A giant monk sculpture made from steel will be on display in the Abbey Gardens to celebrate St Edmund’s Day (20 November) in Bury St Edmunds and to promote the Abbey 1000 celebrations for 2022. The 7ft 6ins tall monk will be installed in the crypt in the abbey ruins, where St Edmund’s Shrine would have stood, from Friday 19 November to Sunday 21 November.
This preview weekend will be the public’s only chance to take a photograph or selfie with the monk this year for entry into an online competition. The monk will not be displayed again until next May, when it will be the first installation at the Abbey 1000 Sculpture Exhibition. Running from 1 May to 30 November 2022, the exhibition will feature a different sculpture each month displayed in the crypt.
Discover the Things to Do in Bury St Edmunds in a Nutshell.
Designed by Nigel Kaines and made by blacksmith Kevin Baldwin from , the monk statue is made from 2mm thick steel and weighs some 250kg. It took Kevin six weeks to make, much of it with only a hammer. A full-size monk’s habit was used as a pattern and the monk’s hands were modelled on Kevin’s, which were then scaled up – much as Dame Elisabeth Frink’s St Edmund statue in the Great Churchyard has her nose!
Commenting on his latest artwork, Kevin said: “This is certainly the most unusual project I have worked on. But it means a great deal to me because I am from Bury St Edmunds and generations of my family are from the town and I love its history.
“It was quite tricky to create the look of a flowing monk’s robe in steel so I used a pattern for the robe, much as a dressmaker would use for a costume. It was then a case of using traditional methods to create the monk, the same methods that would have been used 1000 years ago.”
Designs on Metal have made several of the metal sculptures, which can be seen around Bury St Edmunds including ‘St Edmund at his Martyrdom’ on the Risbygate Street roundabout at Parkway; St Edmund’s crown for ‘The Legend of the Wolf of St Edmund’ installed at the Southgate Green Roundabout; the wheat on ‘With the Grain’ on the King’s Road roundabout at Parkway; the ‘Flight of Peace’ sculpture at the Lady Miriam Way roundabout and the ‘James Moore Cyclist Sculpture’ on the Mount Road/Orttewell roundabout. They also created the ‘Our Liberty’ memorial in the Abbey Gardens, which has the town’s motto inscribed ‘Shrine of The King, Cradle of The Law’, and was designed by Nigel Kaines.
Monk photograph competition
A competition will be run over the weekend of 19 – 21 November on Bury St Edmunds and Beyond’s Instagram channel www.instagram.com/burystedmundsandbeyond and Facebook page www.facebook.com/burystedmundsandbeyond for the most imaginative photograph with the monk. The winner will receive a £50 Bury St Edmunds gift card, which can be used in more than 40 different outlets around the town centre.
St Edmund’s Day celebrations around town
Various celebrations will be taking place in and around Bury St Edmunds during the 19 – 21 November St Edmund’s day weekend.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral is running a special night with an evening of music, guided mini-tours and mulled wine on Friday, 19 November from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. For more details visit www.stedscathedral.org/whats-on.
Bury St Edmunds and Beyond has teamed up with in Hartest to win a bottle of their St Edmundsbury wine and a Grand Tour of their vineyard for two in 2022. Enter online between 15 November and 15 December at for a chance to win.
For more details about St Edmund’s Day celebrations visit: . Main image: Kevin Baldwin of Designs on Metal by Sue Warren.
