ABSTRACT
The fragmentary remains of the abbey church of Bury St Edmunds leave just enough evidence to reconstruct the main lines of the building. The tower of St James, immediately to the west of the church, on its axis, is the only near complete Romanesque building on the site. This paper will briefly enumerate the surviving elements of the church, apart from the western transept which is the subject of the article by McAleer. This will be followed by more detailed discussion of the form of the principal crypt piers and the segmental quadrant pilasters to the radiating chapels. Finally, in the context of the rivalry which existed between the abbot of Bury and the bishop of East Anglia, a comparison is made with the eastern arm of Norwich Cathedral which proposes a possible explanation for the early change of plan of the axial chapel at Norwich.
The paper provides further evidence of the political significance of major churches and demonstrates the immediacy of the transmission of ideas in architecture during the late eleventh century.
