BURY ST. EDMUNDS, municipal borough, West Suffolk, England, 87m. N.E. by N. of London by the L.N.E. railway.
Pop. (1931) 16,703. It is situated on the River Lark, a tributary of the Great Ouse, in a fertile and richly cultivated district. The settlement (Beodricesworth) was one of the royal towns of the Saxons, and may have occupied the site of a Roman villa. Sigebert, king of the East Angles, founded a monastery here about which in go3 became the burial place of King Edmund, who was slain by the Danes about 870. It owed its early celebrity to the reputed miracles performed at the shrine of the martyr king. By 925 the fame of St. Edmund had spread far and wide, and the name of the town was changed to St. Edmund's Bury. Sweyn, in 1020, having destroyed the older monastery and ejected the secular priests, built a Benedictine abbey on its site. King Edmund had granted to the abbot and convent jurisdiction over the whole town, free from all secular services; and Canute in 1020 freed it from episcopal control. By various grants from the abbots, the town gradually attained the rank of a borough. Henry III., in granted two annual fairs, one in the month of December (which still survives), the other, the great St. Matthew's fair, which was abolished by the Fairs act of 1871. Another fair was granted in 1405. In 16o6 a charter of incorporation was granted, with an annual fair in Easter week and a market. Further charters date from the 17th century. Remains of the great abbey include the church gate, one of the finest specimens of early Norman archi tecture in England, the western gate (Decorated) and ruined walls. St. Mary's church has a beautifully carved roof and is of 15th century date, while St.
James's is also Perpendicular. These remarkable buildings front one of the main streets. The free grammar school dates from the time of Edward VI.
Bury St. Edmunds formerly had a large woollen trade. The agricultural trade is important, cattle and corn markets being held; while there are agricultural implement works. The town is gov erned by a mayor, six aldermen and 18 councillors. Area 2,947 acres. For purposes of parliamentary representation it is included in the Bury St. Edmunds division of the administrative county of West Suffolk.