Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, as well as
Peterborough City Council, all lay claim to a part of the Fens. Since
Roman times, man 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 in the seventeenth and
eighteenth changed the landscape forever - leading slowly but surely to
the area so loved today. Insightful, entertaining and full of rich
incident, here is the fascinating story of the Fens.