Wicken Fen Windpump - a photo on Flickriver

Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire is one of England’s very few remaining pieces of original fenland. It is a protected wetland site of international standing. The wind pump here, a smock mill, was originally at nearby Adventurer’s Fen and is the last survivor of the many thousands that once dotted the fenlands.

A fen is a waterlogged place with reeds and other plants growing in standing water, beneath which are peats and, nearer the sea, marine silts. These flat wetlands were interspersed by islands (like Ely) carrying villages and small towns. Transport was by boat.

That was the original Fenland. Much of what is now called the Fens in eastern England is a modern landscape. The original fenland was drained from 1629 onwards by Dutch engineers to give very rich farmland.

An unexpected long-term result was that the underlying peat beds dried out and shrank. Fields sank by 2m or so and became lower than the drainage channels and rivers! Continuous pumping was then needed - first by wind pumps like this survivor at Wicken. Eventually the picturesque windpumps were replaced by steam power, then by diesel or electrically driven pumps.

www.flickr.com/photos/lesc/albums/72177720300900318

Taken on: June 21, 2022

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Wicken Fen

wind pump

fenland

Cambridgeshire

drainage

Dutch engineers

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