Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. Ely is built on a 23-square-mile Kimmeridge Clay island which, at 85 feet, is the highest land in the Fens. It was due to this topography that Ely was not waterlogged like the surrounding Fenland, and was an island separated from the mainland. Major rivers including the Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse feed into the Fens and, until draining commenced in the eighteenth century, formed freshwater marshes and meres within which peat was laid down. Once the Fens were drained, this peat created a rich and fertile soil ideal for farming.

The River Great Ouse was a significant means of transport until the Fens were drained and Ely ceased to be an island in the seventeenth century. The river is now a popular boating spot, and has a large marina. Although now surrounded by land, the city is still known as "The Isle of Ely".

There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest 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 economy of the region is mainly agricultural. Before the Fens were drained, eel fishing was an important activity, from which the settlement's name may have been derived. Other important activities included wildfowling, peat extraction, and the harvesting of osier (willow) and sedge (rush). The city had been the centre of local pottery production for more than 700 years, including pottery known as Babylon ware. A Roman road, Akeman Street, passes through the city; the southern end is at Ermine Street near Wimpole and its northern end is at Brancaster. Little direct evidence of Roman occupation in Ely exists, although there are nearby Roman settlements such as those at Little Thetford and Stretham.

A coach route, known to have existed in 1753 between Ely and Cambridge, was improved in 1769 as a turnpike (toll road). The present-day A10 closely follows this route. Ely railway station, built in 1845, is on the Fen Line and is now a railway hub, with lines north to King's Lynn, north-west to Peterborough, east to Norwich, south-east to Ipswich and south to Cambridge and London.

Henry II granted the first annual fair, Saint Etheldreda's (or Saint Audrey's) seven-day event, to the abbot and convent on 10 October 1189. The word "tawdry" originates from cheap lace sold at this fair. A weekly market has taken place in Ely Market Square since at least the 13th century. Markets are now held on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with a farmers' market on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month.

Present-day annual events include the Eel Festival in May, established in 2004, and a fireworks display in Ely Park, first staged in 1974. Ely City Football Club was formed in 1885.

Economy As an island surrounded by marshes and meres, the fishing of eels was important as both a food and an income for the abbot and his nearby tenants. For example, to the abbot of Ely in 1086, Stuntenei was worth 24,000 eels, Litelport 17,000 eels and even the small village of Liteltetford was worth 3,250 eels. Prior to the extensive and largely successful drainage of the fens during the seventeenth century, Ely was a trade centre for goods made out of willow, reeds and rushes and wild fowling was a major local activity. Peat in the form of "turf" was used as a fuel and in the form of "moor" as a building material.[xii] Ampthill Clay was dug from the local area for the maintenance of river banks and Kimmeridge Clay at Roswell Pits for the making of pottery wares. In general, from a geological perspective, "The district is almost entirely agricultural and has always been so. The only mineral worked at the present time is gravel for aggregate, although chalk, brick clay (Ampthill and Kimmeridge clays), phosphate (from Woburn Sands, Gault and Cambridge Greensand), sand and gravel, and peat have been worked on a small scale in the past".

Phosphate nodules, referred to locally as coprolites, were dug in the area surrounding Ely between 1850 and 1890 for use as an agricultural fertiliser. This industry provided significant employment for the local labour force. One of the largest sugar beet factories in England was opened in Queen Adelaide, two miles (3 km) from the centre of Ely, in 1925. The factory closed in 1981, although sugar beet is still farmed locally.

Pottery was made in Ely from the 12th century until 1860: records show around 80 people who classed their trade as potters. "Babylon ware" is the name given to pottery made in one area of Ely. This ware is thought to be so named because there were potters in an area cut off from the centre by the re-routing of the River Great Ouse around 1200; by the seventeenth century this area had become known as Babylon. Although the reason for the name is unclear, by 1850 it was in official use on maps. The building of the Ely to King's Lynn railway in 1847 cut the area off even further, and the inhabitants could only cross to Ely by boat.

Annual events Annual fairs have been held in Ely since the twelfth century. Saint Audrey's (Etheldreda's) seven-day fair, held either side of 23 June, was first granted officially by Henry I to the abbot and convent on 10 October 1189. At this fair, cheap necklaces, made from brightly coloured silk, were sold—these were called "tawdry lace". "Tawdry", a corruption of "Saint Audrey", now means "pertaining to the nature of cheap and gaudy finery". Two other fairs, the 15‑day festival of St Lambert, first granted in 1312 and the 22‑day fair beginning on the Vigil of the Ascension, first granted in 1318. The festival of St Lambert had stopped by the eighteenth century. St Etheldreda's and the Vigil of the Ascension markets still continue, although the number of days have been considerably reduced and the dates have changed.

Present-day annual events in Ely include Aquafest, which has been staged at the riverside by the Rotary Club on the first Sunday of July since 1978.[xiv] Other events include the Eel Day carnival procession and the annual fireworks display in Ely Park, first staged in 1974. The Ely Folk Festival has been held in the city since 1985. The Ely Horticultural Society have been staging their Great Autumn Show since 1927. In 2018 Ely hosted the 'Pride' festival, celebrating LGBT and diversity. At the inaugural festival 'For The Hornets' headlined and the cathedral flew the pride rainbow flag.

Rail Ely railway station, 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 and London. At the opening of the 26+1⁄2-mile (42.6 km) Lynn and Ely railway "with great éclat" on 25 October 1847, the Ely station building,[xviii] completed in 1847, was described by The Illustrated London News as "an extensive pile[xix] in pleasing mixed Grecian and Italian style". The former Ely and St Ives Railway, known locally as the Grunty Fen Express, opened in 1865 but was never popular. In 1866, the 7+1⁄2-mile (12.1 km) return journey from Ely to Sutton-in-the-Isle cost two shillings, which equates to a cost of almost £10[xx] in 2023. The line closed to passengers in February 1931 and completely closed in 1964. As of December 2016, train operating companies using Ely were: Great Northern, Greater Anglia, CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway with 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.