St Edmund burial site: Could 2020 solve the mystery?

The mystery of St Edmund’s resting place could finally be answered next year with plans to scan the grounds of the Abbey Gardens.

Speculation has mounted over the years as to whether the first patron saint of England is buried beneath the Bury St Edmunds gardens’ old tennis courts and 2020 could unearth the truth.

The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership will apply for grant funding for a geophysical scan of the area next year and the tarmac on the courts will be removed in late January.

It is part of the 1,000th anniversary marking the foundation of the Abbey of St Edmund by King Canute.

The Rev Canon Matthew Vernon, chairman of the heritage partnership, said the question of St Edmund’s resting place had ‘captured the hearts and imaginations of residents and thousands of visitors who come to the Abbey each year’.

“The simple answer is that none of us knows about that with any certainty,” he said.

“A first stage scan of the former Abbey of St Edmund would focus around the site of King Canute’s rotunda, which was built just after the foundation of the Abbey in 1020.

“While it would also include the site of the former tennis courts, its purpose is about researching and discovering more about what structures, artefacts and other links to the Abbey’s medieval past may lie beneath a much larger part of the former Abbey.

“All of this will in turn help develop people’s understanding of this internationally significant heritage.”

Community celebrations and other events will be held in Bury for the anniversary.

The Abbey of St Edmund site also includes St Mary’s Church, the Vinefields and water meadows.

Cllr Joanna Rayner, West Suffolk Council’s cabinet member for culture, said: “We already know that the Abbey played a key role in establishing Magna Carta and the shaping of modern democracy - who knows what we will discover in 2020.”

New tennis courts at the former Eastgate Nurseries in the Abbey Gardens are due to in the summer.

The heritage partnership, which is led by St Edmundsbury Cathedral with support from councils and other groups, was set up to protect the Abbey area and develop understanding of its historical, archaeological, religious and architectural significance.