This Ely Place had very extensive premises, consisting of numerous buildings, a Hall, Quadrangle, Cloisters, Chapel, a field, the historic garden, _cum multis aliis_; and they occupied a large space. Only the Chapel now remains, and that has had a curious career. At one time marriages were celebrated there, as at the Fleet, presumably that it was not under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, but this fiction was overruled in the case of _Barton_ v. _Wells_ in the Consistory Court, Nov. 17, 1789, when Sir Wm. Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell) decided that Ely Chapel was under the authority of the Bishop of London, and that Curates thereto must be licensed by him. The Bishops came to London in former times, as now, and their residences, in several cases were known as _Places_, or _Palaces_. Thus, there was Winchester Place, in Southwark, now the headquarters of the Fire Brigade--formerly the palace of the Bishops of Winchester, a city which was once the metropolis of England, where Parliaments were held, and whose Bishops to this day are titular Prelates of the Garter. The Bishop of Bangor, who, although his see claims to be as old as any, has not the richest bishopric, had a palace in Shoe Lane, Holborn, and the Bishop of Lincoln also lived in Holborn. The first mention of the connection of the Bishops of Ely, is in the will of John de Kirkeby (who was appointed Bishop in 1286), and whose will was proved in 1290, or 18 Edward I., and in the Close Roll of that year, is the following (in Latin, of course): "_For the Executors of the Will of the Bishop of Ely._ "Whereas the King hath understood that John, late Bishop of Ely, deceased, of pious memory, hath in his last will bequeathed his houses which he had in the parish of St. Andrew near Holeburn, in the suburbs, and within the liberty of the city of London, to God, and the Church of St. Etheldreda[68] of Ely, and his successors, bishops of the same place, so that they should pay the debts which the same deceased owed for those houses to Gregory de Rokesle, the King's Citizen, of London; Ralph de Sandwich, warden of the said City, is commanded, that, without delay, he deliver the aforesaid houses, with appurtenances, which are in the King's hand and custody, by reason of the death of the aforesaid bishop, thereof to make execution of the said will. "Witness the King at Westminster on the 18th day of July."