Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral rises above the flat fenland landscape of Cambridgeshire with the commanding presence of a great ship on a calm sea, its massive Norman nave and the extraordinary fourteenth-century Octagon and lantern tower visible across the fens from remarkable distances. The image of the cathedral floating above the surrounding plain has given rise to the affectionate epithet Ship of the Fens, and the building's exceptional visibility and its architectural achievements combine to make it one of the most important and most rewarding cathedrals in England.
The Norman nave, begun in 1083 under Bishop Simeon, is one of the finest and most complete in England, its length of over 75 metres and the powerful Romanesque arches of its three storeys creating a building of great solemnity and architectural authority. The development of the eastern end in the Early English Gothic style added the elegant retrochoir and presbytery, while the Decorated Gothic Lady Chapel of 1321 to 1349 represents the most elaborate expression of that style in any English cathedral, its wall arcades carved with scenes from the life of the Virgin in a programme of sculptural decoration of exceptional ambition.
The Octagon and lantern tower, designed by Alan of Walsingham to replace the Norman crossing tower that collapsed in 1322, are the supreme architectural achievement at Ely. Rather than simply rebuild the tower in conventional form, Alan created an octagonal space of stone covered by a timber-framed octagonal lantern supported on eight enormous oak posts, combining the structural ingenuity of Gothic vaulting with a central lantern that floods the crossing with natural light from eight windows. The engineering solution was entirely original, has never been precisely replicated and remains one of the great individual achievements of medieval architecture.