Historian, author and tour guide Martyn Taylor looks into the history of iconic Bury St Edmunds landmark the Abbeygate

If ever an image needed to be used to exemplify the rich history and heritage of Bury St Edmunds, surely the Abbeygate is that.

For nearly 700 years it has stood on Angel Hill, first as the secular entrance to the immensely important abbey of St Edmund and secondly to welcome tourists to the picturesque Abbey Gardens.

However, this magnificent entrance did not always sit here. There was a predecessor built in the style of Norman architecture, as per the Norman Tower of 1121-48.

Then, the current Abbeygate forerunner sat opposite what is today’s Abbeygate Street (possibly then known as the Cook Row).

Infamously, the most important event that took place at the Abbeygate occurred in 1190 when one of the most charismatic of the abbots, Abbot Samson (elected in 1182), denied sanctuary to fleeing Jews from the wrath of the townspeople.

The Jews from Heathenmen’s Street, today’s Hatter Street, fled to the Abbey for sanctuary, chased there by townspeople who had accused them a few years earlier of crucifying a young boy, to become St Robert.

Unfortunately the Abbeygate was closed, shutting out the Jews, Samson quoting, ‘they are not St Edmund’s men’. Fifty-seven members of the Jewish faith were sadly killed; we know these facts all because of an amazing account of Benedictine life at the Abbey then by monk Joscelin of Bracklond.

However, it later emerged there may have been a sinister motive by Samson to be rid of the Jews. His predecessor, Abbot Hugh, had borrowed money from them, after all they were the only people allowed to lend money for profit, usury. What better way to rid yourself of a debt than to get rid of the lenders.

The Norman Abbeygate’s demise was brought about in 1327, a year of national unrest with the grim demise of Edward II, his son Edward III ascended the throne.

Then, the town was still under the total control of the Abbey, this led to various abuses of the townsfolk via taxation. The culmination of these saw the people of the town rebel, aided and abetted by the Babwell friars, attacking the Abbey, hoping to seize the records of taxes, tithes, rents and other dues within. Not only did their grievances lay with monetary elements but as to how some monks were behaving in the eyes of many, the rule of St Benedict broken.

The Abbeygate felt the full force of the mob, cartloads of burning straw rolled down The Cook Row, setting alight the timber within the gate. Destruction followed. A great deal of the infrastructure of the Abbey, such as the brewhouse, bakery and stables, was also destroyed.

The leaders of the revolt – John De Berton, who had been illegally elected the town’s Alderman, and Gilbert Barbour – were instrumental in leading the insurgents.

Richard de Draughton, the 18th abbot who, after receiving loads of abuse, fled to London. He returned to Bury where he subdued the rioters with the aid of the Sheriff of Norwich, the result of which saw 30 cartloads of prisoners taken off to Norwich where some were outlawed others, convicted of treason and hanged. Many were jailed. A huge fine of £14,000 imposed on the town in restitution to the Abbey saw only a small proportion of it ever paid.

John de Berton and Gilbert Barbour subsequently escaped and accepted sanctuary within the Babwell Friary (site of today’s Priory Hotel), in Bury. On leaving after the prescribed year and a day they kidnapped the hapless De Draughton from his manor at Chevington and took him to Brabant in the Low Countries.

Two years passed and the abbot returned to Bury, the two main protagonists, Barbour and Berton were both imprisoned where the latter died. Barbour’s fate is not known.

Concerning the Abbeygate, De Draughton was in a quandary: rebuild the gate now in a ruinous condition and obviously take the chance that any future rioters could repeat the exercise, or re-build the gate out of alignment with the Cook Row so future cartloads of straw could not directly roll into the gate. He took the latter course, re-using any salvageable stone, however it took another 20 years to complete.

As he died in 1335 it was left to his successor, Abbot William De Bernham, to finish the job – and what a triumph it was and still is.

The building itself

This followed the latest vogue in building styles, being the second phase of Gothic architecture in England known as the Decorated Period (1280-1380). It showed off its embellishments, fripperies and niches, because this was a no-nonsense statement showing off the power of the Abbey.

Built from Barnack stone, an oolitic limestone quarried near Peterborough and transported across the undrained fens down the Great Ouse into the River Lark and thus up to the Abbey site.

As the Abbots bridge was not built until 1210-15 the ashlar, dressed stone blocks, could be taken right up to a staithe at the Abbey Church site, this magnificent edifice being completed in 1210 housed the body of St Edmund, the first patron saint of England.

By 1347 the Abbeygate was almost complete, though it would take until 1353 to ‘tidy-up the loose ends’. As an entrance to the Great Court of the Abbey (where today’s flower beds are) it allowed access to the peripheral buildings of the abbey itself, including the important Abbot’s Palace.

Some 60 feet tall, the Abbeygate is an imposing structure overlooking ‘God’s Square’, Angel Hill. The following description starts from the bottom upwards. The current wooden gates are shut at dusk, reopening in the morning, while the portcullis is a Victorian replacement, it is obvious there was one there because the grooves used for its raising and lowering are still visible.

Directly above this feature are three small niches, the central niche slightly higher than the other two. Amazingly, a theory put forward in his Suffolk and Norfolk book by eminent academic, author and Dean of Kings College, M R James, is that these niches contained St Edmund flanked by his two Danish slayers. Though pure conjecture on his part, he said: “They may have contained St Edmund and two archers,” but nowhere else has this hypothesis been put forward.

To the right are further niches all the way up to the top, 17 in all including the three already mentioned. They would have contained statues of saints and possibly other notable figures. They were all hiked-out at the reformation when Henry VIII set up the Church of England. When I am guiding, I am asked the perennial question ‘what happened to them?’ The answer, I’m afraid to say, ‘we just don’t know’.

Either side of the ogee shape frame are quatrefoils, lucky four leaf clovers and at the very top are two Stars of David, all part of the iconography of the building itself. There are differing opinions as to why they are here, definitely a religious connection, but not Jewish then as King Edward I had expelled the Jews from England in 1290. Today it is accepted as a term of Jewish identity, but all those years ago did the Star of David mean a double pointed Trinity or the lineage of Jesus Christ back to David, hence its name?

At the front we finish at the top, where there are arrow slits and battlements confirming this was a fortified building. There is mystery regarding two buildings abutting the Abbeygate. A print in Yates Antiquities book on Bury St Edmunds of 1843 shows these, what were they and what happened to them?

Inside the Abbeygate

We turn our attention to just inside the gateway, where there are the remains of two hinges for massive doors now long gone.

Just before these to the right are three heraldic shields: to King Edward III, then a blank shield and finally a shield to Edward’s brother John of Eltham. Opposite are shields to Thomas Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk the king’s uncle, Edward the Confessor and lastly, Henry Earl of Lancaster, first cousin of Edward II.

Without doubt the most important one concerning Bury is that of Edward the Confessor. His shield is of five Martlets, mythical birds inside a cross patonce; the martlets had no feet and thus constantly on the wing. Why important? Well he gave to the Abbey the eight-and-a-half hundreds of land what was to become the Liberty of St Edmund, West Suffolk, thus making it extremely rich and powerful. Above these shields is a fine example of blind tracery, this would be in normal circumstances used in a window containing stained glass.

The inner hall has lost its vaulting, but flamboyant blind tracery is still evident, as is a small outside doorway on the right. Two further doorways lead up to the roof, but the first floor undertaken by John Lavenham, the sacrist from 1353 to C1384, has now gone.

The remains of a fireplace afforded some comfort to the small garrison of soldiers stationed here by leave of the king following the extensive riots in the town known to history as ‘The Peasants Revolt’ in 1381. A garderobe (toilet) for the soldiers use is on the north wall, while two octagonal turrets which met the two staircases collapsed on the roof several years ago.

At the rear of the Abbeygate there are six more niches, with a large tracery window prominent. A string course has small sculptures of animals including a cat and a pig – the latter being a reminder of the greed of man.

In 1912 the Bury St Edmunds Borough Corporation took out a lease on the Abbey Gardens from the fourth Marquis of Bristol for £90 a year, this was to celebrate King George V coming to the throne a year earlier. The Marquess obligingly had the Abbeygate cleaned and some repairs undertaken, the process was repeated in 1991. Incidentally, the corporation purchased the freehold in 1953 to celebrate the coronation of Elizabeth II.

All in all, this iconic remnant of the once powerful Abbey of St Edmund is a magnet for tourists and the town’s residents alike, though far more appreciated by the latter now since it was originally built.