Heritage Open Days – Online

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, is offering online experiences to mark this year’s Heritage Open Days. Established in 1994, Heritage Open Days is the country’s largest community heritage festival and takes place annually.

Online Experiences for Heritage Open Days 2020.

This year the festival runs from 11 to 20 September.

Other cathedrals, like Hereford, Exeter and Wakefield are also holding new Heritage Open Day online events for everyone to enjoy.

The Cathedral usually participates by giving visitors opportunities to explore some of its ‘hidden gems’, which are usually not open to the public. This year, because of restrictions, it is not possible to open these areas, so online experiences are being offered instead on the Cathedral’s website and social media channels.

The Ancient Library was founded in 1595 and has an extensive collection of books covering a range of subjects, including many of local interest. Hidden away above the main entrance to the Cathedral, visitors are surprised to discover the treasures within it. A new online document explores the fascinating stories behind who gave the books to the Library, many of them local people from Bury St Edmunds or the wider county of Suffolk. A second paper details the conversation work undertaken recently on two volumes.

The art of bell ringing is explained in a video made (pre-COVID-19) by James Sheen of the ‘We Love Bury St Edmunds’ group. It gives a great insight in to what happens in the Norman Tower, as we are not able to offer tours this year.
‘Heritage Open Days gives people a chance to look behind the scenes and find out more about their local heritage,’ comments Sarah Friswell, PR Manager for the Cathedral. ‘This year the aim is to stimulate interest in the books of the Ancient Library and in particular we hope to track down local people who are related to the donors of yesteryear. We also hope to find potential new bellringers.’

Full details can also be found on the Cathedral’s website here.

For more Heritage Open Days events at cathedrals just click this link > Cathedral HOD Events.