ELY, a cathedral city and market-town, in the administrative and parliamentary county of the Isle of Ely, England, 144 m. N.N.E. of Cambridge by the L.N.E. railway. Pop. of urban district (1931) 8,382. Ely stands on a considerable eminence on the west bank of the Ouse, in the Isle which rises above the sur rounding fens. The cathedral, towering above the town, is a land mark far over the surrounding level. It is at the junction of a network of railway branch lines (to Huntingdon, Peterborough, Norwich and Newmarket) , and by means of the Ouse and the Cam has a wide inland navigation. The soil in the vicinity is fertile and market-gardening is carried on. A large beet sugar factory was erected in 1925. St. Mary's parish church ranges in style from Norman to Perpendicular, but in the main represents the Early English structure of Bishop Eustace (d. 1215). Holy Trinity church, formerly the Lady chapel of the cathedral (see below), on the north side of the choir, has served as a parish church since 1566. The public buildings include the shire hall and the corn exchange. The grammar school, known as The King's school, founded by Henry VIII. in 1541, and now enlarged and modernized, includes the old gatehouse of the monastery, known as the Porta, and the chapel built by Prior John de Cranden (1321– 1341). Among the other educational institutions are Needham's school, founded in 1734, the Cathedral Choristers' school (1862) and a theological college founded in 1876 and opened in 1881.
History.—The architectural foundations of the present cathe dral were laid by its first Norman abbot, Simeon (1081-94). But the reputation of Ely had been established long before, when Etheldreda (Aethelthryth), daughter of Anna, king of East Anglia, and wife to Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, founded a religious house here, in all probability a mixed community, in 673, becoming its first abbess, and giving the whole Isle of Ely to the foundation. In 87o the monastery was destroyed by the Danes, as were also the neighbouring foundations at Soham, Thorney, Crowland and Peterborough. It remained in ruins till 97o, when Aethelwold, bishop of Winchester, founded a new Bene dictine monastery here. King Edgar in 97o endowed the monks with the former possessions of the convent, and also granted them the secular causes of certain lands within and without the marshes and certain other privileges and revenues in the province of Grantecestre. The wealth and importance of Ely rose, and its abbots held the post of chancellors of the king's court alternately with the abbots of Glastonbury and of St. Augustine's, Canter bury. In the struggle against William the Conqueror, of which Hereward "the Wake" was the hero, Ely again became a scene of contest. Finally, in 1071, the monks agreed to surrender the Isle of Ely to the king on condition of the confirmation of all the possessions and privileges held by them in the time of Edward the Confessor. Abbot Simeon, who now began the reconstruction of the church, was related to William and brother to Walkelin, first Norman bishop of Winchester. Under Abbot Richard (1100 (37) the translation from the Saxon church of the bodies of St. Etheldreda and the two abbesses who had followed her, and their enshrinement in the new edifice, took place. The feast of St. Etheldreda, or St. Awdrey as she was generally called, was the occasion every year for a large fair at which "trifling objects" were sold to pilgrims by way of souvenirs ; whence the word "tawdry," a contraction of St. Awdrey. In 11o8–o9 the Isle of Ely, most of Cambridgeshire and the abbeys of Thorney and Cetricht were separated from the diocese of Lincoln, and con verted into a new diocese, Ely being the seat of the bishopric. After the Dissolution of the monasteries Henry VIII. converted the conventual church into a cathedral (1541), granting to the dean and chapter the cathedral with its revenues and precincts. The diocese was enlarged in 1837 and 1839, and until recently covered nearly the whole of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire, part of Suffolk, and small portions of Essex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. But in 1913 Bedfordshire was transferred to St. Albans and West Suffolk to St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and the diocese now includes Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and certain parishes in Norfolk.
Cathedral.—The cathedral is a cruciform structure, 537 ft. long and 190 ft. across the great transepts (exterior measure ments) . A relic of the Saxon foundation is preserved in the cross of St. Osyth (c. 67o), and a pre-Norman window is preserved in the triforium, which was unearthed near the cathedral. The nave, which is Norman throughout, is 208 ft. in length, 72 ft. 9 in. to the top of the walls, and 77 ft. 3 in. broad, including the aisles. The great western tower and the transept, which are also Norman, were completed in the 12th century. The tower, which is 215 ft. high, is surmounted by a Decorated octagon with partly detached side turrets, and underwent alteration and strengthening in the Perpendicular period. The Galilee, or western porch, by which the cathedral is entered, is the work of Bishop Eustace, and is a perfect example of Early English style. In 1322 the Norman central tower, erected by Abbot Simeon, fell. Alan of Walsing ham, sacrist of the church, designed its restoration (1322-28) in the form of the present Decorated octagon, a beautiful and unique conception. Instead of the ordinary four-arched central crossing, an octagon is formed at the crossing, the arches of the nave aisles and choir aisles being set obliquely, while upon the ribbed vault ing of wood above it rose the lofty lantern, octagonal also, with its angles set opposite those of the octagon below. The total height is 17o ft. 7 in. Under Bishop John of Hotham (1316-37) the Lady chapel, a beautiful example of Decorated work, was also begun in 1321. It is attributed to John Wisbech, a monk, work ing under Alan de Walsingham, and was completed in 1349. Of the seven bays of the choir the four easternmost (as well as the two beyond forming the retrochoir) had been built by Bishop Hugh of Northwold (d. 1254), and the three western bays which were destroyed by the fall of the tower were now rebuilt by Bishop Hotham and completed by his successors. The earlier portion is a superb example of Early English work, while the later is per haps the best example of pure Decorated in England; the elab orate choir stalls are attributed to Richard de Saxmundham (5338-46). The Perpendicular style is represented by the win dows of the aisles and certain other details. There are also some splendid tombs, like that of Bishop John Redman (d. 1505), and the two chapels of Bishop John Alcock (d. 1500) and Bishop Nicolas West (d. 1534) in this style. Among earlier monuments the canopied tomb of Bishop William de Luda (129o-98) and the finely-carved effigy of Bishop Northwold (12 54) are notable. Be tween 1845 and the end of the century, the cathedral underwent restoration. The work included the erection of the modern reredos and choir-screen, both designed by Sir G. Scott, and the painting of the nave roof by Styleman le Strange (d. 1862), who was succeeded by Gambier Parry. Parry also richly ornamented the octagon and lantern in the style of the 14th century.
Of the remains of the monastic buildings, mention has been made of the Ely "Porta" and of Prior John's beautiful chapel. But many of the remains, the bulk of which are incorporated in the deanery and canons' and other residences, are of much earlier date, such as the Norman undercroft of the prior's hall and the notable transitional Norman chancel of the infirmary chapel. The remnants of the cloisters show a 1 Sth century reconstruction; but the prior's and monks' doorways from the cloisters into the cathedral are decorated late Norman. The bishop's palace has towers erected by Bishop Alcock. In the muniment room of the chapter is preserved the Tiber Eliensis, a history of the monastery by the monk known as Thomas of Ely (d. c. 1174), of which the first part, which extends to the year 96o, contains a life of St. Etheldreda, while the second is continued to the year 1107.