Lady Chapel at Ely

Undoubtedly, one of the highlights to our residency trip to Ely Cathedral was the chance to sing in the famous 14th-century Lady Chapel. Singing Evensong in that space was satisfying for reasons both musical and historical.

 Stepping into the chapel, one gets the feeling of walking through layers of time. It's surreal to enter the large, cavernous expanse of the chapel, to feel the vaulted ceiling rise above, and then to realize that something is clearly wrong with the stonework on the walls. Bits of statuary remain with defaced or missing heads. Large plinths loom empty mid-air above ornate niches, but the images originally set there are conspicuously absent. Clearly, a mob with chisels had its way in here, and the place was dramatically altered.

One of the ways to appreciate the Lady Chapel is by examining its highly florid and colorful “decorated style” that was so vehemently disfigured by iconoclasts at the time of the Reformation. The video below shows some detailed views of the stonework that survives and allows us to imagine what the space might have looked like before. To watch, click on “Watch this video on YouTube” in the first screen that appears once you click the play arrow.

Justin Appel, Director of Music