The Bury St Edmunds inside story of the future King’s hands-on role and unstinting support for the building of St Edmundsbury Cathedral's tower
With a bricklayer’s trowel in his hand and a broad grin on his face the future King is clearly in his element and having a wonderful time.
But what was the reason for the outburst of royal laughter when the Prince of Wales laid the first bricks in St Edmundsbury Cathedral’s tower?
The man at his side on that day, project manager Horry Parsons, recalls an event very far from the pomp and ceremony that will surround the coronation of the King and Queen on May 6.
Enthusiasm for the task had just led to His Royal Highness – who was enjoying himself so much he was keen to lay an extra brick – splattering himself with lime mortar.
And the mishap reminded him of an episode of The Goon Show where a character fell into a cement mixer.
Today the 150ft tower, the crowing glory of the cathedral’s Millennium Project, is the outstanding landmark of the Bury St Edmunds skyline.
It also stands as a the most visible and iconic reminder of the King’s connections with Suffolk.
He became patron of the Millennium Project – completion of the plans to transform the former St James’s Church into Suffolk’s cathedral – when it began to take shape in 1998.
With the Prince’s love of great architecture and craftsmanship well known, his keen interest continued all through the project, with visits in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2011.
He called the tower, which was designed to last 1,000 years, ‘a spiritual beacon for the Millennium’.
At its completion he wrote: “As the work has been unveiled it has been clearly seen as ‘something beautiful for the glory of God’.
“The craftsmanship has most certainly been inspiring. From the visionary drawing of the plans and the stunning concept through to the shaping of the stone, the laying of the bricks and the placing of the flint, it has been a work of dedication and commitment.
“There has been a real sense of doing the truest and the best for its own sake, but also for something greater and more profound than the human ego that is in itself spiritual and godly.
“Something in our midst that lifts our spirits and speaks of faith will surely inspire our own generation and generations to come to strive for what is good, true and beautiful.”
The £12 million Millennium Project, which also included chapels and cloisters, was made possible partly by a legacy from Stephen Dykes Bower, the cathedral’s architect for 45 years, who left £2 million towards the completion of the building.
A grant of more than £5 million was given by the Millennium Commission to finish the work, and fund-raising brought in the rest of the money.
When the job went out to tender in 1998, Horry Parsons had been working for Sindall construction in Cambridge for close on 50 years and was about to retire.
Having started as an apprentice carpenter Horry, from a family of Lakenheath-based builders, was by then a highly experienced project manager.
“When this job came up for pricing in 1998 I had just handed in my notice to retire a few years early,” he says.
“Having spent my working life in Cambridge and Hertfordshire, but being Suffolk-born, I thought this could be my swansong in Suffolk. Sindalls won the contract against three other bidders.”
He remembers informal early meetings with architects Hugh Mathew and Warwick Pethers, who had both worked with Stephen Dykes Bower.
“At first they worked out of the kitchen in Warwick Pethers’ cottage. We’d be sharing the kitchen table with his children’s breakfast things.”
Horry, who lives in Lakenheath with his wife Susan, first met Prince Charles when he came to the cathedral to lay the symbolic first brick in the tower in July 2001.
As with all his visits to the town, the Prince was greeted by excited crowds.
“We were just about to start physically building the tower,” said Horry. That’s why we asked him to lay the first brick.
“For every royal visit you have a tremendous number of meetings with the Palace, local police, going over every detail.
“Our programme was for a 50 minute visit. It was a public visit so he was also due to meet local dignitaries. As it was a site visit I was responsible for his health and safety.
“So the visit was timed and carefully planned. We allowed him six minutes to lay the first brick. David Peacock, our senior bricklayer, was to help him.
“David gave him the shiny trowel produced for the occasion, then said no, you can’t lay it with that, and brought out an old, specially adapted bricklayer’s trowel instead.
“He then went on to practically give him an apprenticeship, explaining everything about it, and Prince Charles really did enjoy it.
“He turned to me and said ‘this is very good, I’ve done a hedge laying course, but I’ve never done a bricklaying course’.
“After 10 minutes of training David thought he would trust the Prince to lay the brick.
“Then as he turned away David said ‘would you like to lay another one, Sir?’ And he turned back and said ‘yes please’.
“David gave him the trowel, and he had the heap of lime mortar ready expecting him to just scoop some up, but he gave it a whack with the trowel and it went all over his suit.”
Straight away the Prince recalled the day Bloodnok, a character in his favourite Goon Show, fell in a cement mixer – and finished up a ‘hard case’. ‘I’ll be a hard case now’, he quipped.
“In the end the supposed 50 minute visit lasted more than two hours,” Horry recalls.
Prince Charles returned to the building project in June 2003. Again the visit last longer than planned, and felt relaxed as he toured the site chatting to craftsmen such as flint knappers and stone masons.
By this time Sindalls had been bought by Bluestone Construction. The first thing he noticed, said Horry, was the change of name on their hard hats.
“The second thing he said to me was ‘I expect you relaid the bricks’. I said ‘no Sir they are exactly where you laid them, and we didn’t touch them again’.
“He said ‘I thought you would have relaid them because I know they replant the trees’. That was an indication of how friendly he was.
“He stayed right by me and chatted all the way round. He was the same with people all around the site.
“This time it was pouring with rain. I offered to hold an umbrella for him but he said no, that’s what my left hand’s for.
“One of the main groups of people he was insistent on seeing was the apprentices. He was always very interested in them and chatted with them at length.
“He asked one bricklayer if he was a (stone) mason and he said no, I’m one of the unsung heroes I’m just a bricklayer.
“And the Prince mentioned the ‘unsung heroes’ in his speech at the reception afterwards. He took on board what you were saying and really listened. He was basically a really nice human being.”
Part of Horry’s job was giving monthly progress reports to the Millennium Commission. He also sent regular detailed updates to the project’s royal patron.
“I kept Prince Charles abreast of what we did every six to eight months. I’d tell him about how we were getting on with the tower, and we got replies from his office.”
One report, when the tower was nearing completion, told the Prince: “We have now built the tower up to course 43, which is the level at which the roof steel is placed into position.
“In a few months we shall have constructed the parapets and pinnacles of the tower and aim that by the end of August this year we shall begin the process of removing the 25 miles of scaffold tube.”
The tower was finished in 2005 and in July that year Charles made another visit to attend the service celebrating its completion. It was three months after his wedding to Camilla, and the Duchess of Cornwall came with him.
Horry, who now helps to train cathedral tour guides, recalls the Prince pointing out to his wife the spot on the tower where he had laid the bricks.
A service in the cathedral was followed by an event on Angel Hill where he was re-introduced to people who had taken part in the project, as well as seeing exhibits by other Suffolk enterprises.
Horry’s granddaughters Zoe and Sofie, then aged nine and seven, presented flowers to Camilla. He recalls much royal laughter when his great-granddaughter Leah, who was three, tried to grab the posy back from the Duchess.
Sarah Friswell, the cathedral’s visitor experience manager, is one of the few who were also on the staff when the Prince visited.
“The first time he visited the site I and some colleagues were sitting in a little outdoor area and we watched him up on the tower laying the bricks,” she says.
“I met him when he and the Duchess of Cornwall came for the service to celebrate the completion of the project. I felt very privileged to have the chance to meet him. Afterwards it felt quite surreal.
“Another thing I remember from that day was we’d had a rose commissioned for the completion of the tower from Cants of Colchester, called Saint Edmund, and they were everywhere.
“One of my memories is that Prince Charles was known for having quite strong opinions about architecture, but we only ever got positive feedback from his visits.”
The Prince returned to the cathedral in 2011 to see the magnificent oak vaulted ceiling that had been installed under the tower.
At the reception afterwards he reminisced with Horry, who had come out of retirement to supervise the work: “We’ve been involved a long time, haven’t we.”
Perhaps the final word should go to King Charles, who was delighted that training was such a key part of the whole project.
He wrote: “This will provide, among other benefits, a rare opportunity for the exercise of craft skills in stone and flint which will leave lasting evidence from our generation of human creativity and endeavour.
“I am delighted that, by providing opportunities for apprenticeships and the training of students, the completion of St Edmundsbury Cathedral will be helping to ensure that these rare and invaluable skills are passed on to future generations.”
