Ely - Cathedral

Ely was founded in 673 by St Æthelthryth, daughter of King Anne of East Anglia, by founding an abbey to the north of the village of Cratendune in the Isle of Ely. Queen Æthelthryth from Northumbria was on the run from her husband Ecgfrith, whom she refused to sleep with for twelve years in order not to break an oath of chastity. Ten years after her death, her body is said to have remained uncorrupted. She was reinterred in a marble sarcophagus, which was described as miraculous and attracted many pilgrims.

When the Normans under William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, Ely was successfully defended under Hereward the Wake until the clergy handed over the Isle of Ely to the king in 1071 on condition that they were allowed to retain all the rights and privileges they had enjoyed since the time of Edward the Confessor. A diocese of Ely was founded as early as 1109.

Drainage of the marshland around the city began in the 17th century, but it was not until the invention of steam-powered pumps in the 19th century that it was finally drained.

The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 672 by St Æthelthryth. The earliest parts of the present building date to 1083.


The first time I visited Ely was decades ago. Back then, I was very impressed by the way the cathedral rises out of the flat landscape as you approach it.