What is important to you about the Abbey of St Edmund?

Bury St Edmunds attracts millions of tourists each year with a large number enjoying the Abbey Gardens, St Edmundsbury Cathedral and St Mary’s Church.

Now visitors and residents alike are being asked for their views about the area in a short survey being carried out by the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership.

Rev Canon Matthew Vernon, chair of the Heritage Partnership said: “The Abbey Gardens, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, right along to St Mary’s Church are all part of what was the Abbey of St Edmund.

“People, whether they are visitors from far afield or from within the town, enjoy these various parts of the Abbey but for all sort of different reasons.

“We have carried out our studies in the form or a Heritage Assessment and Conservation Plan, we held our Past, Present and Future conference in January, and we are now shaping what projects we now need to take forward.

“In order to help us in that, and in our funding bids, we are carrying out a survey, speaking to visitors to discover what they consider to be important about the Abbey, what they like best about it, what they like doing whenever they visit the area and crucially what they would like to see improved.”

The survey is being carried out in short face to face interviews in March and April by University of East Anglia MA student Hannah Pledge with support from other members of the Heritage Partnership.

People can also complete the survey on the Bury St Edmunds and Beyond website at www.burystedmundsandbeyond.co.uk/blog/2019/abbey-of-st-edmund-visitor-survey

The Heritage Partnership aims to deepen public understanding of the life and times of St Edmund and the Medieval Abbey and to encourage people to experience the spiritual, historical and archaeological significance of the Abbey of St Edmund in the modern world.

The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership is led by St Edmundsbury Cathedral in collaboration with St Edmundsbury Borough Council and nearly 20 other local and regional public, private and voluntary organisations.

Pictured above is University of East Anglia MA student Hannah Pledge who is carrying out the visitor survey face to face interviews with the support of members of the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership.