Ely is a cathedral city and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge, 24 miles (39 km) south east of Peterborough and 80 miles (130 km) from London. As of the 2021 census, Ely is recorded as having a population of 19,200.
Ely Cathedral from the south-east
East aspect of St Mary's vicarage, a Grade II* listed building. Oliver Cromwell lived here between 1638 and 1646. Since 1990, the building has been open as the Oliver Cromwell's House tourist attraction and as Ely's tourist information centre.
The Market Place, Ely, pencil and watercolour by W. W. Collins published 1908 showing northeast aspect of Ely Cathedral in the background with the Almonry—now a restaurant and art gallery—in front of that and the 1847 corn exchange building, now demolished, to the right of the picture.
Sessions House (formerly Shire Hall), Lynn Road: Courthouse, built 1821. Since 2013 the headquarters of City of Ely Council.
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894, which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry.
Parish council community centre, in Ackworth, West Yorkshire
