Diocese of Ely

Diocese of Ely Church of England
Province:	Canterbury
Arms of the Bishop of Ely
Ely Cathedral and Palace Green
Bishop:	Stephen Conway
signs as:	Eliensis
Cathedral:	Ely Cathedral
Organisation
Suffragan bishop(s):	Bishop of Huntingdon
Archdeaconries:	Cambridge, Huntingdon and Wisbech
No. of parishes:	309
No. of churches:	339
Details
Website:	ely.anglican.org

The Diocese of Ely is a diocese of the Church of England, within the Province of Canterbury. The diocese today covers broadly Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, and a few parishes in north-western Norfolk.

The diocesan bishop, the Bishop of Ely, has his seat at Ely Cathedral in the tiny City of Ely.

The diocese is ancient, as created in 1109 out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln. The area of Ely was part of the patrimony of Saint Etheldreda (Æthelthryth), who founded a religious house in Ely in 673. After Æthelthryth’s death in 679, she was buried outside the church, and her remains were later reburied inside, the foundress being commemorated as a great saint.

The diocese has had its boundaries altered various times. The original diocese covered Cambridgeshire. Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire were added in 1837 from the Diocese of Lincoln, as was the Sudbury archdeaconry in Suffolk from the Diocese of Norwich. In 1914, Bedfordshire became part of the Diocese of St Albans, and Suffolk formed the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, whilst Ely took a western part of the Diocese of Norwich.

Today the Diocese covers an area of 1,507 square miles. It has a population of 705,000 and comprises 209 benefices, 303 parishes and 335 churches with 145 stipendiary parochial clergy.

Bishops, suffragan and assistant

The diocesan bishop is the Bishop of Ely, whose residence is the Bishop's House in Ely, the former Cathedral Deanery.

The diocesan Bishop of Ely is assisted by a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon.

The Bishop of Peterborough has also been commissioned as assistant bishop in the diocese so that he can exercise pastoral care in several Huntingdonshire parishes now within the effective Peterborough urban area, including Stanground, Orton, Woodston, Yaxley and Fletton.

History

The roots of the Diocese of Ely. Until the elevation of Ely Cathedral as the seat of the diocese, it existed as first as a convent of religious sisters and later as a monastery. It was led by first by an abbess and later by an abbot. The convent was founded in the city in 673 by Queen Æthelthryth (St Etheldreda) an after her death in 679 she was buried outside the church. Her remains were later translated inside. The monastery, and much of the city of Ely, were destroyed in the Danish invasions that began in 869 or 870.

A new Benedictine monastery was built and endowed on the site by Athelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in 970, in a wave of monastic refoundations which also included Medehamstede (Peterborough) and Ramsey. The abbey became a cathedral in 1109, after a new Diocese of Ely was created out of land taken from the Diocese of Lincoln. From that time, the line of bishops begins.

The earliest historical notice of Ely is given by the Venerable Bede who writes (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, IV, xix):

"Ely is in the province of the East Angles, a country of about six hundred families, in the nature of an island, enclosed either with marshes or waters, and therefore it has its name from the great abundance of eels which are taken in those marshes."

This district was assigned in 649 to saint Æthelthryth, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, as a dowry in her marriage with Tonbert of the South Girvii. After her second marriage to Ecgfrith of Northumbria, she became a nun, and in 673 returned to Ely and founded a monastery on the site of the present cathedral. As endowment she gave it her entire principality of the isle, from which subsequent Bishops of Ely derived their temporal power. Æthelthryth died in 679, and her shrine became a place of pilgrimage. In 870 the monastery was destroyed by the Danes, having already given to the Church four sainted abbesses, Saints Æthelthryth, her sister Seaxburgh, the latter's daughter Ermenilda, and Ermenilda's daughter Werburgh. Probably under their rule there was a community of monks as well as a convent of nuns, but when in 970 the monastery was restored by King Edgar and Bishop Ethelwold it was a foundation for monks only.

For more than a century the monastery flourished, and about the year 1105 Abbot Richard suggested the creation of the See of Ely, to relieve the enormous Diocese of Lincoln. The pope's brief erecting the new bishopric was issued 21 November 1108, and on 17 October 1109 King Henry I granted his charter, the first bishop being Hervey le Breton, or Harvey (1109–1131), former Bishop of Bangor. The monastery church thus became one of the "conventual" cathedrals. Of this building the transepts and two bays of the nave already existed, and in 1170 the nave as it stands to-day (a complete and perfect specimen of late Norman work) was finished. As the bishops succeeded to the principality of St Etheldreda they enjoyed palatine power and great resources.

The Bishops of Ely frequently held high office in the State and the roll includes many names of famous statesmen, including eight Lord Chancellors and six Lord Treasurers. The Bishops of Ely spent much of their wealth on their cathedral, with the result that Ely can show examples of gothic architecture of many periods. They also had a London residence called Ely Place.

Among the bishops Geoffry Riddell (1174–1189) built the nave and began the west tower, Eustace (1198–1215) the West Porch, while Hugh de Northwold (1229–1254) rebuilt the Norman choir and John Hotham (1316–1337) rebuilt the collapsed central tower – the famous Octagon. Bishop Hugh (or Hugo) de Balsham (1258–1286) founded Peterhouse, the first college at the University of Cambridge, while Bishop John Alcock (1486–1500) was the founder of Jesus College.

Bishop Goodrich was a reformer and during his episcopate the monastery was dissolved. Since the Reformation, notable bishops have included Lancelot Andrewes, Matthew Wren, Peter Gunning and Simon Patrick.

List of abbesses and abbots

Convent of sisters (673–870)

• Æthelthryth ('Etheldreda') (673–679)
• Seaxburh (sister of Etheldreda) (679–c.699)
• Ermenilda (daughter of Seaxburh and Eorcenberht of Kent) (c.699–c.700)
• Werburh (born c.675, daughter of Ermenilda and Wulfhere of Mercia)
• ?

Benedictine monastery (970–1109)

• Brythnoth (970—)
• Thurstan (—1072) — the last English abbot
• Theodwin (secular governor)
• Godfrey (secular governor)
• Simeon (1082–1094) — began building the cathedral
• [vacancy]
• Richard FitzRichard de Clare (1100–1107) — the last abbot

List of bishops (1109—)

From then on, Ely was under the bishop of Ely.

Bishops of Ely
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1109	1131	Hervey le Breton	Bangor.
1133	1169	Nigel
1174	1189	Geoffrey Ridel
1189	1197	William Longchamp
1198	1215	Eustace
1215	1219	Robert of York	Election quashed 1219.
1220	1225	John of Fountains
1225	1228	Geoffrey de Burgh
1229	1254	Hugh of Northwold
1255	1256	William of Kilkenny
1258	1286	Hugh de Balsham
1286	1290	John Kirkby
1290	1298	William of Louth
1298	1299	John Salmon	Monks' candidate; opposed Langton; election quashed.
1298	1299	John Langton	King's candidate; opposed Salmon; election quashed.
1299	1302	Ralph Walpole	Translated from Norwich.
1302	1310	Robert Orford
1310	1316	John Ketton
1316	1337	John Hotham
1337	1345	Simon Montacute	Translated from Worcester.
1345	1361	Thomas de Lisle
1362	1366	Simon Langham	Translated to Canterbury.
1367	1373	John Barnet
1374	1388	Thomas Arundel	Translated to York.
1388	1425	John Fordham	Translated from Durham.
1426	1435	Philip Morgan	Translated from Worcester.
1438	1443	Lewis of Luxembourg	Archbishop of Rouen. Held Ely in commendam.
1444	1454	Thomas Bourchier	Translated to Canterbury.
1454	1478	William Grey
1479	1486	John Morton	Translated to Canterbury.
1486	1500	John Alcock	Translated from Worcester.
1501	1505	Richard Redman	Translated from Exeter.
1506	1515	James Stanley
1515	1534	Nicholas West
1534	1554	Thomas Goodrich	Also recorded as Thomas Goodricke.
1554	1559	Thomas Thirlby	Translated from Norwich; deprived on 5 July 1559.
1559	1581	Richard Cox
1600	1609	Martin Heton
1609	1619	Lancelot Andrewes	Translated from Chichester; Translated to Winchester.
1619	1628	Nicholas Felton	Translated from Bristol.
1628	1631	John Buckeridge	Translated from Rochester.
1631	1638	Francis White	Translated from Norwich.
1638	1667	Matthew Wren	Translated from Norwich.
1667	1675	Benjamin Lany	Translated from Lincoln.
1675	1684	Peter Gunning	Translated from Chichester.
1684	1691	Francis Turner	Translated from Rochester.
1691	1707	Simon Patrick	Translated from Chichester.
1707	1714	John Moore	Translated from Norwich.
1714	1723	William Fleetwood	Translated from St Asaph.
1723	1738	Thomas Green	Translated from Norwich.
1738	1748	Robert Butts	Translated from Norwich.
1748	1754	Thomas Gooch	Translated from Norwich.
1754	1771	Matthias Mawson	Translated from Chichester.
1771	1781	Edmund Keene	Translated from Chester.
1781	1808	James Yorke	Translated from Gloucester.
1808	1812	Thomas Dampier	Translated from Rochester.
1812	1836	Bowyer Sparke	Translated from Chester.
1836	1845	Joseph Allen	Translated from Bristol.
1845	1864	Thomas Turton
1864	1873	Harold Browne	Translated to Winchester.
1873	1886	James Woodford
1886	1905	Lord Alwyne Compton
1905	1924	Frederic Chase
1924	1933	Leonard White-Thomson
1934	1941	Bernard Heywood	Translated from Hull.
1941	1957	Edward Wynn
1957	1964	Noel Hudson	Translated from Newcastle.
1964	1977	Edward Roberts	Translated from Kensington.
1977	1990	Peter Walker	Translated from Dorchester.
1990	2000	Stephen Sykes	Resigned
2000	2010	Anthony Russell	Translated from Dorchester.
2010	present	Stephen Conway	Translated from Ramsbury.
Source(s):

Outside links

• Diocese of Ely

References

• Bishops of Ely 1066-1300
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 244–246. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
• Peter Meadows, ed., Ely: Diocese and Bishops, 1109-2009 (The Boydell Press, 2010).