Ely Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely) is the principal church of the diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Ely. It is known locally as "the ship of the Fens", because of its prominent shape that towers above the surrounding flat and watery landscape.

History

Previous buildings

The first Christian building on the site was founded by Etheldreda, daughter of the Anglo-Saxon king of East Anglia, who was born in 630 at Exning near Newmarket. She acquired the land from her first husband, Tondberct, chief of the South Gyrvians, and after the end of her second marriage to Eegrfrid, a Northumbrian prince, set up and ran a monastery on the site in 673. When she died, a shrine was built to her memory in the Saxon church on the same site. (Incidentally, the common version of Etheldreda's name was St. Awdrey, which is the origin of the word tawdry - because cheap souvenirs were sold at fairs held in her name.) The monastery, and much of the city of Ely, were destroyed in the Danish invasions that began in 869 or 870.

A new Benedictine monastery was built and endowed on the site by Athelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in 970, in a wave of monastic refoundations which also included Peterborough and Ramsay. This became a cathedral in 1109, after a new Diocese of Ely was created out of land taken from the Diocese of Lincoln.

The present building

The present cathedral was started by Abbot Simeon (1082-1094) under William I in 1083. Building continued under Simeon's successor, Abbot Richard (1100-1107). The Anglo-Saxon church was demolished, but some of its relics, such as the remains of its benefactors, were moved to the cathedral. The main transepts were built early on, and are the oldest surviving part of the cathedral. The West Tower (215 feet) was built between 1174 and 1197, and the octagon was added to it in 1400. In 1322 the main crossing tower of Simeon's cathedral collapsed, injuring nobody but destroying the choir, and was rebuilt as an octagonal tower to a plan by the sacrist, Alan de Walsingham. This central octagon (1322-1328) rises from the whole breadth of the building and towers up until its roof, a wooden lantern, forms the only Gothic dome in existence. The Galilee porch (1198-1215) is unrivalled.

The cathedral is built from stone quarried from Barnack in Northamptonshire (bought from Peterborough Abbey, whose lands included the quarries, for 8000 eels a year), with decorations in Purbeck marble and local clunch. The plan of the building is cruciform (cross-shaped), with the altar at the east end. The total length is 565 feet (172.2 m). The transepts cross the nave below the Octagon. Attached to the north transept is the Lady Chapel (built 1321-1349 in the Decorated style). The Romanesque style of the west front shows that it was built in the 12th century, with the addition of a 13th-century Galilee (porch). The west tower is about 65m high. The north-west transept collapsed in the 15th century and was never rebuilt, leaving a scar on the outside of that corner that can still be seen. The nave is over 75 m long and has a Victorian painted wooden ceiling.

In 1539, during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, the cathedral suffered only minor damage, but St Etheldreda's shrine was destroyed. The cathedral was soon refounded in 1541, although many of the statues in the lady chapel were severely damaged.

Matthew Wren was Bishop of Ely in the mid 17th century, and in connection with this, his nephew Christopher Wren was responsible for a rather splendid Gothic door on the north face of the cathedral, dating from the 1650s.

The building has been the subject of several major restoration projects:

1. in the 18th century, under James Essex
2. in 1839, under George Peacock, with the architect George Gilbert Scott (the architect Basevi died in a fall from the west tower)
3. from 1986 to 2000

The building is still in active use, and also houses a collection of stained glass from the 13th century to the present that is of national importance and includes works from notable contemporary artists like Ervin Bossanyi and others.

List of abbots and abbesses of the first monastery (673–870)

1. Etheldreda (673–679)
2. Seaxburh (sister of Etheldreda) (679–c.699)
3. Ermenilda (daughter of Seaxburh and Eorcenberht of Kent) (c.699–c.700)
4. Werburgh (born c.675, daughter of Ermenilda and Wulfhere of Mercia)
5. ?

List of abbots and abbesses of the Benedictine monastery (970-1109)

• 1. Brythnoth (970- )
• 2. Thurstan ( - 1072) - the last Saxon abbot
• 3. Theodwin (secular governor)
• 4. Godfrey (secular governor)
• 5. Simeon (1082-1094) - began building the cathedral
• [vacancy]
• 6. Richard FitzRichard de Clare (1100-1107) - the last abbot

In Popular Culture

• The cathedral features prominently on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1994 album The Division Bell.

• A number of John Rutter's choral albums feature the cathedral, a reference to early recordings of his music being performed and recorded in the Lady Chapel.

• Direct references to Ely Cathedral appear in the children's book Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.

• A section of the film "The Golden Age", the follow-up to "Elizabeth", was filmed at the cathedral in June 2006, starring Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen and directed by Shekhar Kapur.

References

• Richard John King, Handbook to the Cathedrals of England, John Murray, Albemarle Street, Ely, 1862

Gallery

West Tower of Ely Cathedral, from The Gallery, 2004	The tower of Ely cathedral from the North-West.	Distant view of the cathedral	Stained glass commemorating WWII
Engraving of Ely Cathedral, ca. 1830.	Ely interior	Choir of the Ely Cathedral, looking east. ca. 1890	Interior and exterior elevations.