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How the Millennium Tower project at St Edmundsbury Cathedral soared from uncertain beginnings




This year marks the 20th anniversary of the completion of the Millennium Tower project, at St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

Now, the structure stands proud in Bury St Edmunds skyline, looking as though it has been in place for centuries rather than two decades.

Today, we look back to the early days of the Millennium Project, how it started and progressed before building work started on the magnificent 150ft tower at the turn of the century.

A view of Angel Hill, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of Angel Hill, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive

In January 1996, the Bury Free Press reported on the vision to put St Edmundsbury Cathedral on the map, with its own tower or spire.

“Travellers on the A14 see the 210ft sugar beet silos, 160ft St John’s Church spire and the 140ft high brewery chimney, but the cathedral lies almost hidden from sight,” said our report.

“Mainly 16th century, the cathedral was enlarged to enhance its status by architect Stephen Dykes Bower in the 1960s, but money ran out and he died before his finishing touches could be completed.”

The tower Mr Dykes Bower envisioned was never built. Instead, a stump was left, with steel rods sticking out of the cathedral’s roof – a visual reminder of what could have been.

A view of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of Angel Hill in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of Angel Hill in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press

However, within 72 hours of arriving as the cathedral’s new provist, the Very Rev James Atwell received a letter saying Mr Dykes Bower had died and left the cathedral more than £2 million – on the condition it was finished to his traditional-style designs.

And, with the year 2000 approaching, the Millennium Commission – set up with National Lottery funding – was scouting for projects to stand for the next 1,000 years.

The cathedral announced it was asking the commission for £4 million, to match the £2 million from Mr Dykes Bower and a further £2 million set to be raised by the people of Suffolk.

But in May 1996, the Millennium Commission turned down the £8 million project, saying it was judged ‘not to have as distinctive an impact as others we received’.

The cathedral described it as a temporary setback and said it might apply to the commission again, or to the Lottery Heritage Fund.

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
A view of Crown Street, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of Crown Street, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press

In August 1996, as the Millennium Commision advised the cathedral to try again in the final round of bidding, a seminar was held to look at various designs for the tower, including the design topped with a lead spire which was the subject of the previous bid.

A radical approach to the tower idea came in the same month, when Bury inventor Martin Fiske propsed dismantling the Norman Tower stone by stone and rebuilding it on top of the unfinished cathedral ‘stump’.

Mr Fiske said: “Instead of building a new tower and steeple, my suggestion would ahieve an appropriate solution at a much lower cost.

“I know people may laugh at the idea, but inventors are used to having their unusual ideas laughed at.”

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
A view of Churchgate Street, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of Churchgate Street, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press

A September 1996 seminar attended by more than 100 architectural experts, bishops, clergy, council officials, mayors, historic society members and others failed to reach a decision on a design for the tower.

The seminar, chaired by Colin Amery, architectural correspondent for the Financial Times and an advisor to the Prince of Wales, had hoped to settle on a design before the November deadline to apply for Millennium Commission funding.

Eventually a shorter tower design was selected, but this did not go down well with trustees for the architect who had bequeathed £2 million to the project.

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
A view of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press

On November 1 1996, the Bury Free Press reported that the trustees were not supporting the new Millennium Commission for the shorter tower, however: “The trustees will not withold Stephen Dykes Bower’s £2 million bequest because the money will be used to put the architect’s other finishing touches to the cathedral.”

The 113ft tower chosen was shorter than the original 200ft tower and spire proposed.

By February 1997, the Millennium Commission had announced the tower project was on its list of possible projects to support.

The cathedral had asked for a grant towards the £5 million cost of the 113ft tower design chosen for the latest bid.

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
A view of Crown Street, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press
A view of Crown Street, taken from the Norman Tower in January 1996. Picture: Bury Free Press

In November the same year, the cathedral celebrated the news it would receive a £5.1 million grant from the Millennium Commission for the project.

The grant was half the estimated £10 million cost of the project, which was expected to be finished by the end of 2001.

But the project approved was not the original 200ft spire design, nor the more simple 113ft tower which comprised the second bid. Instead, it was a new, third design which won over commissioners, after the cathedral was told in the summer of 1997 their second bid was likely to fail.

The final 150ft tower design was spotted in an an article in a national newspeper, prompting the cathedral to get in touch with the architect, Hugh Matew, and a new bid was hurriedly put toegther.

“In 19 days we did five months of work to put forward this version – a spiritual statement for the whole of Suffolk,” said the Bury Free Press report.

The project included a North transcept, a new chapel, more cloisters and various finishing touches inside the cathedral.

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive

The cathedral welcomed a very special visitor in January 1998 as the Prince of Wales – who had expressed an interest in seeing Britain’s last unfinished cathedral finally completed – paid a semi-private visit.

The prince told those at the meeting: “I was excited to hear of the success of the bid – now, at last, you have a green light.”

In early May 1998, he agreed to be patron of the tower appeal to raise the final funding needed and patron of the £10.5 million project.

The appeal was launched later that month, with committee member Simon Pott saying: “We’re making a statement about the pride of the town, because in years to come our children will look back and see that our generation left its mark with something splendid.”

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive

In November 1998, boreholes drilled under the cathedral confirmed the land and building were strong enough to support the tower, and by March 1999 the tower appeal had hit £2 million and was closing in on its £2.5 million target.

A planning application for the tower was submitted to St Edmundsbury Borough Council in April 1999.

Meanwhile, the national Cathedral Fabric Commission for England gave the project the nod in April 1999 after requesting some minor amendments to the scheme, particularly around rethinking accessibility for the new chapel.

In July 1999, it was revealed the central part of the cathedral would be shrouded in scaffolding for up to four years during the build project, as the project team met nearby residents to allay and fears about the work.

In the same month, the project team said stone not used for construction for more than 500 years – after supply dried up – could be used to build the Millennium Tower after some was discovered by chance at a Lincolnshire quarry.

Tower appeal co-ordinator Euan Allen said: “We still have to negotiate a contract and we want to use it, but at the moment we don’t own it.”

How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive
How the Bury Free Press reported on the vision for a Millennium Tower to complete St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the late 1990s. Picture: Bury Free Press archive

By the end of 1999, work had started on the major project, with ground broken at the end of November and a commemorative stone unveiled on December 3.

Mr Allen said: “At long last, we are getting under way. After years of saying this is what we are going to do, you get a nice warm feeling now we are actually doing it.”