Cathedral of Ely Cambridgeshire England

Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 672 by St Æthelthryth (also called Etheldreda). The earliest parts of the present building date to 1083, and it was granted cathedral status in 1109. Until the Reformation the cathedral was dedicated to St Etheldreda and St Peter, at which point it was refounded as the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Ely, which covers most of Cambridgeshire and western Norfolk. It is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon.

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Architecturally, Ely Cathedral is outstanding both for its scale and stylistic details. Having been built in a monumental Romanesque style, the galilee porch, lady chapel and choir were rebuilt in an exuberant Decorated Gothic. Its most notable feature is the central octagonal tower, with lantern above, which provides a unique internal space and, along with the West Tower, dominates the surrounding landscape.
The cathedral is a major tourist destination, receiving around 250,000 visitors per year,[1] and sustains a daily pattern of morning and evening services.

Anglo-Saxon abbey
Ely Abbey was founded in 672, by Æthelthryth (St Etheldreda), a daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia. It was a mixed community of men and women. Later accounts suggest her three successor abbesses were also members of the East Anglian Royal family. In later centuries the depredations of Viking raids may have resulted in its destruction, or at least the loss of all records.[4] It is possible that some monks provided a continuity through to its refoundation in 970, under a Benedictine rule.[4] The precise siting of Æthelthryth's original monastery is not known. The presence of her relics, bolstered by the growing body of literature on her life and miracles, was a major driving force in the success of the refounded abbey. The church building of 970 was within or near the nave of the present building, and was progressively demolished from 1102 alongside the construction of the Norman church.[5] The obscure Ermenilda of Ely also became an abbess sometime after her husband, Wulfhere of Mercia, died in 675.

Present-day church
The cathedral is built from stone quarried from Barnack in Northamptonshire (bought from Peterborough Abbey, whose lands included the quarries, for 8,000 eels a year[clarification needed]), with decorative elements carved from Purbeck Marble and local clunch. The plan of the building is cruciform (cross-shaped), with an additional transept at the western end. The total length is 164 metres, and the nave at over 75 m long remains one of the longest in Britain. The west tower is 66 m high. The unique Octagon 'Lantern Tower' is 23 m wide and is 52 m high. Internally, from the floor to the central roof boss the lantern is 43 m high. The cathedral is known locally as "the ship of the Fens", because of its prominent position above the surrounding flat landscape.
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