Sights in Bury St Edmunds
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St Edmundsbury Cathedral
Completed in 2005, the 45m-high Millennium Tower of St Edmundsbury Cathedral is a vision in Lincolnshire limestone, and its traditional Gothic-style construction gives a good idea of how the towers of many other English cathedrals must have looked fresh from the stonemason's chisel.
Most of the rest of the building dates from the early 16th century, though the eastern end is postwar 20th-century, and the northern side was completed in 1990. The overall effect is light and lofty, with a gorgeous hammerbeam roof and a striking sculpture of the crucified Christ by Dame Elisabeth Frink in the north transept. The impressive entrance porch has a tangible Spanish influence, a tri…
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B
Abbey Remains
Just beyond the Great Gate is a peaceful garden where the Great Court was once a hive of activity. Just beyond is a dovecote that marks the only remains of the Abbot's Palace. The best-conserved remains of this once mighty abbey church are part of the western front and Samson Tower, which were borrowed by houses built into them. In front of Samson Tower is a beautiful statue of St Edmund by Dame Elisabeth Frink (1976).
The rest of the abbey spreads eastward like a ragged skeleton, with various lumps and pillars hinting at its immense size. Just north of the church lie more clustered remains of monastic buildings.
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Moyse's Hall Museum
Tells gruesome stories of death, burial and witchcraft in an impressive 12th-century undercroft.
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Great Gate
You enter the park via one of two well-preserved old gates: opposite the tourist office, the staunch mid-14th-century Great Gate is intricately decorated but nevertheless ominously defensive, complete with battlements, portcullis and arrow slits. The other entrance sits further up along Angel Hill, where a gargoyle-studded early-12th-century Norman Tower looms beside the cathedral.
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E
St Mary's
One of biggest parish churches in country, St Mary's contains the tomb of Mary Tudor (Henry VIII's sister and a one-time queen of France). Built around 1430, it also has a host of somewhat vampirish angels swooping from its roof, and a bell is still rung to mark curfew, as it was in the Middle Ages.
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Greene King Brewery
Churning out some of England's favourite booze since Victorian times, this famous brewery has a museum and runs tours, after which you can appreciate what all the fuss is about in its brewery bar. Tours are popular so book ahead.
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abbey
Now a picturesque ruin residing in beautiful gardens behind the cathedral, the once all-powerful abbey still impresses despite the townspeople having made off with much of the stone and St Edmund's grave and bones having disappeared long ago.
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Art Gallery
Temporary exhibitions of contemporary art in a beautiful 18th-century theatre.
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St Mary's Church
One of the biggest parish churches in England, St Mary's contains the tomb of Mary Tudor (Henry VIII's sister and a one-time queen of France). Built around 1430, it also has a host of somewhat vampirelike angels swooping from its roof, and a bell is still rung to mark curfew, as it was in the Middle Ages.
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Abbey & Park
Now a picturesque ruin residing in beautiful gardens behind the cathedral, the once all-powerful abbey still impresses despite the townspeople having made off with much of the stone after the Dissolution. The Reformation also meant an end to the veneration of relics, and St Edmund's grave and bones have long since disappeared.
You enter the park via one of two well-preserved old gates: opposite the tourist office, the staunch mid-14th-century Great Gate is intricately decorated and ominously defensive, complete with battlements, portcullis and arrow slits. The other entrance sits further up Angel Hill, where a gargoyle-studded early 12th-century Norman Tower looms.
Just bey…
reviewed
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