Place:Whittlesey Rural (parish), Isle of Ely, England

Watchers
NameWhittlesey Rural (parish)
Alt namesCoatessource: settlement in parish
Eastreasource: settlement in parish
Pondersbridgesource: settlement in parish
Ponders Bridgesource: another spelling of above
Ponders-Bridgesource: hyphenated
Turvessource: settlement in parish
TypeCivil parish
Coordinates52.557°N 0.131°W
Located inIsle of Ely, England     (1889 - 1926)
See alsoWhittlesey Rural, Isle of Ely, Englandrural district 1894-1926
Whittlesey, Isle of Ely, Englandurban district into which it was merged in 1926
Fenland District, Cambridgeshire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974

Whittlesey Rural (parish) was the single parish making up Whittlesey Rural District which existed in the Isle of Ely from 1894 to 1926. This parish and district entirely surrounded the Urban District of Whittlesey, which contained the parish of Whittlesey Urban (also known simply as Whittlesey).

Whittlesey Rural District and Whittlesey Rural (parish) were both abolished in 1926 and became part of the Whittlesey Urban District and parish.

The rural parish contained the villages or hamlets of Coates, Eastrea, Pondersbridge and Turves. It covered a large area: 26,000 acres, and according to census statistics, its population grew from 2,789 in 1881 to 3,422 in 1921.

Research tips

  • Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS
  • The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society has transcribed the parish registers for many if not all the ancient parishes of Cambridgeshire and these can be purchased from the Society as separate pdfs.
  • A History of the County of Cambridge. Seven volumes from British History Online (Victoria County Histories). This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the county to be found online. From the numbering it would appear that some parts of the county are yet to be published online, but the first two volumes for any county are of little interest to the genealogist. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each parish is listed in the volume's content page.
  • GENUKI has a page on Cambridgeshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical or ancient parishes in the county. These give references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. Each parish page includes a map of the parish provided by Open Street Maps.
  • The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date.
  • A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" for each parish and borough leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974.
  • Map of Cambridgeshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
  • Map of Cambridge divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time