Major renovation works planned for Bury St Edmunds home of cathedral dean Joe Hawes

An historic building in Bury St Edmunds could undergo major renovation works, if planning permission is granted.

A planning application has been submitted to West Suffolk Council to carry out a number of changes at The Deanery, in The Great Churchyard.

The building is home to the Very Rev Joe Hawes, the Dean of St Edmundsbury, and sits nearby to St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

The most recent planning application follows the separation of the west wing of The Deanery from the central block in 2019.

Since then, it has been unoccupied, but should the most recent planning application be given the green light, Dean Hawes would move into the home later this year.

The home would then be reopened as a residence and place of hospitality for the dean and the cathedral.

Among the proposals for renovation works are a single storey extension to the north wing, alterations to the garage and the addition of a garden, the installation of electric car charging points and moving the kitchen.

Further works on the electrics, heating and plumbing would be carried out as well.

Planning documents said: "The proposals have been designed to have a beneficial impact on the building interiors in terms of use as a house both for living and for entertaining which is a significant part of a dean’s role and to make that impact reversible where possible.

"External alterations are designed to be unobtrusive and as little visible as possible from outside the site, with no impact at all on the principal south elevation and its fabric."

The Deanery is a Grade I listed building and was originally built in 1736 by trustees of the estate of Dr Poley Clopton as Clopton’s Hospital to be used as an almshouse, charity housing provided to people in the community, quite often the poor.

However, after the First World War, the function of the house changed when the Vicar of St James became the Provost of St Edmundsbury.

The role changed from a parish priest to a wider and more demanding Dean's role, with duties in the Diocese and further afield.

This meant the house was needed for larger social and hospitality functions.