil Oliver and is constructed out of whitewashed concrete and metal.

The Town Council needed special approval from the Ministry of Transport as in the 1930s road signs were starting to be standardised under the 1933 Regulations.

Belhind the Pillar of Salt road sign is the Abbey Gate and Gatehouse:

The Abbey Gate is Grade I listed and dates from the 14th century:

Although it is not the original, this was destroyed by the townspeople in 1327 following disagreements between the people of the town and the monks of the abbey. It was rebuilt in 1347, and this is the building we see today:

Today, you can look up to the roof of the Abbey Gate, however originally there was an upper floor, and the fireplace that warmed this floor can still be seen between two windows:

Much of the land behind the Abbey Gate which was once part of the abbey is now parkland, and there are a number of stone ruins to be seen, but there is one part of the old abbey that today has a most unusual use that I wanted to see.

Walk past St Edmundsbury Cathedral and through the Norman Tower, and you come to another open space with some interesting buildings at the far end:

This length of wall consists of the remains of the west front of the Abbey of St Edmund. It dates from the 12th and early 13th centuries, and consists of the lower part of what was a large and impressive front to the abbey, which stretched a considerable distance behind this length of wall.

There are three large arches within the walls, but it is what occupies these arches today makes these remains of the old abbey so remarkable:

After the 16th century closure of the abbey, the space within these arches were used for a number of purposes, including stables, dye works and the town’s Probate Registry and registrars residence, and with 19th century alterations, there were altered to become houses.

It is remarkable how a house has been built within an arch in the remains of parts of the abbey’s structure. Not just the main living space, the door and windows, but also how the tiled roof slopes around the towers of the old abbey:

You can imagine these houses featuring in an M.R. James story.

The remains of the 13th century Charnel House of the Abbey:

There are many more stone remains of the original abbey to be found across the gardens, but this could be a very long post, so I will turn to the left of where I am standing to take the above photos and look at the current St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and in the foreground, below the tower, is a metal sculpture of a wolf, which is linked to the story of Edmund:

But before entering the cathedral, a brief bit of history about the abbey.

Bury St Edmunds was originally a small village called Beodricsworth, in the kingdom of East Anglia.

Edmund was a Christian king of East Anglia between 855 and 869, and was killed during an invasion by the Danes in 869. Soon after his death, he became known as a martyr, and his reputation was further enhanced in the 10th century when a French monk, Abbo of Fleury, wrote the life of Edmund, and described his death as being tied to a tree, shot with arrows and then beheaded, apparently because he refused to abandon his Christian religion. Abbo also states that when Edmund’s head was found, it was being guarded by a wolf.

His remains were moved to a church at Beodricsworth, and the church was given large estates, and in the 11th century, King Cnut funded a rebuilding of the church in stone.

Edward the Confessor further enhanced the status of the church by granting it jurisdiction of over a third of the county of Suffolk.

Throughout the 11th, 12th and early 13th centuries, the original church was redeveloped into a very large abbey complex, which was also one of the most wealthy in the country.

The end came in the 1530s during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. Thomas Cromwell was appointed in 1535 to find reasons for closing the abbey, however there were no obvious issues that could be used against the abbey, so, with nothing to be found, it was assumed that the abbey was covering up any issues of corruption, mis-use of money, deviant religious practices etc. so this gave the justification for the closure of the abbey.

In 1538, many of the younger monks were forced to leave and Commissioners were sent in to calculate the abbey’s wealth and remove valuable objects. The abbot surrendered the abbey on the 4th of November 1539, and the abbot, prior and remaining monks left the abbey, but were allowed a pension.

In the weeks that followed, demolition of the abbey commenced with lead from the roof and stones from the buildings being removed either for reuse or for sale.

This included the destruction of St Edmund’s shrine and the loss of St Edmund’s remains.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, the church we see today, was originally a parish church for the town.

The original parish church had been demolished to make space for the new abbey buildings, so a new church dedicated to St James was built, and rebuilt in Perpendicular Gothic style in the 16th century.

In 1914, the church became the cathedral of the new diocese of St Edmundsbury, and this is the building we see today:

The brightly painted roof was part of the restoration work carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s:

Th central altar which sits beneath the millennium tower, which is a Gothic Revival tower added to the church starting in 2000, with completion in 2010:

Organ loft:

The Bishop’s Throne, which was the work of the Oxford architect Frank Ernest Howard:

View looking back from the choir stalls:

Organ, decorated roof, and view up to the richly decorated Millennium Tower:

Strange to think that this tower is only around 20 years old. The church was Grade I listed in 1952, and the Historic England listing seems based on Pevsner’s description of the building in 1974.

The listing makes no reference to the new tower, but states that the church has “an incomplete central tower”. As the church is Grade I listed, it must have had approvals for the work to build the tower, so it is strange that the listing has not been updated.

The font, also by Oxford architect Frank Ernest Howard:

A Lego model of the cathedral:

So the St Edmundsbury Cathedral dates from after the Dissolution, and served as a parish church to the town before becoming a cathedral early in the 20th century.

The cathedral building has been restored and had much additional work and new building works, which have continued into the 21st century with the tower.

The cathedral does not have any bells. These are nearby in a Norman survivor from the abbey, where we can see the Norman tower that also acted as an abbey gate and now serves as the belfry. It was built between 1120 and 1148; when Abbot Anselm was in charge of the abbey:

There is far more to the history of Bury St Edmunds than I can cover in a weekly post, and the town has many fascinating buildings – it is well worth a visit.

My father’s visit was during one of his post National Service cycling trips around the country, which also extended into the Netherlands.

He travelled with friends he had met during National Service, an experience which seems to have sparked an interest in travelling for many who had grown up in London during the war, and had minimal experience of the world beyond London’s boundaries.

For those with little money, Youth Hostelling was a cost effective way of having somewhere to stay, and the Youth Hostel Association offered cheap and basic accommodation.

The night before they travelled on to Bury St Edmunds, my father and his two friends stayed in Finningham Youth Hostel, which is to the east, and a 17 mile cycle. To reach Finningham, they had cycled the 34 miles from Felixstowe where he had taken some photos of Martello Towers and the towers of Bawdsey Radar.

He made some notes to these photos, and the following is Finningham Youth Hostel and the Warden:

Finningham Youth Hospital consisted of two old farm workers cottages that had been converted into a single building. It was very basic and those staying were expected to work on whatever task was needed during their stay, including emptying the chemical toilet.

The following is of his two friends out the hostel. Note the horse shoe hung over the door:

Finningham Youth Hostel closed in the 1960s. I suspect by then there were more opportunities for young people to travel, and cycling around the country was no longer as attractive as it was to those who had been children during the war.

There is much more to Bury St Edmunds than I have been able to cover in a single post – it is a fascinating place to visit.