Ely Cathedral Cambridgeshire |
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Ely Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of the Holy and
Undivided Trinity of Ely) is the principal church of the diocese
of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Anglican
Bishop of Ely. It is known locally as "the ship of the Fens",
because of its prominent shape that towers above the surrounding
flat and watery landscape. The first Christian building on the
site was founded by Etheldreda, daughter of the Anglo-Saxon king
of East Anglia, who was born in 630 at Exning near Newmarket.
She acquired the land from her first husband, Tondberct, chief
of the South Gyrvians, and after the end of her second marriage
to Eegrfrid, a Northumbrian prince, set up and ran a monastery
on the site in 673. When she died, a shrine was built to her
memory in the Saxon church on the same site. (Incidentally, the
common version of Etheldreda's name was St. Awdrey, which is
the origin of the word tawdry - because cheap souvenirs were
sold at fairs held in her name.) The monastery, and much of the
city of Ely, were destroyed in the Danish invasions that began
in 869 or 870. |
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