Ely Cathedral

Location: Ely, Cambridgeshire

Map

Website: http://www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org/

Opening Information: see website

History:

Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity and St. Etheldreda. Also known as the ship of the Fens. A monastery was formed at Ely in 673 by Etheldreda, a Saxon princess. Hereward the Wake made his last stand here against the Norman invaders. The Cathedral building work started in 1083 and was finished by 1189. Ely became a Cathedral in 1109. In 1322 the Norman tower collapsed and was replaced by the Lantern Tower.

Priors:

1299 Robert de Orford

1303 William de Clare

1303 John de Fressingfield

1321 John de Crauden

1341 Alan de Walsingham

1364 William Hathfield

1366 John Bucton

1397 William Walpole

Bishops:

1299 Ralph Walpole

1303 Robert Orford

1310 John Ketton

1316 John Hotham

1337 Simon Montacute

1345 Thomas de Lisle

1362 Simon Langham

1367 John Barnet

1374 Thomas Arundel

1388 John Fordham

Effigies: No 14th Century effigies

Brasses: No 14th Century brasses

Tombs:

Tomb of John Hotham, Bishop of Ely 1316-1337 Chancellor of England. Served under Edward I in France and Scotland. Together with Prior John de Crauden and Prior Alan of Walsingham they were responsible for buildng of the Octagon. Bishop Hotham also paid for the rebuilding of the choir costing £2,034 12s 8 3/4d.

Canopy originally standing above the tomb of Bishop John Hotham.

Tomb of John Barnet, Bishop of Ely 1367-1373.

Lady Chapel decoration, the Lady Chapel was started in 1321 and completed in 1349. Most of the images were destroyed in the reformation of Henry VIII.

14th Century floor tiles, thought to date from the 1320's.

Interior of Ely Cathedral