About Ely, England
Ely (/ˈiːli/ ⓘ EE-lee) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire in Cambridgeshire, England. I As well as the built up area itself, the parish also covers surrounding rural areas including the settlements of Chettisham, Prickwillow, Mile End, Queen Adelaide, and Stuntney. At the 2021 census the built up area had a population of 19,185 and the parish had a population of 20,574.
About Ely Cathedral:
The story of Ely Cathedral begins with St Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon queen who renounced royal life and founded a double monastery here in 673 AD. Her shrine made Ely one of medieval England’s great pilgrimage destinations, and the present cathedral grew from the Norman rebuilding begun after the Conquest.
Then, in 1322, disaster produced genius. The great central tower collapsed. Instead of simply rebuilding it, the medieval craftsmen created the vast timber Octagon and lantern that still seems almost to float above the crossing, one of the most astonishing achievements of English medieval architecture.
But Ely was not built simply to be admired. Its altars, chapels, imagery and architecture existed within the Catholic sacramental life: the Mass, the Divine Office, devotion to Our Lady and the saints, prayers for the dead and pilgrimage to the shrine of St Etheldreda.
During the Reformation her shrine was destroyed, the monastery dissolved and much of the cathedral’s medieval devotional imagery mutilated. Yet the building survived. And perhaps that is why places like Ely remain so fascinating. Even after nearly five centuries, the stones still speak the theological language of the civilisation that raised them.
Traveling to Ely Cathedral:
Ely lies 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Cambridge, 24 miles (39 km) south-east of Peterborough, and 80 miles (130 km) from London.
Phone: +44 1353 667735