Whittlesey, United Kingdom

Nearby Whittlesey Mere was a substantial lake surrounded by marsh until it was drained in 1851. According to the traveller Celia Fiennes, who saw it in 1697, the mere was "3-mile broad and six-mile long. In the midst is a little island where a great store of Wildfowle breed.... The ground is all wett and marshy but there are severall little Channells runs into it which by boats people go up to this place; when you enter the mouth of the Mer it looks formidable and its often very dangerous by reason of sudden winds that will rise like Hurricanes...." The town is still accessible by water, being connected to the River Nene by King's Dyke, which forms part of the Nene/Ouse Navigation. Moorings can be found at Ashline Lock, alongside the Manor Leisure Centre's cricket and football pitches.

Whittlesey was significant for its brickyards, around which the former hamlet of King's Dyke was based for much of the 20th century, although only one now remains, following the closure of the Saxon brickworks in 2011.

The local clay soil was also used to make cob boundary walls during a period in which there was a brick tax. Some examples of these roofed walls still stand today and are claimed to be unique in Fenland, certain sections of Whittlesey's "Mud Walls" were given Grade II Listed status in 2021, and given further formal protection by local council in 2026.

Whittlesey had a large number of public houses. In 1797, a local farmer noted in his diary, "They like drinking better than fighting in Whittlesea." Among the public houses that have closed are the Plough, the Letter A, the Letter C, the Queen Adelaide, the Old Crown, the King's Head, the Morton Folk and the White Horse, many of which are now private residences.

Whittlesey was an important trade route in the late Bronze Age (about 1100–800 BCE). Evidence for this was found at the archaeological site of Must Farm, where log boats, roundhouses, bowls with food in them, and the most complete wooden wheel were housed.

In 1832, Whittlesey, then spelt Whittlesea, was ravaged by the second cholera epidemic, along with nearby Peterborough. According to a diary entry of Mrs Thomas Shaftoe Robertson, manageress of the Lincoln Theatre Circuit, "What a gap in my journal! April to November! But better not record such a summer as I have passed. God deliver me from such another. What suffering, what anguish, and loss! Whittlesea! Shall I ever have the idea of entering that place again? The cholera there raged in all its fury. I was numbered amongst its victims, and, false or true, was certainly dreadfully ill. All Peterborough was in a languishing state. Mr Walker, the surgeon, behaved most kindly, and never charged me a shilling."

A year later this entry was amended: "Let me correct this error. The year after he sent me in a bill of £5 14s 6d." The Lincoln Theatre Circuit also included at various times Whittlesey, Wisbech, Boston and other nearby towns.

St Mary's Church contains 15th-century work, but most of the building is later. It has one of the largest buttressed spires in Cambridgeshire. The spire is 171 feet (52 metres) high. The church also contains a chapel, which was restored in 1862 as a memorial to Sir Harry Smith. St Mary's is a Grade I listed building.

St Andrew's Church originally dates back to the 13th and 14 centuries, with a major restoration taking place in 1872. The church, featuring a three-storeyed west tower with an eastern clock face, blends the Perpendicular and Decorated Gothic architectural styles of the 13th to 15th centuries. St Andrew's is listed Grade II*.

Both churches still see active use, each with a separate congregation.

The market is held in the Market Place every Friday. The right to hold a weekly market was first granted in 1715, although there have been several periods since in which the market did not function, for example from the late 1700s until about 1850.

In the centre of the Market Place is the Buttercross, dating back to 1680. Originally a place for people to sell goods, the structure was considered useless in the 1800s and only saved from demolition when a local businessman donated some slate tiles for the roof. Latterly it served as a bus shelter, until the bus services were relocated from the Market Place to a purpose-built terminal in Grosvenor Road.