The King has not left the building

15 Oct 2026

A West Suffolk exhibition celebrating of the life, death, myth and martyrdom of King Edmund, England’s first patron saint, is now set to continue into 2027.

The doors had been set to close on Edmund and The Great Heathen Army at Moyse’s Hall Museum earlier this month. Now, thanks to popular demand and the support of many of the museums and organisations that have loaned pieces, West Suffolk Council which runs Moyse’s, has decided to keep the exhibition running until the end of February.

So far more than 10,000 people from West Suffolk and beyond including over 1,000 students from local schools have been to see the exhibition which looks at the story of Edmund, King of East Anglia who was killed by the Danes, aka the Vikings in the year 869. Legend has it that he was captured, refused to renounce his Christian faith, was shot full of arrows, decapitated and his head guarded by a wolf.

His body was entombed in Bury St Edmunds, and the Abbey of St Edmund was subsequently built. Consequently, Bury St Edmunds became a significant international pilgrimage site where miracles, including healing the blind were said to occur. The death of Viking warrior Sweyn Forkbeard was also attributed to St Edmund from beyond the grave. Edmund was revered as England’s first patron saint until around 1348 when George was formally recognised by Edward III. St Edmund remains the patron saint of Suffolk.

The Edmund exhibition includes the re-creation of St Edmund’s gold tomb, built by Andy Stubbs of Scenic Productions who supplies set design to the West End, and decorated by Nick Holmes, a West End theatre scenery artist.

Visitors can also see the relic banner of St Edmund which has been created with support from Dr Rebecca Pinner Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia where she teaches Medieval and Early Modern literature.

The exhibition has been supported through £9,000 from West Suffolk Council which runs the museum, alongside £3,900 from Bury St Edmunds Town Council, £3,450 from the Bury Society and £300 from the Friends of Moyse’s Hall Museum.

This exhibition also ties in nicely with the Abbey of St Edmund Reborn, a £9.83-million-pound National Lottery Heritage funded project which will hopefully receive the green light to proceed this month (running from late 2026 to late 2029). The project which focuses on the Abbey site, which derives its name from the martyred King Edmund, will create a new Visitor Centre, repair the historic fabric, conserve the natural environment and improve the footpath network that links them all together.

Cllr Ian Shipp, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture at West Suffolk Council, said: “Over 1,000 years after his life and death, the story of Edmund remains such an important part of our cultural heritage. Without his legend, the unique and wonderful town of Bury St Edmunds would undoubtedly be very different from the place that we, our residents and tourists, love. We are delighted to have the support of our exhibition partners and other museums who we have loaned pieces from, to extend the Edmund exhibition into 2027. Through this we are giving residents from across West Suffolk including local school students, and visitors to the area, a chance to visit, or revisit, and discover more about this fascinating part of our local and national history.”

Edmunds and The Great Heathen Army will run alongside two other exhibitions with visitors getting access to all three for the price of one. The other exhibitions are:

•    Crime and punishment which looks at real history including the witchcraft trials in Bury St Edmunds which saw people hanged in the town and heavily influenced the subsequent Salem Witch Trials 30 years later in the United States.

•    Things that go bump which opens on 24 October and celebrate the evolution of scary stories, from prehistoric cave paintings through to modern culture and will bring many of the items associated with some of the horror films, tv series together.

For more information visit Moyse's Hall Museum's website

For more on the exhibition follow Moyse’s on Facebook 
 

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