Bury St Edmunds historian Martyn Taylor looks at the history of the town’s Sparhawk Street

Despite the note on the postcard (below) from possibly a 100 years ago, it is not Sparrowhawk Lane!

Once this street continued across the Great Churchyard and Abbey site, joining up with Northgate Street, but with the building of the Abbey’s West Front the road was re-routed up today’s Honey Hill and along Crown Street and Angel Hill.

Number 7, Sparhawk Street in 1910-11 was a home for missionaries’ children until it moved to Norman House, in Guildhall Street; there was also a school in the street, St Mary’s Parochial Girls and Infants school from 1842.

Number 8, the Chantry Hotel, had connections at one time to the De Carle family who were well known stonemasons of the town. There are several wall plaques pertaining to their memory here.

Just off St Mary’s Square, at numbers 4-5, may have been a short-lived inn called The Chaise and Pair, the name reflecting that once popular mode of transport.

A much later, more modern form, was that of the internal combustion engine in the garage premises of Vic Brewster at number 10, one of the earliest in the town.

Vic was born at Stanstead, near Clare, and trained as a motor engineer at Colchester before coming to Bury; because of his reserved occupation he was exempted from duty during World War One. He had fuel pumps put in that sold Cleveland petrol, a fuel blend of alcohol, ethanol and refined petrol; Esso took over Cleveland in 1951.

Vic and his wife ‘Lil’ were married for an incredible 74 years! A nice acknowledgement to their association to the street was when a new house was built on that site now called ‘Brewsters’.

A tale relating to the building of this was when an ‘old boy’ would walk by every day whilst the site was being cleared and prepared.

In a broad Suffolk accent he would ask the most mundane questions of the workers there eventually getting on their ‘wick’.

Virtually on their last day on site when he turned up they were going to give him some advice on where to go but when he said, “this was a garage you know, I worked here once, would you like to know where them petrol tanks were”. “Come on old friend” was their joyful reply.

- Martyn Taylor is a local historian, author and Bury Tour Guide. His latest book, Bury St Edmunds Through Time Revisited, is widely available.