ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the evidence of architectural details of Snettisham Church was built in the second quarter of the 14th century by a master mason who was also working on the choir and Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral, and who was possibly a member of the Ramsey family. It suggests that the patron could have been the Dowager Queen Isabella, who held the lordship of Snettisham and Rising between c. 1327 and 1358 and who spent much time at her castle of Rising. The approach to tracery design that was to be reflected at Snettisham is present in the earliest stages of work on Bishop Hotham's choir at Ely, in the gallery and clerestory of the south-western bay, where both openings have four complex interlocking quatrefoils set on horizontal and vertical axes. In addition to the similarities between the arcades, the Snettisham west doorway shares yet another sequence of elements with Ely.
