Robert Bligh, last abbot of Thorney, and bishop of Down and Connor, in Ireland, by his will dated 19th October 1547, appointed his body to be buried in this church, before the sacred sacrament of the altar, and gives a legacy to the parsonage of Whittlesea, formerly belonging to the dissolved monastery of Thorney. It is presumed he lies buried in the church. The altar is on three large steps, railed round; several stones lie under the altar, but most of them defaced. There are memorials of the families of Hake, Underwood, and Moore. The church is crowded by galleries around it, which spoil the appearance. The old church yard is full of gravestones, but an additional piece of ground was purchased and consecrated in the year 1813. The church of St. Andrew is a very handsome, neat building, adorned by a small square tower. It was given to the monks of Ely by Nigellus, bishop of that see, in 1133. In it are memorials of the families of Stona, Moore, Ground, Read, (who was high sheriff of the county in 1672) and Underwood. The latter family had lived at Whittlesea many years before the civil war, at which time Hugh Underwood, esq. was deputy lieutenant of the isle of Ely, and was then called governor of Whittlesea. His residence is supposed to have been on the spot where there is at present a pleasant and commodious plantation called the mount, and here it is said, that in cutting certain moats, swathes of mown grass were found lying perfect, and not decomposed.* The manor of Whittlesea St. Andrew, which had belonged to the prior and convent of Ely, and the impropriation of the parish of St. Mary, together with the patronage Coles' MSS. (See also page 19.) of that benefice, have long been held with the manor of Whittlesea St. Mary. The living is rated in the king's books at £4. 13s. 4d. The manor of Whittlesea St. Mary belonged to the abbot and convent of Thorney, as well as the advowson of the church. This estate has been for a considerable time in the Waldegrave family, and is now vested in the earl of Waldegrave, and the families of the duke of Grafton, and the late lord Hugh Seymour, both of whom married sisters of the late countess Waldegrave. Mr. Secretary Thurloe* was heretofore possessed of the manors of Whittlesea St. Mary, and Whittlesea St. Andrew, and that of the rectory of Whittlesea St. Mary. Whittlesea had formerly a market, which had not been wholly disused until within about the last fifty years. There is a market cross remaining; the market day was Friday. A small fair is held there for horses on the 13th June. sents to the vicarage of St. Andrew; the The king preowners of the impropriate rectory of Whittlesea St. Mary present to the vicarage of St. Mary. By pope Nicholas' taxation + they are charged as follows: The town stands on rising ground at the extremity of the isle of Ely and county of Cambridge. It is populous, and reckons about one hundred and sixty votes for members of parliament. * Thurloe's State Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford. + See page 246. There is a charity school for instructing fifteen poor boys or girls; the master's salary is £15. per annum, which sum was bequeathed by Mr. Kelfull, about the year 1735. Whittlesea, exclusive of the town, contains two hamlets, called Coats and Eastrea; at the latter place, a licence, dated 1403, was granted for founding a chapel of the holy trinity. At a place called Eldernell, a chapel was consecrated in 1525, which has been long since dilapidated. In 1509, a lease was granted to Anthony Cave, of various things, and amongst them a tenement called Eldernayla, with a croft and pool yard, at the rent of forty shillings per annum.† There was another chapel called St. Peter's, to the west of the town, in a place still called Church Field. In 34th Edward I. a presentment was made of the tenants wasting the fen, and destroying the harbour for the king's deer; and that John le Wode, with the men of Whittlesea, came into the said fen, and set fire therein, which burnt in length and breadth four miles, causing thereby great loss to the king in his harts, hinds, and goats. session of sewers at Huntingdon in 1617, it was decreed that certain drains should be cleansed by the lord of the cokenary of Whittlesea, or the farmer thereof.§ In 1728, a bill was brought into parliament, on petition of the land owners and proprietors of the low grounds and fen grounds in Whittlesea, consisting of 7000 acres of land, which the proprietors complained had been so drowned with water, that they yielded little or no profit, and could not be drained for want of convenient outfalls At a * Coles' MSS. * See page 15. to discharge the waters into the common river, and from thence to sea. About 1742, several Roman lamps were found by a man as he was ploughing at Glassmore, (a district belonging to Whittlesea); they were made of of red ware, all lying very regularly in a row. Also a human scull was dug up in the town about the same period, the whole brain whereof was ossified and concreted into as hard and solid substance as the bone, retaining still its natural curdled form, the sutures, &c. remaining entire. There are some small charities founded by persons of the names of Dow, Randall, Kelfull, and Noble. Also some lands and houses, given at various times by different benefactors in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to trustees, the rents of which are applied to charitable or any other uses, for the general good of the town. The two parishes contain about 23,500 acres, of which about two thirds are reputed to be in the parish of St. Mary, and about one third in that of St. Andrew. Both vicarages have been held by the same person as far back as any records shew, to the year 1815. this township are 5716 acres of adventurers' lands. In The following is a list of the several vicars since the year 1600. A.D. 1615 Francis Gates occurs, 1639 William Mason, 1653 Richard Mason, (son of the former vicar) 1683 Richard Mason, (son of the last vicar) 1703 Thomas Topping, 1742 William Beale, *Coles' MSS. + Nicholls' Anecdotes, vol. vi. page 139. A.D. 1772 Thomas Charles Cadwallader Moore, 1815 James Tobias Cook, A.M. (of St. Andrew's) 1816 John Pratt, (of St. Mary's) William of Whittlesea, archbishop of Canterbury in 1368, was born at this place. According to the last returns of population in 1821, it appears there were 2613 males and 2643 females, making together 5276, Whittlesea Mere, The most spacious fresh water lake in the southern part of Great Britain, on which have been exhibited several regattas and ice-boat sailings, is about six miles from the town of Whittlesea, situated at the extremity of the county of Cambridge, and on the north side of the county of Huntingdon, and about thirty-eight miles west of the German ocean, six miles down the Nene from the city of Peterborough, and two miles and three quarters east from Stilton. The surface is 1570 square acres. Its circumference is eight miles and three quarters, abounding with a great variety of water fowl, and the following species of fish, viz. pike, perch, carp, tench, eels, bream, chub, roach, dace, gudgeons, shallows, &c. In the summer months this lake is visited by many of the nobility and gentry from various parts. At times it is violently agitated, without any visible cause, and is fed by the waters of a vast tract of country, whose overplus makes its way down to the sea. The difficulties are too great to deduce the origin of this beautiful and extensive piece of water, and at best it would be enveloped in |