It was one of the richest monasteries in England, founded by a “ferocious” Anglo-Saxon queen and saint whose refusal to comply with her husband’s demands for sex won her a cult following.
But in modern times the location of the 7th-century monastery of St Æthelthryth at Ely has been a mystery. It is said to have been destroyed by Vikings, with one being smitten by God as he tried to break into the founder’s tomb.
Now archaeologists have traced the site to the precinct of Ely Cathedral after uncovering part of a large boundary ditch, the looping shape of which is preserved in the street pattern. The previous “best guess” had been that the monastery was on the southern outskirts of the city in Cambridgeshire.