page_title: Ely, Cambridgeshire
section_title: Notable people
hierarchical_section_title: Ely, Cambridgeshire / Notable people
caption_attribution_description: English: Dawn by the river Great Ouse, Ely
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: The former RAF hospital based in Ely meant that many children of serving RAF parents were born in the city, including rugby union player and Rugby World Cup 2003 winning manager with England national rugby team, Clive Woodward, Australian émigrée actor Guy Pearce, and actors Sam Callis, Simon MacCorkindale and David Westhead. Autogyro world record-holder Ken Wallis was also born in Ely. Other notable people from Ely include The Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch, and journalist Chris Hunt. Crime writer Jim Kelly and award-winning poet Wendy Cope.
caption: Dawn by the River Great Ouse, Ely
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