How could £10m lottery project transform Suffolk cathedral?

This week the heritage lottery fund has given £730,000 to the Abbey of St Edmund Partnership - a group of 29 organisations led by the Cathedral, West Suffolk Council and English Heritage.

That money will be used to draw up detailed plans over the next two years for a major redevelopment of the historic area, preserving the ruins of the Medieval abbey, building a new visitor centre and creating new footpaths to link individual areas.

It will also show how to restore the rivers Lark and Linnet which go through the area - but need work to make them pristine chalk streams again.

Officials at the Cathedral are looking forward to the plans being drawn up. (Image: Bury Cathedral)

The planning process will take about two years - at which point a full £6.7m bid will be submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Alongside this a £2.5m appeal will be launched - any lottery funding will be dependent on local support and the project hopes to have raised this money by the time the HLF makes its decision.

If a decision is made by the second half of 2026, work should be able to start fairly soon and it is hoped that the two-year programme will be completed in time for the new facilities to be open in early 2029.

Very Rev Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown)

St Edmundsbury Dean Very Rev Joe Hawes said: "This is very exciting. The Abbey ruins are already English Heritage's most visited free attraction in the country - but there's a great deal more that can be done there.

"There does need to be more conservation work done and with the Visitor Centre it will enable people to find out more about what they are looking at."

One feature would be an app that people could download which would show them on their phone what the Abbey looked like before it was dissolved by Henry VIII.

Dean Joe said: "There has been quite a lot more research in recent years into what the Abbey would have looked like - it is quite different to the models people are familiar with but the historians think they have got the new images 98% accurate and they will be on show in the visitor centre."

The ruins would still have free entry - although visitors would be encouraged to make a voluntary contribution 

A key element will be to bring the different elements of the project together as a single identity.

This aerial picture was taken in 2003 when construction work was under way on the cathedral tower and shows the areas covered by the bid including the Abbey ruins, bottom right and the Great Churchyard between the Cathedral and St Mary's church. (Image: Andy Abbott)

At present if you are visiting the Abbey ruins behind the Abbey gardens you may only be a hedge away from the Cathedral's cafe - but you have to walk right around the building to reach it.

Similarly there is little direct connection between the Abbey Gardens and the Great Churchyard between the Cathedral and St Mary's church.

The Great Churchyard between Bury Cathedral and St Mary's Church (Image: Paul Geater)

Dean Joe said: "We want to address those issues with new footpaths and new walking routes for visitors. We want to bring everything together. We are very excited about what we can do here."

Eilish McGuinness, chief executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said “The Abbey of St Edmund holds a thousand years of history within its ruins and surrounding gardens.

"It has inspired and connected generations of people to its unique heritage as a place of worship and medieval pilgrimage, dating back to the Magna Carta. 

"I am delighted that our grant award of £730,000 will enable development of the project and continued collaboration between a range of community and conservation organisations.

"As the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we believe in the power of heritage to ignite imagination, offer joy, and to build pride in a place by connecting people to the past.

"The Abbey of St Edmund is a fantastic example.”