England: Week 4 - Ely

Wednesday, July 21 was a busy and fun day for us. Our destinations included Ely Cathedral and Oxbourgh House. 

I fell in love with Ely. The history in this building is incredible. It all started back in 600ce. I loved learning about the different people who had control of this land and what they did with it. Originally it was a place of worship for the pagan saint Etheldreda in the 600s. She was married to an old guy who died before their marriage was consummated. Her second marriage was to a young man of 15 (herself being about 30). They decided that she could stay a virgin as was her wish. Eventually that was not enough for her new husband and she ran away to the monastery. That monastery became a place of worship and continued to be so until the Normas came in 1066. They saw this place as a chance to show their power and control. They built most of the current cathedral to intimidate the local anglo-saxons. 

There are many other stories about this place including how the center fell and would have killed the monks worshipping under it had they not left moments before. The cathedral was then redone to be bigger and better. A great masterpiece.

The front door :)

Looking down towards the center and alter.

We took a tour of the building which included the Octagon tower (shown above). We started at the bottom and learned of the fall of the original and the rebuilding of this great tower. We kept going up and up the building which was FANTASTIC! We learned of the structure of the tower and tools used to make it.

Looking down from the angels (which open as windows)

From the outside. The stained glass. And our tour guide (he wrote a book all about the building and it is for sale in the book shop). He was pointing to a ladder that went up to the very very top (this wasn't part of the tour).

Going down the stairs. I have never seen such tiny stairs anywhere!!! Tiny and steep.

The outside before we went in.

Dad coming out of the itty bitty doorway. There were some spots that dad really had to squeeze through. 

I LOVED ELY and really want to go back and see it again and tour the other tower!