Lord Nelson, famed 18th century British naval hero, is not known to have ever visited Sydney, but a chair said to have belonged to him holds a place of pride in Cape Breton's oldest Anglican church.

The chair has been in St. George's Church since the early 1800s, but is said to have been given originally to St. John's Church in Point Edward, on the opposite side of the harbour from Sydney.

St. George's was built as a garrison church in Sydney's earliest days.

Michelle Gardiner of the parish council says folklore recounts that a member of a family in Cape Breton had served with Nelson, and the two men remained friends.

Years later, St. John's needed a special chair for a confirmation service because the bishop would be officiating. Gardiner says word was sent to a ship in Sydney harbour, and the Nelson connection did the trick.

"We know a man named Kent went out in a rowboat … received a chair and brought it back into St. John's," she said.

Oral history doesn't say whether Nelson ever actually sat in it.

'Their eyes light up'

St. George's parish priest, Rev. Glen Kent, said the chair is important to both the church and the community, and extra special to him. There's a legend in his family they are related to the Kent who brought the chair into Sydney.

"I'm not really sure about that, but that's what's in our family, because my great-great-great-grandfather served [with Nelson]," he said.

St. George's is no longer used for services, but its location in Sydney's north-end heritage district, close to the cruise ship dock, makes it — and the chair — a tourist attraction for several months a year.

"Of course, we get many, many British people who come here," said Gardiner, "and as soon as we say it, their eyes light up and we talk about the story."