Template:FP-The Great Fen

Farmland in Grunty Fen, Cambridgeshire

The Great Fen The Great Fen stretches across a huge area the eastern counties, in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire. It is a low-lying area, much of it below sea level, a naturally marshy region. Once the Great Fen was a vast landscape of marshes, bogs and reeds, with seasonal fields and small farms amidst the waters, all cut through with innumerable channels; slow-moving rivers and man-made lodes, from which occasional islands emerged on which stood the fenland villages. Almost all of the fens were drained several centuries ago. The result today is a vast, flat agricultural landscape. The drained lands continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps. Even with these protections, floods which leave many square miles under water are frequent in parts. (Read more)