Isle of Ely
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Administration | |
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| Status: | Administrative county |
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| History | |
| Created: | 1889 |
| Abolished: | 1965 |
| Succeeded by: | Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely |
The Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, is a traditional region around the city of Ely. It consists of 963 km² and was the site of the fair of St. Audrey.
Until the 17th Century, the area was literally an island surrounded by a large area of Fen land, a type of swamp. The Fens were ultimately drained using a network of canals designed by Dutch experts.
From 1107 until 1837 the Isle was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely, who appointed a Chief Justice of Ely and exercised temporal powers within the Liberty of Ely. This temporal jurisdiction originated in a charter granted by King Edgar in 970, and confirmed by Edward the Confessor and Henry I to the abbot of Ely. The latter monarch established Ely as the see of a bishop in 1107, creating the Isle of Ely a county palatine under the bishop. An act of parliament in 1535/6 ended the palatine status of the Isle, with all justices of the peace to be appointed by letters patent issued under the great seal and warrants to be isssued in the king's name. However, the bishop retained exclusive jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, and was custos rotulorum. A chief bailiff was appointed for life by the bishop, and performed the functions of high sheriff within the liberty, who also headed the government of the city of Ely[1].
The Liberty of Ely Act, 1837[2] ended the bishop's secular powers in the Isle. The area was declared a division of Cambridgeshire, with the right to appoint justices revested in the crown.
Following the 1837 Act the Isle maintained separate Quarter Sessions, and therefore became an administrative county with an elected county council independent of Cambridgeshire between 1889 and 1965. In the latter year it was merged to form Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely, with the Thorney Rural District going to Huntingdon and Peterborough. In 1894 the county was divided into county districts, with the rural districts being Ely Rural District, Thorney Rural District, Whittlesey Rural District, Wisbech Rural District, North Witchford Rural District, and the urban districts were Ely, March, Whittlesey and Wisbech (the only municipal borough). Whittlesey Rural district consisted of only one parish (Whittlesey Rural), which was added to Whittlsey urban district, in 1926.
Its name is said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures that were often caught in the local rivers for food.
Administratively, the Isle of Ely also included Ely Place, lying off Holborn Circus in London and linked to Hatton Garden by Ely Court. It was the site of the palace of the Bishops of Ely. The licence for the Mitre pub in Ely Court was issued in Cambridgeshire until the late 19th century. Neither the Metropolitan nor the City of London police have jurisdiction there, and if for example the landlord of the Mitre wished to throw out a drunk, he had to call the Beadle.
A parliamentary constituency called Isle of Ely was created in 1970, but in the boundary changes in 1983 it was replaced by the new constituency of North East Cambridgeshire.
[edit] Sources
- ^ Lewis, Samuel, Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. II, London 1831
- ^ Liberty of Ely Act, 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c.53)
