Rising from the flat fenland like a great ship, Ely Cathedral is famed above all for its Octagon — a crown of stone and timber unique in medieval architecture. Its long Norman nave leads the eye to one of the marvels of the Middle Ages.
A monastery was founded at Ely in 673 by St Æthelthryth. The present Norman cathedral was begun in 1083 and consecrated in 1109, its long nave carried on rank upon rank of rounded arches.
In 1322 the Norman central tower collapsed. In its place the monks raised the Octagon — an eight-sided lantern of stone below and oak above, flooding the crossing with light — completed through the 1330s and 1340s.
The great west tower, the painted timber ceiling of the nave and the delicate Lady Chapel complete a building whose silhouette has ruled the fens for nine centuries.