The love story of Ed Sheeran, 32, and Cherry Seaborn, 31, is one of those that is straight out of a movie. They met at the age of 11 and started dating as teenagers when the British singer fell madly in love with her. But their paths diverged: she decided to concentrate on her hockey career and he on music. They were both successful in their fields – although Seaborn took a career turn after playing in the big leagues and began working on Wall Street – and fate brought them together again at a Taylor Swift party in the summer of 2015. “I texted him. [a Seaborn] and she said, “I’m in Rhode Island at a Fourth of July party.” And I thought, “Me too.” I said to Taylor, “Can I invite an old school friend?” The rest is history,” the artist explained about how they got back together. The couple announced their engagement in 2018 and to complete the idyllic romance, Ed Sheeran expressed his firm intention of building his own Anglo-Saxon-style church on his land in the English county of Suffolk – where he is originally from and where he went with Seaborn go to school. ― say “yes” to his future wife. “It is the right of everyone to have a place of peace for reflection and prayer, religious contemplation, quiet celebrations of life and family, weddings, births and everything else,” Suffolk City Council confirmed at the time.
In the end, however, it couldn’t be. Planning officers for the structure believed it would “have unsatisfactory visual impact”, that it would “contradict the prevailing landscape character” and that it would give “the impression of a second church in the town” which already had one . As a result, Suffolk Coastal District Council rejected his application. It was a disappointment for Sheeran, who had even called in experts to see if nearby great crested newts could scupper his plans to build his private chapel. So they got married on the private property the artist owns in the county, although without the church being built.
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The Thinking Out Loud, Shape of You or Photograph singer owns around 27 properties in which he has invested more than $65 million, including apartments, houses and the Suffolk mansion where he currently lives with his wife and their two sons . In July 2019, it became public that Sheeran had also bought the two houses next to his villa to avoid trouble with neighbors due to possible parties and loud music. “Ed has had neighbors complaining about the noise before and when he had the opportunity to buy the two houses next to his home in London he jumped at the chance,” a source told The Sun. The Briton has nothing ahead of him and his desire to have a private church should not remain exceptional, and so five years after his failed attempt he finally managed to build it.
Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn during the BRIT Awards at the O2 Arena on February 8, 2022 in London.JMEnternational (Getty Images)
Planners gave the go-ahead in 2019 and in January 2022 construction began on the scaffolding for the future Sheeran-Seaborn family church, a scaled-down version of the wedding chapel they had planned in 2018. According to the construction plans, the structure would be an oval, The two-story ship-shaped building would have flint walls, a lead roof and a round tower. “The relatively small structure would be covered by existing vegetation, similar to other structures in the field, helping it blend into the forested landscape. This will become more established over time and reduce the view of the building as the wooded backdrop matures,” those responsible for the project explained why it was adopted this time. The interior was intended to house eight benches, an altar, an upper floor gallery and a tower with spiral staircases providing access to the tower.
But there is one detail that has attracted the most attention in this new religious building, work on which was completed in August this year: the crypt that the singer built for himself in the home’s backyard, according to media outlets like Vanity Fair . . In an interview with GQ published on October 4, Sheeran explained that it was not a chapel at all, honoring the memory of loved ones who were cremated. He also assured that this shrine serves as a place for wedding ceremonies for friends. “It is a hole dug in the ground with a small stone on top so that when the day comes and I die, I can go in,” he said. “People find it very strange and very morbid, but I’ve had friends who have died without expressing their wishes and no one knows what to do.” The four-time Grammy winner has suffered significant losses in recent years, including the deaths of his mentor Michael Gudinski and his close friends Jamal Edwards and Shane Wane.
As well as the church, Sheeran has also added a pub, a wildlife pond, an outdoor kitchen, a football pitch, a walled orchard, a farm for chickens, goats and sheep to his Suffolk property, as well as an entertainment area with a hot tub, fire pit. Nevertheless, the country has been embroiled in several disputes with its neighbors over the rights to develop some of these works. For example, he had difficulty maintaining a huge five-meter-high advertising sign for his pub. In 2017, he received approval to build on the site, but did not have it for the sign. They also warned him that he was not allowed to swim in their wildlife pond, but that it should be used as a natural habitat for frogs, newts and dragonflies. The city council itself visited the property and specifically banned “recreational activities such as swimming” and was forced to remove the outdoor sauna after neighbors complained.
He also didn’t remain silent about his neighbors’ reforms. A neighbor won a court battle against the star in 2020 after Sheeran paradoxically objected to his backyard being extended by 160 meters. He said he did not want the space to be tamed, arguing that such an expansion would “expand the city into the countryside in an unplanned and artificial way.” At first the city council agreed with him and rejected his neighbor’s proposal, but many others wrote to him in support and his plans were eventually approved. Despite the hectic neighborhood, Sheeran now at least has his own church, which the singer says is a place where he and his loved ones can “retreat for reflection, prayer and relaxation.”