The Salvation Army Fortress

The Salvation Army Fortress was built with a crenellated frontage between 1900 and 1904.

Photographs: now and then

Where is it?

Location and directions: Google Maps

Find out more

• The Salvation Army Fortress on Google Streetview
• The Salvation Army Fortress on the Chatteris Community Archive

Taking a digital tour of Chatteris?

If you’re taking a Digital Tour of Chatteris, you can explore the adjacent Victoria Street – a road constructed across what was once the site of the Abbey of St Mary.

The Abbey, founded circa 980AD by Aelfwen, was situated on what is now the North side of Victoria Street with the grounds surrounded by walls – of which none remain.

The perimeter of the Abbey can be traced along the four Park Streets (Park Street, East Park Street, West Park Street and South Park Street). The abbey buildings were dismantled and the stone reused after the dissolution in 1538 – with the exception of the block on the western side of the cloisters which was converted into Park House and enlarged in the seventeenth century. In 1847 this building was pulled down and much of the stone was used in the building of Seymour Place, a terrace of 5 cottages on London Road.

Once you’re done here, head back along East Park Street towards the museum of Armed Policing and cross to St Martins Road (opposite). At one time this road was called Smarts Road, but it was changed by the residents to its present name in the mid-1900s. A short way down St Martins Road, on the left, is a house called ‘Old Forge’. This is the only indication that a blacksmith’s premises once stood on this site.

Walk a little further down St Martins Road and turn left into Church Walk. At the end of Church Walk, you will find a passage that leads you to Chatteris Museum in Church Lane.