FENLANDS—A by
F. ].
LECTURE
BINGLEY,
M.A.
ON Saturday, 12th December, 1964, Mr. F. J. Bingley gave a lecture on the East Anglian fens. The lecture was concerned mainly with the South Level, that is to say, the black peat fens lying southeast of a line drawn from St. Ives through Earith and Denver to King's Lynn. After pointing out that the fenland was not entirely marsh but was dotted with islands of clay on which Settlements were established in the earliest times, Mr. Bingley went on to describe the importance of the fenland monasteries in the Middle Ages, how their building stone was transported by water from Barnack near Stamford and how the monks depended on the fenland products such as turf, wild fowl, and fish. Some idea of the medieval fenland Vegetation can be gained from a visit to Wicken Fen. This area, now owned by the National Trust, was saved from the plough because it formed a valuable source of sedge and reed for thatching and litter. T h e present Vegetation of Wicken Fen is largely dominated by bushes. DĂźring the last year or two it has been possible to begin the Clearing of the bushes, and a mixed fen Vegetation is replacing them. More water is badly needed on the fen to check the re-establishment of bushes ; this is the main prob lern facing the Wicken Fen Committee. Mr. Bingley went on to relate the history of the draining of the fens, illustrated by photographs of dykes and pumping stations. It was pointed out that the drainage feil into two phases : first, the dyke-digging of the seventeenth Century when the Duke of Bedford and his co-adventurers employed the Dutchman, Vermuyden, to plan and carry out an overall scheme of embanking and draining which superseded the piecemeal medieval activities. His major work was the digging of the Bedford rivers, short circuiting the Ouse between Earith and Denver sluice. It is amusing to reflect that Vermuyden's plan was not completed until 1964 when the by-pass Channel was opened to carry the upland water round the eastern margins of the fens to Denver. The second phase of draining was the result of the shrinking of the peat due to the removal of the water ; this made it necessary to pump the water from the lowered peat surface into the rivers. At first windmills were used ; in the nineteenth Century they were superseded by steam engines which in their turn were superseded by diesel and finally by electricity. Continued shrinkage of the peat due to the oxidation of the surface layers gives rise to many problems for the fen dweller. Bog oak, dating from the Bronze Age, becomes exposed ; telegraph poles and railway signals lean outwards ; the sinking of railway lines at the rate of one inch per year keeps the railway engineers busy ; and building in the fens still remains a problem, save where the silted up Channels of extinct water courses provide firm ground. Mr. Bingley emphasised that, far from being a dull area, the fens make a most interesting and rewarding study.