Ely 
 Cathedral 
 
 ilifornia 
 
 lonal 
 
 ility 
 
 The Rev. Canon 
 Dickson 
 
 p ted b Y 
 
 ' * iderAnsted
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 MISS PEARL CHASE 

 
 UCSB LIBRARY
 
 Ely 
 Cathedral
 
 Ely 
 Cathedral 
 
 <By 
 
 The Rev. W. E. 
 
 Dickson, M.A. 
 
 Hon. Canon of Ely 
 
 Illustrated by 
 Alexander Ansted 
 
 London : Isbister & Co. Ltd. 
 
 15 f? 1 6 Tavistock Street Covent Garden 
 
 MDCCCXCVII
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 " T T IGH ^ r * * n Low Countries " was the 
 title of a lecture delivered some 
 years ago by a distinguished Dean 
 of Ely in one of the principal towns of the 
 East Anglian Fenland. He had no lack 
 of architectural illustrations of his subject, 
 familiar to his audience. Besides his own 
 grand church, with its grand sister-churches 
 of Lincoln and Peterborough, the Fen dis- 
 trict supplied him with a surprising number 
 of examples of high art as applied to ecclesi- 
 astical buildings ; and many parish churches 
 may have been cited by him in the course of 
 his address, as proofs of the existence, in the 
 9
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 Middle Ages, of a very high degree of artistic 
 excellence in the architects who devised 
 them, and in the workmen who carried out 
 the plans and executed the delicate and 
 exquisite details which have happily been in 
 many cases preserved to our own day. 
 
 The special wealth of the Fen country in 
 churches of the highest class, some of them 
 almost cathedral-like in dimension, far ex- 
 ceeding the needs of the sparse agricultural 
 population now around them, must impress 
 us with something like astonishment, when 
 we remember that building materials, whether 
 stone or timber, were necessarily brought 
 from less watery districts. In the course of 
 some drainage operations in Lincolnshire 
 many years ago, an ancient barge was dis- 
 covered laden with blocks of stone. Its 
 timbers were black with age and long 
 immersion, like the well-known "Fen oak," 
 and there can be no doubt that it had been 
 accidentally sunk in the "learn" or water- 
 course, dug, perhaps, for the express purpose 
 
 10
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 of conveying heavy materials by water- 
 carriage to one of the churches or abbeys 
 in course of construction five or six cen- 
 turies ago. The Fabric-rolls of Ely Cathedral 
 bear testimony to the determination and 
 perseverance with which our forefathers 
 encountered the difficulties presented by 
 remote position and marshy subsoil ; and 
 it is on record that an illustrious Ely archi- 
 tect of the fourteenth century, after finding 
 in a neighbouring county some oak timber 
 trees of a scantling large enough for his 
 needs, had to wait for their delivery at Ely 
 until a road or causeway specially made 
 across the marshes had become sufficiently 
 consolidated to bear the weight of the 
 trucks. 
 
 It is in the recollection of these diffi- 
 culties, overcome with such marvellous 
 energy, courage, and skill, that we would 
 invite our friends to accompany us in a 
 visit to Ely, Our appreciation of the great 
 church will be enhanced if we associate
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 with it, as we go on, the names of some 
 of those who patiently raised the massive 
 walls of hewn stones brought from distant 
 quarries with infinite pains and labour. 
 We shall try to connect the several epochs 
 marked by architectural changes with the 
 men and manners of the times ; for it is 
 only thus that we can read the history of 
 past ages written in edifices founded by 
 the first Norman abbots and bishops, and 
 carried on through some four or more 
 centuries by a long line of successors until 
 the Reformation. 
 
 Distant views of the Cathedral, looming in 
 the hazy distance like some huge vessel at 
 sea, are gained from low eminences near 
 Cambridge, from Newmarket Heath, and 
 from various points on the roads from those 
 places. But we shall doubtless arrive by 
 railway, and on leaving the train, and emerg- 
 ing from the station, we cannot fail to be 
 struck by the picture before us. Lincoln on 
 its hill, Durham on its rocky cliff, may have 
 12
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 positions more imposing, but Ely has a 
 charm of its own, rising, as it does, above 
 masses of foliage, with humble low-roofed 
 dwellings in the foreground, nestling amid 
 gardens and orchards, and sheltered by 
 timber trees. The vast church presides and 
 dominates over the houses of the citizens, 
 and dwarfs into insignificance the parish 
 church with its spire, hard by, though this 
 is of fair dimensions and altitude. Lord 
 Macaulay was wont to say that a visit to Ely 
 was a " step into the Middle Ages " : pro- 
 bably he meant by this remark that the idea 
 of the old ecclesiastical and monastic supre- 
 macy was irresistibly forced upon him by the 
 contrast between the huge abbey-church 
 and its secular surroundings. Ely has never 
 expanded beyond the rank of a small market- 
 town or large agricultural village, and this 
 character is abundantly evident as we gaze 
 at the view before us, and as we advance on 
 foot towards the summit of the gentle emin- 
 ence crowned by the Cathedral. 
 '5
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 We resist the temptation to turn in at the 
 abbey gate-house, which we find on our right 
 at the top of the hill, and follow the street 
 or lane, flanked by ancient buildings, which 
 brings us opposite to the west front. Step- 
 ping across the open green on the left, we 
 take in the imposing view from its extremity. 
 From this spot, we have on the right the 
 picturesque buildings of the episcopal palace, 
 raised by Bishops Alcock (1486-1500) and 
 Goodrich (1534-1554) ; and on the extreme 
 left, in the background, we see the western 
 gable of the Lady Chapel, which occupies a 
 peculiar and perhaps unique position at Ely, 
 as we shall have occasion to note. But we 
 should not see this gable at all if a lament- 
 able mutilation of the west front had not 
 taken place. The northern arm of the facade, 
 which would have hidden it, has disappeared, 
 we know not when or how : its absence 
 cruelly mars the effect of an elevation which 
 in its complete state must have possessed 
 great dignity and grandeur. We note, too, 
 
 16
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 as we take this first general survey of the 
 scene before us, that a porch of large size 
 and of a later style of architecture breaks 
 the line of the fa9ade. Above it rises the 
 great tower, the production, evidently, of 
 two distinct periods the upper storey, with 
 its corner turrets, being manifestly an after- 
 thought or subsequent addition to the mas- 
 sive structure below. These are first and 
 hasty impressions of the great church which 
 we have come to see, and which we are 
 about to examine in detail. 
 
 As we stroll back across the grass, we may 
 receive a first and hasty impression also of 
 its origin and history, if we mention here 
 that not a stone remains of the buildings 
 erected by the great Saxon princess, Ethel- 
 dreda, who founded the abbey in the year 
 673, and that there is some reason to doubt 
 if they stood upon the site of the present 
 church. Her convent had been destroyed 
 by the Danes in 870, and had been rein- 
 stated, a century later, by Ethelwold, Bishop 
 17
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 of Winchester. Of Ethelwold's church no 
 recognisable vestige remains, and our 
 thoughts must range over another hundred 
 years, until, in 1082, the first stone of the 
 stately structure before us was laid by Simeon, 
 Abbot of Ely, a relative of William the 
 Conqueror. Simeon was ninety years of age, 
 and we learn with pleasure that he lived ten 
 more years to witness the gradual growth of 
 the mighty edifice which he had founded. 
 
 And now we pass through the western 
 porch, erected by Bishop Eustace (1208- 
 1215), without lingering to note its beauty, 
 and stand within the west door, on the 
 threshold of the great church. We have 
 been dealing, thus far, with first impressions, 
 and we may fairly doubt whether any second 
 impression, however well matured, can 
 surpass or equal that which is made by this 
 superb view of the interior, open as it is to 
 us from our standpoint on the doorstep to 
 the distant glass of the eastern lancets. 
 Under favourable effects of light and shade, 
 
 18
 
 The Nave, from the West
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 this interior, with its long nave of a some- 
 what light Norman, the lofty terminal arch 
 opening to a central crossing of most un- 
 wonted spaciousness, the richly carved 
 screen, with its glittering brass gates, and 
 beyond it, again, the graceful vaulting of the 
 choir, and the stained glass of the eastern 
 windows, must be said to have few rivals 
 among the great churches of England or of 
 France. Its unquestionable charm is not 
 by any means entirely, or chiefly, due to its 
 immense length, unbroken by solid screens. 
 We should be disposed to attribute it very 
 largely to the sense of loftiness suggested by 
 the graceful arches, about 85 feet in height 
 from pavement to apex, carrying the eye 
 upwards to the central lantern, from which 
 light streams down through windows 150 
 feet above the floor. This sense of loftiness 
 is promoted by the narrowness of the nave, 
 about 32 feet from pier to pier, the height of 
 the painted ceiling above our heads being 
 86 feet 2 inches. A somewhat light Norman, 
 
 21
 
 -Ely Cathedral 
 
 we have said, characterises this nave, light, 
 that is, compared with the Norman of 
 Durham, and strangely different from the 
 Norman of Gloucester and of Tewkesbury. 
 The great naves of Norwich and of Peter- 
 borough may be instructively compared 
 with it.* 
 
 We note, as we advance along the central 
 alley, that the arches of the triforium are 
 equal in height to those of the lower arcade ; 
 and we must call special attention to this, as 
 it gives a peculiar character to the whole of 
 the subsequent additions to the church. 
 The triforium galleries extend over the aisles, 
 and it is impossible to deny that their roofs 
 of rough timber intrude themselves on the 
 eye in an unwelcome manner. In many 
 foreign examples (we may cite Tournai, 
 Laon, and St. Remi at Reims), these galleries 
 are vaulted. Possibly, too, we may allow 
 ourselves to wish that a stone vault had been 
 
 * See Murray's " Handbook to the Eastern Cathe- 
 drals," p. 65. 
 
 2?
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 placed upon the nave itself, as at Durham. 
 Our English builders seem to have mis- 
 trusted their powers when confronted with 
 the task of covering wide spans with stone 
 roofs. Peterborough retains to this day its 
 interesting but hardly pleasing flat ceiling of 
 wood, with its original decoration. The 
 nave of Ely, as first completed (about 1174, 
 or somewhat earlier), was probably covered 
 in with a similar ceiling. Subsequent events, 
 however, led to the removal of this wooden 
 covering, and it is very possible that a 
 vault may have been contemplated by 
 the architects of the fourteenth century, as 
 at Norwich, where a beautiful example 
 of late vaulting was most successfully 
 executed. They allowed the roof of their 
 nave to remain in a most unfinished con- 
 dition, as if inviting improvements, and it is 
 in the recollection of the present writer that 
 the plain and rough rafters had no kind of 
 adornment, and that the massiveness of the 
 walls appeared to be out of all proportion to 
 23
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 the weight which they had to carry.* This 
 eyesore was removed between the years 1845 
 and 1865 by the introduction of a boarded 
 ceiling of pentagonal section, painted as we 
 now see it by two accomplished amateurs, 
 Mr. Styleman le Strange and Mr. Gambier 
 Parry, who had been schoolfellows at Eton, 
 and had long shared the same artistic tastes, 
 and the same gift of technical skill in 
 draughtsmanship. 
 
 The great specialty of Ely Cathedral, its 
 octagon, is opened before us as we reach the 
 eastern end of the nave. We think it 
 probable that some or many of our readers 
 are aware that it owes its origin to the down- 
 fall of the central tower in the year 1321. 
 The tower, erected by Abbot Simeon's 
 masons, "had long been threatening ruin, 
 and the monks had not ventured for some 
 time to sing their offices in the choir, when, 
 on the eve of St. Ermenild (Feb. 12, O.S.), 
 
 * See the engraving in Winkle's " Cathedrals," 
 vol. ii. 
 
 24
 
 Looking across the Octagon from S.W. Angle
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 as the brethren were returning to their 
 dormitory after attending matins in St. 
 Catherine's Chapel, it fell with a mighty 
 crash."* A similar disaster had befallen 
 Winchester in the year 1107. In our own 
 day, the central tower and spire of Chichester 
 suddenly became a heap of ruins. In both 
 these cases, the re-builders limited them- 
 selves to an exact reproduction of the original 
 fabric. The Abbey of Ely, however, possessed 
 in its Sacrist, Alan of Walsingham, a true 
 artist, who saw his opportunity in the ruin 
 which had overtaken his church, and who 
 availed himself of it to such purpose that 
 we may search Europe without finding a 
 grander example of original design, bold 
 construction, and charming detail than is 
 presented before our eyes in this octagon. 
 Mr. Beresford Hope, indeed, in a very in- 
 teresting passage of his " English Cathedral 
 of the Nineteenth Century," p. 195, thinks 
 that " the octagonal lantern at Ely, though 
 * Murray: "Eastern Cathedrals," p. 191. 
 27
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 unique in England, has parallels (inferior 
 though they be) both at Antwerp and at 
 Milan, two churches, generally speaking, of 
 the fifteenth century, and, by the way, 
 possessing common features of general re- 
 semblance." Mr. Fergusson, however,* holds 
 that "Alan of Walsingham, alone of all the 
 architects of Europe, conceived the idea of 
 getting rid of the tall, narrow opening of the 
 central tower, which, though possessing 
 exaggerated height, gave neither space nor 
 dignity to the principal feature. Accord- 
 ingly, he took for his base the whole width 
 of the church, north and south, including 
 the aisles : then, cutting off the angles of 
 this large square, he obtained an octagon 
 more than three times as large as the square 
 upon which the central tower would have 
 stood." He covered this large area with a 
 vaulting of wood, and on a massive structure, 
 which is a model of masterly carpentering, 
 he raised a lantern of oak, covered with lead. 
 
 * " Handbook of Archaeology," pp. 869, 870. 
 28
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 The central boss of this lantern is 150 feet 
 above the pavement. 
 
 The immense strength of the walls and 
 abutments has led some observers (among 
 them Mr. Fergusson) to the conclusion that 
 Alan intended ultimately to vault his octagon 
 with stone. This may have been the case, 
 but there is certainly nothing temporary or 
 make-shift about the existing structure ; and, 
 as we have seen, we have it on record that 
 infinite pains were taken to procure oak-trees 
 of a size sufficient for the corner-posts of the 
 lantern. However this may have been, there 
 can be no two opinions about the combined 
 grace and grandeur of Alan's work. Per- 
 haps the best point from which to view it is 
 the south-west angle near the door of the 
 verger's vestry. The many lines and levels 
 of piers, windows, and roofs are almost 
 bewildering in their intricacy, and now that 
 colour and gilding have been added to 
 their embellishments, they make up a whole 
 which has been styled by a very competent 
 29
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 judge,* " perhaps the most striking architec- 
 tural view in Europe." " It is unsurpassed 
 in Europe," says another authority,! " in 
 originality of conception as in dignity of 
 design." We will add that it was finished 
 in 1342. The great architect died, Prior 
 of the Abbey, in 1364. The sculptured 
 heads which support the hood-moulding 
 of the north-west arch of the smaller side 
 of the octagon are believed to repre- 
 sent those of Alan and of his master- 
 mason. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the large 
 floor-space gained by Alan's masterly device 
 was valued by him and by his compeers for 
 purposes which we should now call " con- 
 gregational." So far was this from being 
 the case, that he did not scruple to carry 
 across it the long lines of stalls and fittings 
 of his ritual choir, completely cutting it 
 up and sacrificing both its dignity and 
 
 * Mr. R. J. King. See " Murray." 
 t Rev. H. H. Bishop. 
 30
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 utility according to our modern notions.* 
 Our survey of the interior would be im- 
 perfect and superficial if this were overlooked. 
 Ely Cathedral was no exception to the rule 
 observed in other great churches subject 
 to the Benedictine monastic system, which 
 placed the ritual choir in the centre of the 
 church, under the lantern, and crossing the 
 transept, as at Westminster Abbey, at Win- 
 chester and at Norwich, and as re-instated in 
 our own day by Mr. Pearson at Peterborough. 
 The vista from the west end would have been 
 broken, in Alan's time, by a rood-screen, 
 stretched across the nave at the third bay 
 from its eastern extremity. Careful observers 
 may discover, if they please, on the main 
 pier of this bay, on the south side, a small 
 oblique notch left in the masonry, indicating, 
 no doubt, the place of the newel staircase 
 leading up to this rood-loft ; and the pier 
 has evidently been repaired or made good 
 
 * See plan in Browne Willis, vol. iii., published 
 in 1742. 
 
 3 1
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 after the removal of some structure abutting 
 upon it. Profuse traces, moreover, of mural 
 decoration in colour will be noticed on these 
 arches, and on the vaulting of the adjacent 
 aisles. It is believed that on the western 
 side of this rood-screen stood a parish altar, 
 with side-altars, for the use of the inhabitants 
 of the city as distinguished from the brethren 
 of the abbey. Of this, however, we are un- 
 able to adduce any direct proof. The arch 
 of the triforium in this bay, on the north side, 
 has been much cut away and widened, as if 
 to admit some bulky object. This was pro- 
 bably one of the " pairs of organs," of which 
 the abbey possessed three.* After the Re- 
 formation, the organ probably took the place 
 of the rood, or crucifix, in the centre of the 
 screen, as now at York, Lincoln, Exeter, and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The Cathedral of to-day, solid and stable 
 
 * Among the fabric rolls, there is a very curious 
 account of the cost of one of these organs built in 
 1396. 
 
 3 2
 
 North Aisle of Choir and Staircase to Organ-Loft
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 as when it was built, is not the cathedral of the 
 Middle Ages as regards its internal arrange- 
 ments. The ritual choir was removed so 
 recently as 1770, by James Essex of Cam- 
 bridge, to the six bays of the Presbytery, the 
 altar being placed against the east wall of the 
 church ; the organ, on a screen of his design, 
 interrupting the view of the eastern windows. 
 In this condition the present writer well 
 remembers the church. The existing ar- 
 rangement was made by Sir G. Scott in the 
 course of the great alterations under Dean 
 Peacock. 
 
 Proceeding to the east end, and passing 
 along the north aisle of the choir, behind 
 the stalls, we may note the pretty newel 
 staircase leading up to the organ-loft. This 
 is modern, and is imitated from a well-known 
 example at the church of St. Maclou at Rouen. 
 We turn into the Presbytery, passing through 
 the canopied monument of Bishop Red- 
 mayne, with its little altar at the good 
 bishop's feet, and place ourselves at the foot 
 35 c
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 of the steps, looking west. The view of the 
 whole church from this point is hardly less 
 impressive than that which is gained from 
 the western threshold. Let us try to ex- 
 plain clearly the history of the Cathedral 
 as written in the arches, piers, windows, 
 and vaults which are around and above 
 us. The central tower, we have seen, 
 fell in 1321, and its fall ruined the Norman 
 choir, which had four bays, and was termi- 
 nated by an eastern apse. But a century 
 previous to this downfall, Bishop Hugh of 
 Northwold (1229-1254) had removed the 
 apse, and had extended or lengthened the 
 Norman choir by six bays of most admirable 
 design in the style of his period, the Early 
 English or First Pointed, which had then 
 superseded the Norman. About 1250, there- 
 fore, we should picture to ourselves a great 
 Norman church, with an addition of six 
 eastern bays in the new style, and with a 
 lofty porch of two bays in the same style at 
 the west end. Two styles, thus far, there- 
 36
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 fore, were nobly represented. But the tower 
 fell eastward, utterly wrecking the Norman 
 choir, and a third style, the Decorated or 
 Edwardian, makes its appearance as a matter 
 of course. Alan of Walsingham joined his 
 Octagon to Northwold's Presbytery or retro- 
 choir by three bays of lovely design and 
 most elaborate workmanship, executed be- 
 tween the years 1345 and 1362. In these 
 three exquisite bays the stalls, also designed 
 by him, are now arranged, and a modern 
 screen of oak, with brass grilles and gates, 
 not unworthy of association with the old 
 woodwork, closes in the ritual choir, thus 
 adapted in our own day to modern needs by 
 the ze'al, energy, and skill of George Peacock, 
 dean, and George Gilbert Scott, architect, 
 between the years 1845 and 1858. 
 
 At Lincoln, at Salisbury, at Amiens, at 
 Chartres, at Reims, Wells, or Exeter, we 
 have complete artistic conceptions, carried 
 out for the most part in one style, and 
 owing their incomparable grace and beauty 
 37
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 to the general consistency of all their parts. 
 At Ely, on the contrary, we have grace and 
 beauty equally admirable, derived from quite 
 a different source, namely, from comparison 
 and even contrast between the several por- 
 tions of the church ; and happily the three 
 styles may here be studied, each in a pre- 
 sentment of the highest order of excellence. 
 The Presbytery is deemed by very competent 
 judges to be absolutely perfect as well in its 
 design as in its details. Mr. Beresford Hope 
 says of it,* "Salisbury Cathedral is usually 
 regarded as the typal church in England of 
 the Lancet style .... but .... I should 
 place the eastern portion of Ely Cathedral 
 on a much higher level of beauty." We 
 marvel as we reflect upon the amount of 
 patient labour which must have been be- 
 stowed upon those clustered columns of 
 Purbeck marble, now cleaned, repaired, 
 and re-polished, boldly carved as to their 
 capitals with profuse masses of foliage, and 
 
 * " English Cathedral of the igth Century," p. 36. 
 38
 
 View of Walsingham's Choir, as seen from 
 the North Aisle
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 having the well-known curious ornament 
 called the " dog-tooth " between the deep 
 mouldings of the arches. The long corbels, 
 or ails-dc-latnpe, which carry the vaulting- 
 shafts, should be particularly noticed. 
 
 The beautiful vaulting itself is noticed by 
 the accomplished French architect, Viollet 
 le Due, who gives an exquisite drawing of 
 part of it in his great work on the archi- 
 tecture of his country.* Alan's bays afford 
 a very early example, possibly the earliest in 
 England on a large scale, of the lierne f vault. 
 The comparison, or contrast, with the plainer 
 vaulting, without liernes, of Northwold's 
 time, close by, is interesting ; and we may 
 note here that in the aisles of the choir the 
 gradual development of the English style of 
 vaulting is very apparent. The vaults of the 
 
 * " Diet. Rais. de 1'Architecture Franchise," torn, 
 iv. p. 1 19. 
 
 t Liernes are short ribs inserted between bosses 
 on the main vaulting ribs. The term is borrowed 
 from carpentry.
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 aisles have no central rib ; the central vault 
 has it, to the great improvement of the 
 effect ; the more complicated liernes follow 
 in Alan's work. While we are on the subject 
 of vaulting, it may be well to complete our 
 study of it by visiting the two chantries of 
 Bishops Alcock and West, at the eastern 
 extremities of the north and south aisles 
 respectively. English vaulting may be said 
 to have "run wild" in the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries, as we see it on a magni- 
 ficent scale at King's College Chapel in 
 Cambridge, Henry VII.'s at Westminster, 
 St. George's, Windsor ; and Christ Church, 
 Oxford. Ely has its example of the fan 
 vault, with pendant boss, in the chantry of 
 Bishop Alcock (1486-1501). The mass of 
 rich tabernacle work cut in the easily 
 wrought material called " clunch," produces 
 a marvellous effect, but will not bear com- 
 parison with the refined work of the earlier 
 periods. The bishop's tomb, parted off by a 
 screen a chantry within a chantry should 
 4 2
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 be particularly noticed. The old altar re- 
 mains in situ, a still older slab being let into 
 the wall above. Bishop West's chantry, 
 opposite (1515-1534), lined with niches now 
 empty, and perhaps never filled, shows the 
 influence of the approaching Renaissance in 
 its panelled vault, having deeply moulded 
 ribs with pendant bosses. 
 
 Turning to take a last look at this most 
 charming interior, ere we leave it by its 
 brass gates, we may ask ourselves if the 
 peculiarly English feature of one vast window, 
 filling the whole eastern wall, as at York, 
 Gloucester, or Carlisle, could be more im- 
 pressive than the three great lancets before 
 our eyes, with the five above them, worked 
 so ingeniously into the curve of the vault. 
 We may venture to wish, however, that the 
 apse had found greater favour in the eyes 
 of our architects. In France it is nearly 
 universal, and gives opportunities for the 
 exercise of constructive skill and artistic 
 beauty of the highest order. One great 
 
 43
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 French cathedral is a notable exception 
 that of Laon. Its square eastern end, with 
 three vast lancets, will forcibly remind 
 travellers from Ely of their own church in 
 the Fens. 
 
 Bishop Northwold might well be proud 
 of his work, and at the dedication feast 
 (September 1252) he entertained magnifi- 
 cently King Henry III., his son the young 
 Prince Edward, then about thirteen years 
 of age, and a great number of nobles and 
 prelates. The menu, or bill of fare, of some 
 of the great feasts has come down to us. 
 Fish and game figure largely among the 
 dishes served up by the cooks of the Lord 
 Bishop, assisted, no doubt, by those of the 
 Lord Prior, w r hose establishment was on a 
 sumptuous scale. The king and his son, 
 arriving, no doubt, on horseback, though pos- 
 sibly by state-barge on the river, and attended 
 by a train of knights and esquires, were met 
 by the great churchmen with their swarm of 
 attendants, and were escorted to their 
 
 44
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 quarters in the palace and abbey amid 
 crowds of the citizens and villagers from 
 all the country round. Such pageants 
 any pageants were rare in quiet Ely, and 
 it was fortunate for the purses of the 
 abbot-bishops and priors that it was so, 
 for the cost must have been enormous. 
 The shrines of the sainted abbesses, Ethel- 
 dreda, her sister Sexburga, and her niece 
 Ermenilda, were translated with great pomp 
 into the new building, and two specially 
 rich bosses in the vaulting overhead, larger 
 than the others, are believed to indicate 
 the place of the shrines on the floor 
 below 7 . 
 
 We should be quite inexcusable if we 
 left the Presbytery without calling atten- 
 tion to a feature which distinguishes the 
 Pointed styles at Ely from those styles as 
 presented elsewhere, and from which they 
 possibly derive a great part of their special 
 charm. This feature, stated in two words, 
 is the lofty triforium. "All Englishmen," 
 47
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 says Mr. Hope,* " ought to know the grandeur 
 of these [triforium] galleries at Ely and Peter- 
 borough." Again, "At Ely, the preservation 
 of the triforium throughout the Cathedral is 
 one of its grandest features." f We owe this 
 preservation of the lofty triforium in the 
 eastern portions to the good sense and sound 
 artistic feeling of Bishop Northwold's archi- 
 tect. The Norman choir, like the nave, had 
 a triforial arcade equal, or nearly, in height 
 to the main arcade below. When North- 
 wold pulled down the apse and planned 
 his superb Presbytery as a prolongation of 
 that choir, he followed the Norman lines 
 in the Early English work ; and in his 
 lower arcade, his triforium, and his cleres- 
 tory, he copied the relative dimensions 
 which his predecessors had laid down. 
 Thus the Early English of Ely is an Early 
 English built on Norman lines ; a style 
 peculiar to this Cathedral, and dissimilar, in 
 this important respect, to the Early English 
 
 * Page 217. f Page 215. 
 
 48
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 of Salisbury, of Lincoln, of Westminster, or 
 of Wells. 
 
 That true artist, Alan, was not the man to 
 despise the example thus set before him. 
 Bold' innovator and original thinker as he 
 had proved himself to be by his octagon, he 
 followed with implicit obedience the lines 
 drawn by the rude Norman masons, and 
 repeated by Northwold's men ; and when 
 the ruins of the choir had been cleared away 
 he built his three exquisite decorated bays 
 in strict alignment with the six bays of the 
 Presbytery, only employing the more ornate 
 and luscious, but less vigorous, style which 
 belonged to his day. The foundations of the 
 Norman apse, we will only add, exist under 
 the pavement of the Presbytery ; and two 
 tall Norman piers of wide-jointed masonry, 
 which flanked the apse, were allowed to 
 remain, and must be noticed by even a 
 cursory observer, dividing, as they do, the 
 work of Walsingham from that of North- 
 wold. 
 
 49
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 A door in the north-east corner of the 
 transept leads us into the Lady Chapel. 
 Those who enter it for the first time will 
 probably be astonished by the exuber- 
 ance of its ornamentation, surrounded, 
 as it is, by sedilia or stone stalls of most 
 elaborate design, profusely adorned with 
 sculpture of a very high order of refinement 
 and beauty. The statuettes throughout the 
 chapel are, alas ! headless, having been de- 
 faced by order of the Protector Somerset 
 in 1547. It is vain to hope for the complete 
 restoration of this gem of the Decorated 
 period, begun in 1321, just before the fall 
 of the tower, and continued, with energy 
 and perseverance characteristic of the times, 
 during twenty-eight busy and anxious years 
 marked by vast and costly works. Since the 
 Reformation it has been used as the church 
 of the parish of the Holy Trinity in Ely, and 
 we may rejoice that it is thus utilised, trusting 
 that the days of apathy and negligence are 
 quite gone by, in which the disfigurement of 
 5
 
 The Lady Chapel, Ely
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 such a building by high pews and wretched 
 benches could be approved or tolerated. 
 
 We pass into the open air at the corner of 
 the transept, and, turning to our right, 
 saunter round to the east end. Again, now, 
 from the outside, we admire the great lancets. 
 The three which appear in the gable give 
 light to the attic above the vaults. The 
 path leads us to an open space in which the 
 Chapter House once stood, and as we round 
 the corner of the wall on the left, we see, 
 perhaps not without surprise, a series of 
 Norman arches, adorned with the zigzag 
 moulding, and in good preservation, though 
 now partially embedded in thewalls of modern 
 dwelling-houses. This church-like arcade 
 belonged to the infirmary, oj hospital, which 
 in all great monastic establishments was 
 located near or close to the church itself. 
 But it had its own chapel, which here retains 
 its vaulted roof, and serves as the library of 
 one of the prebendal residences. Nearly 
 opposite, on our right as we face the south, 
 53
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 is the Guest Hall, converted at the Dissolu- 
 tion, or soon after, into a deanery, and much 
 modernised. Adjoining it was the house of 
 the prior, with the very charming chapel or 
 oratory built by John Crauden, and probably 
 designed by Alan of Walsingham. The 
 " low windows " of this beautiful little build- 
 ing, one on each side, have long perplexed 
 antiquaries. In ordinary cases, such win- 
 dows are supposed to have been inserted for 
 the use of lepers, who, though excluded from 
 the sanctuary, might witness the sacred 
 mysteries from outside. But these windows 
 are some ten or twelve feet from the ground, 
 the chapel being built on a lofty crypt. 
 Besides, care for lepers could have no place 
 in designing a private oratory for the prior, 
 within the precincts of his monastery. They 
 must be considered a freak of fancy of the 
 illustrious Prior Crauden and his friend the 
 great architect. The chapel is abundantly 
 lighted without them by six tall and graceful 
 windows. A curious pavement, representing 
 54
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 the Temptation of Adam and Eve, remains 
 undisturbed. The " lioncelles " of the Plan- 
 tagenets are conspicuous among the heraldic 
 ornamentation. 
 
 Most of the buildings round us belong to 
 collegiate houses, altered from the old build- 
 ings of the abbey, or occupying their sites. 
 
 The abbey ! The very word seems obso- 
 lete, as we hear the merry laughter of little 
 children playing in the gardens of these 
 houses. The grand old Churchmen, with 
 their architects and masons, had their day ; 
 right well they played their part ; their noble 
 works form their indestructible memorial ; 
 but the time came when other men, with 
 other manners, were to fill their places. 
 
 The great change, the dissolution of the 
 monastery in 1531, fell gently upon Ely. 
 The revenues of the suppressed abbey were 
 given by Henry VIII. and his advisers to a 
 new corporate body, no longer bound by 
 monastic vows ; to a " Dean and Chapter," 
 as it was then styled, and as it has been 
 57
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 styled ever since that day. The last prior 
 became the first dean ; of the first eight 
 canons, three had been senior monks ; eight 
 minor canons, eight lay-clerks or singing- 
 men, two schoolmasters, an organist and 
 singing-master, with servitors of various 
 degrees, were supplied from the ranks of the 
 junior and subordinate members of the 
 abbey. To the citizens generally, the change 
 must have been little more than nominal. 
 No doubt the tenants on the abbey lands 
 brought in their rents as they had ever done ; 
 it is believed, however, that the revenues had 
 been much diminished by various causes ; 
 the state and dignity kept up by the old 
 priors had long given place to more modest 
 housekeeping. At the 'time of the Dissolu- 
 tion, the number of monks in residence 
 within the precincts had fallen from seventy 
 to fourteen, according to the estimate of 
 some authorities. But the estates were suffi- 
 cient to furnish adequate stipends for the 
 working staff of the new collegiate establish- 
 5*
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 ment, and before the close of the sixteenth 
 century the relations between "town" and 
 " college " must have been adjusted nearly as 
 in our own day. 
 
 But the reverent care bestowed upon the 
 great church had come to an end. Bishop 
 Goodrich, the last episcopal Lord Chancel- 
 lor, a zealous promoter of the Reformation, 
 carried out ruthlessly the injunctions of the 
 Privy Council, which ordered that "from 
 wall and window every picture, every image 
 commemorative of saint or prophet or 
 apostle shall be extirpated and put away, so 
 that there shall remain no memory of the 
 same." Happily the order was not always 
 perfectly obeyed. ' The iconoclasts seem to 
 have strangely missed, for instance, a most 
 curious and interesting series of eight groups 
 of sculpture, forming the corbels or bases of 
 large niches adorning the eight main piers of 
 the octagon. To this day, these bas-reliefs 
 relate the legendary history of Queen Ethel- 
 dreda to all who choose to read it. 
 59
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 Treated with consideration by Henry, Ely 
 was fortunate indeed in receiving gentle 
 treatment from Oliver Cromwell. The 
 potent Protector had a soft corner in his 
 stern and hard heart for the old city and its 
 Cathedral, for he had resided for some years 
 in Ely, in a house known until recently as 
 the "Cromwell Arms," and is said to have 
 acted as a bailiff, or collector of rents, in 
 early life, for the Dean and Chapter. There 
 was no stabling of horses in the nave, or 
 other gross profanation of the sacred building, 
 as in many of the cathedrals. But the daily 
 prayers were suspended in 1643-44, an< ^ ^ * s 
 probable that full choral service was not 
 resumed until 1682, when a zealous and able 
 musician, James Hawkins, was organist. 
 
 The See of Ely was filled, after this sad 
 time, by a succession of learned and godly 
 men ; the Dean's stall was occupied by great 
 scholars from the neighbouring university ; 
 but the fabric of the church, on which 
 Northwold and Alan, Hotham, Crauden, 
 60
 
 The Prior's Door
 
 Ely Cathedral 
 
 Montacute, had lavished such loving care, 
 was utterly neglected. Defoe, in his "Tour 
 through the Islands of Great Britain," pub- 
 lished early in the eighteenth century, speaks 
 of the Cathedral as evidently tottering to its 
 fall, and likely in a very few years to become 
 a total ruin. 
 
 This fate, however, was averted by the 
 timely exertions of Bishop Mawson (1754- 
 1770) and of Dean Allix (1730-1758) ; they 
 called in the aid of James Essex, an ingenious 
 and skilful builder or architect of Cambridge, 
 under whose direction the most pressing and 
 necessary repairs were ably carried out. 
 And now, when we attend the daily service 
 in Alan's choir, or when we join the large 
 congregation which assembles thrice on each 
 Sunday, under the vault of his octagon, we 
 may well be thankful that we have fallen 
 upon days when loving care and generous 
 gifts are once more lavished upon the church 
 of Etheldreda,
 
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 ISBISTER & Co. Ltd., Covent Garden, London.
 
 Episcopal palaces of n0lanb. 
 
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