Picture of Abbeygate Street, Bury St Edmunds, from the Spanton Jarman collection

To the left, at 49 Abbeygate Street, is Henry Quant, shoemaker, trading here since 1858. Number 50 is Gurneys Bank, designed by H F Bacon of Bury St Edmunds in 1856.

J F Paul, Printer and Stationer, moved into number 52 in 1870 and left in 1880 when the building was demolished and a new bank built.

It was designed to match numbers 50 to 51

and then became the Post Office from 1880 to 1895. On the left, on the corner of the Buttermarket, is Plumptons and Sons, long-established linen and woollen drapers, later to

become Palmers Department store, which closed 2018.

-- This picture is part of a remarkable collection of 4,000 photographs in the care of Bury St Edmunds Past and Present Society which offers a glimpse into the town’s history.

Taken by two families of professional photographers, the Spantons and the Jarmans, the images span a period from the 1860s through to the outbreak of World War Two.

The fragile glass plate negatives were donated to the society in 1997 and in recent years many of these have been ‘digitised’ thanks to a Lottery grant and donations. They can be viewed at www.burypastandpresent.org.uk where you can also find details about membership and the group’s programme of events and lectures.

The Spanton-Jarman collection is held at the Bury St Edmunds branch of the Suffolk Record Office.

For more details about the Record Office, including its programme of talks and courses, visit www.suffolkarchives.co.uk.