Abbey 1000 Sculpture Exhibition

Celebrating 1000 years at St Edmundsbury Cathedral

In 2020, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk will celebrate the founding of the Abbey of St Edmund by King Canute 1000 years ago.

A year of celebrations is being co-ordinated by the Abbey 1000 Group, alongside the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership, with a year-long programme of events leading up to the weekend of St Edmund’s Day on November 20th 2020.

From Saturday May 23rd to Sunday November 22nd a fantastic new sculpture exhibition celebrating 1,000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund and Saint Edmund will be on display in the Abbey ruins in the Abbey Gardens. Each month a different sculpture can be seen in the crypt of the Abbey ruins where the Shrine of St Edmund would have stood.

A range of local artists has risen to the challenge of re-telling the story of the Abbey and St Edmund in new artistic and creative ways. Pupils from County Upper School in Bury St Edmunds have used scenes from the story of St Edmund to create a sculpture decorated in ceramic tiles.

Well-known local artist, John Williams, has carved a new image of St Edmund from a piece of oak reclaimed from a local recycling yard. The life size figure is depicted bound with rope accompanied by a wolf and halo.

A metallic wolf, on all fours, is the creation of sculptor Jordan Britt, an already acclaimed young artist, who has won awards for his sculptures, usually made of steel and inspired by folklore.

Visitors to Bury St Edmunds are familiar with a howling wolf which has pride of place on the roundabout as you enter the town from the south. This was created by Suffolk artist, Ben Loughrill, on behalf of Bury in Bloom several years ago. In 2015 a similar, slightly smaller wolf, was part of a ‘wolf’ trail in the town and was bought at the end of that year by private owners. They have kindly offered this wolf to feature in the Abbey 1000 sculpture trail.

Each sculpture will take its turn on a specially created plinth, designed by Austin Cornish of Bury Development Limited, local Bury St Edmunds based construction company. The plinth will sit in the crypt of the Abbey church, surrounded by the atmospheric stone ruins.

‘The shrine of St Edmund disappeared at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539,’ comments the Reverend Canon Matthew Vernon, Sub Dean of the Cathedral and Chairman of the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage partnership. ‘The crypt sculptures will draw members of the public to the place close to where Saint Edmund’s shrine used to stand, echoing the medieval pilgrim visitors. This will be a celebration of local creativity and local pride in the story of our history and heritage.’

The sculptures can be seen, free of charge, daily, when the Abbey Gardens are open.

www.stedscathedral.org