The origin of the name of Bungay is thought to derive from the Anglo-Saxon title Bunincga-haye, signifying the land belonging to the tribe of Bonna, a Saxon chieftain. Due to its high position, protected by the River Waveney and marshes, the site was in a good defensive position and attracted settlers from early times. Roman artefacts have been found in the region.
Bungay Castle, which is shown on Bungay's town sign, was originally built by the Normans but was later rebuilt by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk and his family, who also owned Framlingham Castle. The castle contains a unique surviving example of mining galleries, dating to the siege of the castle in 1174. They were intended to undermine and thus collapse the castle's tower and keep.
The 11th-century church of Holy Trinity, with its round tower, lies southeast of St. Mary's churchyard, while the 19th-century red brick Roman Catholic church of St. Edmund is immediately south of St Mary's churchyard.
The town was almost destroyed by a great fire in 1688. The central Buttercross was constructed in 1689 and was the place where local farmers displayed their butter and other farm produce for sale. Until 1810, there was also a CornCross, but this was taken down and replaced by a pump.
Bungay was important for the printing and paper manufacture industries. Joseph Hooper, a wealthy Harvard University graduate who fled Massachusetts when his lands were seized after the American Revolution, rented a mill at Bungay in 1783 and converted it for paper manufacture.[5] Charles Brightly established a printing and stereotype foundry in 1795. Then in partnership with John Filby Childs, the business became Brightly & Childs in 1808 and later Messrs. Childs and Son.[6] Charles Childs (1807–1876) succeeded his father as the head of the firm of John Childs & Son.[7] The business was further expanded after 1876 as R. Clay and Sons, Ltd.[8]
The railway arrived with the Harleston to Bungay section of the Waveney Valley Line opening in November 1860 and the Bungay to Beccles section in March 1863. Bungay had its own railway station near Clay's Printers. The station closed to passengers in 1953 and freight in 1964.
In 1910 Bungay became an urban district in the administrative county of East Suffolk, the district contained the parish of Bungay.[9] On 1 April 1974 the district and parish were abolished and became part of Waveney district in the non-metropolitan county of Suffolk.[10] A successor parish was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish.[11] In 2019 it became part of East Suffolk district.
Modern Bungay
Local firms include St. Peter's Brewery, based at St. Peter's Hall to the south of the town.
In 2008, Bungay became Suffolk's first Transition Town and part of a global network of communities that have started projects in the areas of food, transport, energy, education, housing and waste as small-scale local responses to the global challenges of climate change, economic hardship and limited cheap energy.
Reeve
Bungay is the only town in the United Kingdom still to have a town reeve,[12] though there are surviving portreeves in Laugharne and Ashburton.[13] The reeve runs the town trust, from which each reeve selects the following reeve.[12][14][15]
Black Shuck
Black Shuck near Bungay's ButtercrossBlack Shuck
St Mary's Church was struck by lightning on Sunday 4 August 1577. According to legend,[16] an apparition appeared during the thunderstorm, consisting of a black Hell Hound which dashed around the church, attacking members of the congregation. It then suddenly disappeared and re-appeared in Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh 12 miles (19 km) away, injuring members of the congregation there. The dog has been associated with Black Shuck, a dog haunting the coasts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex.[17]
An image of the Black Dog has been incorporated in the coat of arms of Bungay and has been used in the titles of various enterprises associated with Bungay as well as several of the town's sporting events. An annual race, The Black Dog Marathon, begins in Bungay and follows the course of the River Waveney, and the town's football club is nicknamed the "Black Dogs". Black Shuck was also the subject of a song by The Darkness.
Godric Cycling Club is based in Bungay.[18] It organises a number of events each year, including weekly club runs.
Notable residents
Bungay was home to several literary figures. Thomas Miller (1731–1804), the bookseller and antiquarian, settled in the village. His publisher son, William Miller (1769–1844), was born there. The author Elizabeth Bonhôte, née Mapes, (1744–1818) was born and grew up there, marrying Daniel Bonhôte and writing the notable book Bungay Castle, a gothic romance. Bonhôte even once owned Bungay Castle. The Strickland family which, according to the Canadian Dictionary of Biography, was as prolific as the Brontës, Edgeworths and Trollopes, settled in the village 1802–08. Their daughters included Agnes Strickland, a historian.
The noted French writer, politician, diplomat and historian, François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand while exiled from France, 1792 – 1800, during the Revolution spent a period living at the Music House, No. 34 Bridge Street. This is recorded on a blue plaque.[19]
Others were Catharine Parr Traill, who concentrated on children's literature, and Susanna Moodie, who emigrated to Canada and wrote Roughing it in the Bush (1852) as a warning to others. The novelist Sir H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) was born nearby in Bradenham and presented St. Mary's Church with a wooden panel, displayed behind the altar. Religious writer Margaret Barber (1869–1901), author of the posthumously published best-selling book of meditations, The Roadmender, settled in Bungay. In 1954, the electrical industry pioneer Caroline Haslett retired to the town to live with her sister Rosalind Messenger.[20]
Darts professional Andrew Gilding lives in Bungay. Gilding won the PDC's UK Open tournament in 2023, defeating Michael van Gerwen 11-10 in the final at Butlin's Minehead Resort.
Arms
Coat of arms of Bungay
Notes
Originally granted to Bungay Urban District Council on 6 July 1953, transferred to the successor parish in 1974.
Crest
On a wreath of the colours a representation of the Black dog of Bungay courant Proper upon a ray of lightning fesswise Gules.
Escutcheon
Barry wavy of six Vert and Argent a Norfolk wherry in full sail Proper pennon flying Gules a chief Or thereon a port between two towers Sable the port ensigned with an escutcheon Gold charged with a cross also Gules.
Motto
Moribus Antiquis Pareamus (Let Us Ever Hold Fast to the Old Virtues)[27]
^Page, W. (1975), 'Houses of Benedictine nuns: Priory of Bungay', A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2, pp. 81–83 (available online). Retrieved 30 April 2011.
^Shipton, Clifford K (1970). Sibley's Harvard Graduates; Biographical Sketches of Those Who Attended Harvard College. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 404–406.
^White, William (1844). History, Gazetteer, and Directory, of Suffolk. Sheffield, England: R. Leader. p. 425.
^Mee, Arthur (1936). SUFFOLK. "Suffolk" volume is one of a series of 41 entitled "The King's England", covering English counties and London. First published 1936, with later revisions and reprints. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. Under entry for "Bungay". Pages vary according to edition.
