[MR] Wikipedia: Ely Cathedral Collapse

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1322, the central tower of Ely Cathedral (unsurprisingly,
it's in Ely, England) collapsed. Its replacement was expanded to an octagon
to better spread the enormous weight, and is considered one of the finest
Gothic crossing towers in the world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ely_Cathedral

I had the honor of cataloging slides of Ely Cathedral during my years in
the UVA library, and was awed by this marvelous building. I was very
curious about the heating system (sorry, not period) and learned all about
Gurney Stoves, an 1856 invention of Goldsworthy Gurney. These stoves were
once very common in large churches and other public buildings though few
remain today. A Gurney stove may be seen one of the Wikipedia photographs,
blown up at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ely_Cathedral#/media/File:Ely_Cathedral_South_Nave_Aisle,_Cambridgeshire,_UK_-_Diliff.jpg

Ely Cathedral has been used as a stand-in for Westminster Abbey in the
films THE KING'S SPEECH and THE CROWN.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿