On an autumn afternoon, when the forest is a blaze of
crimson and yellow, this spot is seen at its loveliest--the long shadows
and the golden sunlight giving the scene a painted, almost too brilliant
effect.
[Illustration: _E.H. Roberts._
THE AVENUE IN SAVERNAKE FOREST.]
ELY CATHEDRAL
=How to get there.=--From Liverpool Street or St. Pancras. Great
Eastern Railway.
=Nearest Station.=--Ely.
=Distance from London.=--70-1/2 miles.
=Average Time.=--Varies from 1-3/4 to 3-1/4 hours. Quickest train 1 hour
38 minutes.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=--Single 11s. 3d. ... 5s. 11-1/2d.
Return 20s. 0d. ... 11s. 11d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Bell Hotel" and others.
Ely is situated on an eminence in the midst of the flat district forming
the centre of the county of Cambridge, and was originally a settlement
termed by the Saxons _Eleg_ or _Elge_, _i.e._ "an eel," from the number
of eels found in the fenny district around. St. Etheldreda, daughter of
a king of the East Angles, founded an abbey here, where she died in 679,
being afterwards canonised as a saint. The monastery was destroyed by
the Danes in 870, and did not regain importance till one hundred years
later.
In _Hereward the Wake_ Kingsley tells us how gallantly the Isle of Ely
was defended against the attacks of William the Conqueror, but the
chieftain was at last forced to surrender, and the monastery was seized.
Ely was created a bishopric by Henry I.
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