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Interesting Fenland Facts
From "Fenland: Past to Present", published by the Cambridgeshire Times, 1991:
- Witchcraft was rife in the Fens in the 1600's. Parliament appointed a witchfinder general, Matthew Hopkins, to rid East Anglia of the "venomous old hags".
- Babies born in Littleport on March 21st, May 1st or Septemebr 23rd were thought to be blessed with good luck and able to see into the future.
- The Fenland people took opium up until the 20th century, dulling the senses to the "wet and disease-ridden" environment they lived in.
- Meat was a luxury in the 1800's and most Fen folk had to grub for vegetables in the hedgerows. This led to food riots in Littleport in 1816, following which 24 people were arrested and sentenced to death.
- Until the early 1900's the town of Ely was haunted by the deathly howls of 'shucky dogs' on moonless nights. Shuck was the name of a black dog who was killed with his master when the master's horse bolted into a nearby river.
- 'Fenland Lighters', based on flat-bottomed Viking ship design, were used to carry crops along the network of dykes and rivers. They were sometimes pulled by horses submerged up to their necks with a handler standing on their backs.
- The peat of the Fens has shrunk dramatically since the area was drained. A metal post that was driven fully into the peat of Holme Fen in 1851 now stands 13 ft proud of the surface.
- Massive flooding and 100mph winds hit the Fens in 1947, swamping 1000's of acres and sweeping away houses. A military rescue operation named "Noah's Ark" was launched.
- Witchcraft was rife in the Fens in the 1600's. Parliament appointed a witchfinder general, Matthew Hopkins, to rid East Anglia of the "venomous old hags".
- Babies born in Littleport on March 21st, May 1st or Septemebr 23rd were thought to be blessed with good luck and able to see into the future.
- The Fenland people took opium up until the 20th century, dulling the senses to the "wet and disease-ridden" environment they lived in.
- Meat was a luxury in the 1800's and most Fen folk had to grub for vegetables in the hedgerows. This led to food riots in Littleport in 1816, following which 24 people were arrested and sentenced to death.
- Until the early 1900's the town of Ely was haunted by the deathly howls of 'shucky dogs' on moonless nights. Shuck was the name of a black dog who was killed with his master when the master's horse bolted into a nearby river.
- 'Fenland Lighters', based on flat-bottomed Viking ship design, were used to carry crops along the network of dykes and rivers. They were sometimes pulled by horses submerged up to their necks with a handler standing on their backs.
- The peat of the Fens has shrunk dramatically since the area was drained. A metal post that was driven fully into the peat of Holme Fen in 1851 now stands 13 ft proud of the surface.
- Massive flooding and 100mph winds hit the Fens in 1947, swamping 1000's of acres and sweeping away houses. A military rescue operation named "Noah's Ark" was launched.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sean K on
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Another interesting bit of news in todays papers caught my eye. Due to the unusually cold weather in the UK, the 'British and Fenland Skating Championships' took place this week, close to the site of grand "Whittlesey Mere". Whittlesey Mere was the largest natural lake in southern Britain, reaching 3000 acres, until it was drained in the mid nineteenth century. During the early part of that century the lake regularly froze during the winter months and was a popular place for skating.
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Permalink Reply by Rosie on
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Anyone interested in Fen skating should look at Adam Giles website
http://www.gileslandscapes.co.uk/fen-skating.aspx
for some really nice archives and pictures of the Welney and district skating families .
Wikipedia has a good entry on the families too, the Registers and Porters etc from Southery as well as the Smarts. Sees and Horns etc , and a really nice reprint of an old book, Handbook of Fen Skating by the Goodman brothers, written in the 1890s is available from Amazon and other places on line for about £10 It is quite nice to see a member of the family in a race results table in the 1800s even if they lost!
Some of the places that my father skated on in 1947 /1963 are now no longer available, eg Tongue End washes, so it was nice to see people on the ice at Whittlesey, Welney and Bury Fen and we can only hope the landowners continue to allow access for this traditional fenland pursuit. It is also good to see people like Malcom Robinson from http://www.fenskating.co.uk and friends ( as well as some old hands) keeping the skating going -
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Received a great little book through the post today - "Bygones" - 40 pages of memories of Fenland molecatcher Arthur Randell-Fenman. He was born in 1900 and recorded his memories in 1975. If anyone comes across the book on eBay then you should snap it up!
There's a fascinating section about the Fenland dialect (Arthur came from the Wisbech area). It sounds like its been written by J.R.R. Tolkein! Boys and girls were boors and mawthers. Shouting was Yorping. A sick person was Gaggy while a fat person was Jot gutted. A really bad day was A Rumman. -
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