John Orbell

A Handsome and Substantial Building

A History of Bury St Edmunds Corn Exchange

The Corn Exchange forms a remarkable part of Bury’s town centre. No other building has quite its scale or presence – except, of course, the ancient churches and Abbey buildings. It is a bold statement of past importance and economic power. Yet up until now, nothing has been written about its history.

The Corn Exchange and its predecessor – for Bury has two surviving corn exchange buildings – were built in the nineteenth century and were central to the town’s prosperity. They drew into Bury farmers from across East Anglia who not only sold their corn to merchants and millers but did their banking and insurance business, bought their farm machinery, saw their accountant and ate, drank and sometimes slept in the town’s pubs and hotels. Invariably their wives came with them to do the family’s weekly shop. All of this generated jobs and prosperity for Bury and this book explains how this happened.

The Exchanges were never far from controversy and some splendid stories about them can be told. Not only was the first Exchange regarded as the ugliest building in Bury, its building cost was an important contributor to Bury Council’s effective bankruptcy in the 1840s – a sorry tale until now lost in history. When the second Corn Exchange was built a furious row erupted about costs and divided the townspeople. During the World Wars the Exchange found use as a billet for troops and as a dancing venue for British and American servicemen and their Bury girls but there was discomfort about the excess profits being made. Another furious row erupted in the 1960s when the Council (almost) signed up for the Exchange’s demolition provoking a revolt by the townspeople – at a showdown public meeting they voted 800 to 6 against demolition, forcing the Council to backtrack.

The histories of two of Bury’s best loved buildings, along with the controversies that surrounded them and the prosperity they brought to the town, are described in this book for the first time. In doing this, the writer, a professional historian with long Bury roots, has delved deeply into the town’s archives.

Format

Paperback

Pages

72

Illustrations

36 colour and black & white

Includes

Index

Trim size

210 × 280 mm

ISBN

978-0956611123

Published

2017, Tailor’s End Press

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction and Note on Sources
• 1. The First Corn Exchange
• 2. The New Corn Exchange
• 3. The Corn Exchange at Work
• 4. The Corn Exchange in the Twentieth Century
• Appendices
  • Appendix One – Corn traders who petitioned for improved facilities, 1860
  • Appendix Two – Architects who submitted entries for Bury St Edmunds Corn Exchange Competition, 1861
  • Appendix Three – Dimensions and capacity of corn exchanges, 1861
  • Appendix Four – Costs and returns of corn exchanges, 1861
  • Appendix Five – Letter of Edward Ellis about the decoration of the Corn Exchange’s pediment
  • Appendix Six – Number of traders attending Bury Corn Exchange, 1900–50
  • Appendix Seven – Number of stands, revenue and charges, 1836–1969
  • Appendix Eight – Revenue and costs, 1836–1969
• Index