A Visit to Peterborough Cathedral and Ely Cathedral

Discover Cathedrals this Summer

The AEC took its own message to heart this weekend with a trip to see what they could discover in our cathedrals this summer … and this is what we found.

First stop: A visit to Peterborough Cathedral

Craft stations were set up and people of all ages were making sea creatures to hang in the cathedral, writing prayers on fish, answering tricky questions about whether they believed God created the sea and all the creatures in it (ANSWER: Yes he is amazing Thank you) . And that’s before we got to enter Peterborough’s summer exhibition Monsters of the Sea featuring 16 life-size animatronic sea creaturesthat were fascinating young and old alike.

Children from a local primary school have created Brewster the Whale from plastic bottle tops and written their hopes and dreams for caring for our planet on shoals of fish, and the cathedral was abuzz with people of all ages, some following the handy trail guide, and others just being still in the moment.

Next stop: Ely Cathedral

We had to fight through the crowds to get close to Ely Cathedral as it was a busy weekend for the city. A classic car rally in front of the cathedral, a Pride festival down by the river and selfies being taken with the huge Sean Henry sculpture, Seated – part of Am I My Brother’s Keeper, Ely Cathedral’s summer exhibition.

Inside the cathedral we followed the sculpture trail tracing Sean Henry’s painted figures that populated vacant plinths throughout the cathedral – an echo of those past installations. We took a Tower Tour, with our fantastic guide, Will, to gaze on the fabulous Octagon Tower and its wooden lantern up close. Made from 60ft oaks brought in from London it is a sheer marvel of medieval engineering after the original Norman central tower collapsed in 1322. And the angel panels can be moved out of the way so you get a bird’s eye view of the altar and quire below.

As we climbed back down the 170 spiral stairs and re-entered the cathedral, we were treated to the choir rehearsing for Evensong.