Day 26 – Ely

I’m staying in my home city of Leicester and today I caught the train to Ely in Cambridgeshire, a journey of just over 90 minutes.

The cathedral, the ‘Ship of the Fens’, as it’s called is located on a slight hill and so stands out for miles across The Fens.

Ely was an island until 400 years ago, when work started to drain the freshwater marshes surrounding the city to create the fertile farmland seen today. Ely is the second smallest city in England after Wells in Somerset.

During my visit I saw the house of Oliver Cromwell who lived in Ely from 1636 to 1646 and the Ely Museum. There’s a lovely church called St Mary’s next to the Oliver Cromwell House and a Russian cannon on the green outside the cathedral. The shops in the narrower streets of the older parts of the town are interesting and include an excellent bookshop called Topping & Company on the High Street. Ely has a year round literary festival with many famous authors being interviewed in various locations around the city.