Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Ely)

 cathedral, Grade I Listed (UK)

Most of the present building was completed by 1189 in the Romanesque style, with some additions made in the 13th and 14th centuries.St. Etherelda, who founded an Catholic abbey in Ely in 673 AD. All that survives from this early Saxon period is "Ovin's stone," the base of an 8th-century cross that can be seen inside the cathedral. The site of Etherelda's shrine, which was destroyed in the Reformation, is marked by a modern stone slab in the choir.monastery in Ely flourished until 869, when marauding Danes burned and pillaged much of East Anglia. Many of the monks and nuns were killed; the remainder fled for their lives. The monastery was destroyed and left a ruin.
The late 10th century saw a great revival in monastic life in England. In 970, the ruined Saxon abbey was reconsecrated as a Benedictine Catholic monastery for men .It was during this period of construction that the monastic church at Ely became a cathedral.The Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII came along in 1539, which was the end of the monastery at Ely. Most of the monks left, but some remained to form the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral. As mentioned above, the fact that the abbey church was also a cathedral helped to save it from destruction.
But that did not save it from Henry VIII's "reformers," who smashed all statues they they considered idolatrous, particularly those of the Virgin Mary in the Lady Chapel. The walls of the nave, formerly plastered and painted with brilliantly colored murals of saints and biblical scenes, were scraped off. And the ancient shrine of St. Etherelda was dismantled and destroyed.
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In the centuries that followed, the chief enemy of Ely Cathedral was neglect. The building received very little attention in the way of conservation and repairs throughout the 1600s and 1700s.But the long period of neglect finally ended decisively with the Victorian era, and the arrival of the energetic Dean George Peacock in 1839. He hired the renowned architect Sir George Gilbert Scott to restore the cathedral to its former glory, and as put to occupation by the Anglican Church.
A Grade I listed building.
www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-48663-cathedral-of-...