The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
y 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 system of
drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditio ...
channels and man-made rivers ( dykes and drains) and automated
pumping stations
Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, ...
. There have been unintended consequences to this reclamation, as the land level has continued to sink and the dykes have been built higher to protect it from flooding.
Fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, 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 ...
is the local term for an individual area of
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
land or former marshland. It also designates the type of marsh typical of the area, which has
neutral
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
or
alkali
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...
ne water and relatively large quantities of dissolved
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...
s, but few other
plant nutrient
Plant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements and compounds necessary for plant growth and reproduction, plant metabolism and their external supply. In its absence the plant is unable to complete a normal life cycle, or that the element i ...
s.
The Fens are a National Character Area, based on their landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity and economic activity.
The Fens lie inland of
the Wash
The Wash is a rectangular bay and multiple estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire and both border the North Sea. One of Britain's broadest estuaries, it is fed by the riv ...
, and are an area of nearly in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
,
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 ...
, and
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
.
Most of the Fens lie within a few metres of
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
. As with similar areas in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, much of the Fenland originally consisted of fresh- or salt-water wetlands. These have been artificially drained and continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps. With the support of this drainage system, the Fenland has become a major arable agricultural region for grains and vegetables. The Fens are particularly fertile, containing around half of the grade 1 agricultural land in England.
The Fens have been referred to as the "Holy Land of the English" because of the former monasteries, now churches and
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
s, of
Crowland
Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. la, Croilandia) is a town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
,
Ramsey
Ramsey may refer to:
Geography British Isles
* Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England
* Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England
** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey"
* Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...
and Thorney. Other significant settlements in the Fens include
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Downham Market
Downham Market, sometimes simply referred to as Downham, is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It lies on the edge of the Fens, on the River Great Ouse, approximately 11 miles south of King's Lynn, 39 miles west of Norwich and 30 ...
,
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
.
Background: historical flooding and drainage
The Fens are very low-lying compared with the
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
and
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
uplands that surround them – in most places no more than above sea level. As a result of drainage and the subsequent shrinkage of the
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
fens, many parts of the Fens now lie below
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
. Although one writer in the 17th century described the Fenland as entirely above sea level (in contrast to the Netherlands), the area now includes the lowest land in the United Kingdom.
Holme Fen
Holme Fen is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Holme in Cambridgeshire. It is also a National Nature Reserve and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is part of the Great Fen project, which aims to create a 3,700 we ...
in Cambridgeshire, is around below sea level. Within the Fens are a few hills, which have historically been called "islands", as they remained dry when the low-lying fens around them were flooded. The largest of the fen-islands was the 23-square-mile (60 km2) Kimmeridge Clay island, on which the cathedral city of Ely was built: its highest point is above mean sea level.
Without artificial drainage and flood protection, the Fens would be liable to periodic flooding, particularly in winter due to the heavy load of water flowing down from the uplands and overflowing the rivers. Some areas of the Fens were once permanently flooded, creating lakes or '' meres'', while others were flooded only during periods of high water. In the pre-modern period,
arable farming
Arable land (from the la, wikt:arabilis#Latin, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Al ...
was limited to the higher areas of the surrounding uplands, the fen islands, and the so-called "Townlands", an arch of
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
ground around
the Wash
The Wash is a rectangular bay and multiple estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire and both border the North Sea. One of Britain's broadest estuaries, it is fed by the riv ...
, where the towns had their arable fields. Though these lands were lower than the peat fens before the peat shrinkage began, the more stable
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
soils were reclaimed by medieval farmers and embanked against any floods coming down from the peat areas or from the sea. The rest of the Fenland was dedicated to
pastoral farming
Pastoral farming (also known in some regions as ranching, livestock farming or grazing) is aimed at producing livestock, rather than growing crops. Examples include dairy farming, raising beef cattle, and raising sheep for wool. In contrast ...
, fishing,
fowling
Fowling is the hunting of birds by humans, for food ( meat), feathers or any other commercially value products, or simply for leisure (" sporting") or collecting trophies. It is comparable to wildfowling, the practice of hunting waterfowl ...
, and the harvesting of reeds or sedge for thatch. In this way, the medieval and early modern Fens stood in contrast to the rest of England, which was primarily an arable agricultural region.
Since the advent of modern drainage in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Fens have been radically transformed. Today arable farming has almost entirely replaced pastoral. The economy of the Fens is heavily invested in the production of crops such as grains, vegetables, and some cash crops such as
rapeseed
Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...
and
canola
Close-up of canola blooms
Canola flower
Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, ...
.
Drainage in the Fenland consists of both river drainage and internal drainage of the land between the rivers. The internal drainage was organised by ''levels'' or districts, each of which includes the fen parts of one or several parishes. The details of the organisation vary with the history of their development, but the areas include:
* The Great Level of the Fens is the largest region of fen in eastern England: including the lower drainage basins of the
River Nene
The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...
and the
Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...
, it covers about . It is also known as the Bedford Level, after
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC (1587 – 9 May 1641) was an English nobleman and politician. He built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect. He is also known fo ...
, who headed the so-called adventurers (investors) in the 17th-century drainage in this area; his son became the first governor of the
Bedford Level Corporation
The Bedford Level Corporation (or alternatively the Corporation of the Bedford Level) was founded in England in 1663 to manage the draining of the Fens of East Central England. It formalised the legal status of the Company of Adventurers previously ...
. In the 17th century, the Great Level was divided into the North, Middle and South Levels for the purposes of administration and maintenance. In the 20th century, these levels were given new boundaries; they included some fens that were never part of the jurisdiction of the Bedford Level Corporation.
**The South Level lies to the southeast of the
Ouse Washes
Ouse Washes is a linear biological Site of Special Scientific Interest stretching from near St Ives in Cambridgeshire to Downham Market in Norfolk. It is also a Ramsar internationally important wetland site, a Special Protection Area for bird ...
and surrounds Ely, as it did in the 17th century.
**The Middle Level lies between the Ouse Washes and the Nene, but historically was defined as between the Ouse Washes and Morton's Leam, a 15th-century canal that runs north of the town of
Whittlesey
Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. Whittlesey is east of Peterborough. The population of the parish was 16,058 at the 2011 Census.
History and architecture
W ...
.
**The North Level now includes all of the fens in Cambridgeshire and
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
between the Nene and the
River Welland
The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market ...
. It originally included only a small part of these lands, including the ancient parishes of Thorney and
Crowland
Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. la, Croilandia) is a town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...
, but excluding most of Wisbech Hundred and Lincolnshire, which were under their own local jurisdictions.
*
Deeping Fen
Deeping Fen is a low-lying area in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England, which covers approximately . It is bounded by the River Welland and the River Glen, and is extensively drained, but the efficient drainage of the land exerc ...
, in the southern part of Lincolnshire, lies between the River Welland and the River Glen with its tributary the
Bourne Eau
Bourne Eau is a short river which rises from an artesian spring in the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, England, and flows in an easterly direction to join the River Glen at Tongue End. Within the town, it once powered three water mills, one of w ...
.
* The
Black Sluice
The Black Sluice is the name given to the structure that controls the flow of the South Forty-Foot Drain into The Haven, at Boston, Lincolnshire, England.
History and ownership
The original Black Sluice was probably the Skirbeck Sluice where ...
District, much of which was known as the Lindsey Level when it was first drained in 1639, extends from the Glen and Bourne Eau to Swineshead. Its water is carried through to the Haven at
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
The above were all redrained at one time or another after the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
(1642-1649).
* The Witham Commission Fens:
**
First District
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
Holland Fen
Holland Fen is a settlement in the Borough of Boston (borough), Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately north-west of the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and less than west of the River Witham.
History
Holland Fen ha ...
River Witham
The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...
above
Bardney
Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...
** Fourth District: East, West and Wildmore Fens and the Townland from Boston to Wainfleet
**Fifth District: Kyme Eau to Billinghay Skirth
**Sixth District: Blacksluice – Helpringham Eau to Kyme Eau
These were drained in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Formation and geography
At the end of the most recent
glacial period
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...
, known in Britain as the Devensian, ten thousand years ago, Britain and continental Europe were joined by the ridge between
Friesland
Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
and
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
. The topography of the bed of the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
indicates that the rivers of the southern part of eastern England flowed into the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. From the Fens northward along the modern coast, the drainage flowed into the northern North Sea basin. As the ice melted, the rising sea level drowned the lower lands, leading ultimately to the present coastline.David Hall and John Coles, "Fenland Survey. An essay in landscape and persistence", ''Archeological Report'' 1. English Heritage, 1994.
These rising sea levels flooded the previously inland woodland of the Fenland basin; over the next few thousand years both saltwater and freshwater wetlands developed as a result. Silt and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
soils were deposited by marine floods in the saltwater areas and along the beds of tidal rivers, while organic soils, or peats, developed in the freshwater marshes. Fenland water levels peaked in the Iron Age; earlier Bronze and Neolithic settlements were covered by peat deposits, and have only recently been found after periods of extensive droughts revealed them. During the Roman period, water levels fell once again. Settlements developed on the new silt soils deposited near the coast. Though water levels rose once again in the early medieval period, by this time artificial banks protected the coastal settlements and the interior from further deposits of marine silts. Peats continued to develop in the freshwater wetlands of the interior fens.
The wetlands of the fens have historically included:
*
Wash
WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievin ...
es: these are places such as tidal
mud flat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s and braided rivers, which are sometimes exposed and at other times covered with water.
*
Salt marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...
: this is the higher part of a tidal wash, on which salt-adapted plants grew.
*
Fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, 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 ...
: this is a broad expanse of nutrient-rich shallow water in which dead plants do not fully decay, resulting in a flora of emergent plants growing in saturated peat.
*
Moor
Moor or Moors may refer to:
Nature and ecology
* Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils.
Ethnic and religious groups
* Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...
: this developed where the peat grew above the reach of the land water which carried the nutrients to the fen. Its development was enabled where the fen was watered directly by rainfall. The slightly acidic rain washed the hydroxide ions out of the peat, making it more suitable for acid-loving plants, notably ''
Sphagnum
''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...
'' species. This is the same as bog, but the word ''moor'' was applied to this acid peatland occurring on hills. These moors disappeared in the 19th century. Researchers did not think that the Fenland had this kind of peat, until the discovery of archaeological and documentary evidence showing that it did until the early 19th century.
*Waters: these have included:
** tidal creeks, which reached from the sea into the marsh, the Townlands and in some places, the fen. They were named only if big enough to be regarded as havens
** meres, or shallow lakes, which were more or less static but aerated by wind action
** many rivers, both natural and (from Roman times on) artificial
Major areas for settlement were:
*''Townlands'', a broad bank of silt (the remains of the huge creek
levee
A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...
s that developed naturally during the Bronze and Iron Ages), on which the settlers built homes and grew vegetables for households
*''fen islands'': areas of higher land, which were never covered by the growing peat
*''fen edges'': uplands surrounding the fens
In general, of the three principal soil types found in the Fenland today, the mineral-based silt resulted from the energetic marine environment of the creeks, the clay was deposited in tidal mud-flats and salt-marsh, while the peat grew in the fen and bog. The peat produces black soils, which are directly comparable to the American muck soils. A
roddon
A roddon, also written as rodham, roddam or rodden, is the dried raised bed of a watercourse such as a river or tidal-creek, especially in The Fens in eastern England. Such raised silt and clay-filled beds are ideal for settlement in the less f ...
, the dried raised bed of a watercourse, is more suitable for building than the less stable peat.
Since the 19th century, all of the acid peat in the Fens has disappeared. Drying and wastage of peats has greatly reduced the depth of the alkaline peat soils and reduced the overall elevation of large areas of the peat fens. It is also recorded that peat was dug out of the East and West Lincolnshire fens in the 14th century and used to fire the salterns of Wrangle and Friskney. In later centuries it was used locally for winter fuel and its digging controlled by the
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of a portfolio of lands, properti ...
.
Written records of earthquakes in the Fen area appear as early as 1048. According to ''Historia Ingulfi,'' p. 64, (1684) this took place in Lincolnshire. In 1117 one affected Holland, Lincs, "endangering and injuring
Crowland Abbey
Crowland Abbey (also spelled Croyland Abbey, Latin: ''Croilandia'') is a Church of England parish church, formerly part of a Benedictine abbey church, in Crowland in the English county of Lincolnshire. It is a Grade I listed building.
History
A ...
". In 1185 Lincoln was damaged. In 1448 a shock was recorded in south Lincolnshire (''Ingulfi,'' p. 526). In 1750 John Moore records a severe shock attended by a rumbling noise in Bourn after midday. This was felt in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. Houses tottered, slates, tiles and some chimneys fell. As it was a Sunday, some people ran out of the churches "in great consternation". In 1792 another shock was also felt in Bourne and neighbouring towns.
History
Pre-Roman settlement
There is evidence of human settlement near the Fens from the
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
on. The evidence suggests that Mesolithic settlement in Cambridgeshire was particularly along the fen edges and on the low islands within the fens, to take advantage of the hunting and fishing opportunities of the wetlands. Internationally important sites include
Flag Fen
Flag Fen, east of Peterborough, Pryor 2005. p. 9. England, is a Bronze Age site which was constructed about 3500 years ago and consists of more than 60,000 timbers arranged in five very long rows, creating a wooden causeway (around 1 km lo ...
and
Must Farm
Part of a Bronze Age settlement was uncovered at Must Farm quarry, at Whittlesey, near Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, England. The site has been described as "Britain's Pompeii" due to its relatively good condition, including the "best-preser ...
Fen Causeway
Fen Causeway or the Fen Road is the modern name for a Roman road of England that runs between Denver, Norfolk in the east and Peterborough in the west.Phillips, C.W. ''The Fenland in Roman Times''. Royal Geographical Society (1970). Its path ...
, a road across the Fens to link what later became
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
with what later became central England; it runs between
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
and
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
. They also linked
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and Ely. Generally, their road system avoided the Fens, except for minor roads designed for exporting the products of the region, especially salt, beef and leather. Sheep were probably raised on the higher ground of the Townlands and fen islands, then as in the early 19th century. There may have been some drainage efforts during the Roman period, including the
Car Dyke
The Car Dyke was, and to a large extent still is, an long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England. It is generally accepted as being of Roman age and, for many centuries, to have been taken as marking the western ...
along the western edge of the Fenland between Peterborough and Lincolnshire, but most canals were constructed for transportation.
How far seaward the Roman settlement extended is unclear owing to the deposits laid down above them during later floods.
Early post-Roman settlements
The early post-Roman settlements were made on the
Townlands
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...
. It is clear that there was some prosperity there, particularly where rivers permitted access to the upland beyond the fen. Such places were
Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
, Spalding, Swineshead and Boston. All the Townlands parishes were laid out as elongated strips, to provide access to the products of fen, marsh and sea. On the fen edge, parishes are similarly elongated to provide access to both upland and fen. The townships are therefore often nearer to each other than they are to the distant farms in their own parishes.
Early Middle Ages and Middle Ages
After the end of Roman Britain, there is a break in written records. It is thought that some
Iceni
The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...
may have moved west into the Fens to avoid the
Angles
The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ...
, who were migrating across the North Sea from
Angeln
Anglia (German and Low German: ''Angeln''; Danish and South Jutlandic: ''Angel''; ang, Engla land) is a small peninsula on the eastern coast of Jutland (the Cimbric Peninsula). Jutland consists of the mainland of Denmark and the northernm ...
(modern
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
) and settling what would become
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
. Surrounded by water and marshes, the Fens provided a safe area that was easily defended and not particularly desirable to invading
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
.
It has been proposed that the names of
West Walton
West Walton is a village and civil parish in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk District of Norfolk, England.
The parish of West Walton, in the 2001 Census, had a population of 1,659, increasing to 1,731 at the 2011 Census.
History
The name Wes ...
,
Walsoken
Walsoken is a settlement and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is conjoined as a suburb at the northeast of the town of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire.
The parish of Walsoken in the 2001 census, had a population of 1,484 rising slig ...
and Walpole suggest the native British population, with the ''Wal-'' coming from the Old English ''walh'', meaning "foreigner". However, the villages are in close proximity to the old Roman sea wall, so the ''wal-'' element is more probably from ''wal'' or ''weal'', meaning "wall". ''Walton'' is generally believed to mean "wall-town",''A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place-names'', by James Rye: Dereham, Norfolk: Larks Press, 2000; ''Walsoken'' to mean "the district under particular jurisdiction by the wall", and ''Walpole'' to mean simply "wall-pole" (Old English ''wal'' and ''pal'').
When written records resume in Anglo-Saxon England, the names of a number of peoples of the Fens are recorded in the
Tribal Hidage
Image:Tribal Hidage 2.svg, 400px, alt=insert description of map here, The tribes of the Tribal Hidage. Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name.
rect 275 75 375 100 w:Elmet
rect 375 100 450 150 w:Hatfield Ch ...
and Christian histories. They include North Gyrwe (Peterborough and Crowland), South Gyrwe (Ely), the Spalda (Spalding), and Bilmingas (part of south Lincolnshire).
In the early Christian period of Anglo-Saxon England, a number of Christians sought the isolation that could be found in the wilderness of the Fens. Later classified as saints, often with close royal links, they include
Guthlac
Saint Guthlac of Crowland ( ang, Gūðlāc; la, Guthlacus; 674 – 3 April 714 CE) was a Christian hermit and saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England.
Life
Guthlac was the son of Penwalh ...
Pega
Pega (c. 673 – c. 719) is a Christian saint who was an anchoress in the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and the sister of St Guthlac.
Life
The earliest source of information about Pega is in Felix's 8th-century Latin ''Life of Guthlac ...
, and
Wendreda
Wendreda, also known as Wendreth, was an Anglo-Saxon nun, healer, and saint, perhaps of the 7th century. She was uncertainly reported as a daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, a Christian king, which would make her a sister of Etheldreda, ab ...
. Hermitages on the islands became centres of communities which later developed as monasteries with massive estates. In the '' Life of Saint Guthlac'', a biography of the East Anglian
hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
who lived in the Fens during the early 8th century, Saint Guthlac was described as attacked on several occasions by people he believed were
Britons
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...
, who were then living in the Fens. However, Bertram Colgrave, in the introduction to one edition, doubts this account, because of the lack of evidence of British survival in the region. British place names in the area are "very few".
Monastic life was disrupted by Danish (Anglo-Saxon) raids and centuries of settlement from the 6th century but was revived in the mid-10th-century monastic revival. In the 11th century, the whole area was incorporated into a united
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
. The Fens remained a place of refuge and intrigue. It was here that
Alfred Aetheling
Ælfred Æþeling (English: ''Alfred the Noble'') ( 1012–1036), was one of the eight sons of the English king Æthelred the Unready. He and his brother Edward the Confessor were sons of Æthelred's second wife Emma of Normandy. King Canute ...
was brought to be murdered and here where
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake (Traditional pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/, modern pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɪ.wəd/) (1035 – 1072) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resista ...
based his insurgency against
Norman England
England in the High Middle Ages includes the history of England between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the death of King John, considered by some to be the last of the Angevin kings of England, in 1216. A disputed succession and victory at the ...
.
Fenland monastic houses include the so-called ''Fen Five'' ( Ely Cathedral Priory,
Thorney Abbey
Thorney Abbey, now the Church of St Mary and St Botolph, was a medieval monastic house established on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England.
History
The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermita ...
Peterborough Abbey
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Pau ...
) as well as
Spalding Priory
Spalding Priory was a small Benedictine house in the town of Spalding, Lincolnshire, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and St Nicholas.
It was founded as a cell of Croyland Abbey, in 1052, by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife, Godiva, Count ...
. As major landowners, the monasteries played a significant part in the early efforts at drainage of the Fens.
Royal Forest
During most of the 12th century and the early 13th century, the south Lincolnshire fens were afforested. The area was enclosed by a line from Spalding, along the River Welland to
Market Deeping
Market Deeping is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 6,008.
History
The town's mar ...
, then along the Car Dyke to
Dowsby
Dowsby is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the western edge of The Fens at the junction of the east–west B1397 road and the north–south B1177. It is north-east from ...
and across the fens to the Welland. It was deforested in the early 13th century. There is little agreement as to the exact dates of the establishment and demise of the forest, but it seems likely that the deforestation was connected with the
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
or one of its early 13th-century restatements, though it may have been as late as 1240. The forest would have affected the economies of the townships around it and it appears that the present
Bourne Eau
Bourne Eau is a short river which rises from an artesian spring in the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, England, and flows in an easterly direction to join the River Glen at Tongue End. Within the town, it once powered three water mills, one of w ...
was constructed at the time of the
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
, as the town seems to have joined in the general prosperity by about 1280.
Though the forest was about half in Holland (Lincolnshire) and half in
Kesteven
The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland.
Etymology
Th ...
, it is known as Kesteven Forest.
Draining the Fens
Early modern attempts to drain the Fens
Though some signs of Roman hydraulics survive, and there were also some medieval drainage works, land drainage was begun in earnest during the 1630s by the various investors who had contracts with King Charles I to do so. The leader of one of these syndicates was the Earl of Bedford, who employed
Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Vermuyden ( Sint-Maartensdijk, 1595 – London, 11 October 1677) was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch land reclamation methods to England. Vermuyden was
commissioned by the Crown to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholm ...
as engineer. Contrary to popular belief, Vermuyden was not involved with the draining of the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in the 1630s, but only became involved with the second phase of construction in the 1650s. The scheme was imposed despite huge opposition from locals who were losing their livelihoods based on fishing and wildfowling. Fenmen known as the Fen Tigers tried to sabotage the drainage efforts.
Two cuts were made in the Cambridgeshire Fens to join the River Great Ouse to the sea at King's Lynn – the
Old Bedford River
The Old Bedford River is an artificial, partial diversion of the waters of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the fourth Earl of Bedford who contracted with the local Commission of Sewers to drain ...
and the
New Bedford River
The New Bedford River, also known as the Hundred Foot Drain because of the distance between the tops of the two embankments on either side of the river, is a navigable man-made cut-off or by-pass channel of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of C ...
, the latter being known also as the ''Hundred Foot Drain''. Both cuts were named after the Fourth Earl of Bedford who, along with some ''gentlemen adventurers'' (
venture capitalist
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
s), funded the construction and were rewarded with large grants of the resulting farmland. The work was directed by engineers from the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. Following this initial drainage, the Fens were still extremely susceptible to flooding, so
windpump
A windpump is a type of windmill which is used for pumping water.
Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The use of wind pumps became widespread across the Muslim world an ...
s were used to pump water away from affected areas. The Company of Adventurers were more formally incorporated in 1663 as the
Bedford Level Corporation
The Bedford Level Corporation (or alternatively the Corporation of the Bedford Level) was founded in England in 1663 to manage the draining of the Fens of East Central England. It formalised the legal status of the Company of Adventurers previously ...
.
However, their success was short-lived. Once drained of water, the peat shrank, and the fields lowered further. The more effectively they were drained, the worse the problem became, and soon the fields were lower than the surrounding rivers. By the end of the 17th century, the land was under water once again.
Though the three Bedford Levels together formed the biggest scheme, they were not the only ones. Lord Lindsey and his partner Sir William Killigrew had the Lindsey Level inhabited by farmers by 1638, but the onset of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
permitted the destruction of the works until the 1765
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
that led to the formation of the Black Sluice Commissioners.
Many original records of the Bedford Level Corporation, including maps of the Levels, are now held by
Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies
Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies Service (CALS) is a UK local government institution which collects and preserves archives, other historical documents and printed material relating to the modern county of Cambridgeshire, which includes th ...
Service at the County Record Office in Cambridge.
Modern drainage
The major part of the draining of the Fens was effected in the late 18th and early 19th century, again involving fierce local rioting and sabotage of the works. The final success came in the 1820s when windpumps were replaced with powerful coal-powered steam engines, such as
Stretham Old Engine
Stretham Old Engine is a steam-powered engine just south of Stretham in Cambridgeshire, England, that was used to pump water from flood-affected areas of The Fens back into the River Great Ouse. It is one of only three surviving drainage engines ...
, which were themselves replaced with diesel-powered pumps, such as those at
Prickwillow Museum
Prickwillow Museum, formerly known as the Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum, tells the story of the changing face of the Fens and its network of drainage systems and pumping stations. The museum is housed in the old pumping station in Prickwil ...
and, following
World War II
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 opposin ...
, the small electric stations that are still used today.
The dead vegetation of the peat remained undecayed because it was deprived of air (the peat being anaerobic). When it was drained, the oxygen of the air reached it, since then the peat has been slowly oxidizing. This, together with the shrinkage on its initial drying and the removal of soil by the wind, has meant that much of the Fens lies below high tide level. As the highest parts of the drained fen are now only a few metres above mean sea level, only sizeable
embankment
Embankment may refer to:
Geology and geography
* A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea
* Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...
s of the rivers, and general flood defences, stop the land from being inundated. Nonetheless, these works are now much more effective than they were.
The Fens today are protected by of embankments defending against the sea and of river embankments. Eleven
internal drainage board
An internal drainage board (IDB) is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management with ...
(IDB) groups maintain 286 pumping stations and of watercourses, with the combined capacity to pump 16,500
Olympic-size swimming pool
An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...
s in a 24-hour period or to empty
Rutland Water
Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England, east of Rutland's county town, Oakham. It is filled by pumping from the River Nene and River Welland, and provides water to the East Midlands. By surface area it is the largest reservoir in En ...
in 3 days.
Modern farming and food manufacturing in the Fens
As of 2008, there are estimated to be 4,000 farms in the Fens involved in agriculture and horticulture, including arable, livestock, poultry, dairy, orchards, vegetables and ornamental plants and flowers. They employ about 27,000 people in full-time and seasonal jobs. In turn, they support around 250 businesses involved in food and drink manufacturing and distribution, employing around 17,500 people.
Over 70% of the Fens is involved in environmental stewardship schemes, under which of hedgerow and of ditches are managed, providing large wildlife corridors and habitat for endangered animals such as the water vole.
Restoration
In 2003, the Great Fen Project was initiated to return parts of the Fens to their original pre-agricultural state. The periodic flooding by the North Sea, which renewed the character of the Fenlands, was characterised conventionally by the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as "ravaged by serious inundations of the sea". The modern approach is to allow a little farmland to be flooded again and turned into
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
s. By introducing fresh water, the organisers of the project hope to encourage species such as the
snipe
A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. The ''Gallinago'' snipes have a ...
,
lapwing
Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...
and
bittern
Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern ...
. Endangered species such as the fen violet will be seeded.
The
Fens Waterways Link
The Fens Waterways Link is a project to improve recreational boating opportunities in the counties of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, England. By a combination of improvements to existing waterways and the construction of new links a circular ...
is a scheme to restore navigation to some of the drainage works. It is planned to bring the
South Forty-Foot Drain
The South Forty-Foot Drain, also known as the Black Sluice Navigation, is the main channel for the land-drainage of the Black Sluice Level in the Lincolnshire Fens. It lies in eastern England between Guthram Gowt and the Black Sluice pumping ...
and parts of the Car Dyke into use as part of a route between Boston and Cambridge.
speed skating oval A speed skating rink (or speed skating oval) is an ice rink in which a speed skating competition is held.
The rink
A standard long track speed skating track is, according to the regulations of the International Skating Union (ISU), a double-laned t ...
.
Settlements
Many historic cities, towns and villages have grown up in the fens, sited chiefly on the few areas of raised ground. These include:
*
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, port and administrative centre of the
Borough of Boston
The Borough of Boston is a local government district with borough status in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Boston. The borough covers a wider area that includes villages such as Wyberton, Butterwick, Kirton-in-Holl ...
*
Chatteris
Chatteris is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency.
The parish of C ...
, a market town
* City of Ely (meaning "Isle of Eels"), whose
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
– one of the Fen Five monasteries – is known as the "Ship of the Fens"; administrative centre of the
East Cambridgeshire District Council
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
*
Cottenham
Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...
, one of the five
Silicon Fen
Silicon Fen (also known as the Cambridge Cluster) is the name given to the region around Cambridge, England, which is home to a large business cluster, cluster of high-tech businesses focusing on software, electronics and biotechnology, s ...
-Edge Villages strung out along the Fens' southernmost border, just north of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
in
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 ...
Rampton Rampton may refer to:
People
*Cal Rampton (1913–2007), U.S. politician
* George Rampton (1888–1971), English footballer
*Richard Rampton (born 1941), British lawyer
*Sheldon Rampton (born 1957), U.S. political writer
* Lucybeth Rampton (1914 ...
,
Cottenham
Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...
,
Landbeach
Landbeach is a small fen-edge English village about three miles (5 km) north of Cambridge. The parish covers an area of .
History
The fen edge north of Cambridge was well populated in Roman times, and the village's situation on a Roman roa ...
and
Waterbeach
Waterbeach is an expanding village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018.
History Early periods
Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Ro ...
;
*
Crowland
Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. la, Croilandia) is a town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...
, one of the Fen Five monasteries; also a medieval triangular bridge;
* Donington, birthplace of the explorer Matthew Flinders
*
Guyhirn
Guyhirn (sometimes spelled Guyhirne) is a village near the town of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, England. It is on the northern bank of the River Nene, at the junction of the A141 with the A47. The population is included in the civil parish of Wi ...
, bridging point over the Nene and home to a 17th-century Puritan chapel
*
Holbeach
Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the ...
, a market town
* Littleport, a large village approximately north of Ely
*
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 ...
, settled on a
boulder clay
Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...
island within the fens since the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, south of Ely
* Long Sutton, a market town and home to UK's largest food cannery
*
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
, a market town and administrative centre of the
Fenland District
Fenland is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. It was historically part of the Isle of Ely and borders the city of Peterborough to the northwest, Huntingdonshire to the west, and East Cambridgeshire to the southeast. It al ...
*
Market Deeping
Market Deeping is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 6,008.
History
The town's mar ...
, a market town
* Parson Drove, the village was the last location of a mobile
Woad
''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...
mill.
* City of
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, the largest of the many settlements along the fen edge and sometimes called the "Gateway to the Fens"; its
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
is one of the Fen Five monasteries; administrative centre of the Peterborough
Unitary Authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
*
Ramsey
Ramsey may refer to:
Geography British Isles
* Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England
* Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England
** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey"
* Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...
, a market town; one of the Fen Five monasteries
*
Ring's End
Ring's End is a hamlet near Guyhirn in the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. The population is included in the civil parish of Elm in the district of Fenland.
History
Land surrounding Elm including Coldham suffered serious flooding, with ...
named after an early drainage project.
*
Soham
Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census.
History Archaeology
The region between De ...
, a market town.
* Spalding, a market town, administrative centre of South Holland, and famed for its annual Flower Parade held from 1959 to 2013.
* Thorney, one of the Fen Five monasteries; later model village and agricultural estates of the
Dukes of Bedford
Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV of England, ...
*
Tydd St Giles
Tydd St Giles is a village in Fenland, Cambridgeshire, England. It is the northernmost village in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire (bordering Lincolnshire), on the same latitude as Midlands towns such as Loughborough, Leicestershire and Shrewsbu ...
a low lying village formerly in the hundred of Wisbech.
*
Tydd St Mary
Tydd St Mary is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England, about east of the town of Spalding and about north of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The Civil Parish includes the village of Tydd Gote which lies p ...
a parish in South Holland, five miles north of Wisbech.
*
Walsoken
Walsoken is a settlement and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is conjoined as a suburb at the northeast of the town of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire.
The parish of Walsoken in the 2001 census, had a population of 1,484 rising slig ...
, formerly in Norfolk, but part of which was merged with Wisbech in the 20th century.
*
Whittlesey
Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. Whittlesey is east of Peterborough. The population of the parish was 16,058 at the 2011 Census.
History and architecture
W ...
, a market town; annual Straw Bear Festival
*
Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
("Capital of the Fens"), a market town and
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
.
Ancient sites include:
*
Flag Fen
Flag Fen, east of Peterborough, Pryor 2005. p. 9. England, is a Bronze Age site which was constructed about 3500 years ago and consists of more than 60,000 timbers arranged in five very long rows, creating a wooden causeway (around 1 km lo ...
, a Bronze Age settlement
*
Must Farm
Part of a Bronze Age settlement was uncovered at Must Farm quarry, at Whittlesey, near Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, England. The site has been described as "Britain's Pompeii" due to its relatively good condition, including the "best-preser ...
, a Bronze Age settlement
* Stonea Camp, an Iron Age hill fort
*
Wisbech Castle
Wisbech Castle was a stone to motte-and-bailey castle built to fortify Wisbech (historically in the Isle of Ely and now also in the Fenland District of Cambridgeshire, England) on the orders of William I in 1072, it probably replaced an earlier ...
, the site of a Norman castle.
* March Sconce, a
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
fieldwork.
In popular culture
Some authors have featured the Fens repeatedly in their work. For example:
* John Gordon, adolescent fiction writer and author of '' The Giant Under The Snow'', drew inspiration for many of his supernatural fantasies from the Fens. His books with Fenland themes include: ''Ride The Wind'', ''Fen Runners'' and ''The House On The Brink'', which was based on
Peckover House
Peckover House & Garden is a National Trust property located in North Brink, Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
History
The house was built in 1722 and later bought by Alfred Southwell. It was bought by Jonathan Peckover at the end o ...
in
Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
.
* Peter F. Hamilton sets a number of his science fiction novels in the Fens, including ''
Mindstar Rising
''Mindstar Rising'' is a science fiction novel by British writer Peter F. Hamilton, published in 1993. It is the first book in the Greg Mandel trilogy. The novel introduces the major characters in the series, most notably Greg and Julia Evans. T ...
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...
set several of his ghost stories in the Fens.
*
Jim Kelly
James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United Stat ...
set ''The Water Clock'', ''The Moon Tunnel'' and ''The Funeral Owl'' in the Fens.
*
Philippa Pearce
Ann Philippa Pearce OBE (22 January 1920 – 21 December 2006) was an English author of children's books. Best known of them is the time-slip novel ''Tom's Midnight Garden'', which won the 1958 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, as ...
, a children's author, set many of her books in the Fens, for example ''
Tom's Midnight Garden
''Tom's Midnight Garden'' is a children's fantasy novel by Philippa Pearce. It was first published in 1958 by Oxford University Press with illustrations by Susan Einzig. It has been reissued in print many times and also adapted for radio, tele ...
''.
*
Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell (21 April 1901 – 27 July 1983) was an English writer best known for her creation of Mrs Bradley, the heroine of 66 detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie. Fê ...
, prolific writer of detective fiction, took her eccentric sleuth, the psychiatrist Mrs Lestrange Bradley, to the Fens in several books, notably ''The Worsted Viper'', ''Wraiths and Changelings'' and ''The Mudflats of the Dead''.
*
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
Nick Warburton
Nick Warburton (born 1947) is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has written stage plays, television and radio scripts for series including ''Doctors'', ''Holby City'' and '' EastEnders''.
Career
Warburton was a primary school teacher f ...
wrote a series of radio plays entitled ''On Mardle Fen'', one of the longest-running series of plays on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
.
* Susanna Gregory's ''Matthew Bartholomew chronicles'' title character is a fictional physician living in 14th-century Cambridge.
*
G. A. Henty
George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) was an English novelist and war correspondent. He is most well-known for his works of adventure fiction and historical fiction, including ''The Dragon & The Raven'' (1886), ''For The ...
's book ''Beric the Briton'' mentions some sections in the Fens.
*
Norah Lofts
Norah Lofts, ''née'' Norah Ethel Robinson, (27 August 190410 September 1983) was a 20th-century British writer. She also wrote under the pen names Peter Curtis and Juliet Astley. She wrote more than fifty books specialising in historical fi ...
features a character called Ethelreda Benedict, who comes from a small island in the Fens in the 17th century, in the second book of her "House" trilogy, ''The House at Old Vine''.
*
Louis L'Amour
Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote hi ...
's ''To The Far Blue Mountains'', the central character Barnabas Sackett from ''Sackett's Land'' returns to his home in the Fens one last time in the opening chapter.
The following fictions, or substantial portions of them, are set in the Fens:
* Joy Ellis: ''D.I. Nikki Galena'' series, ''Jackman and Evans'' series
*
Sabine Baring-Gould
Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 ...
: ''Cheap Jack Zita''
*
Hal Foster
Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...
: ''
Prince Valiant
''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...
''
*
Martha Grimes
Martha Grimes (born May 2, 1931) is an American writer of detective fiction. She is best known for a series featuring Richard Jury, a Scotland Yard inspector, and Melrose Plant, an aristocrat turned amateur sleuth.
Biography
Grimes was born i ...
: ''The Case Has Altered'', set in and around Algarkirk, Lincolnshire
*
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother ...
: ''
A Civil Contract
''A Civil Contract'' is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1961. Set in 1814–1815,See http://www.georgette-heyer.com/chron.html it is also a historical novel and follows the general pattern of storytelling of Heyer' ...
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake (Traditional pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/, modern pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɪ.wəd/) (1035 – 1072) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resista ...
''
*
Louis L'Amour
Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote hi ...
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages.
She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
: ''
The Nine Tailors
''The Nine Tailors'' is a 1934 mystery novel by the British writer Dorothy L. Sayers, her ninth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. The story is set in the Lincolnshire Fens, and revolves around a group of bell-ringers at the local parish church. The b ...
''
*
Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', '' Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many ...
: ''
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'' is a 1999 fantasy novel by American writer Gregory Maguire, retelling the tale of Cinderella through the eyes of one of her "ugly stepsisters." In 2002, the book was adapted into a TV movie of the same name d ...
Waterland
Waterland () is a municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. It is situated north of Amsterdam, on the western shore of the Markermeer. It is well-known for comprising the touristy towns of Broek in Waterland and M ...
'' (made into a film, listed below)
*
Robert Westall
Robert Atkinson Westall (7 October 1929 – 15 April 1993) was an English author and teacher known for fiction aimed at children and young people. Some of the latter cover complex, dark, and adult themes. He has been called "the dean of Brit ...
: ''Futuretrack 5''
*
Eric Flint
Eric Flint (February 6, 1947 – July 17, 2022) was an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works are Alternate history (fiction), alternate history science fiction, but he also wrote humorous fantasy adventures. ...
&
Andrew Dennis
''Ring of Fire'' is the third published book by editor-author-historian Eric Flint of the 1632 series, an alternate history series begun in the novel ''1632'' (February 2000). The ''Ring of Fire'' is both descriptive of the cosmic event as exp ...
: ''1635: A Parcel of Rogues''
*
Philip Pullman
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The ...
Lesley Glaister
Lesley Glaister (born 4 October 1956,) is a British novelist, poet and playwright. She has written 15 novels, ''Blasted Things'' (2020) being the most recent, one play and numerous short stories and radio plays. She is a lecturer in creative writ ...
: ''Honour Thy Father''.
*
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring th ...
: ''
Death of an Expert Witness
''Death of an Expert Witness'' is an Adam Dalgliesh novel by P. D. James, published in 1977. It begins with the discovery of a young girl who has been murdered and dumped in a quarry. However, this is not the focus of the novel, but rather is u ...
''
*Daisy Johnson: ''Fen'' (short story collection), Penguin, 2016.
* Constance Heaven: ''Lord of Ravensley''
*
Paul Kingsnorth
Paul Kingsnorth (born 1972) is an English writer who lives in the west of Ireland. He is a former deputy-editor of ''The Ecologist'' and a co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project.
Kingsnorth's nonfiction writing tends to address macro themes l ...
S. Pitt
S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet.
S may also refer to:
History
* an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics
* Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...
The Croquet Player
''The Croquet Player'' is a 1936 novella by H. G. Wells, "a sort of ghost story." It has been called "a short allegory written under the stimulus of the Spanish War."
Plot summary
Georgie, a gentleman with "soft hands and an ineffective will ...
''
Some films have large portions set in the Fenlands:
*'' Dad Savage'' (1998), starring
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors ...
, was set and filmed around the
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
area.
*''
Waterland
Waterland () is a municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. It is situated north of Amsterdam, on the western shore of the Markermeer. It is well-known for comprising the touristy towns of Broek in Waterland and M ...
'' (1992), directed by
Stephen Gyllenhaal
Stephen Roark Gyllenhaal (; born October 4, 1949) is an American film director and poet. He is the father of actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Personal life
Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Virginia Lowrie (née Childs) and ...
, is based on Graham Swift's book with the same title. Many of its scenes were filmed at
Holbeach Marsh
Holbeach Marsh is a The Fens, fenland area in the South Holland, England, South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England.
Holbeach Marsh is situated between the market town of Holbeach on the A17 road (England), A17 road at the south, and The ...
on the edge of the Wash.
And television:
*The 1974
Look and Read
''Look and Read'' is a BBC Television programme for primary schools, aimed at improving children's literacy skills. The programme presents fictional stories in a serial format, the first of which was broadcast in 1967 and the most recent in 2 ...
series ''Cloud Burst'' was set and filmed in the Fens.
*The episode ''Three Miles Up'' of the 1995 BBC series ''Ghosts'' was set in the Fens.
*The 2019 TV series ''Wild Bill'' was set in Boston, Lincolnshire.
Video games also have been set in the Fens:
*The Bedford Level appears in the video game ''
Tom Clancy's EndWar
''Tom Clancy's EndWar'' is a strategy video game available on Microsoft Windows and all seventh-generation platforms except the Wii, with the timing and flow of gameplay differing across platforms. The console and PC version is a real-time tac ...
Prickwillow Museum
Prickwillow Museum, formerly known as the Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum, tells the story of the changing face of the Fens and its network of drainage systems and pumping stations. The museum is housed in the old pumping station in Prickwil ...
, the changing face of the Fens, including restored drainage engines
* Whittlesey Museum, a social history museum located on the ground floor of a 19th-century Town Hall.
*
Wisbech & Fenland Museum
The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The museum logo is W&F.
History
Initially a member-based organisation ...
, one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the UK. It has a wide collection of items associated with Fenland trades and settlements.
* Ely Museum
*
Fen skating
Fen skating is a traditional form of ice skating in the Fenland of England. The Fens of East Anglia, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Bone skates have been found in the area dating back to the medieval period. ...
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake (Traditional pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/, modern pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɪ.wəd/) (1035 – 1072) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resista ...
, who led the English resistance to the Norman Conquest from the fens
*
High Fens
The High Fens (german: Hohes Venn; french: Hautes Fagnes; nl, Hoge Venen), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the ...
, between
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and Germany
*'' In the Fen Country'', a symphonic poem by Ralph Vaughan Williams
*
Pinchbeck Engine
The Pinchbeck Engine is a drainage engine, a rotative beam engine built in 1833 to drain Pinchbeck Marsh, to the north of Spalding, Lincolnshire, in England. Until it was shut down in 1952, the engine discharged into the ''Blue Gowt'' which ...
, a museum of fen drainage based around the longest-working beam engine and scoopwheel
*
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills.
The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south a ...
, a similar area of wetlands in the southwest of England
*
Wicken Fen
Wicken Fen is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Wicken in Cambridgeshire. It is also a National Nature Reserve, and a Nature Conservation Review site. It is protected by international designations as a Ramsar wetland si ...
, one of the few remaining undrained fens, owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
*
Fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, 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 ...
, a British
post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way si ...
band
*
Devil's Dyke, Cambridgeshire
Devil's Dyke or Devil's Ditch is a linear earthen barrier, thought to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, in eastern Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. It runs for in an almost straight line from Reach to Woodditton, with a ditch and bank system facing southw ...
, a long straight ditch and bank
*
The Broads
The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...
, the navigable waterway system which crosses the fenland of Norfolk and Suffolk