Ely Cathedral

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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.

[edit] History

[edit] Previous buildings

See also: List of abbots and abbesses of Ely

The first Christian building on the site was founded by Æthelthryth (romanized as 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 Ramsey. ^[1] This became a cathedral in 1109, after a new Diocese of Ely was created out of land taken from the Diocese of Lincoln.

[edit] The present building

The present cathedral was started by Abbot Simeon (1082-1094, brother of Walkelin, the then bishop of Winchester) 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, crossing the nave below a central tower, and are the oldest surviving part of the cathedral. The West Tower (215 feet) was built between 1174 and 1197 and the Romanesque style of the west front overall shows that it was built in the 12th century, with the later addition of the Galilee porch (1198-1215). The west tower is 66m high (215ft). The unique Octagon 'Lantern Tower' was constructed during the 1300s and replaced the old central tower which collapsed. 'The Lantern' is 23m (74ft) wide and is 52m (170ft) high. From the floor to central roof boss 'The Lantern' is 43m (142ft) high.

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), with the nave over 75 m long (250ft), it remains the longest in Britain.

Attached to the north transept is the Lady Chapel (built 1321-1349 in the Decorated style) by the sacrist Alan of Walsingham. It was to his plans, too, that the octagonal tower or octagon (1322-1328) was built after Simeon's original crossing tower collapsed in 1322, injuring nobody but destroying the choir. This central octagon 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 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.

[edit] Later history

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.

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

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). A painted wooden ceiling was added to the nave in this restoration.
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.

[edit] Music

Ely has a fine cathedral choir of boys and men, which has recently attracted international attention because of its association with The Choirboys: two of its members, Patrick Aspbury and CJ Porter-Thaw, are choristers at the cathedral. Boys are educated in the junior department of The King's School, Ely.

Recently, the cathedral community has started up an adult voluntary choir, the Octagon Singers, and a children's choir, the Ely Imps. The Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir was also launched in 2006, comprising 15 girl choristers.

[edit] Organ

Details of the organ from the National Pipe Organ Register

[edit] Organists

[edit] Honorary Canons

[edit] 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 full-length movie with the same title was released in 1999.

• A section of the film The Golden Age was filmed at the cathedral.

• Filming for Scenes on the movie "The Other Boleyn Girl" began in August 2007.

• Parts of the novel Floodland, by Marcus Sedgwick, take place at the Cathedral after the sea has consumed the land around it turning Ely into an island.

[edit] References

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

[edit] Gallery

[edit] See also

• List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom
• Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
• English Gothic architecture
• Romanesque architecture
• Church of England

[edit] External links

• Ely Cathedral
• 360° interior panorama at BBC Cambridgeshire
• The Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral.
• A history of the choristers of Ely Cathedral
• Flickr images tagged Ely Cathedral

Categories: Anglican cathedrals in England | Buildings and structures in Cambridgeshire | Ely | Monasteries in Cambridgeshire | Norman architecture | Visitor attractions in Cambridgeshire | Benedictine monasteries in England | Grade I listed churches | Grade I listed buildings in Cambridgeshire | 1100s architecture