Pews at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, in Bury St Edmunds, replaced with Edmund Chairs

The Dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral has welcomed the delivery of new chairs to replace pews in time for Easter services.

Chairs made of oak have been installed in the Nave at the cathedral in Bury St Edmunds this week.

The specially designed ‘Edmund Chairs’ replace Victorian pews which were used by worshippers for 160 years.

The Very Rev Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury, said: “We are thrilled to welcome the new chairs to the cathedral, and this is thanks to our New Chairs Appeal which allowed members of the cathedral community to purchase a new chair for the Nave.

“We are incredibly grateful for our congregation and the way they have embraced this change.

“Chairs were part of the original design concept of Stephen Dykes Bower when he began as cathedral architect in 1943 so to fulfil his vision for the cathedral 80 years later is a great thing.”

When the new chairs are linked together they can re-create strong horizontal architectural lines that were characteristic of the Victorian pews.

The chairs can be stacked and cleared away enabling the nave to be rearranged or cleared.

Something the cathedral hopes will make it a ‘more diverse’ space for services and events.

Members of the public were given the chance to buy the old pews.

The cathedral also teamed up with an organisation called Rough Stuff to repurpose some of the larger pews.

Rough Stuff turned the wooden seating into smaller pews and other wooden items.