Arms of the See and Deanery of Ely

Having finished our heraldic tour of Holy Trinity Church Bottisham, we move on to the next stop on the sightseeing tour in August 2022, Ely Cathedral.

There are two coats of arms which appear in a number of places in, and just outside of, Ely Cathedral.

One, which we have seen before both in Cambridge and at two parish churches we have already seen -- the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mary Grantchester and Holy Trinity Church Bottisham -- are the arms of the See of Ely.

At Ely Cathedral, the arms of the See, Gules three crowns or, can be found standing alone, as here:

Or along with the arms of the Deanery of Ely, Gules three keys erect wards to dexter or, as on this memorial to Cathedral choristers who lost their lives in World War I:

We will also be seeing the arms of the See impaling personal arms of several of the Bishops of Ely on their memorials as we come to them.

Finally, of course, the arms of the Deanery of Ely appear in number of places, from signs just outside the entrance to the Cathedral:

to various explanatory signs inside the building:

(Yes, we will be visiting the memorial of Bishop Simon Patrick, next to this sign, on our tour.)

Next time, some of the heraldic glories to be seen in the Cathedral's Stained Glass Museum!