ELY
[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2013
"ELY, comprises the parishes of
St. Mary,
Holy Trinity
and others, it is
a city, market and assize town, in the hundred of the same name, in
the Isle of Ely, county Cambridge, 16 miles from Cambridge by road, or 15
by rail, and 67 from London by road, or 72½ by rail. This city is situated
on a considerable eminence in the middle of the county, near the river
Ouse, and forms the capital of the division of Cambridge called the Isle of
Ely. Its boundaries include 17,480 acres, and, according to the census of
1861, contained 1,559 houses, with a population of 7,428 inhabitants,
against 6,176 in 1851, showing an increase of 1,252 in the decennial
period."
(There is more of this description).
[Transcribed and edited information from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868]
- "A Cemetery of 10½ acres was formed in 1855, at a cost of £3,500, and 5½
acres have since been added at an additional cost of £1,300. The cemetery is under
the control of a Burial Board of 15 members.There are two mortuary chapels connected
by a tower, carried on open arches, and surmounted by a spire."
[Kelly's Directory - 1900]
- "The district church of St. Etheldreda, at Adelaide Bridge, erected in 1883-4 at
a cost of £700, is a plain edifice of brick, consisting of nave, south porch and
a turret containing one bell: there are sittings for 140; the services are conducted
by the clergy of Holy Trinity.
- The district church of St. Peter, in Broad street, erected in 1890 at a cost of £4,050,
is a building, of stone in the Early Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave
south porch, organ chamber and a south-west turret with hexagonal spire containing
one bell: the chancel has a piscina and sedile: the east window is stained and there
are 220 sittings."
- "A parish room for Holy Trinity was erected in Newnham street in 1889 by the vicar;
there is also one for St. Mary's in the Cambridge road, built in 1891.
The Catholic church, in Egremont street, was built in 1891, and is dedicated to St.
Etheldreda.
- Zion Baptist chapel is in High Street passage; the Countess of Huntingdon's in Chapel
street, and the Primitive Methodist chapel in Victoria street; the Wesleyan, in Chapel
street, was renovated in 1891, at a cost of £600."
[Kelly's Directory - 1900]
- Here is a
list of the Bishops of Ely from 1109 to 2000.
- Methodist Church
- Wesleyan Methodist Church:
Records exist for the
Ely Wesleyan Circuit of which Ely is part.
- Primitive Methodist Church:
Records exist for the
Ely Primitive Circuit of which Ely is part.
- The Countess of Huntingdon Connexion:
Records exist for baptisms 1787-1835 and burials 1787-1815 (on microfilm) reside
at the Cambridgeshire Archives. The address of the organisation is:
- The Countess of Huntingdon Connexion
Huntingdon Hall
65 De Ia Warr Road
East Grinstead
West Sussex
RH19 3BS.
- Here is some extracts from the book
The Ely Methodists, 1774-1932s.
- From Kelly's Directory - 1900:
- "The Shire Hall, built in 1820, is a structure of brick, consisting of a centre and
two wings: the former contains apartments, for holding the courts and public meetings;
the north wing is appropriated partly as an armoury for the H Company 3rd (Cambridgeshire)
Volunteer Battalion Suffolk Regiment, and the south wing forms a police station;
the hall will hold about 250 persons. At Fore Hill is a reading room for the public
and volunteers. There a militia depot here, and Ely is also a central recruiting
station for all branches of the service.
- Needham's charity provides education and clothing for poor boys of Ely, and was founded
by Mrs. Catherine Needham, of New Arlesford, Hants in 1790, who left land in the
parish, originally producing £80 yearly, but now brining in about £400 a year, for
this purpose. The charity is managed by a body of governors, now comprising the Dean
of Ely, Archdeacon Emery, C.M. Bidwell esq., Rev. E.H.Lowe and W.I. Evans esq.; treasurer,
A Hall esq.; school master, Mr. Henry S. Boyden.
- The Corporation of the Bedford Level, which, though deprived by Act of Parliament,
of one half of its jurisdiction, still superintends the drainage of a very large
district of marsh land called the South Level of the Fens, has its offices here.
- The Corn Exchange, in the Market place, was built in 1847, and a cattle market formed,
both of which are the property of the Corn Exchange, Fairs and Cattle Market Co.
and are well attended. Thursday is the market day.
- The fairs, anciently held on Ascension Day or Holy Thursday and October 29th, the
former for three and the latter for nine days, have been reduced to three days each,
the May or summer fair commencing on the last Thursday in May, except when that day
falls on Holy Thursday, and then the Thursday before, and the October or winter fair
on the last Thursday in October.
- Parsons's charity, an ancient benefaction, produces upwards of £1,000 net yearly
revenue, from lands in Ely and Stretham, out of which the feoffees or governors pay
£360 to the National schools for education and clothing, £150 to the Ely Dispensary,
£10 10s to Addenbrooke' s Hospital, Cambridge, £200 in the distribution of coal to
the poor, £40 to the poor people in their almshouses, £75 for general relief to the
poor, £50 in renting of allotments of land and sub-letting to the poor, and besides
this a considerable portion of the charity land is let to the poor in husbandry allotments:
there is also another large charity, derived from estates at Soham and Fordham, left
by Benjamin Laney, Bishop of Ely, 1675-77, for the apprenticing of poor children
of Ely and Soham to honest trades, the premium not to exceed £20."
- The Monastic Buildings and the College
- No trace now remains of the Anglo-Saxon monastery founded in 673 and re-founded in
970. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, and the putting down of the local rebellion
of Hereward the Wake immediately after, the first Norman Abbot began to rebuild the
Abbey on a new and larger scale. Parts of the Cathedral Church belong to these years,
but the buildings of the monastery that are visible now were all additions later
in the Middle Ages. From 1109 onwards the church was also the seat of a bishop of
the new bishopric of Ely.
- The oldest standing buildings are the prior's house with its vaulted undercroft and
the central part of the infirmary complex both built in the 12th-century. The infirmary
was a long rectangular building with a high roof over its central hall and an aisle
on either side. The hall has lost its roof and is now a road called Firmary Lane.
The blocked arches that led from the central hall into the side aisles are visible
here. At the east-end of the lane a stone wall with a 12th-century door separated
the hall from the infirmary chapel, which has also now lost its roof. At the end
of the lane the sanctuary of the chapel stands within the 19th-century brick building
which forms part of the Chapter Offices.
- By the end of the 13th-century the cathedral and its monastic buildings were largely
complete, and included the Almonry on the east side of the north range, the Great
Guest Hall for lay visitors, and the Black Hostelry for visiting Benedictine monks.
- Major works began again in 1321, with the commencement of the Lady Chapel, and accelerated
after the collapse of the central tower of the cathedral in 1322. During the next
30 years the octagon was built, the Lady Chapel was finished, and some of the monastic
buildings were substantially altered: it was a remarkable and expensive programme.
Prior Crauden's Chapel was finished in 1324, and the Queen's Hall in the 1330s. At
the same time the Sacrist's Office was built by the Sacrist Alan of Walsingham, who
was responsible for organising most of the building work. In the old infirmary the
north aisle was demolished and replaced by a large L-shaped house, Powcher's Hall
(named after Prior William Powcher), and Alan of Walsingham's building. Most of the
other surviving buildings show some signs of extension or re-modelling during this
period, after which there was a clear pause in activity.
- Towards the end of the 14th-century we can see changes at the southern end of the
site, next to the old 11th-century castle mound, itself perhaps a response to Hereward's
rebellion. A monastic barn was built to store the Abbey crops, next to a new gatehouse,
the Porta. Both probably replaced earlier buildings with the same purpose.
- In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the monastery. The bishopric remained, and the bishop
continued to live in the medieval bishop's palace [now the Sue Ryder Home] until
the early 20th-century. The main houses of the monks around the cloister [dormitory,
refectory and chapter house] were now surplus, and have thus largely vanished. The
church required staffing, nonetheless, and so in 1541 a Royal Charter established
a College of secular priests, and the old Infirmary buildings (which already contained
several separate 14th-century houses) were adapted for their occupation. The Dean,
successor to the Prior and head of the new establishment, took over some of the guest
halls and prior's buildings, and so these still survive. Further work was necessary
to bring the buildings up to modern standards around 1800, when Canonry House was
extended by the construction of the South Wing. Major restorations took place between
1860 and 1890, which included further building in the Infirmary Complex, and another
restoration of some of the buildings proved necessary between 1987 and 1996.
- Here is information about
Ely Cathedral.
- Here are some extracts for Ely from the book
'Cathedral Churches'.
- A history of Ely and the area can be found in the book
'A Brief History of Ely and neighbouring villages in the Isle'
by J.H. Clements, 1868.
- Ely Union Workhouse
, later Public Assistance Institution, records births 1935-45 and deaths 1933-55
are held in the Cambridgeshire Archives.
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