Bury St Edmunds 'Castle' (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Bury St Edmunds.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL850640
Latitude 52.24490° Longitude 0.71575°

Bury St Edmunds 'Castle' has been described as a Uncertain although is doubtful that it was such.

There are uncertain remains.

Comments

Renn does not usually mention town defences and it is unclear as to if he thought there was a separate lost castle in Bury or if he is referring to the Abbey or Town defences. There is nothing else to suggest a castle at Bury and the tenurial history of this Abbey dominated town would normally exclude a castle. Gatehouse suspects the transfer of 'castle-guard' was to the abbey defences, and it should be noted that the medieval use of the term 'castle' was very flexible and could include town defences.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 353
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Cronne, H.A. and Davis R.H.C. (eds), 1968, Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154 Vol. 3 Regesta regis Stephani ac Mathildis imperatricis ac Gaufridi et Henrici ducum Normannorum, 1135-54 p. 279 No. 757 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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