BURY ST EDMUNDS

Time for a road trip from Cambridge to see some Suffolk countryside. Bury St Edmunds was one of the royal towns of the Saxons. Sigebert , king of the East Angles, founded a monastery here about 633, which in 903 became the burial place of King Edmund, who was slain by the Danes ( Go Vikings!)  in 869.  There is little left of the monastery except a melted looking collection of stones that look like a wet sand castle. Impressive and unique  though is how the town has used the ruins as a park, a playground and even built houses into the walls. 

Norman Gatehouse Tower

Not Much Left

The New Cathedral Ceiling

I Think He's Trying to Communicate

Golden Pheasant

Houses Built into the Wall

Cool or What?

Ancient Paving, Walking in Footsteps of Many Monks

St Mary's

My purpose for coming here, my own pilgrimage, was to visit Mary Tudor's grave. Not 8's daughter, his sister. 

We went to the "new" St Edmundsbury cathedral (Originating in the 11th century, rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries, became a cathedral in 1914) looking for Mary but it seemed wrong. Not only was she nowhere to be found but the huge ceiling, the towering vaults, the cavernous scope was cold and unwelcoming. She wouldn't have been buried here. The priest confirmed, I was in the wrong church, and directed me down the street. Mary's resting place was a beautiful site, this was the place! Set by the ruins, it's scale is in keeping with the time. Modern day stuff is big, medieval stuff is small. 

The oldest section of the church is the flint tower, which was built between 1395 and 1403. The roof is supported by 42 carved figures, and pairs of carved angels decorate the hammerbeams. There are a fascinating variety of subjects, including a mermaid, a fox and goose, and a woodwose, a local wild-man figure.
Nobody really knows what the woodwoses are doing there, and why there are so many of them in Suffolk. Are they just for show, or do they commemorate some kind of local English wildman-of-the woods, a British Bigfoot, what cryptozoologists call “relict hominids”? It's not unusual to see a Green Man in a church. Despite the  embracing of Christianity, there were, and still are, connections to the earth and the pagan beliefs. Workmen would often slip in a little statement of their own. But who knows? Maybe there IS a Suffolk Bigfoot! 

A Woodwose or Green Man

AW... They Let the Roses Die :(

Success! Beside the altar is the very simple tomb of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Duchess of Suffolk and sister of Henry VIII. 


I always liked these guys, maybe because Brandon was Henry's bestie and they had such fun together jousting, eating, womanizing, hunting, playing tennnis and being otherwise human, because Brandon was loyal to his buddy to the end, but also because Mary went ahead and married him even though she knew her brother would be pretty peeved, and she knew what happened to those who peeved him. They got away with it and lived happily in love till she died of illness.  The coffin lay in state for a month and was interred at the Abbey church of Bury St Edmunds. The abbey church and her monument were destroyed  by her brother during the dissolution of the monasteries, but her coffin was saved,  and moved to St Mary's. In 1784, it was moved yet again within that church. The movers ghoulishly opened the coffin ( I would have too) , they found a good set of teeth and two feet of hair which was still red-gold. Souvenir hunters cut off pieces of the hair.

And what of Brandon? Her husband replaced her quickly enough – and, as was typical of Brandon, with aplomb. He decided to marry his son’s betrothed. The girl  called Catherine Willoughby, a rich heiress. She was also just fourteen-years-old, the same age as his youngest child. Brandon himself was almost fifty. But he needed money badly. He died in his 60's and was buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor. 

Not far from Bury St Ed's is the little hamlet of Little Saxham whose church of St Nicholas has one of the few round towers in England. The tower is Norman and miraculously hasn't been renovated by Victorians.

The pews are finished with Poppy Heads, A Poppy Head is a carved finial of a wooden bench end. Although an actual carving of a poppy head was frequently used,  poppy heads might be carved to represent practically anything, from animals, birds, grotesque mythological creatures, angels, saints, religious symbols, and human figures. Some of the more overtly religious carvings were intentionally damaged during the Reformation, and in some churches the poppy heads have been lopped off or defaced. Another little tie to their pagan roots.

This was a great example of a small medieval church. What a difference from the big mouthed cathedral in Bury St Ed's and a fun day out of the city. Bury St Edmunds is a winner.