Ely, a city of Cambridgeshire, England, on an eminence near the Ouse, 16 m. N. N. E. of Cambridge; pop. about 8,000. It consists principally of one street, and contains many old buildings. It is the seat of a bishopric which was founded in 1107. Its cathedral is a splendid structure, built in successive centuries from 1174 to 1534, and presenting a singular mixture of the Saxon, Norman, and early English styles. The churches of St. Mary and of the Holy Trinity are also remarkable both for their age and splendor. A famous convent was founded here about 670 by Ethelreda, wife of Egfrid, king of Northumberland, and she became its first abbess. It was destroyed by the Danes in 870, and 100 years later was rebuilt by Ethel-wold, bishop of Winchester, who placed in it monks instead of nuns. Ely has manufactures of earthenware and tobacco pipes, breweries, flax and hemp-seed oil mills, lime kilns, extensive gardens in its vicinity, the produce of which is sent to the London and Cambridge markets, and several benevolent institutions and schools, among which is a grammar school founded by Henry VIII. It is the capital of a division of Cambridgeshire called the " Isle of Ely," separated from the rest of the county by the Ouse. This district is included in the reclaimed marsh known as Bedford Level.

Ely Cathedral.