East Cambridgeshire

East Cambridgeshire, district, administrative and historic county of Cambridgeshire, east-central England. It occupies an area northeast of the city of Cambridge. Situated predominantly within the Fens, an expanse of reclaimed marshland, the district has a slightly elevated chalk upland (which is covered by unstratified glacial drift) in the southeast. Prior to the draining of the Fens in the 17th century, the Isle of Ely was an isolated locale on an island of glacial drift amid the marshlands. Today the town of Ely, with its famous cathedral, is the district seat.

Wicken Fen, 10 miles (16 km) south of Ely, is the only substantial remnant of undisturbed marshland in the Fens. A haunting place rising several feet above the adjacent cultivated lands, Wicken Fen’s 1,880 acres (760 hectares) are a sanctuary for rare insects, birds, and plants.

The section of the Fens around Ely is an important area for sugar beet cultivation; cereals, onions, potatoes, fruits, and various other horticultural produce are also intensively grown.

Littleport, Soham, and Haddenham are local agricultural centres in the Fens. The mostly rural district has few woodlands and little industry. The Stained Glass Museum in the cathedral at Ely displays panels of painted glass representing the development of the craft from the 14th century to the present. Area 251 square miles (651 square km). Pop. (2001) 73,214; (2011) 83,818.