Wisbech High Fen

View across Wisbech Fen from Thorney Road, Guyhirn.

One of the many sets of works on the dreaded A47 between Guyhirn and Peterborough. Over to the right are warehouses belonging to transport firm, Bretts.

A house surrounded by willows on Gull Drove.

On Gull Drove in Wisbech High Fen. How high? Sea level!

A new track, not on OS, leads to here from Fort Farm on Gull Drove.

From Gull Bank

On Hook's Drove, the collection of buildings along this lane is known as Rogue's Alley!

The winter wheat is sprouting but nature is shutting down for the winter

A north westerly view from Gull Drove close to the old level crossing position. This embankment once carried the GE & GN Joint Line from Spalding to March over the fenland and closed in November 1982.

This raised road runs from Murrow to Guyhirn on top of a bank which was once part of the flood defence system in the Fens. Somewhere near this point the road name changes from Murrow Bank to Gull Bank but historically it is called Fendyke Bank. Fendyke Bank, the great bank stretching from Cloughs Cross on the Lincolnshire border southwards to Guyhirn, is one of the most important in the district. For many hundreds of years it was the bastion of defence against the fresh waters coming down from the upland counties, and the landward counterpart to the old sea bank on the east side of Leverington. Fendyke protected the whole district on the north side of Wisbech which includes Tydd St. Giles, Newton, Leverington, Guyhirn, and Wisbech St. Mary. Its importance cannot therefore be exaggerated, and the most stringent measures were taken to ensure its safety. The obligation to maintain the bank was imposed on the landowners in the protected parishes. A great breach was made in the bank in 1437, when 13,400 acres were flooded through the default of one Thomas Flower, the owner of 24 acres in Wisbech High Fen. (fn. 5) Further breaches occurred in 1570 (fn. 6) and in 1770. At the latter date a gap 130 yards wide was made, probably at Abel's Gull. Parts of the country-side were flooded to a depth of 6 feet, and were not brought back into cultivation for three years. So sudden was the disaster that some fled for their lives to Thorney Abbey and the higher lands around. (fn. 7) The Fendyke may be said to mark the boundary between the 'peat' and 'silt' portions of the parish. The former, comprising Parson Drove Fen, has always been less highly valued and was formerly used mainly as sheep pasturage; it is sparsely populated. The latter, which is the area of ancient settlement, forms part of the Wisbech fruit-growing and market-gardening district. From: 'Wisbech Hundred: Chapeiry of Parson Drove', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4: City of Ely; Ely, N. and S. Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds (2002), pp. 197-200. URL: Link Date accessed: 12 July 2011.

Between the fenland villages of Guyhirn and Murrow. For a reverse view in winter see link - Link

Small area of vegetables amongst the large arable fields.

B1187 from Guyhirn to Murrow.

Heading towards Tholomas Drove.