Ely

 

A few weeks ago I visited the beautiful city of Ely in Cambridgeshire which is just over an hour by train from London. The ancient city of Ely is sited on the largest island in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Until the 17th century it was only accessible by boat but then the waterlogged fens were drained. It was the surrounding water that gave the city its original name ' Isle of Eels'. Although no longer an island, it still has the Great River Ouse running through this historic city.

 

Ely is most famous for its beautiful Cathedral.

The medieval city was founded in 673 when Princess Etheldreda, daughter of the Anglo Saxon King Anna adopted Christianity and formed a convent nearby.  In 970 a Benedictine monastery was founded but it is the construction of a Norman building in 1081 (completed in1189) which forms the oldest part of the Cathedral in the Transepts. 

 

The Nave was built by the Normans noted for the round arches.

The ceiling was painted in Victorian times and is the work of two artists. Henry le Strange painted the The scenes take you from Adam to the Crucifixion first six panels and Thomas Gambier Parry who painted the last six.

 

Most of the stained glass windows are also Victorian depicting scenes from the bible.

 

Above the end of the nave is the Octagon. This marvel of medieval engineering took 18 years to build. It is 43m high and weighs a total of 400 tons.

Built in the 14th century, the structure of timber, glass and lead stands on eight massive stone pillars. At the heart of the structure is a painted carving of the 'Risen Christ'. Try as I might I couldn't get a decent photo of the carving.

The Tower replaces the original Norman tower built in 1083 that collapsed in 1322.

 

 

The choir was built in the 14th century with much of the wooden carvings in the stalls constructed in the 19th century.

I really enjoyed my day out visiting this beautiful city.

School holidays

 

Have been in Spain this past week with my daughter and her children. Most of the time was spent playing in one of the 7 different pools. However I did manage some early morning walks by the sea before the kids woke up.

Perfect temperature for walking and enjoying the sun rise over the Costa del Sol.

Blogging update

 Thank you so much for all your kind comments. I took a short break from Blogland but returned to rewrite the Camden post. I don't think it is as good as the original when the trip was fresh in my mind but having all the photos helped me to reconstruct the missing post.

https://62andthenext10pathways.blogspot.com/

Blogging

I'm so fed up, I am ready to give up. For those of you who follow me on my other blog 

https://62andthenext10pathways.blogspot.com/ 

you will know that this is where I write about my visits to London Underground stations. It is over 10 years since I started the challenge of visiting all 272 stations and writing about them. My latest venture was to Camden Town, the 211th station I've visited. It has taken me about 3 weeks to research and write about it. Finished it last night and this morning I did a read through, corrected a few bits and pieces and just as I was writing the final sentence it disappeared. There is no way of retrieving a post on blogger once it goes. This has happened once before and it took me ages to regain my motivation to continue. If it wasn't so early in the morning I would head for the gin bottle. Hope you all have a better start to your day. I am going out for the day now. Whether I open this computer again remains to be seen!

Chinese coins

 

I had always wanted to see beyond this door. Londoners may recognise it as the door to the old Royal Mint. It's situated to the right of Tower Bridge. Until 1810 the Mint was housed in the Tower of London and from there moved to this building on Tower Hill. In the 1960s it was moved to a purpose built building in Wales.

Since it was the Royal mint the building has been used for offices and residential apartments. Once inside there was only the one room where the coins were being displayed that was open. nevertheless it was still interesting to see the front of it. I doubt I will get an opportunity again as this is going to be the new Chinese Embassy. It will be their biggest embassy in Europe. How did the Chinese manage to buy this land you might ask. Well no doubt there has been or will be a public enquiry at some point because as sure as eggs are eggs this should never have happened and there has definitely been some shady dealings going on somewhere along the line.

These are a few pictures of the coins that were on display. These coins represented Chinese inventions such as paper making, printing and fireworks.

These coins represented the Chinese Zodiac.

    

Chinese cities.

The coins were not made for circulation but display. I enjoyed looking round but to obtain a ticket I had to complete a form giving all my personal details. I wonder if I should be worried!