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 banks. The Witham, known originally as the Grant Avon, also called the Lindis by Leyland (Itinerary, vol. vii. p. 41), and in Jean Ingelow’sHigh Tide on the Lincolnshire Coast, is some 80 m. long, and drains an area of 1079 sq. m. It owes its present condition to engineering works carried out in the years 1762-1764, 1865, 1881, and especially in 1880-1884. In 1500 the river was dammed immediately above Boston by a large sluice, the effect of which was not only to hinder free navigation up to Lincoln (to which city sea-going vessels used to penetrate in the 14th and 15th centuries), but also to choke the channel below Boston with sedimentary matter. The sluice, or rather a new structure made in 1764-1766, remains; but the river below Boston has been materially improved (1880-1884), first by the construction of a new outfall, 3 m. in length, whereby the channel was not only straightened, but its current carried directly into deep water, without having to battle against the often shifting sandbanks of the Wash; and secondly, by the deepening and regulation of the river-bed up to Boston. The Welland, which is about 70 m. long, and drains an area of 760 sq. m., was made to assume its present shape and direction in 1620, 1638, 1650, 1794, and 1835 and following years. The most radical alteration took place in 1794, when a new outfall was made from the confluence of the Glen (30 m. long) to the Wash, a distance of nearly 3 m. The Nene, 90 m. long, and draining an area of some 1077 sq. m., was first regulated by Bishop Morton, and it was further improved in 1631, 1721, and especially, under plans by Rennie and Telford, in 1827-1830 and 1832. 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 period, from a former channel connecting via the Old 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 theCam. The salient features of the plan executed by Vermuyden2for the earl of Bedford in the years 1632-1653 were as follows: taking the 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 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 Shire Drain made, and the existing 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 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 basin, being left between them; several large feeding-drains were dug, including the Forty 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 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 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 meres of Ramsey, Whittlesey (1851-1852), &c., drained and brought under cultivation. A considerable barge traffic is maintained on the Ouse below St Ives, on the Cam up to Cambridge, the Lark and Little Ouse, and the network of navigable cuts between the New Bedford river and Peterborough. The Nene, though locked up to Northampton, and connected from that point with the Grand Junction 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 peat consequent upon the extraction of so much of its contained water; and this again has tended, on the one hand, to diminish the speed and erosive power of the fenland rivers, and, on the other, to choke up their respective outfalls with the sedimentary matters which they themselves sluggishly roll seawards.
The Wash.—From this it will be 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 60,000 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 direct head of the bay, between the Welland and the Great Ouse, where the average annual accretion is estimated at 10 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 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 idea3was to link the Nene with the Ouse by means of a new cut to be made through the marshland, and guide the united stream through a further new cut “under Wotten and 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 report which he 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.
Climate.—The annual mean temperature, as observed at Boston, in the period 1864-1885, is 48.7° F.; January, 36.5°; July, 62.8°; and as observed at Wisbech, for the period 1861-1875, 49.1°. 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 in., and for the fifteen years 1866-1880, 26.7 in.; and at Maxey near Peterborough, 21.7 for the nineteen years 1882-1900. Previous to the drainage of the Fens, ague, rheumatism, and other ailments incidental to a dampclimate were widely prevalent, but at the present day the Fen country is as healthy as the rest of England; indeed, there is reason to believe that it is conducive to longevity.
Historical Notes.—The earliest inhabitants of this region of whom we have record were the British tribes of the Iceni confederation; the Romans, who subdued them, called them Coriceni or Coritani. In Saxon times the inhabitants of the Fens were known (e.g.to Bede) as Gyrvii, and are described as traversing the country on stilts. Macaulay, writing of the year 1689, gives to them the name of Breedlings, and describes them as “a half-savage population ... who led an amphibious life, sometimes wading, sometimes rowing, from one islet of 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 rude fen-dwellers have in all ages been animated by a tenacious love of liberty. Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, the worthy foe of the Romans; Hereward the Saxon, who defied William the Conqueror; Cromwell and his Ironsides, are representative of the fenman’s spirit at its best. The fen peasantry showed a stubborn 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 Pilgrimage of 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 fowl, being regularly frequented by various species of wild duck and geese, garganies, polchards, shovelers, teals, widgeons, peewits, terns, grebes, coots, water-hens, water-rails, red-shanks, lapwings, god-wits, whimbrels, cranes, bitterns, herons, swans, ruffs and reeves. Vast numbers of these were taken in decoys4and sent to the London markets. At the same time equally vast quantities of tame geese were reared in the Fens, and driven by road5to 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 fish, especially pike, perch, bream, tench, rud, dace, 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 southern part of the Fens for their eels. The soil of the reclaimed Fens is of exceptional fertility, being almost everywhere rich in humus, which is capable not only of producing very heavy crops of wheat and other 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,6the breed being the shorthorn. Of the crops peculiar to the region it must suffice to mention the old British dye-plant woad, which is still grown on a small scale in two or three parishes immediately south of Boston; hemp, which was extensively grown in the 18th century, but is not now planted; and peppermint, which is occasionally grown,e.g.at Deeping and Wisbech. In the second half of the 19th century the Fen country acquired a certain celebrity in the world of sport from the encouragement it gave to speed skating. Whenever practicable, championship and other racing meetings are held, chiefly at Littleport and Spalding. The little village of Welney, between Ely and Wisbech, has produced some of the most notable of the typical Fen skaters,e.g.“Turkey” 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 size and beauty of its parish churches, mostly built of Barnack rag from Northamptonshire. Moreover, in the possession of such buildings as Ely cathedral and the parish church of King’s Lynn, other parts of the Fens must be considered only less rich in ecclesiastical architecture. Using these fine opportunities, the Fen folk have long cultivated the science of campanology.
Dialect.—Owing to the comparative remoteness of their geographical situation, and the relatively late period at which the Fens were definitely enclosed, the Fenmen have preserved several dialectal features of a distinctive character, not the least interesting being their close kinship with the classical English of the present day. Professor E.E. Freeman (Longman’s Magazine, 1875) reminded modern Englishmen that it was a native of the Fens, “a Bourne man, who gave the English language its present shape.” This was Robert Manning, or Robert of Brunne, who in or about 1303 wroteThe Handlynge Synne. Tennyson’s dialect poems,The Northern Farmer, &c., do not reproduce the pure Fen dialect, but rather the dialect of the Wold district of mid Lincolnshire.
Authorities.—Sir William Dugdale,History of Imbanking and Draining(2nd ed., London, 1772); W. Elstobb,A Historical Account of the Great Level(Lynn, 1793); W. Chapman,Facts and Remarks relative to the Witham and the Welland(Boston, 1800); S. Wells,History and Drainage of the Great Level of the Fens(2 vols., London, 1828 and 1830); P. Thompson,History of Boston(Boston, 1856); Baldwin Latham,Papers on the Drainage of the Fens, read before the Society of Engineers, 3rd November 1862; N. and A. Goodman,Handbook of Fen Skating(London, 1882); Moore,Associated Architectural Societies’ Reports and Papers(1893);Fenland Notes and Queries, andLincolnshire Notes and Queries, passim; W.H. Wheeler,A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire, pp. 223 et seq. (2nd ed., Boston, 1897). Various phases of Fen life, mostly of the past, are described in Charles Kingsley’sHereward the Wake(Cambridge, 1866); Baring Gould’sCheap-Jack Zita(London, 1893); Manville Fenn’sDick o’ the Fens(London, 1887); and J.T. Bealby’sA Daughter of the Fen(London, 1896).
Authorities.—Sir William Dugdale,History of Imbanking and Draining(2nd ed., London, 1772); W. Elstobb,A Historical Account of the Great Level(Lynn, 1793); W. Chapman,Facts and Remarks relative to the Witham and the Welland(Boston, 1800); S. Wells,History and Drainage of the Great Level of the Fens(2 vols., London, 1828 and 1830); P. Thompson,History of Boston(Boston, 1856); Baldwin Latham,Papers on the Drainage of the Fens, read before the Society of Engineers, 3rd November 1862; N. and A. Goodman,Handbook of Fen Skating(London, 1882); Moore,Associated Architectural Societies’ Reports and Papers(1893);Fenland Notes and Queries, andLincolnshire Notes and Queries, passim; W.H. Wheeler,A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire, pp. 223 et seq. (2nd ed., Boston, 1897). Various phases of Fen life, mostly of the past, are described in Charles Kingsley’sHereward the Wake(Cambridge, 1866); Baring Gould’sCheap-Jack Zita(London, 1893); Manville Fenn’sDick o’ the Fens(London, 1887); and J.T. Bealby’sA Daughter of the Fen(London, 1896).
(J. T. Be.)
1The word “fen,” a general term for low marshy land or bog, is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutchvenorveen, Ger.Fenne,Fehn, Goth.fani, mud; the Indo-European root is seen in Gr.πῆλος, mud, Lat.palus, marsh. The word “bog” is from the Irish or Gaelic bogach, formed from Celticbog, soft, and meaning therefore soft, swampy ground.2The principles upon which he proceeded are set forth in hisDiscourse touching the Draining of the Great Fennes(1642), reprinted inFenland Notes and Queries(1898), pp. 26-38 and 81-87.3Set forth inThe Present State of the Navigation of the Towns of Lyn, Wisbeach, Spalding and Boston(2nd ed., London, 1851), pp. 82 seq.4For descriptions of these see Oldfield, Appendix, pp. 2-4, ofA Topographical and Historical Account of Wainfleet(London, 1829); and Miller and Skertchly,The Fenland, pp. 369-375.5See De Foe’s account inA Tour through the Eastern Counties, 1722 (1724-1725).6General View, pp. 174-194 and 288-304.
1The word “fen,” a general term for low marshy land or bog, is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutchvenorveen, Ger.Fenne,Fehn, Goth.fani, mud; the Indo-European root is seen in Gr.πῆλος, mud, Lat.palus, marsh. The word “bog” is from the Irish or Gaelic bogach, formed from Celticbog, soft, and meaning therefore soft, swampy ground.
2The principles upon which he proceeded are set forth in hisDiscourse touching the Draining of the Great Fennes(1642), reprinted inFenland Notes and Queries(1898), pp. 26-38 and 81-87.
3Set forth inThe Present State of the Navigation of the Towns of Lyn, Wisbeach, Spalding and Boston(2nd ed., London, 1851), pp. 82 seq.
4For descriptions of these see Oldfield, Appendix, pp. 2-4, ofA Topographical and Historical Account of Wainfleet(London, 1829); and Miller and Skertchly,The Fenland, pp. 369-375.
5See De Foe’s account inA Tour through the Eastern Counties, 1722 (1724-1725).
6General View, pp. 174-194 and 288-304.