Cultural Entity The Wash, United Kingdom around 2,450 kmï¿½ Location - map: The Wash and its hinterlands on the eastern coast of England; shared between the counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk; United Kingdom Origin of name: What was aptly named Metaris A Estuarium ï¿½ a bay with tidal marshes and mudflats ï¿½ back in Alexander the Greats day started to become known as The Wash much later on. The first true recorded use of the word Wysche or Waashe was used in the sixteenth century and described only the tidal areas of the Rivers Welland and Nene. A century on the area was referred to as The Washes being a ï¿½a very large armeï¿½ of the German Ocean. All old accounts refer to the great body of water that then flowed away on a tide to reveal dry land of great danger. Relationship/similarities with other cultural entities: The project entity area has an intricate relationship with the adjacent fenland area, which also reaching back through the years was influenced by being tidal or from sudden inundation from the sea and rivers.

The deeper fen becomes more peat like in character than that incorporated in this project area and in the most southern reaches there are true hill forms where historic towns such as Warboys and the cathedral settlement of Ely sit, which were once surrounded by a waterland as isles in the Fens. The similarities between The Wash and Wadden Sea in their cultural landscape evolution, is one of the main reasons for sharing experiences through the Lancewad Plan Project. For example, in more recent history the use of duck decoys in Alter Koog within the Nordstrand entity of Schleswig-Holstein are similar to those that was used all around The Wash, and still exist today for example at Friskney in Lincolnshire. Characteristic elements and ensembles: Evidence of prehistoric and medieval life including for example, Roman crop marks and Iron Age salterns; settlement patterns relating to uplands in the east and higher inner fenland ridges; Norman building programme evidence in churches and castles; maritime and farming sectors evident throughout including evidence of land reclamation and drainage in lower lying areas of western and southern reaches of area. 2.

Geology and geography 2.1 General In its current form, The Wash is an embayment of the North Sea, the largest estuarine system in the UK today. The hinterlands behind the sea embankments were once part of this system, and a much larger area of marsh and fenland, known as the Fens, which spread as far south as beyond Ely in Cambridgeshire. The five rivers that drain into The Wash today ï¿½ Rivers Steeping, Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse - drain over 12% of England. There used to be other rivers that now have been channelled into these five remaining estuaries. Within the entity project area the hinterlands still reflect their maritime past, as do the historic settlements of the area. Severe storms and associated flooding have punctuated the social history of this area, and its landscape. It has been progressively submerged by rising seas over the last 10-12,000 years. Offshore there are submerged peat and land surfaces, with associated human artefacts. The submerged sediments are basically continuous with the reclaimed areas of the Fens, although in places early deposits have been eroded by deep channels.

It is likely that there are historic wrecks preserved beneath the seabed, but these remain undiscovered due to the shifting nature of the sands and mud of The Wash. Map showing regional and county boundaries of England. ï¿½ English Nature. Map of project area with red line delimiting the entity which falls into three counties, from west to east; Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk. It is also split between two government regions known as East Midlands on the western side and East of England in the eastern section. Water colour map by Sam Wilson based on aerial photography supplied by Environment Agency. ï¿½ WESG 2.2 Present landscape The Wash entity area is split into two distinct landscapes, one representing the wilder, more naturalised vista which is defined by the North Sea, saltmarsh, mud flats and five river estuaries, which then reaches the foot of a sea embankment. On the other side is a landscape manicured by man, dominated by a rural appearance on the whole with church spires, mill towers and the odd other tall structure punctuating the skyline.

There are scattered market towns that follow the lines of old transport routes and identify slighter higher ground, with the historic ports towns of Boston, Spalding, Wisbech and Kingï¿½s Lynn being the major settlements with the outlying seaside towns of Hunstanton and Skegness guarding the mouth of The Wash with their golden beaches. The wilder land and seascapes on the seaward side of the embankment. ï¿½ Jon Watson Cultivated landscapes on the other side of the sea embankments. ï¿½ Fens Tourism The hinterlands of The Wash vary from east to west in character with over two-thirds being somewhat similar in character and the most eastern edge evolving into a quite different character. In the western, southern reaches through to just above Kingï¿½s Lynn there is little relief greatly above sea level, being flat and on a wider scoping range, generally open. The main vertical elements relate to settlements and farmsteads, such as shelter belts, church steeples, industrial buildings and an increasing number of wind turbines; and the odd remaining duck decoy. Many waterways of varying size criss-cross the land of large agricultural and horticultural fields.

There is little livestock associated with this area; the odd sheep grazing harvested brassica fields and cattle out near the open, wild Wash where they wander the saltmarsh in the summer. Farm reservoir banks, old sea and river embankments, and salterns are the only true undulation in the landscape. The older settlements tend to be linear following old trading routes or droves. Whereas the eastern hinterlands of Norfolk, north of Kingï¿½s Lynn, do have relief features in the form of cliffs at Hunstanton which reappear near Wolferton village within Sandringham Estate. There is a gentle undulating landscape that is predominately farmland but of a more intimate scale than the open landscape around the corner of The Wash towards the west. Trees and woodlands feature much more greatly here, and the church spires are lost much more easily amongst the hills and woods. In part, this area has been nationally designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is a landscape based designation which includes placing statutory duties on relevant bodies to ensure it maintains its character and beauty. Remnant sea banks do not tell the story of the land here, but Norman Keeps make a hint towards past landscapes.

Uplands of the eastern Wash coastal line that feature inland further south within the entity. ï¿½ Borough Council of Kingï¿½s Lynn & West Norfolk 3. Landscape and settlement history 3.1 Prehistoric and Medieval Times The Wash and its hinterland are made up of many metres of sediments that have been gradually deposited since Mesolithic times (from around 5400 BC) due to a combination of estuarine and freshwater conditions reflecting periodic sea level rise and fall across the original dry, wooded basin landscape. Across and within the deposits of the Fens lies a record of human history, showing evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman habitation, industry and communications. Archaeological treasures include: pottery, flints and ceremonial monuments of Neolithic age (4500-2000 BC) and Bronze Age field systems, settlements and round burial barrows. During the Iron Age and Roman period a salt production industry developed around The Wash. The evidence shows there was a second coming of salt making in the Medieval times, no evidence has been found as of yet covering the Saxon period. Late Iron Age/Romano-British field systems near Snettisham in Norfolk.

ï¿½ Norfolk County Council Within the light and comparatively fertile chalk soils of north west Norfolk there has been human settlements with cultivation evidence right back to the Bronze and Iron Age, which continued through the Roman times, particularly being influenced by the fact that it ran near a major military route north to Brancaster and Holme. Throughout the Medieval times the settlement pattern centred on commons and greens which proliferated along the rising ground heading east, and in some cases settlement concentrated on military or commercial centres, such as Castle Rising, or ecclesiastical centres such as the Cluniac priory of Castle Acre. By the late Medieval period, there was a widening of sheep walks and warrens which were both subject to manorial control. The silt-based Fens, which stretch from Kingï¿½s Lynn towards Boston have a long settlement history going back to the Romano-British period and beyond. Roman settlement saw the first attempts of land drainage, when the sea level was about twenty feet lower than now with the marshy coast being sheltered by offshore banks and shoals. Monastic institutions played an important role from the 7th century onwards, due to undertaking large scale drainage works.

The associated religious settlements were established on the fen edge or on isles, such as Crowland and Ely just outside of The Wash project area. The sea level started to rise in about the second century with the fenland lagoon silting up quickly. The settled fen, otherwise known as the town lands, with a variety of villages and larger towns, mostly being medieval in origin with fine medieval churches, formed an arc around The Wash. These are either positioned on higher grounds of the courser material or on navigable rivers where they performed as either inland ports or coastal ports, such as Wisbech and Boston. This pattern of settlement was largely created by a pastoral economy with large irregular enclosures around villages and the fen edge, with embankments happening on either side in the marshes towards The Wash and in the fen on the opposite side of the ridge. Some of the names of these settlement are English in origin and others illustrate relations with neigbouring North Sea countries, such as Skirbeck and Wrangle relating back to Danish conquerors. Towns such as Boston and Kingï¿½s Lynn flourished in the medieval times through trade with mainland Europe, wool in particular. The grandeur of St.

Botolphï¿½s Church in Boston ï¿½ locally known as ï¿½The Stumpï¿½. ï¿½ Fens Tourism This mass of trade of importing wine, timber, cloth and stockfish; exporting wool, cloth and grain saw smaller ports expanding all along the coast from Skegness to Wainfleet, to Surfleet to Gedney through to Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. This trade was underpinned by the great religious houses of the area, who owned large sheep flocks, and had land for saltmaking and fisheries fleets. The 13th century saw a time of change with periods of dramatic sea rise and tidal surges overtopping the banks to reshape the coast and reduce the grazing to summertime only. The Medieval defensive clay banks of this time are still misnamed today as ï¿½Romanï¿½. Natural drainage deteriorated because the gradient lessoned and large drainage projects of the inland areas were thwarted by ï¿½intercommoningï¿½ practices. 3.2 Early Modern Times The area was gravely impacted upon by the deteriorating climate and the plague.

Ports declined due to the migration of new technologies and industries from the power of the urban guildsï¿½ restrictive control and due to the demise of diplomatic relations with the European Low Countries. Another factor in the decline of such towns related to sources of salt with greater purity being marketed elsewhere. This saw towns like Kingï¿½s Lynn and Boston become market towns by the 16th century, instead of being the previously important regional trade centres of times before, and various smaller havens went into total decay. By the mid to late 16th century the process of coastal reclamation had began with small sites at Gibraltar Point south of Skegness, and a new drain being cut in Boston called the Maud Foster in 1568. But these were nothing in comparison to the changes driven by the 4th Earl of Bedford and his engineer Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, and in some cases Sir Philibert Vernatti. With a Royal Charter from Charles I, they made drowned land ï¿½fit for tillage and pastureï¿½, which had previously been under monastic control.

This was the start of seeing the area change from grassland and water dominated landscape to one we associate with more today, a highly cultivated and managed one. Other major players in this change included the Earl of Lindsey. Drains such as Vernattï¿½s in the Spalding area, and the South Forty Foot cutting from Kesteven to Boston area saw huge areas of common land drained, and coastal embankments saw large areas reclaimed from the sea, such as 1,120 acres at Tydd St Mary on the Nene estuary in 1632. By 1660, 17,374 acres had been embanked from Gedney to Moulton, and the whole of Bicker Haven cut off from the sea. Fewer large scale drainage works occurred throughout the 1700s, although many improvements were made to those that had happened previously including the straightening of water courses. The efficiency of gravity drainage decreased further in this time and so the use of wind pumps became essential. This had major implications for the Fens skyline, as can be seen below. Wind pumps became essential in maintaining drainage by the 1700s.

ï¿½ Fens Tourism With the drainage and reclamation small farmsteads started to appear outside of the townland belt of settlement, and drove ways, known as ï¿½The Smeethï¿½ were created running along the cultivated fields to the coastal marshes. Most buildings in the open, inland fen are post 1750. The productivity of the reclaimed soils soon saw the development of extensive areas of high grade arable cultivation, over summer grazing, and it is still the dominate land use today. Within north west Norfolk on the chalklands tree cover had been greatly removed by the 17th century, which saw a change in building materials. There is a general dominance of flint from the chalk and carstone from the greensand ridge being used within buildings. Within the valley bottoms open-field systems continued to be unenclosed into the 18th century, whereas enclosure was largely complete up on the poorer and more acidic soils of the greensand ridge and chalklands by the 18th century. It is on the uplands that large estates formed, which the area is still famous for today, such as Sandringham and Houghton.

3.3 Modern Times John Rennie, engineered one of the last great drainage actions of the 19th century that saw over 40,000 acres drained of the East, West and Wildmore Fens in 1801-1814 north of Boston. By 1866, steam pumps were introduced to this area, having been installed much earlier to more southern reaches of the Deeping Fens south of Spalding in 1827. The impact steam pumps had on the landscape was not only visual but also of an auditory nature. Larger pumps and associated housing were introduced as sea-levels continued to rise throughout the area, and water management structures still feature in the landscape today, and some of the old steam pumps provide an opportunity for socio-economic activities through acting as visitor attractions for the area, such as the Pinchbeck Engine and the open days ran by the Internal Drainage Boards, for example, the Lindsey Marsh Drainage Boardï¿½s Historic Land Drainage Working Demonstration days. Drainage works on the South Forty Foot Drain.

ï¿½ Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board Coastal reclamations continued into the 20th century, with the last occurring north of Boston between Freiston and Butterwick in the late 1970s/early 1980s. We have now seen a reversal of this process at that exact site, with a managed realignment being undertaken for flood risk management reasons, resulting in the creation of 80 hectares of saltmarsh and several saline lagoons that support a new visitor attraction, Freiston Shore Nature Reserve. The A52 is the main trunk road between Boston and Skegness which even today has many curves and sharp corners, probably reflecting what was once a causeway that followed either an embankment or the townland upper silt ridge. The settlement pattern within The Wash hinterlands only truly began to alter with the development of new roads such as the A17 and A47, which has resulted in the townlands settlements spreading along the routes. The dispersed farmsteads of the 19th century tend to be red/buff brick dwellings, with the mud and stud walling that once was used almost in none existence.

The roofs are tiled with red pan-tiles or more commonly Welsh slate. The field patterns that surround these farmsteads are ancient, semi-regular relating to the aforementioned ï¿½The Smeethï¿½ or drove roads. Field patterns of today illustrating past land use ï¿½ Holbeach and Whaplode Droves reclaimed in early medieval, c.1241. ï¿½ Lincolnshire County Council Duck decoys also sprang up around The Wash, some of the best in the country and some of these still feature in the landscape today but many were lost as farming became more intensified. These remain the only tree cover other than shelterbelts. Fields further inland become dominated by vast rectilinear patterns within straight roads and drainage features, where boundaries are defined by ditches and drains, rarely hedgerows. Whereas, over on the eastern section of The Wash area in north west Norfolk the fields are enclosed by thorn hedges and it is greatly defined by vast estates which developed in the 18th and 19th century with large boundary flint and brick walls, lodge buildings and parkland plantations. The actual estate houses vary in style and are often concealed from view within the large scale geometric enclosed landscape.

There is greater tree cover in this landscape with large woodland blocks. 4. Modern development and planning 4.1 Land use The predominant use of the area still remains to be agriculture and horticulture. The intensification period in the last 50 years has seen changes for the landscape ï¿½ further straightening of field systems, grubbing out of older sea embankments for more tillage land and less livestock. But in very recent times, there has been a creep back towards ï¿½slowerï¿½, less intensified farming with the re-introduction of livestock, organic farmers with grassland reappearing. It is unlikely this will affect the whole area but it brings back some diversity to the landscape that had, in part, been lost. Also changes in support for farming communities has resulted in landscape impacts, such as crop coverage being different and agri-environment schemes supporting the protection and enhancement of some characterising elements of the landscape. 4.2 Settlement development Increased tourism, either related to in situ or transient visitors, and people moving from the south into the area for a slower pace of life and cheaper housing, is helping secure an increase in the need for development in the area.

The supporting infrastructure along major roads is also increasing, and gradually what once were independent settlements seem to be merging. Some of this development works with the local character of the buildings, and some does not. In the eastern section, moving towards north Norfolk, second homes becomes more of an issue where there are villages that only come to life at the weekend or at holiday times. Various policies within local planning and policy documents have been developed for these honey-pot areas to help curb this phenomenon and build a more sustainable type of tourism, whereas in other parts of the entity this is not as of yet an area of concern. 4.3 Industry and energy In recent years there has been an increased use of the area for energy generation including gas powered stations, to even more recently modern wind turbines (2005-6). At present these all seem to centre on the southern section of The Wash hinterlands. The development of offshore wind turbines is also new to the area, although the actual turbines are not allowed within The Wash, they are being built off the coast of Skegness near the mouth of the embayment, and proposals to cable the extremely large windfarms through The Wash are currently under consideration.

There are implications for the onshore landscape, as well as the offshore seascape, in terms of national electricity grid connections needing to be enlarged. There are also various large processing and packaging plants relating to produce grown from the land scattered throughout the area, but with a particularly high concentration around Spalding. Often they are alongside the major trunk roads, as there is little serviced by rail. Haulage companies have proliferated in the area. 4.4 Infrastructure There are no motorways crossing the area. The major northerly trunk road into Norfolk, the A17, cuts right through the entity including various bridges crossing the rivers, one of which at Sutton Bridge is a historic listed structure. The other major road is the A52 cutting through the western side. There is a noticeable increase in traffic in the spring and summer relating to tourism. No ferries sail from the ports, but the commercial ports of Boston, Sutton Bridge and Kingï¿½s Lynn see much shipping traffic of container goods, timber and the like. Boston and Kingï¿½s Lynn also still support fishing fleets that harvest shellfish, in the most part, from The Wash.

The port of Wisbech is further inland on the River Nene, and as well as still being commercially active, it has developed as a yacht harbour for smaller craft with a series of wooden pontoons along the historic quayside. There also used to be an active, commercial port at Fosdyke on the River Welland, but a thriving yacht yard has now replaced it. There are works underway to join-up various rivers and waterways to make it possible to travel between them, presently including linking the River Witham with the South Forty Foot Drain in Boston. 5. Legal and Spatial Planning Aspects There are a suite of statutory plans that relate to this area at various levels. These include: The Wash embayment is a highly designated site from international level to a local one. Designations include Ramsar, European Marine Site, Special Protected Area, Special Area of Conservation, Site of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserve and Local Nature Reserve. All of these lie within legislation relating to nature conservation from global agreements on wetlands, to European birds and wildlife protection, to national and local considerations. Part of the entity falls within a national landscape designation of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

This designation seeks to ensure the conservation of natural beauty within landscape, and the North Coast AONB is part of a national network of sites alongside National Parks that protect precious areas. As of 2000, it became a statutory duty for relevant local authorities or conservation boards to prepare and deliver a management plan for these sites. Two Regional Spatial Strategies/Plans for East of England and East Midlands ï¿½ these include such framework policies as; to protect and enhance the regionï¿½s natural and cultural assets, and; that new developments respect and enhance local character. These policies seek to influence local planning authorities, amongst others; The Wash Estuary Strategy Group is a non-statutory partnership that practices Integrated Coastal Zone Management and works to deliver sustainable development principles in the area through influencing others and taking direct action. They produced the Wash Estuary Management Plan (2nd edition) through fully engaging with the local communities and stakeholders in the area to develop policies that set out an agreed holistic framework for the area, including for cultural assets ï¿½ historic environment and landscape. This has resulted in further action, including developing spatial planning tools for the cultural landscape and assets of the area.

Local district/borough plans for East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland, Fenland and Kingï¿½s Lynn & West Norfolk. There is a process at the moment from moving from Local Plans in the planning authority areas to Local Development Frameworks (LDF) which engages the local community much more in local decision-making. LDFs will be supported by a body of evidence, and most planning authorities will include a Landscape Character Assessment and a Historic Landscape Characterisation report. Hopefully in The Wash area this will include the characterisation report being developed for this entity through the Lancewad Plan Project. It is also the local planning authorities who designate conservation areas within cultural townscapes, which aims to ensure the historic character of a townscape is maintained which also ensures the townscapes influence on the wider cultural landscape is maintained. There are128 Scheduled Ancient Monuments and 2,168 listed buildings and structures. 'Scheduling' is for nationally important sites and monuments that are given legal protection. English Heritage takes the lead in identifying which should be placed on the schedule by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

The current legislation, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, supports a formal system of Scheduled Monument Consent for any work to a designated monument. Scheduling is the only legal protection specifically for archaeological sites. ï¿½Listingï¿½ helps protect the best architectural heritage, and when a building is listed it is placed on the ï¿½special architectural or historic interestï¿½ list compiled by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, based on advice from English Heritage. Both of these systems are under Governmental review, and a White Paper called Heritage Review is currently being consulted on, and so things may change. 6. Vulnerabilities Climate change and the push by central Government to meet renewable energy targets and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions are seeing a large increase in applications for windfarms in the area. There is a need for a greater strategic view in terms of the landscape capacity instead of a site by site process, which some of the planning authorities have undertaken. Cultural character and heritage assets need to be a material consideration in the development of such guidance not just proximity to urban areas.

This should also be the tact for traditional power station developments. Climate change also presents a direct threat to the cultural landscape in terms of sea level rise, ocean acidification and more storm events. All three may squeeze certain landscape elements out of existence and the cultural activities they support, and storms may drastically alter coast lines, cause flood and wind damage with more acid causing erosion of archaeological and built elements. Farming continues to be an issue and an opportunity for cultural land and seascapes. The loss of family businesses with the increase in large agri-businesses can lead to yet more old embankments being lost and curvi-linear features representing old creek systems. Larger plough machinery can cause damage to ground based defining elements, such as salterns. Also the change from growing traditional crops to biomass fuels may be a particularly issue in the future, as it is already starting to be in other parts of the adjacent areas. Continued growth of associated infrastructure is gradually degrading areas, including it getting larger in scale such as glasshouses, and/or, packing sheds made out of box profile sheeting instead of traditional materials, and it is often the associated industries that are infilling along the major highways between settlements.

Increased development within settlements or piecemeal throughout the rural reaches, not only can depreciate the distinctiveness of an area if done insensitively, but puts greater pressure on natural resources including water and the need for greater protection from natural events. Greater efficiency in drainage causes desiccation of ancient monuments within the landscape and more stringent flood risk tools can chip away at character through reducing the tidal influences in historic ports or via rock armour being placed in front of cliff lines. Inappropriate tourism driven developments gradually redefines an area, so old Victorian resorts lose that connection, or the drive for marinas and economic regeneration leads to distinctive, historic quayside becoming the same as every other cafï¿½ culture waterfront within the country. These issues are currently on the horizon for the area, and may not be the end point if the decision-makers take cultural land, urban and seascapes as a serious material consideration, particularly as it may give the edge over other visitor destinations. Conservation legislation in itself can be a barrier to ensuring that cultural assets within a landscape are managed proactively through placing too much red tape between the best intentions of an owner and the ability to achieve it. This can, and has, resulted in neglect as being the easiest option. 7.

Potentials The cultural heritage infrastructure, as part of the whole areas green infrastructure, offers opportunities for socio-economic regeneration and risk management. By restoring more of the historic landscape by re-introducing wet fenland and flood plains at appropriate sites in the inland sections of the area, sustainable fluvial flood risk could be achieved alongside biodiversity gain, economic regeneration and social access to the area. This kind of risk management can also be used at the coast. Within The Wash entity, a coastal management realignment has already seen a reintroduction of an earlier Victorian sea embankment and hotel, providing more sustainable flood risk. It has also created a local nature reserve which is supporting on average of 60,000 visitors per year, which has seen an increase in spend at local historic public houses and other businesses. The numerous waterways and historic sea embankments also provide a huge network that could be integrated better into the local communities and visitors accessing the countryside and appreciating the cultural landscape of the area. In so doing it would place value on them and lead to better management.

This in part is being realised through the Fens Waterways Link Project, which is a long-term vision to re-connect the cathedral cities of Lincoln, Peterborough and Ely via navigable historic waterways, which includes linking up with Boston, Wisbech and Kingï¿½s Lynn. Agri-environment schemes can re-introduce, enhance or protect various elements that define local distinctiveness within the cultural landscapes. Other resources can support communities to rebuild elements of their local environment, such as restoring historic structures that define the skyline for miles around, or, awareness raising activities with land owners of the importance and opportunities that the sea embankment network offer in an area with few rights of way. Strategic spatial planning tools for the area are being developed through the Lancewad Plan project for the cultural landscape, which will identify further issues and actions for the area through working with the local stakeholders using various character maps that have been produced. A spatial coastal zone management plan through the fully revised second edition Wash Estuary Management Plan already sets out policies regarding the landscape and historic environment. And it has now been recognised that an integrated Green Infrastructure Master Plan to take into account the growth in the area will further help sustain the special qualities of the area.

The review of The Wash Shoreline Management Plan, which is the long-term policy setting document for flood risk management and coastal protection, also offers an opportunity to influence future management of the area. All of these can provide an evidence basis for planning guidance and appropriate development control decision-making. Through promoting and implementing these tools and opportunities at various levels, horizontally and vertically, it should ensure that the cultural landscape of The Wash is allowed to continue to evolve but in a sensitive manner that respects its history ï¿½ socially and naturally. 8. Sources Roberts, B. K. & Wrathmell, S. (2000): An atlas of rural settlement in England. Bennett, S. & Bennett, N. (1993): An historical atlas of Lincolnshire. Heaton, A. (2001): Duck Decoys. Sir Payne-Gallwey, R. (1886): Book of Duck Decoys, their construction, management and history. Countryside Agency (1999) Countryside Character, Volume 4: East Midlands and Volume 5: East of England. Fenland Survey: an essay in landscape and persistence. Hall, D & Coles, J.M.

(1994): English Heritage Archaeological Report. Robinson, D. (1981): The Book of the Lincolnshire Seaside. The Norfolk Coast Partnership (2004): Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management, first edition. Hallam, H. E. (1965): Settlement and Society: a study of the early Agrarian history of south Lincolnshire. Hoskins, W. G. (1977, 2nd ed.): The making of the English countryside. Wash Estuary Strategy Group (2004): Wash Estuary Management Plan, second edition. English Counties, Parish, etc. for Genealogists Introduction I have noticed that genealogy mailing lists, at least those I subscribe to, frequently receive requests for an explanation of aspects of the English local government system as it affects genealogists.

Questions such &QUOT;What is the difference between a shire and a county?&QUOT or &QUOT;A document I consulted says this village is in county A, but my map/gazetteer says it is in county B, which is right?&QUOT;, and less frequently people want to know what is meant by a hundred or a poor law union. This page is intended to help to answer such questions, showing how the system originated and how it has changed over the centuries. It also contains some explanation of other units of local government and types of settlement, mainly for the period prior to the reorganisation of 1974. Specific counties, etc,. will be mentioned only by way of examples, partly to keep this page to a reasonable size and partly because I simply don't know all the details of the changes in names and boundaries that have taken place. Where I become aware of them I will point to other sources of such detailed information. If you know of such sources, or if you find any errors on this page, or would like it expanded to include some additional related material, please let me know .

Origins of the counties During much of what we call the Saxon period, the British Isles were divided into a number of warring kingdoms. I will deal mainly with England, because that is what I know most about, but so far as genealogy is concerned, the differences in other parts of the island are not very significant. Although the word county is derived from the Norman French comté, the boundaries of Norman counties corresponded in most respects with those of the Saxon shires of the immediate pre-Norman period. Many of them were in turn based on much older tribal districts, which are reflected in names of Celtic origin such as Cornwall, Devon and Kent. Essex, Middlesex and Sussex were the lands occupied by the East, Middle and South Saxons respectively, while Norfolk and Suffolk were similarly the areas of the North Folk and South Folk of the Angles' kingdom of East Anglia. The shires of the more northerly east and midlands were formed later by the Danes, and named after the local military centre in each case (Bedford, Cambridge, Derby, Huntingdon, Leicester, Lincoln, Northampton, Nottingham and York).

The counties of the west midlands were formed by the king of Wessex after he invaded the area which had been the kingdom of Mercia. The remaining counties of northern England were created by the Normans to produce a reasonably uniform system across the whole of England. The origins of the Welsh counties are explained on Glyn Hale's excellent website . Various forms of county names In total contrast to the system in USA, the word "county" is a not part of the name of English counties, with the sole exception of County Durham, where it precedes the main part of the name in the same way as in all Irish counties. The American form of having the word "county" after the main name is always wrong in referring to a county in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Many, but by no means all, have the syllable "-shire" as the last part of the name, and in a few cases this was normal use once but is slowly being dropped. Examples of counties which are losing or have lost their suffix in this way are Devon(shire), Dorset and Somerset. Old documents consulted by genealogists of course show the usage which was normal at the time they were created, often differing from what is used now.

(I am speaking here purely of naming conventions, not of changes in boundaries, which are covered below.) Counties which took their names from a major town within them, such as those created by the Danes listed above, were often referred to, for example, as The County of Nottingham, meaning the whole of Nottinghamshire. A particularly confusing example of this is the common naming of Hampshire as The County of Southampton; I have even found this on a will abbreviated to "co south". Co. is commonly used in old documents as an abbreviation for the word "county" or the words "county of". Boundary changes At a detailed level there have been numerous changes to county boundaries over the years. In some cases these have been to tidy up historic anomalies, such as tiny detached pieces of one county being entirely surrounded by another. Such changes have taken place piecemeal over many years, with some such detached areas surviving to as recently as 1974 (notably the northern piece of Worcestershire containing the town of Dudley, which was entirely surrounded by Staffordshire). Certain areas, particularly the West Midlands, have undergone numerous changes, some towns having been in as many as three different historic counties at different times.

In addition to the shifting boundaries described above, most of the larger towns and cities were at various times granted what was known as "county borough" status. A county borough functioned as a separate unit, independently of the county in which it was geographically situated. This system was started in 1888, when all towns and cities with populations in excess of 50,000, plus a few others, became the first such units. To confuse the issue further, in 1974 a total review of county boundaries took place, which led to the elimination of all remaining detached parts, the combining of some counties, total elimination of others, the introduction of new county names in some places, and the end of all county boroughs. Major conurbations became independent "metropolitan" counties, each including a number of towns which had effectively merged by natural growth. An example of such a new metropolitan county was West Midlands, which combined the industrial areas of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley and several other towns, reducing the size of the neighbouring counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the process.

The 1974 changes, because of their scale, lead to much confusion among genealogists, especially those resident in other countries, when trying to locate the homes of their ancestors and the likely location of records. The whole of north Berkshire, for example, was transferred to Oxfordshire, so old records relating to such towns as Faringdon speak of its being in Berkshire, but modern gazetteers say it is in Oxfordshire. Similarly, Huntingdonshire, the Isle of Ely and the Soke of Peterborough were all absorbed into Cambridgeshire. Middlesex and large pieces of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey were absorbed into London. Similar events took place also in Yorkshire and Lancashire, while further north the maps were almost completely redrawn. In 1997/8 many, but not all, of the 1974 changes were reversed. Although the name county borough was not revived, the effect was, and this time the independent status was not confined to urban areas. New local authorities called "Unitary Authorities" took over all local government functions in their areas, just like the old county boroughs and in many cases identical to them in area.

This happened in a piecemeal fashion however, with no unitary authorities being created in some areas, but in the extreme case of Berkshire the whole of what survived the 1974 shake-up was split into unitary authorities, so Berkshire as an administrative unit no longer exists. This process has continued from time to time, with Bedfordshire, for example, ceasing to exist as an administrative unit in 2010. Hundred and Wapentake These are similar sub-divisions of counties, introduced in the 10th century primarily as a unit of taxation but also having administrative, judicial and military functions. The two names relate to the division of the country into the Danelaw in the north, where the term wapentake was used, and the Anglo-Saxon south which used the term hundred. The name hundred relates to the original size of 100 hides of land (roughly 12,000 acres on average, but very variable). Parish Most parishes were originally the area served by a local church, and were (still are in many cases) synonymous with the village in which the church was situated, although outlying dwellings and farms away from the main village were normally included.

It must be realised, however, that parishes varied enormously in size, some, especially in the wilder, uncultivated areas, extending for many miles. In some areas a single parish covered a great number of separate settlements (up to 35 in one Cheshire example). Urban parishes in older cities tended to be small in area, with quite a number of separate parishes within a single city (over 40 each in Norwich and York, for example), whereas newer cities tended to have a single parish despite their large population, until they were split up in the middle of the 19th century. Parishes also varied greatly in age. Although most mediæval parishes had been formed by 1200, many were already hundreds of years old by that time. Many more were formed during the great growth in population in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The concept of a civil parish was introduced in Tudor times, when they were given responsibility for upkeep of highways, caring for the poor and for the less serious aspects of law enforcement.

Where the ecclesiastical parish was reasonably small in population it normally corresponded with the civil one, but if the ecclesiastical parish was very large it was divided up into a number of civil parishes. Like the counties, parish boundaries showed abundant anomalies, detached parts being quite common. However, in 1894 a new Local Government Act revised the entire structure, dividing the rural areas of England and Wales into 14,000 parishes with most of the anomalies and detached parts removed, although in most respects the boundaries followed the old civil parish boundaries. From that time, the affairs of the parish were controlled by an elected parish council. This is the one part of local government structure which survived the 1974 and 1997/8 reorganisations without significant change. In urban areas parishes remain as ecclesiastical units only since 1894, although the legislation bringing in the latest changes give residents the option of having civil parishes in their parts of urban areas if they choose to do so. In the above paragraph I say most of the anomalies and detached parts.

It did say all, but my attention was drawn to one anomaly which still exists, and this suggests to me there may be others. The particular case is at Romsey in Hampshire, where there is still one parish entirely surrounded by another! Romsey Extra Parish (which I assume covers a rural area) entirely surrounds Romsey Infra Parish (which more or less coincides with the small town of Romsey). John Parker, a member of Romsey Extra Parish Council, who drew my attention to this, also reminded me that many parishes which were created, by the demotion of small boroughs or otherwise cover relatively small urban areas, by the 1997/8 reorganisation, were given the option (which many, including Romsey Infra, have taken up) of being called "town councils", with the chairman of the council given the title of "Mayor", although their powers remain identical to those of other parish councils. I should also add that the Church of England still has its ecclesiastical parishes, quite separate from the civil ones, the governing bodies of which are now known as "parochial church councils".

Some large ecclesiastical parishes have a second, subordinate, church or chapel to help cope with the numbers of people or the extended area; such a church or chapel normally has responsibility for a defined area within the parish sometimes known as a chapelry, with the subordinate/daughter church or chapel often called a "chapel of ease". Genealogists need to be aware that it is these ecclesiastical parishes, not the civil parishes, which maintain the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials, although in most cases the surviving older registers have been deposited with the local county record office. Naming a Parish in Relation to Its County, Etc. I have been asked to clarify how a parish should be referred to in relation to the town/village/county of which it is a part. I have not been able to improve on the "off the cuff" reply I gave at the time: Most parishes are in rural areas, so no town name is relevant. Most, but by no means all, rural parishes coincide with a village, so normally nobody would bother to distinguish. It would then be simply parish, county, country, without the word "parish" being used.

In a few cases (I know of only one, the parish of Felkirk, covering the village of Shafton, near Barnsley in the West Riding of Yorkshire) the name of the parish is not that of either the village or of the dedication of the parish church but an entirely independent name with some historical derivation. In some cases a parish covers more than one village. There are then two possibilities: The parish may be called something like "Thaton cum Thisham" (fictional names!), meaning the parish covers the villages of Thaton and Thisham. Again it would be stated as parish, county, country, without using the word "parish". The parish may have the same name as just one village, in which case it would still be parish, county, country, but with the word "parish" after the parish name to make it clear that the whole parish, not just the village, was referred to.

In a small town, with just one parish covering the entire town, the situation could be the same as 1 above, although sometimes the parish name would be that of the dedication of the church rather than the name of the town; in this case it would usually be given as parish, town, county, country, with the word "parish" coming first, as in "Parish of St. John, Whichton, Whatshire, England" (fictional names again). In a larger town, with more than one parish, there are again two possibilities, with the two both occurring in the same town, but for different parishes, in many cases. One of the parishes may have the same name as the town, in which case it could be referred to as parish, county, country, including the word parish as in "Whichton Parish, Whatshire, England". Other parishes in the town would be of the form parish (normally that of the dedication of the church), town, county, country, as in the last example in 5 above. Poor Law Unions One of the most important duties placed on parishes by the Tudor reforms was the care of their own paupers.

Since there was no social security of any kind, this was the only way the sick, disabled and elderly could survive (although the church, mainly through abbeys and monasteries, had provided some poor relief prior to their dissolution by Henry VIII). While this certainly helped those it was aimed at, it also placed a financial burden on the parish, for which they had to tax their more affluent members. The impact of this naturally varied from place to place, depending both on the ratio of paupers to wealthy citizens and on the general prosperity of the area concerned. One particularly serious effect was that parishes were naturally very unwilling to accept into their midst anyone from another area who was likely to become a charge on the local finances. In consequence, severe restrictions were placed on the freedom of ordinary people to move around the country. The 1662 Act of Settlement defined more clearly the responsibilties of the parish and provided a means for people to move in search of work while being able to provide written evidence that they would never become a charge on the community to which they moved. This led to large numbers of court cases in local quarter sessions and the production of settlement certificates.

These certificates, as well as detailed records of the courts, where they survive, provide invaluable resources for genealogists and family historians. The entire system was revolutionised in 1834 by the Poor Law Amendment Act. This created a system of Unions, each consisting of a number of neighbouring parishes who jointly were required to finance the relief of poverty in their areas, so spreading the load a little more fairly. Each union was run by an elected board of guardians, many of whose records survive. By 1865 all unions had set up a workhouse within their area in which to house paupers. Many of the buildings erected for this purpose still survive, often as hospitals. The system remained largely unchanged until the introduction of some aspects of social security on a national basis, such as old age pensions, from 1908 onwards. The entire system was transferred from the parish unions to national government in 1919, but some workhouses continued in operation until the introduction of the modern welfare system by the National Assistance Act of 1948.

Mid-19th century boards and districts During the middle part of the 19th century more and more functions were put onto local government organisations to relieve the many problems which were emerging with the growth of population, industrialisation, and urbanisation. However, instead of using existing administrative units to carry out these new activities, a new set of boards and districts were created for each one, often with boundaries overlapping those already in existence. Each of these new authorities required elections to choose its members and each raised its own finance by imposing a local tax (often called a rate). Thus separate bodies existed to maintain highways, to provide and run schools, to provide sanitation, to provide burial facilities, etc.; in some places even the provision of hospitals and of the medical staff to operate them were provided by two separate authorities. The system (for want of a better term) was basically that a separate board was created for each function, with separate elections, separate finances, separate officials, separate premises from which to operate, etc. The waste and incompetence was tremendous. From the genealogical and historical research point of view, it is worth remembering that each of these bodies kept records, many of which survive.

Most of this chaos was cleared up in 1888, when most of the local boards were transferred to the county councils, set up by the Local Government Act of that year as elected bodies with reformed boundaries. Poor Law unions (until 1930), School districts (until 1902) and Sanitary districts (until 1894), however, continued their independent existence a little longer. Boroughs Boroughs have from pre-Norman times been towns and cities which have received a charter granting them certain privileges, mainly but not exclusively concerned with the control of various commercial activities within their boundaries. Such charters could be issued (in mediæval times) either by the monarch or by the local lord of the manor in which the town was situated. The latter were normally "seigneurial boroughs", having only a limited degree of independence from the lord of the manor. Those with corporate status had more complete independence from the lord of the manor, but the details of their powers varied enormously, depending on the detailed wording of their charters, which were all different.

Corporate boroughs were administered by a Corporation, which consisted until 1835 of leading townsmen appointed for life, with vacancies filled by appointment by the existing members. From 1835 this system was replaced by elections for three quarters of the members, with the old system of appointment remaining for the other quarter. The appointed members were known as aldermen, an office which remained (but not with life-long tenancy) until 1974. (One quarter of the members of county councils were also appointed aldermen from 1888 to 1974.) The electors in corporate boroughs, and the people actually running the seigneurial boroughs, were known as burgesses. In some places lists of burgesses survive; it is perhaps worth mentioning that although women could not vote in Parliamentary elections in Britain until 1925, nevertheless they could be, and sometimes were, burgesses, at least in the 19th century and perhaps earlier. The office of mayor has existed almost, if not quite, as long as there have been boroughs.

In past times this was a powerful office, the mayor being the most important man in the town, but gradually the powers have been reduced until today the mayor of a town functions as (at least in theory) a politically neutral chairman of council meetings, and as a public figurehead, and is elected by councillors from among their own members. In boroughs officially recognised as cities (i.e. having a charter to say they have that status), the equivalent person is known as the lord mayor, but his functions are virtually identical. In the 21st century the old idea of having an executive mayor (subject to regular direct election) has been revived in a few places, starting with London. Urban and Rural District Councils In 1894 county areas outside boroughs were divided into urban and rural districts, normally following the boundaries of the Sanitary districts. Each such district had an elected council, and its functions and structure were almost identical to those of the boroughs, but they did not have aldermen or mayors. The rural districts were further subject to division into parishes, now with elected parish councils (except very small places which had a parish meeting instead).

Definitions of types of settlement There is often confusion as to the correct terminology to use for a settlement. What is the distinction between a hamlet and a village, or between a village and a town? What constitutes a city? This section is an attempt to clear up the confusion, so far as that is possible. I should perhaps establish that when I say a settlement I mean a group of dwellings (i.e. more than one), possibly with other buildings. First it should be made clear that for most purposes the only one of those terms with a definite fixed meaning is the city. A settlement is a city if it holds a charter from the monarch to say so, and not otherwise. There is no other reliable indicator of city status, which is applied to large and small places alike, although I am not aware of any particularly small city which is not the location of a cathedral (but there are small places with cathedrals which are not cities). At the smallest end of the range, a settlement would normally be called a hamlet if it did not possess the simplest trappings of community life, such as a church or an inn or public house or a school or a post office or other shop.

A village would normally possess all of those things, but there are obviously intermediate cases which have some but not others. The loss of some such facilities from a village which once had them all would certainly not lead to people changing the way they speak of it. The distinction between a village and a town is probably even more vague. Population is certainly an element. A place with fewer than about 1,500 residents is unlikely to be called a town by anyone, while one with over 5,000 will rarely be called a village (but there are exceptions). If a place has an ancient regular market or fair it will almost certainly be called a town (if it is not a city), even if it is quite small by modern standards. A small town is much more likely than a village to have a definite commercial area at its centre, with a variety of shops, some of which may be quite specialised, whereas in a village shops will be few and tend to be general stores selling a mixture of groceries, hardware, newspapers and other items, often combined with a post office.

If a village is at the larger end of the population range, then it will usually consist of a small older core with a considerable recent expansion, often inhabited by commuters who live in the village but work in a nearby larger town. Despite all that has been said, there are certainly some places which are ambiguous in this respect. Lynton, in north Devon, for example, together with its neighbour Lynmouth and a few outlying areas is for administrative purposes a parish. However, it has a most imposing town hall, a definite commercial centre in each of the two main constituents, and a mayor to chair the council's deliberations, but the inhabitants nevertheless refer to it as a village. The population varies from about 1,500 in winter to ten times as many or more in the summer tourist season. I live in another, very different ambiguous area. Stopsley was once a typical hill-top village a few miles outside the town of Luton, but was long ago (1933) absorbed by the town.

Nevertheless the inhabitants of this part of Luton still refer to the old village centre as "the village", and a book on the history of Stopsley, published on 21st October 1998, refers in the blurb on the cover to "The hamlet of Stopsley"! Other names for particular areas In addition to the general names for specific types of place or local government unit as described above, other terms are used to name particular areas of the country. This section lists a few of them. I will add more as I think of them or when someone draws my attention to them. Contributions are invited . The Black Country is the industrial area of (pre-1974) south east Staffordshire , north east Worcestershire , north west Warwickshire, and south Shropshire. It is centred on the town of Dudley, and gained its name from the results of the massive atmospheric pollution produced by local metal-working industries, especially in the 19th century. Buildings and trees (where any survived) were black with soot, the stars were never visible in the sky, any washing hung outside was black with freshly deposited soot long before it was dry, and life expectancy was unsurprisingly short.

County boundaries in the area always have been complex and subject to many changes. Forest of Bowland is an area of wild moorland bounded in the east and south by the River Ribble (which separates it from the Yorkshire Dales ), in the north by the River Lune and in the west by The Fylde . It is (on pre-1974 boundaries) partly in Lancashire and partly Yorkshire. Craven is an area of the Yorkshire Dales subsequently adopted as a district council's official name. The Dales is the name given to most of the more northerly section of the Pennine Hills. It consists of high moorland interspersed with a series of fast rivers flowing east to the North Sea. Each river valley is a dale, named after its river (e.g. the River Swale runs through Swaledale). The Yorkshire section is a National Park, called the Yorkshire Dales National Park, but further north the Dales continue into County Durham, Westmorland and Northumberland to Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans to keep out the barbarians across the border in Scotland.

East Anglia is usually thought of today as being the round bulge on the east side of England, extending from the Thames estuary northwards to the large rectangular shallow inlet called The Wash. On this definition it consists of the counties of Norfolk , Suffolk and Essex, with Cambridgeshire sometimes also included. However, a more strict definition based on the boundaries of the ancient kingdom would restrict it to the counties of Norfok and Suffolk, plus the eastern part only of Cambridgeshire and the north-east corner of Essex. East Midlands is a largely but by no means exclusively industrial area, as one might expect located to the east of the West Midlands . It includes the counties of Derbyshire (although the northern, moorland, part is sometimes excluded), Leicestershire , Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire . Fenland is a term applied to an area of low-lying, very flat land (some of it below sea-level) in eastern England. Although nearly all of it is now drained and is a very fertile agricultural area, historically it was a place of marshes extending as far as the eye could see and well beyond.

The counties parts of which comprise it are Cambridgeshire (almost all of it), Huntingdonshire (all of it), parts of west Norfolk , south Lincolnshire and part of north Bedfordshire. Drainage has resulted in shrinking of the soil, to the extent that some rivers, notably much of the Norfolk part of the Great Ouse, flow well above the surrounding land and are contained only by massive earthen embankments. The Isle of Ely, miles from the sea, is so-named because it was an island in the surrounding miles of fens. Incidentally, a fen is an alkaline marsh, distinguishing it from a bog which is always acidic. The Fylde is a short broad peninsula in Lancashire, bounded in the south by the estuary of the River Ribble, in the east by the Pennines, in the west by the almost entirely urban coastline of Lytham St. Annes, Blackpool, Cleveleys and Fleetwood, and in the north by a stretch of north-facing Irish Sea coast known (I am told by a kind correspondent) as Over Wyre. The area is very flat, corresponding with its name, derived from filde, meaning plain.

Halfshire was a hundred of north-east Worcestershire. It included Dudley and three other detached parts. Hallamshire is the area around and including the city of Sheffield, in south Yorkshire. So far as I know, there has never been a county of this name, but this large industrial city set in a river valley in the midst of wild moorland is a very distinctive place. The Home Counties are those counties surrounding London. These are Essex (note the overlap with East Anglia ), Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey and Kent (that sequence is going anti-clockwise from the Thames estuary). Sussex is also sometimes included. The origin of the name is obscure. The Lake District is an area of lakes and mountains in north-west England. It includes England's longest (Lake Windermere) and deepest (Wastwater) natural lakes and highest mountains (Scafell Pike, Scafell, Helvellyn and others). It includes the whole of Westmorland, a great part of Cumberland and a small piece of north Lancashire (pre-1974 boundaries - using post-1974 boundaries it is entirely in Cumbria).

The Peak District is the southern part of the Pennine Hills. It is an area of high moorland, with deep, often very picturesque valleys and occasional gorges, mostly situated in north and central Derbyshire but also extending into Staffordshire , Yorkshire and just a little into Lancashire (using pre-1974 boundaries). It was the first National Park to be defined in Britain. Vale of York is a roughly rectangular piece of fertile lowland running north-south between the North Yorkshire Moors and the Dales . The Weald is the name given to the area between the North Downs and the South Downs in south east England. The downs mentioned are two ridges of chalk hills, running very roughly east to west across (mainly) Sussex and Kent, but meeting at the chalk hill plateau of north Hampshire and Salisbury Plain. They meet the sea at Dover (North Downs, forming the famous White Cliffs) and near Eastbourne (South Downs, forming the high cliffs of Beachy Head). The Weald itself was once heavily forested (the word weald is an Old English word meaning "woodland") and a centre for making charcoal for use in smelting iron.

Welsh Marches are the counties making up the border area of England adjacent to Wales. Normally included are Cheshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire , with Monmouthshire (in Wales) normally also included. This was an area of great strategic significance in the early mediæval period, before Wales was conquered and pacified. The name comes from the old word "march" meaning border. West Country is a term applied to the counties of south west England as a group. The counties normally included are Cornwall, Devon, Dorset , Somerset and Wiltshire , and very often Hampshire and/or Gloucestershire are also included. It corresponds very roughly with the ancient kingdom of Wessex, and is sometimes given that name. West Midlands is the name given to the larger industrial area including the Black Country and surrounding towns and cities such as Birmingham, Coventry and many others. In 1974 a "metropolitan county" of this name was created to administer the area. Wirral is the roughly rectangular peninsula in north Cheshire (until 1974) lying between the estuaries of the rivers Dee and Mersey.

The 1974 changes to local government boundaries transferred the northern half to the new Metropolitan County of Merseyside with the status of a Metropolitan Borough named Wirral, with the southern half retained in Cheshire with the title of Ellesmere Port & Neston District (but usually known as South Wirral). My thanks to those readers who have from time to time drawn my attention to errors and omissions on this page, which I have endeavoured to correct. Main links within this site: Cowbit Village - History of Cowbit History of Cowbit Cowbit Parish Council The next Cowbit Parish Council meeting will be on Monday 12th Dec 2016, at 7.30pm in the village hall . All welcome Village Post Office The Outreach Post Office service runs every Tuesday from 2pm – 4pm and every Thursday from 11am – 1pm.

The winners of the Aug draw are, Number 91, Lee Hudson The winners of July are: Number 70, Mary Haresign of Spalding Number 71, Jo Harper of Cowbit The winners of June draw are: Number 10, Alison Mason of Cowbit Number 95, Susan Wilkerson of Cowbit The winners of May draw are: Number 84 Paul Dayof Cowbit Number 10 Alison Mason of Cowbit The Winners of April draw are: Number 29, Patricia Carter of Cowbit Number 29, Patricia Carter of Cowbit The winners of the March draw are: Number 7, Mrs Herbert of Cowbit Number 83, Mrs Val Day of Cowbit The winners of the Feb draw are: Number 79, Jenny Clay of Cowbit Number 7, Mr/Mrs Herbert of Cowbit The winners of the Jan draw are: Number 77, Janet Wyllie of Cowbit Number 70, Mary Haresign of Spalding History of Cowbit... So Far... Cowbit - pronounced Cubbitt or Cub-it - is in South Lincolnshire and now situated within the local government area of South Holland District Council.

To the west of the village lies Cowbit Wash, now low lying fen farmland but once a wet marshy area which frequently flooded when the River Welland overflowed, allowing fen skating championships to take place in the winter. Since the 1950s a relief channel for the Welland in Spalding has stopped all this, and Cowbit Wash is now a flood plain in name only. Spalding is approximately four miles to the north, and Crowland is about five miles south. A road that’s thought to be Roman in origin, and one of a number running from the east coast to the main north-south running Ermine Street, runs through the village. The name Cowbit is from old English and means Cow Enclosure. In ancient times swans were bred in the locality, and there was a court known as the Swan Mark, though it’s unclear exactly what its function and powers were. The Anglican parish church, dedicated to St Mary, stands in a prominent position on what was, until 2010, the main A1073 road through the village.

The oldest part is 13th century, but the church was much enlarged and re-consecrated in 1486/7 when the chancel and Perpendicular tower were added. Extensive restoration work was carried out in 1882. The church has some parish registers dating back to 1561. There was at one time also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel in the village, but this has now disappeared. There is also a Grade II listed early 19th century windmill on the eastern side of the village. In 1842 the chief landowners were a Maurice Johnson and J. R, Carter, but the Gedney, Dyson, Childers and Guy families also owned some property. Like most villages hereabouts, the main industry has always been agriculture, with the fertile fen soil producing excellent crops; the area has been described as ‘the larder of England’ as food from here has always been sold over a wide area, including the London markets. The railway reached Cowbit in 1867 when the March to Spalding line opened, with a station complex on a site that was then slightly to the east of the village.

The line was originally part of the Great Northern Railway, but from 1882 it became part of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway running between Doncaster and Cambridge. The line’s main purpose of which was to bring coal from the pits around Doncaster into East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Essex. For Cowbit though, the railway also provided a quick, convenient and cost-effective route out (both north and south) for locally-grown produce. Extensive freight-handling facilities were provided including a large goods shed, and at one time the railway complex employed 14 people from a stationmaster down. There was even a small railway hotel behind the station. Passenger usage was never great - not surprising really considering that between 1831 and 1911 Cowbit’s population never exceeded 664, and after WW2 most outgoing freight switched to road transport. Cowbit station closed in 1961 (three years before the infamous Beeching Report) but the line through the village remained open until November 1982, and there was a ‘throuigh’ passenger service until the end.

Since closure the trackbed has been built on north and south, but all buildings from the station complex survive, and the main station building has recently been refurbished. In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Cowbit thus: COWBIT, a village and a parish in Spalding district, Lincoln. The village stands near the Welland navigation and the March and Spalding railway, 3½ miles SSE of Spalding, and 5 NNE of Crowland; and has a post office under Spalding, and a r. station. The parish includes also Peakhill hamlet, and allotments in Pinchbeck North Fen. Acres, 4, 590. Real property, £4, 591. Pop., 649. Houses, 141. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, £625.* Patrons, Feoffees. The church was built in 1486; and has a tower with a groined roof, and an octagonal panelled font. There is a Weslenan chapel.

A school has £55 from endowment: and other charities £30. Since 1897 - the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee - the village has marked every Coronation and Royal Jubilee with a traditional fenland punt gun salute across Cowbit Wash. These have taken place at the same time as the gun salutes in London and the last such was in June 2012 to mark Queen Elizabeth IIs Diamond Jubilee. Cowbit has expanded considerably in recent years and now has a population of around 1000. Most of the expansion has been on the eastern side, and many residents now commute to Peterborough - or even London in some cases - but the village retains a rural character and has an extremely strong sense of community. In 2010 a new bypass road was opened to the east of the village, taking most traffic away from the village and also making it possible o reach Peterborough in around 20-25 minutes. The Fens - OpenStreetMap Wiki The Fens Jump to: navigation , search The Fens, also known as the Fenland(s), are a naturally marshy region in eastern England.

Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region. A fen is the local name for an individual area of marshland or former marshland and also designates the type of marsh typical of the area. The Fenland primarily lies around the coast of the Wash; it reaches into two Government regions (East of England and the East Midlands), four ceremonial counties (Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and a small area of Suffolk), 11 District Councils and six postcode areas (LN, PE, CB, IP, NR, and NG). The whole contains an area of nearly 1,500 square miles (3,900 km2) or about 1 million acres.[2] Most of the Fenland lies within a few metres of sea-level. As with similar areas in the Netherlands, much of the Fenland originally consisted of fresh or saltwater wetlands which have been artificially drained and continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps. With the support of this drainage system, the Fenland has become a major arable agricultural region in Britain for grains and vegetables.

The Fens are particularly fertile, containing around half of the grade 1 agricultural land in England. (from Wikipedia) Current Projects Drainage Boards The Drainage Boards oversee the drainage and management of the various areas of the Fens (as well as other areas of the country) For a map of all the Drainage Boards in Lincolnshire (not the Fens) see here: South/West side of the River Witham from Lincoln to B1191 (Martin South Drove). - all waterways complete. Other Major and/or notable places and/or settlements (from Wikipedia) Boston , port and administrative centre of the Borough of Boston . Chatteris , a market town. Crowland , one of the Fen Five great Monasteries, also medieval triangular bridge. Ely , ("Isle of Eels"), a cathedral city. One of the Fen Five great Monasteries Ely Cathedral, on a rise of ground surrounded by fenlands, is known as the "Ship of the Fens". Holbeach ,a market town. Littleport , a large village approximately 6 miles north of Ely.

Little Thetford , settled on a boulder clay island within the fens since the Bronze-age, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Ely. Long Sutton , a market town, home to UK's largest food cannery (owned by Premier Foods). March , a market town and administrative centre of the Fenland District. Market Deeping ,a market town. Peterborough , a cathedral city, one of the Fen Five great Monasteriesis, the largest of the many settlements along the fen edge. It is sometimes called the "Gateway to the Fens". Administrative centre of Peterborough Unitary Authority. Ramsey , one of the Fen Five great Monasteriesis, market town in the Fens. Spalding , a market town, administrative centre of South Holland, and famed for its annual Flower Parade. Thorney , one of the Fen Five great Monasteries, later Model Village & Agricultural estates of Dukes of Bedford. Whittlesey , a market town, annual Straw Bear Festival. Wisbech ("capital of the fens"), a market town.

Question: What name is given to the fertile, low-lying area of England west and south of the Wash?
Answer: Fens