The Fen Country

The area known as the Fens covers part of three different counties: Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. The main part is about 40 miles (67 km) northwards from Cambridge to the Wash and about 40 miles south-eastwards from Peterborough.

A fen is land which is low-lying and wet, often partly covered with water. The Fen Country consists of miles of flat land with almost no trees or hedges. It is divided by high banks that contain the rivers and drains, which help to control the level of water in the fields. The small fenland towns and villages used to be islands in the time before the area was drained, and many of their names show this - eg Whittlesey, Ramsey, Thorney, Manea. Both -ey and -ea mean 'island'.

Fenland characters

Work on the drainage of the Fens was started by a Dutchman, Cornelius Vermuyden, in the l630s, but they were not completely drained until the late 19th century. Because of this, the Fenland villages were isolated from the rest of the country for many centuries, and 'Fenmen' were regarded with a lot of suspicion. Some people thought they had webbed feet! This, of course, was not true, but they did use stilts to move across flooded areas. They have a reputation for being fighters (they are known even today as 'Fen Tigers') which is partly because a well-known English rebel, Oliver Cromwell, came from the Fens.

Oliver Cromwell was brought up in Huntingdon, on the edge of the Fens, and found plenty of support there when he formed an army against the King at the start of the Civil War.

The Fens today

Now that the drainage of the Fens is complete, the area has some of the richest and most expensive farmland in the country. The black, fertile soil produces sugar-beet, potatoes, and celery, as well as cereals.

A lot of fruit is grown in this area too. During the summer, when the fruit is picked, students come from different countries in Europe to work on the farms. In this way, they can earn some money, have a holiday and improve their English all at the same time!

The area is, of course, much richer than it was in the days when men made their living from fishing and catching wildfowl, although mechanized farming has caused some social problems: there are fewer jobs, and the population is smaller because young people have moved to the larger towns and cities to look for work.

However, it is not short of visitors, particularly those who are interested in wildfowl (watching it, more than shooting it these days!).

An area known as the Ouse Washes is allowed to flood naturally and provides a perfect area for thousands of ducks, geese and swans which spend the winter there. The swans are of two types, Bewick and Whooper, and they fly from eastern Russia each year. Sometimes there are as many as 2,000 swans which arrive in family parties, having survived the dangerous journey. At night, part of the Wash where many of the swans come to be fed is floodlit, and the sight and sound of so many beautiful birds is magical.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 44 f.