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Ely
Ely can be seen from miles around, sitting in flat Fenland with its magnificent Octagonal Tower above. It is known as the “Ship of the Fens.”
We visited on the way back to Yorkshire attending the 8am Communion, having struck camp at 6am!
Arriving at the Cathedral there was an enormous statue on the lawn outside of a man sitting which I thought was odd until I later realised that this was part of an exhibition. We passed through a small door within a huge oak entrance and completely overcome with awe and wonder.
The Nave, we learnt is the third longest of any UK Cathedral, was empty of people and lit by natural light only. Seeking the Communion, we walked its length overwhelmed by a feeling of “Wow” which I know is a pathetic description but amazing!
We took Communion and had the chance to talk to Dean Mark who explained that Ely was hosting a sculpture exhibition called “Am I my brother’s Keeper?” He even allowed the photograph of him with us for an article in the Church Times. If you are asking where Kit is I decided that it was too early for her and left her with Colin.
At the Dean’s suggestion we then toured the Cathedral, visiting the Lady Chapel, which was built in honour of the Virgin Mary, and the largest one in the UK. It has a rather imposing statue of the Madonna at one end which offers a “strong, healthy and powerful image of womanhood” as one reviewer put. The Chapel is light, beautiful and I think has room for three All Saints Kirby Hill Church in it!
No visit to Ely cannot but admire the Octagonal Tower not only for its beauty but engineering skill of its medieval builders. It is all built with mortice and tenant pins and has two hundred tonnes of oak wood and two hundred tonnes of lead in it. In the centre is a carved Christ in majesty. We regretted not having time to do a tower tour.
Around the Cathedral were many sculptures which were incredibly lifelike.
A more permanent exhibition is the, slightly irreverent, signs explaining the many monuments and plaques. Each explains something about the person and then has a quote from scripture to accompany it.
Sir Mark Steward has a very splendid tomb which suggests that he is from Royal Stewart Stock. However, an accompanying plaque says that the genealogy is unverified and that the family name derives from Styward, “keeper of pigs” from Swaffham in Suffolk, and this below.
Proverbs 11:2 People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest.
Bishop Martin Heton, at the time of Elizabeth 1 however had a much kinder plaque which says that he was praised for his good preaching and lavish hospitality, from which “he grew stout”. He insisted that his funeral would be without pomp or show. James 1 said of him “Fat men are wont to make lean sermons: his were not lean but larded with much good learning”.
An interesting concept that I will have to rigorously investigate.
After our self-guided tour, we were still too early to get our passports stamped at the shop, so we met Colin and Kit in the entrance, who was talking to one of the guides. We went for breakfast, leaving Colin and Kit with a tour guide, on our return, enthusing re Medieval craftsmen and how the Octagon was made. We managed to get passports stamped before the local Language School Coach Parties arrived.
It costs £10,000 a day to keep Ely running so they do charge £14 admission and for tower climbs but free for services.