During the early hours of February 13 1322, disaster struck at the vast cathedral on the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, known now as the Ship of the Fens. At around three or four in the morning, the building's huge central tower collapsed with a mighty crash, falling where the monks had only recently been celebrating mass.

As this year marks the 700th anniversary of the disaster–and it's the reason for the unusual replacement tower seen at Ely today–for this episode, Matt sits down with art and architectural historian Dr James Alexander Cameron to find out more about the night disaster struck at one of Britain's best-loved cathedrals.

Don’t forget to leave us a rating and review while you're here!

For more Gone Medieval content, subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to the Android or Apple store

Ely Cathedral: 700 Years Since Disaster 35:28 Share

Gone Medieval

Shownotes Transcript

Ely Cathedral: 700 Years Since Disaster