Books Of Interest to Tourists, Travellers & Locals

Ely Cathedral - Pitkin Guide
28 pages of authoratitive text and superb colour photographs.

New Guide To Ely

East Anglia and The Fens - Rob Talbot (author) and Robin Whiteman (photographer).
160 pages. Over 130 stunning colour photographs with a thoughtful narrative produce an indispensable guide capturing the essence of this unique region.  

In Fen Country Heaven - Edward Storey
174 pages. "I admire the way in which Edward Storey evokes - in a beautifully clear, quite, precise prose - not only the surface of the East Anglian landscape, but also its haunting and individual ambience." Charles Causley.

Books About the History of Ely - Some by Local Authors

Ely & District - Chris Jakes

In the series Britain in old photographs - over 200 photographs documenting the changes in Ely from the 1860s to the 1960s including a section on the creation of a drainage system for the fens that surround Ely.

Ely, The Archive Photographs Series - Compiled by Pamela Blakeman & Michael Petty

128 pages including over 200 old photographs of Ely showing the changing life of the city and nearby villages over a period of more than one hundred years.

The Story of Ely and Its Cathedral - B.E. Dorman

98 pages. A history covering 13 centuries and including such notables as Canute, William the Conqueror, Hereward the Wake, Henry III, Edward II and Oliver Cromwell.

Along The Cam and The Great Ouse with Briscoe Snelson

112 pages. Peter Snelson has selected 100 of his father's photographs taken between 1935 and 1955, chosen for pictorial excellence or historical interest.  

Cambridgeshire Airfields In The Second World War - Graham Smith

288 pages. By 1944 there were 24 operational airfields in Cambridgeshire from which RAF and USAF bombers flew into the dangerous skies of occupied Europe. 

Cambridgeshire From The Air - Susan Oosthuizen

118 pages of superb aerial photographs with expert captions which tell the visual story of the Cambridgshire landscape from prehistoric times to the present.

The Old Stories - Kevin Crossley-Holland

Ghosts and Legends of Cambridgeshire
- Polly Howat

96 pages. A fascinating account, with remarkable photographs, of the struggle against the elements which assumed the scale of a national disaster, so soon after the second world war.

Books About Local Historical Figures

Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector is frequently described as being a King in all but name without much in the way of a coherent, detailed explanation of precisely what this means. This book aims to correct that omission by demonstrating some of the ways in which Cromwell’s rule constituted a monarchical regime in the generally accepted sense of the term, that of a crowned head.

Details county by county, all the sites and buildings associated with the Parliamentary cause, including all important locations and many lesser sites which still bear evidence of their Civil War associations. 240 pages.

A fine achievement of scholarship and writing....a magnificent success....her aim has been to “humanise” Cromwell. And this is precisely what she has achieved: she presents us with a more human and real portrait than do Victorian authorities... Oliver had greatness of soul and was made on an epic scale....irresistibly readable. Lady Antonia wishes us to know that Cromwell was no tyrant, was not ambitious, had a bursting conscience, and was civilised. The evidence she has assembled is overwhelming. 700 plus pages.

A well researched and thoroughly enjoyable book. Victor Head skilfully sifts and evaluates records, facts, archives, legends and romantic fiction about Hereward. 180 pages.

Books About the History of Ely by Local Author Trevor Bevis

36 pages, written to commemorate the 1400th anniversary of St. Augustine's arrival in England in 597 AD and St. Columba's death in the same year. 

A delightful, 83 page book about the area following pilgrim routes, full of anecdote and characters.

The draining of the Fens, 40 pages. In the 17th century the Fens were transformed from a watery waste favoured by eel, pike wildfowl and the recluse soul, into a virile land unequalled in the agricultural spheres of Britain.

Books About Old Ely by Local Author Audrey Denton

This excellent little book is divided into 3 parts: 1) Ely in the 1800's 2) Personalities of Ely 3) Cromwell's Reign. The first part is based on the findings of the 1849 report of  The General Board of Health and details the squalid and unhygenic state of Ely in those days! Find out why many left Ely for a new life in the States and elsewhere!
A quick extract - "Fore Hill: The sewer from Fore Hill and the whole line of street thence to the river emptied into the river just above Messrs. Hall's Brewery - the water for brewing being pumped immediately below this discharge" - fancy a pint anybody!

Also contains some good information about Ely's most famous resident - Oliver Cromwell.

Great little book about Ely in times gone by. Contains some excellent pictures of Ely in Edwardian times etc. Details past businesses and information about the old Gasworks, Waterside and much more!

Today the Waterside area of Ely is a select residential neighbourhood, but in former years was ahive of industry! Read about the old Port of Ely and the pubs and businesses that were along the river. Contains many photos and illustrations.

Victorian and Edwardian times were hard in Ely - there was no National Health Service to look after you - if you were out of work, you were out of money! Many poor souls ended up in the Union Workhouse. This book explains what that life was like.

Like Waterside, Broad Street was once a much busier area than it is now. Read about the shops and businesses that were there in a time when your phone number could have been "Ely 15" ! Also contains a section about the old cinemas that were here including "the Rex".
(note: We do still have a cinema based in the Maltings on Waterside.) 

Books by Local Authors - Not Necessarily About Ely!

No Compromise - Kate Travers
100 pages. Book of poetry by local author Kate Travers.