This walk starts at the gardens at thejunction of West Park Street andHuntingdon Road. This area was not alwaysa garden and back in the 1960’s when thepicture below was taken, we would havebeen standing in the bar of the White Hart.(1)

Walk along the Huntingdon Rd passing thePetrol Station. On the left hand side, lookat number 6 and on the upper level there isa plaque bearing the name Linnet Terrace.Why are the houses named after a bird.?Well the story goes that a local man madethe money to build them by catchinglinnets and other song birds with nets andselling them in the London markets (2)

Continue along the left side of the roadthere is a turning named Linden Drive Thiswas named after the private school whichoccupied the tall dark building on thecorner. It is now a Masonic lodge. (3) There was also another school on this site.It was called Hive End School. Most of ithas now been demolished.

A Stroll Around Hive End Continue along Station Street and on theleft you will eventually come to a drivejust past no 51. This led to one of theTown’s Windmills, sadly none are leftstanding now. (8)This one was known asLarratt’s Mill. The miller’s cottage alongthe lane can still be seen and is a listedbuilding.

Further along the road on the right takethe turning known as Rosemary Lane. Thisquaint little by-way is probably how manylittle streets in Chatteris looked beforethe requirements of the car took over. On the left is a pair of police housesbuilt in 1906. Continue along the lane.There is a row of 4 small cottages on theleft. These are good examples of the typeof housing that the working class of thetown would have occupied. (9) Turn left at the top of Rosemary laneinto Huntingdon Rd once again. As youwalk up the road towards where webegan there are still a few points ofinterest to note.

As this stroll nears its end and theHuntingdon Road Gardens areapproaching, try to spot Myrtle andLilac. Were these the names of youngChatteris girls or were the housesnamed after the builder’s favouriteshrubs? (10)

See more views of Chatteris on-line.Visit Chatteris.ccan.co.uk.If you have photographs ofChatteris old or new you are welcometo upload them to our website. It isfunded and maintained separatelyfrom Chatteris Museum. You can visit the museum in ChurchLane on Saturday mornings andTuesday or Thursday afternoons. Cr.julue Smith

afternoons

Look out on the left for Salem Court. Itis named after the Salem Chapel thatused to stand there. The chapel wasfounded in 1800 and used by the Strictand Particular Baptists. All that remainstoday is a carved stone bearing its namehoused in Chatteris Museum.

Keeping on the left of the Huntingdon Rdpass the York Rd turning and walk on untilyou reach West Street . Turn into thisstreet and keep to the left of the street.(4) Pause a little way along at number 15. Look up above the 1st floor windows.Here you will see a small stone carved totell us the original dwelling here wasdestroyed by fire in 1864.

Clare Street seems to have been renameda number of times and was once known asHive Street, Hive End and also AnchorStreet. Along the street on the right was theCrown and Anchor pub. The pubmiraculously survived the ravages of the1864 fire while buildings around itsuccumbed to the flames. It is said the Street became known asAnchor Street following this remarkableescape. According to the newspaper reports ofthe time, The Fen Plough and the Dog andGun beerhouses were not so lucky andwere badly affected by the fire.

Walk the length of Clare Street and whenyou reach the junction with Station Streetpause to look across the road. Here you cansee and hear the busy by pass just beyondthe fence. If you were standing at this spot100 years ago, trains would have beenthundering past not cars. Chatteris station is now sadly long gone. Itwas located roughly where the newapartments have been built.

The picture above is a drawing of how itlooked when opened in 1848 Dealing with goods and passenger trafficthe line was well used. There was anadditional station at Chatteris Docks. Atone time all the produce from aroundChatteris, potatoes, carrots fruit andlivestock would have been loaded here to besent to London Markets.

On the right of Clare Street is a roadnamed Haighs Close.(6) This is named after Cyril Haigh, asuccessful potato grower and merchant inChatteris. He generously created a trustto benefit the elderly of Chatteris. A distribution of its fund is made annuallyaround Christmas time.

Chatteris has over the years hasrecorded many fires. This particular onecaused much destruction in the Hive Endarea. According to the local newspaper of thetime “over 70 families, principally thepoorer classes were made homeless, thefire destroying nearly all theirfurniture, clothes and winter stocks offuel, gleanings etc.” The article went on to describe how thefire occurred at Hive End and theaftermath “looked like a wilderness withskeletons of houses here and there” Particularly heart rending is thedescriptions of “pigs shrieking as theywere roasted alive and the vain effortsof the people to rescue fowl from thesame fate”

Turn right into Station Street, on the leftlook out for number 61. This was known as the Railway Tavern.(7)At one time Chatteris had numerouspubs and beer houses. Situated as it was,so close to the station, the pub would havebeen a popular place to stop off forrefreshment.

Retrace your steps back from the housetowards the Huntingdon Road. Turn left and then cross the road toturn right into Clare street. (5)Thestreet is named after George Clare wholived in Chatteris and was posthumouslyawarded a Victoria Cross for bravery inthe First World war. Chatteris Doctor’ssurgery is named after him.

George Clare (standing) Photo fromwww.chatteris.ccan.co.uk