Chapter XV: Section VI

_Further account of the Fens_, _from the_ BEAUTIES OF ENGLAND, _and other sources_.

“That this vast level was at first a firm dry land, and not annoyed
with any extraordinary inundation by the sea, or stagnation of fresh
waters, is evident from the quantity of trees that have been found
buried in different parts of the fens, and also from a variety of
other circumstances.

“Dugdale, in his _History of Embanking_, observes that in making
several-channels for draining in the isle of Axholm, great numbers of
oak, fir, and other trees were found in the moor. The fir trees lay
at the depth of between four and five feet, but the oaks were but
little more than three feet beneath the soil. They were discovered
lying near their roots, which “still stand as they grew,” that is, in
firm earth below the moor, and the bodies, for the most part,
northwest from the roots, not cut down with axes, but burnt asunder,
somewhat near the ground, as the ends of them, being _coaled_, do
manifest. The oaks were lying in multitudes, and of an extraordinary
size, being five yards in compass, and sixteen yards long; and some
smaller of a greater length, with a good quantity of acorns and small
nuts near them.” Similar discoveries have been made in the fen near
Thorney; in digging the channel north of Lynn, called Downham Eau;
and in many other places.”

_Mr Richard Atkins_, a gentleman of considerable research, and a commissioner of sewers in the reign of James I. was of opinion that the Fens were formerly meadow land, fruitful, healthy, and lucrative to the inhabitants, from affording relief to the people of the highlands in times of drought. Peterborough, he observes, was of old called Meadhamstead, on account of the meadows there, though most of the present fens belong to that district. Likewise Ely, or Peterborough Great Fen was once a forest.

“In a Paper communicated to the Royal Society by the reverend _John
Rastrick_ of Lynn, and published in the Philosophical Transactions
(No. 279, 1702) it is mentioned, that on removing the foundation of
the old sluice at the end of Hammond’s Bank, where it falls into
Boston Haven, the workmen discovered many roots of trees issuing from
their boles, or trunks, spread in the ground; and in taking them up
with the earth in which they were embedded, they met with a solid
gravelly and stony soil, of the high country kind, but black and
discoloured, from the length of years, and the change which had
befallen it.

“Mr. _Elstobb_, in his Historical Account of the Bedford Level,
affirms, that in his perambulations over the levels of Sutton and
Mepal, and others adjacent, in the counties of Cambridge and
Huntingdon, he observed, at the depth of about three feet under the
present moorish soil, multitudes of roots of large trees, standing as
they had grown, from which the bodies had manifestly been sawn off.
Some of them he saw lying at a small distance from their roots, at
the depth above-mentioned; and he was credibly informed that great
numbers had been and were still found severed and lying in the same
manner.

“He also relates that in driving the piles for securing the
foundation of the great sluice at the mouth of the new cut, a little
above Boston, in 1764, roots of trees were found at the depth of
eighteen feet below the pasturage surface, standing as the trees had
grown. Some of them were obliged to be chopt through to make a
passage for the piles. In some other parts of the trench dug for
laying the same foundations, small shells were discovered, disposed
in the same manner as they are often found at the bottom and sides of
the marsh creeks.

“The preceding instances are sufficient proofs, that the surface of
this level was anciently much lower than it is at present; {60} and
also that it must have remained dry for a vast number of years,
otherwise the trees would never have attained to the magnitude which
they appear to have done by the above statements. In what age, or
from what causes the waters overspread the country, and converted
this extensive district into fens, is uncertain; yet there are
reasons to believe, that the great level would have remained in a
flourishing state till the present time, if the operations of nature
had not been interrupted by the works of art.

“_Dugdale_, in a quotation from the Life of Agricola, by Tacitus,
says that “the Britons complained that their hands and bodies were
worn out and consumed by the Romans, in clearing the woods, and
embanking the fens.” This sentence, when considered conjointly with
the foregoing accounts of the state in which the trees have been
found, enables us to form an idea of the time when the woods were
destroyed, which appears to have been before the Romans had secured
the entire possession of the island. Some of the trees, we find,
were _burnt_, and others _sawn_ down, and this evidently without any
regard either to profit or utility, since the trunks were left to
perish on the soil where they grew. It is probable therefore, that
they were felled to deprive the Britons of shelter, and to enable the
Roman soldiers to march in greater security, and obtain an easier
conquest.

“The emperor _Severus_ is said to have been the first who intersected
the fens with causeways. _Dugdale_ has mentioned one, supposed to
have been made by him, of twenty-four miles in length, extending from
Denver to Peterborough. This was composed of gravel, about three
feet in depth and sixty feet broad, and is covered with moor from
three to five feet in thickness. This furnishes another proof of the
great alterations which the fens have undergone; yet the changes
which have taken place may be illustrated still further.

“The celebrated _Sir Robert Cotton_, when making a pool, at the edge
of Connington Downs, in Huntingdonshire, found the skeleton of a
large sea-fish nearly twenty feet long, about six feet below the
superfices of the ground, and as much below the general level of the
fens. Many of the bones, which from their long continuance in the
earth, were incrusted with stone, were preserved, and are reported to
be still in the possession of Sir Robert’s descendants.

“At Whittlesea, in digging through the moor, for the purpose of
making a moat to secure a plantation of fruit trees, at eight feet
deep, a perfect soil was found, with swaths of grass lying on it as
they were at first mowed.” This seems to indicate that the
inundation which overwhelmed the country, happened in summer, or
early in autumn, and had not been foreseen by the inhabitants. The
_nuts_ and _acorns_ before-mentioned, will also corroborate this
conjecture, as to the time of the year when this catastrophe
happened; and so do the swaths of grass, or mown hay, as to the
suddenness of it.

“When the foundation was dug for Shirbeck sluice, near Boston, at the
depth of sixteen feet a _smith’s forge_ was discovered embedded in
silt, with all the _tools_ belonging to it, several _horse-shoes_ and
some other articles. Also in setting down a sluice a little below
Magdalene Fall, a stone eight feet long and a cart wheel were found
at a similar depth below the surface. Likewise near the river
Welland, at the depth of ten feet, several boats were dug up; and at
the same depth, on the opposite side of the river, the remains of
ancient tan-vats or pits, and a great quantity of horns were found.

“_Henry of Huntingdon_, who lived in the reign of king Stephen,
describes this fenny country as very pleasant and agreeable to the
eye, watered by many rivers which run through it, diversified with
many large and small lakes, and adorned with many woods and islands.
_William of Malmsbury_ also, who lived till the first year of Henry
II, has painted the state of the land round Thorney in the most
glowing colours. He represents it as a paradise; the very marshes
abounding in trees, whose length, without knots, emulated the stars.
The plain there (says he) is as level as the sea, which with the
flourishing of the grass allureth the eye; and so smooth that there
is nothing to hinder him that runs through it; neither is there any
_waste_ place in it; for in some parts there are apple trees; in
others vines, which either spread upon the grounds, or run along the
poles.”

Making every allowance for the florid colouring of the above representations, it is manifest that the level in the times of the above writers must have been in a very flourishing and superior condition to what it was a few centuries afterwards, “when the fens were covered with water, and the inhabitants of many islands in danger of perishing for want of food.” Whatever occasioned the alteration, it clearly appears that attempts at draining were made as early as the reign of Edward I, and have been continued with various success to the present time. The famous _John of Gaunt_, and _Margaret countess of Richmond_ were among the first adventurers who embarked in this undertaking. They were pretty soon succeeded by _bishop Morton_, whose patriotic efforts, as has been already observed, were attended with considerable success.