On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. On Sunday afternoon, Sunday 6 August 2023, some of the Cathedral congregation gathered alongside members of other local churches, including St Bartholomew’s and St Alban and St Stephen’s Catholic Churches, at the Peace Pillar to remember those affected by those bombings and to pray for world peace.

The Peace Pillar stands at the entrance to Sumpter Yard and was given by the people of Japan in gratitude that the Dean at that time, Cuthbert Thicknesse, refused for the Cathedral bells to be rung with other bells in the city to mark Victory in Japan because it had come at such a cost in terms of destruction and loss of life.

The Cathedral would now like to move the Peace obelisk, now very obscured by the tree and hedge (barely discernible in the picture above, behind the woman in red on the right), to a more prominent location.

We continue to pray for all who strive for peace in our own day.