Books

There are many books written about the Fens, here are some that may be of interest (more to follow).

The Fens: Discovering England’s Ancient Depths

by Francis Pryor

A remarkable account of the Fens and their human and landscape history, particularly focusing on the archaeology. 2020.

Imperial Mud The Fight for the Fens

by James Boyce

This is an excellent book that examines and describes the major impact that the drainage of the fens had on local society, economy, politics, ownership and the environment. Detailed but very readable, it puts the landscape and its changes in a different (and complex) context! Of interest to anyone living in or visiting the Fens today or to those wishing to understand the dynamic and often sudden changes that transformed one of lowland Britain’s iconic (and valuable) regions. 2021

The Fenland Project No.9: Flandrian Environmental Change in Fenland

(EAA 70)

by M. Waller

An amazingly detailed study of the Holocene (Flandrian) geology of the Fens and its associated archaeology. Part of the East Anglian Archaeology Fenland Project. 1994. ‘The report can be downloaded here.

The results of the Fenland Project’s palaeoenvironmental programme are described in this volume. The overall aim of the Project was to place archaeological sites discovered by field survey within their contemporary landscape. To this end, the palaeoenvironmental programme concentrated on the recent (Flandrian) deposits of Fenland.

The other reports in the project, covering individual areas of Fenland, can be accessed and downloaded here.

The Changing Fenland

by H C Darby

An updated version of Darby’s previous ‘The Draining of the Fens’ (first published in 1940) with added information on medieval fenland and 20th century changes. 1983.