| Bury St Edmunds Guildhall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk |
| Coordinates | 52°14′39″N0°42′43″E / 52.2443°N 0.7120°E |
| Built | 1220 |
| Architectural style(s) | Medieval architecture |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Designated | 7 August 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1363726 |
  Location of Bury St Edmunds Guildhall in Suffolk | |
Bury St Edmunds Guildhall is a municipal building in the Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. It is a Grade I listed building. [1]
The Guildhall is one of the largest and most impressive secular medieval buildings in the country, and a rare survival of a civic building from this period. [2] The building, which was built with financial support from the wealthy Bury St Edmunds Abbey, dates back to 1220. [3]
The Bury Chronicle records that John of Cobham and Walter de Heliun visited the guildhall in 1279. [4] The oldest part is the thirteenth-century stone entrance arch, [2] within the highly decorative porch was added in the late 15th century. [5]
Its unique roof structure combines East Anglian queen posts with king posts and has been attributed to the fifteenth century, although some suggest it is midfourteenth century. Many timbers are covered in yellow ochre, usually a sixteenth-century feature. [2] Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late 1530s, the guildhall passed to the control of the town of Bury St Edmunds. [4]
During the nineteenth century the Guildhall housed the West Suffolk Library, in which room the first Quarterly General Meeting of the Bury and West Suffolk Archaeological Institute was held in 1848. [6]
During the Second world War the Royal Observer Corps established a control centre in the guildhall. [7] [8] After the war the condition of the building deteriorated and it was placed in the Heritage At Risk register in the 1980s. [9]
In July 2015 the Bury St Edmunds Heritage Trust launched a project to convert the guildhall into a heritage centre. [10] [11] The project was undertaken at a cost of £2 million, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, [12] and the works, which involved access improvements and a new lift as well as repairs to the roof, walls and ceilings, were completed in 2018. [13] The project enabled visitors to see the newly refurbished courtroom, the banqueting hall, the Royal Observer Corps operations room and the Tudor kitchen. [13]
In 2019, dating of the roof and entrance door was requested by Historic England to inform on-going restoration work. Eighteen timbers were sampled from the roof, showing likely felling dates between AD 1263 and 1376. Two of the samples still had complete sapwood and were felled in the winter of AD 1376/77, implying that construction of the roof took place in AD 1377 or soon thereafter. The door boards were made from oak imported from the Baltic region, three samples indicating felling between AD 1253 and 1439, with the latest possible date of AD 1461. [2]
Hadleigh is an ancient market town and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. The town is situated next to the River Brett, between the larger towns of Sudbury and Ipswich. It had a population of 8,253 at the 2011 census. The headquarters of Babergh District Council were located in the town until 2017.
Bury St Edmunds, commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The town is best known for Bury St Edmunds Abbey and St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Bury is the seat of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich of the Church of England, with the episcopal see at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. In 2011, it had a population of 45,000. The town, originally called Beodericsworth, was built on a grid pattern by Abbot Baldwin around 1080. It is known for brewing and malting and for a British Sugar processing factory, where Silver Spoon sugar is produced. The town is the cultural and retail centre for West Suffolk and tourism is a major part of the economy.
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Guildhall is a municipal building in the Moorgate area of the City of London, England. It is off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. The current building dates from the 15th century; however documentary evidence suggests that a guildhall had existed at the site since at least the early 12th century. The building has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation. It should not be confused with London's City Hall, the administrative centre for Greater London. The term "Guildhall" refers both to the whole building and to its main room, which is a medieval great hall. It is a Grade I-listed building.
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Bury St Edmunds railway station serves the town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. The station is on the Ipswich–Ely line and all trains calling there are operated by Greater Anglia.
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East Suffolk County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of East Suffolk in east England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and acted as the governing authority for the county until it was amalgamated with West Suffolk County Council to form Suffolk County Council in 1974. The county council was based at East Suffolk County Hall in Ipswich.
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St Peter'sChurch, Sudbury is a former Anglican church in the town of Sudbury, Suffolk, England, which now serves as an Arts Centre. The building is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The building stands in the heart of the town in a dominating position on Market Hill.
Bury Road, Lawshall is a linear settlement in the civil parish of Lawshall in the Babergh district in the county of Suffolk, England. The northern part of the settlement is in the civil parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield in West Suffolk. Bury Road is located between Hawstead and Lambs Lane / The Glebe and is two miles off the A134 between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury.
The Church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph, otherwise known as Coldham Cottage is the oldest continuing Roman Catholic church in Suffolk. It is in Bury Road, Lawshall and is part of the Diocese of East Anglia. It is in the Catholic parish of Bury St Edmunds. In 1998, it was designated as a Grade II Listed Building.
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The Holy Trinity Church is the parish church of the village of Blythburgh in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is part of the Church of England Halesworth deanery in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and has been listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England since December 1966.
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The Guildhall of St George is a Grade I listed building in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. The Guild of St George was founded in 1376 and constructed the Guildhall between 1410 and 1420. It is the largest extant guildhall in England. It has been in use as a theatre since 1445, making it the oldest theatre still operating in the United Kingdom, and the only one still in existence in which William Shakespeare is believed to have performed. The building is in the ownership of the National Trust, which has leased it to King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough council for hire as a music, performances, lectures and entertainment venue.
The Athenaeum is a Grade I listed building and a major venue in Bury St Edmunds, England. Even before substantial rebuilding the site was used as an Assembly Rooms for the town in the eighteenth century. The building was rebuilt in 1789 and further developed in 1804 under a subscription scheme established by its new owner, James Oakes. Lord Arthur Hervey founded the Athenaeum in 1853, originally operating out of Bury St Edmunds Guildhall. In 1854 the organisation moved into the former Assembly Rooms, since then the building has been known as the Athenaeum.
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