conjecture and obscurity, so as not to give satisfaction to the generality of readers; but its antiquity and importance are visible by the authorities of domesday book, and by its having, so early as A.D. 664, been granted by Wolphere, king of Mercia,* to his new founded monastery of Medehamstead, (now Peterborough) which was destroyed by the Danes in 870, when it reverted to

the crown.

Domesday book mentions that the abbot of Ramsey had one boatsgate in his own right, and a second boatsgate which he held of the abbot of Thorney, with two fisheries, and one virgate of land. The abbot of Thorney had two boatsgates.

In 1507, Henry VII. granted the office of keeper of the swanery on the mere to David Cecil, for the term of seven years.

In 1662, Charles II. granted to Edward, earl of Sandwich, the office of master of the swans within the whole kingdom, and also the office of bailiff or keeper of Whittlesea Mere. The lord of the manor has a right to summon the fishermen, (or fenny ferries) to his two courts, holden at Holme, when presentments are made, and his bailiff proves the nets with a brazen mash pin, and on being found undersized, he is at liberty to take a fine, or destroy them, and is entitled to fines and forfeitures, with other manorial rights, &c.

The present rights of fishing are as follows:

* See page 113.

William Wells, esq. lord of Glatton, with Holme, eleven boatsgates,

Lord Brownlow, lord of Farcett, one, and a private fishery,

The church of Peterborough, two,

Lord Carysfort, one.

There are other small meres in the neighbourhood, as Ugg Mere, Ramsey Mere, &c.

Mr. Golborn, in the year 1777, went through Whittlesea Mere, sounded it, and found the bottom in general very even, with four feet and an half of water, and two feet of mud under it.

About two miles distant from the north east side of the mere, there is a memorable channel cut through the body of the fen, extending itself from near Ramsey to Peterborough, and is called King's Delph. The common tradition is, that king Canute or his queen, being in some peril in their passage from Ramsey to Peterborough, by reason of the boisterousness of the waves upon Whittlesea Mere, caused this ditch to be first made, but this testimony does not reconcile itself with an occurrence mentioned three score years before, which is that of king Edgar confirming to the monks of Peterborough the fourth part of Whittlesea Mere, with all the waters, fishings, &c. thereto belonging, bounding it to the north side, where the Mere Lode enters from the river Nene, eastward to King's Delph.*

* Dugdale, page 363.

Bevill's Leam from Whittlesea Mere to Guyhirn, about sixteen miles in length, was made by Francis, earl of Bedford, in or about 1634. This river was forty feet wide. Vermuyden's Drain leads from Whittlesea to Ramsey, and is sixteen feet wide. Whittlesea Dyke begins a little above Horsey bridge, and runs through the town of Whittlesea into the Nene below Benwick.

CHATTERIS,

CALLED in domesday book Cetriz and Cateriz, is a populous town, twelve miles from Ely. Alwena,* sister of Ednothus, first abbot of Ramsey, niece to king Edgar, established at this place a convent of Benedictine monks, under the government of an abbess. In the reign of Henry I., the nunnery was annexed, at the instance of Harvey, first bishop of Ely, to the church of Ely, which being suppressed in 1551, the abbey estate, with the rectory and advowson of the vicarage, was granted to Edward, lord Clinton: through him it passed into many hands, until what remained of the original grant was purchased by Robert Fawcet, esq. a solicitor of London, who occasionally resided in the abbey house, and in 1772, gave the presentation of the vicarage to the Rev. W. Holden, A.M. of Cambridge, and at his death bequeathed his right in the estate to Mr. John Seymour, who sold the advowson, and left the remaining property, consisting of the manor of Chatteris Nuns, to his son, and through him, to his grandson, the Rev. T. C. W. Seymour. The advowson of the vicarage was afterwards purchased by

Chateries, or Chcaterizh, is not far from Ely westward, where Alwena, a woman, founded a nunnery upon a copped ground, encompassed with fens, while her husband founded Ramsey. Camden, page 111.

Robert Chatfield, esq. of Croydon, Surrey, whose son, the Rev. Robert Chatfield, LL.D. is the present patron and incumbent. The rectory was sold to Charles Cholmondeley, esq. of Knutsford, in Cheshire.

The nunnery escaped ruin in the general devastation of religious houses in 1536, and was, with thirty others, reprieved for two years only, when, in 1538, it was totally suppressed. The reason probably of these few being exempted from the general fate for this term might be the regularity of their behaviour.* Chatteris has no ancient remains, except the site of the old nunnery, where a few old arches and buttresses shew, amidst the patched and modern workmanship, the labour of remote antiquity. There are also, about a mile from the town, the vestiges of a moat and walls, which formerly belonged to one of the manor houses. The parish was formerly divided by a river called the Old West Water, which ran in the direction from Earith,+ through a part of Somersham parish, to the present turnpike called the Ferry, and then on the west side of Chatteris parish, to Benwick, where it joined a part of the Nene; a branch from it, anciently called Wimblington Leam, (now the Twenty-feet) divided the parish into two unequal parts, running through a part of the town, and after proceeding by the hard lands of Doddington and Wimblington, fell into the Nene at March. What remains of the Twenty-feet is now carried by the mills into Vermuyden's Drain. This river, formerly called the West Water, has, since drains have been made in other directions, now become dry land. At a place called

Barnett's History of the Reformation. Coles' MSS.

+ See page 21.

Huny or Honey Hill, in Chatteris, were some subterraneous remains of ancient buildings, supposed to be those of a chapel, which had contained the bones of Huna,* chaplain of Etheldreda, the foundress of the monastery at Ely. According to tradition, Huna retired to a cell or hermitage, which was afterwards called by his name, where he died and was buried. The body of Huna was afterwards translated to the church of Thorney. The church of Chatteris is dedicated to St. Peter, and the town continues to this day to commemorate their favourite saint by an annual feast, on the anniversary of the 20th of June. Nigellus, bishop of Ely, from 1132 to 1174, first appropriated the church of Chatteris to the nuns of Chatteris, which was confirmed by the prior and convent of Ely, and in pope Nicholas' taxation it appears the nunnery had considerable property in the parish. The church was endowed and built by the nuns. It is handsome, and consists of a square tower at the west end, in which hang five bells, on it a small spire of lead, a nave, two side aisles, and south porch leaded, and a chancel tiled: it was valued in the king's books at £ 10. In the church are several marbles to the memory of the family of Holman, and as you enter the chancel, lies a black marble, with this inscription: "Johannis Caryll, armiger, obiit 2d die Feb. A.D. 1669, æt. 45." at the east end of the north aisle is another monument to Richard Parlett Reade, esq. high sheriff of Cambridge

* See page 90.

+ Honey farm contains about 350 acres, and formerly belonged to the abbey of Ramsey, and after its dissolution, remained in the hands of the crown until 36th Henry VIII., when he granted it to William and John Sewster, esqrs. in fee, which, by divers mesne conveyances, is now be come the property of William Dunn Gardiner, esq.