East of England

North Elmham Chapel is a curious site – the ruins of a fortified house, converted from a chapel, probably on the site of the Anglo-Saxon cathedral of East Anglia.

North Elmham was the principal seat of the Bishops of East Anglia in late Saxon times, and the centre of a great episcopal estate.  In the late 11th/early 12th century, the Norman Bishop Herbert de Losinga built a small private chapel on the site of the old Saxon timber church, and a new parish church for the village. In the 14th century, the unpopular Bishop Henry le Despencer turned the chapel into a fortified house. After the Reformation, the site fell into disuse.

The ruins are not easy to interpret, but there are excellent information boards and these suggest how the building once looked.

Hero or villain, Oliver Cromwell was one of those people who make a brief appearance on history’s stage and leave their mark. So his house has got to be worth a visit. Cromwell inherited the lease from a rich uncle, moved there with his family in 1636 and they stayed for 10 years - though Cromwell himself would have been away for much of that time. It stands opposite a small green, next to St Mary’s Church. It has been a pub, vicarage and at time of writing is Ely’s Tourist Information Centre. A tour of the house includes the fascinating kitchen and Cromwell's study.

And - it is meant to be haunted...wooooo!

Orford Ness is Europe's largest shingle spit, approximately 10 miles long running between the River Alde and the North Sea in Suffolk. It is an internationally important area of shingle habitat, home to a huge variety of wildlife, much of it fragile and precious. It was also used for secret military testing and experimentation, including for aircraft, radio, radar, ballistics and atomic weapons, since the First World War until after the Cold War. Limited access is available via National Trust Ferry from Orford.

The Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew has its roots in Anglo-Saxon times. The first abbey was established at Peterborough (originally called Medeshamstede) in 655 AD and largely destroyed by Viking raiders in 870. In the mid 10th century a Benedictine Abbey was created from what remained. Some buildings were destroyed in Hereward the Wake's resistance to the Norman Conquest in 1069, but the church survived until an accidental fire swept through it in 1116.  The present building was begun in 1118, consecrated in 1238 and the structure of the building remains essentially as it was on completion. Most significantly the original wooden ceiling survives in the nave, the only one of its type in this country and one of only four wooden ceilings of this period surviving in the whole of Europe, having been completed between 1230 and 1250. There is some fine 16th century fan vaulting at the east end of the church. Peterborough grew to be a wealthy monastic house, with 120 monks just before it was dissolved in 1539. However, the abbey church survived as Peterborough Cathedral. Parliamentary troops caused damage to glass and monuments during the Civil War. Two queens were buried in the Cathedral, Katherine of Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots: however, in 1612, James I/VI had his mother re-buried in Westminster and her grave is now empty.

The royal founders of Queen’s College Cambridge were Margaret of Anjou (1430 – 1482) in 1448 and Elizabeth Woodville (c1437 – 1492) in 1465. Margaret was the wife of King Henry VI and Elizabeth was the wife of King Edward IV. The has also enjoyed the patronage of three further queens - Anne Neville (1456 – 1485), who was married to King Richard III, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900 – 2002), the late Queen Mother and HM Queen Elizabeth II. Queens’ College Cambridge is the only Oxbridge college to have the Queen as Patroness. Particular features of the College include the 15th century Old Court, Hall and Cloister. Walnut Tree Court is located on the site of a 13th century Carmelite Monastery. The Wooden Bridge – wrongly called ‘the Mathematical Bridge’ – dates from 1749, though the current version was completed in 1905. Famous alumni include Bishop John Fisher, Stephen Fry, Richard Dearlove and Emily Maitlis.