By Dr George Askwith
George is a member of our editorial team, a member of Peterborough Humanists and a volunteer for Faith to Faithless, where she is a researcher and event organiser. Faith to Faithless is Humanist UK's programme to support people leaving high-control religions. In this article, she explains that, through education, conservation, and sustainable innovation, the story of the Fens continues to evolve – a living testament to the ongoing interplay between human ingenuity and the natural world.
The Fens, a unique wetland region in eastern England, has a rich history dating back thousands of years, shaped by natural changes and human intervention. Once a refuge for early settlers, monks and rebels, the Fens evolved through drainage projects into a cornerstone of English agriculture. Today, conservation efforts aim to balance ecological restoration with sustainable land use, addressing challenges posed by climate change and rising sea levels.
When I reflect on our relationship with the land here in the UK, I think of the landscape that surrounds me now – the Fens. As a historian living in this unique region, I’ve come to appreciate its rich history, culture and natural beauty. The Fens, or Fenland, stretches across parts of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, and its wide skies and open, flat fields offer a striking contrast to the rugged coastal landscape of Wales where I grew up. This region has inspired artists and storytellers for centuries with legendary figures such as Hereward the Wake.
The word ‘Fen’ stems from the Old English fenn, meaning mud or marsh. It refers to the nutrient-rich, peat-accumulating wetland. Peat is a type of organic soil that forms in waterlogged conditions where plant material cannot fully decompose due to a lack of oxygen. Over thousands of years, it creates a dense, carbon-rich material. Fenland ecosystems, formed by millennia of waterlogged conditions, are vital for global carbon storage, yet they are fragile, irreplaceable habitats. Historically, the Fens was a mosaic of freshwater and saltwater wetlands, shaped by shifting sea levels and tidal flows. Evidence of human settlement dates back around 9,000 years, with settlements that grew up around the edges of the Fens and on low islands, as early inhabitants were drawn to the abundant fish, birds, and plant life.
In the Bronze Age, water levels peaked, submerging earlier settlements and creating layers of peat that preserved organic materials such as wood and food remains. This period saw significant human activity, including the construction of boats, wooden trackways and platforms to navigate the wetlands. Settlements such as Flag Fen and Must Farm have given us much archaeological evidence for life in the Bronze Age, and their remains speak of a culture that thrived in this challenging environment, adapting to its rhythms and turning its resources to their advantage.
As the centuries passed, the Fens changed through natural and man-made alterations. In the Iron Age, receding waters opened new lands for farming, and new communities grew up, while the arrival of the Romans brought ambitious infrastructure projects, such as the Fen Causeway and drainage systems. The Fen Causeway provided a solid, raised roadway through the waterlogged terrain of the Fens, linking with Ermine Street and connecting East Anglia with London and other parts of Roman Britain. It was constructed using materials such as clay, gravel and timber, with raised embankments to prevent flooding.
Even as the Fens became more accessible, their wildness and mystery made them a refuge for hermits, monks, and early Christian communities. This eerie expanse provided spiritual solace and isolation for religious settlements that would leave a lasting legacy. Elevated islands within the Fens, such as Ely and Thorney, were naturally defensible and less prone to flooding, making them suitable for constructing permanent monastic settlements. The monasteries were centres of learning, agriculture, and early drainage efforts, contributing to the transformation of the landscape. Reeds and timber were used for building and fuel. These resources enabled monasteries and hermitages to thrive without relying heavily on external trade, although proximity to waterways facilitated communication and trade when necessary.
St. Guthlac established his hermitage on Crowland, a small island surrounded by marshes, around 699. Early Christian teachings often associated the wilderness with places of spiritual testing and divine encounters, echoing biblical stories such as Jesus’ time in the desert. The Fens’ vast, otherworldly landscape, with its endless skies and wetlands, resonated with these spiritual ideals, symbolising a place of spiritual testing and purification, and, according to his hagiography, Guthlac was visited by both demons and angels.
The ‘Fen Five’ monasteries – Ely, Crowland, Ramsey, Peterborough, and Thorney Abbey – became centres of faith, learning, and innovation, their influence etched into the fabric of English history. Today, Ely is probably the most famous. The city was built on the highest land in the Fens and remained an island until the 17th century. Ely Cathedral is still known as the 'ship of the Fens'. It was originally an abbey founded in 673AD by St. Æthelthryth, a princess of East Anglia, and as with all early English abbeys was run by women. It was a double monastery, housing both nuns and monks, with an abbess in charge. Such abbesses could be incredibly powerful in the early Middle Ages.
The Vikings targeted religious communities for their wealth, destroying centres like Ely or Crowland in the 9th century. The Fens’ inaccessibility made them a natural refuge during times of political upheaval or invasion and Ely was rebuilt in the 10th century as a Benedictine monastery for men only. Following the Norman Conquest, a grand Romanesque church was built, and it became a cathedral when the Diocese of Ely was created in 1109.
This was also the period of Hereward the Wake, a semi-legendary figure from 11th century English history, remembered as a leader of resistance against the Norman conquest of England. His epithet, 'the Wake', is thought to mean 'watchful' or 'vigilant'. His story is told in medieval chronicles such as the Gesta Herewardi (The Deeds of Hereward) and accounts by historians such as Orderic Vitalis. He was said to have been exiled as a young man for unruly behaviour, and living as a soldier or adventurer in Europe. Upon returning to England, Hereward found his family’s lands seized by the Normans, which sparked his rebellion, and he became a leader of local insurgents, including displaced Anglo-Saxon nobles and commoners. Eventually his rebellion, based at Ely, fell, and while some sources claim he was pardoned by William I (William the Conqueror/Bastard), others suggest he was killed.
The 17th century marked a turning point in the history of the Fens with the advent of large-scale drainage projects. Spearheaded by engineers such as the Dutch Cornelius Vermuyden, channels, dykes and pumping stations revolutionised the landscape but also sparked fierce local resistance. Known as ‘Fen Tigers’, they sabotaged drainage efforts, to protect their traditional livelihoods based on fishing, fowling and reed harvesting. By the 19th century, technological advancements in steam-powered pumping enabled more effective drainage; however, this was not without consequences. The drained peatlands have subsided, leaving much of the region below sea level and increasingly reliant on flood defences to stay habitable. Holme Fen, in Cambridgeshire, has subsided by over 4 metres and is now around 2.75 metres (9 feet) below sea level.
_(26144727151).jpg)
The Fens supports unique plant and animal species. The biodiversity of the Fens is heavily influenced by water chemistry, with variations in mineral content and pH determining the types of flora and fauna that can thrive. Dominated by sedges, mosses and graminoids, these wetlands are home to rare species, and provide critical habitats for birds such as the snipe, lapwing and bittern. However, human activity, including agriculture and drainage, has significantly altered these ecosystems, leading to habitat loss and declining biodiversity. As a cornerstone of English agriculture, producing crops such as grains, vegetables and rapeseed, the area contributes significantly to UK food production. In addition, the Fens are a hub for renewable energy projects including wind and solar farms, reflecting the region’s adaptability.
Educational and community-based initiatives play a vital role in fostering awareness and engagement with the Fens’ unique heritage. Local organizations, museums, and nature reserves offer opportunities for residents and visitors to explore the history, ecology, and future of this remarkable landscape. Environmental stewardship schemes manage hedgerows, ditches and wildlife corridors to provide habitats for diverse species, and conservation efforts, such as the Great Fen Project, aim to restore parts of the drained wetlands to their natural state, improving biodiversity and alleviating flood risks. In Cambridgeshire, the Great Fen Project, for example, is an ambitious and transformative conservation initiative. It aims to create a connected network of wetland habitats to benefit wildlife, mitigate climate change, and support sustainable land use. The project focuses on converting drained agricultural land back into wetlands, reed beds, and fen habitats, reintroducing native species, restoring natural hydrology, and creating habitats for endangered plants such as the fen violet. The success of such projects depends on balancing agricultural productivity with ecological restoration, a challenging task given the economic importance of the Fens to the UK’s food supply.
Today, the modern drainage systems, embankments and pumping stations, that define the Fens as much as the flatness and open skies, speak to the resilience of this land and its people. Rising sea levels and climate change are challenges, but also offer an opportunity to rethink how we live in harmony with nature. Through education, conservation and sustainable innovation, the story of the Fens continues to evolve – a living testament to the ongoing interplay between human ingenuity and the natural world.
Comments