Academic researcher and historian Francis Young, who was born in Bury, said: "The commissioners who dissolved the Abbey on November 4, 1539, mentioned nothing about the body, and given St Edmund's royal status it is likely they would have quietly allowed the monks to remove the body from the shrine and relocate it.

"According to a third-hand account from 1697, St Edmund was placed in an iron chest by a few monks but sadly the account does not give the location within the Abbey precincts where he was buried. On balance, however, the monks' cemetery is the most likely location."

If the monks did use an iron chest it would help archaeologists distinguish the monks' graves from that of the king.

A heritage partnership is tasked with preserving and promoting the Abbey ruins, with the removal of the courts aimed at improving the experience for visitors.

Edmund was the King of the East Angles in the 9th Century. It is widely accepted that Edmund was killed by Vikings. It is thought his place of death was somewhere in Suffolk or Norfolk.

His myth tells of brave King Edmund refusing to denounce his Christianity and being killed by several arrows.

The Vikings then removed his head so Edmund could not be buried whole. However, loyal followers were able to find his head after a wolf called to them, shouting "here, here, here".

Shortly after his death a shrine containing his remains was built in the Abbey in a town called Bedericesworth.