Parson Drove Fen

This is the "Museum of Technology", which proclaims that it displays "The History of Gadgets and Gizmos" concentrating mainly on communications and home entertainment equipment from the period 1850 - 1980. It is located at the southern border of Lincolnshire, almost into Cambridgeshire, in a village called Throckenholt. I am used to the mild disappointment of most Lincolnshire museums, whose ambition normally exceeds their content. But I was very impressed here. There is a wealth of exhibits, expertly curated and labelled, and many of which can be demonstrated on request. They have a web site: Link This is an entirely independent museum, dependent on visitors and (like Geograph) on donations. It is a remarkably good place to visit, in a landscape unlike any other. See TF3609 : Display cabinets and TF3609 : A Galvanometer for a hint of what lies within.

Some of the exhibits at TF3609 : Purpose-built museum, the Museum of Technology at Throckenholt.

One of the exhibits at TF3609 : Purpose-built museum, the Museum of Technology at Throckenholt.

One of the exhibits at the Museum of Technology TF3609 : Purpose-built museum, from the "Electro Quackery" collection of early twentieth century. See TF3609 : Display card for details.

The description for the device in TF3609 : Quackery.

A 1930s amplification device made by Siemens and Halske in Germany.

I work with high voltages. The idea of holding this device up to something powered up to 30kV is terrifying. You would want to be very sure the wire at the end was properly earthed. The principle is of an adjustable spark gap.

A memory of my past from the Museum of Technology, TF3609 : Purpose-built museum. People pre-deposited the cash and then dialled the number. Once answered you had to press Button A to be connected to the other end. This dropped the money in the cash box for later retrieval by the authorities. For trunk or overseas calls you went via the operator, and they counted the coins going in by sound, each one striking a small bell that they could hear through the telephone circuit. Button B forced a refund instead, if the call was not successfully connected. It was a childhood hobby to nip into call boxes and press button B in the hope that drunk, or stupid, people had failed to get their tuppence back. Around one time in ten this paid off, and I regularly used to double my pocket money for the week in this manner. I am perhaps a little harsh. Both buttons required a fair amount of physical effort, and it is not impossible that doddering old ladies had not the physical strength to extract a refund. But, when you are young, extra pennies were welcome.

A field of winter wheat, looking a bit thirsty. This is the last field in Lincolnshire before you get to Cambridgeshire - the county boundary is the drain on the southern edge of this field.

Once a car showroom in front of a garage, this is now the village shop and very busy.

A typical fenland pub, fortunately surviving, and handling the needs of the local community. See also TF3708 : Pub Sign. Recommended. It is odd that this is not a listed building as it has a considerable history, dating from at least 1541. Samuel Pepys, who visited Parson Drove on 17 and 18 September 1663, described it as a ‘heathen place’ where he had to sleep in a ‘sad, cold, stony chamber in a miserable inn’. He did, however, manage a minor seduction of the maid. He was talking about the Swan Inn. The current fabric dates, like the nearby drainage work, to the early 1830s. In 1834 it was the property of a brewer called Charles Boucher, who rebuilt it almost entirely.

The sign for TF3708 : The Swan Inn. Elgoods do a good line in pub signs, as well as beer.

A tractor towing a slurry trailer. The trailer is a Redrock tandem axle slurry tanker. The tractor, a Massey Ferguson 7618.

Almost certainly named for the nearby Inn, this bridge crosses the North Level Main Drain, the master leet for the North Level District Internal Drainage Board. The bridge dates from 1832, a period of intensive investment in the fens with the change from wind to steam drainage. This was the same period of drainage improvment under John Rennie when the nearby Clough Bridge was built (TF3609 : Cloughs Cross Bridge and former sluices). This when the North Level Main Drain was constructed, greatly improving the agriculture hereabouts.

The keystone of TF3608 : The Swan Bridge with the date of 1832

Almost certainly named for the nearby Inn, this bridge crosses the North Level Main Drain, the master leet for the North Level District Internal Drainage Board. The bridge dates from 1832, a period of intensive investment in the fens with the change from wind to steam drainage. This was the same period of drainage improvment under John Rennie when the nearby Clough Bridge was built (TF3609 : Cloughs Cross Bridge and former sluices). This when the North Level Main Drain was constructed, greatly improving the agriculture hereabouts.

Constructed in the 1830s to designs by John Rennie. It drains the area of the North Level District Internal Drainage Board Northwards, joining the River Nene at Tydd Gote, downstream of Wisbech.

This drain, constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Rennie. We are looking downstream in the main direction of flow, when flow there is. The presence of duckweed shows how static the water has been for the last few months.