Ely ( ) is a
cathedral city
Cathedral city is a city status in the United Kingdom.
Cathedral city may also refer to:
* Cathedral City, California, a city in Southern California, United States
* Cathedral City Cheddar, a brand of Cheddar cheese
* Cathedral City High Schoo ...
in the
East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely. The population of the District Council at the 2011 Census was 83,818. The district was formed on 1 April 19 ...
district of
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
, England, about north-northeast of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and from London.
Ely is built on a
Kimmeridge Clay
The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North ...
island which, at , is the highest land in
the Fens
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
. It was due to this topography that Ely was not waterlogged like the surrounding Fenland, and was an island separated from the mainland. Major rivers including the
Witham
Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Chelms ...
,
Welland
Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.
The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...
,
Nene and
Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...
feed into the Fens and, until draining commenced in the eighteenth century, formed freshwater marshes and
mere
Mere may refer to:
Places
* Mere, Belgium, a village in East Flanders
* Mere, Cheshire, England
* Mere, Wiltshire, England
People
* Mere Broughton (1938–2016), New Zealand Māori language activist and unionist
* Mere Smith, American televisi ...
s within which peat was laid down. Once the Fens were drained, this peat created a rich and fertile soil ideal for farming.
The
River Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...
was a significant means of transport until the Fens were drained and Ely ceased to be an island in the seventeenth century. The river is now a popular boating spot, and has a large marina. Although now surrounded by land, the city is still known as "The Isle of Ely".
There are two
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
in the city: a former Kimmeridge Clay quarry, and one of the United Kingdom's best remaining examples of medieval
ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open-field system. It is also known as rig (or rigg) and fu ...
agriculture.
The economy of the region is mainly agricultural. Before the Fens were drained,
eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
fishing was an important activity, from which the settlement's name may have been derived. Other important activities included
wildfowling
Waterfowl hunting (also called wildfowling or waterfowl shooting in the UK) is the practice of hunting ducks, geese, or other waterfowl for food and sport.
Many types of ducks and geese share the same habitat, have overlapping or identical hunt ...
, peat extraction, and the harvesting of
osier (willow) and
sedge
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...
(rush). The city had been the centre of local pottery production for more than 700 years, including pottery known as Babylon ware. A
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
,
Akeman Street
Akeman Street is a Roman road in southern England between the modern counties of Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire. It is approximately long and runs roughly east–west.
Akeman Street linked Watling Street just north of Verulamium (near mode ...
, passes through the city; the southern end is at
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas'', ...
near
Wimpole
Wimpole is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. Until 1999, the main settlement on the A603 was officially known and signed as ''New Wimpole and Orwell, Cambridge Road''. On 1 April 19 ...
and its northern end is at
Brancaster
Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or l ...
. Little direct evidence of Roman occupation in Ely exists, although there are nearby Roman settlements such as those at
Little Thetford
Little Thetford is a small village in the civil parish of Thetford, south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of settle ...
and
Stretham
Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam-powered pump used to drain th ...
.
A coach route, known to have existed in 1753 between Ely and Cambridge, was improved in 1769 as a
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
(toll road). The present-day
A10 closely follows this route.
Ely railway station
Ely railway station is on the Fen line in the east of England, serving the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire. It is from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and stations on the Fen line to King's Lynn. It is an important junction for ...
, built in 1845, is on the
Fen Line and is now a railway hub, with lines north to
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
, northwest to
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, east to
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, southeast to
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
and south to Cambridge and London.
Henry II granted the first annual fair, Saint
Etheldreda's (or Saint Audrey's) seven-day event, to the abbot and convent on 10 October 1189. The word "tawdry" originates from cheap lace sold at this fair. A weekly market has taken place in Ely Market Square since at least the 13th century. Markets are now held on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with a
farmers' market
A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...
on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month.
Present-day annual events include the Eel Festival in May, established in 2004, and a fireworks display in Ely Park, first staged in 1974. The city of Ely has been
twinned with Denmark's oldest town,
Ribe
Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,257 (2022). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe covering southwestern Jutland. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding Ribe Municipality, municipali ...
, since 1956.
Ely City Football Club was formed in 1885.
History
Pre-history
Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits is an 8 hectare nature reserve on the eastern outskirts of Ely in Cambridgeshire. It is managed by the Environment Agency. It is part of the Ely Pits and Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)) and Geological Conservation ...
are a
palaeontologically significant
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI) northeast of the city. The Jurassic Kimmeridge Clays were quarried in the 19th and 20th centuries for the production of pottery and for maintenance of river embankments. Many specimens of
ammonite
Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...
s,
belemnite
Belemnitida (or the belemnite) is an extinct order of squid-like cephalopods that existed from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous. Unlike squid, belemnites had an internal skeleton that made up the cone. The parts are, from the arms-most to ...
s and
bivalve
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
s were found during quarrying, in addition to an almost complete specimen of a
pliosaur
Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of plesiosaurs, known from the earliest Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. They are best known for the subclade Thalassophonea, which contained crocodile-like short-necked forms with large heads and massive tooth ...
.
There is some scattered evidence of Late
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
to
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
activity in Ely such as
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
flint tools,
a Bronze Age axe
and spearhead.
There is slightly denser
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
activity with some evidence of at least seasonal occupation. For example, a possible farmstead, of the late Iron Age to early Roman period, was discovered at West Fen Road
and some Roman pottery was found close to the east end of the cathedral on The Paddock.
There was a Roman settlement, including a tile kiln built over an earlier Iron Age settlement, in
Little Thetford
Little Thetford is a small village in the civil parish of Thetford, south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of settle ...
, to the south.
Name
The origin and meaning of Ely's name have always been regarded as obscure by place-name scholars, and are still disputed. The earliest record of the name is in the Latin text of
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
's ''
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...
'', where he wrote ''Elge''. This is apparently not a Latin name, and subsequent Latin texts nearly all used the forms , , or with inorganic ''H-''. In
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
charters, and in the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'', the spelling is usually .
Skeat derived the name Ely from what he called "O
d Northumbrian" , meaning "district of
eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
s". This uses a hypothetical word ''*ġē'', which is not recorded in isolation but thought by some to be related to the modern German word ''
Gau'', meaning "district". The theory is that the name then developed a vowel to become , and was afterwards re-interpreted to mean "Eel Island". This essentially is the explanation accepted by Reaney Ekwall, Mills and Watts.
But difficulties remain. Bailey, in his discussion of ''ġē'' names, has pointed out that Ely would be anomalous if really from "eel district", being remote from the areas where possible examples of ''ġē'' names occur, and moreover, there is no parallel for the use of a fish-name in compounds with ''ġē''. More seriously, the usual English spelling remains , even in the
dative case
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
used after many prepositions, where would be expected if the second element were ''īġ'' "island". This is in conflict with all the other island names which surround Ely.
Problems also remain, as pointed out by historian Mac Dowdy, as the word eel (or similar) did not exist at the time of the founding of Ely, and they were instead referred to as aguilla or anguilles until the 1300s. Mac proposes that instead the city gets its name from the word "Elysium", later shortened to Ely. This is believed as
Etheldreda's chamberlain, Ovin, described it as "an ancient place of great spiritual importance to the people of the region, a paradise". This was later changed as
Wilfrid
Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and ...
's chronicler used the Latin term for Paradise "Elysium".
Another option, discussed by Miller in ''Fenland Notes and Queries'', is that the name is an old Celtic name deriving either from the Brythonic ''helig'' (modern Welsh ''helyg'') meaning willows or ''heli'' meaning salt water. Miller construes the name as meaning the singular and thinks it odd a place so abounding in the trees would be called 'a willow'.
Medieval period
The city's origins lay in the foundation of an abbey in 673,
to the north of the village of
Cratendune
Cratendune () is the name of the lost village reported in the ''Liber Eliensis'', the history of the abbey, then Ely Cathedral, compiled towards the end of the 12th century, as the 500th anniversary of the traditional founding date drew near. As ...
on the Isle of Ely, under the protection of
Saint Etheldreda
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
, daughter of
King Anna
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
. St Etheldreda (also known as
Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth (or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe; 23 June 679 AD) was an East Anglian princess, a Fenland and Northumbrian queen and Abbess of Ely. She is an Anglo-Saxon saint, and is also known as Etheldreda or Audrey, especially in religious ...
) was a queen, founder and abbess of Ely. She built a monastery in 673 AD, on the site of what is now
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...
br>
This first abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders
and rededicated to Etheldreda in 970 by
Æthelwold of Winchester, Ethelwold, Bishop of
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
. The abbots of Ely then accumulated such wealth in the region that in the Domesday survey (1086) it was the "second richest monastery in England". The first
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
bishop,
Simeon
Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon.
Meaning
The name is derived from Simeon, son ...
, started building the cathedral in 1083. The octagon was rebuilt by sacrist Alan of Walsingham between 1322 and 1328 after the collapse of the original nave crossing on 22 February 1322.
Ely's octagon is considered "one of the wonders of the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
world". Architectural historian
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
believes the octagon "is a delight from beginning to end for anyone who feels for space as strongly as for construction" and is the "greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral". This gave the cathedral its distinctive shape, earning it the moniker, "The Ship of the Fens
Building continued until the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolution of the abbey in 1539 during the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
. The cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
. As the seat of a
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
, Ely has long been considered a city; in 1974,
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose.
Historically, city status ...
was granted by
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
.
![Ely Oliver Cromwell House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Ely_Oliver_Cromwell_House.jpg)
Cherry Hill is the site of
Ely Castle which is of Norman construction and is a United Kingdom
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
Of similar construction to
Cambridge Castle
Cambridge Castle, locally also known as Castle Mound, is located in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. Originally built after the Norman conquest to control the strategically important route to the north of England, it played a role in the conf ...
, the diameter, high citadel-type
motte and bailey
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...
is thought to be a royal defence built by
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
following submission of the Isle from rebels such as the
Earl Morcar and the folk-hero
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake (Traditional pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/, modern pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɪ.wəd/) (1035 – 1072) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resista ...
.
This would date the first building of the castle to 1070.
[
]Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...
granted a market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
to the Bishop of Ely using letters close __NOTOC__
Letters close ( la, litterae clausae) are a type of obsolete legal document once used by the Pope, the British monarchy and by certain officers of government, which is a sealed letter granting a right, monopoly, title, or status to an i ...
on 9 April 1224 although Ely had been a trading centre prior to this. Present weekly market days are Thursday and Saturday and seasonal markets are held monthly on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays from Easter to November.
Protestant martyrs
Following the accession of Mary I of England
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
to the throne in 1553, the papacy made its first effective efforts to enforce the Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549.
He came to ...
-initiated Catholic reforms in England. During this time, which became known as the Marian Persecutions
Protestants were executed in England under heresy laws during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509–1547) and Mary I (1553–1558). Radical Christians also were executed, though in much smaller numbers, during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–1553) ...
, two men from Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
, constable William Wolsey and painter Robert Pygot, "were accused of not ... believing that the body and blood of Christ were present in the bread and wine of the sacrament of mass". For this Christian heresy
Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.
In Western Christianity, heresy most commonly refers to those beliefs which were declared to ...
they were condemned by the bishop's chancellor, John Fuller, on 9 October 1555. On 16 October 1555 they were burnt at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment ...
"probably on the Palace Green in front of Ely Cathedral".[ In ''The Book of Ely'' published in 1990, Blakeman writes that "permission was not given" for a memorial to the martyrs to be placed on Palace Green.][ In 2011, a plaque recording this martyrdom event was erected on the northeast corner of Palace Green by the City of Ely Perspective. The plaque is located 2 inches from the pavement floor in an obscure, easily missed corner.
Oliver Cromwell]
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
lived in Ely from 1636 to 1646 after inheriting St Mary's vicarage, a sixteenth-century property—now known as Oliver Cromwell's House— from his mother's brother, Sir Thomas Steward. It is possible to visit this house toda
During this time Cromwell was a tax collector, though was also one of the governors of Thomas Parsons' Charity, which dates back to 1445 and was granted a Royal Charter by Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...
. The Charity still provides grants and housing to deserving local applicants.
There was a form of early workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
in 1687, perhaps at St Mary's, which may have been part of an arrangement made between the Ely people and a Nicholas Wythers of Norwich in 1675. He was paid £30 per annum to employ the poor to "spin jersey" and was to pay them in money not goods. A purpose-built workhouse was erected in 1725 for 35 inmates on what is now St Mary's Court. Four other workhouses existed, including Holy Trinity on Fore Hill for 80 inmates (1738–1956) and the Ely Union workhouse, built in 1837, which housed up to 300 inmates. The latter became Tower Hospital in 1948 and is now a residential building, Tower Court. Two other former workhouses were the Haven Quayside for unmarried mothers and another on the site of what is now the Hereward Hall in Silver Street.
Post-medieval decline
The diaries of writers and journalists such as William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...
, Celia Fiennes
Celia Fiennes (7 June 1662 – 10 April 1741) was an English traveller and writer. She explored England on horseback at a time when travel for its own sake was unusual, especially for women.
Early life
Born at Newton Tony, Wiltshire,"June 7th ...
, Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
, John Byng
Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Passa ...
and William Cobbett
William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...
illustrate the decline of Ely after the 14th century plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
and the 16th century reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
which led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolution of the monastery in 1539. In the 1607 edition of ''Britannia'',[First published in 1586. In 1610, ]Philemon Holland
Philemon Holland (1552 – 9 February 1637) was an English schoolmaster, physician and translator. He is known for the first English translations of several works by Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Plutarch, and also for translating William Camden's ...
translated the 1607 edition from the original ''Latin'' chorographic surveyor William Camden records that "as for Ely it selfe, it is no small Citie, or greatly to be counted off either for beauty or frequency and resort, as having an unwholsome aire by reason of the fens round about". In 1698, Celia Fiennes was writing "the Bishop Simon_Patrick">/nowiki>Simon_Patrick.html" ;"title="Simon_Patrick.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Simon Patrick">/nowiki>Simon Patrick">Simon_Patrick.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Simon Patrick">/nowiki>Simon Patrick/nowiki> does not Care to stay long in this place not being for his health ... they have lost their Charter ... and its a shame [the Bishop] does not see it better ordered and ye buildings and streetes put in a better Condition. They are a slothful people and for little but ye takeing Care of their Grounds and Cattle wch is of vast advantage". Daniel Defoe, when writing in the Eastern Counties section of ''A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain
''A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain'' is an account of his travels by English author Daniel Defoe, first published in three volumes between 1724 and 1727. Other than ''Robinson Crusoe'', ''Tour'' was Defoe's most popular and financial ...
'' (1722), went "to Ely, whose cathedral, standing in a level flat country, is seen far and wide ... that some of it is so antient, totters so much with every gust of wind, looks so like a decay, and seems so near it, that when ever it does fall, all that 'tis likely will be thought strange in it, will be, that it did not fall a hundred years sooner".
John Howard (prison reformer)
John Howard FRS (2 September 1726 – 20 January 1790) was a philanthropist and early English prison reformer.
Birth and early life
Howard was born in North London, either in Hackney or Enfield. His father, also John, was a wealthy upholster ...
visited Ely and described the conditions in The Gaol:-
'This gaol the property of the bishop, who is lord of the franchise
of the Isle of Ely, was in part rebuilt by the late bishop about ten years ago; upon complaint of the cruel method* which for want of a safe gaol, the Keeper took to secure his prisoners (*This was by chaining them down upon their backs on a floor, across which were several iron bars and iron collar with spikes about their neck). The gaoler John Allday did not receive a salary'. He records that the number of debtors outnumbered the number of felons in the prison.
On his way to a Midlands tour, John Byng visited Ely on 5 July 1790 staying at the Lamb Inn. In his diary he writes that "the town lyis mean, to the extreme ... those withdrawn, their dependancies must decay". Recording in his ''Rural Rides
''Rural Rides'' is the book for which the English journalist, agriculturist and political reformer William Cobbett is best known.
At the time of writing in the early 1820s, Cobbett was a radical anti-Corn Law campaigner, newly returned to Englan ...
'' on 25 March 1830, William Cobbett reports that "Ely is what one may call a miserable little town: very prettily situated, but poor and mean. Everything seems to be on the decline, as, indeed, is the case everywhere, where the clergy are the masters".
The Ely and Littleport riots occurred between 22 and 24 May 1816. At the Special Commission assizes, held at Ely between 17 and 22 June 1816, twenty-four rioters were condemned. Nineteen had their sentences variously commuted from penal transportation
Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their ...
for life to twelve-months imprisonment; the remaining five were executed on 28 June 1816.
An outbreak of cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
isolated Ely in 1832.
Victorian and twentieth-century regeneration
Ely Cathedral was "the first great cathedral to be thoroughly restored". Work commenced in 1845 and was completed nearly thirty years later; most of the work was "sympathetically" carried out by the architect George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
. The only pavement labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...
to be found in an English cathedral was installed below the west tower in 1870.
For over 800 years the cathedral and its associated buildings—built on an elevation above the nearby fens—have visually influenced the city and its surrounding area. Geographer John Jones, writing in 1924, reports that "from the roof of King's Chapel in Cambridge, on a clear day, Ely athedralcan be seen on the horizon, distant, an expression of the flatness of the fens". In 1954, architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner wrote "as one approaches Ely on foot or on a bicycle, or perhaps in an open car, the cathedral dominates the picture for miles around ... and offers from everywhere an outline different from that of any other English cathedral". Local historian Pamela Blakeman reports a claim that "Grouped around he cathedralnbsp;... is the largest collection of medieval buildings still in daily use in this country".
Liberty of Ely
The abbey at Ely was one of many which were refounded in the Benedictine reforms of King Edgar the Peaceful
Edgar ( ang, Ēadgār ; 8 July 975), known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. The younger son of King Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, he came to the throne as a teenager following ...
(943–975). The "special and peculiarly ancient" honour and freedoms given to Ely by charter at that time may have been intended to award only fiscal privilege, but have been interpreted to confer on subsequent bishops the authority and power of a ruler. These rights were reconfirmed in charters granted by Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
and in William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
's confirmation of the old English liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
at Kenford.[ The Isle of Ely was mentioned in some statutes as a ]county palatine
In England, Wales and Ireland a county palatine or palatinate was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman enjoying special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom. The name derives from the Latin adjective ''palātīnus'', "relating to ...
; this provided an explanation of the bishop's royal privileges and judicial authority, which would normally belong to the sovereign; but legal authorities such as Sir Edward Coke
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
did not completely endorse the form of words. These bishop's rights were not fully extinguished until 1837.
City status
As the seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
of a diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
, Ely has long been considered a city, holding the status by ancient prescriptive right: the caption to John Speed
John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer, chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins.S. Bendall, 'Speed, John (1551/2–1629), historian and cartographer', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (OUP 2004/ ...
's 1610 plan of Ely reads "Although this Citie of Ely", and Aikin refers to Ely as a city in 1800. When Ely was given a Local Board of Health
Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...
by Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
in 1850, the order creating the board said it was to cover the "city of Ely". The local board which governed the city from 1850 to 1894 called itself "City of Ely Local Board", and the urban district council which replaced it and governed the city from 1894 to 1974 similarly called itself "City of Ely Urban District Council".
Ely's city status was not explicitly confirmed, however, until 1 April 1974 when Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
granted letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
, to its civil parish. Ely's population of 20,256 (as recorded in 2011) classifies it as one of the smallest cities in England; although the population has increased noticeably since 1991 when it was recorded at 11,291. Its urban area brings Ely into the top ten of smallest sized cities (), but by city council area it is much larger in coverage () than many others.
Governance
Parliamentary
For elections to the UK Parliament, Ely is part of the South East Cambridgeshire constituency.
Local government
There are three tiers of local government covering Ely, at parish (city), district, and county level: City of Ely Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
, and Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a mem ...
.
Regular elections take place to the City of Ely Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council. The civil parish is divided into four wards called Ely North, Ely South, Ely East and Ely West. Fourteen councillors are elected to the parish council. The East Cambridgeshire District Council is also based in Ely. For elections to the East Cambridgeshire District Council the four wards of Ely South, Ely East and Ely West each return two district councillors; and Ely North returns three. For elections to the Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a mem ...
the city returns two councillors.
Administrative history
The city was governed by a local board from 1850 until 1894, when it became the City of Ely Urban District Council, which then operated from 1894 to 1974. The Isle of Ely County Council
Isle of Ely County Council was the county council of Isle of Ely in the east of England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 1965. The county council was based at County Hall, March. It was amalgamated with Cambrid ...
governed the Isle of Ely administrative county that surrounding and included the city from 1889 to 1965. In 1965 there was a reform of local government that merged the county council with that of Cambridgeshire to form the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council was the county council of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely in the east of England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1965 and was abolished on 1 April 1974. The county council was based at Shire Hall, C ...
. In 1974 as part of a national reform of local government, the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council merged with the Huntingdon and Peterborough County Council
Huntingdon and Peterborough County Council was the county council of Huntingdon and Peterborough in the east of England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1965 and was abolished on 1 April 1974. The county council was based at Walden House, Hunt ...
to form the Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a mem ...
. The City of Ely Urban District Council became the City of Ely Council, a parish council which covers the same area but with fewer powers, and the East Cambridgeshire District Council
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
which covers a wider area.
Geography
Geology and topography
The west of Cambridgeshire is made up of limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
s from the Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
period, whilst the east Cambridgeshire area consists of Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
(upper Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
) chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
s known locally as clunch
Clunch is a traditional building material of chalky limestone rock used mainly in eastern England and Normandy. Clunch distinguishes itself from archetypal forms of limestone by being softer in character when cut, such as resembling chalk in low ...
. In between these two major formations, the high ground forming the Isle of Ely is from a lower division Cretaceous system known as Lower Greensand
The Lower Greensand Group is a geological unit present across large areas of Southern England. It was deposited during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It predominantly consists of sandstone and unconsolidated sand that were ...
which is capped by Boulder Clay
Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists ...
; all local settlements, such as Stretham
Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam-powered pump used to drain th ...
and Littleport, are on similar islands. These islands rise above the surrounding flat land which forms the largest plain of Britain from the Jurassic system of partly consolidated clays or muds.[ Kimmeridge Clay beds dipping gently west underlie the Lower Greensand of the area exposed, for example, about south of Ely in the ]Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits is an 8 hectare nature reserve on the eastern outskirts of Ely in Cambridgeshire. It is managed by the Environment Agency. It is part of the Ely Pits and Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)) and Geological Conservation ...
. The Lower Greensand is partly capped by glacial deposits
image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
forming the highest point in East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely. The population of the District Council at the 2011 Census was 83,818. The district was formed on 1 April 19 ...
, rising to above sea level in Ely.
The low-lying fens surrounding the island of Ely were formed, prior to the 17th century, by alternate fresh-water and sea-water incursions. Major rivers in the region, including the Witham
Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Chelms ...
, Welland
Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.
The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...
, Nene and Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...
, drain an area of some —five times larger than the fens—into the basin that forms the fens. Defoe in 1774 described the Fens as "the sink of no less than thirteen Counties". On 23 November of that year, Church of England cleric and Christian theologician John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
, wrote of his approach to Ely after visiting Norwich: "about eight, Wednesday, 23, Mr. Dancer met me with a chaise arriageand carried me to Ely. Oh, what want of common sense! Water covered the high road for a mile and a half. I asked, 'How must foot-people come to the town?' 'Why, they must wade through! Peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
formed in the fresh-water swamps and meres whilst silts were deposited by the slow-moving sea-water. Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, supported by Parliament, financed the draining of the fens during the 17th century, led by the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Vermuyden (Sint-Maartensdijk, 1595 – London, 11 October 1677) was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch land reclamation methods to England. Vermuyden was
commissioned by the Crown to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme, ...
; the fens continue to be drained to this day.
Climate
With an average annual rainfall of , Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties in the British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
. Protected from the cool onshore coastal breezes east of the region, Cambridgeshire is warm in summer and cold and frosty in winter. Regional weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia a ...
and historical summaries are available from the UK Met Office
The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...
. The nearest Met Office weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...
is Cambridge.[The UK Metrology Office weather station identifier for Cambridge is NIAB] Additional local weather stations report periodic figures to the internet such as Weather Underground
The Weather Underground was a Far-left politics, far-left militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organiz ...
, Inc.
Demography
The Domesday
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
survey of 1086 revealed 110 households which were mainly rural. In 1251, a survey showed an increase to 345 households[ with the start of urban living although still largely rural.][ By the 1416 survey there were 457 occupied premises in the city and many of the streets were arranged much as they are today.][ See also the cartographer John Speed's plan of Ely, 1610.][ In 1563 there were 800 households and by 1753 the population was recorded as 3,000.][
]
Economy
As an island surrounded by marshes and meres, the fishing of eels was important as both a food and an income for the abbot and his nearby tenants. For example, to the abbot of Ely in 1086, '' Stuntenei'' was worth 24,000 eels, '' Litelport'' 17,000 eels and even the small village of '' Liteltetford'' was worth 3,250 eels. Prior to the extensive and largely successful drainage of the fens during the seventeenth century, Ely was a trade centre for goods made out of willow, reeds and rushes and wild fowling was a major local activity. Peat in the form of "turf" was used as a fuel and in the form of "moor" as a building material. Ampthill Clay was dug from the local area for the maintenance of river banks and Kimmeridge Clay at Roswell Pits for the making of pottery wares. In general, from a geological perspective, "The district is almost entirely agricultural and has always been so. The only mineral worked at the present time is gravel for aggregate, although chalk, brick clay (Ampthill and Kimmeridge clays), phosphate (from Woburn Sands, Gault and Cambridge Greensand), sand and gravel, and peat have been worked on a small scale in the past".
Phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
nodules, referred to locally as coprolite
A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is de ...
s, were dug in the area surrounding Ely between 1850 and 1890 for use as an agricultural fertiliser. This industry provided significant employment for the local labour force. One of the largest sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
factories in England was opened in Queen Adelaide
, house = Saxe-Meiningen
, father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
, mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy Rom ...
, from the centre of Ely, in 1925. The factory closed in 1981, although sugar beet is still farmed locally.
Pottery was made in Ely from the 12th century until 1860: records show around 80 people who classed their trade as potters. "Babylon ware" is the name given to pottery made in one area of Ely. This ware is thought to be so named because there were potters in an area cut off from the centre by the re-routing of the River Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...
around 1200; by the seventeenth century this area had become known as Babylon. Although the reason for the name is unclear, by 1850 it was in official use on maps. The building of the Ely to King's Lynn railway in 1847 cut the area off even further, and the inhabitants could only cross to Ely by boat.
Culture
Annual events
Annual fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
s have been held in Ely since the twelfth century. Saint Audrey's ( Etheldreda's) seven-day fair, held either side of 23 June, was first granted officially by Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...
to the abbot and convent on 10 October 1189. At this fair, cheap necklaces, made from brightly coloured silk, were sold—these were called "tawdry lace". "Tawdry", a corruption of "Saint Audrey", now means "pertaining to the nature of cheap and gaudy finery". Two other fairs, the 15‑day festival of St Lambert, first granted in 1312 and the 22‑day fair beginning on the Vigil of the Ascension, first granted in 1318.[ The festival of St Lambert had stopped by the eighteenth century. St Etheldreda's and the Vigil of the Ascension markets still continue, although the number of days have been considerably reduced and the dates have changed.
Present-day annual events in Ely include Aquafest, which has been staged at the riverside by the Rotary Club on the first Sunday of July since 1978.] Other events include the Eel Day carnival procession and the annual fireworks display in Ely Park, first staged in 1974. The Ely Folk Festival has been held in the city since 1985. The Ely Horticultural Society have been staging their Great Autumn Show since 1927. In 2018 Ely hosted the 'Pride' festival, celebrating LGBT and diversity. At the inaugural festival 'For The Hornets' headlined and the cathedral flew the pride rainbow flag.
Twin town
Since September 1956, Ely has been twinned with Ribe
Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,257 (2022). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe covering southwestern Jutland. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding Ribe Municipality, municipali ...
, Denmark's oldest town and part of the Municipality of Esbjerg; officials from Ribe first came to Ely in 1957. The golden anniversary of this twinning was celebrated in 2006. Exchange visits occur roughly every two years.
Museums and attractions
The city of Ely has several visitor attractions, including The Stained Glass Museum, the only museum dedicated to stained glass in the UK. The Stained Glass Museum is located inside Ely Cathedral and has a collection of stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
from the 13th century to the present day. Ely Museum, housed in the old city gaol, is a local history museum which tells the story of Ely and the surrounding Fens
A fen is a type of wetland.
Fen, Fenn, Fens, Fenns, may also refer to:
People
* Fen (name), a Chinese given name and surname
* Fen Cresswell (1915–1966), New Zealand cricketer
* Fen McDonald (1891–1915), Australian rules footballer
* Kees ...
from pre-historic times to the present day. Oliver Cromwell's House is the former family home of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
, and houses an exhibition about Cromwell and the English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
Landmarks
War memorial
A cannon, captured during the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
at the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)
The siege of Sevastopol (at the time called in English the siege of Sebastopol) lasted from October 1854 until September 1855, during the Crimean War. The allies ( French, Sardinian, Ottoman, and British) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September ...
and given to Ely by Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
in 1860, is located on Palace Green, west of the cathedral.[ The inscription reads "Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War presented to the people of Ely by Queen Victoria in 1860 to mark the creation of the Ely Rifle Volunteers".][ The cannon was cast at the Alexandrovski factory in 1802, the factory's director being the Englishman, ]Charles Gascoigne
Charles Gascoigne (1738–1806) was a British industrialist at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. He was a partner and manager of the Carron Company ironworks in its early years, but left in 1786, before the company's success became ob ...
. The serial number is 8726. The calibre is and the weight is 252 pood
''Pood'' ( rus, пуд, r=pud, p=put, plural: or ) is a unit of mass equal to 40 ''funt'' (, Russian pound). Since 1899 it is set to approximately 16.38 kilograms (36.11 pounds). It was used in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. ''Pood'' was first ...
s, or about . The cannon is mounted on an iron carriage which would previously have been mounted on a "heavy iron traversing slide" known as 'Systeme Venglov 1853'. The Ely Rifle Volunteers
The Rifle Volunteers was a regiment of the British Territorial Army. In 2007, it was re-designated as 6th Battalion, The Rifles.
History
The ''Rifle Volunteers'' were formed in 1999 by the amalgamation of the 6th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Ligh ...
, formed in 1860, became part of the Cambridgeshire Regiment
The Cambridgeshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, and was part of the Territorial Army. Originating in units of rifle volunteers formed in 1860, the regiment served in the Second Anglo-Boer War and the First and Secon ...
during 1914–1918 then subsequently part of the Royal Anglian Regiment
The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...
until disbanded in 1999.
Notable buildings
There are twenty three Grade I, six Grade II* and one hundred and fifty three Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s in the city of Ely.
Cherry Hill, to the south of Cathedral Park, is the remains of the Norman period, motte and bailey, Ely Castle. The earliest written record of this by castle is in the time of Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...
.
Two twelfth century hospitals, St Mary Magdalene founded 1172 and St John the Baptist founded 1200, were on the site of what is now a four-building farmstead in West End. Building dates are not known but the extant remains indicate 1175–85. Bishop Northwold merged the two hospitals in 1240. The farmstead Grade I listed building status was graded on 23 September 1950 between four properties: St John's farmhouse, a barn to the southwest (formerly chapel of St John), a barn to the north (formerly chapel of St Mary) and a dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
. Above the north doorway of the southwestern barn of St John's farmhouse is a carved Barnack stone
Barnack is a village and civil parish, now in the Peterborough unitary authority of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England and the historic county of Northamptonshire. Barnack is in the north-west of the unitary authority, south-east ...
which is built into the thirteenth century wall. The stone is thought to have been robbed from the Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
monastery of St Etheldreda. This heavily weathered eighth-century stone shows a man blowing a horn whilst riding on an ox.
John Alcock, Bishop of Ely and founder of Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
, constructed the Bishop's Palace during his bishopric, between 1486 and 1500; of the original fabric, only the east tower and the lower part of the west tower remain. A "startlingly huge" London Plane tree, planted in 1680, still grows in the garden and is "said to be one of the largest in England". Benjamin Lany
Benjamin Lany (or Laney; 1 January 1591 – 24 January 1675) was an English academic and bishop.
Early life
The son of John Laney, Benjamin Lany was born in Ipswich. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge in 1608, graduating B.A. 1612, M.A ...
, Bishop of Ely from 1667 until 1675, demolished much of Alcock's work and thus became responsible for most of the present-day building. This Grade I listed building is southwest of and close to the west end of the cathedral, opposite the original village green, now named Palace Green.
St Mary's Vicarage, better known locally as Cromwell's House, is a Grade II* listed building of mainly sixteenth-century plaster-frame construction although there exist some stone arches, 1380. A plaque on the front of the house records that this is "Cromwell House, the residence of Oliver Cromwell from 1636 to 1647 when collector of Ely Tithes".[ Between 1843 and 1847 the house was the ''Cromwell Arms'' public house and it was restored in 1905 when it was given its "timbered appearance". The house was opened as a re-creation of seventeenth-century living and a tourist information centre on 6 December 1990.][ The former Ely ]Gaol
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...
is a late seventeenth-century Grade II listed building which since has been the Ely museum. From the thirteenth century, buildings on this site have been; a private house, a tavern and—since 1836 when the Bishop transferred his thirteenth-century prison from Ely Porta—the Bishop's Gaol. It was a registry office prior to becoming a museum.[
The Maltings is another of Ely's distinguishing buildings. Built in 1868 as part of Ebenezer William Harlock's brewery complex, the Maltings was used to process locally grown barley into Malt for brewing. The Maltings is located on Ely's Waterside and has since left its brewing days behind. It is now a venue that hosts live events and entertainment as well as private functions such as weddings and business conferences.
The Maltings is also home to the Ely-Ribe Tapestry. The Ely-Ribe Tapestry was commissioned in 2004 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the twinning of the two towns; Ely in Cambridgeshire England and Ribe in Jutland, Denmark. The designer, Ullrich described the Tapestry as "a portrait of two different cities in two different countries".
The Lamb Hotel is a Grade II listed building which is prominently situated on the corner of Lynn Road and High Street north of the west end of the cathedral. The hotel was erected as a ]coaching house
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...
on the site of the previous Lamb Inn during 1828 and 1829. At that time it had stabling for 30 horses and a lock-up for two coaches. In 1906 it had five bedrooms for the landlord, 15 rooms for lodgers, room for 15 horses and 12 vehicles. In 2007 it had 31 rooms for guests.[ It is claimed that an inn has existed on the site since Bishop Fordham's survey between 1416 and 1417.] It is also claimed that an inn existed on the site in 1690, but no earlier.
The city's courthouse was built in 1821, being known both as Shire Hall and Sessions House. It ceased operation in 2011 as part of central government measures to close 93 magistrates' court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales)
* Magistrate's Cour ...
s across England and Wales. The building was subsequently acquired by City of Ely Council in 2013 to serve as their offices and meeting place.
Notable sites
The former Kimmeridge Clay quarry Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits is an 8 hectare nature reserve on the eastern outskirts of Ely in Cambridgeshire. It is managed by the Environment Agency. It is part of the Ely Pits and Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)) and Geological Conservation ...
, southwest of Ely Cathedral, is now a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The trees in Abbey Park were planted on Mount Hill in 1779 by James Bentham, a minor Canon (priest), canon of Ely. Ely Castle once stood on Mount Hill, which was renamed Cherry Hill following the tree plantings by Bentham. The Chettisham Meadow SSSI is a medieval ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open-field system. It is also known as rig (or rigg) and fu ...
grassland about north of the city centre. This site, one of the UK's best remaining examples of ridge and furrow agriculture, also contains protected species such as the Anacamptis morio, Green-winged Orchid.
Transport
Rail
Ely railway station
Ely railway station is on the Fen line in the east of England, serving the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire. It is from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and stations on the Fen line to King's Lynn. It is an important junction for ...
, on the Fen Line, is a major railway hub with the Cambridge railway station, Cambridge to Ely section opening in 1845. Five major railway lines—excluding the former Ely and St Ives Railway—emanate from this hub: north to King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
, northwest to Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, east to Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, southeast to Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
and south to Cambridge and London. At the opening of the King's Lynn, Lynn and Ely railway "with great éclat"[ on 25 October 1847, the Ely station building, completed in 1847, was described by ''The Illustrated London News'' as "an extensive pile][OED ''pile'', n. 2. a.]
A large building or edifice, esp. a stately home
in pleasing mixed Greek Revival architecture, Grecian and Architecture of Italy, Italian style".[ The former Ely and St Ives Railway, known locally as the Grunty Fen Express, opened in 1865 but was never popular. In 1866, the return journey from Ely to Sutton-in-the-Isle cost two shilling (British coin), shillings, which equates to a cost of almost £][Using Retail Prices Index (United Kingdom), RPI as described i]
Choosing the Best Indicator to Measure Relative Worth
in . The line closed to passengers in February 1931 and completely closed in 1964. , train operating companies using Ely were: Thameslink and Great Northern, Great Northern, Greater Anglia (train operating company), Greater Anglia, CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway with direct trains to Cambridge, London, most of East Anglia, the English Midlands, Midlands and the Northern England, North. There are connecting services to many other parts of England and to Scotland.
Road
A Roman roads in Britain, Roman road, named Akeman Street
Akeman Street is a Roman road in southern England between the modern counties of Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire. It is approximately long and runs roughly east–west.
Akeman Street linked Watling Street just north of Verulamium (near mode ...
, has been documented from Ermine Street
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas'', ...
near Wimpole
Wimpole is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. Until 1999, the main settlement on the A603 was officially known and signed as ''New Wimpole and Orwell, Cambridge Road''. On 1 April 19 ...
through Cambridge, Stretham
Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam-powered pump used to drain th ...
and Ely to Brancaster
Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or l ...
through Denver, Norfolk, Denver. This is not the same road as the major Roman road named Akeman Street which started from ''Verulamium'' (southwest of St Albans) then via Tring and Aylesbury terminating near Alchester (Roman town), Alchester. In Bishop John Fordham's survey of Ely in 1416–1417, an east to west ''Akermanstrete'' or ''Agemanstrete'' is mentioned, which now forms part of the east–west Egremont Street. Akeman Street would have been oriented north-south passing through central Ely and therefore the east–west oriented Egremont Street cannot have a Roman origin. It is suggested that the Wimpole to Brancaster road name of "Akeman" was derived by antiquarians, without justification, from ''Acemanes-ceastre'', an ancient name for Bath, Somerset, Bath.
Medieval accountant, Clement of Thetford made, or had others make on his behalf, many journeys between 1291 and 1292, as evidenced by his sacristan, sacrist's rolls—the earliest known roll of the Ely Monastery. For example, he travelled the [This distance and all following medieval road distances are calculated on contemporary roads using Google Maps] to Bury (Bury St Edmunds) fair to obtain rice, sugar, etc., the to Barnwell, Cambridgeshire, Barnwell for wheels, axles, etc. for carts, then the to St Botolph's (Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston) for wine, the to Reche (Reach, Cambridgeshire, Reach) for steel and iron and the to London, principally for things needed in the vestry for the service of the Church, but also to pay taxes.[ Some or parts of these journeys will have been made by river.
The eighteenth-century historian Edmund Carter (topographer), Edmund Carter, in his 1753 ''History of the County of Cambridge &c.'', described a thrice-weekly coach journey "for the conveniency of sending and receiving letters and small parcels" from the Lamb Inn, Ely to the post-house, Cambridge.] In the 1760s, the Reverend James Bentham, an antiquarian and minor canon of Ely, encouraged the ecclesiastical authorities and townspeople of Ely to subscribe to a Turnpike trust, turnpike road between Ely and Cambridge; improvements which started in 1769. The eighteenth century London to King's Lynn coach route, documented by the United Kingdom Postmaster General, Postmaster General's surveyor, John Cary, passed through Ely with a stop at the Lamb Inn, a coaching inn in 1753 and extant as the Lamb Hotel. Cary measured the distance of the London (Shoreditch) to Ely section as being . The A142 road#Triple-digit roads, A142 road from Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket to Chatteris passes east–west, south of the town.
Ely is on the north-south A10 road from London to King's Lynn; the southwestern bypass of the town was built in 1986. A proposal for an Ely southeast bypass of the A142 is included in the major schemes of the Cambridgeshire Local Transport Plan. The proposed route would include of new road between new roundabout junctions on Stuntney Causeway and Angel Drove. The bypass is intended to reduce congestion in Ely, and to avoid the low bridge on the Ely to King's Lynn railway line, which has the third highest vehicle strike rate in the country. Proposals for the bypass went to public consultation in October 2011 and the County Council and District Council have announced that they may fund some of the costs of construction (estimated to be up to £28 million) with contributions from developers who wish to build a retail park near the proposed route.
The bypass, completed at £13m over budget, opened on 31 October 2018.
River
The local rivers were historically-important transport links, but are now mainly used for leisure. The Great Ouse provides a link to the sea at King's Lynn, and the River Cam flows from Cambridge to join the Great Ouse to the south of Ely. Cnut the Great, King Cnut arrived at Ely by boat for the Purification of St Mary; "When they were approaching land [at Ely], the king rose up in the middle of his men and directed the boatmen to make for the little port[Here Fairweather postulates that in the 10th century it may have been possible to "row considerably nearer to the monastery" than is possible today] at full speed". Archaeological excavations in the year 2000, between Broad Street and the present river, revealed artificially cut channels "at right-angles to the present river front" thus "evidently part of the medieval port of Ely". In 1753, Carter reports that "for the conveniency of passengers, and heavy goods to and from Cambridge" a boat left Ely every Tuesday and Friday for Cambridge; the journey took six hours.[
]
Religious sites
Ely Cathedral
The Anglican Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity is known as the Ship of the Fens, a name inspired by the distant views of its towers, which dominate the low-lying wetlands known as "The Fens".[ The diocese of Ely was created in 1108 out of the see of Lincoln, and a year later the bishopric of Ely was founded. Construction of the cathedral was begun by ]William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
in 1083, with it finally opening in 1189 after 116 years. On 22 February 1322 it suffered the collapse of the Crossing (architecture), crossing, which was rebuilt as an octagon. The cathedral was completed in 1351. John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
wrote of his 22 November 1774 visit to Ely that "the cathedral, [is] one of the most beautiful I have seen. The western tower is exceedingly grand, and the nave of an amazing height".[
Ely is the nearest cathedral city to Cambridge, which lies within the same diocese. The Diocese of Ely covers , 641,000 people (2011) and 335 churches. It includes the county of Cambridgeshire, except for much of ]Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, and three parishes in the south which are in the diocese of Chelmsford. The Diocese of Ely also includes the western part of Norfolk, a few parishes in Peterborough and Essex, and one in Bedfordshire.
Other churches
St Mary's Church, Ely, St Mary's Church, dedicated by Eustace (Bishop of Ely), Bishop Eustace, is an early thirteenth-century building with a 1300 spire and tower with eight bells. The church was heavily restored starting in 1877. St Etheldreda's Church, Ely, The Roman Catholic Church of St. Etheldreda, in Egremont Street, dates from 1891. The Methodist chapel, in Chapel Street, was built in 1818 and was restored in 1891. The Salem Baptist chapel was erected in 1840. The Church of St Peter-in-Ely on Broad Street was built in 1890; the architect was James Piers St Aubyn and it contains a fine Ninian Comper rood screen. The Countess Free Church, Ely, Countess Free Church is part of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. From 1566 to 1938 the parish church for Holy Trinity was the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral.
Sport
Ely City F.C. was established in 1885, joined the Eastern Counties Football League in 1960, and have been members of the league's Premier Division since 2007. In the 1997–1998 season, they reached the 3rd round of the FA Vase. Ely Tigers Rugby Club currently play in the London 3: Eastern Counties Division. A short lived Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing track was opened in May 1933 at the Downham Road Stadium. The racing was independent of the National Greyhound Racing Club.
The University of Cambridge rowing club has a boathouse on the bank of the river, and trains there for the annual The Boat Race, Boat Race against the University of Oxford. In 1944 and The Boat Race 2021, 2021, the Boat Race took place on a course on the Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...
on the outskirts of Ely, moved from the River Thames due to World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The Isle of Ely Rowing Club was formed to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the former event.
In 1973, Ely won the international ''Jeux Sans Frontières'' competition (known in Britain as ''It's a Knockout!''), becoming the last British town to win the title outright.
Education
The The King's School, Ely, King's School is a coeducational boarding school which was granted a royal charter in 1541 by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII. King's Ely claims to have beginnings in the re-foundation of St Etheldreda's monastery in 970 by the Benedictine order. The wealthy sent their sons to such places to learn how to read and translate Latin texts. Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
may have been educated at Ely between 1005 and 1010. "The teaching of grammar continued in the cloisters [of Ely] and this tradition was the forerunner of the Cathedral Grammar School, today known as The King's School Ely".
Needham's Charity School was founded in 1740 in Back Hill by Mrs Catherine Needham 'for the education, clothing and apprenticement of poor children'.[J.H.Clements, A Brief History of Ely and neighbouring villages in the Isle, 1868] There were originally 24 free scholars aged 9 to 14 years of age.' After a period in St Mary's Street, Needham's School relocated to a new building in Downham Road adjacent to Ely High School in 1969. The original building on Back Hill is now part of King's Ely.
The National School for boys was located in Silver Street. There was a National School for Girls in Market Street. Both National Schools received bursaries from the Parson's Charity. The Broad Street School was erected in 1858. In later years the Silver Street and Broad Street schools operated as St Mary's Junior School with one year group (Y5) in Broad Street.
The Ely High School for Girls opened in 1905 in St. Mary's Street, moving to the Downham Road site in 1957 on a large site which also housed St Audrey's Infant School which opened on 15 May 1953. In 1972 Ely High School closed when state secondary education in the area changed to the comprehensive model, the site becoming the City of Ely VIth Form College, part of Ely Community College which is currently Ely College.
In 1940 the Bishop's Palace was acquired by the Red Cross as a hospital and after the second world war it became a school, known as The Palace School, for disabled children and young people.
Education in Ely, as of 2017, includes: King's Ely; Ely College; The Lantern Community Primary School; St Mary's CofE Junior School; Isle of Ely Primary School; St John's Community Primary School and Highfield Special Academy.
Public services
Anglian Water supplies the city's Water supply, water and Sewage collection and disposal, sewerage services from their Ely Public Water Supply.[zone FE33] The water quality was reported as excellent in 2011. In the same report, the Hard water, hardness was reported as 292 mg/L. The nearest reservoir, Grafham Water, is west of the city.
The distribution network operator for Electricity generation, electricity is EDF Energy. The largest straw-burning power station in the world is at nearby Sutton. This renewable energy resource power station rated at 36.85 Megawatt, MW from burning biomass, nearly 25 percent of the total renewable energy reported for Cambridgeshire in 2009.
East Cambridgeshire District Council is part of the Recycling in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (RECAP) Partnership, which was granted Beacon Council (award), Beacon status for waste and recycling in 2006–07.
The Princess of Wales Hospital, Ely, Princess of Wales Hospital in the north of Ely was built during the Second World War by the Royal Air Force, and until 1993 it served nearby RAF stations including RAF Marham, Marham, RAF Feltwell, Feltwell, RAF Lakenheath, Lakenheath, and RAF Mildenhall, Mildenhall. in 1987 Diana, Princess of Wales renamed the hospital, and it is now a community hospital operated by the Lifespan Healthcare NHS trust which treats 40,000 outpatients per year. Acute cases are handled by four other hospitals in the region, including Addenbrooke's Hospital and Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, south of Ely.
Notable people
The former RAF hospital based in Ely meant that many children of serving RAF parents were born in the city, including rugby union player and Rugby World Cup 2003 winning manager with England national rugby union team, England national rugby team, Clive Woodward, Australian émigrée actor Guy Pearce, and actors Sam Callis, Simon MacCorkindale and David Westhead. Autogyro world record-holder Ken Wallis was also born in Ely. Other notable people from Ely include The Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch, journalist Chris Hunt and Margaret Tebbit. Crime writer Jim Kelly (author), Jim Kelly and award-winning poet Wendy Cope.
In popular culture
Children's book Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce is partly set in Ely and includes a scene in Ely Cathedral and scenes inspired by the author's father's own childhood experiences of skating along the frozen river from Cambridge to Ely in the frost of 1894–95. The first series of Jim Kelly (author), Jim Kelly's crime novels, featuring journalist Philip Dryden, is largely set in the author's home town of Ely and in the Fens. Graham Swift's 1983 novel Waterland (novel), Waterland takes place, and recounts several historical events, in and around the town of Ely.
The ''Tales of the Unexpected (TV series), Tales of the Unexpected'' episode "The Flypaper" was filmed in Ely.
The album cover for Pink Floyd's ''The Division Bell'' was created by Storm Thorgerson with Ely as the background between two massive sculptures that he had erected outside the city.
Freedom of the City
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Ely.
Individuals
* Malcolm Fletcher, saxophonist with the Ely Military Band: 18 December 2017.
Military units
* RAF Hospital Ely, 1977
* RAF Strike Command: 26 September 1987.
* 6th Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment
The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...
: 1977.
* 1094 (City of Ely) Squadron Air Training Corps, 2019
See also
* List of places in Cambridgeshire
References
Footnotes
Notes
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Further reading
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External links
* Historical documents relating to Ely, including Church of England parish registers, court records, maps and photographs, are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office in Cambridge.
Spotted in Ely
– the biggest Social Media project for Ely
Ely Online
– the longest-established website about Ely which has been online since 1996.
*
{{authority control
Ely, Cambridgeshire,
673 establishments
Populated places on the River Great Ouse
Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire
Towns in Cambridgeshire
Cities in the East of England
7th-century establishments in England
East Cambridgeshire District