Drawn & Engraved by IHigham, for the Excurtons through Suffolk
South West view of

ST MARY'S CHURCH, BURY ST EDMUND'S,

him, and the monks and people forming a numerous cavalcade. The procession ended, the animal was conducted back to his pasture, while the lady repaired to St. Edmund's shrine, when the certain consequence of her oblations was her soon becoming a mother. Foreign ladies were allowed to do this by proxy.

During the prosperity of the abbey church, it had within its precinct three others, St. Margaret, St. Mary, and St. Janies. The former is now used as the town-hall; the others are the two churches for the two parishes into which Bury is divided. St. Mary's was finished in the year 1433. It is 139 feet long, exclusive of the chancel. It is divided into three aisles by two rows of slender and elegant columns: the chancel is 74 feet by 68. The roof of the nave, constructed in France, and put together after it was brought to England, is much admired for its lightness and elegance. The finely carved figures of angels, supporting the principals of the roof, fortunately escaped the puritanical reformers of the 17th century. The north porch of this church is of curious workmanship. In 1644, as appears by the town books, numerous inscriptions and effigies in brass were torn off by the churchwardens of St. Mary's and St. James's, and sold for their own emolument. John Reeve, the last abbot of Bury, is interred in this church, as is also Sir Thomas Drury, privy councellor to Henry VII. and his successor, with Mary Tudor, the third daughter of Henry VII. queen of France, and afterwards wife to the Duke of Suffolk. Her tomb was extremely simple till the year 1758, when being ascertained, Dr. Symonds of Bury had it repaired at his own expense, and a marble tablet inserted. Opposite to the remains of a monument to Sir Robert Drury is that of Sir William Carew, who died in 1501, and his wife. The stone over John Finers, archdeacon of Sudbury in 1497, has a brass plate with his effigy, and an inscription

in monkish Latin. In the vestry are the figures of John, commonly called Jankyn Smith, and his wife: he was a great benefactor to Bury.

St. James's church was originally built about the year 1200, by Abbot Sampson; but the present structure, though far advanced in 1500, was not finished till the reformation, when Edward VI. contributed to its completion. This church is built in the pointed style, and the west end is particularly beautiful; the windows are numerous, large, and handsome, and were originally adorned with painted glass, executed in a masterly manner. The church gate is 30 feet distant from the body of the building, and serves as a steeple to it: this has been deemed one of the noblest specimens of Saxon architecture in the kingdom, and some are of opinion that it was built in the time of William the Conqueror. It is 80 feet in height, of a quadrangular figure, and remarkable for its simplicity and solidity. The stone of which it is constructed abounds with small shells, that have acquired such hardness as to resist the attack of seven centuries. Westward of this church gate, near the foundation, are two curious basso relievos in stone, in good preservation, expressive of the fall of man, and his deliverance from bondage. One of these exhibits God the Father, with flowing hair and a long parted beard, sitting triumphantly within a circle.

The two churchyards of St. James and St. Mary, which are nearly one, are kept in excellent order: an alley of lofty poplars runs diagonally across them, and forms a very pleasant promenade. Nearly in the centre, a small plot of ground, enclosed with iron railing, contains the receptacle provided by the late John Spink, esq. banker, of Bury, for him and his family, having over it a plain marble tablet. The remains of the west end of St. Edmund's church, which terminated the churchyard on one side, have lately

Engraved by Greig from a Sketch by T. Higham for the Excurtions through Suffolk.

Remains of St Edmunds Church, and

ST JAMES'S CHURCH, BURY ST EDMUNDS.