Ely, Cambridgeshire
Encyclopedia
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire
, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge
and about 80 miles (129 km) by road from London. It is built on a 23 square miles (59.6 km²) Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of 85 feet (25.9 m) is the highest land in the Fens
. Owing to its strategic location and inherent defensibility, the Isle of Ely was seized and held by rebels on several occasions during the Middle Ages.
Æthelthryth
(Etheldreda) founded an abbey
on the island of Ely in AD 673; the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders. The abbey was re-dedicated to Etheldreda by Ethelwold
, Bishop
of Winchester
, in 970. Construction of the cathedral
was started in 1083 by the first Norman
bishop, Simeon
. Sacrist Alan of Walsingham
's octagon, built over Ely's nave
crossing
between 1322 and 1328, is the "... greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral" according to architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
. Building continued until the dissolution
of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation. The works of chorographic
surveyor
William Camden
in 1586 and the journalist
William Cobbett
in 1830 chart a long period of degeneration. During the Gothic revival, the cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott
. Ely's regeneration continued with the coming of the railways in 1845. Ely railway station
, on the Fen Line
, is now a major railway hub: north to King's Lynn
, north-west to Peterborough
, east to Norwich
, south-east to Ipswich
and south to Cambridge and London.
Major rivers including the Witham
, Welland
, Nene
and Great Ouse
, feed into the Fens and, until man-assisted draining commencing in the seventeenth century, formed fresh-water marsh
es and mere
s within which peat
was laid down. There are two sites of special scientific interest
in the city; a former Kimmeridge Clay
quarry
and one of the United Kingdom's best remaining examples of medieval ridge and furrow
agriculture. The town of Ely was long considered a city
by virtue of being the seat of a diocese
. In 1974 city status
was granted by royal charter
on the Ely parish council. The economy of the region is mainly agricultural, although before the fens were drained
the harvesting of osier (rush) and sedge
and the extraction of peat were important activities, as were eel
fishing and fowling
. The city has been the centre of local pottery production for more than seven hundred years, including pottery known as Babylon-ware.
The Roman
Road Akeman Street starting from Ermine Street
near Wimpole
through to Brancaster
via central Ely. There is another Roman Road named Akeman Street
. Little direct evidence of significant Roman occupation exists within Ely itself, although Roman settlements are known nearby at places such as Little Thetford
and Stretham
. In 1753 a coach route existed between Cambridge and Ely; this was improved in 1769 as a turnpike
(toll-road). The present day A10 closely follows this route. The south-western bypass
of the city of Ely was built in 1986.
are a palaeontologically
significant Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) 1 miles (1.6 km) north-east of the city. The Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay
s were mined in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for the production of pottery and for maintenance of river embankments. During this process many specimens of ammonite
s, belemnites and bivalves were found including most of a Pliosaur
us.
There is some scattered evidence of Late Mesolithic
and Bronze Age
activity in Ely such as Neolithic
flint tools, a Bronze Age axe and a Bronze Age spearhead. Archaeology within Ely has shown there to be slightly denser Iron Age
and Roman
activity with some evidence of at least seasonal occupation. For example, a possible farmstead, of the late Iron Age 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
, 3 miles (4.8 km) south.
region", from the eels abundant in the marshes around; Elge 731,Elyg 1086 (Domesday Book
).
The city's origins lay in the foundation of an abbey in AD 673, a mile (1.6 km) to the north of the village of Cratendune
on the Isle of Ely
, under the protection of St Ethelreda
, daughter of King Anna
. This first abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish
invaders and then re-dedicated to Etheldreda in 970 by Ethelwold
, Bishop
of Winchester
. The first Norman
bishop, Simeon
, 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 by some to be "... one of the wonders of the medieval
world, ...". Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
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".
Cherry Hill is the site of Ely Castle
which is of Norman
construction and is a United Kingdon scheduled monument. Of similar construction to Cambridge Castle
, Ely's 250 feet (76.2 m) diameter 40 feet (12.2 m) high citadel-type motte-and-bailey
is thought to be a royal defence built by William I; following the submission of the isle from rebels such as the Earl Mocar and the folk-hero Hereward the Wake
. This would date the first building of the castle to circa 1070.
In 1142, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex
and Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke
were sent by King Stephen of England
to suppress the uprising of a group of knights who had established a base there. The castle may also have been used during this episode. De Mandeville's allegiance switched between Stephen and Empress Matilda
as it suited him, and when Bishop Nigel travelled to Rome, de Mandeville, who had noted the ease with which the isle could be defended, took possession of it and held it against the king. From Ely, he and his rebels terrorised the surrounding Fens until 1144, when Stephen's army took control and de Mandeville was killed at Fordham. The same defensible quality of the Isle of Ely was noted by King Henry III
in 1256. He was concerned that the Isle could again be seized and held by rebels, and ordered the Church to ensure that the entrance to the Isle was guarded "from sunset to sunrise so that no unlawful person could enter". In 1266, rebels supporting Simon de Montfort
and styling themselves "The Disinherited" seized the Isle as a base for raiding the uplands. Supplies, livestock and wealthy persons were taken and carried back to Ely; the rich were held to ransom. After 1300, extreme care was taken in choosing bishops for Ely to ensure that they were loyal to the throne. Despite this, the city took part in the Peasants' Revolt
of 1381.
Oliver Cromwell
lived in Ely for several years after inheriting the position of local tax collector in 1636. His former home dates to the sixteenth century and is now used by the Tourist Information Office, as well as being a museum with rooms displayed as they would have been in Cromwell's time. Cromwell was one of the Governors of the Thomas Parson's Charity, which dates back to the fifteenth century (1445) and was granted a Royal Charter by Charles I
. The Original Charter and copies of the Minute Book containing Oliver Cromwell's handwriting and signature have been loaned to the Ely Museum. The Charity still provides Grants and Housing to deserving local applicants. During the English Civil War
, Cambridgeshire was strongly on the parliamentarian
side, but one of Bishop Matthew Wren
's churchmen attempted to read a Royal proclamation at Ely. Some of the fenmen joined the Royalist
army, and in 1642 parliament ordered that the land should be re-flooded by breaking of the dykes to stop a Royalist advance. The area became increasingly Puritan in outlook, and during the Ely assize of 1647 there were thirteen executions of witches.
in 1687, perhaps at St Mary's, which may have been part of the arrangement made between the Ely people and a Norwich man 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: 1738–1956 Holy Trinity on Fore Hill for 80 inmates, 1837– Ely Union which became Tower Hospital and is now the residential Tower Court, The Haven Quayside for unmarried mothers and finally the site of what is now the Hereward Hall in Silver Street.
The diaries of writers such as William Camden
, Celia Fiennes
, Daniel Defoe
, John Byng
and William Cobbett
show a picture of the decline of Ely and its cathedral following the fourteenth-century plague
and sixteenth-century reformation
which in turn led to the dissolution
of the abbey in 1539. In the 1607 edition of the Britannia,first published in 1586 and translated from the original Latin by Philemon Holland
in 1610 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, the English traveller Celia Fiennes was writing "The Bishop[ Simon Patrick
] 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".Journalist and writer Daniel Defoe, when writing in the Eastern Counties section of A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain
in 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". On his way to a Midlands tour, notable diarist John Byng visited Ely on the 5 July 1790. In his diary he writes that "The town [Ely] is mean, to the extreme; ... those withdrawn, their dependancies must decay; ...". Recording in his Rural Rides
on 25 March 1830, journalist 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 Littleport
and Ely. 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
for life to twelve-months imprisonment. Five of the twenty-four were executed on 28 June 1816.
Ely Cathedral was "... the first great cathedral to be thoroughly restored". Work commenced in 1845 and completed nearly thirty years later; most of the work was sympathetically carried out by the architect George Gilbert Scott
. The only pavement labyrinth
to be installed in an English cathedral was installed below Ely's west tower in 1870.
s—and its associated buildings, visually influenced the city and its surrounding area. They still do. Geographer John Jones, writing in 1924, reports that "... from the roof of King's Chapel
in Cambridge, on a clear day, Ely [cathedral] can be seen on the horizon, 16 miles (25.7 km) 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". He continues "... and offers from everywhere an outline different from that of any other English cathedral". Local historian Pamela Blakeman reports a claim that "Grouped around [the cathedral] ... is the largest collection of mediaeval
buildings still in daily use in this country".
As the seat
of a diocese
with a cathedral, Ely has long been considered a city
: the caption underneath John Speed
's 1610 plan of Ely reads "Although this Citie of Ely ..." and Aikin refers to Ely as a city in 1800. The town
of Ely, however, was not formally granted city status
until 1 April 1974 by the Queen using letters patent
. In the same announcement and by the same means, other English settlements were made cities such as the Parish
of Wells
and the Borough
of York
. Ely's population of 15,102 classifies it as one of the smallest cities
in England, excluding the City of London
.
Henry III of England
formally granted a market
to the Bishop of Ely using letters close
on 9 April 1224 although Ely has been a trading centre prior to this. Present market day is Thursday and Saturday each week. The city is on the River Great Ouse
and was a significant port until the eighteenth century, when The Fens
were drained and Ely ceased to be an island. The river is a popular boating area with a large marina.
and William the Conqueror's confirmation of the old English liberty at Kenford. The Isle of Ely was considered to be a county palantine
, thus giving the bishop royal privileges and judicial authority which would normal belong to the sovereign. These bishop's rights were not fully extinguished until 1837.
following the Local Government Act 1972
. Since 1974 Ely has been part of East Cambridgeshire
Non-metropolitan district
and is the seat of the council. The city is divided into four wards: Ely South, Ely East and Ely West—all returning two district Councillors each—and Ely North—returning three councillors. In 2011, the seats were held by four Liberal Democrat and five Conservative
councillors. Ely is governed by Cambridgeshire County Council
to which the city returns two councillors, both of whom were Liberal Democrats
in 2011.
to create a new constituency of Isle of Ely
. This seat was also a Tory-Liberal marginal until 1945
, when the Tories won even in the wake of the national Labour landslide, and the Liberals finished in third place in the constituency for the first time ever. Clement Freud
gained the seat for the Liberals at a by-election in 1973.
In 1983 Ely was transferred to the newly created constituency of South East Cambridgeshire, where it has remained since. Freud did not run in the constituency, instead contesting another new seat, North East Cambridgeshire (where he was defeated by the Conservatives), and the first member for the new South East Cambridgeshire was the former Conservative Foreign Secretary Francis Pym
. James Paice
has held the seat since 1987; he was appointed Minister of State for Agriculture and Food in the Coalition Government on 13 May 2010.
Era rocks (limestone
s) from the Jurassic
system whilst the east Cambridgeshire area consists of the upper Mesozoic Era rocks (chalk
s known locally as clunch
) from the Cretaceous
system. 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 which is capped by Boulder Clay
; all local settlements are on similar islands such as Stretham
and Littleport
. These islands rise above the surrounding flat tracts of land, the largest plain of Britain, from the Jurassic system of partly consolidated clays or muds. Kimmeridge Clay
beds dipping gently west occur under the Lower Greensand of the area, exposed for example about 1 miles (1.6 km) south of Ely in the Roswell Pits
. The Lower Greensand is partly capped by glacial deposits
which form the highest point in East Cambridgeshire
rising to 85 feet (26 m) above sea-level in Ely.
The low-lying fens surrounding the island of Ely, prior to the seventeenth century, was formed by alternate fresh-water and sea-water incursions. Major rivers in the region, including the Witham
, Welland
, Nene
and Great Ouse
drain 6000 square miles (15,539.9 km²) of surrounding uplands into the basin forming The Fens; an upland area five times larger than The Fens itself. Defoe in 1774 described The Fens as "... the sink of no less than thirteen Counties ...". On 23 November of the same year, Church of England cleric and Christian theologician John Wesley
, wrote of his approach to Ely after visiting Norwich "... About eight, Wednesday, 23, Mr. Dancer met me with a chaise
and 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 throughl. Peat
formed in the fresh-water swamps and meres whilst silts were deposited by the slow-moving sea-water. During the seventeenth century, the Earl of Bedford
, supported by Parliament, financed the draining of the Fens which was led by the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden
, which continue to this day.
. 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
and historical summaries are available from the UK Met Office
. The nearest Met Office weather station
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
, Inc.
survey of 1086 reveals a population of 110 households who were mainly all rural. In 1251, a survey showed an increase in population 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 like they are today. See also the cartographer John Speeds plan of Ely, 1610. In 1563 there were 800 households recorded and a population of 3,000 people surveyed in 1753.
Animal husbandry; "... grain as a fodder crop and for household use ..."; "... reclaimed land used for pasture for horses and sheep ..."; "... fishing and fowling in winter ..."; "... thriving local trade in wares made from reeds, osiers and rushes ..."
Gallois (1988) "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".
Ely had a long association with the production of pottery, commencing in the twelfth century and lasting until 1860. Around eighty persons who classed their trade as potters have been identified in the records. Babylon-ware is the name given to pottery made in one area of Ely. The ware is thought to be so named because there were potters in an area cut off from the main city by the re-routing of the River Great Ouse
around 1200. By the 17th century this area had become known as Babylon, although the reason for the name is unclear. By 1850 the name was in official use on maps. The building of the Ely to Lynn railway in 1847 cut this area off even further, and the inhabitants could only cross to Ely by boat.
s have been held in Ely since the twelfth-century. St Audrey's (Etheldreda's) seven-day fair, held either side of the 23 June, was first granted officially by Henry I
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 shortened form of Audrey, now means cheap and gaudy jewellery. Two other fairs, the 15-day festival of St Lambert, first granted in 1312 and the 22-day Vigil of the Ascension
, first granted in 1318. The festival of St Lambert had stopped by the 18th century. St Etheldreda's and the Vigil of the Ascension still continue although the number of days have been considerably reduced and the dates have since changed.
Present day annual events in Ely include the Aquafest, which has been staged at the riverside by the Rotary Club on the first Sunday of each 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 in the city since 1927.
on the Palace Green west of the cathedral was captured during the Crimean War
at the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855). 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".
Cherry Hill, on the south of the cathedral park, is the remains of the Norman
period motte-and-bailey
Ely Castle
. The earliest written record of this 40 feet (12.2 m) high by 250 feet (76.2 m) diameter castle is in the time of Henry I
. Two twelfth-century hospitals, St Mary Magdalene founded 1172 and St John the Baptist founded circa 1200, were on the site of what is now a four building farmstead. Building dates are not known but the extant remains indicate circa 1175–85. Bishop Northwold
joined the two hospitals in 1240. The farmsteads Grade I listed building status was split when graded on 23 September 1950 into St John's Farmhouse, a barn to the south-west (formerly chapel of St John), a barn to the north (formerly chapel of St Mary) and a dovecote
. Above the north doorway of the south-western barn of St John's farmhouse is a carved Barnack stone which is built into the thirteenth-century wall. The stone is thought to have originally come from the Anglo-Saxon
monastery of St Ethelreda
. 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
in 1497, constructed the Bishop's Palace in Ely during his bishopric, between 1486 and 1501; of the original fabric, only the east tower and the lower part of the west tower remain. Benjamin Lany, 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 south-west 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 House, is a Grade II* Listed Building of mainly sixteenth-century plaster-frame
construction although there exists some circa 1380 stone arches. A plaque on the front of the house records that this is "... Cromwell House, the residence of Oliver Cromwell
from 1636-1647 when collector of Ely Tithe
s". Its main contemporary use is as a re-creation of seventeenth century living and the Ely tourist information centre.
The Lamb Hotel is a Grade II Listed Building prominently situated on the corner of Lynn Road and High Street, 100 yards (91.4 m) north of the west end of the cathedral. The Hotel was erected as a coaching house
on the site of the previous Lamb Inn during 1828/9. At that time it had stabling for 30 horses and a lock-up for two coaches. In 1906 it had 5 bedrooms for the landlord, 15 rooms for lodgers, room for 15 horses and 12 vehicles. In 2007 it had 31 rooms for guests. Some authorities claim the Lamb Inn has existed as an inn since Bishop Fordham's survey of 1416/7. Other authorities can confirm the building was an inn in 1690 but not any earlier than this.
The city's courthouse was built in 1821, replacing a previous court in the Shire Hall. It was closed in 2011 as part of central government measures to shut down 93 Magistrates' Court
s across England and Wales.
quarry
Roslyn or Roswell Pits
, 1 miles (1.6 km) south-west of Ely Cathedral, are 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
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
neutral grassland about 0.6 mile (0.965604 km) 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 Green-winged Orchid.
, on the Fen Line
, is a major railway hub with the 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
, north-west to Peterborough
, east to Norwich
, south-east to Ipswich
and south to Cambridge
then London
. At the opening of the 26.5 miles (42.6 km) Lynn
and Ely railway "... with great éclat" on 25 October 1847, Ely station, built in 1847, was described by The Illustrated London News as "... an extensive pileOED pile, n. 2. a. "A large building or edifice, esp. a stately home" in pleasing mixed Grecian
and Italian
style". The former Ely and St Ives Railway, known locally as the Grunty Fen express, opened in 1865 and was never popular. In 1866, the 7.5 miles (12.1 km) return journey from Ely to Sutton
cost 2s 0d. That equates to a cost of almost £ at present worth,Using RPI
as described in Choosing the Best Indicator to Measure Relative Worth as of . The line closed to passengers in February 1931 and completely closed in 1964. There are now, in , direct trains to Cambridge, London, most of East Anglia
, the Midlands
and the North
. There are connecting services to many other parts of England
and to Scotland
. As of 2010, the operating companies were: First Capital Connect
, National Express East Anglia, Crosscountry
and East Midlands Trains
.
near Wimpole
through Cambridge
, Stretham
and Ely to Brancaster
through Denver
. This is not the same road as the major Roman road named Akeman Street
which started from Verulamium (south-west of St Albans
) then via Tring
and Aylesbury
terminating near Alcester
. 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. This east-west Ely street is not the Roman road Akeman Street, which should pass through Ely west of the cathedral in a north-south direction. It is suggested that the Wimpole to Brancaster road name of "Akeman was derived by antiquarian
s, without justification, from Acemanes-ceastre, an ancient name for Bath".
Medieval accountant Clement of Thetford made, or had others make on his behalf, many journeys between 1291–1292, as evidenced by his sacrists rolls—the earliest known Roll of the Ely Monastery. For example, he travelled the 25 miles (40.2 km)This distance and all following medieval road distances are calculated on contemporary roads using Google Maps to Bury fair to obtain rice, sugar, etc., the 16 miles (25.7 km) to Barnwell
for wheels, axles, etc. for carts, then the 51 miles (82.1 km) to St Botolph's (Boston
) for wine, the 14 miles (22.5 km) to Reche (Reach
) for steel and iron and the 78 miles (125.5 km) to London, principally for things needed in the Vestry for the service of the Church but also to pay taxes. Some or parts of some of these journeys will have been made by river.
The 18th-century historian
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 1760's, the Reverend James Bentham, an antiquarian
and minor canon
of Ely, encouraged the ecclesiastical authorities and the townspeople of Ely to subscribe to a turnpike road
between Ely and Cambridge improvements which started in 1769. The eighteenth century London
to King's Lynn
coach route, documented by the Postmaster General
's surveyor, John Cary
, passed through Ely with a coach stop at the Lamb Inn, a coaching-inn in 1753 and still extant as The Lamb Hotel. Cary measured the distance of the London (Shoreditch
) to Ely section as being 67 miles (107.8 km). Ely is on the route of the contemporary north-south A10 trunk road from London to King's Lynn
; the Bypass
of the town centre was built in 1986. The east-west A142 road from Newmarket to Chatteris
passes through the south of the town.
A proposal for an Ely south-west bypass of the A142 is included in the major schemes of the Cambridgeshire Local Transport Plan
. The proposed route would be a single, two lane carriageway and would include 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of new road construction 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 Kings 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 hope to fund some of the costs of the bypass, estimated to be up to £28 million, with contributions from developers who are hoping to build a retail park near to the proposed route.
The 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. The cathedral was started by William I in 1083, finally opening in 1189 after 116 years of planning. On 12–13 February 1322 it suffered the collapse of the main tower, which was rebuilt as an octagon. The cathedral was completed in 1351. John Wesley, writing of his 22 November 1774 visit to Ely, thought 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 but does not have its own cathedral. The Diocese of Ely covers 1507 square miles (3,903 km²) and holds 641,000 people (2011) and 335 churches. It includes most of the county of Cambridgeshire
except for most of Peterborough
, which has its own diocese 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
The church of St Mary, dedicated by Bishop Eustace, is an early thirteenth-century building with a circa 1300 spire and tower with eight bells. The church was heavily restored starting in 1877. The St Etheldreda Roman Catholic Church in Egremont Street dates from 1891. The Methodist chapel building, in Chapel Street, was built in 1818 and was restored in 1891. The Salem Baptists chapel was erected in 1840. The Church of St Peter on Broad Street was built in 1890. The architect was James Piers St Aubyn
.
is a football club that was established in 1885 and joined the Eastern Counties Football League
in 1960. In the 1997-98 season, they reached the 3rd round of the FA Vase
. Since the 2007–08 season they have been members of the Eastern Counties Football League Premier Division.
The University of Cambridge
rowing team has a boathouse on the bank of the river, and trains there for the annual Boat Race
against the University of Oxford
. In 1944 the Boat Race took place on a one and a half mile (2.4 km) course on the River Great Ouse
near Ely, the only time it has not been held on the River Thames
. On that occasion the race was won by Oxford.
, Ely College and St. John's Community Primary School. The Ely High School for Girls
opened in 1905 in St. Mary's Street, moving to the Downham Road site in 1957. 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 College, subsequently Ely Community College and currently Ely College.
and sewage
services from their Ely Public Water Supply zone FE33. The water quality
was reported as excellent in 2011. In the same report, the hardness
was reported as 292 mg/l. The nearest reservoir, Grafham Water
, is 21 miles (33.8 km) due west.
The Distribution Network Operator
for 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 MW from burning biomass
, nearly 25 percent of the total renewable energy reported for Cambridgeshire in 2009. The world's largest poultry litter power plant, 38.5 MW, is at Thetford, Norfolk.
East Cambridgeshire District Council is part of the Recycling in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (RECAP) Partnership, which was granted Beacon status
for waste and recycling in 2006–2007.
National health services
(NHS) for the City are administered by NHS East of England
. Acute cases are handled by four hospitals, including Addenbrooke's Hospital
, 20 miles (32.2 km) south and Papworth Hospital
28 miles (45.1 km)south-west of the city. The Princess of Wales Hospital, Ely is a community hospital that was the former RAF Hospital constructed during the second world war to serve the nearby airfields.
player and Rugby World Cup 2003 winning manager with England national rugby union team
, Clive Woodward
, Australia
n émigrée actor Guy Pearce
, and actor Simon MacCorkindale
. Autogyro
world record holder Ken Wallis
was also born in Ely. Other notable people from Ely include The Sisters of Mercy
singer Andrew Eldritch
, and journalist Chris Hunt
. Crime writer Jim Kelly
and award winning poet Wendy Cope
currently live in the city.
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's
crime novels, featuring fictional journalist Philip Dryden, is largely set in the author's home town of Ely and in the Fens
.
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and about 80 miles (129 km) by road from London. It is built on a 23 square miles (59.6 km²) Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of 85 feet (25.9 m) is the highest land in the Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
. Owing to its strategic location and inherent defensibility, the Isle of Ely was seized and held by rebels on several occasions during the Middle Ages.
Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth is the proper name for the popular Anglo-Saxon saint often known, particularly in a religious context, as Etheldreda or by the pet form of Audrey...
(Etheldreda) founded an abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
on the island of Ely in AD 673; the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders. The abbey was re-dedicated to Etheldreda by Ethelwold
Æthelwold of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester , was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England....
, Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, in 970. Construction of the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
was started in 1083 by the first Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
bishop, Simeon
Simeon (abbot)
Simeon was a relative of King William I of England and the brother of Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester. It was through his brother's influence that Simeon was made prior of Winchester, then in 1082 Abbot of Ely, where he began work on the present building...
. Sacrist Alan of Walsingham
Alan of Walsingham
Alan of Walsingham , also known as Alan de Walsingham, was an English architect, first heard of in 1314 as a junior monk at Ely, distinguished by his skill in goldsmith's work, and for his acquaintance with the principles of mechanics....
's octagon, built over Ely's nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
crossing
Crossing (architecture)
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
between 1322 and 1328, is the "... greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral" according to architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
. Building continued until the dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation. The works of chorographic
Chorography
Chorography is a term deriving from the writings of the ancient geographer Ptolemy, meaning the geographical description of regions...
surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
in 1586 and the journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
in 1830 chart a long period of degeneration. During the Gothic revival, the cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
. Ely's regeneration continued with the coming of the railways in 1845. Ely railway station
Ely railway station
Ely railway station serves the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. The station lies on the Fen Line from Cambridge to King's Lynn, which is electrified at 25 kV AC overhead...
, on the Fen Line
Fen Line
The Fen Line is a railway in the United Kingdom that runs between the cities of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire and King's Lynn, Norfolk; the line is so called because it runs through The Fens. The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5 and comprises SRS 05.06 and part of 05.05...
, is now a major railway hub: north to King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
, north-west to Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, east to Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, south-east to Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
and south to Cambridge and London.
Major rivers including the Witham
River Witham
The River Witham is a river, almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire, in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham, at SK8818, passes Lincoln at SK9771 and at Boston, TF3244, flows into The Haven, a tidal arm of The Wash, near RSPB Frampton Marsh...
, Welland
River Welland
The River Welland is a river in the east of England, some long. It rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke. For much of its length it forms the county boundary between...
, Nene
River Nene
The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...
and Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
, feed into the Fens and, until man-assisted draining commencing in the seventeenth century, formed fresh-water marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es and mere
Mere (lake)
Mere in English refers to a lake that is broad in relation to its depth, e.g. Martin Mere. A significant effect of its shallow depth is that for all or most of the time, it has no thermocline.- Etymology :...
s within which peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
was laid down. There are two sites of special scientific interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
in the city; a former Kimmeridge Clay
Kimmeridge Clay
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Jurassic age. It occurs in Europe.Kimmeridge Clay is arguably the most economically important unit of rocks in the whole of Europe, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
and one of the United Kingdom's best remaining examples of medieval ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages. The earliest examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the system was used until the 17th century in some areas. Ridge and furrow topography is...
agriculture. The town of Ely was long considered a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
by virtue of being the seat of a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
. In 1974 city status
City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
was granted by royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
on the Ely parish council. The economy of the region is mainly agricultural, although before the fens were drained
Drainage system (Agriculture)
An agricultural drainage system is a system by which the water level on or in the soil is controlled to enhance agricultural crop production.-Classification:Figure 1 classifies the various types of drainage systems...
the harvesting of osier (rush) and sedge
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
and the extraction of peat were important activities, as were eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
fishing and fowling
Fowling
Fowling is a term which is perhaps better known in the Fens of eastern England than elsewhere. It was more than the commercial equivalent of the field sport of wildfowling, in that it includes all forms of bird catching for meat, feathers or any other part of the bird which may have been sold on...
. The city has been the centre of local pottery production for more than seven hundred years, including pottery known as Babylon-ware.
The Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
Road Akeman Street starting from Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
near Wimpole
Wimpole
Wimpole is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about 8½ miles southwest of Cambridge. It is sometimes sub-divided into "Old Wimpole" and "New Wimpole". People from Wimpole include the Independent minister John Conder...
through to Brancaster
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...
via central Ely. There is another Roman Road named Akeman Street
Akeman Street
Akeman Street was a major Roman road in England that linked Watling Street with the Fosse Way. Its junction with Watling Steet was just north of Verulamium and that with the Fosse Way was at Corinium Dobunnorum...
. Little direct evidence of significant Roman occupation exists within Ely itself, although Roman settlements are known nearby at places such as Little Thetford
Little Thetford
Little Thetford is a small village and civil parish 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 settlements in this part of the East of England...
and Stretham
Stretham
Stretham is a small 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 the fens. The pump is still in use today although converted to electric power. It has open...
. In 1753 a coach route existed between Cambridge and Ely; this was improved in 1769 as a turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
(toll-road). The present day A10 closely follows this route. The south-western bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
of the city of Ely was built in 1986.
Pre history
Roswell PitsRoswell Pits
Roswell Pits are managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough. They lie east of the city of Ely in the county of Cambridgeshire, England and have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.-History:The pits were a...
are a palaeontologically
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
significant Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI) 1 miles (1.6 km) north-east of the city. The Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay
Kimmeridge Clay
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Jurassic age. It occurs in Europe.Kimmeridge Clay is arguably the most economically important unit of rocks in the whole of Europe, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon...
s were mined in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for the production of pottery and for maintenance of river embankments. During this process many specimens of ammonite
Ammonite
Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct subclass within the Molluscan class Cephalopoda which are more closely related to living coleoids Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct...
s, belemnites and bivalves were found including most of a Pliosaur
Pliosaur
Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles. Pliosauroids, also commonly known as pliosaurs, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. The pliosauroids were short-necked plesiosaurs with large heads and massive toothed jaws. These swimming reptiles were not dinosaurs but distant...
us.
There is some scattered evidence of Late Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
and Bronze Age
Bronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Britain refers to the period of British history that spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the era of Iron Age Britain...
activity in Ely such as Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
flint tools, a Bronze Age axe and a Bronze Age spearhead. Archaeology within Ely has shown there to be slightly denser Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
and Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
activity with some evidence of at least seasonal occupation. For example, a possible farmstead, of the late Iron Age 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
Little Thetford is a small village and civil parish 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 settlements in this part of the East of England...
, 3 miles (4.8 km) south.
Saxon roots
The name Ely comes from Old English Ēl-gē meaning "eelEel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
region", from the eels abundant in the marshes around; Elge 731,Elyg 1086 (Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
).
The city's origins lay in the foundation of an abbey in AD 673, a mile (1.6 km) to the north of the village of Cratendune
Cratendune
- Archaeology :The search for Cratendune continues though evidence that any one site is the lost village remains sparse. In 1999 there was media attention during preparation work for new buildings at West Fen Road, Ely. The archaeology work subsequently undertaken indeed shows Romano-British and...
on the Isle of Ely
Isle of Ely
The Isle of Ely is a historic region around the city of Ely now in Cambridgeshire, England but previously a county in its own right.-Etymology:...
, under the protection of St Ethelreda
Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth is the proper name for the popular Anglo-Saxon saint often known, particularly in a religious context, as Etheldreda or by the pet form of Audrey...
, daughter of King Anna
Anna of East Anglia
Anna was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia...
. This first abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
invaders and then re-dedicated to Etheldreda in 970 by Ethelwold
Æthelwold of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester , was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England....
, Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
. The first Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
bishop, Simeon
Simeon (abbot)
Simeon was a relative of King William I of England and the brother of Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester. It was through his brother's influence that Simeon was made prior of Winchester, then in 1082 Abbot of Ely, where he began work on the present building...
, started building the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
in 1083. The octagon was rebuilt by Sacrist Alan of Walsingham
Alan of Walsingham
Alan of Walsingham , also known as Alan de Walsingham, was an English architect, first heard of in 1314 as a junior monk at Ely, distinguished by his skill in goldsmith's work, and for his acquaintance with the principles of mechanics....
between 1322 and 1328 after the collapse of the original nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
crossing
Crossing (architecture)
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
on 22 February 1322. Ely's octagon is considered by some to be "... one of the wonders of the medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
world, ...". Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
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".
Cherry Hill is the site of Ely Castle
Ely Castle
Ely Castle was in the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire. . Its probable site is a mound near the cathedral which is now called Cherry Hill....
which is of Norman
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
construction and is a United Kingdon scheduled monument. Of similar construction to Cambridge Castle
Cambridge Castle
Cambridge Castle, locally also known as Castle Mound, is located in the town of the same name in 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 conflicts of the Anarchy, the First and...
, Ely's 250 feet (76.2 m) diameter 40 feet (12.2 m) high citadel-type motte-and-bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
is thought to be a royal defence built by William I; following the submission of the isle from rebels such as the Earl Mocar and the folk-hero Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake , known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th-century leader of local resistance to the Norman conquest of England....
. This would date the first building of the castle to circa 1070.
In 1142, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex
Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex
Geoffrey de Mandeville II, 1st Earl of Essex was one of the prominent players during the reign of King Stephen of England. His biographer, the 19th-century historian J. H...
and Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare , son of Gilbert Fitz Richard and Alice de Claremont, was sometimes referred to as "Strongbow", although his son is better remembered by this name, was the first Earl of Pembroke from 1138....
were sent by King Stephen of England
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
to suppress the uprising of a group of knights who had established a base there. The castle may also have been used during this episode. De Mandeville's allegiance switched between Stephen and Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
as it suited him, and when Bishop Nigel travelled to Rome, de Mandeville, who had noted the ease with which the isle could be defended, took possession of it and held it against the king. From Ely, he and his rebels terrorised the surrounding Fens until 1144, when Stephen's army took control and de Mandeville was killed at Fordham. The same defensible quality of the Isle of Ely was noted by King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
in 1256. He was concerned that the Isle could again be seized and held by rebels, and ordered the Church to ensure that the entrance to the Isle was guarded "from sunset to sunrise so that no unlawful person could enter". In 1266, rebels supporting Simon de Montfort
Simon VI de Montfort
Simon de Montfort "the younger" or Simon VI de Montfort was the second son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England....
and styling themselves "The Disinherited" seized the Isle as a base for raiding the uplands. Supplies, livestock and wealthy persons were taken and carried back to Ely; the rich were held to ransom. After 1300, extreme care was taken in choosing bishops for Ely to ensure that they were loyal to the throne. Despite this, the city took part in the Peasants' Revolt
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the...
of 1381.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
lived in Ely for several years after inheriting the position of local tax collector in 1636. His former home dates to the sixteenth century and is now used by the Tourist Information Office, as well as being a museum with rooms displayed as they would have been in Cromwell's time. Cromwell was one of the Governors of the Thomas Parson's Charity, which dates back to the fifteenth century (1445) and was granted a Royal Charter by Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. The Original Charter and copies of the Minute Book containing Oliver Cromwell's handwriting and signature have been loaned to the Ely Museum. The Charity still provides Grants and Housing to deserving local applicants. During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Cambridgeshire was strongly on the parliamentarian
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
side, but one of Bishop Matthew Wren
Matthew Wren
"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!.Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar.-Life:...
's churchmen attempted to read a Royal proclamation at Ely. Some of the fenmen joined the Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
army, and in 1642 parliament ordered that the land should be re-flooded by breaking of the dykes to stop a Royalist advance. The area became increasingly Puritan in outlook, and during the Ely assize of 1647 there were thirteen executions of witches.
Post medieval decline
There was a form of early workhouseWorkhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
in 1687, perhaps at St Mary's, which may have been part of the arrangement made between the Ely people and a Norwich man 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: 1738–1956 Holy Trinity on Fore Hill for 80 inmates, 1837– Ely Union which became Tower Hospital and is now the residential Tower Court, The Haven Quayside for unmarried mothers and finally the site of what is now the Hereward Hall in Silver Street.
The diaries of writers such as William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
, Celia Fiennes
Celia Fiennes
Celia Fiennes was an English traveller. Born in Wiltshire, she was the daughter of an English Civil War Parliamentarian Colonel, who was in turn the second son of the William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. Celia Fiennes died in Hackney in 1741.-Pioneering Female Traveller:Fiennes never married...
, Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
, John Byng
John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington
John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington , styled Hon. John Byng until 1812, was one of the most notable of English eighteenth-century diarists...
and William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
show a picture of the decline of Ely and its cathedral following the fourteenth-century plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
and sixteenth-century reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
which in turn led to the dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
of the abbey in 1539. In the 1607 edition of the Britannia,first published in 1586 and translated from the original Latin by Philemon Holland
Philemon Holland
Philemon Holland was an English translator.His father, John Holland, was a clergyman who fled the Kingdom of England during the persecutions of Mary I of England...
in 1610 chorographic
Chorography
Chorography is a term deriving from the writings of the ancient geographer Ptolemy, meaning the geographical description of regions...
surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
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, the English traveller Celia Fiennes was writing "The Bishop
Simon Patrick
Simon Patrick was an English theologian and bishop.-Life:He was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on 8 September 1626, and attended Boston Grammar School. He entered Queens College, Cambridge, in 1644, and after taking orders in 1651 became successively chaplain to Sir Walter St. John and vicar...
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....
in 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". On his way to a Midlands tour, notable diarist John Byng visited Ely on the 5 July 1790. In his diary he writes that "The town [Ely] is mean, to the extreme; ... those withdrawn, their dependancies must decay; ...". Recording in his Rural Rides
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 England from a spell of self-imposed political exile in the...
on 25 March 1830, journalist 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
Ely and Littleport riots 1816
The Ely and Littleport riots, also known as the Littleport riots, began in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, on 22 May 1816, against a background of similar unrest throughout the country following the Napoleonic Wars. A group of 56 Littleport residents met at The Globe Inn to discuss the high...
occurred between 22 and 24 May 1816 at Littleport
Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Littleport is the largest village in East Cambridgeshire, England, approximately north of Ely and south-east of Welney. It lies on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and Mare Fen...
and Ely. 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
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
for life to twelve-months imprisonment. Five of the twenty-four were executed on 28 June 1816.
Ely Cathedral was "... the first great cathedral to be thoroughly restored". Work commenced in 1845 and completed nearly thirty years later; most of the work was sympathetically carried out by the architect George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
. The only pavement labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
to be installed in an English cathedral was installed below Ely's west tower in 1870.
Victorian and twentieth-century regeneration
For over 800 years the cathedral—built on an elevation of 68 feet (20.7 m) above the nearby fenFen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
s—and its associated buildings, visually influenced the city and its surrounding area. They still do. Geographer John Jones, writing in 1924, reports that "... from the roof of King's Chapel
King's College Chapel, Cambridge
King's College Chapel is the chapel to King's College of the University of Cambridge, and is one of the finest examples of late Gothic English architecture, while its early Renaissance rood screen separating the nave and chancel, erected in 1532-36 in a striking contrast of style, has been called...
in Cambridge, on a clear day, Ely [cathedral] can be seen on the horizon, 16 miles (25.7 km) 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". He continues "... and offers from everywhere an outline different from that of any other English cathedral". Local historian Pamela Blakeman reports a claim that "Grouped around [the cathedral] ... is the largest collection of mediaeval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
buildings still in daily use in this country".
As the seat
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
with a cathedral, Ely has long been considered a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
: the caption underneath John Speed
John Speed
John Speed was an English historian and cartographer.-Life:He was born at Farndon, Cheshire, and went into his father's tailoring business where he worked until he was about 50...
's 1610 plan of Ely reads "Although this Citie of Ely ..." and Aikin refers to Ely as a city in 1800. The town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
of Ely, however, was not formally granted city status
City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
until 1 April 1974 by the Queen using letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
. In the same announcement and by the same means, other English settlements were made cities such as the Parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
and the Borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. Ely's population of 15,102 classifies it as one of the smallest cities
Smallest cities in the United Kingdom
These are the chartered cities in the United Kingdom with a population of less than 100,000 at the most recent census. For the full list, see List of cities in the United Kingdom....
in England, excluding the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
.
Henry III of England
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
formally granted a market
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
to the Bishop of Ely using letters close
Letters close
Letters close are a type of legal document which is a closed letter issued by a monarch or government granting a right, monopoly, title, or status to someone or some entity such as a corporation. These letters are personal in nature and were delivered folded sealed so that only the recipient can...
on 9 April 1224 although Ely has been a trading centre prior to this. Present market day is Thursday and Saturday each week. The city is on the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
and was a significant port until the eighteenth century, when The Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
were drained and Ely ceased to be an island. The river is a popular boating area with a large marina.
The liberty of Ely
The abbey at Ely was one of the many re-founded as part of the Benedictine reforms of King Edgar the Peaceful (943–975). The special and peculiarly ancient honour and freedoms given to Ely by charter at this time may have been intended to award only fiscal privilege but have been interpreted to confer kinglike authority and power to subsequent bishops. These rights were reconfirmed in charters granted by Edward the ConfessorEdward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
and William the Conqueror's confirmation of the old English liberty at Kenford. The Isle of Ely was considered to be a county palantine
Palantine
Palantine is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France....
, thus giving the bishop royal privileges and judicial authority which would normal belong to the sovereign. These bishop's rights were not fully extinguished until 1837.
Local
From 1889 to 1964 the Isle of Ely County Council covered the city and its surrounds. Before 1974 the city was administered by Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council, which merged with Huntingdon and PeterboroughHuntingdon and Peterborough
Huntingdon and Peterborough was a short-lived administrative county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It existed from 1965 to 1974, when it became part of Cambridgeshire.-Formation:...
following the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
. Since 1974 Ely has been part of East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely....
Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially shire districts, are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a so-called "two-tier" arrangement...
and is the seat of the council. The city is divided into four wards: Ely South, Ely East and Ely West—all returning two district Councillors each—and Ely North—returning three councillors. In 2011, the seats were held by four Liberal Democrat and five Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
councillors. Ely is governed by Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council currently consists of 69 councillors, representing 60 electoral divisions. The Conservative Party has a majority on the council, having gained control in the 1997 local elections...
to which the city returns two councillors, both of whom were Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
in 2011.
Westminster
Boundary changes in 1918 saw the town of Ely merged with the old Wisbech constituencyWisbech (UK Parliament constituency)
Wisbech is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of an undivided Cambridgeshire county constituency in 1885 and was itself abolished in 1918.-Boundaries:...
to create a new constituency of Isle of Ely
Isle of Ely (UK Parliament constituency)
Isle of Ely was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, centred on the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire...
. This seat was also a Tory-Liberal marginal until 1945
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, when the Tories won even in the wake of the national Labour landslide, and the Liberals finished in third place in the constituency for the first time ever. Clement Freud
Clement Freud
Sir Clement Raphael Freud was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.-Early life:Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud and Lucie née Brasch. He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the brother of artist Lucian Freud...
gained the seat for the Liberals at a by-election in 1973.
In 1983 Ely was transferred to the newly created constituency of South East Cambridgeshire, where it has remained since. Freud did not run in the constituency, instead contesting another new seat, North East Cambridgeshire (where he was defeated by the Conservatives), and the first member for the new South East Cambridgeshire was the former Conservative Foreign Secretary Francis Pym
Francis Pym
-Bibliography:****- External links :...
. James Paice
James Paice
James Edward Thornton "Jim" Paice MP is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for South East Cambridgeshire, and was first elected in the 1987 general election...
has held the seat since 1987; he was appointed Minister of State for Agriculture and Food in the Coalition Government on 13 May 2010.
Geography
Geology and topography
The west of Cambridgeshire is made up of middle MesozoicMesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
Era rocks (limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
s) from the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
system whilst the east Cambridgeshire area consists of the upper Mesozoic Era rocks (chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
s known locally as clunch
Clunch
Clunch is a term for traditional building material used mainly in eastern England and Normandy. It is a term which encompasses a wide variety of materials, often locally variable....
) from the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
system. 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 which is capped by Boulder Clay
Boulder clay
Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...
; all local settlements are on similar islands such as Stretham
Stretham
Stretham is a small 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 the fens. The pump is still in use today although converted to electric power. It has open...
and Littleport
Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Littleport is the largest village in East Cambridgeshire, England, approximately north of Ely and south-east of Welney. It lies on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and Mare Fen...
. These islands rise above the surrounding flat tracts of land, the largest plain of Britain, from the Jurassic system of partly consolidated clays or muds. Kimmeridge Clay
Kimmeridge Clay
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Jurassic age. It occurs in Europe.Kimmeridge Clay is arguably the most economically important unit of rocks in the whole of Europe, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon...
beds dipping gently west occur under the Lower Greensand of the area, exposed for example about 1 miles (1.6 km) south of Ely in the Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits are managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough. They lie east of the city of Ely in the county of Cambridgeshire, England and have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.-History:The pits were a...
. The Lower Greensand is partly capped by glacial deposits
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
which form the highest point in East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely....
rising to 85 feet (26 m) above sea-level in Ely.
The low-lying fens surrounding the island of Ely, prior to the seventeenth century, was formed by alternate fresh-water and sea-water incursions. Major rivers in the region, including the Witham
River Witham
The River Witham is a river, almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire, in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham, at SK8818, passes Lincoln at SK9771 and at Boston, TF3244, flows into The Haven, a tidal arm of The Wash, near RSPB Frampton Marsh...
, Welland
River Welland
The River Welland is a river in the east of England, some long. It rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke. For much of its length it forms the county boundary between...
, Nene
River Nene
The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...
and Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
drain 6000 square miles (15,539.9 km²) of surrounding uplands into the basin forming The Fens; an upland area five times larger than The Fens itself. Defoe in 1774 described The Fens as "... the sink of no less than thirteen Counties ...". On 23 November of the same year, Church of England cleric and Christian theologician John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
, wrote of his approach to Ely after visiting Norwich "... About eight, Wednesday, 23, Mr. Dancer met me with a chaise
Chaise
A chaise, sometimes called chay or shay, is a light two - or four-wheeled traveling or pleasure carriage, with a folding hood or calash top for one or two people....
and 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 throughl. Peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
formed in the fresh-water swamps and meres whilst silts were deposited by the slow-moving sea-water. During the seventeenth century, the Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC was an English politician. About 1631 he built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect...
, supported by Parliament, financed the draining of the Fens which was led by the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden
Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Wasterdyk Vermuyden was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch reclamation methods to Britain, and made the first important attempts to drain The Fens of East Anglia.-Life:...
, which continue to this day.
Climate
With an average annual rainfall of 24 inches (609.6 mm), Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties in the British IslesBritish Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. 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
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
and historical summaries are available from the UK Met Office
Met Office
The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
. The nearest Met Office weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
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
Weather Underground (weather service)
Weather Underground is a commercial weather service that provides real-time weather information via the Internet. Weather Underground provides weather reports for most major cities across the world on its Web site, as well as local weather reports for newspapers and Web sites...
, Inc.
Demography
The DomesdayDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
survey of 1086 reveals a population of 110 households who were mainly all rural. In 1251, a survey showed an increase in population 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 like they are today. See also the cartographer John Speeds plan of Ely, 1610. In 1563 there were 800 households recorded and a population of 3,000 people surveyed in 1753.
Economy
Fishing (see Domesday), fowling (see Defoe), cattle, sheep, coprolite, clay, drainage, farming, sugar beet, peat farmingAnimal husbandry; "... grain as a fodder crop and for household use ..."; "... reclaimed land used for pasture for horses and sheep ..."; "... fishing and fowling in winter ..."; "... thriving local trade in wares made from reeds, osiers and rushes ..."
Gallois (1988) "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".
Ely had a long association with the production of pottery, commencing in the twelfth century and lasting until 1860. Around eighty persons who classed their trade as potters have been identified in the records. Babylon-ware is the name given to pottery made in one area of Ely. The ware is thought to be so named because there were potters in an area cut off from the main city by the re-routing of the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
around 1200. By the 17th century this area had become known as Babylon, although the reason for the name is unclear. By 1850 the name was in official use on maps. The building of the Ely to Lynn railway in 1847 cut this area off even further, and the inhabitants could only cross to Ely by boat.
Culture
Annual events
Annual FairFair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
s have been held in Ely since the twelfth-century. St Audrey's (Etheldreda's) seven-day fair, held either side of the 23 June, was first granted officially by Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
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 shortened form of Audrey, now means cheap and gaudy jewellery. Two other fairs, the 15-day festival of St Lambert, first granted in 1312 and the 22-day Vigil of the Ascension
Feast of the Ascension
The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is one of the great solemnities, in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day from Easter day...
, first granted in 1318. The festival of St Lambert had stopped by the 18th century. St Etheldreda's and the Vigil of the Ascension still continue although the number of days have been considerably reduced and the dates have since changed.
Present day annual events in Ely include the Aquafest, which has been staged at the riverside by the Rotary Club on the first Sunday of each 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 in the city since 1927.
Landmarks
War memorial
The cannonCannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
on the Palace Green west of the cathedral was captured during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
at the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855). 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".
Notable buildings
There are twenty three Grade I, six Grade II* and one hundred and fifty three Grade II listed buildings in the city of Ely.Cherry Hill, on the south of the cathedral park, is the remains of the Norman
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
period motte-and-bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
Ely Castle
Ely Castle
Ely Castle was in the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire. . Its probable site is a mound near the cathedral which is now called Cherry Hill....
. The earliest written record of this 40 feet (12.2 m) high by 250 feet (76.2 m) diameter castle is in the time of Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
. Two twelfth-century hospitals, St Mary Magdalene founded 1172 and St John the Baptist founded circa 1200, were on the site of what is now a four building farmstead. Building dates are not known but the extant remains indicate circa 1175–85. Bishop Northwold
Hugh of Northwold
-Life:Hugh was born in the parish of Northwold in Norfolk, the son of Peter and Emma. He became a monk at Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in 1202.Hugh was elected Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds on 7 August 1213...
joined the two hospitals in 1240. The farmsteads Grade I listed building status was split when graded on 23 September 1950 into St John's Farmhouse, a barn to the south-west (formerly chapel of St John), a barn to the north (formerly chapel of St Mary) and a dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...
. Above the north doorway of the south-western barn of St John's farmhouse is a carved Barnack stone which is built into the thirteenth-century wall. The stone is thought to have originally come from the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
monastery of St Ethelreda
Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth is the proper name for the popular Anglo-Saxon saint often known, particularly in a religious context, as Etheldreda or by the pet form of Audrey...
. This heavily weathered eighth-century stone shows a man blowing a horn whilst riding on an ox.
John Alcock
John Alcock (bishop)
-Biography:Alcock was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, son of Sir William Alcock, Burgess of Kingston upon Hull and educated at Cambridge. In 1461 he was made dean of Westminster, and his subsequent promotion was rapid in both church and state. In the following year he was made Master of the Rolls,...
, Bishop of Ely and founder of Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
in 1497, constructed the Bishop's Palace in Ely during his bishopric, between 1486 and 1501; of the original fabric, only the east tower and the lower part of the west tower remain. Benjamin Lany, 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 south-west 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 House, is a Grade II* Listed Building of mainly sixteenth-century plaster-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
construction although there exists some circa 1380 stone arches. A plaque on the front of the house records that this is "... Cromwell House, the residence of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
from 1636-1647 when collector of Ely Tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s". Its main contemporary use is as a re-creation of seventeenth century living and the Ely tourist information centre.
The Lamb Hotel is a Grade II Listed Building prominently situated on the corner of Lynn Road and High Street, 100 yards (91.4 m) north of the west end of the cathedral. The Hotel was erected as a coaching house
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
on the site of the previous Lamb Inn during 1828/9. At that time it had stabling for 30 horses and a lock-up for two coaches. In 1906 it had 5 bedrooms for the landlord, 15 rooms for lodgers, room for 15 horses and 12 vehicles. In 2007 it had 31 rooms for guests. Some authorities claim the Lamb Inn has existed as an inn since Bishop Fordham's survey of 1416/7. Other authorities can confirm the building was an inn in 1690 but not any earlier than this.
The city's courthouse was built in 1821, replacing a previous court in the Shire Hall. It was closed in 2011 as part of central government measures to shut down 93 Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
s across England and Wales.
Notable sites
The former Kimmeridge ClayKimmeridge Clay
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Jurassic age. It occurs in Europe.Kimmeridge Clay is arguably the most economically important unit of rocks in the whole of Europe, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
Roslyn or Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits
Roswell Pits are managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough. They lie east of the city of Ely in the county of Cambridgeshire, England and have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.-History:The pits were a...
, 1 miles (1.6 km) south-west of Ely Cathedral, are now a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI). The trees in Abbey Park were planted on Mount Hill in 1779 by James Bentham
James Bentham
James Bentham was an English clergyman and historian of Ely.-Life:From a clerical family, he was the fourth son of the Rev. Samuel Bentham, vicar of Witchford near Ely, and brother of Edward Bentham. From Ely grammar school, he was admitted 26 March 1727 to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he...
, a minor canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Ely. Ely Castle
Ely Castle
Ely Castle was in the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire. . Its probable site is a mound near the cathedral which is now called Cherry Hill....
once stood on Mount Hill which was renamed Cherry Hill following the tree plantings by Bentham. The Chettisham Meadow
Chettisham Meadow
Chettisham Meadow is a Site of Special Scientific Interest managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough. It is located north of Ely and west of the village of Chettisham in the county of Cambridgeshire...
SSSI is a medieval ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages. The earliest examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the system was used until the 17th century in some areas. Ridge and furrow topography is...
neutral grassland about 0.6 mile (0.965604 km) 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 Green-winged Orchid.
Rail
Ely railway stationEly railway station
Ely railway station serves the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. The station lies on the Fen Line from Cambridge to King's Lynn, which is electrified at 25 kV AC overhead...
, on the Fen Line
Fen Line
The Fen Line is a railway in the United Kingdom that runs between the cities of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire and King's Lynn, Norfolk; the line is so called because it runs through The Fens. The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5 and comprises SRS 05.06 and part of 05.05...
, is a major railway hub with the Cambridge
Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station is a railway station serving the city of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located at the end of Station Road, off Hills Road, 1 mile south-east of the city centre...
to Ely section opening in 1845. Five major railway lines—excluding the former Ely and St Ives Railway
Ely and St Ives Railway
The Ely and St Ives Railway is a closed railway that ran between Ely, Cambridgeshire and St Ives. The route was long single track, built to standard gauge and was completely closed on 5 October 1964...
—emanate from this hub: north to King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
, north-west to Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, east to Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, south-east to Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
and south to Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
then London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. At the opening of the 26.5 miles (42.6 km) Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
and Ely railway "... with great éclat" on 25 October 1847, Ely station, built in 1847, was described by The Illustrated London News as "... an extensive pileOED pile, n. 2. a. "A large building or edifice, esp. a stately home" in pleasing mixed Grecian
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
and Italian
Architecture of Italy
Architecture of Italy, often called Italian architecture refers to all forms of this art in Italy. Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which cannot be simply classified by period, but also by region, due to Italy's division into several city-states until 1861. However, this has...
style". The former Ely and St Ives Railway, known locally as the Grunty Fen express, opened in 1865 and was never popular. In 1866, the 7.5 miles (12.1 km) return journey from Ely to Sutton
Sutton-in-the-Isle
Sutton-in-the-Isle, commonly referred to simply as Sutton, is a parish and village in the county of Cambridgeshire in England, near the city of Ely. The "in-the-Isle" suffix refers to the fact that the village is part of the Isle of Ely, once an island in The Fens and also an administrative county...
cost 2s 0d. That equates to a cost of almost £ at present worth,Using RPI
Retail Prices Index (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the Retail Prices Index or Retail Price Index is a measure of inflation published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. It measures the change in the cost of a basket of retail goods and services.-History:...
as described in Choosing the Best Indicator to Measure Relative Worth as of . The line closed to passengers in February 1931 and completely closed in 1964. There are now, in , direct trains to Cambridge, London, most of East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
and the North
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
. There are connecting services to many other parts of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. As of 2010, the operating companies were: First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...
, National Express East Anglia, Crosscountry
CrossCountry
CrossCountry is the brand name of XC Trains Ltd., a British train operating company owned by Arriva...
and East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...
.
Road
A Roman road, named Akeman Street, is documented from Ermine StreetErmine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
near Wimpole
Wimpole
Wimpole is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about 8½ miles southwest of Cambridge. It is sometimes sub-divided into "Old Wimpole" and "New Wimpole". People from Wimpole include the Independent minister John Conder...
through Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Stretham
Stretham
Stretham is a small 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 the fens. The pump is still in use today although converted to electric power. It has open...
and Ely to Brancaster
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...
through Denver
Denver, Norfolk
Denver is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located on the River Great Ouse, 1 mile south of the small town of Downham Market, 14 miles south of the larger town of King's Lynn, and 37 miles west of the city of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of...
. This is not the same road as the major Roman road named Akeman Street
Akeman Street
Akeman Street was a major Roman road in England that linked Watling Street with the Fosse Way. Its junction with Watling Steet was just north of Verulamium and that with the Fosse Way was at Corinium Dobunnorum...
which started from Verulamium (south-west of St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
) then via Tring
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
and Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
terminating near Alcester
Alcester
Alcester is an old market town of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 8 miles south of Redditch, close to the Worcestershire border...
. In Bishop John Fordham
John Fordham
John Fordham was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely.Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June of 1377. He held that office until December of 1381....
'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. This east-west Ely street is not the Roman road Akeman Street, which should pass through Ely west of the cathedral in a north-south direction. It is suggested that the Wimpole to Brancaster road name of "Akeman was derived by antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
s, without justification, from Acemanes-ceastre, an ancient name for Bath".
Medieval accountant Clement of Thetford made, or had others make on his behalf, many journeys between 1291–1292, as evidenced by his sacrists rolls—the earliest known Roll of the Ely Monastery. For example, he travelled the 25 miles (40.2 km)This distance and all following medieval road distances are calculated on contemporary roads using Google Maps to Bury fair to obtain rice, sugar, etc., the 16 miles (25.7 km) to Barnwell
Barnwell, Cambridgeshire
Barnwell is a suburb of Cambridge in England.It lies northeast of the city, with Cambridge Airport located immediately to the east. It forms part of the ecclesiastical parish of St Andrew the Less and was the site of Barnwell Priory....
for wheels, axles, etc. for carts, then the 51 miles (82.1 km) to St Botolph's (Boston
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
) for wine, the 14 miles (22.5 km) to Reche (Reach
Reach, Cambridgeshire
Reach is a small village and civil parish on the edge of the fenland in East Cambridgeshire, England.Reach is located at the north end of Devil's Dyke, about west of Burwell. The dyke split the settlement in two until part of it was refilled to create the current Fair Green in the 18th century...
) for steel and iron and the 78 miles (125.5 km) to London, principally for things needed in the Vestry for the service of the Church but also to pay taxes. Some or parts of some of these journeys will have been made by river.
The 18th-century historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
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 1760's, the Reverend James Bentham, an antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
and minor canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Ely, encouraged the ecclesiastical authorities and the townspeople of Ely to subscribe to a turnpike road
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
between Ely and Cambridge improvements which started in 1769. The eighteenth century London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
coach route, documented by the Postmaster General
United Kingdom Postmaster General
The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom is a defunct Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs...
's surveyor, John Cary
John Cary
John Cary was an 18th century English cartographer.Cary served his apprenticeship as an engraver in London, before setting up his own business in the Strand in 1783...
, passed through Ely with a coach stop at the Lamb Inn, a coaching-inn in 1753 and still extant as The Lamb Hotel. Cary measured the distance of the London (Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
) to Ely section as being 67 miles (107.8 km). Ely is on the route of the contemporary north-south A10 trunk road from London to King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
; the Bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
of the town centre was built in 1986. The east-west A142 road from Newmarket to Chatteris
Chatteris
Chatteris is a civil parish and one of four market towns in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely...
passes through the south of the town.
A proposal for an Ely south-west bypass of the A142 is included in the major schemes of the Cambridgeshire Local Transport Plan
Local Transport Plan
Local transport plans, divided into full local transport plans and local implementation plans for transport are an important part of transport planning in England...
. The proposed route would be a single, two lane carriageway and would include 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of new road construction 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 Kings 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 hope to fund some of the costs of the bypass, estimated to be up to £28 million, with contributions from developers who are hoping to build a retail park near to the proposed route.
River
In 1753, Carter reports that "... for the conveniency of paſſengers, and heavy goods to and from Cambridge, ..." there was a boat leaving Ely every Tuesday and Friday for Cambridge; a 20 miles (32.2 km) journey which took six hours.Religious sites
Ely CathedralThe 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 Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
. The diocese of Ely was created in 1108 out of the see of Lincoln, and a year later the bishopric of Ely was founded. The cathedral was started by William I in 1083, finally opening in 1189 after 116 years of planning. On 12–13 February 1322 it suffered the collapse of the main tower, which was rebuilt as an octagon. The cathedral was completed in 1351. John Wesley, writing of his 22 November 1774 visit to Ely, thought 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
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, which lies within the same diocese but does not have its own cathedral. The Diocese of Ely covers 1507 square miles (3,903 km²) and holds 641,000 people (2011) and 335 churches. It includes most of the county of Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
except for most of Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, which has its own diocese and three parishes in the south which are in the diocese of Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
. The Diocese of Ely also includes the western part of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, a few parishes in Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, and one in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
.
Other
The church of St Mary, dedicated by Bishop Eustace, is an early thirteenth-century building with a circa 1300 spire and tower with eight bells. The church was heavily restored starting in 1877. The St Etheldreda Roman Catholic Church in Egremont Street dates from 1891. The Methodist chapel building, in Chapel Street, was built in 1818 and was restored in 1891. The Salem Baptists chapel was erected in 1840. The Church of St Peter on Broad Street was built in 1890. The architect was James Piers St Aubyn
James Piers St Aubyn
James Piers St Aubyn , often referred to as J. P. St Aubyn, was an English architect of the Victorian era, known for his church architecture and confident restorations.-Early life:...
.
Sport
Ely City F.C.Ely City F.C.
Ely City F.C. is an English football club based in Ely, Cambridgeshire. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Premier Division and play at the Unwin Sports Ground.-History:...
is a football club that was established in 1885 and joined the Eastern Counties Football League
Eastern Counties Football League
The Eastern Counties Football League is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is a feeder to the regional divisions of the Isthmian League and Southern...
in 1960. In the 1997-98 season, they reached the 3rd round of the FA Vase
FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase is an annual football competition for teams playing below Step 4 of the English National League System...
. Since the 2007–08 season they have been members of the Eastern Counties Football League Premier Division.
The University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
rowing team has a boathouse on the bank of the river, and trains there for the annual Boat Race
The Boat Race
The event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...
against the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. In 1944 the Boat Race took place on a one and a half mile (2.4 km) course on the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
near Ely, the only time it has not been held on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. On that occasion the race was won by Oxford.
Education
Schools in Ely include The King's School, ElyThe King's School, Ely
The King's School, Ely, is a coeducational independent day and boarding school in the cathedral city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It was founded in 970 A.D., making it one of the oldest schools in the world, though it was given its Royal Charter by King Henry VIII in 1541...
, Ely College and St. John's Community Primary School. The Ely High School for Girls
Ely High School for Girls
Ely High School for Girls was a secondary school for girls which opened in 1905 at Bedford House, St.Mary's Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire. Bedford House was purchased for the school by the Isle of Ely County Council.-History:...
opened in 1905 in St. Mary's Street, moving to the Downham Road site in 1957. 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 College, subsequently Ely Community College and currently Ely College.
Public services
Anglian Water supplies the City waterWater supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...
and sewage
Sewage collection and disposal
Sewage collection and disposal systems transport sewage through cities and other inhabited areas to sewage treatment plants to protect public health and prevent disease. Sewage is treated to control water pollution before discharge to surface waters....
services from their Ely Public Water Supply zone FE33. The water quality
Water quality
Water quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which...
was reported as excellent in 2011. In the same report, the hardness
Hard water
Hard water is water that has high mineral content . Hard water has high concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions. Hard water is generally not harmful to one's health but can pose serious problems in industrial settings, where water hardness is monitored to avoid costly breakdowns in boilers, cooling...
was reported as 292 mg/l. The nearest reservoir, Grafham Water
Grafham Water
Grafham Water is a reservoir with a circumference of about . It is located between the villages of Grafham and Perry in the English county of Cambridgeshire ....
, is 21 miles (33.8 km) due west.
The Distribution Network Operator
Distribution Network Operator
Distribution network operators are companies licensed to distribute electricity in Great Britain by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets....
for electricity
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
is EDF Energy
EDF Energy
EDF Energy is an integrated energy company in the United Kingdom, with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom...
. The largest straw-burning power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
in the world is at nearby Sutton. This renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
resource power station rated at 36.85 MW from burning biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
, nearly 25 percent of the total renewable energy reported for Cambridgeshire in 2009. The world's largest poultry litter power plant, 38.5 MW, is at Thetford, Norfolk.
East Cambridgeshire District Council is part of the Recycling in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (RECAP) Partnership, which was granted Beacon status
Beacon Council
A Beacon Council is a local authority in England which has been recognised for its excellence and innovation. The scheme attempts to disesminate best practice in local government. Beacon Councils are given greater autonomy from central government...
for waste and recycling in 2006–2007.
National health services
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
(NHS) for the City are administered by NHS East of England
NHS East of England
NHS East of England is a strategic health authority of the National Health Service in England. It operates in the East of England region, which is coterminous with the local government office region....
. Acute cases are handled by four hospitals, including Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned teaching hospital in Cambridge, England, with strong links to the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1766 on Trumpington Street with £4,500 from the will of Dr John Addenbrooke, a fellow of St Catharine's College...
, 20 miles (32.2 km) south and Papworth Hospital
Papworth Hospital
Papworth Hospital is a heart and lung hospital in Cambridgeshire, England. It was home to the first successful heart transplant in the UK and one of the world's first beating-heart transplants.-History:...
28 miles (45.1 km)south-west of the city. The Princess of Wales Hospital, Ely is a community hospital that was the former RAF Hospital constructed during the second world war to serve the nearby airfields.
Notable people
The former RAF hospital based in Ely meant that many children of serving RAF parents were born in the city. These include rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player and Rugby World Cup 2003 winning manager with England national rugby union team
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
, Clive Woodward
Clive Woodward
Sir Clive Ronald Woodward OBE is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He is currently the British Olympic Association's Director of Elite Performance.-Early life:Woodward was born in Ely...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n émigrée actor Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
, and actor Simon MacCorkindale
Simon MacCorkindale
Simon Charles Pendered MacCorkindale was a British actor, film director, writer and producer. MacCorkindale spent much of his childhood moving around due to his father's commission with the Royal Air Force. Poor eyesight prevented him from following a similar career in the RAF, so he instead...
. Autogyro
Autogyro
An autogyro , also known as gyroplane, gyrocopter, or rotaplane, is a type of rotorcraft which uses an unpowered rotor in autorotation to develop lift, and an engine-powered propeller, similar to that of a fixed-wing aircraft, to provide thrust...
world record holder Ken Wallis
Ken Wallis
Wing Commander Kenneth Horatio Wallis MBE, DEng , CEng, FRAeS, FSETP, PhD , RAF , is one of the leading exponents of autogyros. He has held 34 records relating to them.-Early life:...
was also born in Ely. Other notable people from Ely include The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
singer Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch is the English frontman, singer, songwriter and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, transformed into a gothic rock band and, in later years, flirted with pop and hard rock.Eldritch also programs the tracks...
, and journalist Chris Hunt
Chris Hunt
Chris Hunt is a magazine editor, journalist and author. He has worked in journalism for over twenty years, most often writing about football or rock music. He was managing editor of Match from 1993 to 2001, a period that saw the weekly title become Britain's biggest selling football magazine...
. Crime writer Jim Kelly
Jim Kelly (author)
Jim Kelly is an author and journalist. Kelly won the Crime Writers Association Dagger in the Library award in 2006.As of 2011, Kelly has written eight crime novels, including the award-winning The Water Clock, featuring fictional journalist Philip Dryden, based in the Cambridgeshire area of Great...
and award winning poet Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope, OBE is an award-winning contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon.-Biography:...
currently live in the city.
Cultural references
Children's book Tom's Midnight GardenTom's Midnight Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden is a children's novel by Philippa Pearce. It won the Carnegie Medal in 1958, the year of its publication. It has been adapted for radio, television, the cinema, and the stage.-Plot summary:...
by Philippa Pearce
Philippa Pearce
Ann Philippa Pearce OBE was an English children's author.-Early life:The youngest of four children, Pearce was brought up in the Mill House in the village of Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire...
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's
Jim Kelly (author)
Jim Kelly is an author and journalist. Kelly won the Crime Writers Association Dagger in the Library award in 2006.As of 2011, Kelly has written eight crime novels, including the award-winning The Water Clock, featuring fictional journalist Philip Dryden, based in the Cambridgeshire area of Great...
crime novels, featuring fictional journalist Philip Dryden, is largely set in the author's home town of Ely and in the Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
.
External links
- Historical documents relating to Ely, including Church of England parish registers, court records, maps and photographs, are held byCambridgeshire Archives and Local StudiesCambridgeshire Archives and Local StudiesCambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies Service is a UK local government institution which collects and preserves archives, other historical documents and printed material relating to the modern county of Cambridgeshire, which includes the former counties of Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely...
at the County Record Office in Cambridge* Ely Index - Ely On-Line
- Ely Info