The town of Bury St Edmunds was rebuilt by Abbott Baldwin in the eleventh century. He laid out the town in a grid pattern and created the square at the gates of the Abbey. Pilgrims came to pray and wonder at the tomb of St. Edmund, the Saxon boy king murdered for his faith by the Danes. Since the building of the Norman Abbey at the beginning of the twelfth century the Angel has served travellers, with the great Abbey to the right and the main gate to the left, The Angel, now the Angel Hotel, had the plum position, catching all the pilgrims as they arrived with dusty feet and dry tongues. One must imagine the Angel, newly built from the same stone used to face the Abbey, open to the street selling refreshments and souvenirs to the strangers in the town.
Most came to worship at the High Altar, the enormous Abbey held one of the richest shrines in Northern Europe, but some came to trade and buy the wool and cloth for which Bury St Edmunds was famous. Once a year the Great Fair was held directly outside the Angel. 'The Medieval monk and diarist Jocelin of Brakelond recorded the crowds and festivities that occupied the town for six days. Wool was traded in vast quantities. Kings wore Bury cloth and Bury burghers, were the Industrial Fat Cats of their time. In Chequer Square, behind the Athenaeum, was the exchequer, which dealt with all monies that flooded into the town. The Church always liked to keep a close eye on any important business in Bury.
"0 Suffolk is a noble county and full of lovely views miss
And full of gallant gentlemen for you to pick and choose miss"
So goes the old rhyme - match making was another profitable business during Fair time. Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister and Duchess of Suffolk, is said to have erected her own pavilion and shown typical Tudor high spirits, it seems that everyone saw the Fair as an opportunity for fun in the widest sense of the word. By the nineteenth century the Fair was considered too scandalous and was abolished. The sixteenth century was a rather disappointing period for both Bury and The Angel (the hotel was first mentioned with that name in 1452). The dissolution of the monasteries (whilst giving the town an almost inexhaustible supply of building stone) must have hit the tourist trade hard, moreover the wool industry showed the first signs of it's long, slow decline. Did the Angel suffer a loss of trade? What is certain is that in 1557 William Tassell gave the hotel to the Feoffees, a religious trust and with one break of 35 years the hotel remained in the hands of that committee until the turn of this century.
Before the dissolution Bury St Edmunds has throbbed with the pulse of England's history. Kings and cardinals rode through its streets. In 1214 twenty-five Barons met with "much secret discourse" before forcing the terms of the Magna Carta on King John at Runnymead. Once the monks had retired, no doubt to some rejoicing from the townsfolk, Bury slipped into a new role as a sleepy backwater market town with quiet streets and a busy but parochial life.
Not that much has changed since. There was a period of rebuilding and improvement. The main bulk of the Angel Hotel is eighteenth century. Built in 1774-9 by the architect John Redgrave, which is why the room bearing his name is at the top of the hotel on the new floor, added by him, with a magnificent view of the square and Abbey gardens. Also newly built was The Theatre Royal designed by William Wilkins, architect of The National Gallery. Public subscription funded the building of The Athenaeum on the west side of the square.
It is in the latter building that Charles Dickens gave readings from Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield. He stayed at The Angel twice and was pleased with the neat little town of "cleanly and thriving appearance", so much so that he permitted his character, Mr. Pickwick, to visit here a few years later.
Other important visitors came from across the water. Louis Phillippe would slip across when his royal seat became a little too hot for comfort (Madame Guillotine was rather partial to French royal blood). His sister, Princess Amelia, stayed in Bury for five years with her governess. Paris streets full of cries of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity may have stirred the hearts of the French people but were hardly a suitable background for the serious studies of a young lady.
Over the centuries the Angel Hotel has satisfied monks and roundheads, royals and rogues. Now the Rotary Club of Bury St Edmunds hold most of their meetings there!
There is a choice of two restaurants - The Vaults, situated in the l2th century undercroft, and reputed to be part of the old Abbey, provides a unique medieval setting, and then there is the main Restaurant.
The Bury St Edmunds Club meets on Tuesdays at varying times so check your directory.
Janet and I recently attended one of their Ladies Evenings, we could not have been made more welcome - the fellowship, the dinner, the speaker, were all first class - we hope to go again.
Copyright © 1997 Rodney Howell
This Home Page was created by WebEdit,19 November 1997