Sawtry to Wood Walton

‘follow in the footsteps of the monks’

The first of these four walks starts in Sawtry, named after salt, once a precious commodity made in the Fens. It passes the site of Sawtry Abbey and then visits the iconic (and once deserted) church of St Andrew’s situated on a lonely hill north of Wood Walton before finishing at the village green. The geology is nearly all Oxford Clay (including the hill!) except for a patch of Peat in Sawtry Fen that fills a bay formed by periglacial (freeze/thaw) effects during the last glaciation. The walk was developed in partnership with the Great Fen Heritage Group as it passes the south western corner of the Great Fen, a wildlife-rich area that includes Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve, It is the first walk on the western fen edge to be published.

Somersham to Earith

‘over river terraces on the edge of the marshes and along the famous Old Bedford drain’

The third walk is the penultimate walk to be published of the 6 walks that link Ramsey with St Ives. Starting in Somersham, where the walk from Warboys finishes, it takes you via Colne and on to Earith, the start of the walk along the river valley to Needingworth. Only the final section, from Needingworth to St Ives remains to be published. After a pleasant walk through fields and along farm tracks to Colne, you pass through the Somersham to Earith fen edge which is now a land of flooded sand and gravel pits but was once the first dry land after travelling west from the Isle of Ely. It is an area that has seen significant (Pleistocene) geological research and there have also been important archaeology finds here. The bedrock here is Ampthill Clay (younger than the more famous Oxford Clay that outcrops to the north west) but it is mostly covered by Terrace Gravels and more recent Alluvium that, together, tell part of the complex local history of the Ouse; once an extensive delta emptying into the Fen Basin and later its single channel transformed by fen drainage.

The fourth walk has been developed in partnership with the Word Garden. More information here.

Thorney ‘island’

‘an iconic fen island – monks, marshes and a model village’

Thorney, the ‘Isle of Thorns’, was a fen island surrounded by marshes until the drainage projects of the 17th century. It has been known since the 7th century for its major Benedictine Abbey; the large Abbey church remains impressive, even though much of it was lost in the 16th century. The Victorian village is of the characteristic local brick and is famous for being a ‘model village’, built in the 19th century under the Duke of Bedford’s ownership.Not far from the City of Peterborough, this easy walk takes you through an historic fenland village and quiet countryside with plenty of wildlife, giving a taste of the iconic landscape of the Fens.This walk is a good introduction to the geology of the northern part of the Cambridgeshire Fens, including silt from extensive tidal marshes and ancient river beds (roddons), the River Terrace Gravels of the Nene and the complex ’March’ Gravels. The latter created the island itself, raising it above the low fenland; these gravels also form the islands of Whittlesey, March and Chatteris.

The Fen Edge Trail walk around Thorney has been designed in partnership with Thorney Museum and the Thorney Society. Thanks to Dot from Thorney Museum for her work on this walk.