Bury St Edmunds | |
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The Guildhall |
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Bury St Edmunds shown within Suffolk | |
Population | 40,664 (2011) |
OS grid reference | TL855645 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BURY ST EDMUNDS |
Postcode district | IP28–IP33 |
Dialling code | 01284 |
Police | Suffolk |
Fire | Suffolk |
Ambulance | East of England |
EU Parliament | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Bury St Edmunds is a market town in Suffolk, England.Bury St Edmunds Abbey is near the town centre. Bury is the seat of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, with the episcopal see at St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
The town, originally called Beodericsworth, was built on a grid pattern by Abbot Baldwin around 1080. It is known for brewing and malting (Greene King brewery) and for a British Sugar processing factory, where Silver Spoon sugar is produced. The town is the cultural and retail centre for West Suffolk and tourism is a major part of the economy.
The name Bury is etymologically connected with borough, which has cognates in other Germanic languages such as the German "burg" meaning "fortress, castle"; Old Norse "borg" meaning "wall, castle"; and Gothic "baurgs" meaning "city". They all derive from Proto-Germanic *burgs meaning "fortress". This in turn derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhrgh meaning "fortified elevation", with cognates including Welsh bera ("stack") and Sanskrit bhrant- ("high, elevated building"). There is thus no justification for the folk etymology stating that the Cathedral Town was so called because St Edmund was buried there.
The second section of the name refers to Edmund King of the East Angles, who was killed by the Vikings in the year 869. He became venerated as a saint and a martyr, and his shrine made Bury St Edmunds an important place of pilgrimage.