page_title: Ely, Cambridgeshire
section_title: Road
hierarchical_section_title: Ely, Cambridgeshire / Transport / Road
caption_attribution_description: English: Boundary Marker. Boundary marker of the Turnpike Road Ely, Cambridgeshire for overall view see 1714443
context_page_description: Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. Æthelthryth founded an abbey at Ely in 673; the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders and was rebuilt by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in 970. Construction of the cathedral was started in 1083 by a Norman abbot, Simeon. Alan of Walsingham's octagon, built over Ely's nave crossing between 1322 and 1328, is the "greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral", according to architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner. Building continued until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation. The cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott. As the seat of a diocese, Ely has long been considered a city; in 1974, city status was granted by royal charter.
  Ely is built on a 23-square-mile Kimmeridge Clay island which, at 85 feet, is the highest land in the Fens.
context_section_description: A Roman road, named Akeman Street, has been documented from Ermine Street near Wimpole through Cambridge, Stretham and Ely to Brancaster through Denver. This is not the same road as the major Roman road named Akeman Street which started from Verulamium (southwest of St Albans) then via Tring and Aylesbury terminating near Alchester. In Bishop John Fordham's survey of Ely in 1416–1417, an east to west Akermanstrete or Agemanstrete is mentioned, which now forms part of the east–west Egremont Street. Akeman Street would have been oriented north-south passing through central Ely and therefore the east–west oriented Egremont Street cannot have a Roman origin. It is suggested that the Wimpole to Brancaster road name of "Akeman" was derived by antiquarians, without justification, from Acemanes-ceastre, an ancient name for Bath.
  Medieval accountant, Clement of Thetford made, or had others make on his behalf, many journeys between 1291 and 1292, as evidenced by his sacrist's rolls—the earliest known roll of the Ely Monastery. For example, he travelled the 25 miles (40 km) to Bury (Bury St Edmunds) fair to obtain rice, sugar, etc., the 16 miles (26 km) to Barnwell for wheels, axles, etc. for carts, then the 51 miles (82 km) to St Botolph's (Boston) for wine, the 14 miles (23 km) to Reche (Reach) for steel and iron and the 78 miles (126 km) to London, principally for things needed in the vestry for the service of the Church, but also to pay taxes. Some or parts of these journeys will have been made by river.
  The eighteenth-century historian Edmund Carter, in his 1753 History of the County of Cambridge &c., described a thrice-weekly coach journey "for the conveniency of sending and receiving letters and small parcels" from the Lamb Inn, Ely to the post-house, Cambridge. In the 1760s, the Reverend James Bentham, an antiquarian and minor canon of Ely, encouraged the ecclesiastical authorities and townspeople of Ely to subscribe to a turnpike road between Ely and Cambridge; improvements which started in 1769. The eighteenth century London to King's Lynn coach route, documented by the Postmaster General's surveyor, John Cary, passed through Ely with a stop at the Lamb Inn, a coaching inn in 1753 and extant as the Lamb Hotel. Cary measured the distance of the London (Shoreditch) to Ely section as being 67 miles (108 km). The A142 road from Newmarket to Chatteris passes east–west, south of the town.
  Ely is on the north-south A10 road from London to King's Lynn; the southwestern bypass of the town was built in 1986. A proposal for an Ely southeast bypass of the A142 is included in the major schemes of the Cambridgeshire Local Transport Plan. The proposed route would include 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of new road between new roundabout junctions on Stuntney Causeway and Angel Drove. The bypass is intended to reduce congestion in Ely, and to avoid the low bridge on the Ely to King's Lynn railway line, which has the third highest vehicle strike rate in the country. Proposals for the bypass went to public consultation in October 2011 and the County Council and District Council have announced that they may fund some of the costs of construction (estimated to be up to £28 million) with contributions from developers who wish to build a retail park near the proposed route.
  The bypass, completed at £13m over budget, opened on 31 October 2018.
caption: Turnpike marker 1852 showing southwest boundary of Ely
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