In my last blog I briefly mentioned the great bog that was Deeping Fen, so it felt important to explain a little more about it and highlight an unusual event.
Deeping Fen was, as Stukeley had observed, largely a bog and
at times a lake. Even in more recent times, the central part of the area was
commonly referred to as a lake and was mostly unusable land.
The Deeping fen area stretches from the rivers Glen to the
north and Welland to the south, an area of vast flatness with no observable
feature that was not manmade. Several towns and villages exist on the periphery
of the fen with strong Anglo-Saxon roots, and Roman Car Dyke flirts with the
western edge of the fen. There are also some excellent archaeological features
from prehistory, so the land was never ‘just a swamp’.
Drainage began centuries ago, and the enormous hand-cut
drains still dominate the landscape today. They remain vital in protecting the
low-lying land from summer deluges and winter’s constant rains. Almost as vital
as the deeply dug river channels of the Welland and Glen whose wide and
enormously high banks have happily contained a vast quantity of water without
incident for many years. However, in took centuries to drain the fen until it
was suitably habitable.
It was thanks to this frequent dampness that Deeping Fen was
the site of an unusual weather feature in 1752. The journal Fenland Notes and
Queries carried an account from Reverend Benjamin Ray, the Perpetual Curate of
Cowbit and Surfleet, who had seen a waterspout over Deeping Fen. Rev. Ray is
described in Literary Anecdotes related to the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society as being
‘A most ingenious and worthy man, possessed of good learning, but ignorant of
the world; indolent and thoughtless, and very often absent.’ Hardly a glowing
report and perhaps not the most reliable reporter of a rare meteorological sighting. The report was as follows:
May 5th 1752, a phenomenon appeared about 7 in
the evening, in Deeping-Fen, which, from its effects, seemed to be a
water-spout, broken from the clouds. A watery substance, as it seemed, was seen
moving on the earth and water, in Deeping-Fen. It passed along with such
violence and rapidity, that it carried every thing before it: such as grass,
straw, and stubble; and in going over the country bank, it raised the dust to a
great height; and when it arrived in the wash, in the midst of the water, and
just over against where Mr R. lived, it stood still for some minutes. This
watery substance spouted out water from its own surface to a considerable
height, and with a terrible noise.
The waterspout continued to Cowbit and then headed towards Weston
Hills and Moulton Chapel, destroying a field of turnips, and damaging two gates
on its progress. Others were also seen on the same day, but none of them would
have benefitted from the specific landscape credentials of Deeping Fen.
The journal Fenland Notes and Queries can be viewed online,
as can Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. Follow the links below.
https://archive.org/details/fenlandnotesque01sweegoog/page/n272/mode/2up
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