Bosses at Bristol Cathedral have formally applied to be allowed to remove all references to Edward Colston from a huge stained glass window which commemorated the slave trader.
The acting Dean of Bristol Cathedral said the church has applied to a body called the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England to remove plaques and dedications and pieces of the window which reference the 18th century merchant venturer.
In the days after the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, the cathedral boarded up parts of the window and covered over plaques at both the Cathedral and at St Mary Redcliffe Church which commemorated Colston.
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Now the cathedral has taken the more formal step of applying for permission to make permanent changes, to the Church of England body responsible for the fabric of England’s historic cathedrals.
Rev Canon Michael Johnson said there had been no decisions made about what would replace the parts of the window that will be removed.
He said the window itself dates from the 1880s and was blown out in the Blitz of Bristol and replaced in the years after the war, so wasn’t particularly historic.
“The vast majority of people have been affirming in what we have decided to do, in recognising this is a moment in Bristol’s history, and it’s the right thing to do at the moment,” he said.
“It gives us the opportunity to tell the whole story of the history of the cathedral and the city in ways we haven’t really done hitherto,” he told BBC Radio Bristol’s Emma Britton.
“It’s been a great challenging moment, and we’re happy to respond,” he added.
Bristol Live reported several times how the city’s Cathedral and the Diocese of Bristol were challenged to remove the window in 2016, 2017 and 2018, but were told then the window would be staying.
The acting Dean said no decisions had been made about what would replace it now.
“I think we want to take a little moment to think about that, rather than coming to a knee-jerk decision,” he said.
“We have had conversations about what might go there.
"The easy option is the lower part of the window has images which tell the story of the Good Samaritan, which is perhaps one of the best-known stories in the Bible, and is about a command from Jesus to help everybody.
“That’s a pretty robust and strong Christian message to have, that's already there in the window,” he added.
