eath are very fair vaults and goodly cellars for
several uses. The great Hall, a magnificent room, had, at the upper end,
in the Wall, very high above the ground, three stately Thrones, wherein
were placed sitting, the three Royal Founders carved curiously of Wood,
painted and guilt, which in the year 1644 were pulled down and broken to
pieces."

[Illustration: The Cathedral; from the North, c. 1730]

There is no doubt that this first monastery was utterly destroyed by the
Danes about the year 870. The very circumstantial account given in the
chronicle of Abbot John, derived from Ingulf, is well known; but as it
is entirely without corroboration in any of the historians who mention
the destruction of the monastery, recent criticism has not hesitated to
pronounce the whole account a mere invention. It is unnecessary,
therefore, to give it here. The account "may have some foundation in
fact," Professor Freeman admits, "but if so, it is strange to find no
mention of it in Orderic."[4] But the discredit thrown upon the minutely
graphic story of Ingulf, does not of course apply to the actual fact, of
which there is ample evidence, that the monastery was burnt by the
Danes. Matthew of Westminster says:[5]--"And so the wicked leaders,
passing through the district of York, burned the churches, cities, and
villages ... and thence advancing they destroyed all the monasteries
(_coenobia_) of monks and nuns situated in the fens, and slew the
inmates. The names of these monasteries are, Crowland, Thorney, Ramsey,
Hamstede, now called Burgh S. Peter, with the Isle of Ely, and that once
very famous house of nuns, wherein the holy Virgin and Queen Etheldreda
laudably discharged the office of abbess for many years."

The re-edification of the monastery, henceforth known as Burgh, is due
to Bishop Ethelwold, of Winchester, with the approval and support of
King Edgar. This was accomplished in 972. We have now reached a point
where all can take a practical interest in the subject, because portions
of this church are to be seen to this day. The exact site of the Saxon
church had always been a matter of conjecture until the excavations made
in the course of the works incidental to the rebuilding of the lantern
tower (1883-1893) finally settled the question. Many students of the
fabric supposed that the existing church practically followed the main
outlines of the former one, possibly with increased length and breadth,
but at any rate on th