Experts on the barons’ reputed meeting in Bury St Edmunds in 1214 will be presenting their findings next week as Magna Carta celebrations continue.

For the past four years a group of senior academics have been examining the evidence for the meeting of the Magna Carta barons in the Abbey and also re-interpreting the importance of Magna Carta.

In a major event at the Apex on September 20, the five university professors involved in this research together with Dame Fiona Reynolds will be speaking about their findings.

This conference, which is being presented by the University of the Third Age (U3A) in Bury St Edmunds, is just one of a series of events which is being held in the town this year in celebration of the charter, which formed the foundations of democracy.

This year marks the 800th anniversary of Bury’s connection with the Magna Carta, while next year is 800 years since King John put his seal to the charter at Runnymede.

The event at the Apex will hear from the following professors:

n Richard Smith, emeritus professor of historical demography and geography at the University of Cambridge;

n David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at King’s College London;

n Nicholas Vincent, professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia;

n Paul Brand, senior research fellow of All Souls College, Oxford;

n And Nigel Saul, professor of medieval history at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Dame Fiona, a former director general of the National Trust, will take an unconventional look at Magna Carta’s legacy.

Margaret Charlesworth, chairwoman of the local Magna Carta 800 Committee, said: “I’m absolutely delighted all these people have agreed to come to Bury St Edmunds.

“I actually know four of them personally and they really are some of the best people we could have possibly got. We are going to learn a tremendous amount from them.”

Professor Smith’s talk at 10.05am will focus on the economic background to Magna Carta with specific reference to west Suffolk and Bury, while Professor Carpenter’s lecture at 10.45am is about whether the meeting of the barons in the town in 1214 actually took place.

The speakers will also be answering questions and comments from the audience.

Meanwhile, from October 19 to 24 a light and sound trail through Bury town centre will take people along the route the pilgrims would have taken. Images from Magna Carta pageants held in Bury in 1907 and 1959, as well as the 1970 St Edmund Festival, will be projected onto the sides of buildings and medieval music and chanting monks will be heard along the trail from Charter Square down to the Abbey Gardens.

n Tickets for the conference Magna Carta: The Bury St Edmunds Connection on September 20 are priced at £15 for the day of six speakers. To book call the Apex box office on 01284 758000.

For the full programme visit magnacarta800.org.uk.