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FENS ,' a See also:district in the See also:east of See also:England, possessing a distinctive See also:history and See also:peculiar characteristics. It lies See also:west and See also:south of the See also:Wash, in See also:Lincolnshire, See also:Huntingdonshire, See also:Cambridgeshire and See also:Norfolk, and extends over more than 70 M. in length (See also:Lincoln to See also:Cambridge) and some 35 M. in maximum breadth (See also:Stamford to See also:Brandon in See also:Suffolk), its See also:area being considerably over See also:half a million acres. Although See also:low and See also:flat, and seamed by innumerable See also:water-courses, the entire region is not, as the See also:Roman name of Met aris Aestuarium would imply, a See also:river See also:estuary, but a See also:bay of the See also:North See also:Sea, silted up, of which the Wash is the last remaining portion. Hydrographically, the Fens embrace the See also:lower parts of the drainage-basins of the See also:rivers See also:Witham, Welland, Nene and See also:Great See also:Ouse; and against these streams, as against the ocean, they are protected by earthen embankments, 10 to 15 ft. high. As a See also:rule the drainage water is lifted off the Fens into the rivers by means of See also:steam-pumps, formerly by windmills.
See also:General History.—According to fairly credible tradition, the first systematic See also:attempt to drain the Fens was made by the See also:Romans. They dug a catchwater drain (as the artificial fenland water-courses are called), the Caer or See also:Car Dyke, from Lincoln to See also:Ramsey (or, according to See also:Stukeley, as far as Cambridge), along the western edge of the Fens, to carry off the precipitation of the higher districts which border the fenland, and constructed alongside the Welland and on the seashore earthen embankments, of which some 150 M. survive. Mr S. H. See also:Miller is disposed to See also:credit the native See also:British inhabitants of the Fens with having executed certain of these See also:works. The Romans also carried causeways over the See also:country. After their departure from See also:Britain in the first half of the 5th See also:century the Fens See also:fell into neglect; and despite the preservation of the woodlands for the purposes of the See also:chase by the See also:Norman and See also:early See also:Plantagenet See also:kings, and the unsuccessful attempt which See also:Richard de Rulos, See also: In addition to this it was ravaged by serious inundations of the sea, for example, in the years 1178, 1248 (or 1250), 1288, 1322, 1335, 1467, 1571. Yet the fenland was not altogether a See also:wilderness of See also:reed-grown See also:marsh and watery swamp. At various spots, more particularly in the north and in the south, there existed islands of firmer and higher ground, resting generally on the See also:boulder See also:clays of the Glacial epochs and on the inter-Glacial gravels of the See also:Palaeolithic See also:age. In these isolated localities members of the monastic
' The word " fen," a general See also:term for low marshy See also:land or See also:bog, is See also:common to See also:Teutonic See also:languages, cf. Dutch ven or veen, Ger. Fenne, Fehn, Goth. fani, mud; the Indo-See also:European See also:root is seen in Gr. ,ritXos, mud, See also:Lat. palus, marsh. The word " bog " is from the Irish or Gaelic bogach, formed from See also:Celtic bog, soft, and meaning therefore soft, swampy ground.
orders (especially at a later date the See also:Cistercians) began to See also:settle after about the See also:middle of the 7th century. At Medeshampstead (i.e. See also:Peterborough), See also:Ely, See also:Crowland, Ramsey, Thocney, See also:Spalding, Peakirk, Swineshead, Tattershall, Kirkstead, Bardney, Sempringham, See also:Bourne and numerous other places, they made settlements and built churches, monasteries and abbeys. In spite of the incursions of the predatory Northmen and Danes in the 9th and loth centuries, and of the disturbances consequent upon the See also:establishment of the See also:Camp of See also:Refuge by See also:Hereward the See also:Wake in the fens of the Isle of Ely in the 11th century, these scattered outposts continued to See also:shed rays of See also:civilization across the lonely Fenland down to the See also:dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of See also: Then they, too, were partly overtaken by the See also:fate which befell the See also:rest of the Fens; and it was only in the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century that the See also:complete drainage and reclamation of the Fen region was finally effected. Attempts on a considerable See also:scale were indeed made to reclaim them in the 17th century, and the See also:work as a whole forms one of the most remarkable chapters of the See also:industrial history of England. Thus, the reclamation of the Witham Fens was taken up by See also:Sir See also:Anthony See also: This unjust attempt was frustrated by the breaking out of the See also:civil See also:war; and no further attempt at drainage was made until 1649, when the See also:parliament reinstated the earl of Bedford's successor in his See also:father's rights. After an additional outlay of £300,000, the adventurers received 95,000 acres of reclaimed land, according to the contract, which, however, fell far See also:short of repaying the expense of the undertaking. In 1664 a royal See also:charter was obtained, to incorporate the company, which still exists, and carries on the concern under a See also:governor, 6 bailiffs, 20 conservators, and a commonalty, each of whom must possess See also:loo acres of land in the level, and has a See also:voice in the See also:election of See also:officers. The conservators must each possess not less than 280 acres, the governor and bailiffs each 400 acres. The See also:original adventurers had allotments of land according to their See also:interest of the original 95,000 acres; but Charles II., on granting the charter, took care to secure to the See also:crown a See also:lot of 12,000 acres out of the 95,000, which, however, is held under the See also:directors, whereas the allotments are not held in common, though subject to the See also:laws of the See also:corporation. The level was divided in 1697 into three parts, called the North, Middle, and South Levels—the x. gsecond being separated from the others by the Nene and Old Bedford rivers. These attempts failed owing to the determined opposition of the native fenmen (" See also:stilt-walkers "), whom the drainage and See also:appropriation of the unenclosed fenlands would deprive of valuable and See also:long-enjoyed rights of commonage, turbary (See also:turf-cutting), fishing, fowling, &c. See also:Oliver See also:Cromwell is said to have put himself at their See also:head and succeeded in stopping all the operations. When he became See also:Protector, however, he sanctioned Vermuyden's plans, and Scottish prisoners taken at See also:Dunbar, and Dutch prisoners taken by See also:Blake in his victory over See also:Van See also:Tromp, were employed as the workers. Vermuyden's See also:system, however, was exclusively Dutch; and while perfectly suited to Holland it did not meet all the necessities of East Anglia. He confined his See also:attention almost exclusively to the inland draining and embankments, and did not provide sufficient outlet for the waters them-selves into the sea. Holland and other Fens on the west See also:side of the Witham were finally drained in 1767, although not without much rioting and lawlessness; and a striking See also:account of the wonderful improvements effected by a See also:generation later is recorded in See also:Arthur See also:Young's General View of the See also:Agriculture of the See also:County of Lincoln (See also:London, 1799). The East, West and Wildmore Fens on the east side of the Witham were drained in 1801-1807 by John See also:Rennie, who carried off the precipitation which fell on the higher grounds by catch-water drains, on the principle of the Roman Car Dyke, and improved the outfall of the river, so that it might the more easily See also:discharge the Fen water which flowed or was pumped into it. The Welland or Deeping Fens were drained in 1794, 18or, 1824, 1837 and other years. Almost the only portion of the original See also:wild Fens now remaining is Wicken Fen, which lies east of the river See also:Cam and south-east of the Isle of Ely.
The Fen Rivers.—The preservation of the Fens depends in an intimate and essential manner upon the preservation of the rivers, and especially of their See also:banks. The Witham, known originally as the See also: The work done from 1721 onward consisted in straightening the lower reaches of the stream and in directing and deepening the outfall. The Ouse (q.v.) or Great Ouse, the largest of the fenland rivers, seems to have been deflected, at some unknown See also:period, from a former channel connecting via the Old See also:Croft river with the Nene, into the Little Ouse below Littleport; and the courses of the two streams are now linked together by an elaborate network of artificial drains, the results of the great engineering works carried out in the Bedford Level in the 17th century. The old channel, starting from Earith, and known as the Old West river, carries only a small stream until, at a point above Ely, it joins the c1 Cam. The salient features of the See also:plan executed by Vermuyden' for the earl of Bedford in the years 1632–1653 were as follows: taking the See also:division of the area made in 1697–1698 into (i.) the North Level, between the river Welland and the river Nene; (ii.) the Middle Level, between the Nene and the Old Bedford river (which was made at this See also:time, i.e. 1630); and (iii.) the South Level, from the Old Bedford river to the south-eastern border of the fenland. In the North Level the Welland was embanked, the New South Eau, Peakirk Drain, and See also:Shire Drain made, and the existing See also:main drains deepened and regulated. In the Middle Level the Nene was embanked from Peterborough to Guyhirn, also the Ouse from Earith to Over, both places at the south-west edge of the fenland; the New Bedford river was made from Earith to See also:Denver, and the north side of the Old Bedford river and the south side of the New Bedford river were embanked, a long narrow " wash," or overflow See also:basin, being See also:left between them; several large feeding-drains were dug, including the See also:Forty See also:Foot or Vermuyden's Drain, the Sixteen Foot river, Bevill's river, and the Twenty Foot river; and a new outfall was made for the Nene, and Denver sluice (to See also:dam the old circuitous Ouse) constructed. In the South Level Sam's Cut was dug and the rivers were embanked. Since that period the mouth of the Ouse has been straightened above and below King's See also:Lynn (1795–1821), a new straight cut made between Ely and Littleport, the North Level Main Drain and the Middle Level Drain constructed, and the ' The principles upon which he proceeded are set forth in his Discourse touching the Draining of the Great Felines (1642), reprinted in Fenland Notes and Queries (1898), pp. 26-38 and 81-87.See also:meres of Ramsey, See also:Whittlesey (1851-1852), &c., drained and brought under cultivation. A considerable See also:barge See also:traffic is maintained on the Ouse below St Ives, on the Cam up to Cam-See also:bridge, the See also:Lark and Little Ouse, and 'the network of navigable cuts between the New Bedford river and Peterborough. The Nene, though locked up to See also:Northampton, and connected from that point with the See also:Grand Junction See also:canal, is practically unused above Wansford, and traffic is small except below Wisbech. The effect of the drainage schemes has been to lower the level of the fenlands generally by some 18 in., owing to the shrinkage of the See also:peat consequent upon the extraction of so much of its contained water; and this again has tended, on the one See also:hand, to diminish the See also:speed and erosive See also:power of the fenland rivers, and, on the other, to choke up their respective outfalls with the sedimentary matters which they themselves sluggishly See also:roll seawards. The Wash.—From this it will be See also:plain that the Wash (q.v.) is being silted up by riverine detritus. The formation of new dry land, known at first as " marsh," goes on, however, but slowly. During the centuries since the Romans are believed to have constructed the sea-banks which shut out the ocean, it is computed that an area of not more than 6o,000 to 70,000 acres has been won from the Wash, embanked, drained and brought more or less under cultivation. The greatest gain has been at the See also:direct head of the bay, between the Welland and the Great Ouse, where the See also:average See also:annual See also:accretion is estimated at Io to 11 lineal feet. On the Lincolnshire coast, farther north, the average annual gain has been not quite 2 ft.; whilst on the opposite Norfolk coast it has been little more than 6 in. annually. On the whole, some 35,000 acres were enclosed in the 17th century, about 19,000 acres during the 18th, and about 10,000 acres during the 19th century. The first comprehensive See also:scheme for regulating the outfall channels and controlling the currents of the Fen rivers seems to be that proposed by Nathaniel Kinderley in 1751. His idea2 was to See also:link the Nene with the Ouse by means of a new cut to be made through the marshland, and See also:guide the See also:united stream through a further new cut " under Wotten and See also:Wolverton through the Marshes till over against Inglesthorp or Snetsham, and there discharge itself immediately into the Deeps of Lyn Channel." In a similar way the Witham, " when it has received the Welland from Spalding," was to be carried " to some convenient place over against Wrangle or Friskney, where it may be discharged into Boston Deeps." This scheme was still further improved upon by Sir John Rennie, who, in a See also:report which he See also:drew up in 1839, recommended that the outfalls of all four rivers should be directed by means of fascined channels into one common outfall, and that the land lying between them should be enclosed as rapidly as it consolidated. By this means he estimated that 150,000 acres would be won to cultivation.. But beyond one or two abortive or half-hearted attempts, e.g. by the Lincolnshire Estuary Company in 1851, and in 1876 and subsequent years by the Norfolk Estuary Company, no serious effort has ever been made to execute either of these schemes. See also:Climate.—The annual mean temperature, as observed at Boston, in the period 1864–1885, is 48.7° F.; See also:January, 36.5°; See also:July, 62.8°; and as observed at Wisbech, for the period 1861–1875, 49.10. The average mean rainfall for the seventy-one years 1830–1900, at Boston, was 22.9 in.; at Wisbech for the fifteen years 1860–1875, 24.2 See also:ill., and for the fifteen years 1866–1880, 26.7 in.; and at Maxey near Peterborough, 21.7 for the nine-teen years 1882–1900. Previous to the drainage of the Fens, See also:ague, See also:rheumatism, and other ailments incidental to a See also:damp 2 Set forth in The Present State of the Navigation of the Towns of Lyn, Wisheach, Spalding and Boston (2nd ed., London, 1851), pp. 82 seq. See also:Map of the Fens. climate were widely prevalent, but at the present See also:day the Fen country is as healthy as the rest of England; indeed, there is See also:reason to believe that it is conducive to See also:longevity. See also:Historical Notes.—The earliest inhabitants of this region of whom we have See also:record were the British tribes of the Iceni See also:con-federation; the Romans, who subdued them, called them Coriceni or Coritani. In Saxon times the inhabitants of the Fens were known (e.g. to See also:Bede) as Gyrvii, and are described as traversing the country on See also:stilts. See also:Macaulay, See also:writing of the See also:year 1689, gives to them the name of Breedlings, and describes them as " a half-See also:savage See also:population . . . who led an amphibious See also:life, sometimes wading, sometimes See also:rowing; from one islet of See also:firm ground to another." In the end of the 18th century those who dwelt in the remoter parts were scarcely more civilized, being known to their neighbours by the expressive term of " Slodgers." These See also:rude fen-dwellers have in all ages been animated by a tenacious love of See also:liberty. See also:Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, the worthy foe of the Romans; Hereward the Saxon, who defied William the Conqueror; Cromwell and his See also:Ironsides, are representative of the fenman's spirit at its best. The fen peasantry showed a stubborn See also:defence of their rights, not only when they resisted the encroachments and selfish appropriations of the " adventurers " in the 17th century, in the Bedford Level, in Deeping Fen, and in the Witham Fens, and again in the 18th century, when Holland Fen was finally enclosed, but also in the Peasants' Rising of 1381, and in the See also:Pilgrimage of See also:Grace in the reign of Henry VIII. So long as the Fens were unenclosed and thickly studded with immense " forests " of reeds, and innumerable marshy pools and " rows " (channels connecting the pools), they abounded in wild See also:fowl, being regularly frequented by various See also:species of wild See also:duck and geese, garganies, polchards, shovelers, teals, widgeons, peewits, terns, grebes, coots, water-hens, water-rails, red-shanks, lapwings, See also:god-wits, whimbrels, See also:cranes, bitterns, herons, swans, ruffs and See also:reeves. Vast See also:numbers of these were taken in decoys' and sent to the London markets. At the same time equally vast quantities of tame geese were reared in the Fens, and driven by road' to London to be killed at Michaelmas. Their down, feathers and quills (for pens) were also a considerable source of profit. The Fen waters, too, abounded in fresh-water See also:fish, especially See also:pike, See also:perch, See also:bream, See also:tench, rud, See also:dace, See also:roach, eels and sticklebacks. The Witham, on whose banks so many monasteries stood, was particularly famous for its pike; as were certain of the monastic waters in the See also:southern part of the Fens for their eels. The See also:soil of the reclaimed Fens is of exceptional fertility, being almost everywhere See also:rich in humus, which is capable not only of producing very heavy crops of See also:wheat and other See also:corn, but also of fattening live-stock with peculiar ease. Lincolnshire oxen were famous in Elizabeth's time, and are specially singled out by Arthur Young,' the breed being the shorthorn. Of the crops peculiar to the region it must suffice to mention the old British dye-plant See also:woad, which is still grown on a small scale in two or three parishes immediately south of Boston ; See also:hemp, which was extensively grown in the 18th century, but is not now planted; and See also:peppermint, which is occasionally grown, e.g. at Deeping and Wisbech. In the second half of the 19th centul'y the Fen country acquired a certain celebrity in the See also:world of See also:sport from the encouragement it gave to speed See also:skating. Whenever practicable, championship and other racing meetings are held, chiefly at Littleport and Spalding. The little See also:village of Welney, between Ely and Wisbech, has produced some of the most notable of the typical Fen skaters, e.g. " See also:Turkey " See also:Smart and " Fish " Smart. Apart from fragmentary ruins of the former monastic buildings of Crowland, Kirkstead and other places, the Fen country of Lincolnshire (division of Holland) is especially remarkable for the See also:size and beauty of its See also:parish churches, mostly built of Barnack rag from See also:Northamptonshire. Moreover, in the posses-
For descriptions of these see See also:Oldfield, Appendix, pp. 2-4, of A Topographical and Historical Account of Wainfleet (London, 1829) ; and Miller and Skertchly, The Fenland, pp. 369-375.
2 See De Foe's account in A Tour through the Eastern Counties, 1722 (1724-1725).
3 General View, pp. 174-x94 and 288-304.-See also:FENTON, See also:ELIJAH 259
See also:sion of such buildings as Ely See also:cathedral and the parish See also: See also:Tennyson's dialect poems, The See also:Northern See also:Farmer, &c., do not reproduce the pure Fen dialect, but rather the dialect of the Wold district of See also:mid Lincolnshire. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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