Coates
Coates is a pretty rural village approximately two and a half miles east of Whittlesey on the A605
A conservation area, the large tree lined village green is intersected by the A605 and is thought to be one of the largest village greens locally, made up of North and South Green.
The old fire engine house with inscription is situated near the Vine on South green.
Paid for by public subscription the War memorial on North green was unveiled in 1920.
In the middle of the North Green is the Wesleyan Chapel which was built in 1831 but is now in commercial use.
The light and airy, Holy Trinity Church was built in 1840 using bricks from a small local brickyard.
Outside on the south wall of the church is a recently erected memorial to men of the United States Airborne Division commemorating 14 men who died 24th May 1944 during an exercise in the skies over Turves and Benwick.
There are children’s play areas on both ‘Greens’, and a small general store, post office and hairdressers on South Green.
Coates primary school in ‘The Fold’ was opened in 1877 on the site of what is thought to be the Quaker’s grave yard. Having been extended over the years the school is still a very important part of village life.
The Public Hall dates from 1890. Built by public subscription, it is situated on the corner of The Fold and the main road and is the meeting place for many organisations and social functions.
The Carpenters Arms and The Vine are on either side of the A605.
The village is surrounded by agricultural land but the majority of work is in nearby Whittlesey or Peterborough.
The area is ideal for walking with many Byways, lanes and ‘Feldale’ fishing lake.
In 1280 Coates is referred to as Cotes. The village could have got the name owing to it being an island with an abundance of water birds including ‘cootes’. Another thought is that it got the name from the cottages that surrounded the greens and indicates that the first settlement here was a humble one. Plots of land, individually acquired from the Lord of the Manor were rented for a few pence a year to build a cottage which would also be granted rights of grazing in the fens to the north and south of the village and a few thatched cottages can still be found around the village.
Eastrea
The village of Eastrea lies approximately two miles east of Whittlesey on the A605.
This quiet little village is surrounded by arable land with many footpaths, bridleways and cycle routes leading to both Coates and Whittlesey.
Both the Nags Head and ‘Hemmaway Car Sales’ are situated on the A605 on the junction with Wype Road.
The Eastrea Centre, also on the A605 was opened by The Duke of Gloucester in 2013. Since the 1940’s villagers had worked towards finding a site and building a hall. With the determined effort by Professor Brian Ford and residents the hall is now a venue for village activities. It is hired out for various events introducing the general public to the village.
In prehistoric times Eastrea was a clay island surrounded by flooded fen and cut off from Whittlesey.
The EA at the end of the word is an Anglo Saxon for island. ‘Easterly Island’
Religious records show a papal licence was given to build a Church here in 1403. This was needed as at this time villagers were required to attend Church regularly. Bad weather sometimes made the journey to Whittlesey impossible. Less than 200 years later the Chapel was pulled down and details lost. It is thought to have been built near the junction of the A605 and Wype Road.
As well as this chapel, Pilgrims on their way to Walsingham stopped at the nearby Pilgrims Hall in Eastrea preparing themselves to journey across the fields to The Chapel of Our Lady at Eldernell.
The White Cross Stone thought to be the remains of a medieval cross, where pilgrims would stop to pray, can be seen on the south side of the A605 between Eastrea and Coates
A new Methodist Chapel was built in Wype road in the middle of the 1800’s. Since the 1960’s the building has been in commercial use.
In 1771 a fire destroyed most of the village.
People found that they could construct boundary walls using local clay subsoils and straw. These mud walls were topped with thatch, tiles or a wooden capping. One such wall still exists in Eastrea but many are to be seen in Whittlesey.
The railway passes through Eastrea at the southern end of Wype road. From 1845 until 1866 there was a railway station which was used mainly used to transport crops.
Pondersbridge
Taken from Wikipedia and ‘Church Crawler’
‘Pondersbridge’ is situated three miles south of Whittlesey on the B1040 and is part of the Whittlesey Town and Fenland District councils.
In Kelly’s Directory of Huntingdonshire (1898) it states that the ecclesiastical parish was formed from portions of parishes of Stanground, Ramsey and Whittlesea surrounding the border line of the counties of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.
It is thought that the name derives from a bridge at a place of the followers of Ponder. On maps from the middle of the 19c it is called Ponds Bridge. (A settlement built up around the river crossing, situated on an artificial drainage cutting called Bevill’s Leam.(River Nene) The older settlement extended on the main road northwards.)
Most dwellings are now along the B1040 and Oil Mills road.
St. Thomas’ Church was built in 1869 to replace a previous church in the village. It is part of The Whittlesey, Pondersbridge and Coates Church of England Team Ministry. Consecrated in 1871 it was one of the first Churches to be built on cast iron pillars. There is an outstanding window dedicated to St. Thomas. A beautiful grey marble War Memorial plaque and roll of honour serves to remember local servicemen.
Nearby a vicarage built in 1870 replaced the original one and later became the schoolmaster’s house when a school was built in 1872. What used to be the school is now the village hall which hosts many community events.
Turves
Turves is a quiet residential area on the back road between March and Whittlesey. It is surrounded by arable land.
It is thought that the name derives from the cutting of turf. Domestic dwellings are situated on the South side of March road and on the east side of Burnt House road.
There was a Quaker settlement at Turves in the late 1600’s hence ‘Quakers drove leading off Burnt House road.
The Three Horse Shoes is recorded as far back as 1822 when the land lord was Thomas Boyce.
To ward off mosquitoes, which were prevalent in the fens it was customary to nail three horse shoes to the foot of the bed and recite this rhyme.
‘FEYTHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST
NAALE THE DIVIL TO THE POST,
THROICE I STRIKES WITH HOLY CROOK
WON FOR GOD AND ONE FOR WOD AND ONE FOR LOK’
Near to the Three Horse shoes can be seen a small obelisk war memorial. Men from here and Eastrea are also commemorated on the Coates memorial.
Whittlesey
Whittlesey appears in the Cartularium Saxonicum (Anglo Saxon Charters) spelt Witlesig in 973
Over the years it has had various spelling, Whittlesea and Whittlesey. Only the Railway Station retains the Whittlesea spelling now which can cause some confusion with travellers.
In 2011 Whittlesey and nearby villages had a population of 16,058 and is situated approximately seven miles east of Peterborough on the A605.
The town is surrounded by arable land growing crops such as wheat, potatoes, broad beans, and sweet corn. Apart from farming and brick making most of the employment is in Peterborough.
The Butter Cross built in 1680 is an ancient, listed building and dominates the market square. It was built to give protection to sellers of dairy goods and is surrounded by many buildings of interest in the conservation area.
The market square holds a weekly market and is the venue for many activities during the year.
The Nene Washes to the north of the town is an area of open land created because of draining in the 17th and 18th centuries. The land serves as a flood plain and frequently floods during the winter. The combination of grassland and wetland is ideal for wildfowl and is an area of natural interest and an RSPB Nature Reserve. It is an excellent spot to watch birds of prey such as Marsh Harriers, Hen Harriers and Peregrines.
The river Nene is ideal for fishing.
The flat landscape around Whittlesey leads to ‘Big’ skies and splendid sunsets.
There are Nature reserves both east and west of the town, plenty of public footpaths and cycle routes.
Whittlesey, which was an island, surrounded by marshy fen has a long history, from Bronze Age settlers constructing timber causeways and Romans building raised gravel roads. Some of the street names still have a Danish influence.
When the surrounding area was drained in medieval times the land was put to arable use.
The Lower Oxford clay to the west of the town made this a major area for brick production in the early 19c.
Many fossils have been found in this area. Remains such as Mammoth tusks and teeth, a Woolly Rhinoceros leg bone, Bison vertebrae and fossils of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs.
Recently discovered, Must farm, is a very important late Bronze Age settlement.
The presence of timber piles on the edge of the disused Must Farm Quarry Pit was first observed in 1999 by local archaeologist Martin Redding. During subsequent visits he retrieved later prehistoric potsherds, worked flint and metalwork from exposed sediment around the piles. This eventually led to an open-air excavation unearthing this most impressive site described as ‘Britain’s Pompeii’.
Many Roman artefacts have also been found and part of the Roman Causeway runs through the area.
The Whittlesea Railway station is to the south east of the town.
The town also has a Leisure complex and swimming pool, A library/Information centre and museum.
In January, the town comes alive with The Straw Bear festival. A tradition was revised in 1980 by Brian Kell of parading a man, covered in straw, around the town followed by many dance sides. This brings hundreds of visitors to the town who stay over the weekend to watch the Bear and colourfully dressed followers.
