Oliver Cromwell personally secured Ely for Parliament in 1643, famously interrupting a cathedral service to eject the officiating clergyman. The town controlled the Fenland water routes between Cambridge and the north. Cromwell suppressed royalist sympathisers in the area and used Ely as a base for his expanding cavalry operation. The cathedral was used as accommodation for Parliamentary horse. Cromwell\'s control of the Fens was critical to preventing Royalist incursions into the Eastern Association from Lincolnshire and Newark.
Cromwell\'s cavalry; local royalist sympathisers and cathedral chapter
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