From Punt to Plough

A History of the Fens

The counties of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk and Peterborough City Council all lay claim to parts of the Fens. Since Roman times mankind, by his ingenuity, hard work and determination has increased the land mass in this area by one third of the size. It is the largest plain in the British Isles, covering an area of nearly three-quarters of a million acres, and is unique to the UK. The fen people know the area as marsh (land reclaimed from the sea) and fen (land drained from flooding rivers running from the uplands). The Fens are unique in having more miles of navigable waterways than anywhere else in the UK. Mammoth drainage schemes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, undertaken primarily by Dutch engineers such as Sir Cornelius Vermuyden and Sir Philibert Vernatti, changed the landscape forever - but it could be said that the Fens were not truly drained until the twenteith century, with improvements being carried out even to this day. Rex Sly's book draws on his many years of research, and his knowledge of and love for this unique area of England shine through on every page.