Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chatteris is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency.

The parish of Chatteris is large, covering 6,099 hectares, and for much of its history was a raised island in the low-lying wetland of the Fens. Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the town has evidence of settlement from the Neolithic period. After several fires in the 18th and 19th centuries, the majority of the town's housing dates from the late Victorian period onwards, with the tower of the parish church the only medieval building remaining.

Following the draining of the Fens, beginning in the 17th century and completed in the 19th century, the town's economy has been based on agriculture and related industry. Due to its proximity to Cambridge, Huntingdon and Peterborough, the town has emerged as a commuter town.

History Chatteris's name probably derives from the Celtic Cedrid – Ced meaning a wood and Rid, a ford, although it may also derive from "cader", meaning hill fort, suggesting a similar site to the nearby Stonea Camp. The town was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Cetriz" and "Cateriz".

Archaeological evidence has been found of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements in the area, and Chatteris possesses what has been interpreted as the only upstanding Neolithic boundaries in Fenland. Saxon evidence is less well preserved, although in 679, Hunna, the chaplain to Æthelthryth of Ely built a hermitage on Honey Hill. More apocryphically, Chatteris is reputed to have been the last refuge of Boudica as she fled from the Romans.

Medieval period The miraculous story of the first known parishioner of the town, Bricstan, is documented in the Historia Ecclesiastica by the Chronicler Orderic Vitalis (1075 – c.1142). According to the legend, Bricstan was a pious free tenant from the town who had joined the monastery at Ely Cathedral in 1115 to begin training as a monk. However, he was accused of theft and imprisoned in London. The legend recounts that one night he had a vision of Saint Etheldreda coming towards him, and as if by a miracle, his heavy chains fell from him and he was shackled no longer. When he awoke from his dream, he discovered that this was indeed true and he was free of his chains. The wife of Henry I, Matilda of Scotland, heard of the miracle, and she assured herself that he was no rogue or thief, issued a writ of pardon and declared him a free man.

During the Medieval period, the town was dominated by Chatteris Abbey, a small Benedictine nunnery dedicated to St Mary, built in 980 by Eadnoth the Younger for Aelfwyn or Alfwen the niece of King Edgar and one of only eight nunneries mentioned in the Domesday Book. The first abbess of Chatteris was Eadnoth's sister, Aelfwyn. Throughout its existence, the abbey was comparatively poor compared to other foundations, due to a lack of royal patronage and a consequent lack of tithe estates. As a result, the abbey survived the first wave of closures during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but was surrendered to the king's commissioners in 1538, by which time there were eleven nuns in residence.

At this date fourteen local families still used the abbey church as parochial but this, unusually, did not save it from demolition, the parishioners being transferred to nearby St Peter and St Paul's Church in the area. It has been conjectured that due to the short space between them, the parish church may have been the abbey church, although Claire Breay's Cartulary of Chatteris Abbey discounts this idea, citing that historical documentation clearly defines two separate churches. A range of the cloister buildings survived as part of a mansion known as Park House. This was demolished in 1847 and the site has now completely vanished beneath streets and housing, although the "Park Streets" of Chatteris mark the boundary of its walls and several buildings contain stone originating from the abbey. A large portion of the town was destroyed by a great fire in 1310, which destroyed the nunnery and a large portion of the church, leaving only sections of the base of the tower.

Early modern and contemporary Later fires in 1706 and 1864 destroyed most medieval and Georgian architecture, and a large proportion of the town's listed buildings date from the Victorian period onwards. However, many of the pasture fields on the outskirts of the town have evidence of ridge and furrow farming practices, although these are under threat by current building proposals.

To the north of the town runs the Forty Foot Drain, a large river also called Vermuyden's Drain, after the Dutch engineer whose name is associated with the fen drainage works of the middle of the 17th century. Several of the older buildings of the town show evidence of the Dutch architectural style.

Chatteris is a market town and has possessed this designation since 1834, although an earlier market existed in the town, which was discontinued due to poor roads in 1808. A small market is still held every Friday.

Following the Beeching Axe, Chatteris railway station, formerly on the St Ives extension of the Great Eastern Railway, was closed in March 1967. The station buildings no longer exist.

Geography Chatteris is situated between Huntingdon, St Ives, Peterborough, March and Ely, in the middle of the Fens—the lowest-lying area in the United Kingdom—with most of the land surrounding the town being below sea level, although the highest point in the Fens (36 feet above sea level) is within Chatteris's parish boundaries. The peaty land surrounding the town is largely used for agriculture, drained by numerous ditches and dykes, and there are two large drainage rivers near the town – the Forty Foot Drain, also known as Vermuyden's Drain, and the Sixteen Foot Drain.

Chatteris is a key turning point on the A141 road (known as the Isle of Ely way) and the starting point of the A142 road to Ely and Suffolk (known as Ireton's Way). The town also has important links to Cambridge and the A14 via the B1050 to Bar Hill. The town centre traffic was bypassed in 1986, with the disused route of the former St Ives extension of the Great Eastern Railway being used to build the A141 to March and Guyhirn.

Economy Chatteris is sited in particularly fertile agricultural land, and as such, the town's local economy is largely based on this industry. Alan Bartlett and Sons Ltd, a major British grower and packer of root vegetables has a large facility in the town with over 2,500 hectares under cultivation, much of it growing parsnips and the Chantenay and Bushytops carrot. The company is a demerger of Albert Bartlett & Sons, which are now based in Scotland. Rustler Produce Ltd, also based in Chatteris, is another major player in this industry, and a number of smaller vegetable producers and processors operate in the Chatteris area.

Another major employer in the town is Metalcraft (Stainless Metalcraft (Chatteris) Ltd). The company was established in the town in the late 19th century and over the years has manufactured diamond mining equipment and overhead cranes. The company is now part of the Avingtrans Group and specialises in creating engineered products for the oil, gas, nuclear and medical industries.

An Aldi supermarket located on Bridge Street opened in 2016. It was formerly a large Co-op which opened in 1990, trading under a variety of brandnames until its closure in 2014.

Another supermarket constructed on the A141 Fenland Way became the first of Tesco's discount Jack's-branded stores in the UK and hosted the press launch on 19 September 2018, opening to the public the following day. It is located within a larger building intended as a Tesco supermarket, constructed at a cost of £22 million but left mothballed following the company's decision to halt the opening of 49 out-of-town supermarkets following poor financial results in October 2014. The other half opened as a Poundstretcher store in February 2018.

The traditional town centre stretches from Park Street through Market Hill to the High Street and generally features more specialist non-branch shops. The town centre has a post office but no banks following the closure of Barclays in 2019. The Petrou Brothers fish and chip shop in West Park Street won the 2006 National Fish and Chip Shop of the Year competition; the owners were presented with the award by chef Ainsley Harriott.

The Cross Keys, The George Inn and The Bramley House are the town's main hotel and bed-and-breakfast establishments, all located in the High Street or Market Hill. In addition to the Cross Keys and George, there are two further pubs; The Ship in Bridge Street and The Honest John in South Park Street, and a number of small restaurants and tea shops. There are several members' clubs including the Working Men's Club in Station Street and the Conservative Club in King Edward Street which feature live music and other entertainment. Fensport, a workshop specialised in performance and tuning parts for Toyota sports cars like Celica and Toyota 86 is located in Dock Road.

Transport Chatteris is well served by local bus routes, with regular buses to the nearby towns of March, St Ives, Ely and the city of Cambridge. There are also occasional services to Huntingdon and Peterborough.

The nearest railway stations are in March and Manea.

Education The town has three primary schools, Kingsfield Primary School (created in 2003 by the amalgamation of the former Burnsfield School and King Edward School), Glebelands School, which opened in the early months of 1994 and Cromwell Primary which opened in 2021. Cromwell Community College is an all-through school admitting primary school and secondary school age pupils. It was founded in 1939. The Isle College used to have a presence in the town, with a base in Grove House. However, this closed following the college's merger with the College of West Anglia. The town has a library run by Cambridgeshire County Council.

Healthcare Chatteris is serviced by George Clare GP Surgery and The Hollies Dental Practice.

Culture: Music In 2005, British indie band Half Man Half Biscuit – perhaps best known for "The Trumpton Riots" and "Dickie Davies Eyes" – included a song entitled "For What Is Chatteris…" on their award-winning Achtung Bono album. The song extolled the virtues of the town, offset against how unsatisfying the best place in the world can suddenly become when the one you love is no longer there: "a market town that lacks quintessence / that's Chatteris without your presence". News of the song made the headlines of the Cambridgeshire Times and the Peterborough Evening Telegraph during September 2005, a month before the album's official release.

Sport Fen skating was very popular in the past. An illustration from 1823 by George Cruikshank shows the Wisbech coach in the background of a skating match.

The town's football club, Chatteris Town, was founded in 1920 and currently play in the Kershaw Premier Division of the Cambridgeshire Football Association County League. The town also has a cricket club, Chatteris Cricket Club, which was founded in 1879. The club has five senior teams and four youth teams that compete in both the Fenland and Cambridgeshire leagues. Chatteris CC won the St Ivo Midweek League in 2008 and 2009 going both seasons unbeaten. The town also has a bowls club and a tennis club (St Peters). Chatteris Airfield is about 2 km (1.2 mi) north-northeast, which is mainly used for skydiving, and is the base of the North London Skydiving Centre. A flying school is also based at the airfield.

The town has one swimming pool, the Empress, which is privately owned and is a registered charity run by three trustees. It is open to members and can be booked for private hires or group sessions. It is home of the Chatteris Kingfishers swimming club, who after successes in 2008 compete in Division One of the 2009 "Cambs Cup" competition. Plans for a public swimming pool and leisure centre have been proposed by the council since 1990, but have yet to be approved. Proposals for the development of Cromwell Community College under the government's BSF programme include significant leisure provisions and these are expected to start in 2010. A new gym situated in the grounds of Cromwell Community College opened in 2013.

Media Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia. Television signals are received from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Heart East, and Greatest Hits Radio East. The town is served by these local newspapers, Fenland Citizen and Cambs Times.

Community activities and events The town is noted for its annual display of Christmas lights, which are entirely funded by community donations and have been featured on BBC Look East. In 2008, a medieval-themed Historical Festival replaced the town's traditional festival week.

The town has a museum run by volunteers, with several permanent exhibitions about local history, the Fens, Victoriana and the railways. Chatteris also has a Scout club, an Army Cadet Force and a youth football team.[00]

Chatteris has morning and evening Women's Institutes, which both meet at the King Edward Centre,[01] and a Rotary Club which meet at the local fire station.[02]

Since 2012 Chatteris has a branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A) which caters for people no longer in full time employment, with a talk every month at the general meeting held at the King Edward Centre, plus over 20 interest groups of various kinds, and a number of trips and theatre visits are also provided during the year.[03]

Chatteris in Bloom is a charity responsible for entering the town in to the annual "Anglia in Bloom" competition.[04] Chatteris achieved the highest gold award in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and in 2023 was joint winner of Anglia in Bloom with Huntingdon.[05][06][07][08]

The town has a brass band, founded in 1882, which competes in the East Anglian Brass Band Association.[09]