Wicken Fen

Prior to the 1630s the whole of the area around Ely would have looked like this - marshy peat bogs with small islands of firm land on which the villages were built. The drainage of the fens started in the 1630s (by a Dutchman - Cornelius Vermuyden), was interrupted by the Civil War, and  continued until the 19th century resulting in the fertile, low lying farmland we have today. Wicken Fen is the only area which was never drained. It is now owned and managed by the National Trust and is a haven for wetland birds, animals, plants and insects.