[MR] BBC & Wikipedia; Ely Catheral Tower Comes Crashing Down

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On the night of 12-13 February 1322, the central tower above the crossing
at Ely Cathedral collapsed. The disaster was thought to have been due to
subsidence caused by foundation work for the adjacent Lady Chapel.

The tower was reconstructed by enlarging the footprint into an octagon to
better spread the structure's weight (Ely is on pretty marshy ground). The
upper portions of the tower are braced by elaborate timber vaulting which
can never be duplicated as there are no longer any trees of this size in
England. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the famed architectural historian, described
the tower as Ely's 'greatest individual achievement of architectural
genius'.

The BBC's story with some amazing photos is at
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60324722 .

The Cathedral's history is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ely_Cathedral .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆