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 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 on the site by Athelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in 970. 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. 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. A lantern tower was built on top of the Octagon by William Hurley, the King's carpenter, and is about 43 m high. The building was completed in 1351.
The cathedral is built from stone quarried from Barnack in Northamptonshire, 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 Etheldreda's shrine was destroyed. The cathedral was soon refounded in 1541.
The building has been the subject of several major restoration projects:
- in the 18th century, under James Essex
- in 1839, under George Peacock, with the architect George Gilbert Scott (the architect Basevi died in a fall from the west tower)
- from 1986 to 2000
The building is still in active use, and also houses an exhibition of stained glass from the 13th century to the present.
List of abbots and abbesses of the first monastery (673-870)
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
List of bishops
- 1. Hervé le Breton, or Harvey (1109-1131) - first Bishop of Ely
- [vacancy]
- 2. Nigel (1133-1169)
- [vacancy]
- 3. Geoffry Riddell (1174-1189) - built nave and began the western tower
- 4. William Longchamp (1189-1197)
- 5. Eustace (1198-1215) - built the western porch
- Robert of York (unconsecrated) (1215-1223)
- 6. John Pherd, or John de Fontibus (1223-1225)
- 7. Geoffry de Burgh (1225-1228)
- 8. Hugh de Norwold (1229-1254) - rebuilt the Norman choir
- 9. William de Kilkenny (1255-1257)
- 10. Hugh de Balsham (1257-1286)
- 11. John de Kirkby (1286-1290)
- 12. William of Louth (1290-1298)
- 13. Ralph Walpole (1298-1302)
- 14. Robert de Orford (1302-1310)
- 15. John de Ketene (1310-1316)
- 16. John Hotham (1316-1337) - rebuilt collapsed central tower
- 17. Simon de Montacute (1337-1345)
- 18. Thomes de Lisle (1345-1361)
- 19. Simon Langham (1362-1366)
- 20. John Barnet (1366-1373)
- 21. Thomas Fitz-Alan of Arundel (1374-1388)
- 22. John Fordham (1388-1425)
- 23. Philip Morgan (1426-1425)
- 24. Louis de Luxemburg (1438-1443)
- 25. Thomas Bourchier (1443-1454)
- 26. William Gray (1454-1478)
- 27. John Morton (1479-1486)
- 28. John Alcock (1486-1500) - architect, founder of Jesus College, Cambridge
- 29. Richard Redman (1501-1506)
- 30. James Stanley (1506-1515)
- 31. Nicholas West (1515-1534)
- 32. Thomas Goodrich (1534-1554)
- 33. Thomas Thirlby (1554-1570) - the last Catholic bishop
- 34. Richard Cox (1559-1581)
- [vacancy]
- 35. Martin Heaton (1600-1609)
- 36. Lancelot Andrewes (1609-1619)
- 37. Nicholas Felton (1619-1626) - worked on translation of King James Bible
- [vacancy]
- 38. John Buckeridge (1628-1631)
- 39. Francis White (1631-1638)
- 40. Matthew Wren (1638-1667)
- 41. Benjamin Laney (1667-1675)
- 42. Peter Gunning (1675-1684)
- 43. Francis Turner (1684-1691)
- 44. Simon Patrick (1691-1707)
- 45. John Moore (1707-1714)
- 46. William Fleetwood (1714-1723)
- 47. Thomas Greene (1723-1738)
- 48. Robert Butts (1738-1747)
- 49. Thomas Gooch (1748-1754)
- 50. Matthias Mawson (1754-1771)
- 51. Edmund Keene (1771-1781)
- 52. James Yorke (1781-1808)
- 53. Thomas Dampier (1808-1812)
- 54. Bowyer Edward Sparke (1812-1836)
- 55. Joseph Allen (1836-1845)
- 56. Thomas Turton (1845-1864)
- 57. Edward Harold Browne (1864-1873)
- 58. James Russell Woodford (1873-1886)
- 59. Alwyne Frederick Compton (1886-1905)
- 60. Frederick Henry Chase (1905-1924)
- 61. Leonard Jauncey White-Thompson (1924-1934)
- 62. Bernard Oliver Francis Heyward (1934-1941)
- 63. Harold Edward Wynn (1941-1957)
- 64. Noel Baring Hudson (1957-1964)
- 65. Edward James Keymer Roberts (1964-1977)
- 66. Peter Knight Walker (1977-1990)
- 67. Stephen Whitefield Sykes (1990-1999 (resigned))
- 68. Anthony Russell (2000- )
References
- Richard John King, Handbook to the Cathedrals of England, John Murray, Albemarle Street, Ely, 1862 (online version)
Last updated: 10-11-2005 20:22:34
