Ely Abbey was an Anglo-Saxon monastic establishment on the Isle of Ely first established in 673 by Æthelthryth the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia.[1] The first establishment was destroyed by the Danes in 870, but Edgar, King of England re-established the monastery in 970 as part of the English Benedictine Reform.
![Thumb](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Shrine_to_St_Etheldreda_%28T._D._Atkinson%2C_1933%29.jpg/640px-Shrine_to_St_Etheldreda_%28T._D._Atkinson%2C_1933%29.jpg)
The precise siting of Æthelthryth's original monastery is not known. It was built on land she had received from her late husband, Tondberct, "prince of the South Gyrwas",[2] as a morning gift.[3]
The original Abbey was established in 673 as a double monastery[4] with facilities for both monks and nuns.[5] Athelthryth's sister, Seaxburh married King Eorcenberht of Kent. Upon her husband's death, she served as regent for her son, Ecgberht. Despite having founded abbeys at Milton Regis and Minster-in-Sheppey (where her daughter, Ermenilda was a nun), she subsequently chose to retire to her sister's foundation at Ely.[6] When Athelthryth died in 679, Seaxburh succeeded her as abbess.
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