A Surprise Trip to Ely

Nothing was planned for Monday. I was still at Karen’s home in Beck Row awaiting Glenn’s arrival on Tuesday morning. Karen has a few spaces in her schedule, and suggested that she drive over to the nearby cathedral town of Ely and drop me for several hours. Thrilled with that idea, I packed my little bag with water and my sketching materials, and we were off. It was a cool, overcast day, just what I like. I walked across the green, next to the old bishop’s house and into the cathedral.

Ely Cathedral from my sketching spot

From the front the architecture spoke of a very early beginning with the rounded windows, a telltale sign of the Romanesque period. Yet further behind I could see the signs of the later Gothic pointed arches and more detailed carved stone. This was going to be a treat of history. Once inside the great oak doors I went to the desk to pay my entrance fee and for a tour. The guides in these places are always so knowledgeable that it is worth the cost. When the lady said £6.00 I was really surprised as just the adult entrance fee alone was £9.00. It only took a few minutes to realize that she had charged the OAP price - Old Age Pensioner known to Americans as Seniors. I guess the grey halo of hair around my face spoke to her!

The tour was to start in 45 minutes, so I went to the gift shop and the Refectory for a cup of tea, both within the west end of the cathedral. A book about the cathedral and a cuppa suited me well. Then I joined the tour guide, a lovely, very knowledgeable lady. We chatted, alone for a few minutes before she said that she really was not supposed to take only one person on a tour, but as I had shown myself quite familiar with both history and architecture, she would make an exception. We started up the nave and in moments were joined by a couple with only a short time for the tour. Beginning again, she explained that the site had originally been a monastery and nunnery started by Queen Etheldreda in 673 CE. It had been destroyed by a Viking raid in 869, but soon rebuilt. William the Conqueror began a building campaign of castles and great churches, so the site became a cathedral not long after William conquered England. The architecture is Romanesque, so it was obvious that the Normans began building from what is now the west end. Cathedrals are built in the shape of a cross, and always oriented with the altar end to the East. In the above photo notice the near arches are all rounded, but the heaven-reaching pointed arch in the middle is gothic, and by the time they got to the east end the architecture was English Perpendicular which is from the 14th century.

The late period fan vaulting with huge medieval carved bosses on the joins.

In the night of 12/13 February, 1322, the huge stone tower at the crossing collapsed, filling the nave with tonnes and tonnes of limestone rubble. At that point they discovered that the tower had been built on unstable ground which was unable to support the tremendous weight of a stone tower. So they erected a tower with carved stone corners, but an octagonal wooden tower in the centre. It was built of huge oak tree trunks which, when one climbs into the tower, can still be seen as the supports today. (I had to trust our guide as I was not about top climb waaaaaay up there!) The painted figures are beautiful, and I somehow managed to snap this photo while none of them, some of which are doors, were opened and had contemporary faces peering out!

The Octegon Tower

There is art in the cathedral dating from Norman times to the Perpendicular period. On the outside of the Prior’s door is a stunning carving of Christ enthroned in majesty dating from c.1120-1140.

Christ in his majesty within the almond shape symbolising new life.

Below that you can see the heads of a man and a woman watching your entrance, perhaps noting your piety. Down the sides of the door are carvings - the ones on the left show the zodiac, and on the right the labours of all of the months.

The far left depicts the signs of the zodiac

The far right depicts the labours of those months

The whole interior of the cathedral would have been painted, but during the Reformation it was felt that the painting was too ostentatious, so it was painted over in a plain colour. The Victorians, in a wonderful attempt to restore the cathedral’s original glory took the paint off, but sadly that took off most of the medieval paint as well. Tiny bits of paint remain to tell us how it would have been:

Note the red and green striping on the arch

There is also an amazing medieval painting of the martyrdom of St Edmund by the Vikings in 870:

The martyrdom of St Edmund

These amazing angels are medieval carvings flying out of the join of the wall and ceiling of the north and south transcripts. The painting, though most likely as they would have been painted, is Victorian as is the ceiling.

Of the amusing things in the cathedral are two tombs, those of Oliver Cromwell’s relatives. Oliver Cromwell, who had, along with his rump parliament, Charles I murdered, and established the Commonwealth of England. A very puritanical movement, the high decoration in cathedrals, already lessened by Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries when they destroyed the Catholic statues leaving holes where statues used to be, or partial bodies of saints, was stripped even further. As Ely Catherdral was his parish church where he had always attended services, he left it relatively unscathed, including the garish tombs.

A relative of Oliver Cromwell

The Lady Chapel, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is exceptional. It’s walls are decorated with the story of Mary’s life as recorded in various apocryphal gospels. Although defaced by the Reformation, it is still stunning. One of my favourite bits of carving is the Green Man just sticking his head out of the greenery.

The Green Man. Notice the heads of the statues - they are not there!

After a couple of hours exploring and taking photos I went back into the Refectory for a delicious lunch of a cheese and chutney sandwich, a green salad, crisps that I actually liked (I am not fond of potato chips), and a pot of tea. Refreshed, I chose a seat in the rear of the nave and sketched the central arch. Without a lot of time, my somewhat limited sketching skills are not worth in of posting!

Back again in Beck Row Karen and I went to the Jude’s Ferry pub for dinner. Roast lamb, mint mash, carrots and the obligatory half pint of cider later we were back in her flat decompressing from the day. I got little sleep, thinking about the next morning’s coach ride back to Heathrow to pick up Glenn for our partial week in London. That adventure will wait for another blog entry!