Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ely: A History and Description of the Building with a Short Account of the Monastery and of the SeeSweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ely: A History and Description of the Building with a Short Account of the Monastery and of the See
Sweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
Ely Cathedral
Notwithstanding the ruins, the view of the cathedral from the north-west
is very striking, and in some respects more remarkable than any other
(see p. 2). We have here the only external view of the whole length of
the #North Side Of The Nave#. With the exception of the clerestory
range, and, of course, the north transept, the first impression is not
that of a Norman building. The single broad light of the Norman
clerestory, with its adjacent round-headed lancets in the wall, remains
in each bay unaltered. Above these windows was once a battlement; but
Miller records, in 1834, that it was "removed within the last sixty
years." The aisle battlement remains. The walls of the triforium were
raised, and the Norman windows, both of the aisle and triforium,
altered, in the Perpendicular period, the alterations having been begun
on the south side in 1469. All these windows now have ogee arches, and
are of three lights. The tracery is unimposing. About the middle of the
wall can be distinctly seen the marks of the door and covered way that
led from the cathedral to the Church of S. Cross. This church had been
erected in the early part of the fourteenth century, but (as has been
mentioned, p. 29), was found in 1566 to be too dilapidated for use, and
beyond repair. It was accordingly destroyed, and the lady-chapel
assigned, in lieu of it, to the parishioners for their parish church.
Either the fabric of this church must have been strangely neglected by
its custodians, or it must have been very inferior in merit of
construction to Walsingham's work, which was being erected at the same
time, if it could last no longer than about two hundred and thirty
years. Round the clerestory windows and arcading can be seen the billet
moulding; under the triforium parapet is a corbel table with billets;
below the triforium windows is a string-course consisting of little
double squares with a diagonal (sometimes called the hatched moulding),
a form of ornament not one of the most common. Good examples of it are
to be seen in Westminster Hall. In the sixth bay from the transept is a
tablet with the date 1662. This must be the time when some alterations
were made; but it can neither refer to the raising of the triforium
walls, nor to the building up the wall when the door to the destroyed
church was no longer needed. Between this point and the transepts can be
plainly seen the marks of the original Norman windows over the heads of
the existing Perpendicular ones.
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