Isle of Ely

Oliver Cromwell's House in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England was the family home of Oliver Cromwell. The kitchen dates from around 1215, other parts being built later. The house was the vicarage of St Mary's Church (which is adjacent to it) until 1986. In 1988 it was bought by the City of Ely Council and was opened as a tourist attraction in 1990, and has been refurbished to show how it may have looked during Cromwell's lifetime.The former Lord Protector's family home is his only residence still in existence other than Hampton Court. Following a recent refurbishment the House now has a completely re-vamped Civil War exhibition with interactive displays and interpretations.

The Sextry Barn was a 13th-century tithe barn in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It was one of the largest medieval barns in Europe, and was demolished in 1842. It was used to store the corn tithes due to Ely Cathedral, and took its name from the sacrist of the monastery who was in charge of it.The barn lay to the west of St Mary's Church, and adjacent to Oliver Cromwell's House. It was about 209 ft (64 m) in length internally with masonry walls approximately 4 ft (1.2 m) thick. The roof was supported by a double range of oak piers separating it into central and side aisles.

St Mary's Church is a church in Ely, Cambridgeshire, located near Ely Cathedral to the west of the Bishop's Palace.Principally constructed in the 13th century, it was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1950.Sextry Barn, which stood immediately to the west of the churchyard, was a large 13th-century tithe barn. It was demolished in 1842.

The Bishop's Palace, Ely was one of the residences of the Bishop of Ely from the 15th century until 1941. It is a Grade I listed building.The palace was built in the 15th century by Bishop John Alcock however just two towers from the original building remain. He also completed the bishop’s palace (now Wisbech Castle) at Wisbech (where he died in 1500). Bishops over the following centuries expanded and remodelled the palace.During the Second World War the palace was used as a base for the British Red Cross and after this period it became a home for disabled children until its closure in the 1980s. Following this, the palace was purchased on a 99 years lease by the Sue Ryder Care organization although the palace went up for sale again in 2010. Later that year, local public school, King's Ely took over the lease from Sue Ryder Care and refurbished the palace to become the school new sixth form centre. It was opened by the Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester on Friday 25 January 2013.

St Etheldreda's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It is part of the Diocese of East Anglia within the Province of Westminster. The church notably contains the shrine and relics of St Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon queen and abbess who died on 23 June AD 679 and went on to become one of the most popular of the medieval saints in England. She has even been described as one of "the most significant of all native English Saints."

King's Ely (renamed from "The King's School" in March 2012), is a co-educational public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) and Cathedral school in the city of Ely in England. It was founded in 970 AD, making it one of the oldest schools in the world. It was given its first Royal Charter by King Henry VIII in 1541, its second by Queen Elizabeth I in 1562, and its third by King Charles II in 1666. The school consists of a nursery, a pre-preparatory school, a prep school, a senior school, a sixth form, and an international school. King's Ely is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. In 2021, The Independent Schools Inspectorate published their report writing that "King's Ely achieved the highest grading possible in every category inspected and was judged to meet or exceed all regulatory standards for independent day and boarding schools."The school has produced a number of notable alumni, including, Edward the Confessor, King of England, Lord Browne of Madingley, erstwhile chairman of British Petroleum, and James Bowman, countertenor.King's Ely has featured in the local news for its sports results, and it has produced a bronze medal-winning Olympic athlete, Goldie Sayers, who won a Bronze Medal for Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Much of the senior school uses the historic monastic buildings of the cathedral, and major school events and twice-weekly services are held there. One of the boys' boarding houses, School House, is claimed to be the oldest residential building in Europe. In its entirety, the school has over 1,000 pupils. It has a small campus, with other parts in buildings near the city centre. All King's Ely sections share resources such as sports facilities and the refectory in the Monastic Barn (unless in Sixth Form where pupils eat in the Bishop's Palace).

The Countess Free Church is a church based in the centre of Ely, Cambridgeshire, and holding events across the city. The church meets on a Sunday morning at 10.30am as well as activities and groups for people of all ages through the week, including a strong community focus by hosting various groups and activities mid-week. The church buildings are located in Chapel Street, near Ely Cathedral.

Ely ( EE-lee) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge and 80 miles (130 km) from London. Ely is built on a 23-square-mile (60 km2) Kimmeridge Clay island which, at 85 feet (26 m), 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, northwest to Peterborough, east to Norwich, southeast 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. The city of Ely has been twinned with Denmark's oldest town, Ribe, since 1956. Ely City Football Club was formed in 1885.

Ely Theological College was a college in Ely, Cambridgeshire, for training clergy in the Church of England. Founded in 1876 by James Woodford, Anglican Bishop of Ely, the college had a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. Ely's "ritualistic" (i.e. "Catholic") tendencies were attacked by Mr Samuel Smith MP in a House of Commons debate in 1899.Because of its reputation for strong Anglo-Catholicism the clergy trained there had little hope of rising to senior positions in the church; the first one to become a diocesan bishop was Edward Wynn in 1941. (Eric Mascall in his autobiography expresses the opinion that there were few differences in doctrine or liturgy between Ely and the theological colleges of Cuddesdon and Lincoln.) The principal from 1891 to 1911 was B. W. Randolph (also a canon of the cathedral); he was succeeded by Charles John Smith (previously vice-principal) who maintained the customs established in Randolph's time. The vice-principal was then Harry Thomas, a former missionary who later became the suffragan bishop of Taunton.The college closed in 1964.

The city of Ely formed a local government district in the Isle of Ely and Cambridgeshire from 1850 to 1974. It was administered as a local board district from 1850 to 1894, and as an urban district from 1894 to 1974. Unusually for somewhere which claimed city status, Ely was not a municipal borough.

The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely. There is one suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. The diocese now covers the modern ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire (excluding the Soke of Peterborough) and western Norfolk. The diocese was created in 1109 out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln. The diocese is ancient, and the area of Ely was part of the patrimony of Saint Etheldreda. A religious house was founded in the city in 673. After her death in 679 she was buried outside the church, and her remains were later reburied inside, the foundress being commemorated as a great Anglian saint. The diocese has had its boundaries altered various times. From an original diocese covering the historic county of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire were added in 1837 from the Diocese of Lincoln, as was the Sudbury archdeaconry in Suffolk from the Diocese of Norwich. In 1914 Bedfordshire became part of the Diocese of St Albans, and western Suffolk became part of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, whilst Ely took a western part of the Diocese of Norwich. Peterborough remains the seat of the Diocese of Peterborough.Today the diocese covers an area of 1,507 square miles (3,900 km2). It has a population of 705,000 and comprises 209 benefices, 303 parishes and 335 churches with 145 stipendiary parochial clergy.

Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 672 by St Æthelthryth (also called Etheldreda). The earliest parts of the present building date to 1083, and it was granted cathedral status in 1109. Until the Reformation the cathedral was dedicated to St Etheldreda and St Peter, at which point it was refounded as the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Ely, which covers most of Cambridgeshire and western Norfolk, Essex and Bedfordshire. It is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon.Architecturally, Ely Cathedral is outstanding both for its scale and stylistic details. Having been built in a monumental Romanesque style, the galilee porch, lady chapel and choir were rebuilt in an exuberant Decorated Gothic. Its most notable feature is the central octagonal tower, with lantern above, which provides a unique internal space and, along with the West Tower, dominates the surrounding landscape. The cathedral is a major tourist destination, receiving around 250,000 visitors per year, and sustains a daily pattern of morning and evening services.