Will it happen again
John Norris remembers quite a few magnificent Lode bridges that were never needed. But will it happen again ?
In the eighteen eighties, when the new railway line from Cambridge to Mildenhall was being built, it was necessary to cross over the Swaffham Bulbeck Lode. At this time barge traffic was still being used, but only infrequently, as the roads were being improved, and the trade in peat declining. The point of mentioning this was that the river conservators insisted that the railway track was high enough for the barges to pass underneath fully loaded. That would infer six feet above the water level
This necessitated building an embankment starting at Swaffham Prior, and rising high enough to get the clearance, and then returning to the land level again. The is was done at great cost by horses and carts, and eventually the track laid on this new raised bank. All this effort was wasted, as after the first train had gone through, nobody would use the old slow barges again, with the connections only to Cambridge or Ely The railway had opened up travel to the whole country. In the last century, some time in the seventies, it was necessary to lower the tunnel under the Burwell Lode due to the land settling Again the navigation people insisted that the flow of the very few boats could not, under their mandate, be interrupted; similar to the previous circumstances with the railway. So, the solution was to again employ the most expensive method of boring under the river to placate the ancient privilege they enjoyed.
The task started well. A pipe was to be pushed under the water, perhaps some three feet. below the bottom of the lode. Then, men went in and dug out the soil inside the pipe, putting it into a tub on a railway track, and the earth hauled out. Another section of pipe was fixed to the end of the first piece and thrust further under the river, and the process repeated. This went on well for several sections of pipe but, as it reached the centre of the river the water began to seep in, and eventually this scheme had to be abandoned, the pipe was flooded..
The situation was now very serious, as the drainage of all the land to the East of the Lode had no access to the pumps at Upware. The only solution, which should have been the first one , was to dam up the lode each side of the intended tunnel, cut a deep trench, an lay the new pipe in it. This was done quite easily with the modern equipment available, and the river restored to its original form.
Now to the point of these recollections. The National Trust have a "not so bright" idea ,to connect Anglesey Abbey with Wicken Fen, passing entirely through the fen. Several bridges will be required of which two are in place already, but nothing is suitable to get the "traffic" over our friend the Reach Lode. Here again the river conservators, or somebody else, will find it necessary to insist that somebody builds a large bridge so that the two or three boats a year may pass unencumbered to travel the half mile or so to Reach.
This bridge will be twenty feet or so above the surrounding ground level;, as the Lode is embanked in this low area. I imagine that stairs will accommodate the "traffic" but it may be that a ramp, just like the one for the old railway, will constructed. The cost for this bright ,or perhaps misguided idea will be substantial. Who will use it ? And what is "traffic ", cars, buses, motor cycles ?, the mind boggles.
At present there is a bridge over the Burwell lode at Priory Farm, which consists of a type of draw bridge which can be raised to let any boat traffic through, but remain as a bridge at all other times. This structure is not a blot on the landscape, and is so much cheaper than the one proposed over the Reach Lode, and need only be just as wide as the popular day boat. .Indeed a swing bridge may fill the bill if in time it is still considered necessary.
This brings me to my final comment, in that the National Trust seem to have an inexhaustible source of money. The purchase of some of the best farm land for miles around, only to let it lie derelict, and worst of all to rename it, giving free advertisement to finance houses, is a mischief to say the least. Here I have a personal interest, and annoyance, in that. some of the land that I drained , clayed, and farmed for thirty years has now got a label: Tubney Fen. Where-ever did they get that name. from? On my map of 1809, it is Turf Fen, in deference to the peat extraction that was carried out there. The fields have traditional names too. Bush Ground, Swan Lake, the Double dolver. Mebblies etc.
The dereliction I notice as I pass by is so disheartening. The wild grasses , fathen, and thistles are prospering, and no doubt spreading their seeds far and wide. Not so long ago all this low-lying land was a hive of industry. The turf, or peat digging was the chief form of income, and provided work for many. This area was then in the parish of Swaffham Prior until 1956 when the parish of Reach was created, after an area of land both sides of the Lode was renamed. This small group of houses grew up to manage the barge traffic taking the turves to the Cambridge Colleges.
The low level of this fen was regulated only by the poor drainage of the time, as the depth of peat is considerable, and being near to the Lode was convenient, and would have been excavated even deeper if it had been possible. Until recently there was a large spring in Croyle Fen which created its own river running through this whole area, producing in time this great depth of peat. This has now slowed down to a trickle as the water abstraction from the chalk hills to the east has lowered the water table by many feet.
In a sad sense ,I am glad I am old enough not to worry too much, but the loss of English farm land may be a step too far. Once we get dependent on foreign imports, up will go the price of food, and it will take many years to regain the excellence we have developed in the farming practice we enjoy to-day I am well aware that changes will take place, but to try and alter vast areas of our landscape by wilful neglect is not the way to proceed. In the great scheme of things we are talking about a very small area, but it is the detail that influences the whole.
And all these changes will come at a price, as the Drainage Board will no doubt still levy a drainage charge. In fact if the land was not drained by pumping, it would be under many feet of water, and only fish could survive over this new purchase. The whole scheme is fraught with unseen difficulties, and is meddling with a system evolved over many years since Vermuyden first drained the fens, and which has been very successful. on the whole..