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Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire is a magnificent medieval cathedral with a number of unique characteristics. Most of the present building was completed by 1189 in the Romanesque style, with some additions made in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Ely (pronounced “eely”) was an island for most of its history, until the marshy Fens surrounding it were drained in the 18th century. The great cathedral of Ely, which still appears to float high above the flat surrounding landscape, has long been known as “the Ship of the Fens.”

The foundations for this spectacular stone church, set amid poppy fields in the countryside outside of Cambridge, were laid by Benedictine monks in the 11th century. But for hundreds of years prior, the site lured religious pilgrims to visit the shrine of Etheldreda, a Saxon princess who left her husband to pursue a religious life. Etheldreda established a monastery here in the 7th century and is said to have planted a staff in the ground that then blossomed into a tree overnight — a miracle that led people to believe she was a saint. For hundreds of years after, pilgrims made their way to a shrine to Etheldreda inside the cathedral; a plaque now marks where the shrine once stood. Today, the church is best known as a shining example of Norman architecture, marking the Romanesque style’s arrival in Britain (the cathedral’s nave and south transept are considered perfect Norman examples).

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The Cotton Tree

The Cotton Tree is an historic symbol of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. According to legend, the “Cotton Tree” gained importance in 1792 when a group of former African American slaves, who had gained their freedom by fighting for the British during the American War of Independence, settled the site of modern Freetown. The Cotton Tree is a rapidly growing deciduous tree that reaches heights of 80 feet or more, and a diameter of five to eight feet above its buttresses. The buttresses themselves can be up to ten feet tall and extend ten feet from the main trunk. The tree has a broad, flat crown of horizontal branches. The leaves are compound with five to eight lance-shaped leaflets that are three to eight inches long.

The tree produces three-to-six-inch long, elliptical fruits. These fruits contain many seeds surrounded by a dense mat of cottony fibers. The tree gets its common name from these fibers which rain from the tree when the fruits ripen. The fibers are almost pure cellulose, buoyant, impervious to water, and have a low thermal conductivity, but they do not lend themselves to spinning. Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleping bags and life preservers, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows. In Puerto Rico the tree was often planted in the center of plazas for shade, and it is considered a valuable honey tree.

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