Located in the county of Suffolk, and around 15 miles southeast of Norwich, is the town of Bungay.
Geographically, Bungay is situated within a meander of the River Waveney - a river which defines a large part of the Suffolk-Norfolk border. The town's name is believed to derive from Old English 'Bunincga-haye', meaning 'enclosure of the tribe of Bonna', where Bonna was the name of an Anglo-Saxon chieftain.
After the Norman Conquest, a castle was built in Bungay. This was bestowed on Roger Bigod, a Norman knight who was awarded estates in East Anglia and given Bungay in 1103 by Henry I. Roger's son Hugh would later fortify the castle with stone. Hugh Bigod sided with the rebels in the Revolt of 1173–1174 against Henry II. The rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, and in the process, Bungay Castle was besieged and ordered to be slighted by the king's forces. The castle was restored in the 13th century, again by the Bigod family, who added the twin gate towers. After the Bigod estate ran out of direct heirs, ownership of the castle reverted to the crown who ultimately left it to ruin.
In the 12th century a Benedictine Priory was established in Bungay. The priory church survived the Reformation as it became Anglican. The main part of church itself dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, and is Grade I listed. The church was made redundant in the 20th century due to a decline in the size of the congregation. Another religious building of particular note in the town centre is the Church of Holy Trinity. This features a rare round tower of 11th century origin, reputed to be late Anglo-Saxon.
In addition to owning the castle, the Bigod family gained permission from the Crown for the rights to a weekly market. Bungay prospered during this period due to the wool and tanning industries. In 1688 however, a great fire broke out in the town. This destroyed many buildings and damaged St Mary's Church. The fire stopped just short of Holy Trinity Church, whereupon a plaque on the door states "Here was the Fire stayed, 1688”. In the aftermath, Bungay Buttercross was built. This dates from 1689, and is a typical example of a butter cross i.e. a place where, historically, farmers sold their dairy products on market day, sheltered from the rain.
In 1860 a railway station opened in Bungay. This formed part of the Waveney Valley Line, which was a branch line linking the Great Eastern Main Line at Tivetshall with the East Suffolk Line at Beccles. Bungay Station closed to passengers in 1953, and to freight in 1964. Tivetshall Station continued its operation on the Great Eastern Main Line up until its closure in 1966. Today, public transport to Bungay consists of direct buses from Norwich, Beccles, Halesworth and various other nearby settlements.
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Filmed: 13th March 2024
Link to the walk on Google Maps: Unavailable for this walk (due to a glitch on Google's end!)
Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Upper Olland Street
2:08 St Mary's Street
4:35 Cross Street
5:40 Trinity Street
10:03 Bridge Street
12:12 River Waveney
12:23 Bridge Street
15:41 Broad Street
17:32 Cork Bricks
17:46 Earsham Street
18:40 Market Place
19:21 Earsham Street
23:02 Path to Bungay Castle
24:00 Bungay Castle
