Whittlesey (or Whittlesea), market town and par. with ry. sta., Cambridgeshire, in NW. of co., 5½ miles E. of Peterborough - par., 25,131 ac., pop. 6455; town, 640 ac., pop. 3682; P.O., T.O., 2 Banks. Market-day, Friday. Whittlesey, known at Domesday as Witesie, has two ancient churches, two endowed schools, a town hall, public library, &C. Whittlesey Mere, 4 miles SW. of the town, a shallow lake, 2 miles long by 1 mile broad, and abounding in fish and wildfowl, has been drained, and is now a fertile tract.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))