Clergy are hoping to attract new visitors to cathedrals by night like “moths to a light”.

Cathedrals up and down the country will be flinging open their doors for the first time by cover of darkness, to give people a new experience, and attract those who may not usually visit.

The free scheme - Cathedrals at Night – is being launched two years later than planned due to the pandemic, and plans to offer visitors a new kind of musical, artistic, atmospheric and spiritual experience.

The Very Rev Adrian Dorber, the Dean of Lichfield and chair of the AEC, told Premier that “people are intrigued by beauty as much as moths are intrigued by light” and he hoped the chance to visit the cathedral at a different time would give people a really beautiful, welcoming experience.

He said: “We want to try and intrigue an increasingly sceptical and atheistic population into scared places…Although fifty per cent of our population say they have no religion, there are lots of people that have spirituality.”

It is the first nationwide project that brings together Church of England cathedrals, Westminster Abbey, Cathedral Isle of Man, and St David’s and St Asaph from the Church in Wales, around a single, simple campaign.

The events will begin in May and people can book in online.