Abstract
THE Fenland is an area of 73 miles by 36 miles, covering 1306 square miles, and comprises parts of the counties of Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Northampton. It consists of Jurassic clays underlying glacial boulder clay, cut into basins and water courses by tidal and river actions. Some Jurassic islands were left, such as Ely, while peat formed in the swamps to the south, merging into a broad belt of silt against the sea. The area was not stable, and peat and silt in places alternate; and often horizons of submerged forests are followed by swamp conditions. In the earliest period of history the Eenland was a flat expanse with scattered islands and ridges from the surrounding uplands, all these cultivated, while the swamps yielded rough produce for stock, the streams abundant fish, especially eels, and the marshes wild-fowl. Of course it must have been a paradise to the Romans by providing an outlet for their energies, the results of which are problematical. It is only certain that there was wide cultivation succeeded by decay. This was possibly due to the neglect of drainage works, complicated by a small change in land-level in progress towards the termination of the Roman occupation.
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GARDINER, J. The Fenland. Nature 145, 649–651 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145649a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145649a0