CAMBRIDGESHIRE FENS ^ 245 



with a silt which resembled " pulverised sand." Almost every- 

 where he speaks of the " deplorable condition of the drainage," and 

 consequently of the " miserable state of cultivation " which pre- 

 vailed on the open-field lands. The fen-lands of Chatteris, Elm, 

 Leverington, Parson Drove, Wisbech St. Mary's and Thorney, 

 amounting to about 50,000 acres yield " a produce far beyond the 

 richest high lands in the county, averaging a rent of more than fifteen 

 shillings per acre. Whereas the waste, the drowned, and partially 

 improved fens, amounting on a moderate computation to 150,000 

 acres, cannot be fairly averaged at more than four shilHngs per 

 acre." Very rarely were the open-fields and commons even in a 

 fair state of cultivation. Wilburton was a favourable example. 

 There field-reeves had been appointed by the parish, with power 

 to open up neglected drains at the expense of those to whom they 

 belonged. But almost universally the common pasture was deterio- 

 rated by turf-cutting ; the marsh lands, if tilled, were exhausted 

 by barbarous cropping ; and effective drainage was prevented by 

 the intermixed condition in which the land was occupied. At 

 Snailwell, an open upland parish, there was a flock of 1,200 Norfolk 

 sheep, which were only " kept healthy by being prevented from 

 feeding upon the wet moory fen common." The general attitude 

 of the ague-stricken, opium-eating fen-men towards the drainage 

 of the district may be illustrated by the example of Burwell, a chalk- 

 land parish on the Suffolk border. " Any attempt in contempla- 

 tion of the better drainage " of Burwell fen, already " greatly 

 injured by the digging of turf," and " constantly inundated," is 

 " considered as hostile to the true interests of these deluded people." 

 In 1794 the principal Lincolnshire ^ commons were the East and 

 West (29,000 acres), the Wildmore Fen (10,500 acres), the East 

 and West Deeping Fens (15,000 acres). The East and West and 

 Wildmore Fens were " under better regulations than any others 

 in the fen country." " Yet," says the Reporter, " they are 

 extremely wet and unprofitable in their present state, standing much 

 in need of drainage, are generally overstocked, and dug up for turf 

 and fuel. The cattle and sheep depastured upon them are often 

 very unhealthy, and of an inferior sort, occasioned by the scanti- 

 ness, as well as the bad quaHty of their food, and the wetness of 

 their lair. Geese, with which these commons are generally stocked 

 . . . are often subject to be destroyed. It is not a constant prac- 

 1 Stone's Lincolnshire (1794), pp. 18, 22. 



