[2] According to the twelfth-century Annals of St Neots, Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia, was crowned on Christmas Day 856 "in the royal vill of Burna", which is identified by historians as Bures.

[3] In the Domesday Book of 1086, the village is referred to as "Bura" or "Bure", it's documented having a church with 18 acres (73,000 m2) of free land.

Before the coming of the railway in 1849 the transportation of heavy goods manufactured in the village, such as bricks and malt were undertaken by barge (lighter) along the River Stour to Mistley.

The rail line in its prime connected Marks Tey to Sudbury and onward to Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds.

Bures can offer two Nature Reserves, Arger Fen a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the adjacent Spouses Vale owned by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.