NEWS broke recently that Ed Sheeran, Spotify’s second most-streamed artist of the 2010s, wants to build a crypt under his sprawling estate in Suffolk, East Anglia. Who doesn’t, right?
The singer-songwriter initially applied for planning permission in 2019 to construct a chapel within the confines of his £3.7 million ($5m) property, something that he has described as a “private place of retreat for contemplation and prayer.” Sheeran lives there with his wife Cherry Seaborn and their daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran, who was born in 2020.
But now the 30-year-old popstar wants to take it a step further and add a crypt, or a burial chamber, at the nave of the chapel. The crypt will reportedly be a six-foot by nine-foot “burial zone” on the chapel’s ground floor.
The application also included the addition of windows, elevators, a temporary shed, and “welfare facilities.” East Suffolk Council is currently considering the application, with the determination deadline coming on February the 17th.
Typically, crypts are used as a burial chamber for saints, priests, martyrs, and anyone else deemed worthy of entombment within a church.
You’re probably wondering, what is Ed up to? Well, it turns out Sheeran is a controversial figure amongst the townsfolk of nearby Framlingham, as they believe his estate, or ‘Sheeranville’ as it’s been coined, has contradicted the original terms of previous planning applications.
For example, Ed’s “wildlife pond” was labelled a swimming pool by one neighbour, a characterisation Sheeran rejected. Take a look for yourself in the image below:
According to the original 2019 planning application for the chapel, Sheeranville is known around the world and attracts visitors each year. It said: “Many of these people are from many countries, faiths and customs, including for example the USA, Ireland, Ghana, Nigeria, Asia and Australia.”
So that goes some way to explain the chapel, but then what’s with the burial chamber? Our only guess is that Ed has such a strong affinity for East Anglia, the county in which he was raised, that he wants to make absolutely sure his remains will be committed to the soil he grew up on.
Not the kind of story you see very often, but an intriguing one, nonetheless!
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