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roger coleman

More postcards from the Fens

Photographs and text by Roger Coleman

black fen editions This book was produced for A Husk of Hares a travelling exhibition featuring the East Anglian Fens organised by Christine Pike, ADeC and the Babylon Gallery, Ely

Also in this series Euximoor, Bedlam and other Fens Postcards from the Fens

Other books of photography by Roger Coleman Light on the Water 1 – Cadgwith 1st November 2003 Light on the Water 2 – Cadgwith 5th November 2005 Light on the Water 3 – Cadgwith 7th April 2007

Prints of all images available from www.rogercolemanphotography.com More postcards from the Fens

The marshes around Ely, March and Wisbech were comprehensively drained in the 17th century to create an open expanse of fields originally intended for grazing. Punctuated by drains, dykes and straightened rivers running above low-lying land, the East Anglian Fens are now home to agriculture on an industrial scale.

With huge skies and panoramic views, the Fens can simultaneously challenge and inspire, but reward a closer view, at a distance where the detail, character and variety of this hard-working landscape snap into focus.

Old postcards have a special appeal. At first sight ephemeral mementos of holidays, but at another level a vernacular record of a specific time and place, and through the messages they carry, a snap-shot of our lives, past and present. The Fens are not picturesque in any conventional sense, but deserve their own postcards, both as testimony to a unique landscape and to prompt memories of what it means to live and work here.

I have tried to do just that in this set of fifty postcard-size colour photos taken within fifteen miles of Ely Cathedral, and its companion set of fifty in black and white.

1 Green Farm, under the Lark Bank at Prickwillow

2 Barn on Primrose Hill, near Pymoor

3 Irrigation rigs on Wimblington Fen, Manae

4 Wenny Farm, Wenny Severals, Chatteris

5 Cottages on the River Lark at Prickwillow

6 Chicken sheds on Byall Fen below Oxlode

7 The River Cam above Starlock Hay Fen Common, Stretham

8 Honey Farm & Honey Bridge, between Block Fen and Wimblington Fen, Chatteris

9 Daffodils on Swaffham Bulbeck Fen

10 Allotments on Bridge Fen, Stuntney Causeway, Ely

11 Fields under Fleece by the Hundred Foot, Adventurers’ Drove, Oxlode

12 Pumping Station on Middle Fen Drain, Ely

13 Lark River Pumping Station, Burnt Fen, Prickwillow

14 Lime-spreading on Burnt Fen below Little Ouse

15 On Mare Fen, Littleport

16 Rain over Hale Fen, Littleport

17 Winter hedgerow on Blockmoor Fen, Soham

18 Irrigation rig at Studfield Farm, Soham

19 Fenside Farm on Wicken Dolvers

20 Farm Buildings on Broad Hill, Soham

21 Sheds on the A10 from the Great Ouse bank outside Littleport

22 On Main Drove, Fodder Fen, Little Downham

23 A handsome pair: All-England Ploughing Championships, Soham

24 Steam plough: All-England Ploughing Championships, Soham

25 Driving the steam plough: All-England Ploughing Championships, Soham

26 A ploughman’s lunch: All-England Ploughing Championships, Soham

27 Lion MIlls, Soham

28 Demolishing Lion Mills Soham: The end of an era

29 Yard on Horsely Fen near Chatteris

30 Chicken Farm on Soham Coates

31 Old River Lark pumping station on Fodder Fen Drove, West Row Fen

32 Ely from outside Witchford

33 House on Great Fen Road, Soham

34 Bungalow on Great Fen Road, Soham

35 Houses on the A1101, outside Welney

36 Sheds on Horse Moor, Wimblington

37 Fodder Fen and the Hundred Foot Drain from Main Drove, Little Downham

38 Hale Fen, Littleport

39 Washes between the Old and New Bedford Rivers, near Mepal

40 Byall Fen and Oxlode Pumping Station

41 Sheds on Stow Bardolph Fen, The Drove. Nordelph

42 Free-range pigs, near Freckenham

43 Green Farm, Prickwillow

44 On Anchor Drove between Prickwillow and Feltwell

45 Take away curry and pizza, Isle Road, Outwell

46 Farmyard on Anchor Drove, Feltwell

47 Shed on Methwold Fens, near Southery

48 Farm buildings on Methwold Fens, between Southery and Feltwell

49 Dorothea House on Cow Common, Manea

50 Seventh Drove on Fodder Fen, Little Downham

black fen editions www.rogercolemanphotography.com