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Ely Place


Coordinates: 51°31′7″N 0°6′25″W / 51.51861°N 0.10694°W / 51.51861; -0.10694

Ely Place is a gated road at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. It is the location of the historic Ye Olde Mitre public house and is adjacent to Hatton Garden. It is the last privately owned street in London, having been originally an exclave of Cambridgeshire the location of the medieval abbey at Ely for the Bishops of Ely, and is managed by its own body of commissioners and beadles.

Ely Place stands on land that had been the site of Ely Palace or Ely House, the London townhouse of the Bishops of Ely from 1290 to 1772. Land in the Holborn area was bought by John de Kirkby in 1280. He was appointed Bishop of Ely in 1286 and on his death in 1290, he left the estate to the see of Ely. In medieval times, bishops of Ely frequently held high state office requiring them to live in London; Ely Palace was the bishop's official residence.

References to Ely Palace grounds occur in Shakespeare’s plays. It was at the house that in King Richard II, the Bard had John of Gaunt – who was living there in 1382 – says his "This royal throne of Kings, this sceptre’d isle" speech.


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