Wicken Lode

Wicken Lode

Wicken Lode is one of the Cambridgeshire lodes, a man-made channel of origin lost in past time. It begins at Reach Lode, and runs form this junction northeastwards between Adventurer's Fen to t the south and Wicken Fen to the north, running for nearly a mile and a half to just short of the village of Wicken. There is a right of public navigation as far as its junction with Monk's Lode, and the stretch beyond that is only naviagable by local inhabitants.

The lode is not as wide or deep as the adjacent lodes, and can only be navigated by smaller craft. The waterway continues as Monk's Lode and then the New River, although these are not navigable. Peat from Burwell Fen was brought up Wicken lode for much of the 19th century, for distribution to local farms, and the trade only stopped in the 1940s when peat cutting was restricted. Sedge from the fen was transported by boat from the sites where it was cut to a wharf near the head of the lode.

Wicken Fen is one of the oldest nature reserves in Britain, is owned and managed by the National Trust, which bought their first part of it in 1899. Purchases have continued, and the Trust now manages 730 acres of wetland. It is not a true fen, as the area is higher than the surrounding land, but since 1956 the wetland has been maintained by a drainage windmill pump which was moved from its location at Adventurers Fen, to the south of the lode, and re-assembled to supply the Fen with water. The National Trust Warden's office includes a display which tells the history of the Fen and how it has been managed.

References

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