The central Buttercross was constructed in 1689 and was the place where local farmers displayed their butter and other farm produce for sale. The town was almost destroyed by a great fire in 1688. Edmund is immediately S of the churchyard. Mary's churchyard, while the 19th century red brick Roman Catholic church of St. The 11th century church of Holy Trinity, with its round tower, lies SE of St. The 13th-century Franciscan friar Thomas Bungay later enjoyed a popular reputation as a magician, appearing as Roger Bacon's sidekick in Robert Greene's Elizabethan comedy Frier Bacon and Frier Bongay. Mary was once the church of the Benedictine Bungay Priory, founded by Gundreda, wife of Roger de Glanville. They were intended to undermine and thus collapse the castle's tower and keep. The castle contains a unique surviving example of mining galleries, dating to the siege of the castle in 1174.

Roman artefacts have been found in the region.īungay Castle, which is shown on Bungay's town sign, was built by the Normans but was later rebuilt by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk and his family, who also owned Framlingham Castle. 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. 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. It lies in the Waveney Valley, 5.5 miles (9 km) west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at the neck of a meander of the River Waveney.

Bungay Castle by Elizabeth Bonhôte