Ely Cathedral
Ely didn’t formally become a city until 1974 but has been considered to be a city since the 12th century due to it having a cathedral. Cambridge, its much bigger neighbour, doesn’t have a cathedral and so can’t be considered a city.
Apart from the cathedral, Ely has two main claims to fame. The first is that at 85 feet, it’s the highest point in the fenlands. The second is that Oliver Cromwell lived in Ely for 2 years and his house is still standing and open to visitors.
An Abbey church was built on the site of the current cathedral in 672 by St. Etheldreda. The current building was started in 1083 and was declared a cathedral in 1109. It was built in the Romanesque or Norman style with some Gothic additions. Its three major architectural features are the Lady Chapel, the West Tower and, its most distinctive, the central Octagonal tower.
In the Victorian era, Ely was the first of the cathedrals that George Gilbert Scott helped to restore. Its restoration became a model for the work on other cathedrals.
I arranged to meet a friend at the Ely station a little before 11 am but as I’d managed to catch an earlier train from Norwich, I was able to get the exterior photos of the cathedral prior to his arrival. When he arrived, we had morning coffee at the delightful Almonry cafe. I had a homemade fruit scone with clotted cream and jam. The cafe has great views of the cathedral from the garden which justifies the slightly expensive coffee.
Ely cathedral is also the home of the National Stained Glass museum. It’s well worth climbing up the narrow circular staircase to visit. It shows the development of stained glass over about 800 years from the medieval period to the current day. Here are some photos from the stained glass museum.
When photographing the cathedral I made a colossal rookie error. the camera was coming up with some very long exposures which I put down to it being an overcast day. That wasn’t it. Somehow, I’d managed to fat-finger the ISO from auto to 50. I did manage to get some reasonable photos but I’ll have to go back another day to finish the job.
