Ely's choir was originally Early Norman, and terminated in an apse.
Unfortunately this Norman apse was destroyed. In restoration the
church was extended eastward by six more arches under the guidance of
Bishop Northwold, about the middle of the thirteenth century. His
addition is Early English. The carving is very rich and elaborate.
While Bishop Hotham was engaged upon the building of the Lady Chapel,
the Norman tower erected by Abbot Simeon tumbled down in 1321. Hotham
immediately replaced it by an enlarged octagonal substitution. On it he
placed a lofty lantern of wood, a rich ornament and in good keeping with
the rest of the holy edifice. Though this prelate deserves every
recognition, yet we are much more indebted to Alan of Walsingham, who
designed the Lady Chapel and the octagonal tower and lantern so ably
carried out by Hotham. Alan had also made his influence felt in the
choir-bays of this same cathedral, where he has so cleverly preserved
and combined the old Early English elegance of proportion with richness
of detail. Under the superintendence of Sir G. B. Scott the fabric has
been extensively restored.
Attached to the Cathedral is the church of Holy Trinity; it was formerly
the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral. It was commenced in the reign of
Edward II., and is one of the most perfect buildings of that age.
Another handsome church is that dedicated to St. Mary, and is partly
Norman and partly Early English in character.
At the Grammar School, founded by Henry VIII., Jeremiah Bentham, the
celebrated political writer, received the rudiments of his education.
The Sessions House, the new Corn Exchange, and Mechanics' Institute are
other notable features of Ely.
An historic relic, now preserved at Trinity College, Cambridge, is the
"Ely Book." It cannot be passed over without a word. On a page are
portrayed Ethelwold and King Edgar, but its chief importance is the
record of instructions received by the commissioners to supply details
and valuation of property for the "Doomsday Book." The inquiries and
answers indicate that England had already been divided up into manors,
and furnish besides a variety of most interesting information.
Another incident in the history of Ely, if not of great importance to
the city, is nevertheless an interesting insight of the respective
position of the Church and State soon after the dissolution.
In the good days of Queen Bess, the Bishop of Ely received a royal
rebuke.
In the great struggle between the Protestants, or anti-papal world, and
the Catholic reaction, there was little leisure for the clergy to air
their grievances. They were compelled to submit to the will of the
Queen and her counsellor Cecil, from whom Archbishop Parker of
Canterbury received his cue for the government of the Church. Though he
enjoyed the personal confidence of Elizabeth beyond any other
ecclesiastic of the time, his complaints were unavailing. The supremacy
of the lay power over the ecclesiastical was too thoroughly accomplished
to allow of the Church to exist apart in the early years of Elizabeth's
reign. The Bishop of Ely, for expressing unwillingness to hand over the
gardens of Ely house to Sir Christopher Hatton, received a
characteristic warning, couched in elegant language, for his temerity.
"By God, I will unfrock you!" was the Queen's gracious answer to the
daring prelate, if he did not mend his ways.
Through the cultivation of its fertile soil by market-gardeners, Ely
offers its produce to the London market.
A considerable factory for earthenware and tobacco-pipes, and numerous
mills for the preparation of oil from flax, hemp, and cole-seed, help to
furnish the trade resources of this historical town, which is situated
on the river Ouse, in Cambridgeshire, and just sixteen miles from the
celebrated University of Cambridge.