Ely Museum

Ely Museum occupies the Old Gaol on Market Street, a building begun in the 13th century that has since served as a private house, an inn and a registry office before its current use. The museum was founded in 1972 and is run as an independent charity, accredited under the national scheme, telling the story of the Fens from early fossils through to the twentieth century. Visitors can see graffiti scratched into the cell walls by prisoners once held there, alongside displays on cathedral construction, Roman cooking equipment, Saxon dress and the eel-catching trade that shaped the local economy. A 2021 redevelopment reorganised the galleries around the theme of a landscape shaped by the people who worked it.