This weekend we were in Cambridgeshire for a wedding. On our way home, we did a little sightseeing. Luckily, Matt enjoys walking around cathedrals as much as I do.
Peterborough Cathedral's unusual triple front features statues of Saint Peter, Paul and Andrew, to whom the church is dedicated. The first church on the site was 655, making it one of the oldest Christian centres.
The decorated wooden ceiling dates back to the thirteenth century. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't capture how magnificent it is.
Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was buried here. Her remains are up at the alter, directly across from the former resting place of Mary Queen of Scots, who was reinterred in a much grander style in Westminster by her son King James I after he acceded the throne.
We then drove on to Ely, crossing the Cambridgeshire fens, which look an awful lot like the prairies at home. Ely Cathedral is visible from miles away, 'rising like the prow of a ship from the flat landscape'. Matt said that or something similar.
Ely Cathedral, though almost as old as Peterborough, is nowhere near as nice. The masonry is ridiculously elaborate, which may have been an attempt to cover up shoddy workmanship. The northwest transept collapsed in the fifteenth century and was never replaced.
A detail from the Prior's door, on the south side of the nave. I think.
While at Ely, we visited the stained glass museum. I think this is a piece from Normandy, dating back to the Middle Ages.
Infirmary Common, within the Cathedral grounds
Peterborough Cathedral's unusual triple front features statues of Saint Peter, Paul and Andrew, to whom the church is dedicated. The first church on the site was 655, making it one of the oldest Christian centres. 
The decorated wooden ceiling dates back to the thirteenth century. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't capture how magnificent it is.
Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was buried here. Her remains are up at the alter, directly across from the former resting place of Mary Queen of Scots, who was reinterred in a much grander style in Westminster by her son King James I after he acceded the throne.
We then drove on to Ely, crossing the Cambridgeshire fens, which look an awful lot like the prairies at home. Ely Cathedral is visible from miles away, 'rising like the prow of a ship from the flat landscape'. Matt said that or something similar. 
Ely Cathedral, though almost as old as Peterborough, is nowhere near as nice. The masonry is ridiculously elaborate, which may have been an attempt to cover up shoddy workmanship. The northwest transept collapsed in the fifteenth century and was never replaced.
A detail from the Prior's door, on the south side of the nave. I think.
While at Ely, we visited the stained glass museum. I think this is a piece from Normandy, dating back to the Middle Ages.
Infirmary Common, within the Cathedral grounds
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