Ely Cathedral The relief scenes were built into the wall, so each face or statue was individually hacked off, but leaving many finely carved details, and numerous puzzles as to what the original scenes showed. After the reformation it was redeployed as the Parish Church (Holy Trinity) for the town, a situation which continued up to 1938. The central octagonal tower, with its vast internal open space and its pinnacles and lantern above, forms the most distinctive and celebrated feature of the cathedral. However, what Pevsner describes as Ely's 'greatest individual achievement of architectural genius' came about through a disaster at the
Porth-y-Tŵr and rooms adjoyning to it where the Bishop's & Mayor's courts were held". Porth-y-Tŵr was in ruins by the 20th century and, in 1929, the octagonal tower was substantially restored by ecclesiastical architect W. D. Caroe, with funding coming from an anonymous donor. In the 1930s a ring of bells were installed in the octagonal tower – the bells in the tower of St Davids Cathedral had been removed in 1730 to prevent the cathedral's tower collapsing. Two further bells were added in 2001, donated by the American Friends of St Davids Cathedral. There are ten bells in total, ranging