Ely, ENG - Postcode - CB7 4GD

Ely, Cambridgeshire

Located around 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge and 80 miles (130 km) from London, Elyis is a cathedral city in the East Cambridgeshire area of Cambridgeshire, England.

Ely sits on a Kimmeridge Clay island that is 23 square miles (60 km2) in size and 85 feet (26 m) above sea level, making it the highest land in the Fens. Because of its geographical isolation from the mainland, Ely was spared the flooding that plagued the surrounding Fenland. Peat was originally laid down in the Fens' freshwater marshes and meres, which were fed by rivers like the Witham, Welland, Nene, and Great Ouse before draining began in the seventeenth century. This peat turned the drained Fens into a rich, fruitful soil.

Until the Fens were drained and Ely stopped being an island in the seventeenth century, the River Great Ouse was an important mode of transportation.

 The river is a major marina and boating destination. The city is still referred to as "The Isle of Ely," despite being completely surrounded by land.

A former Kimmeridge Clay quarry and one of the outstanding examples of medieval ridge and furrow agriculture in the United Kingdom are both located in the city and are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Agribusiness is crucial to the area's economy. The name of the town may have come from the widespread practice of eel fishing that occurred there before the Fens were drained. In addition to these staples, wildfowling, peat extraction, and the collection of osier (willow) and sedge were also significant (rush). Over the course of more than 700 years, the city served as a major hub for the production of indigenous ceramics, particularly the distinctive Babylon ware. Akeman Street, a Roman route, runs across the city, beginning at Ermine Street at Wimpole and ending in Brancaster. Although neighbouring Roman settlements like as Little Thetford and Stretham provide indirect evidence of Roman occupation in Ely, not much survives in the way of artifacts from the Roman period.

Economy

Since the island was bordered by marshes and meres, the abbot and his tenants relied heavily on eel fishing for both food and income. In 1086, for instance, the abbot of Ely estimated a value of 24,000 eels for the town of Stuntenei, 17,000 eels for the city of Litelport, and 3,250 eels for the tiny settlement of Liteltetford. [115] Ely was a key hub for the trading of willow, reed, and rush products and wild fowling prior to the massive and mainly successful drainage of the fens in the seventeenth century. Peat was employed as both a fuel (in the form of "turf") and a construction material (in the form of "moor"). For riverbank upkeep, locals mined Ampthill Clay, and potters sourced Kimmeridge Clay from the Roswell Pits. From a geological point of view, "The majority of the area's economy has historically relied on agriculture. As of right now, only gravel for aggregate is mined, but in the past, small-scale operations extracted chalk, brick clay (Ampthill and Kimmeridge clays), phosphate (from Woburn Sands, Gault, and Cambridge Greensand), sand and gravel, and peat ".  Between 1850 and 1890, phosphate nodules, also known as coprolites[xiii], were mined in the area around Ely for use as a fertilizer. Workers in the area could find plentiful career opportunities in this sector. In 1925, two miles (three kilometers) outside of Ely's downtown, one of the largest sugar beet plants in England opened in Queen Adelaide. Although sugar beets are no longer processed at the factory, they are still grown in the area. From the 12th century until 1860, pottery was produced in Ely, with about 80 persons identifying as potters according to historical documents. Babylon ware is the term given to the ceramics produced in a certain region of Ely. It is speculated that the name Babylonian ware was given to it because it was produced in a region that was separated from the main part of the country after the River Great Ouse was redirected in the year 1200; by the seventeenth century, this region had become known as Babylon. The name didn't appear on official maps until 1850, and its origins remain a mystery. To go to Ely, residents had to take a boat over the river, which was only possible after the 1847 construction of the railway from Ely to King's Lynn.