'Mr Soane Came to Breakfast': two Georgian gentlemen and a house in Bury St Edmunds

Region:

East of England

Notice Period:

Regular (more than one month's notice)

Type:

Retired Professional

Fee:

Paid: £70 plus expenses

Category:

History

Updated:

6^th May 2022

Tagged:

Georgians | Georgian History | Sir John Soane | Architecture

How did Mr Bury St Edmunds James Oakes persuade renowned architect Sir John Soane to design an extension to his home in Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds in 1788? This illustrated talk will describe this unlikely collaboration and show the evidence of it that can be seen today.

I am an accredited Green Badge Guide and Chairman of the Bury St Edmunds Association of Registered Tour Guides. I have taught adult education evening classes for many years and talked widely to local groups and societies.

I was a professional archaeologist for over forty years, including twenty as county archaeologist in Hereford and Worcester, Cheshire and Cambridgeshire, and I have carried out fieldwork in East Anglia, the Midlands, Yorkshire, the North West, Wales, the Orkneys, Italy and Libya.

I am a Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Although retired from professional archaeology, I remain a Trustee of West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village Trust and chair the Editorial Board of East Anglian Archaeology.

Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Adrian Tindall

• 'The Montpellier of Suffolk': Bury St Edmunds' French Connections
• 'An Extraordinary Man': the life and times of Walter Guinness, Lord Moyne of Bury St Edmunds
• 'Not the Slightest Cause for Panic': Bury St Edmunds in the Great War
• 'A Handsome Little Town': a virtual tour of Bury St Edmunds
• 'The Monastery Alone a City': 1,000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund