In what is the first real building development at Sherborne Abbey for a hundred years, The Reverend Martin Lee has revealed exciting plans to bring the Abbey’s facilities into the 21st century. The proposals will not only benefit the local congregation and wider community but also improve the experience for visiting choirs and performers, schools, and the thousands of visitors to Dorset for whom Sherborne Abbey is a must-visit tourist attraction.
Plans include converting the existing ground and first floor vestries to a dedicated two-storey toilet facility; creating a new vestry in the north transept under the organ loft; designing a permanent but discreet hospitality area, for events and services, within The Lady Chapel area; and generally improving accessibility, and wheelchair access, throughout the Abbey.
The new, purpose-built, single-level vestry, which is not only used for robing and preparation by clergy and servers but is also vital to the day-to-day running of the Abbey, will be designed with full consideration to its historic setting.