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Perched on a mound of clay above the River Ouse, ELY - literally "eel island" - was to all intents and purposes a true island until the draining of the fens in the seventeenth century. Up until then, the town was encircled by treacherous marshland, which could only be crossed with the help of the locals, "fen-slodgers" who knew the firm tussock paths. In 1070, Hereward the Wake turned this inaccessibility to military advantage, holding out against the Normans and forcing William the Conqueror to undertake a prolonged siege - and finally to build an improvised road floated on bundles of sticks.
Since then, Ely has always been associated with Hereward, which is really rather ridiculous as Ely is, above all else, an ecclesiastical town and a Norman one to boot. The Normans built the cathedral , a towering structure visible for miles across the flat landscape and Ely's only significant sight. It's easy to see the town on a day-trip from Cambridge, but Ely does make a pleasant night's stop in its own right. It's also handy for Wicken Fen .
Ely Cathedral (June-Sept daily 7am-7pm; Oct-May Mon-Sat 7.30am-6pm, Sun 7.30am-5pm; £4) is seen to best advantage from the south, the crenellated towers of the west side perfectly balanced by the prickly finials to the east with the distinctive timber lantern rising above them both. To approach from this direction, follow the footpath leading up the hill into the cathedral precincts from Broad Street - also the second turning on the right as you walk up Station Road from the train station. At the top of the footpath, pass through the medieval Porta , once the principal entrance to the monastery complex, and turn right to reach the main entrance on the lopsided west front - one of the transepts collapsed in a storm in 1701.
The first things to strike you as you enter the nave are the sheer length of the building and the lively nineteenth-century painted ceiling, largely the work of amateurs. The procession of plain late-Norman arches leads to the architectural feature that makes Ely so special, the octagon - the only one of its kind in England - built in 1322 to replace the collapsed central tower. Its construction, employing the largest oaks available in England to support some four hundred tons, is one of the wonders of the medieval world, and the effect, as you look up into this Gothic dome, is simply breathtaking. Octagon tours depart several times a day from the desk at the entrance and venture up into the octagon itself.
When the central tower collapsed, it fell eastwards, onto the choir , which was subsequently rebuilt in a fussier decorative style. The thirteenth-century presbytery, beyond, houses the relics of St Ethelreda , founder of the abbey in 673, who, despite being twice married, is honoured liturgically as a virgin. The other marvel at Ely is the Lady Chapel , in actual fact a separate building accessible via the north transept. It lost its sculpture and its stained glass during the Reformation, but its fan vaulting remains, an exquisite example of English Gothic.
The rest of Ely is pretty enough, but hardly compelling after the wonders of the cathedral. To the north, the High Street , with its Georgian buildings and old-fashioned shops, makes for an enjoyable browse and, if you push on past the Market Place down Forehill and then Waterside, you'll soon reach the Babylon Gallery (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 11am-5pm; free), where an imaginative programme of temporary exhibitions featuring contemporary art and craft is displayed in an attractively renovated old brewery warehouse. Alternatively, head west from the cathedral entrance across the triangular Palace Green, to Oliver Cromwell's House at 29 St Mary's St (April-Sept daily 10am-5.30pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm; £3.50), a timber-framed former vicarage, which holds a small exhibition on the Protector's ten-year sojourn in Ely, when he was employed as a tithe collector.
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