hus as the building progressed one style merged into the other.

After some years further progress was made towards the west, as the
Galilee, or western porch, is stated to have been erected by Bishop
Eustace (1198-1215), of whom it is recorded that "he built from the
foundation the new Galilee of the Church at Ely, towards the west, at
his own cost." "This has given rise to much difference of opinion.
Some persons think that by the 'Galilee towards the west,' is meant
the western porch, while others holding that so fine a work is
inconsistent with so early a date, suppose the Galilee to have been
the northern half (now lost) of the western Transept.... My own
impression has always been that it was the west porch which still
exists."[7] Be this as it may, it is a beautiful specimen of the Early
English style; and Bishop Northwold (1229-1254) took down the east end
of the church and lengthened it by the six eastern arches, usually
called the Presbytery, with its magnificent eastern facade, in the
same style; they were begun A.D. 1234, and finished and dedicated in
1252, being "one of the noblest pieces of architecture of that
glorious architectural period." About the same time a spire of timber
covered with lead was erected on the Tower.

[Footnote 7: Lecture on Ely Cathedral by the late Sir G.G. Scott, at
the Etheldreda Festival, Oct. 1873.]

We now come to the period in which the "two great and famous
productions of the fourteenth century--the two special objects of
pride which our Cathedral boasts--the Lady Chapel and the central
Octagon, with the three adjoining bays eastward,"[8] were erected;
"each work is of the highest and of undisputed merit, and forms a most
marked feature in the building;"[9] affording most admirable specimens
of the Decorated English style. In 1321 the foundation stone of the
vast and magnificent Lady Chapel was laid by Alan de Walsingham, then
sub-prior, in the time of Bishop Hotham (1316-1337), the work was
continued under Bishop Montacute (1337-1345), and finished in 1349,
under Bishop L'Isle (1345-1362). In the year following the
commencement of this work the fall of the great central Tower took
place, ruining the adjoining bays all round, and especially those of
the Norman Presbytery. This catastrophe was not altogether unexpected,
for the monks had discontinued the use of the Choir and held their
services in St. Catherine's Chapel, in the western part of the
Cathedral. The Tower fell