To Worship at Ely

This blog is under construction and due to time constraints, I can only post pictures for now.
(No longer true. It cost me "time travel" into the wee hours o' the mornin' but the dirty deed is done!) Which goes against my grain totally -- I want to walk you through my incredible Sabbath rest here in Ely of Cambridgeshire - one delightful step at a time - ...*sigh*
But enjoy the visual side first then. I will definitely add more and perhaps change some, having a mere 137 chronicling shots to choose from! Digital immortalization...wow. Suffice to say - this cathedral stunned me. Check out the video clip at the end of this post for a dramatic audio experience.

We woke on Sunday morning to a slight but persistent drizzle again. Catherine decided it was a perfect morning to sleep in since we would not be leaving for worship till 1:30pm.
The dormitory of Robinson College was built 1981.
I confess, it's NICE to stay in something 30 years old as opposed to 300. Medieval architecture is a wild and wonderful thing to behold but I have no illusion as to the comparative convenience of amenities between our eras and the impact it has on daily life.
The splendour of the Oxford Dining Hall has been usurped by modernism here in Cambridge (a precursor to postmodernism perhaps? :)
Cafeteria style food service did allow me to stow a yogurt and banana up to sleepyhead for breakfast all the same.

Ely Cathedral should be counted as one of the seven wonders of the world. Five coaches left Cambridge to transport about 250 of us o'er hill and dale and since I had forgotten both book and ipod, I determined to simply admire the changing landscape outside my window seat.



The landscape was mile after mile of alternating flat wheat fields and heavily treed sections that were so close to the roadside, it made one want to duck for cover.

Quite suddenly, this mysterious monstrosity loomed large on the horizon and soon, everyone on board was agog & a buzz with it...




I would say, this would be the moment our jaws went slack to the kneecap and we pretty much stayed in that position for the next hour.

Sarah the housemaid here at Robinson offered me this anecdote when she saw what I was working on.
"Wherever you went in the Fen country you had only to look up and see it there, riding the sky like a great ship"
It's noted on the Ely website too...


Thus we roamed and wandered within and without for the next two hours.

{Our call to worship being 4pm, allowing us time for "due process" uhm?.....Not!}


Choir(s) were practising somewhere inside; we were treated to the distinct pleasure of roaming these grounds serenaded by something I can only classify ethereal.

I haven't been on the inside of too many cathedrals in this lifetime but I can say now that I would die a content woman having toured this one!

Words fail me.

The video clip at the end of this post grants you a similar if somewhat "diminished" experience - I thought the tour under the spell of music was the ticket...please enjoy.

What is to be seen beyond the castle walls?

Ely is considered originally to be a Norman castle of the 7th century...
People often ask why such a vast church was built in such a small town.
In fact the Cathedral came first. When it was built Ely was only a small settlement, the town grew up around the Cathedral.
The Benedictine monks only concern was to glorify God, and nothing less than a building on a majestic scale would do.

Understated in the purest sense of the word.

Mind-boggling rings in me ears...

Gargoyles. What hideous beasts, really.

(Do that in your best Brit imitation :)

Many medieval cathedrals included gargoyles and chimarae. The most famous examples are those of Notre Dame de Paris. Although most have grotesque features, the term gargoyle has come to include all types of images. Some gargoyles were depicted as monks, combinations of real animals and people, many of which were humorous. Unusual animal mixtures, or chimeras, did not act as rainspouts and are more properly called grotesques. They serve more as ornamentation, but are now synonymous with gargoyles.

Catherine is convinced the human race was smaller in stature at one time.

We have a good collection of the most ornate doors -- some of which she has to literally duck under and through.

In the video you get a sweeping glimpse of this marblized sleeping bishop.

We zoomed in on this curiosity -- is it symbolic of satanic forces nipping at our heels all the way to our eternity rest?

I've not taken the time to research its significance.

Or is it simply symbolic of death, that last enemy?