St Catherine's Chapel, Ely Cathedral

Rebuilt from ruins by George Gilbert Scott

1848

Ely, Cambridgeshire

Other Views

Ely Cathedral from the south-east

Octagon and Lantern, Lady Chapel at left

The West Tower of Ely Cathedral

Octagon Interior & Scott's screen

The nave, looking east

The nave ceiling, painted 1858-65

Victorian scrollwork on the West Door

An example of early brick diapering on the Bishop's Palace

Ely from under the Railway Bridge, by Jospeh Pennell

Photograph, caption, and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]

This calm and elegant apsidal chapel was one of George Gilbert Scott's bigger projects in the cathedral: it had to be completely rebuilt from its ruins (Pevsner 344). The south-west transept in which it is located is used for baptisms (the font which Scott designed stands just outside the chapel). It is appropriate, therefore, that the chapel's east window, which is colourful and rather contemporary-looking, shows the baptism of Christ. It is by the stained glass craftsman Thomas Wilmshurst (1806-1880), after a picture by one of the Venetian artists of the Bassan family (Handbook 35).

Sources

Handbook to the Cathedral Church, with Some Account of the Monastic Buildings, &c. at Ely. Ely: T. A. Hills and Son, 11th ed. 1880. Available here.

Pevsner, Nikolaus. The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2nd ed. 1970.

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Last modified 29 July 2008