Grunty Fen
Grunty Fen is a drained fen in Cambridgeshire, found four miles southwest of Ely. It was once a parish in its own right for the hamlet around the fen.
Grunty Fen consists of the low-lying land at the centre of the Isle of Ely that separates the villages of Wilburton and Stretham from Witchford and Wentworth. The area is less than 15 feet above sea-level.
Despite the importance of nearby Ely, the land around Grunty Fen was uninhabitable even following the draining of the Fens in the seventeenth century, and was still only used for sheep grazing and turf cutting through the eighteenth century. One of the last parts of The Fens to be drained, a catchwater was dug in 1838, though it took another couple of decades for the land to become completely dry. Following enclosure the land was farmed, but the thin peaty soil soon eroded and by the Second World War the area was largely uncultivated once more. There are now several working farms covering the fen.[1]
The parish of Grunty Fen is in the South Witchford Hundred. Covering an area of 1,793 acres, the fen was in early days divided between the parishes of Ely, Witchford, Wentworth, Haddenham, Wilburton, Stretham, and Little Thetford. In 1921 there were just 97 folk dwelling in the fen.
The area made national headlines when Clement Freud, member of Parliament for the Isle of Ely, asked the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, whether she had plans to visit Grunty Fen where residents were concerned about the level of wage settlements. Thatcher replied that the 97 residents were a happy, agricultural community with a low rate of unemployment.[1]
Popular culture
From the late 1980s BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast a weekly slot featuring Dennis of Grunty Fen, "Britain's favourite vocal yokel", a fictional character who lives in a converted railway carriage with his 92-year old grandmother. Despite the death of the creator, Pete Sayers, in 2005, the character's popularity continues.[2][3]
An annual race known as the Grunty Fen Half Marathon has been run annually since 1991. The race starts and ends at Witchford Village College. The 2011 winner was Aaron Scott of Notts Athletic Club.[4][5]
The Grunty Fen Rhubarb Festival is held annually at the Burwell Museum.[6]
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mike Petty (19 March 2012). "Memories". Cambridge News.
- ↑ "Dennis of Grunty Fen". ely.org.uk. http://www.ely.org.uk/DENNISofGRUNTY-FEN/.
- ↑ "Deep down your way". The Independent. June 29, 1997. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/deep-down-your-way-1258632.html.
- ↑ "Grunty Fen Half Marathon". http://www.gruntyfen.co.uk/.
- ↑ "Ely People - Grunty Fen Half Marathon Results 2011". http://www.elypeople.co.uk/Testing-Times-Grunty-Fen-Half-Marathon/story-13312293-detail/story.html.
- ↑ "Grunty Fen Rhubarb Festival". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2008/04/16/rhubarb_festival_2008_feature.shtml.
