Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Bury St Edmunds. You may be able to find further references to Bury St Edmunds in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Bury St Edmunds parliamentary and municipal borough Bartholomew
BURY-ST. EDMUNDS a town, two parishes, and a district Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Bury St Edmunds within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 2: Harwich and Suffolk 9
William Camden Essex and Suffolk 6
Arthur Young 1791 Tour from Cambridgeshire to Birmingham 5
William Cobbett Dec. 10th to 24th, 1821: Norfolk and Suffolk Journal 3
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: London to Bury St Edmunds 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 3: Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 2
Gerald of Wales Book I, Ch. 2: Hay and Brecheinia 1
William Camden The Division of Britaine 1
William Camden Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire 1
William Camden Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincoln 1
Charles Wesley July 8 - Aug. 13, 1754: Norfolk 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 7, Part 1: Cheshire and North-West Midlands 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 1: South-Western Scotland 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Cambridge to Lichfield 1
Robert Gammage Working and Campaigning in Chelmsford in 1841-2 1
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 1
John Wesley 1785-90: Collects Money for the Poor; Visits House of Lords; Reasons for his Long Life 1
Thomas Pennant In St Albans 1
Arthur Young 1784 Tour of Suffolk 1
Arthur Young 21st to 31st August 1776: Roscommon, Sligo and Mayo 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Thingoe 0 2
Hardwick 0 2
Nowton 0 2
Westley 0 2
Fornham St Martin 0 2
Horringer 0 3
Fornham All Saints 0 2
Fornham 0 1
Rushbrooke 4 2
Great Barton 0 3
Fornham St Genevieve 1 2
Rougham 1 2
Timworth 0 2
Hawstead 0 2
Little Welnetham 0 2
Ickworth 0 2
Great Welnetham 0 3
Little Saxham 0 2
Hengrave 1 2
Risby 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Bury St Edmunds. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
BEDENWIC GUEORD William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
BERRY Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
BURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
John Wesley The Journal of John Wesley (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2000).
Charles Wesley The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1849).
Arthur Young Tours in England and Wales, selected from the Annals of Agriculture (London: London School of Economics, 1932).
Arthur Young A Tour in Ireland, made in the years 1776, 1777, and 1778 (London: T. Cadell, 1780).
BURY SAINT EDMUNDS William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
BURY ST EDMUNDS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
EDMUNDI BURGUS William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SAINT EDMONDS BURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SAINT EDMUND William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SAINT EDMUNDS BURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SAINT EDMUNDSBURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
S. EDMONDS BURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
S<SUP>T</SUP> EDMONDSBERY Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
S<SUP>T</SUP> EDM<SUP>DS</SUP> BURY Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
S<SUP>T</SUP> EDMUNDSBERY Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
ST EDMONDS BURY Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ST EDMUNDS BURY Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ST EDMUNDSBURY Gerald of Wales The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales (Oxford, Mississippi, 1997).
ST <EM>EDMONDS BURY</EM> Thomas Pennant The Journey from Chester to London (London: Wilkie and Robinson, 1811).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.