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Wicken Fen is a 254.5-hectare (629-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Wicken in Cambridgeshire. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] It is also a National Nature Reserve , [ 4 ] and a Nature Conservation Review site. [ 5 ]
English: map of Wicken Fen National Trust land holdings, Cambridgeshire, UK, using the following for additional information shown: Motorways . Primary routes .
A windpump at Wicken Fen. The Fens are very low-lying compared with the chalk and limestone uplands that surround them – in most places no more than 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level. As a result of drainage and the subsequent shrinkage of the peat fens, many parts of the Fens now lie below mean sea level.
Wicken is a small village on the edge of The Fens near Soham in East Cambridgeshire, ten miles north east of Cambridge and five miles south of Ely. It is the site of Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve .
Wicken Fen was the first nature reserve to be owned by the National Trust and has been in its care since 1899. Wicken Fen is a haven for birds, plants, insects and mammals. It can be explored by the traditional wide droves and lush green paths, including a boardwalk nature trail, giving access to several hides.
As a remnant wetland in a modified landscape, Wicken Fen in particular needs active management to maintain water levels. Because of shrinkage of the surrounding arable land, water tends to drain out of Wicken Fen. Measures have been taken to prevent drying out, including pumping water up from a drainage channel. [3]
Wicken Lode. Wicken Lode turns off Reach Lode, and crosses Wicken Sedge Fen, running for nearly 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to just short of the village of Wicken. There is a right of public navigation as far as its junction with Monk's Lode, and the stretch beyond that is only navigable by local inhabitants.
As such this is the earliest record concerning that area, as well as Spinney Priory. For centuries the monastery was associated with the fen, and this continues even now with water being pumped from the farm fields into the Nature Reserve. In 1301 Mary de Bassingbourne expanded the establishment with 90 acres (364,000 m 2) more and four more ...