Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

Ely Cathedral stands on a low hill above the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, and it is visible for miles across the flat fenland, earning it the nickname the Ship of the Fens. A ticket is required for visitors, with additional tickets for the tours of the Octagon, which take visitors up into the lantern, and of the West Tower, which climbs to the roof for views over the fens. The Stained Glass Museum, in the cathedral's triforium gallery, has its own ticket. Ely is about fifteen minutes by train from Cambridge and an hour and a quarter from London, and the cathedral is a short walk from the station.

Visitors often combine the cathedral with Oliver Cromwell's House, where the future Lord Protector lived, the riverside of the Great Ouse with its boat trips and tea rooms, the Ely Museum in the old gaol, and the city of Cambridge. The cathedral is active, with daily services and choral evensong, and visiting is restricted during worship. Its grounds, with lawns and old monastic buildings, are pleasant for a walk, and the cathedral's refectory café and shop are near the entrance. Tower tours involve many steps.

Visiting Ely Cathedral: what to see

Saint Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon princess and queen, founded a monastery here in 673, and after her death her shrine made Ely a place of pilgrimage. The monastery was destroyed by the Danes and refounded as a Benedictine abbey, and after the Norman Conquest, work on the present cathedral began in 1083 under Abbot Simeon. The long Norman nave, with its round arches in three storeys, survives, and its wooden ceiling was painted in the nineteenth century with scenes from the Bible. In 1322 the central tower collapsed, and it was replaced by the Octagon, designed by the sacrist Alan of Walsingham, a vast eight-sided space crowned by a wooden lantern, a masterpiece of medieval engineering, which floods the crossing with light.

The Lady Chapel, built in the fourteenth century, is one of the largest in England; its carved figures were smashed during the Reformation, and its clear windows now make it bright and spacious. The choir holds carved stalls and the site of Etheldreda's shrine, destroyed in 1541. The West Tower rises above the Galilee porch. The cathedral was closed for seventeen years under Oliver Cromwell, and it was restored in the nineteenth century by George Gilbert Scott. The Stained Glass Museum displays windows from the medieval period to the present.

Ely Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

The cathedral is open daily, with shorter visiting hours on Sundays because of services. Tower tours run on most days, more frequently in summer, and they can sell out, so book in advance. Summer and school holidays are the busiest times. The Ely Eel Festival in spring and the Christmas festivities bring events to the city. Choral evensong is sung on most days. The Octagon is at its best on sunny days, when light pours through the lantern. Allow about an hour for the cathedral, and more for the tours and the museum.