Norfolk: Gazetteers and Directories

William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883

GENERAL HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE
COUNTY OF NORFOLK

FENS, &c.

Note that only part of this section has been transcribed so far.

[Transcription copyright © Basil Rix]

The SMEETH and FEN, comprising 7263A. 1R. 34P., in the southern part of Marshland, have been drained and divided among the owners of 525 common-rights, under the powers of an Act of Parliament passed in 1796, and at an expense of upwards of £50,000; of which £10,000 were expended in 1833, in cutting a wide and deep drain, 4½ miles long, from Tilney Fen-End to the Eau-Brink Cut, near St. German's, for the purpose of superseding the four windmills, which formerly pumped the water from the lower into the higher levels.  A drainage rate is charged by the commissioners on the landowners, amounting to about 2s. 7d. per acre per annum.

This extensive and now fertile tract was, from time immemorial, the common of the parishes called the Seven Towns of Marshland, among which the 525 common-rights were divided as follows:- Emneth, 73; Walsoken, 88; West Walton, 62; Walpole St. Peter, 81; Walpole St. Andrew, 25; Terrington St. Clement, 67; Terrington St. John, 41; Tilney All Saints, 33; Tilney St. Lawrence, 22; Tilney-cum-Islington, 19; and Clenchwarton, 14.

The land awarded to each common-right varied from 9 to 15 acres, according to the quality of the soil; and the parochial allotments extend in narrow strips to the southern termination of the fen, distant more than seven miles from some of the parish churches.  After the allotment, it was discovered that a piece of land, comprising 11 acres, in the parish of Walpole St. Peter, had been overlooked.  It therefore pays rates and taxes to the seven towns, and is now occupied by Mr Henry Hubbard.

The Smeeth, comprising only 1572A. 22P. is on the north side of the fen, and was celebrated as a summer pasture in the time of James I., when a courtier told that monarch, on his coming to the crown of England, 'That if overnight a wand or rod was laid on the ground, by the morning it would be covered with grass of that night's growth;' to which the King jocosely replied, 'That he knew some grounds in Scotland, where, if a horse was put in overnight, they could not see or discern him in the morning.'

The Fen (including the Broad, Short, and Wellmore Fens) comprises 5691A. 1R. 12P., now forming rich arable and meadow land, which before the enclosure was a wild morass abounding in reeds and large pools of water and frequented by numerous flocks of wild fowl, of which great quantities were shot or decoyed by the poor inhabitants of the 'Seven Towns,' who evinced much dissatisfaction at the enclosure, which destroyed their aquatic sports and profits, and all their other interest in the Smeeth and Fen.

Tradition says that, in ancient times, the people had a dispute with lords of the manors respecting their common-rights; when one Hickifric, of gigantic stature, who taking a cart-wheel for a shield, and the axletree for a sword, repelled the invaders. A large gravestone in Tilney churchyard, having upon it a cross so decorated with ornaments as to appear something like a wheel, is still shown by the credulous as the grave of this mythic giant. Comparative mythologists trace this story to the Aryan solar myths.

For other topics, see the contents page of White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883
and Towns and Parishes where there are links to most of these places.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
February 2003