Belloc and the Fens

Hilaire Belloc was GA President in 1915.

He wrote about the Fens - the location of my school - in a collection of over 30 essays called 'Hills and the Sea'. In it, he intersperses pieces on England with others from France, including places like Carcassonne and other locations around the world - a reminder of his travel literature which perhaps drew him to the attention of the GA Council who had the job of finding a new President.

The book was first published in 1906 and was critically acclaimed.

It can be accessed via Project Gutenberg.

It is called 'A Family of the Fens' and focusses on the drainage of the Fens and its ruinous cost.

In 'On Ely' he visits the Cathedral, passing through its doors.

He ends this piece by talking about the allure of getting to know Ely and that "no man lives in Ely for a year without beginning to write a book. I do not say that all are published, but I swear that all are begun."

He visits 'The Sea Wall of the Wash', crossing the Nene at Sutton Bridge and heading for the coast.

This takes him to a piece called 'Lynn': the town where I lived for some years and taught for twenty years. I can follow his walking route from the Ferry, up to the Customs House, and onwards to St. Margaret's Church. 

At Manea in the Fens he talks to a local person, and captures the conversation:

MYSELF: This land wanted draining, didn't it?

THE OTHER MAN: Ah!

MYSELF: It seems to be pretty well drained now.

THE OTHER MAN: Ugh!

MYSELF: I mean it seems dry enough.

THE OTHER MAN: It was drownded only last winter.

MYSELF: It looks to be good land.

THE OTHER MAN: It's lousy land; it's worth nowt.

MYSELF: Still, there are dark bits—black, you may say—and thereabouts it will be good.

THE OTHER MAN: That's where you're wrong; the lighter it is the better it is ... ah! that's where many of 'em go wrong. (Short silence.)

MYSELF: (cheerfully): A sort of loam?

THE OTHER MAN (calvinistically): Ugh!—sand!... (shaking his head). It blaws away with a blast of wind. (A longer silence.)

Here's a talk which goes into a great deal of further detail on Belloc's work and influence, from Chris Hare.

It's part of a Lottery Funded project. Belloc lived for most of his life at Kingsland in Shipley.