St Edmundsbury Cathedral to showcase seven ancient manuscripts as part of the Abbey 1000 celebrations

A town cathedral is set to showcase ancient manuscripts in an exhibition next month.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds will be holding an exhibition entitled St Edmundsbury Cathedral’s Secrets of the Abbey: History Returns on May 2 until June 8 as part of the Abbey 1000 celebrations.

For the first time in almost 500 years, seven ancient manuscripts from the Abbey Scriptorium will return to the place where they were written in a free exhibition.

In the past, the Abbey's library had about 3,000 books by the time it was closed by Henry VIII in 1539, and of those only 270 survived. Cambridge libraries has 154, with 121 in Pembroke College which has loaned the manuscripts for the celebration.

Most of the manuscripts where given to Pembroke College in 1599 by William Smart, Portreeve of Ipswich, and one was gifted by Edmund Boldero, who was born in Bury St Edmunds and later became Master of Jesus College in Cambridge in the seventeenth century.

Alongside the manuscripts will be an exhibition detailing life at the Abbey, how the manuscripts were written, and town life during Abbey times.

The exhibition was made possible by a Heritage Grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Abbey 1000 celebrations are being coordinated by the Abbey 1000 C.I.C, which includes the cathedral, and the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership.

Rev Canon Matthew Vernon, who is part of the Abbey 1000 C.I.C., said: "We are delighted to welcome back these ancient works to the site of the Abbey. "The monks showed their religious commitment by creating objects of great artistic skill and beauty.

"These manuscripts are some of the amazing creations surviving today which help us understand the life of the Abbey and its monks' faith in God."

Tickets for the exhibition are now on sale and can be found here.