Ely Rural District was a rural district in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

from 1894 to 1974. It was named after

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral ** Ely Rural District, a ...

, but did not include the city itself, instead covering the rural area to the west and north of it. It formed part of the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although most ...

of the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures tha ...

from 1894 to 1965, when this was merged into

Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely was, from 1965 to 1974, an administrative and geographical county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. In 1974 it became part of an enlarged Cambridgeshire. Formation The Local Government Act 1888 created four ...

History

The district had its origins in the Ely Poor Law Union, which had been created in 1836, covering Ely and several surrounding parishes. In 1872 sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing

boards of guardians Boards of guardians were '' ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the p ...

of poor law unions. The Ely Rural Sanitary District therefore covered the area of the poor law union except for Ely itself, which already had a

local board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...

and so formed its own urban sanitary district. The Ely Rural Sanitary District was administered from Ely Union Workhouse, which had been built in 1837 on Cambridge Road in Ely. Under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level u ...

, rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894. The act also specified that rural sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries should be split into separate rural districts for the part in each county. Whilst most of the Ely Rural Sanitary District was in the Isle of Ely, it also contained Redmere, a small parish in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

which had a population of about 40. An inquiry was held and it was decided to amend the county boundary to transfer Redmere from Norfolk into the Isle of Ely. In the event the change of county boundary did not take effect until 30 September 1895, a few months after Ely Rural District had come into being, and Redmere was therefore briefly a rural district on its own. However, the act allowed for such small rural districts to be temporarily administered by the district from which they had been separated, as long as separate accounts were kept. In practice therefore, Redmere Rural District was an accounting distinction; it was always administered by Ely Rural District. Ely Rural District Council held its first meeting on 3 January 1895 at the workhouse, when James Luddington of Littleport, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, was appointed the first chairman of the council. In 1974 Ely Rural District was abolished, and its area made part of the new East Cambridgeshire district of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

Parishes

The district comprised the parishes of: * Coveney * Downham * Grunty Fen * Haddenham *

Littleport Littleport is a large village in East Cambridgeshire, in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about north-east of Ely and south-east of Welney, on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and ...

* Mepal *Redmere (abolished 1933 and absorbed into Littleport) * Stretham * Sutton *

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

* Wentworth * Wilburton * Witcham * Witchford

Statistics

Premises

The council continued to meet at the workhouse, later called Tower House, until the late 1940s. Tower House became Tower Hospital following the creation of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948, after which the council moved its meeting place to the council chamber at its neighbour Ely Urban District Council's offices at 6 Lynn Road in Ely. From the early 1920s until the council's abolition in 1974, Ely Rural District Council's staff were based at offices at 11 Lynn Road in Ely.

References

{{Reflist Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894 Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 History of Cambridgeshire Ely, Cambridgeshire Rural districts of England