Ely Cathedral

Ely stands on a low island of clay in what was fen, and because the surrounding land is flat and largely at sea level the cathedral is visible from many kilometres away, which is why it is called the Ship of the Fens. The Norman nave was begun in 1083. In February 1322 the central tower collapsed, and rather than rebuild it the sacrist, Alan of Walsingham, had the rubble cleared to make an octagonal space and roofed it with a timber lantern: eight oak posts, each over eighteen metres long and around a metre square, support a glazed lantern about forty metres above the floor, a structure with no parallel in medieval architecture anywhere. The Lady Chapel, finished in 1349, is the widest of its kind in England and holds carved niches stripped of their statues in the sixteenth century.

What you actually see

• The Octagon lantern - eight oak posts carrying a glazed lantern after the 1322 collapse.
• The Norman nave - one of the longest surviving Romanesque naves in England.
• The Lady Chapel - the widest in England, with defaced carved niches.
• The fen visibility - a cathedral seen from many kilometres across flat land.

When to go

Year-round; the Octagon tower tour, which goes up into the timber structure, runs on set days and books out, and is the single best thing here. Winter light through the lantern is poor by mid-afternoon.

Honest expectations

Entry is ticketed, which surprises visitors used to free cathedrals. Tower tours are extra, limited in number and involve steep spiral stairs and narrow passages. The Lady Chapel's stripped niches are bare and its whiteness is not to everyone's taste.

Nearby

Oliver Cromwell's House is in the town; Cambridge lies twenty minutes south by train.