In 1321 the greatest mediaeval craftsman in England was Alan de Walsingham, who built the great octagon from which Ely derives its chief character among English cathedrals.  In a fourteenth century manuscript in the British Museum is a tribute to him, which is thus translated by Dean Stubbs (now Bishop of Truro): 

  “A Sacrist good and Prior benign,
   A builder he of genius fine: 
   The flower of craftsmen, Alan, Prior,
   Now lying entombed before the choir... 
   And when, one night, the old tower fell,
   This new one he built, and mark it well.”

This octagon was erected to the glory of God and to St. Etheldreda, the Queen Abbess of Ely, known frequently as St. Awdry.  Around the base of the octagon, at the crests of the great piers which carry it, Prior Alan had carved the Deeds of the Saint in a series of decorative bosses which deserve close study.  The scene of her marriage, her subsequently taking the veil at Coldingham, and the various miracles over which she presided, terminate in the death and “chesting” of the saint.  This ancient term is very literal, as the body was placed in a stone coffin above the ground, and therefore the word “burial” would be incorrect.

The tomb of Queen Eleanor in Westminster is of Purbeck marble, treated in the style of Southern sculpture, being cut in thin slabs and enriched with low relief ornamentation.  The recumbent effigy is in bronze, and was cast, as has been stated, by Master William Torel.  Master Walter of Durham painted the lower portion.  Master Richard Crundale was in charge of the general work.

Master John of St. Albans worked in about 1257, and was designated “sculptor of the king’s images.”  There was at this time a school of sculpture at the Abbey.  This Westminster School of Artificers supplied statuettes and other sculptured ornaments to order for various places.  One of the craftsmen was Alexander “le imaginator.”  In the Rolls of the Works at Westminster, there is an entry, “Master John, with a carpenter and assistant at St. Albans, worked on the lectern.”  This referred to a copy which was ordered of a rarely beautiful lectern at St. Albans’ cathedral, which had been made by the “incomparable Walter of Colchester.”  Labour was cheap!  There is record of three shillings being paid to John Benet for three capitals!

Among Westminster labourers was one known as Brother Ralph, the Convert; this individual was a reformed Jew.  Among the craftsmen selected to receive wine from the convent with “special grace” is the goldsmith, Master R. de Fremlingham, who was then the Abbey plumber.