Just up the road from Cambridge is Ely... a medieval town sitting in the middle of the Fenn... an area of swamp that has now been drained and is very fertile agricultural country. People flock to Ely to see its gigantic Cathedral... its length is 163 metres long... 66 metres high... if you measure a cathedral by the length of its roof... Ely Cathedral is the biggest in Western Europe... it's huge... huge! Ely, on the other hand, has never distinguished itself as a town justifying a big church... let alone a huge Cathedral.
We were keen to find out how a sleepy country town acquired the biggest Cathedral in Western Europe... so we altered our itinerary so that we could take the 2 pm guided tour of the Cathedral. To fill in time, we visited the home of Oliver Cromwell... and listened to an audio guide tell us how nice a guy Oliver really was. Apparently, he does not have to take sole responsibility for banning Christmas... it was Parliament who did it... the audio-guide forgot to mention that Oliver had absolute control of Parliament at the time. The audio-guide failed to list the long list of national monuments Oliver had flattened... just in case they became royalist strongholds some time in the future. It forgot to mention that when Oliver heard a sermon he didn't like... preached in the Cathedral not a stone's throw from his home... he grabbed the keys from the Abbott and didn't give them back for 15 years... the Cathedral ceased to function for this time. But other than these slight defects of personality, apparently, Oliver was a lovely man.
Even in Cromwell's period... Ely Cathedral had luck on its side. If Oliver didn't have the keys to the Cathedral in his pocket, he may well have demolished Ely Cathedral... after the civil war... in the same fashion used with hundreds of other buildings of historic significance.
But let's start at the beginning in 673. The site of the Cathedral first came to prominence when Etheldreda (let's call her Ethel) left her second husband to set up a convent. Ethel was dead-keen on being a nun... she was of royal blood and was forced into a political marriage... not once ... but twice. She showed her interest in spiritual matters when she insisted... with both marriages... that the nuptial agreements must include the condition that she remain a virgin throughout the marriage... an unusual condition of marriage... don't you think? Throughout the years, Pilgrims flocked to the site... because Ethel and her three sisters all turned out to be saints... what are the odds on that? Ethel clocked up two miracles... she shoved her hiking sick into the ground and it grew into a tree... and she fled pursuing villains... took shelter on an island off the coast... and was saved by the rising tide blocking the path of the villains... and the tide remained full continuously for three days. This standard of miracle making looks a little weak compared to the gruelling process our Mary MacKillop had to endure to gain her sainthood.
This giant Cathedral was built at the direction of William the Conqueror. Ely was a supporter of Harold... and continued to be a thorn in the side of William for 6 years after the Battle of Hastings. The Fenn... with its myriad of swamps and complicated pathways... provided protection for Ely militia. When William finally conquered the troublesome town... he wanted to make a political statement. He told his builders to erect a cathedral that could be seem for miles around... just to remind the locals of his awesome power. William had used similar tactics at many other locations. At the time Ely Cathedral was being built, William had 50 other significant constructions under process. He imported his Belgium builders who put the locals to work. Labour was free... so the cost of construction was not so daunting.
I find it interesting that architectural skills in 1076 could construct a building of such magnitude. In the 14th century, the central tower collapsed... it had used wood to bear the weight of the tower... and the quality of the wood deteriorated. The church had plenty of wealth... and quickly replaced the tower... another construction with wooden weight bearing supports. This tower has stayed up... so far. I just hope the maintenance crew are keeping an eye on the condition of the wooden supports.
The biggest test for Ely Cathedral came with the Reformation... when Henry VIII separated the Church of England from Rome's Catholic Church. He seized (illegally) large tracts of church property... England had a network of cathedrals and abbeys that carried the culture and history of the nation. He demolished most of these buildings and used some of the stone to construct some royal palaces... but with many sites, invited the local peasants to use the stone to improve their houses. In those religious buildings that he did not demolish, he demanded that bishops/abbots take off the head of every statue. This was to ensure that the worship of saints ceased... and that the power of the clergy was reduced. If the sculpture included the depiction of elves or goblins... that was OK... their carvings remain undamaged. Ely Cathedral escaped with just the removal of all human images... perhaps because the bishop had a high profile in European politics. Many of the support buildings for the Abbey were destroyed... but the Cathedral remained intact.
This site must be visited if you have an interest in English history prior to Henry VIII... the Cathedral contains so much medieval history. It is the only UK building to be listed as one of the 'wonders of the medieval world'.
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