|
|
 | |
| |
|
- 7th century – King Sigebert, the first Christian king of East Angles has established a modest religious community on the site.
- 9th century – King Edmund was captured by Vikings near Norwich. He refused to renounce his Christian faith and was decapitated. The martyred king became a royal saint after a series of miracles around his death. His body was laid to rest here.
- 10th century – the growing settlement became a site of pilgrimage to visit St Edmund’s resting place.
- 11th century – King Cnut established a Benedictine community. The Abbey and surrounding area developed under the influence of Abbot Baldwin, who planned and designed the layout of Bury St Edmunds.
- 12th century – serious fire damages major buildings in the abbey. Abbot Samson continues the building programme.
- 13th century – legend has it that Earls and Barons assembled in the abbey to listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury read Henry 1s charter. Inspired, they swore on the high altar to force King John to establish a similar charter of liberties, the Magna Carta. The Abbey continues to prosper, but townsfolk are unhappy with the Abbot’s power.
- 14th century – the abbey suffers a series of disturbances from the townsfolk, keen to gain civic control of the town.
- 16th century – as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII. It was sold on by the Crown; the abbot’s palace survived as a house until 1720, but the abbey precinct became a quarry for building material for the townsfolk. Today various buildings and boundary walls in the town still show evidence of this plundered stone.
- In 1831, after 300 years of neglect, the grounds, which were owned by the Marquis of Bristol, were laid out as a Botanic Garden.
- Created by Nathaniel Hodson, plants that had been kept in an area on the eastern side of the churchyard were transferred to a location on the site of the Great Court of the Abbey.
- Hodson compiled a comprehensive Catalogue of Plants containing 2000 plants in 1822 and it is presumed that most of these plants were moved to the new site in the 1830s, where the formal beds now are.
- In the early years the gardens were financed by subscribers and included the Duke of Grafton and the Marquis of Cornwall. The subscription rate was two guineas.
- At the end of the 19th century visitors were allowed into the Gardens for a fee of one shilling and children for sixpence. This was a lot of money at the time but was specifically done to exclude the ‘undesirables’.
- 1912 – St Edmundsbury Borough Council took out a lease for the Gardens at £90 per annum with the intention of maintaining the area. It was proposed to make the gardens a free open space and they were officially opened as a free park on 28 December 1912.
- 1953 - The gardens were eventually bought by the borough council for the sum of £7,814. 1s 0d.
|
|
|
|
