Note 204 — Chapter XIII

Two miles further we cross the old bed of the Ouse (containing now only such scanty waters as the Bedford rivers have left to it) at Elford, and enter the Isle of Ely. The ramp of the Island, however, lies two miles further on yet. We climb it by the village street of Stretham, where the ancient Town Cross still exists, an interesting and rare feature. It stands hard by the church, which contains various ancient tombstones, one to Nicholas de Ryngestone, rector under Edward the First, and a late fifteenth century brass to Dame Joan Rippingham, mother of two other rectors. A later rector was ejected in 1644 "for having made new steps to the altar, himself bowing twice as he went up, and as often while he came down." The church was an ancient possession of Ely, but was reft from the See by Elizabeth. Stretham lies at the extreme end of the little peninsular ridge on which Wilburton and Haddenham stand.[204] Beyond it we sink to the enclosed inlet of Grunty Fen, passing the hamlet of Little Thetford, and rise again to the higher ground where the towers of Ely greet our eyes, a little over a mile away.