Chatteris
| Chatteris | |
| Cambridgeshire | |
|---|---|
 Market Hill, Chatteris | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL396862 |
| Location: | 52°27’22"N, -0°3’18"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,820 (2001) |
| Post town: | Chatteris |
| Postcode: | PE16 |
| Dialling code: | 01354 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Fenland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North East Cambridgeshire |
Chatteris is a small market town in northern Cambridgeshire.
Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the town has evidence of continuous settlement from the Neolithic period and is locally reputed to have been the last refuge of Boudicea as she fled from the Romans.[1] The parish of Chatteris is large, covering 15,000 acres, and for much of its history was a raised island in the low-lying wetland of the Fens. Following the draining of the Fens, beginning in the 17th century and completed in the 19th century, the town has become a centre of agriculture and related industry.
Fires in 1706 and 1864 destroyed most of Chatteris's mediæval and Georgian architecture. The town stil enjoys several listed buildings, though most are Victorian and later.
The Forty Foot Drain runs to the north of Chatteris, dug as part of the drainage works of Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer, in the late 17th century. Several of the older buildings of the town show evidence of the Dutch architectural style.[2]
References
- ↑ Enjoy England.com, URL accessed May 18, 2008
- ↑ Chatteris History, URL accessed May 18, 2008 Template:Dead link
Outside links
Churches