'The Monastery Alone a City': 1,000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund

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:

Normans | Medieval | Tudors | Abbeys

From it foundation by King Cnut to its dissolution by Henry VIII, the Benedictine Abbey of St Edmund was for five centuries one of the richest monasteries in England, and a European centre of pilgrimage. This illustrated talk will describe how and why the abbey was founded, how it grew to be so powerful, and why it now stands in ruins.

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