THE shadow of a colossal 200-foot crane towered over the county's skyline as the latest phase of a multi-million pound project to crown Suffolk's mother church with a tower slowly moved ahead.

THE shadow of a colossal 200-foot crane towered over the county's skyline as the latest phase of a multi-million pound project to crown Suffolk's mother church with a tower slowly moved ahead.

More than six tonnes of steel was lifted into place yesterdayto form the next piece of the jigsaw at 500-year-old St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, which is to be topped with the 150ft tower as part of a Millennium project.

The huge steel structure, which had to be assembled on the ground before being moved into position, will act as support for the tower and means work can finally begin on its roof.

Project co-ordinator Euan Allensaid: "The steel being lifted on to the tower was the next key move and now it is complete we can get on with the rest of the work.

"The whole operation was very skilfully done as it is not an easy job to life that amount of steel accurately.

"So far everything about the project has gone to plan and we hope that some of the scaffolding can begin to come down by the end of August.

"There is a lot of work still to do but this is a very important and significant move that has been made today and we can now crack on with the rest of the job."

The £10.3million project to complete the 500-year-old building has been funded by a Millennium Commission grant and the estate of cathedral architect Stephen Dykes Bowers.

Prince Charles visited Suffolk to lay the tower's first brick in July 2001, and since then residents of Bury have watched with interest as the structure has grown.

Swathes of plastic and scaffolding currently protect the craftsmen working around 130ft above ground from the weather conditions.

The team involved with the project, which are using traditional skills to complete the tower, have another 20ft of the structure still to craft before the finished product is unveiled.