Grunty Fen was a former parish in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a 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 Northamptonshire to the ...

, England, four miles south west of Ely. It was amalgamated with

Wilburton Wilburton is a small village of just over 1,000 inhabitants, situated in Cambridgeshire, England. It is 6 miles south west of Ely. While nominally an agricultural village, many of the inhabitants work in Cambridge, Ely or London. History Wil ...

parish in 1933.

History

Grunty Fen consists of the low-lying land at the centre of the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures th ...

that separates the villages of

and

Stretham Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam-powered pump used to drain ...

from

Witchford Witchford is a village and civil parish about west of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,385. History Anglo-Saxon cemetery When the site of RAF Witchford was being cleared a bulldozer drive ...

and

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

; the area lies at under 5 metres above sea-level. Despite the importance of nearby Ely, the land around Grunty Fen was uninhabitable even following the draining of

The Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...

in the seventeenth century, and was still only used for sheep grazing and turf cutting through the eighteenth century. One of the last parts of The Fens to be drained, a

catchwater drain A catchwater drain is a land drain, a ditch cut across the fall of the land, typically just above the level of low-lying, level ground such as The Fens of eastern England, where some land, tens of kilometres from the sea is at about sea level. Its ...

was dug in 1838, though it took another couple of decades for the land to become completely dry. Following enclosure the land was farmed, but the thin peaty soil soon eroded and by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the area was largely uncultivated once more. There are now several working farms covering the fen. The parish of Grunty Fen was situated in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of South Witchford and covered an area of 1793 acres. At one stage the parish was considered extra-parochial, with the area divided between the parishes of Ely, Witchford,

, Haddenham, Wilburton,

, and

Little Thetford Little Thetford is a small village in the civil parish of Thetford, south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of sett ...

. In 1921 its population was only 97, and in 1933 the parish was merged with that of neighbouring Wilburton.Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire, 1929 The

Ely and St Ives Railway The Ely and St Ives Railway was a railway company that opened a line between those places (in Cambridgeshire, England) in 1878. It was an extension of the privately promoted Ely, Haddenham & Sutton Railway that had opened in 1866. It was a stand ...

crossed the area and was jokingly called the "Grunty Fen Express". The former railway stations of

and

that opened in 1866 both fell within the parish, closing to passenger traffic in 1931 and closing completely in July 1964. The area made national headlines when Isle of Ely MP

Clement Freud Sir Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 1924 – 15 April 2009) was a German-born British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as ...

asked the Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

whether she had plans to visit Grunty Fen where residents were concerned about the level of wage settlements. Thatcher replied that the 97 residents were a happy, agricultural community with a low rate of unemployment. Clement Freud used to race a horse called Grunty Fen.

Popular culture

From the late 1980s

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cambridgeshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at the Cambridge Business Park on Cowley Road in Cambridge. According to ...

broadcast a weekly slot featuring Dennis of Grunty Fen, "Britain's favourite vocal yokel", a fictional character who lives in a converted railway carriage with his 92-year-old grandmother. Despite the death of the creator, Pete Sayers, in 2005, the character's popularity continues. An annual race known as the Grunty Fen Half Marathon has been run annually since 1991. The race starts and ends at Witchford Village College.

References

{{East Cambridgeshire Landforms of Cambridgeshire Hamlets in Cambridgeshire Fens of England East Cambridgeshire District