The city of Ely formed a local government district in the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures that ...

and

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 ...

from 1850 to 1974. It was administered as a local board district from 1850 to 1894, and as an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

from 1894 to 1974. Unusually for somewhere which claimed

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 ...

, Ely was not a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

History

Ely was declared to be a local board district on 15 July 1850, covering the two parishes of Ely Holy Trinty and Ely St Mary, plus the unparished area known as Ely College which surrounded the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

. The order creating the local board described the district as the "city of Ely", and the new body called itself the "City of Ely Local Board". The district also included a detached area of 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 ...

, some west of the city, known as Witcham Gravel. After elections, the local board held its first meeting on 11 October 1850 at the Shire Hall on Lynn Road in Ely, which was also known as Sessions House and was primarily used as a courthouse. George Peacock, dean of Ely Cathedral, was appointed the first chairman of the board. The Ely Local Board District formed part of the

, a liberty within

with its own

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

, which became a separate

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

when county councils were established in 1889. The new county council chose to base itself in

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

, unlike the quarter sessions it replaced, which had met alternately at

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 ...

and at the Shire Hall in Ely. Under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, local board districts became urban districts on 31 December 1894. Ely Urban District Council held its first meeting on 8 January 1895, when Charles Bidwell was appointed the first chairman of the council. He ran the firm of

Bidwells Bidwells LLP is a multi-disciplined firm of property and agribusiness consultants offering property services and consultancy in the U.K. Bidwells has 13 offices throughout the U.K, 9 of which are located in England and 4 in Scotland. Property Week ...

, and had been chairman of the old local board since 1888. The urban district council continued to meet at Shire Hall, as the local board had done. The council called itself the "City of Ely Urban District Council". In 1912 the council built a fire station at 6 Lynn Road, immediately south of Shire Hall. The

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

within the urban district were simplified in 1933, when the detached area at Witcham Gravel was transferred to the parish of

Witcham Witcham is a small village near Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. The village is surrounded by fenland farms and has a village hall and a 13th-century church dedicated to St Martin. It has a pub called the White Horse, which was the winner of t ...

and the two parishes of Holy Trinity and St Mary merged to form a single parish called Ely Holy Trinity and St Mary. Ely UD 1935

During the Second World War, the responsibility for running fire brigades passed from district councils to the National Fire Service, and a new fire station for the city was built on Egremont Street. After the war, the council converted the old fire station at 6 Lynn Road to become its offices and meeting place. In 1965 the two administrative counties of Isle of Ely and Cambridgeshire merged to form a single county called Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely, which therefore became the county-level authority covering Ely Urban District.

Abolition

Ely Urban District was abolished under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. On 1 April 1974 the area became part of the new

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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 ...

. A

successor parish Successor parishes are civil parishes with a parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of urban districts and municipal boroughs: a total of 300 successor parishes were formed from the ...

was created covering the former Ely Urban District, with city status being granted to the new parish on 1 April 1974, the day it came into being, allowing the parish council to call itself City of Ely Council. The new East Cambridgeshire District Council initially used the old urban district council's offices at 6 Lynn Road for some of its departments, but the building has since been demolished, with the district council having consolidated its offices at The Grange on Nutholt Lane. The City of Ely Council was based at the Old Gaol at 4 Lynn Road until the mid 1990s, then at 72 Market Street. In 2013 it acquired the Sessions House (formerly known as Shire Hall), which had ceased to operate as a magistrates court in 2011. The city council is therefore now based in the building where its predecessors, the local board and the urban district council, had met from 1850 until the 1940s.

References

{{reflist Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 History of Cambridgeshire Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894 Urban districts of England Ely, Cambridgeshire