The warrior queen is one of the most famous figures in British history

One of the most famous warrior queens that fought against the Romans has links to a quiet Cambridgeshire town. Boudicca is one of the most famous figures in Roman history. But what people might not know is of her strong links to Chatteris in the Cambridgeshire Fens.

Not only was she the queen of the British Iceni tribe, but she led a major revolt against the Roman empire during the Roman’s conquest of Britain. Boudicca was married to Prasutagus, and the couple shared two daughters.

Prasutagus ruled as an independent ally of Rome and in his will, he left his kingdom to his daughters and the Roman empire. When Prasutagus died, his wishes were ignored and the kingdom was seized by the Romans.

In rebellion, Boudicca gathered together over 120,000 soldiers and led a revolt against the empire. This revolt took place throughout England.

Boudicca’s army famously burnt down Camulodunum (Colchester in Essex), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans). Around 70,000 to 80,000 Romans and Britons were killed by Boudicca’s army.

However, Boudicca’s army fell to defeat after a battle that is believed to have taken place in the West Midlands. This resulted in Boudicca’s death.

Although most of the battle took place elsewhere, it crossed parts of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. This was before county borders existed, but remnants of the Icenic tribe are still present in Cambridgeshire today.

More notably, in Chatteris. The market town is believed to contain Brittonic elements. These are in the form of Celtic names, which suggest original Britons may have settled in Chatteris.

With Chatteris being nearly Ely, it would have also been within the boundaries of the Iceni tribe. It’s even possible that Boudicca may have journeyed through Chatteris, as well as men from the areas that travelled to join her revolt.

Another strong link that the town and county has to the Iceni tribe is that after the battle defeat, the descendants of those who fought are believed to have survived the longest in the Fens. In 2015, Chatteris Museum held an exhibition dedicated to Boudicca.

Some residents are unable to shower or do daily chores due to a lack of water.

Thousands are still facing water problems as a result of a “complicated” pipe repair. People in Chatteris continue to be left with “very low” water pressure as a result of damage to a pipe in the water supply.

Anglian Water previously told CambridgeshireLive around 2,700 residents were affected. Residents have been experiencing problems since January 29. These were due to be fixed on February 1.

However, they have now been told the issue is not expected to be resolved until 5.30pm on Friday (February 13). Demi Scott, who previously told CambridgeshireLive she was unable to work as a result of the lower pressure, is still experiencing problems.

She said: “There is not enough water to clean the house such as clothes washes, dishwater or hand washing.” She and her family are also unable to shower.

Demi added: “We are behind on daily house work. There is no shower water available for us to shower and I am worried about work and not having water.”

Lawrence Weetman said water pressure has been “noticeably lower than usual”.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said it apologises for people still experiencing problems.

The spokesperson added: “These problems are all knock-on issues from a third party contractor damaging one of our large diameter water mains on January 29. The damaged pipe helped supply the Chatteris area, so while it’s out of action while we repair it, we’re having to take water from other parts of the surrounding network to keep everyone on water.

“On a couple of occasions our pumps, which help to push water around the network, have struggled to cope with the amount of water coming through the smaller pipes and they’ve tripped. While our teams were able to get the pumps back online within three hours on both occasions, to reduce the chances of it happening again, we’ve made some adjustments and popped additional monitors around our network so we can keep a close eye on what’s happening.”

The spokesperson said the repair is more “complicated” than expected. They added: “Our priority is always keeping our people safe, and to get this work done our teams not only need additional equipment but also to work under much stricter health and safety rules. This means it’s taking longer than usual to do our work.”

Anglian Water has received requests from people for bottled water during the last two disruptions. A spokesperson added: “While we know it’s really frustrating for your water supply to keep being affected like this, it’s important for you to know that we don’t routinely provide alternative water supplies unless there’s an interruption lasting 12 hours or more.”