Above, a photo. of Ely cathedral as viewed across water meadows from the south.
Firstly a misconception – cathedrals are not defined by their ‘bigness’, for example, Beverley Minster (not a cathedral) is much larger (groundfloor area and volume) than Hereford cathedral. This misconception is further fuelled by ‘pseudo’ cathedrals e.g. Patrington church in Holderness is sometimes called the ‘Cathedral of Holderness’ while the parish church at Terrington St. Clement (in the Fens of Norfolk west of Kings Lynn) is often known as the ‘Cathedral of the Fens’. What actually defines a cathedral is the simply fact that inside is housed a ‘cathedra’, the ceremonial seat of a bishop. Even this simple definition became strained in the 20th century with, for example, Hull having a bishop but no cathedral (presumably no cathedra).
The number of cathedrals in England has changed over time (increased), resulting from changes in the number of bishoprics (areas under the control of a bishop). Two English cathedrals are bases for archbishops – Canterbury and York. Although cathedrals can be the base of a host of titled positions within the Church of England the basic hierarchy is – parish priest (incumbent), bishop, archbishop.
The first extant reference to a bishop in England comes from the early 4th century, this soon after the Roman Emperor Constantine had converted the Empire by the Edict of Milan, 312. The term fell into irrelevancy with the colonisation of Anglo-Saxon tribes thereafter but following the Augustinian mission to re-Christianise England in the late 6th century Canterbury became the first cathedral of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Canterbury acquired this status simply because the king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent welcomed Augustine’s mission and here an early church was built.
In the mid 7th century an archbishopric north of the Humber was created based at Lindisfarne (Holy Island), this related to the mission of Cuthbert.