Bury St Edmunds, the Butter Market c1965
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.
Between Friday 30 November and Sunday 2 December, the historic centre of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk will be transformed into a Victorian style Christmas market with colourful stalls selling local produce and crafts as well as traders from around the UK and mainland Europe, traditional fairground rides and on-stage entertainment.
The Angel Hill area of Bury St Edmunds, with its recently crowned cathedral, medieval Abbey Gate and links with Charles Dickens is the ideal setting for a traditional Christmas fayre. An added attraction is the town’s nearby cosmopolitan shopping centre with its great mix of famous name stores and independent shops plus cafés and restaurants galore. Visitors on Saturday and Sunday will also be able to sample the delights of Bury St Edmunds provisions market on the Buttermarket and Cornhill while, this year, the date also coincides with the Cathedral’s Christmas Fair. There will be street entertainment on all three days leading up into the town centre and more stalls in the Corn Exchange.
For 600 years from the Middle Ages to the 19th century Angel Hill was famous for it’s Michaelmas Fair when country merchants and members of the gentry flocked to the town. Henry III’s tailor was dispatched to Bury Fair to buy his master black and scarlet robes trimmed with fur and by the 18th century the fair had the reputation of being a marriage mart for the aristocracy. It’s now hoped that the Christmas Fayre will become just as popular to an even wider audience.
For more information, visit Burystedmundschristmasfayre.co.uk. The market will be open 10am-7pm on Friday and Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday.
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.
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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Rougham Airfield is situated two miles east of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK. They run a grass airstrip and have a wide-open site in which events are run throughout the year.
