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Chronology of the provision market
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| c.630 |
Sigeberht, King of the East Angles founded a monastery at Bedericsworth. This would have been the start of the town as a villa regia or royal town, possibly with such rights as holding a market, but more importantly, charging market tolls. The town was bounded by the River Linnet to the south, the River Lark to the east and the marshes of Tay Fen to the north. The rivers may well have been used to transport some goods to market. The first market place was believed to be located around the area of today's St Mary's Square, being the junction of a north-south Road (Northgate Street and Southgate Street) with modern Westgate Street. The north-south road was in effect the High Street and probably ran in a straight line through the modern Abbey Gardens before the growth of the abbey caused its diversion around the abbey walls.
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| 945 |
A large area of land was granted to the monastery by King Edmund covering most of modern Bury St Edmunds. Control of business activities and markets in the area would be included in this grant. This area was called the Banleuca.
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| 1044 |
Edward the Confessor granted full powers to the Abbot over the much wider area of West Suffolk, called the Liberty of St Edmund.
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| 1065 |
The Frenchman and Royal Physician, Baldwin, was appointed Abbot and he was in post for 32 years until 1097. He apparently initiated not only the building of the great Abbey Church, but also encouraged the town to double in size to support the rebuilding effort. He has been credited with the town plan which persists today with its large open square of Angel Hill and the initially enormous market place of today's Cornhill and Buttermarket.
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| 1066 |
The Norman Invasion began, but Abbot Baldwin appeared to find favour with his countryman, William the Conqueror, and all the Abbey's rights and privileges remained in place.
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| 1086 |
The Domesday Book recorded that there were markets at Bury, Clare and Haverhill.
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| 1121 |
An Italian abbot from near Rome named Anselm became Abbot and took up Baldwin's plans and enlarged and extended them. It is possible that the town layout with its two large plaza-like open areas was his doing, rather than Baldwin's.
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| 1123-7 |
Henry I issued a writ to Abbot Anselm confirming the abbey's right to hold the market and have the tolls from it. This was confirmed by each succeeding monarch until 1539.
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| 1191 |
The monks complained to Abbot Samson that the burgesses of the town had made sizeable encroachments in the market place, in shops, booths and stalls. The monks were angry that the rents were paid to Town Reeves and not the Convent. An offer of 100 shillings to end the dispute was refused by the convent. This story was related later by Jocelin of Brackland who concluded that despite many efforts, no compensation was ever received by the monks.
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| c.1195 |
Jocelin of Brackland begins his Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds and covers the period up to 1202. He tells how the merchants of London wished to be free from payment of tolls in St Edmund's market. They claimed this right under a Charter of Henry II but Abbot Samson insisted that the King's Charter did not apply in St Edmund's town because of a prior grant to the saint by Edward the Confessor. The London Merchants stay away for two years in protest.
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| 1201 |
King John issued a charter forbidding any other market or fair to be held within the area of the Liberty of St Edmund (the pre 1974 boundaries of the county of West Suffolk). From 1201 to 1300 was a peak period for new markets and 47 new ones arose in Suffolk, presumably mostly outside the Liberty.
However, this Charter was won only with difficulty and at a cost of 40 marks. The king had given a charter to the monks of Ely whereby they could hold a market at Lakenheath, on condition that it did not harm neighbouring markets. This conflicted with the abbot's existing rights within the Liberty of St Edmund, granted in 1044 by King Edward the Confessor and confirmed by Henry I. Thus "on the promise of a mere 40 marks", the king issued the new charter and ordered the market at Lakenheath to close. The Chronicle of Jocelin of Brackland explains how the king wrote to his Justiciar to discontinue the Lakenheath market. The Justiciar wrote this to the Sheriff of Suffolk, who, knowing that he could not enter the Liberty of St Edmund, or exercise any power there, ordered the abbot by writ to implement the king's command. The bailiff of the hundred went to carry this out but was met by insults and injuries. The abbot then sent six hundred well armed men who destroyed stalls and seized livestock. This illustrates the jealousy with which market rights were protected because of the importance of the income they could generate.
Also in 1201 the Abbot of Flay visited our abbey from France. He was promoting a new crusade and was travelling around England also preaching against Sunday trading. Abbot Sampson agreed with him that all the market trading which took place on Sundays would be transferred to Tuesdays.
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| 1235 |
The Abbot of Bury was granted the right to hold an annual Trinity Fair at Long Melford, which was in the area of the Liberty.
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| 1272 |
Henry III grants a charter for an annual Fair with tolls to be paid to the Abbot. This was St Matthews Fair held in late September to early October, and today known as the Bury Fair. It lasted annually until 1866. It may well have spent all this period located on the Angel Hill.
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| 1295 |
Description of market layout in street rental.
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| 1384 |
A Tuesday market begins at Ixworth.
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| 1539 |
Dissolution of the Abbey. Control over the market passed to the Crown.
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| 1563 |
Tolls of markets and fairs leased by the crown for 21 years to Thomas Andrews.
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| 1583 |
The Guildhall Feoffees raised money to build "a very fayer large house for cornesellers." The exact site is not known. It is believed to have burned down in 1608.
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| 1595 |
The markets and fairs, tolls and other rights leased by the crown to Sir Nicholas Bacon.
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| 1601 |
Sir Nicholas Bacon assigned this lease to Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead.
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| 1604 |
A fresh lease for 40 years was made to Sir Robert Drury by the Crown.
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| 1606 |
James I's first charter of Incorporation. The Alderman was granted the office of clerk of the market. The borough council was granted the power to make byelaws.
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| 1607 |
The borough made its first byelaws. These included byelaws "For the better ordering of the market" and "For usage of the Faires and Markets by strangers".
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| 1608 |
 The Great Fire. There was a serious fire in 1608, and the old market hall was burnt down. The fire started on 11 April in Eastgate Street and burned for three days spreading up Northgate Street, into Looms Lane, into the Market Place, possibly ending at Woolhall Street on one side and the Suffolk Hotel on the other. The Market Toll House also burned down. The market cross was built soon afterwards with an open ground floor and used as a corn exchange.
Following the fire, James I's second grant of privileges to the borough included the reversion of the 1604 lease to Sir Robert Drury for the tithes, fairs, markets and other rights. This is often referred to as the Market Charter.
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| 1609 |
The Town Clerk, John Mallowes, and his brother Edward were assigned the unexpired part of Sir Robert Drury's interest in the property leased to him. They also agreed to move the fish market to some other convenient place.
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| 1610 |
The Alderman and other members of the corporation acquired the assignment of Sir Robert Drury's lease as trustees for the corporation. The price they paid was £2,000.
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| 1614 |
James I's third grant of privileges. The market was not mentioned.
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| 1630 |
The corporation conveyed all their property, including the markets, fairs and tolls, to 40 trustees.
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| 1661-2 |
The Crown removed 19 members of the corporation after the restoration, but they refused to relinquish their interest in the corporate property. This led to a lengthy case in chancery.
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| 1668 |
The corporation's right to the markets and tolls was confirmed by Charles II.
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| 1669 |
The 19 disaffected corporation members reconveyed the property to the alderman and burgesses.
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1669
onwards |
 Markets and fairs were generally farmed - the lessee provided stalls, hurdles and so on, and collected tolls and dues, paying a fixed annual rent to the corporation. The advantage of this system for the corporation would be that it avoided the chore of collecting large numbers of daily payments, it got a fixed and guaranteed income, and it could avoid the frequent and irksome disputes which always surrounded the operation of a market. The disadvantages would be that it would get no extra income from increased tolls or more traders, and that it relinquished control over part of its town centre on market days.
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| 1747 |
Warren's town plan dated 1747 has the following market places marked upon it:
- Horse market - located in today's St Mary's Square
- Butter and Fish market - located in today's Buttermarket from Marks and Spencer's down to Abbeygate Street
- Beast Market - located in today's market area between Woolworth's and Marks and Spencer's.
- Great Market - located in today's Cornhill and Traverse area.
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| 1769 |
The corporation built a market house for the fish and herb market.
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| 1774 |
Robert Adam rebuilt The Market Cross. The ground floor was still open and used for the corn exchange. The upper floor was used as a theatre.
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| 1828 |
The Cattle market was removed from the town centre near the Corn Exchange to St Andrews Street South. This occasioned a riot on 30 April. The octagonal toll collector's booth from this period, known as the round house, still survives but has been moved to the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket.
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| 1835 |
Parliament passes The Municipal Corporations Act. The old self-perpetuating oligarchy was replaced by an elected council. The new council found that the old corporation had, as usual, farmed the markets and fairs, and they were bound by the terms of the existing lease, which did not expire until 1849.
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| 1836 |
The original corn exchange, now the site of the Laura Ashley store, was built.
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| 1836-58 |
The council gradually acquired more land on St Andrews Street South for the cattle market and fairs.
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| 1849 |
The lease on the market expired. The corporation agreed to take the management into their own hands and fixed the level of the tolls.
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| 1850 |
Counsil's opinion sought over shopkeepers in the market place who displayed goods in front of their shops but did not pay tolls. The counsil's advice was that they were entitled to "stallage" unless the shops had had the right to display their goods for more than 20 years.
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| 1853 |
Two auctioneers, Messrs Newton and Tattersall agreed with the council that they could erect stabling, a carriage warehouse, a selling shed and pens for pigs and sheep in the cattle market. A Mr Salter of Attleborough was allowed a gateway from his property into the cattle market "for the advantage of his sales".
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| 1861 |
New corn exchange built. The old corn exchange was used as a covered provision market.
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| 1865 |
 A photograph of market day on the Cornhill shows a disorganised view of a few carts and open stalls. The market does not look very busy or inviting
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| c.1900 |
 A photograph of a market day on the Buttermarket shows it busy but not over crowded and only a few stalls where today there are three full rows.
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| 1958 |
The cattle market was moved westwards, away from the St Andrews Street frontage to provide car parking for the town centre. New covered pig pens were provided together with a new lorrywash.
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| 1961 |
Buses leaving the bus station were finally banned from driving through the Buttermarket on market days, to avoid further damage to the portico of the Suffolk Hotel.
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| 1968 |
New market bye-laws were introduced.
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| 1974 |
St Edmundsbury Borough Council was formed from the old Bury St Edmunds Borough Council, Haverhill Urban District Council, Thingoe Rural District Council and Clare Rural District Council. The new council took over responsibility for the Bury markets, and the provision market held in Haverhill on a Friday and Saturday. There was a market held in Clare, but this was run by the parish council, and continues to be under their control.
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| 1986 |
The borough council first introduced market regulations. Modern conditions of open government and administrative justice meant that the Market Traders Committee were consulted on the proposals and the regulations adopted with their support. The regulations governed stall location and market discipline and very importantly by this time, controlled the sale of the goodwill of sites. Rules were adopted to control the future composition and locations of traders.
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| 1986 |
The growth of rival markets, usually disguised as car boot sales, was met by adopting S.37 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 requiring prior notice of such events.
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| 1987 |
Sainsbury's supermarket moved from the Cornhill to Moreton Hall on the edge of town. The land had been acquired in 1984 causing the future of the town centre to come into question.
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| 1988 |
There was a major review of market regulations in full consultation with the Traders Committee, resulting in two or four days suspensions being introduced for breaches of market regulations. Traders would pay for 48 weeks of the year, whether attending or not. The licence holder must attend personally for one week in four, and no companies or partnerships could trade.
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| 1989 |
Serious consideration was given to relocating the livestock market to allow for retail redevelopment, and a Cattle Market Redevelopment Working Party was set up.
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| 1990 |
Consultant chartered surveyors, Drivers Jonas reported on the commercial future of the provision market. They concluded that the market could be more profitable to the council if a management agreement was made with a commercial market operator, in other words farmed out. The council decided to retain its own control but adopted a business plan to improve its income and resolved to review its charging policy.
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| 1991 |
A three zone charging policy was adopted, with a higher price per foot of frontage charged in the areas with the best flow of pedestrians. This was the final major change in the last half decade of market reforms which ensured a dynamic future for our street market when these were declining elsewhere in the country in the economic recession.
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| 1992 |
By this date electric power supplies were made available to all stalls which needed it to comply with legislation. The market was extended into the Traverse under its Business Plan.
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| 1993 |
Simpson's cattle market site was sold to the council, who leased it to Lacy Scott, the last remaining livestock auctioneer in Bury St Edmunds.
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| 1994 |
Supported by market traders, the council lobbied Government not to take away their market rights as proposed in the Deregulation Bill. It also decided not to proceed with the redevelopment of the cattle market site.
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| 1996 |
 The markets joined in the Great British Market Week, a national promotion to boost the appeal of markets to shoppers.
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Not only is the provision market in Bury St Edmunds one of the most successful traditional street markets in the country today, it also has one of the longest and most colourful histories. It dates back to before the days of William the Conqueror, but surviving written records provide the history shown below. At various times the market has been split into several sections, including provisions, a corn market, a livestock market and a fish market. The provision market occurs on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Cornhill and the Buttermarket area of the town. This has grown to where it now has over 80 stalls with 1600 feet of stall frontages on a Saturday and only slightly less on Wednesdays.