Bury St Edmunds historian Martyn Taylor introduces us to town benefactor Jankyn Smith, still remembered 500 years on

It is a well-known fact that the Abbey owned and controlled Bury St Edmunds for over 500 years, though riots and rebellion at different times in 1327 and 1381 made sure that the townspeople did not let it have its own way all the time.

Not to the liking of the Abbot were the guilds and they were looked upon as a direct threat to the power and control of the Abbey. Members of a guild had the opportunity to rise in society through hard work, though nepotism often played an important part. One man from the powerful Candlemas Guild who is still remembered is Jankyn Smyth, who would probably be known today as John Smith.

He was the son of John and Hawise Smyth and certainly was a wealthy merchant, probably in the cloth or wool trade. His wife Anne had two children and it is thought the family lived somewhere in Churchgate Street. Against this background Jankyn looked after not only the interests of the Candlemas Guild but the town in general as he was elected no less than seven times as Alderman – the medieval equivalent of mayor – between 1423 and 1481.

As was the tradition in those days when a new Abbot took up his post the townspeople had to pay for the Cope Silver, the Abbot’s new cape, and more than once Jankyn paid for it from his own purse, certainly appreciated by Bury residents.

A great supporter of St Mary’s Church, the civic church of Bury St Edmunds (his memorial brass is there), Jankyn left in his will of 1481 a detailed list of bequests, including the Guildhall Feoffment that evolved from the Candlemas Guild.

A noble portrait of him looks down on the banqueting hall in the Guildhall, most probably the oldest continuing civic building in the country from the late 12th century.

Jankyn’s endowed service, held in June in St Mary’s from 1481, is perhaps the oldest such in the country and is attended by schoolchildren from the Guildhall Feoffment school. Following the service a cake and ale ceremony toasting his memory is held in the Guildhall (the children not there!).

The Guildhall was the power-base of the Feoffment Trust that would come to the fore with the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539.

With the Abbey no longer running the town, the Feoffees (another word for trustees) stepped into the void. One element was dispensing charity to the poor, something that the Abbey, morally and Christian-like, carried out. Also, importantly, with the town becoming a borough in 1606, thanks to the first charter of James I/VI, the Feoffees mainly supplied the 37 members of that corporation.

A major unfortunate deficit was that Bury was no longer represented in Parliament as the Abbot, being mitred, had fulfilled that role. So the town was disenfranchised from 1539 and this was only finally addressed 75 years later, when the 1614 James charter finally allowed two MPs to represent the town.

Another aspect of the rule of the Feoffees was that they took on the function of administrating justice, even to the extent of caring for prisoners in the town gaol.

Over time, anybody who was anybody within the town was a Feoffee as they catered for what we might call today as a ‘private members club’, involving business and social interests.

The trust acquired land and buildings and, apart from the obvious Guildhall, its holdings today include Moyse’s Hall, No-Man’s Meadows, almshouses in College Square, Long Row in Southgate Street and Long Row in Northgate Street, The Fennell Homes in St Andrew’s Street South and almshouses in Hengrave.

Of course, we must not forget the Guildhall Feoffment schools between Bridewell Lane and College Street. The girls only school corner of Well Street and Short Brackland was sold off many years ago.

One surprise ownership is that the Feoffment Trust owned from 1557 until 1917 the Angel Hotel.

Today the Guildhall Feoffment Trust is still going strong with the Guildhall facilities brought up to modern day standards but still retaining its sense of history.

— Martyn Taylor is a local historian, author and Bury Tour Guide. His latest book, Bury St Edmunds Through Time Revisited, is widely available.