{"id":7,"date":"2019-11-08T09:19:08","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T01:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travel.leicesterbbs.com\/?p=7"},"modified":"2024-03-14T19:49:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T11:49:33","slug":"7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/travel.leicesterbbs.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/08\/7\/","title":{"rendered":"Ely"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ely \u4e00\u65e5\u6e38<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ely<\/strong> (\/\u02c8i\u02d0li\/<\/a> (listen<\/a>) EE-lee<\/em><\/a>) is a cathedral city<\/a> in Cambridgeshire<\/a>, England, about 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge<\/a> and about 80 miles (129 km) by road from London. \u00c6thelthryth<\/a> (also known as Etheldreda) founded an abbey at Ely in 673; the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders and was rebuilt by \u00c6thelwold<\/a>, Bishop of Winchester<\/a>, in 970. Construction of the cathedral was started in 1083 by a Norman<\/a> abbot, Simeon<\/a>. Alan of Walsingham<\/a>‘s octagon, built over Ely’s nave<\/a> crossing<\/a> between 1322 and 1328, is the “greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral”, according to architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner<\/a>. Building continued until the dissolution<\/a> of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation<\/a>. The cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott<\/a>. As the seat of a diocese<\/a>, Ely has long been considered a city; in 1974, city status<\/a> was granted by royal charter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ely is built on a 23-square-mile (60 km2<\/sup>) Kimmeridge Clay<\/a> island which, at 85 feet (26 m), is the highest land in the Fens<\/a>. Major rivers including the Witham<\/a>, Welland<\/a>, Nene<\/a> and Great Ouse<\/a> feed into the Fens and, until draining commenced in the 17th century, formed freshwater marshes and meres<\/a> within which peat was laid down. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest<\/a> in the city: a former Kimmeridge Clay quarry, and one of the United Kingdom’s best remaining examples of medieval ridge and furrow<\/a> agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economy of the region is mainly agricultural. Before the Fens were drained, the harvesting of osier<\/a> (willow) and sedge<\/a> (rush) and the extraction of peat were important activities, as were eel<\/a> fishing\u2014from which the settlement’s name may have been derived\u2014and wildfowling<\/a>. The city had been the centre of local pottery production for more than 700 years, including pottery known as Babylon ware. A Roman road<\/a>, Akeman Street<\/a>, passes through the city; the southern end is at Ermine Street<\/a> near Wimpole<\/a> and its northern end is at Brancaster<\/a>. Little direct evidence of Roman occupation in Ely exists, although there are nearby Roman settlements such as those at Little Thetford<\/a> and Stretham<\/a>. A coach route, known to have existed in 1753 between Ely and Cambridge, was improved in 1769 as a turnpike<\/a> (toll road). The present-day A10<\/a> closely follows this route; a southwestern bypass of the city was built in 1986. Ely railway station<\/a>, built in 1845, is on the Fen Line<\/a> and is now a railway hub, with lines north to King’s Lynn<\/a>, northwest to Peterborough<\/a>, east to Norwich<\/a>, southeast to Ipswich<\/a> and south to Cambridge and London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n