ABSTRACT
This paper seeks to draw together the documentary and archaeological evidence for the early development of Bury St Edmunds. It is usually considered that the town’s well- known grid plan was laid out by Abbot Baldwin and that it was made up of the 342houses built in the town between 1066 and 1086. However, it seems pertinent to enquire whether the town plan as we know it did, in fact, emerge fully fledged in a period of twenty years, or, as seems more likely, developed over the years and was subject to modification over the centuries.
