Friday 27 May 2022

Bury St Edmunds Cathedral

 Last time I did a post about Bury St Edmunds  Cathedral was way back in 2018 HERE  and this is how we have a Cathedral but no cities in Suffolk.
 

         In the early years of the 20th Century, the Church of England was at the apogee of its influence and self-confidence. The time was right to carve up the dioceses of England into smaller patches which could be more easily in touch with their parishes. Parts of the Diocese of Norwich and the Diocese of Ely were brought together to form a new diocese which would eventually take the name of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

And yet it might not have been called that at all. The first task for any of the new Dioceses was to choose a church to become its cathedral. For some this was easy and obvious - Essex's new Diocese would inevitably be seated at St Mary, Chelmsford, and that of south Hampshire at St Thomas, Portsmouth. But the new Suffolk diocese, which would cover all of the county except for the Lowestoft area, had a problem. There was no obvious church that stood out as a potential for a new Cathedral. The chosen building had to be big, but it also had to be suitable for expansion; historically important buildings would not lend themselves to being knocked about. Ipswich had nothing to offer except St Margaret, which was not big enough and too architecturally important for ruthless expansion, and St Mary le Tower which was big enough for a starter, and not historically important; but on too confined a site for expansion, and in any case without the gravitas a cathedral requires. Southwold, which is near to what was at the time believed to be the original Suffolk see at Dunwich, was big enough; but it was too valuable to be extended, and in any case too remote. The other great Suffolk churches, Lavenham, Blythburgh, Long Melford, Stoke by Nayland, and so on, were obviously too remote, as well as being too important to touch. The choice came down to the two Bury St Edmunds churches, and the final choice seems to have been made because St Mary had too many medieval survivals to make extension acceptable. No, only St James would do
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 I ought to have looked back at that post before my return there last week as I'd forgotten how few photos I'd taken because the place was half full of schoolchildren practicing for Christmas.
 
 
So just a few more to add to those from 2018 

Unlike some Cathedrals that sit in a large open Cathedral Green, the entrance to Bury is from one of the main roads.



 The tower was finally finished in 2006. This view is from the area outside the cafe. There is a really good video of the tour of the tower HERE  not a tour I'll be doing .....202 steps!
The altar and it's surroundings are suitably magnificent for a Cathedral
 
What about this for a fancy church organ!

 
Love the lights
Every window has stained glass
Each kneeler in the Cathedral is stitched with the name of the parishes in the Diocese
 
Not as big as some Cathedrals in the UK but beautiful
 
The ceiling is incredible
 

 
 
Bury St Edmunds is one of 4 Cathedrals in the country doing the Lego Cathedral project, it's grown a lot since my visit  in 2018.  There will be 200,000 bricks used in total. Now it's lit, the miniature stained glass windows look amazing.


This is the Cathedral's website
I need to go yet again and capture more details
 
Back Tomorrow
Sue

 

22 comments:

  1. How orderly it all is Sue, beautiful and yet now ecclesiastical buildings are more important than the God they worship.

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    1. Very True but still good to have a such a beautiful building in Suffolk

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  2. Last time I went, I took my granddaughter to show her the Lego construction - and found that part was closed off because of a Beer Festival. We were not very happy!

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    1. How annoying. It was good to see it all lit up this week

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  3. This made me smile - it is a lovely place to visit, isn't it, and the adjoining cafe is pleasant too. xx

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    1. I thought a tower visit might be good until I watched the video!

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  4. They chose well - what a beautiful building, despite not being architecturally "important". The stained glass is wonderful and I love that painted ceiling and figures.

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    1. Having visited some of the others mentioned this is in the best place and all the recent building work has made it even more beautiful and useful

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  5. That is a lovely cathedral. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. It is probably different in real life but the photos make the interior look very white. Those ‘walls of windows’ would have been quite impressive to see.

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    1. It is a light and bright place and the stonework inside is very white

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  7. This is fascinating and beautiful, Sue. I, too, love the lights and the remarkable ceiling. It's truly a work of art in architecture.

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  8. That is an amazing Lego cathedral but lets face it its only a small copy of the real thing. Strange to think that finished in 2006 it looks kind of ageless.

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  9. That is an amazing cathedral! I would love to hear that pipe organ. The lego copy is great too!

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  10. This cathedral is very beautiful. The ceiling, pews, stained glass and tile floor are amazing. The soaring ceilings and floor space make it one of the most spacious churches I've seen. I have to wonder if the church fills with parishioners on Sunday and do they have a devoted following? City center churches vs. country/rural churches are quite different.

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  11. What a lovely cathedral. The pipe organ, the ceiling, just perfect. Now I am wondering what you mean by no cities. Surely there is at least one??? Here in my province anything over 10K is considered a city.

    God bless.

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  12. The cathedral is beautiful! Thank you for all the photos. How far is this from where you live, Sue? When I think of Bury St. Edmunds I think of Norah Lofts - this article says her former home is the best house in town: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/realestate/a-house-that-inspired-a-british-novelist.html

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  13. Thank you for this lovely tour. That organ is beautiful and so intricate.

    With love from,
    Kelly (Mrs. Kiwi)

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  14. Beautiful! It's a lovely cathedral. I'm not a religious person but this is such a beautiful building. Mum and I visited it several times. The details in the building is just amazing. Thanks for taking us on a tour

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