By Tim Lambert
Early Ely
Ely began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement. It’s not certain where the name came from. It may have been Eel eg, meaning Eel Island. At any rate, a monastery was founded at Ely in 673. However it was destroyed by the Danes in 870. The monastery was re-founded in 970.
In 1070 Ely was the centre of a rebellion against the Normans, led by Hereward the Wake. At that time it was on an island surrounded by fens and was easily defended. However the Normans finally captured Ely in 1071.
At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 Ely probably had a population of about 400. By the standards of the time it was quite a large settlement. It had 20 slaves. (Slavery in England died out by the mid-12th century).
Work began on building a church in Ely in the late 11th century. In 1109 it was made a cathedral. The great western tower was completed in 1189. The famous octagon was built in the 14th century. The Porta, the gate that once stood in the walls around the monastery was built in the early 15th century. However, in 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the monastery, but he re-founded the cathedral in 1541. Meanwhile, St Mary’s Church was built in the 13th century.
Ely grew much bigger in the Middle Ages and it probably had about 1,600 inhabitants by the middle of the 13th century. Like other towns, Ely was devastated by the Black Death but it soon recovered. From 1189 Ely had annual fairs. In 1224 King Henry III granted the town the right to hold weekly markets.
The economy of the little town largely relied on catching eels. However in the 17th century the fens were drained and it ceased to be an island. Ely is noted for Oliver Cromwell’s House, where his family lived from 1636 to 1646.
Modern Ely
For centuries Ely was a quiet market town. However during the 19th century it grew much larger. By 1851 Ely had a population of over 6,000.
In 1816 high food prices caused a riot in Ely. It began in Littleport but it spread to Ely the next day. The government sent in troops to supress the riots. Afterwards 5 men were hanged, 9 were transported and 10 were imprisoned.
However amenities in Ely improved in the 19th century. Ely Shire Hall was built in 1820. Ely gained gas light in 1835. The railway reached Ely in 1845. Then, in 1850 Ely gained a piped water supply.
Ely War Memorial was unveiled in 1922. Although Ely has had a cathedral for centuries it was not formally made a city until 1974. Jubilee Gardens were opened in 2022.
Today Ely is a flourishing market town in a mainly agricultural area. Today the population of Ely is 20,000.
