England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Whittlesey St Mary

The Parish

The town of Whittlesey lies in northwestern Cambridgeshire roughly 6 miles east of the city of Peterborough. The town is divided into two parishes St Andrew & St Mary, the former covering the western side of the town and the adjacent countryside up to the county's borders with both Huntingdonshire and with Northamptonshire, the latter covered the eastern portion of the town and the satellite villages of Eastrea, Coates & Turves. This historical anomaly dates back to pre-Domesday times with each parish church controlled by a differing Abbey, that of St Mary being held by Thorney Abbey. Whittlesey sits at a prominent crossroads within Fenland, the A605 heads eastwards through the town and onward to meet the A141 north of March whilst the B1040 comes from Crowland & Thorney from the north and onwards to Ramsey. The proto-town grew up around this crossroads and the crossing of the southern branch of the River Nene. The early economy was dependent upon Whittlesey Mere, the largest extant lake within the then un-drained Fens, the two Abbeys operated what was known as a "boatgate" system licensing 3 men and a boat to harvest the rich fishing. Prior to drainage of the surrounding Fenland the main economy was driven by wildfowling, eel fishing, reed thatch harvesting and inland waterway transportation of goods. Around the town, which sat on a silt island, rich harvests of grain and grazing of livestock were produced. Whittlesey came late to becoming a market, following the dissolution the vast estates of the Abbeys were acquired by local entrepreneurs and by 1715 Whittlesey acquired its market and its Butter Cross to mark it. The whole economy of the area changed dramatically as a consequence of the drainage schemes of the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden which begin the 16th century and created a network of waterways and rich farmland between them, a consequence of that drainage was the shrinkage of Whittlesey Mere. Agriculture became more weighted to high-end table vegetables which the navigable waterways enabled to be transported readily to both Peterborough and to the coast for the London market. Towards the end of the 19th century a new element entered the local economy as exploitation of the exposed clay beds created a burgeoning industrial scale brick-making business. Modern developments, besides the canalisation of the Nene and many of the major drainage channels, came with the arrival of the railway line from Peterborough to Ely which passes through granting Whittlesey a station and promoting some commuter volume to the nearby city. Today Whittlesey's market is largely defunct but it retains its status as a centre for trade, the town has expanded forming a roughly triangular area with its head pointing towards Peterborough and extending eastwards for almost 1 1/2 miles. Both Eastrea & Coates have also grown into mid-sized roadside villages whilst Turves remains something of a rural backwater. A combination of the southern River Nene's branch and the many drainage channels funnel water northeast and then north from Wisbech to meet the North Sea through The Wash. Whittlesey is sited between 5 metres above down to sea-level, itself, virtually all of the surrounding area for many miles is at similar heights. The exact split of the two parishes is highly complex, Cockin's Atlas goes to great lengths to accurately portray it, suffice it to say the east/west split is the simplest to understand, the combined acreage of the 2 parishes amounted to just over 25,400 acres with St Mary accounting traditionally for 2/3rds of that total, the two parishes had a combined population of close to 6,900 parishioners, applying the same split gives St Mary roughly 4,600. At Domesday Whittlesey was already of sufficient size to be ranked in the top 20% of settlements by population, fortunately the 2 Abbeys are recorded allowing us to asses that St Mary offered 12 ploughs. meadows and a fishery.

The Church

St Mary's church sits in the southeastern quadrant of the town between Station Road and St Mary's Street. It is possible to date the foundation of St Mary fairly closely as in 1244 a major fire devastated what was then largely a town of wooden buildings. The church rose from the ashes and still retains the 13th century fabric from its resurrection. The northern arcade and the chancel arch are the two principal features showing that Early English Gothic styling. Early in the 14th century the Decorated style saw the rebuilding and expansion of the nave and both northern & southern aisles. It was the 15th century Perpendicular period, however, that saw the construction of the church's masterpiece, the outstanding 4-stage western tower complete with its elegantly designed spire towers over the town and is a major landmark for miles in this flat countryside. The design is more reminiscent of those in neighbouring Northamptonshire but it remains one of the most impressive in its county. A major Victorian restoration is recorded in 1862 overseen by the noted architect Sir Gilbert Scott it renewed most of the window tracery, re-faced the porch and re-fitted the interior. Like most urban churches St Mary is best approached on foot after finding a town car park, photographers will not appreciate the bank of trees which sit to the east and southeast of the church nor the tightly set neighbouring buildings to the northeast but all other angles area readily available.