Chairs replace pews in £150k new look at Bury Cathedral

And it is also disposing some of the 1,000 kneelers that were created by parishes and other organisations across the county when the cathedral was extended in the 1960s.

The pews have been in place since architect Sir Gilbert Scott rebuilt what was then St James' Parish Church in Bury St Edmunds in the 1860s.

The west end of St Edmundsbury Cathedral - to the left of the tower in this picture - was originally St James' Parish Church. (Image: Paul Geater)

He had wanted to put in chairs, but the church authorities at that time wanted more traditional pews.

The oak pews were not made for the church - they were bought "off the shelf" from a Victorian pew-making factory.

The pews were not made hundreds of years ago for the cathedral - they were bought from a pew factory in the 1860s. (Image: Paul Geater)

A century later Stephen Dykes Bower was architect of the cathedral's expansion - and also wanted the pews replaced with chairs.

Now that is finally happening and the Victorian pews are to get a new life thanks to salvage company Rough Stuff which works with ex-offenders to re-use salvaged wood.

It is selling off the pews, some of which will be made smaller or converted into chairs.

Rough Stuff are finding a new use for the cathedral pews. (Image: St Edmundsbury Cathedral.)

Spare wood will be converted into coffee tables, coat hooks, chopping boards or coasters. Prices range from £350 for a pew to £3 for a solid oak coaster.

The cathedral is installing 600 new chairs which have been bought by regular users for £249 each.

They are all made of wood - 300 in the side aisles are of a standard design but the 300 in the centre of the building have been especially designed for St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

Half the chairs will be installed at the end of March, the rest will come in during April - and will make the space in the cathedral more flexible and better able to host events from Christmas fairs to the Bury Beer festival.

The new chairs mean not all the kneelers made by parishes and other organisations during the 1960s will be needed.

Organisations and parishes from across Suffolk, including the EADT, contributed to the kneelers at the cathedral. (Image: St Edmundsbury Cathedral)

The cathedral plans to retain one from each parish - but larger parishes made more than one kneeler and other organisations, including the EADT, also made a kneeler. They are to be offered to their original makers before a final decision is made on their future.

Dean Joe Hawes at the East Anglian Beer Festival - one of the major events at the cathedral that will be easier to stage without the need to move pews. (Image: East Anglian Beer Festival)

Dean of St Edmundsbury Very Rev Joe Hawes said: “We’re delighted to partner with Rough Stuff to give the local community a chance to take home a piece of the Cathedral.

"Their social action work is truly inspiring, and we believe they are the perfect partners for this project.

"I look to Gilbert Scott and Dykes Bower, great visionaries of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and relish that we are embodying their vision with the arrival of our chairs.

"The Victorians retrofitted churches and cathedrals with pews that suited the society at the time, and now it’s time for us to do the same.

"By opening the Nave, we will have more space to welcome a variety of community events and  installations.”

The changes at the cathedral have not been without critics - there has been a lively, but respectful, debate on the issue on its Facebook page.

One point that has been clearly made is that St Edmundsbury Cathedral is one of very few in the country that still has pews.

Most replaced them with chairs many years ago to make the space more flexible - some with far more basic chairs than are coming to Suffolk.

What do you think of the change from pews to chairs at St Edmundsbury Cathedral? Will it make visiting more comfortable? Or will it be the loss of important heritage? Write to eadtletters@newsquest.co.uk