Our Story and History of village
The village of Eastrea lies approximately two miles east of Whittlesey on the A605
ABOUT US
Here at the Eastrea Centre we are more than just a village hall, we are the heart of the community.Since the centre opened in 2013 we have run a full programme of events throughout the week (see our classes page).
Our hall has is run by dedicated team of trustees and committee members who are all local villagers, which manage the centre, we are always on hand. We take pride in our village hall, so that the hirer has the best experience.
The centre’s facilities has a fully working kitchen with the latest appliances to ensure your catering requirments can be fulfilled, a spacious foyer leading to the smaller meeting room.
The meeting room is fully equipped for the modern business, offering projector screen, audio equiptment and free wifi, providing hirers with training and metting facilities. Our main hall has a range of uses from sports to family functions, we can seat 120 in the hall and hold 200 for any event.
Brief History
This quiet little village is surrounded by arable land with many footpaths, bridleways and cycle routes leading to both Coates and Whittlesey.
The Eastrea Centre, on the A605 was opened by The Duke of Gloucester in 2013. Since the 1940’s villagers had worked towards finding a site and building a hall. With the determined effort by Professor Brian Ford and residents the hall is now a venue for village activities. It is hired out for various events introducing the general public to the village.
In prehistoric times Eastrea was a clay island surrounded by flooded fen and cut off from Whittlesey.
The EA at the end of the word is an Anglo Saxon for island. ‘Easterly Island’
Religious records show a papal licence was given to build a Church here in 1403. This was needed as at this time villagers were required to attend Church regularly. Bad weather sometimes made the journey to Whittlesey impossible. Less than 200 years later the Chapel was pulled down and details lost. It is thought to have been built near the junction of the A605 and Wype Road.
As well as this chapel, Pilgrims on their way to Walsingham stopped at the nearby Pilgrims Hall in Eastrea preparing themselves to journey across the fields to The Chapel of Our Lady at Eldernell.
The White Cross Stone thought to be the remains of a medieval cross, where pilgrims would stop to pray, can be seen on the south side of the A605 between Eastrea and Coates
A new Methodist Chapel was built in Wype road in the middle of the 1800’s. Since the 1960’s the building has been in commercial use.
In 1771 a fire destroyed most of the village.
People found that they could construct boundary walls using local clay subsoils and straw. These mud walls were topped with thatch, tiles or a wooden capping. One such wall still exists in Eastrea but many are to be seen in Whittlesey.
The railway passes through Eastrea at the southern end of Wype road. From 1845 until 1866 there was a railway station which was used mainly used to transport crops.
