Fulbourn Fen is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

east of

Fulbourn Fulbourn is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, with evidence of settlement dating back to Neolithic times. The village was probably established under its current name by 1200. The waterfowl-frequented stream after which it was named lies i ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. It is privately owned and managed by the

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering . It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshi ...

. There are ancient meadows on

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

loam and peat which have never been intensively farmed, so they have a rich diversity of flora and fauna. Herbs in drier areas include cowslip and

salad burnet ''Sanguisorba minor'', the salad burnet, garden burnet, small burnet, burnet (also used for ''Sanguisorba'' generally), pimpernelle, Toper's plant, and burnet-bloodwort, is an edible perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae. It has fe ...

, while wetter areas have tall fen vegetation. There is access by a track from Stonebridge Lane. There are eight separately named woods in Fulbourn Fen: # The Cringles - north & north-east # Moat Wood - north-west # Thackets Wood - west # Ansett's Wood - south-west # Old Orchard - south # Hancock's Wood - central # Widow's Wood - south-east # Old Orchard - south and five separate meadows: # Ox Meadow - west # Moat Meadow - north-west - the site of the remains of

Zouches Manor Zouches Manor (also Zouches Castle) was an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon moated manor in Fulbourn Fen, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the village of Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, England. It is one of the historic Fulbourn#Five Manors of Fulbo ...

# Long Fen Pasture - central # East Fen Pasture - east # Four Acre - south-east

Zouches Manor

It contains the moated remains of a Saxon manor known as

and then

Dunmowes Manor Zouches Manor (also Zouches Castle) was an Anglo-Saxon moated manor in Fulbourn Fen, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the village of Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, England. It is one of the historic Five Manors of Fulbourn and recorded to h ...

. It was one of the Five Manors of Fulbourn and was built by Alan la Zouche, Earl of Brittany (the same family that held

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire ...

in Leicestershire).

References

{{Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cambridgeshire

Fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...