About
Ely Cathedral is one of the supreme achievements of English medieval architecture — a vast Norman and Gothic building rising dramatically from the flat Cambridgeshire Fens to dominate the landscape for miles around. Known as the Ship of the Fens for the way its towers and octagon lantern appear to float above the surrounding wetlands, the cathedral combines architectural boldness with a long and extraordinary history reaching back to the seventh century, and today serves as one of the great heritage destinations of eastern England.
The site was first consecrated to God by Æthelthryth (also known as St Audrey or Etheldreda), the daughter of the King of East Anglia, who founded a double monastery here in 673 AD. Æthelthryth's shrine became a major centre of pilgrimage in medieval England, second in importance in East Anglia only to Walsingham, and the miracles attributed to her intercession drove the wealth that built the present cathedral. The Norman church was begun by Bishop Simeon in 1083 — just seventeen years after the Conquest — and the nave, with its three-storey elevation and magnificent painted ceiling, gives an overwhelming impression of Norman ambition and the long centuries of building that followed.
The cathedral's most celebrated feature is the Octagon — the unique medieval lantern tower built between 1322 and 1342 after the original Norman crossing tower collapsed dramatically during a night service. The master mason Alan of Walsingham conceived a revolutionary solution: a vast octagonal space supported by eight stone piers, topped by a wooden lantern tower holding eight enormous oak posts, each weighing over ten tons, that were hauled from forests twenty miles away. The engineering of this lantern — the largest wooden vault of the medieval era — was a triumph of medieval carpentry and has astonished visitors for seven centuries.
The cathedral also contains the finest collection of medieval stained glass in East Anglia, the magnificent Lady Chapel (the largest medieval Lady Chapel in England when built), Prior Crauden's Chapel with its unique thirteenth-century tile floor, and the graves of kings and bishops spanning a thousand years of English history. The Stained Glass Museum, housed in the cathedral triforium, is a separate institution (already in the MuseumsUK database) but is accessed through the cathedral building, making them natural companions in any visit.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Look up when you enter the nave — the Victorian painted ceiling and the view towards the Octagon are extraordinary; take time at the Octagon crossing to appreciate its engineering from below.
- Free guided tours run from the welcome desk at regular intervals — joining a tour significantly enriches the experience and costs nothing extra.
- Book the West Tower climb in advance if visiting in peak summer — the panorama across the Fens is spectacular and the climb takes about an hour.
- Combine your cathedral visit with Ely Museum (a 10-minute walk) and Oliver Cromwell's House (adjacent in the cathedral close) for a comprehensive day in Ely.
- The Stained Glass Museum in the triforium has its own separate admission and is highly recommended — plan to visit on the same day as the cathedral.
- The Almonry Restaurant for lunch is in a medieval building in the cathedral precinct — the food is well above average for a heritage attraction.
- Ely has excellent train connections from London Kings Cross via Cambridge — a day trip is very easy and the approach across the Fens by train is one of the great railway journeys in eastern England.
Highlights
The Octagon Lantern Tower
The crowning achievement of Ely Cathedral and one of the supreme engineering feats of the Middle Ages. When the original Norman crossing tower collapsed in February 1322, the chapter chose a radical solution: instead of rebuilding a conventional square tower, the designer Alan of Walsingham created a vast octagonal space of unprecedented ambition, surmounted by a wooden lantern weighing 400 tons and supported on eight soaring stone piers.
The timber structure — eight oak posts each weighing ten tonnes, brought from Chicksands Priory twenty miles away — rises to a height of 52 metres above the floor.
Standing beneath it and looking up at the painted ceiling and the light flooding through the lantern windows is one of the most sublime architectural experiences in England.
The Norman Nave and Painted Ceiling
The nave of Ely Cathedral stretches for 75 metres — the longest in England after Winchester — in a three-storey Norman elevation of massive grandeur, with arcade, triforium and clerestory marching westward to the great west front. The ceiling above was decorated in the nineteenth century with a remarkable painted scheme by Victorian artists Henry Le Strange and Thomas Gambier Parry, restoring medieval imagery that had been whitewashed over at the Reformation.
The result is a painted ceiling of extraordinary richness depicting Old and New Testament scenes in a palette of deep red, blue and gold that creates an effect both archaeological and theatrical.
The Lady Chapel
Built between 1321 and about 1349, the Lady Chapel is the largest medieval Lady Chapel in England — a detached building to the north-east of the cathedral that demonstrates the Decorated Gothic style at its most inventive. The original stone niches around the walls contained some of the finest figurative sculpture in England, systematically destroyed in the Reformation when iconoclasts attacked images of the Virgin throughout the country.
Traces of the original pigment remain on the carved capitals and in the niches.
Despite the losses, the chapel remains a space of great beauty, its elaborately carved canopy work and sinuous flowing tracery a testament to the ambition of the medieval craftsmen who built it.
St Æthelthryth's Shrine and the Pilgrim Story
The cult of St Æthelthryth (also called Etheldreda or St Audrey), founder of the original monastery in 673 AD, drew pilgrims to Ely for centuries and funded much of the building's construction. Æthelthryth was a princess who became a nun, founding Ely as a double monastery for men and women. She died in 679 AD and her body was found to be miraculously incorrupt when translated in 695 AD — a traditional mark of sanctity.
Her shrine, destroyed at the Reformation, stood in the presbytery east of the choir, and a modern memorial stands in the nave. The pilgrimage story is told in interpretation throughout the cathedral, and the annual Ely Eel Festival continues the medieval tradition of celebrating the fenland food that was once a major source of the cathedral's income.
Collections
Ely Cathedral's collections are inseparable from the building itself — a thousand years of architectural, artistic and devotional accumulation within one of England's greatest medieval structures. The cathedral holds medieval stained glass of national importance, carved stonework from the Norman and Decorated periods, furnishings spanning the medieval to modern periods, a library containing important manuscripts and early printed books, and memorials and monuments to bishops, knights and local worthies from the twelfth century to the present.
The collections are complemented by the adjacent Stained Glass Museum (a separate institution in the triforium) and the nearby Oliver Cromwell's House, making Ely one of the richest small cities in England for the heritage visitor.
The Cathedral Building
Self-guided and guided exploration of the Norman nave, Octagon, Lady Chapel, Prior Crauden's Chapel (on tour), medieval stained glass, and the presbytery with its St Æthelthryth memorial.
Tower Tours
Guided tours climbing the west tower for panoramic views across the Fens — bookable at the welcome desk. Seasonal availability.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.