Sculpture of St Edmund (1976) by Elisabeth Frink stands outside the remains of the great Abbey in Bury St Edmunds.
*Click on photo to enlarge.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk has many images of Edmund, King of the Angles, who was killed by the invading Danes in 869. A great Benedictine Abbey was built by Canute to house his remains and to celebrate his martyrdom; for over 1,000 years the site has been one of worship and pilgrimage.
The great, rich Abbey was sacked during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th century, but the smaller church built within the precincts of the Abbey remained, to eventually become a Cathedral in 1914. Recently the Millennium Project has seen the completion of the building with the addition of a tower, new cloisters and chapels. So, in 2005 the skyline of Bury St Edmunds changed with the completion of a magnificent 150 ft (45m) Gothic lantern tower.
The painting, below left, by artist Ned Pamphilon, includes references to the many arrows that were shot into St Edmund to force him to renounce his Christianity (which he resolutely refused to do) and the wolf who, legend has it, guarded the severed head of the King.
