ELVES, See FAIRIES.
E'LY, so called from a Saxon word, elig, an eel, or helig, a willow, may be called a cathedral town rather than a city, and is situated on an eminence in thatpart of the fen-country of Cambridgeshire called the Isle of Ely. Pop. '71, 8,166. The Eastern Counties and the Great Northern railways have each stations, the former outside, the latter in the town.
Ely Cathedral.—About the year 673, Etheldreda, daughter of the king of East Anglia, and wife of Oswy, king of Northumberland, founded a monastery here, and took on herself the government of it. Two hundred years afterwards (870), the Danes ravaged the Isle, and destroyed the monastery, which was rebuilt in 970 by St. Etheiwold, bishop of Winchester; and this continued till 1081, when a new church was begun, which was converted into a cathedral, and the abbey erected into a see in 1109. The possessions of the abbey were divided between the bishop and the community. The cathedral con tains some beautiful specimens of architecture, especially of early Norman. Its exter ior dimensions are 535 ft. from w. to east. The great cross or main transept is 190 feet. The turrets of the w. tower are 215 ft. high, and the lantern over the central tower 170 feet. The w. front was built by Geoffry Ridel, the third bishop, who died in 1189, and is of Norman work. About 200 years after his time, an addition of 64 ft. was made to the tower, and over that a spire. This great superincumbent weight crushed the IL 'W. transept, and the s.w. one, which still remains, was considerably weakened. In front there is a w. portico or galilee (q.v.), of early Gothic, said to be the work of bishop Eustachius. The nave is of Norman work, and was completed about 1174. The col umns are alternately round and octagonal. The roof was, in 1861, beautifully painted. The transepts, which are the most ancient parts of the church, were built in the rein of Henry I. They had originally a middle and two side aisles, but the latter are, in the s. transept, walled up, and the space used as a vestry and library. Originally there stood a square tower in the center of the building, opening into the nave and transepts; but this gave way in 1322, and fell eastwards, crushing three arches of the choir. The repair of this dilapidation was undertaken by the sacrist of that time, Alan de Walsing ham. The design was original, an octagon tower with four longer and four shorter sides, surmounted by a lantern. The upper part of this, which is of timber, has
recently been rebuilt.
The choir contains some rich varieties of decorated Gothic, and the fine shafts of Purbeck marble combine beautifully with the white stone-work. The whole has lately been restored and beautified. Originally, it was much shorter eastwards, and protruded into the nave, but in 1235 the semicircular end of the old church was taken down, and six arches added by Hugh de Northwold. At the dedication and removal of the relics, Henry III. and his court were present. The c. end is eminently beautiful: it consists of two tiers of high lancet-shaped windows. Perhaps the most interesting and yet beauti ful part of the building is the Lady chapel—an incomparable work, irreparably spoiled by the barbarism of Puritan times. It was begun in 1321, and finished in 1349, simul taneously with the rebuilding of the central tower and ruined choir, a circumstance highly illustrative of the taste and munificence of the times. It has a stone roof, like King's college chapel in Cambridge, which it is supposed to have suggested, and the walls were once decorated from top to bottom with countless niches and images of saints and martyrs, not one of which remains undefaced. Its length is 100 ft.; width, 46; height, 60. Bishop Alcock's chapel, in which he lies buried, is at the e. end of the n. aisle—an overloaded specimen of the richest florid Gothic. Bishop West's chapel, at the e. end of the s. aisle, is a more pleasing example of the same style.
Amongst the celebrated names connected with E. are abbot Thurstan, who defended the isle against William the conqueror for seven years; Longchamp, chancellor and regent under Richard I.; chancellor Morton, Simon Patrick, and bishop Andrews. The bishops of E., like the bishops of Durham, formerly enjoyed a palatine jurisdiction, and appointed their own chief-justice, etc.; but this privilege was taken from them by the 6th and 7th Will. IV. The bishop of E. is visitor to St. Peter's, St. John's, and Jesus colleges, Cambridge, of which last he also appoints the master. There is a grammar school attached to the cathedral, founded by Henry VIII. There are some interesting remains of the old conventual buildings in the neighborhood of the cathedral.