Postcards from the Fens

ROGER COLEMAN I black fen editions 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 black and white postcard-size photos taken within fifteen miles of Ely Cathedral, and its companion set of fifty in colour. Ely Cathedral: The Ship of the Fens 1 The Hiam Sports & Social Club, Prickwillow 2 Poplar windbreaks on Fodder Fen, below Prickwillow 3 Rymanmoor Drove, on South Fen, Sutton 4 Bank Farm, under the River Lark on Burnt Fen 5 Reed beds by the Great Ouse at Queen Adelaide 6 Sluice on the Old Bedford River, Welney 7 Pumping Station on Middle Fen Drain, Ely 8 A wet winter: The Cam Washes at Upware 9 On Adventurers’ Drove, below Oxlode, with Ely in the distance 10 Barn on Horsely Fen near Chatteris 11 Denver Farm from Poplar Drove on Mow Fen, Littleport 12 On Fidwell Fen, Stretham 13 Straw bales on Wicken Dolvers 14 Starting the cut: All-England Ploughing Championships, Soham 15 Lettuce seedlings on Holt Fen, Stretham 16 Green Farm, under the Lark Bank at Prickwillow 17 Sheds and Nissen hut on Feltwell Anchor 18 On Black Drove, Feltwell Anchor 19 Poppylot Farm, Southery Road, near Feltwell 20 Farm gate on Burnt Fen, outside Little Ouse 21 Gate on the Horse Fen, Soham 22 Gravel Farm Organics on Stretham Mere 23 Wissington Beet Factory on Methwold Severals 24 On Upwell Fen, below Lot’s Bridge 25 Bungalows by Letter F Farm on Burnt Fen, between Littleport and Shippea Hill Station 26 The Great Ouse, from Ten Mile Bank 27 Holly House Farm on Honey Hill, near Chatteris 28 Bungalow on Great Fen Road, Soham 29 Bungalow on Great Fen Road, Soham 30 Fenside Farm on Wicken Dolvers 31 Green Farm, Prickwillow 32 CLT Tyre & Exhaust, Northfield Industrial Estate, Soham 33 Farm shed on Latches Fen, Wimblington 34 Crossing Langwood Fen, above Chatteris 35 Crops under fleece on Bridge Fen, by Stuntney Causeway 36 Crossing Langwood Fen, above Chatteris 37 Crops under fleece on Bridge Fen, by Stuntney Causeway 38 ‘Mussolini Bridge’ on the River Cam at Dimmock’s Cote, Stretham 39 Letter F Farm, between Littleport and Shippea Hill Station 40 Farmyard on Horsely Fen, near Chatteris 41 Irrigation rigs at Hainey Farm, Barway 42 Bungalow on Great Fen Road, Soham 43 Chapel buildings on the outskirts of Wisbech 44 Farm buildings outside Three Holes 45 Lion Mills Soham – sold for housing 46 Boot’s Bridge Farm on Wimblington Fen 47 Farm shed on Southery Road, near Feltwell 48 Benson’s Farm bridge on the Sixteen Foot Drain, above Chatteris 49 On Langwood Fen, near Chatteris 50 51 www.rogercolemanphotography.com black fen editions