Home > The Fens

The Fens are an area of wetlands in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk in England, west and south of The Wash. They now cover approximately 1,300 km² (320,000 acres), but in 1911 the Encyclopaedia Britannica estimated their extent as being considerably over half a million acres (2,000 km²). Geologically, the fenlands are a silted-up bay of the North Sea that embrace the lower drainage basins of the rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse. Wisbech is known as the "Capital of the Fens".

300 years ago, the Fens were similar to the Florida EvergladesThe Florida Everglades is a subtropical marshland located in the southern portion of the U. state of Florida, specifically in parts of Monroe, Collier, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Broward counties. Although much modified by agricultural development in cen, a large area of low-lying land. The Fens and fenmen have a distinctive history and unique cultural characteristics. The native fenmen moved about nimbly on stiltStilts Black-winged Stilt : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Charadriiformes †: Recurvirostridae Genera Himantopus ''Cladorhynchus † See also Avocet The stilts are waders in the same bird family as the Avocets. They are found in brackish or salis (the "stilt-walkers"), fought off outsiders and defended their valuable traditional rights of commonage, turfcutting, fishing and fowling. The area was reputed to be a haven for outlaws, including Hereward the WakeHereward the Wake was an 11th century English, Anglo Saxon, leader who led resistance to the Norman Conquest and was consequently labelled an outlaw. According to legend, Hereward's base was the Isle of Ely and he roamed the surrounding fenlands leading p, the last Anglo-Saxon resistance fighter against the NormansThis article talks about the Norman people. There is also a city named Norman, Oklahoma in the United States. The Normans (lit. Northmen") were Scandinavian invaders (especially Danish Vikings) who began to occupy the northern area of France now known as.

1 Draining the Fens

Though some marks of Roman hydraulics survive, the land started to be drained in earnest during the 1640sCenturies: 16th century 17th century 18th century Decades: 1590s 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s 1660s 1670s 1680s 1690s Years: 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649 Events and Trends The personal union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal. Two cuts were made in the Cambridgeshire Fens to join the River Great OuseThe River Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. It is 240 km (150 m) long which makes it the major navigation in East Anglia. The lower reaches of the Great Ouse are also known as "Old West River" and "the Ely Ouse". It flows through Buckingham, M to the sea at King's LynnKing's Lynn is a medium-sized town in Norfolk, England on the River Great Ouse. It is part of the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district. In the 12th century, it was part of the manor of the Bishop of Norwich. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1 - the Old Bedford RiverThe Old Bedford River is a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the Fourth Earl of Bedford who financed the construction of this man-made canal or "cut". See also: New Bedford River or Hundred Foot D and the New Bedford River, also known as the Hundred Foot Drain. Both cuts were named after the Fourth Earl of Bedford who, along with some "Gentlemen Adventurers" ( venture capitalists), funded the construction, which was directed by engineers from the Low Countries. and were rewarded with large grants of the resulting farmland. The major draining of the Fens, nevertheless, was effected in the late 18th and early 19th century, involving fierce local rioting and sabotage of the works.

These days, deprived of periodic deposits of silt, much of the Fens lies below sea level. The effect of the drainage schemes has drained water from the peat, which has shrunk, the highest point now being only a few meters above sea level, and only sizable embankment s of the rivers, dikes and flood defence s, stop the land from being inundated.