CHAP. II. THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. 25 



land men went in their boats or skerries to milk the 

 cows the boats being so small that they could carry 

 only two men and their milk-pails. As yet no corn 

 grew within five miles of Croyland, and there was an 

 old proverb of the district which said that " all the carts 

 tliat come to Croyland are shod with silver," for the 

 good reason that the ground all about it was so boggy 

 that neither horse nor cart could approach it; and hence 

 the proverb. 



Thorney and Eamsey were other Fen islands, each 

 the seat of an abbey. Both stood solitary amidst the 

 dead level waste around them. Deep and boggy quag- 

 mires separated Ramsey from the high lands on the 

 west, whilst several large meres, abounding in eels, 

 pikes, hakedes, and other fish, stretched away towards 

 the east. Like Croyland and Thorney, it was approach- 

 able only by boats, until a causeway was made to it 

 across the marsh the monks being the engineers. 

 Another of these causeways was made from Soham to 

 Ely, which was considered in its day a work so won- 

 derful, that it was afterwards attributed to a miracle 

 performed by the monk who constructed it ; and Egelric, 

 a Peterborough monk, made a firm causeway of wood 

 and gravel through the Fens between Deeping and 

 Spalding, for the convenience of foot-passengers. A 

 considerable inducement to the industry of the church- 

 men was, no doubt, the increased value given to the 

 Fen lands thus reclaimed, which were added from time 

 to time to the endowments of their respective esta- 

 blishments. Hence we find serious disputes occurring 

 between the Bishops of Ely and the Abbots of Eamsey 

 as to the boundaries of their Fen lands, and the contro- 

 versy became so hot amongst the brethren on one occa- 

 sion, that it is related that " on the feast-day of Saint 

 Peter ad Vincula, two of the canons of the priory of the 

 Holy Trinity, disputing thereof, grew to such high words 

 as contracted an implacable hatred betwixt them, that, 



