Ely Cathedral, The Lady Chapel Floor
Description
The existing Lady Chapel Floor was both unsightly, having had many repairs and changes in the past 100 years, and also very cold, which the limited the use of the Chapel. This was a particularly interesting and challenging project and was a major change for the Cathedral.
The works involved:
- A new floor was designed in Purbeck Marble to match the use of the stone elsewhere within the Cathedral. Whilst relaying the floor, it was decided that under floor heating should be incorporated to make the space more useable and user friendly.
- This had to be thought out very carefully and design temperatures were critical as to not affect the fabric of The Lady Chapel and monitoring systems were designed into the scheme.
- The construction of the floor was challenging due to the nature of the surrounding fabric and the existing floor levels that had to be maintained.
- Every stage of construction was carefully planned and executed taking into account such things as movement and crack inducement which had to line through to the final floor geometric pattern.
- The stone was imported from two Purbeck Marble quarries for colour variation where the stone was cut to templates supplied to very fine tolerance.
- The setting out and geometry of the floor was absolutely critical and the final result is an outstanding floor which should be viewed to appreciate the quality.
Other work in Ecclesiastical sector
Other Stonemasonry projects
Ely Cathedral, Lady Chapel - Case Study - Download pdf