The Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn has been awarded a grant of £120,000 by Benefact Trust.

Made possible by National Lottery players, the project will conserve and protect the Abbey ruins, build a visitor centre facing onto Angel Hill, expand and improve the footpaths around the site, and provide exciting interpretation and activities for all ages and interests.

The grant from Benefact Trust will help equip a learning discovery centre and a flexible community space, support an ambitious programme of community events and activities, and help create more opportunities for volunteers to become involved.

Usman Saeed, Grants Officer for Benefact Trust, said ‘We’re delighted to support this exciting project, which will enable the Abbey to connect with the community in a more meaningful way. The learning centre and community space will welcome people from all backgrounds, but we’re excited that our funding will focus on engaging more vulnerable groups of people. We have a vision to create a society where everyone can flourish, so this project really resonated with us.’

In welcoming the grant, the Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury said ‘Bury St Edmunds is a wonderful place to live but there are still communities in Suffolk who experience isolation, loneliness and deprivation. This important and generous grant from Benefact Trust will make a huge difference to the project’s ability to reach out to all our communities. We will use the heritage and biodiversity of the Abbey area to help young people flourish and grow in confidence and self-esteem, to welcome and support individuals who feel they are living on the outside looking in, and to provide a safe and enjoyable place for those who are living with dementia and other mental health challenges. I cannot overstate the importance of this grant in helping us to work towards all this. My heartfelt thanks go to Benefact Trust.’

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

The Bury St Edmunds Town Council has pledged £50,000 to the Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn heritage project.

Made possible by National Lottery players, the project will conserve and protect the Abbey ruins, build a visitor centre facing onto Angel Hill, expand and improve the footpaths around the site, and provide exciting interpretation and activities for all ages and interests. It will be a magnet for cultural tourists and an important gathering place for local residents.

Jodie Budd, Town Clerk at Bury St Edmunds Town Council said, “I’m so pleased that the Town Council are supporting this huge project. Not only will it increase the number of visitors to the Cathedral and Abbey site, but the economic benefit to Bury St Edmunds as a whole. The proposals to increase activities and places to explore outdoors, will only improve mental health and increase the social benefits to both residents and visitors alike.”

The Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury welcomed the pledge, “The support of Bury Town Council is an enormous boost to this project and is confirmation of its huge importance to the town and to Suffolk. We are very grateful to the Town Council for their support and look forward to working with them in the coming years for the benefit of all our communities.”

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

The Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides have pledged £2,500 to the Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn heritage project.

Made possible by National Lottery players, the Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn project will bring interpretation and conservation to the abbey site as well as create an overarching visitor experience encompassing the Cathedral and Abbey Gardens with improved footpaths, activities and events and creating a visitor centre facing onto Angel Hill. It will be a major Suffolk tourism attraction and an important gathering place for the local community.

The Tour Guides are a non-profit-making organisation who are made up of 20+ volunteers, including around 15 active guides. They currently lead guided tours around the town on a variety of themes, including the Abbey and its history and, as part of the wider Abbey Heritage Partnership, have been active and vocal supporters of the project since its beginnings. Adrian Tindall, chair of the Tour Guides, says “The time has come to turn words into action, and we wanted to show our support in a tangible way. We’re most excited about the potential of this project to extend the reach of the town to wider audiences both across Suffolk and further afield.”

Visitors from around 30 different countries have taken tours of the town, but the guides hope to see even more nationalities represented after the project’s completion. “Bury St Edmunds was a magnet for pilgrimage in medieval times and we’d love to see more visitors from further afield discovering the town, as well as helping residents learn more about where they live,” adds Adrian.

The Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury welcomed the pledge, “We need to raise around £2.5million in addition to the important support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Support from our local community is vital to this and it is our hope that other local organisations and groups will wish to make similar pledges to The Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides.”

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

The Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn – the new, shorter name for the important heritage and cultural project which is based in Bury St Edmunds and serving all the communities of Suffolk – announced today that its Patron will be The Marquess of Bristol.

Made possible by National Lottery players, The Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn will conserve and protect the Abbey ruins, build a visitor centre facing onto Angel Hill, expand and improve the footpaths around the site, and provide exciting interpretation and activities for all ages and interests. It will be a magnet for cultural tourists and an important gathering place for local residents.

Frederick Bristol said ‘I am delighted to be the Patron of the project The Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn. I have always loved the Abbey Gardens, which my family owned prior to transferring ownership to the Borough Council, and they will benefit greatly from conservation of the ruins and inspiring interpretation. I think it is a wonderful idea to have the visitor centre with good links to the town centre, making it easy to get to while preserving the peace and tranquillity of the gardens. Personally, I feel a strong connection to The Abbey of St Edmund because my title of Hereditary High Steward of the Liberty of St Edmund is almost as old as the Abbey itself – so it feels like we have nearly a thousand years of shared history. I very much look forward to being involved with such an ambitious and thoughtful project.’

In welcoming this announcement, Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury said, ‘We are honoured and thrilled that the Marquess of Bristol has agreed to become Patron of The Abbey of St Edmund, Reborn. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful collaboration as we develop and deliver this important project for the people of Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk.’

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

The Bury St Edmunds Society has awarded a grant of £10,000 to the ambitious Abbey of St Edmund heritage project, making it the first organisation in the town to provide financial support.

Made possible by National Lottery players, The Abbey of St Edmund project will conserve and protect the Abbey ruins, build a visitor centre facing onto Angel Hill, expand and improve the footpaths around the site, and provide exciting interpretation and activities for all ages and interests. It will be a magnet for cultural tourists and an important gathering place for local residents.

Martyn Taylor, chairman of the Bury St Edmunds Society, said, “The Society’s aim is to ensure that as the town grows, it remains a beautiful place in which to live, work or visit; embracing positive changes which enhance the town whilst ensuring a balance with its precious heritage. We hope that, in making this early statement of support for this vital project, we will encourage other local organisations and businesses to do the same.”

L-R; Terry O’Donoghue, Vice chair of the Bury Society; Sue Savage, Membership Secretary of the Bury Society; Martyn Taylor Chair of the Bury Society; The Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury; Alan Baxter, Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership; James Mellish, Project Manager; Damien Parker, Green Space and Heritage at West Suffolk Council; and Alex Sydney, Property Development Director at English Heritage.

In welcoming this announcement, Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmudsbury said, “Whilst the project is supported with a development grant of £729,553 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and a possible future delivery grant of £6.7m, we are going to need to raise around £2.5million ourselves as well. Much of this will come from national grant-giving bodies, but we will also need considerable support from our local community. It is therefore hugely important to us that Bury Society has stepped in at this moment in time, and we are so grateful to them for demonstrating such early faith in this project.”

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, together with its partners West Suffolk Council and English Heritage, today announced the appointment of the architects and the full team of consultants to the The Abbey of St Edmund: A Millennium of English History in West Suffolk. The project is supported with a development grant of £729,553 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Purcell Architecture will be the Architect, Lead Consultant and Heritage Consultant for the project. Their heritage portfolio includes St Nicholas’s Cathedral, Nottingham Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Durham Cathedral and the National Portrait Gallery. Locally, their key projects include Ely Cathedral, Norwich Castle and Cambridge University.

Purcell’s Design Partner, Alasdair Travers, said, “We are delighted to be working on this ambitious project. The Abbey and Cathedral are important to the town and county on many levels. We have assembled a top design team to develop the new designs for the visitor centre and expansion of the Cathedral cloister, whilst conserving the heritage of the ruins to deliver a sustainable project for the enjoyment of generations to come.”

RFA Design have been appointed Interpretation Plan and Design Consultant. Their significant projects include Fountains Mill, Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal, Torre Abbey, Torquay, The Monastic Way, and include team members that have experience working with Suffolk Archives locally.

Additional appointments include:

• Activity Plan Consultant – Robin James Sullivan
• Business Plan Consultant – Bowles Green
• Visitor Marketing Consultant – The Audience Agency
• Evaluation Consultant – Tricolor Associates
• QS Consultant – Castons (Artelia Group)
• Archaeological Consultant – Cotswold Archaeology
• Fundraising and Communications – Funding Matters

James Mellish, who was appointed Project Manager in September, is looking forward to working with the experienced consultant team. He said, “This project will transform the way that residents and visitors from further afield engage with the Cathedral and Abbey site, and we know that the consultant team appointments are key to ensuring we can deliver this goal and strengthen Bury St Edmunds’ place on the national and international heritage map.”

The Abbey of St Edmund was once one of the greatest abbeys in medieval England. It was a focus for international pilgrimage and played a key role in the formation of the Magna Carta. Today, the Abbey site is a principal visitor attraction for the town and county – Abbey Gardens, wherein the ruins are situated, last year had 1.37m visits and is free-to-enter.

Made possible by National Lottery players, The Abbey of St Edmund: A Millennium of English History in West Suffolk aims to conserve and protect the Abbey ruins; build a visitor centre, west cloister, and network of footpaths; and use digital technology to provide exciting interpretation for all ages and interests. There will be a huge range of learning and volunteering activities built around events, programmes and exhibitions. The project will link up with other heritage attractions nearby and further afield, giving communities and visitors more opportunities to access the rich heritage of town and county.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, along with its partners West Suffolk Council and English Heritage, announced today that James Mellish has been appointed as the Project Manager for The Abbey of St Edmund: A Millennium of English History in West Suffolk, a project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

James has worked on a variety of Heritage Fund projects. Locally, he was Project Manager for Bury St Edmunds Guildhall’s £1.8m project, as well as Clare Castle Country Park’s £2m project and Ipswich Museum and Ipswich Borough Council’s £8.4m project.

On his appointment, James says, “I’m really excited at my appointment. A project of this scope and ambition is going to be incredible for Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding region, and I’m looking forward to starting work with so many people who are passionate about the Abbey and its history.”

The Abbey of St Edmund was once one of the greatest abbeys in medieval England. It was a focus for international pilgrimage and played a key role in the formation of the Magna Carta. Today, the Abbey site is a principal visitor attraction for the town and county – Abbey Gardens, wherein the ruins are situated, last year had 1.37m visits and is free-to-enter.

Made possible by National Lottery players, The Abbey of St Edmund: A Millennium of English History in West Suffolk aims to conserve and protect the Abbey ruins; build a visitor centre, west cloister, and network of footpaths; and use digital technology to provide exciting interpretation for all ages and interests. There will be a huge range of learning and volunteering activities built around events, programmes and exhibitions. The project will link up with other heritage attractions nearby and further afield, giving communities and visitors more opportunities to access the rich heritage of town and county.

Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury, is looking forward to welcoming James to the project “We’re delighted that James is joining us as Project Manager. This project will transform the way that local residents and visitors from further afield engage with the Cathedral and Abbey site, and we know that James’s appointment is key in delivering the project so that we can achieve that objective.”

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage (the project partners) have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership (comprising 29 organisations and individuals who care about the Abbey) to develop and deliver this project.

Thanks to National Lottery players, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, in partnership with West Suffolk Council and English Heritage, has received a Development Phase grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to conserve the Abbey of St Edmund ruins, deliver universal access through a network of footpaths, and build a heritage welcome centre within a line of listed buildings facing the town’s public space.

We are now looking for a Project Manager to co-ordinate and assist in the management of the development phase, which will last until February 2026. If we are successful in our delivery phase application, the role will continue for a further three years.

We are also looking for a Fundraising Consultant to work with us in securing £1.8m funding by February 2026.

More information on both roles, and how to apply, can be found on our Join The Team page.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, along with its partners West Suffolk Council and English Heritage, has received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for The Abbey of St Edmund: A Millennium of History in West Suffolk, it was announced today. The Abbey of St Edmund was once one of the greatest abbeys in medieval England. It was a focus for international pilgrimage, and it played a key role in the formation of the Magna Carta.

The project aims to conserve and protect the ruins; build a visitor centre, west cloister, and network of footpaths; and use digital technology to provide exciting interpretation for all ages and interests. There will be a huge range of learning and volunteering activities built around events, programmes and exhibitions. The project will link up with other heritage attractions nearby and further afield, giving communities and visitors more opportunities to access the rich heritage of town and county.

Made possible by National Lottery players, development funding of £729,553 has been awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help the Cathedral and its partners progress plans to apply for a full Heritage Fund grant at a later date.

The Abbey of St Edmund is very important to the local community – 29 local organisations have come together to form the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership, to care about and promote the ruins. The Abbey site currently enjoys over one million visits each year as people walk through the town’s free to enter public gardens, where the ruins are situated.

Commenting on the award, The Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury, said “We’re delighted that we’ve received this support thanks to National Lottery players. This project captures what is so special about heritage in Bury St Edmunds. The community has such a strong sense of pride in the Abbey site. It has been a central feature of the town’s identity for a thousand years and this project will ensure that will continue well into this century and beyond. St Edmundsbury Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage are working together to deliver this transformative project which will benefit those who are already engaged with the Abbey site, and those who are yet to discover the Abbey and be captivated by its place in our culture, history and heritage.”

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund said “The Abbey of St Edmund holds a thousand years of history within its ruins and surrounding gardens, inspiring and connecting generations of people to its unique heritage as a place of worship and medieval pilgrimage, dating back to the Magna Carta.

I am delighted that our grant award of £730,000 will enable development of the project and continued collaboration between a range of community and conservation organisations, whose focus is to ensure that this heritage treasure can be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.

As the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we believe in the power of heritage to ignite imagination, offer joy, and to build pride in a place by connecting people to the past. The Abbey of St Edmund is a fantastic example.”

For more information on the project, click here.