London’s Alleys: Ely Court, EC1

Published on 27th May 2019 by ianVisits in London's Alleys and Passages

This is an ancient alley of legendary status and about which many myths have been written.

It’s a narrow easy to miss alley, but deep down here is the famous Old Mitre Pub, built in 1546 by the Bishop of Ely for the staff who worked in his mansion house next door, although the current building dates from the 18th Century, with faux-tudor remodeling in the 1930s.

The Bishop owned a lot of land around here, but was forced to lease it to one of Queen Elizabeth’s favourites, Sir Christopher Hatton. Like lots of royal favourites he spent lavishly and died, still popular, but also very poor. It is claimed — without any evidence — that a tree that grew where the pub is today was a meeting place of the Queen and Hatton. A chunk of the tree is still in the pub.

It’s a lovely secluded spot that once was the haunt of the local newspaper workers (The Mirror was just across the street), but today is filled more often with lawyers and city folk. As such, it’s closed at weekends.

The alley itself runs pretty much along the line of the old Cloister that would have been part of the Bishop’s residence, and may have managed to survive as a path over the years as the land was redeveloped in the area. That’s more a coincidence as the remains of the Cloisters would have been a natural boundary to have a path alongside.

The first maps to make reference to the alley, which at the time was known as Mitre Court, is Horwood’s of 1799. It was renamed Ely Court at the turn of the 20th century.

Probably the most repeated story about the alley and the pub is that in times past, the City of London police could not enter to arrest someone as it was legally still part of Cambridgeshire. This legend stems from the fact that as the Bishop of Ely once owned the land, his ancient legal authority was inherited by Cambridgeshire Council.

Sorry, but it’s a myth, but one that might have an indirect smidgen of truth in it.

Undeniably, the Bishops of Ely owned the land in this part of London, and they held jurisdiction over it at a time when religious institutions ordered the affairs of their parishioners. However, the Bishops sold the land in 1772 to the Crown, and Ely Place was constructed shortly afterwards.

The local parish that surrounded Ely Place didn’t however seem to take over the affairs of the area, and it was deemed to be extra-parochial — that is outside the authority of the local parish church.

There is a reference to Ely Place being an extra-parochial area in a court proceeding, in that the residents consider themselves to be in St. Andrew’s parish, but are exempt from paying poor-rates as they actually belonged to the Bishop’s Palace.

There is a note in the Police Act of 1829 that Ely Place was extra-parochial, but that was probably because anyone who paid the poor-rate had to pay for the police — and the residents of Ely Place didn’t pay a poor-rate to their local parish.

In 1832, a court heard a case to decide the status of the area. Were the officials of the surrounding area, known as the “Liberty of Saffron-hill, Hatton-garden, and Ely-rents” right to demand rates from the residents of Ely Place.

It was noted in the evidence that when officers of the surrounding liberty were on patrol, they wouldn’t enter Ely Place, and if they attempted to do so, would be turned away. This is important, as the references is to the officers of the liberty, not to the officers of the newly formed Metropolitan Police.

The police could come and go as they liked, but the neighboring parish officials were not welcome.

In fact, there are reports in the news of the police chasing criminals into Ely Place without any hesitation, such as the account of a theft from a draper in May 1848, where the police apprehended the thief in Ely Place.

So the story that London police couldn’t enter the alley because it was controlled by Cambridgeshire police is — sadly — a fake news item in the history broadcast. However, the story will doubtless continue to be told by tour guides to incredulous visitors, and why not — after all, it’s a nice little story.

Tagged with ely place, holborn

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3 Comments on “London’s Alleys: Ely Court, EC1”

  2. In any case – as far as I know England had never been a country where (once police forces had been created) when in pursuit of someone a police officer was obliged to stop at the police authority boundary. There is certainly process and procedure to deal with that now, and I expect always would have been, so a City police officer could have followed someone across the centre-line of Holborn and Charterhouse St (the City boundary) if necessary.
    Odd how the repeaters of the made-up “fact” pick on the City of London Police as given that Ely Place and Ely Court are in Camden the first force to be wondering if the area was magically under the Cambridgeshire Constabulary would be the Metropolitan Police as it’s their patch.
    That said, the Met wouldn’t be in there routinely anyway as it appears to be gated private land, and not public highway so unless there was a reason they were needed they would no more patrol it as they would anyone’s private driveway. (Which is why the parking along Ely Place is privately managed too and not part of Camden’s controlled parking zones)
    Another one to file with that nose on the Admiralty Arch, the “Victory” lanterns in Trafalgar Sq, Nancy’s steps, St Stephen’s Tower, “Eros” (ie the not-Eros) supposedly pointing up Shaftesbury Ave at some point, the Queen asking the Mayor if she can come past Temple Bar, Crocker’s Folly, Turnham Green, Teddington, Kingston, and all the other merry misinformation that does the rounds on the net and gets told to tourists.

  3. I lived in EC1 asa child in my grandads house, I loved that area, but some how missed those beautiful alley ways, would love to walk up to that delightful pub and sup a beer. I remember the CarterPattersons horse and carts, my uncle drove one and used to park outside our house and my mum would put the kettle on……..Memories eh ! Love it.