At the heart of the historic Suffolk market town of Bury St Edmunds is
the ruined eleventh-century abbey. The magnificent abbey church, once
one of the richest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England
and among the largest in Europe, was built over several generations. The
chosen material was flint encased with limestone, the bonding agent
being lime mortar. Chalk, the necessary requirement for this, had to be
mined deeply and therefore Bury has chalk mines to the east, west and in
a central part of town. Centuries later, catastrophic consequences
occurred when thirty houses that had been built above the chalk mines
were affected by property blight and had to be demolished. With the
closure of the abbey following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in
1539, there were stories of medieval ghostly figures traversing the town
via secret tunnels, unable to rest. Some of their Anglo-Saxon ancestors
were discovered in a cemetery when building works were underway on the
edge of town. In Going Underground: Bury St Edmunds, local author Martyn
Taylor offers a fascinating insight into this Suffolk town's heritage
lying hidden beneath its surface. Different chapters focus on tunnels,
burial sites, chalk mines, cellars, municipal works, military defences,
parch marks and much more. Illustrated throughout, this book will reveal
subterranean surprises from ancient cellars to Victorian sewers. Take an
intriguing look underground and discover how much history lies beneath
your feet in Bury St Edmunds.
