Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1835.

WHITTLESEY:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1835.

"WHITTLESEY, comprising the parishes of St. Andrew and St. Mary]], is a village (formerly a market-town), in the northern division of the hundred of WITCHFORD, Isle of ELY, county of CAMBRIDGE, 6 miles (E. by S.) from Peterborough, containing 5276 inhabitants. The living of St. Andrew's is a discharged vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely, rated in the king's books at £4. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church is a handsome structure, with a stately tower crowned with turrets. The living of St. Mary's is a discharged vicarage, also in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely, rated in the king's books at £19. 13. 9., and in the patronage of E.G. and H. Waldegrave, Esqrs. The church is a handsome edifice, with a lofty tower of peculiar elegance, surmounted by a slender enriched spire of good proportions. Within the limits of the two parishes are places of worship for Baptistsj Independents, and Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. Whittlesey, written Witesie in Domesday-book, is supposed to have been a Roman station, from the traces of a military way, and the numerous relics of antiquity discovered in the neighbourhood. The village, which is bounded on the north and south by branches of the river Nene, is still a large and respectable place, though its market, formerly held on Friday, has been for some years disused; the market-house still remains, and there is a fair for horses on June 13th. At the Falcon, the principal inn, courts leet and baron are held twice a year, also a court of requests, for the recovery of debts under 40s., on the third Friday in every month. A public library and news-room have been lately established by subscription. There are two endowed schools, one of them founded, in 1735, by Adam Kelfull, and the other, in 1815, by John Sudbury. William de Whittlesey, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born here in 1367. Adjoining this place, but in the county of Huntingdon, is an expanse of water, termed Whittlesey Mere; it bears also the appellation of the White sea, and abounds with a variety of fish, a considerable quantity of which is sent to the metropolis."