Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich, diocese of

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Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich, diocese of. The see, roughly conterminous with Suffolk, was created in 1914 out of the Norwich diocese. Suffolk then had its own see for the first time since the Dunwich bishopric collapsed under the weight of the Danish invasions, though Hoxne and Bury St Edmunds are reported to have been sees in the 11th cent. St Edmund's abbey, founded by Cnut in memory of the East Anglian king martyred by the Danes (868), was from the first richly endowed and, with its 170 manors, ranked amongst the foremost in England. The cathedral at Bury St Edmunds is the former 15th-cent. Perpendicular parish church adjoining the tower of the ruined former Norman abbey. Transepts and central tower were added to the cathedral in the 20th cent.; further extensions were completed in 1990. The bishop's residence is at Ipswich. Suffolk is well known for its many magnificent parish churches.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

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