Paper short abstract:

In Bury St Edmunds, a rumour circulates that the remains of St Edmund lie buried in the ruins of its former Benedictine abbey. This paper demonstrates that the bureaucratic heritagisation of the ruins transforms affects of loss into heritage futures.

Paper long abstract:

Since 2012 a rumour has circulated in Bury St Edmunds that the remains of St Edmund are buried under the derelict tennis courts in the ruins of its former Benedictine abbey. A Heritage Partnership, set up to improve the interpretation and conservation of the legacy of St Edmunds and the abbey ruins, currently makes provisions to enable archaeological excavations in the abbey ruins. That such excavations will enhance the attractiveness of Bury St Edmunds as tourist destination, is never far from anyone's mind, and they are indeed conceived as part of a wider policy to promote Bury St Edmunds.

In keeping with Historic England guidelines, the Heritage Partnership has commissioned a Heritage Assessment and a Conservation Plan, which have identified the histories, archaeologies, ruins and monuments of the abbey. In line with the guidelines, these reports have attributed the heritage assets different heritage values. What we witness, then, is a transformation of ruins into heritage assets. But whilst this process is enacted in bureaucratic time, the popular demand for the excavation of St Edmund's bones requires instantaneous gratification.

This paper addresses the different temporal demands that the Heritage Partnership faces in addressing the popular interest in the remains of St Edmund. It argues that the longing for Edmund is articulated in temporalities of loss and nostalgia, whilst the process of heritagisation offers bureaucratic temporalities of anticipation. The Heritage Partnership faces the challenging task of matching the longings for return with procedures of anticipation, transforming affects of loss into heritage futures.