ns, not in the church,
but in the nuns' graveyard. She was certainly not fifty years of age at
the time of her death. As will be seen hereafter, her body was removed
into the church in the time of her successor.

No description is extant of the buildings of the monastery first
erected. We know that the present cathedral is on the same site. Nor has
any record been preserved of any discoveries that may have been made in
later times, when extensive operations must have necessitated the laying
bare of some of the original foundations. From what is known of some
contemporary monasteries, we may conclude that the church at least was
of stone. Not a fragment of it is known to be in existence at the
present day. Whatever may have been its extent, it was wholly destroyed
by the Danes in 870. For four years the Danes had been ravaging the
eastern part of the country, burning monasteries and slaying their
inmates. In the immediate district, Crowland and Thorney, Medeshamstede
(Peterborough), and Ramsey had already felt the severity of their
attack; crumbling walls alone remained where their destructive violence
had been experienced. On their first attack on Ely they were repulsed.
The advantages of the situation among the fens had already suggested the
formation of something very similar to the famous Camp of Refuge in the
eleventh century; and the force thus collected was sufficient to drive
the Danes to their ships. But before long they returned with greater
numbers, headed by one of their kings, most likely Hubba, and altogether
overcame the resistance of the people of the isle. The conquerors then
marched "directly to the Monastery of _S. Etheldreda_, at _Ely_, broke
their way into it, and put all the Religious to the sword, as well the
Nuns as the Monks, and others belonging to it, without any respect to
age, sex, or condition; and after they had stript the Monastery of every
thing that was valuable, and plundered the town, they set fire to the
Church and all the buildings and houses; and went away loaded with the
spoils, not only of the Town and Monastery of Ely, but likewise the
chief effects and riches of the country round about, which the
inhabitants of those parts had brought with them, as to a place of
security."[6]

The destruction of Ely monastery in 870 and its resuscitation by King
Edgar in 970 are an almost exact repetition of what took place at
Peterborough. But there is a difference in the history of the interv