| P number: | P212707 |
|---|---|
| Old photograph number: | A13730 |
| Caption: | Ely Cathedral and Bishop's Palace, Cambridgeshire. |
| Description: | Sited on high ground formed by an outlier of Lower Cretaceous rocks the tower at the west end of Ely Cathedral dominates this eastern edge of the Fens. The tower is perhaps one of the most distinctive in Britain. It is constructed principally of shelly and oolitic limestone imported from the medieval quarries at Barnack near Stamford. The soft brown sandstones of the local Lower Cretaceous, Lower Greensand are the only usable building stone in the Ely district, but even these are too soft to be dressed or used unsupported. The infilling materials in the palace walls are Woburn Sands believed to have been dug from the vicinity of the cathedral and palace sites; the buttresses and carved stonework of the windows are made of oolitic Lincolnshire Limestone (Barnack Stone). The roof bricks were probably made locally from the Kimmeridge Clay. Barnack Stone, a shelly and oolitic limestone quarried from the Lincolnshire Limestone near Stamford, is perhaps one of our most famous building stones. Limestone from these quarries was used to build many of the most important medieval buildings in the East Midlands and East Anglia. Owned by Peterborough Abbey the stone was transported via the local rivers and Fenland waterways to build Ely, Ramsey, Crowland and Sawtry abbeys. |
| Date taken: | Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 GMT 1979 |
| Photographer: | Collins, R.E. |
| Copyright statement: | NERC |
| X longitude/easting: | 553000 |
| Y latitude/northing: | 280200 |
| Coordinate reference system, ESPG code: | 27700 (OSGB 1936 / British National Grid) |
| Orientation: | Landscape |
| Size: | 319.75 KB; 1000 x 783 pixels; 85 x 66 mm (print at 300 DPI); 265 x 207 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Unsorted Images, Geoscience subjects/ Economic geology/ Building stones |
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