“Ten Miles from Ely”: Stories, Lives and Landscapes of the Fen Country

A collection of oral histories and memories from villages surrounding Ely, capturing life, work, customs and landscape across the Cambridgeshire Fens in the early twentieth century.

Exhibition: “Ten Miles from Ely”

This exhibition brings together voices and memories from across the Fenland villages surrounding Ely, offering a richly detailed picture of life in the early twentieth century.

Compiled from oral history recordings held Lorna Delanoy, it captures:

• Everyday life
• Work and farming
• Village customs
• War and social change
• The distinctive landscape of the Fens

The title reflects both geography and identity: a network of communities connected by Ely as their centre (see map on page 2).

 

 

1. Ely and its surrounding world

A map early in the booklet shows Ely at the centre of a web of villages:

• Haddenham
• Sutton
• Witchford
• Stretham
• Wilburton
• Littleport
• Prickwillow

This “ten mile” radius defines a shared world of:

• Work
• Trade
• Family connections
• Social life

(see page 2 diagram)

2. Life shaped by work and poverty

The introduction reflects on the hard realities of Fenland life:

• Agricultural labour
• Poverty and hardship
• Strong resilience

Yet the tone is not only one of difficulty, but also of:

“affection and little regret”

suggesting pride in a way of life now largely gone (page 2).

3. Village customs and traditions

Memories from Haddenham and surrounding villages describe:

• Gooding Day – charity for widows
• Plough Monday traditions
• Mayladying celebrations

These customs reinforced:

• Community responsibility
• Seasonal rhythms
• Shared identity

(see pages 3–4)

4. Childhood and recreation

Recollections of childhood emphasise:

• Outdoor play
• Physical activities such as boxing, wrestling and cock-fighting games
• Informal sports and competitions

Life for children was often:

• Physically demanding
• Highly social
• Closely tied to the village environment

(see pages 4–5)

5. Mobility and travel

Despite the apparent isolation of the Fens, people moved widely.

One account describes travelling across:

• Suffolk
• Norfolk
• Lincolnshire

Often by foot or simple means, staying overnight wherever possible.

This mobility reflects a wider rural network beyond individual villages (page 5).

6. Money, trade and survival

Economic life was precarious.

Examples include:

• Working for very small wages
• Receiving food instead of money
• Sharing resources within the community

Farmers sometimes paid labourers in:

• Potatoes
• Cabbage
• Basic provisions

(see page 5)

7. Conflict: the Haddenham Riot

One of the most dramatic episodes described is the Haddenham Riot of 1921.

This arose from:

• Disputes over agricultural levies
• Tension between farmers and authorities

The account includes:

• Armed local resistance
• Confrontation with officials
• Violence and intimidation

The episode highlights:

• Economic pressure
• Strong local solidarity
• Resistance to external control

(see pages 6–7)

8. Faith, belief and community

Religious life played an important role.

Reflections include:

• Methodist influence in the villages
• Personal faith shaped by hardship
• Church as a centre of community life

Faith is described as:

• Evolving
• Personal
• Closely tied to lived experience

(see pages 7–8)

9. War and its impact

The Second World War brought dramatic change.

Accounts include:

• Bombing of Soham railway
• Damage to mills and infrastructure
• The constant threat of air raids

One vivid description recalls:

• Watching bombs fall in sequence
• Entire trains destroyed
• Villages affected by nearby explosions

(see pages 8–9)

10. Farming and working life

Daily work in the Fens was demanding.

Examples include:

• Long working hours (up to 15-hour days)
• Heavy manual labour
• Reliance on horses and early machinery

Agriculture shaped:

• Time
• Family life
• Physical environment

11. Everyday hardship and ingenuity

Life required constant adaptation.

Accounts describe:

• No heating in winter
• Primitive transport
• Early motor vehicles and repairs

One memory describes:

• Letting water drain at night to prevent freezing
• Starting vehicles with hand cranks in cold conditions

(see pages 10–11)

12. Women’s lives and domestic experience

Mabel Demaine’s recollections provide detailed insight into:

• Cooking in farmhouse kitchens
• Cleaning routines
• Managing households without modern conveniences

Descriptions include:

• Open fires
• Manual food preparation
• Intensive domestic labour

(see page 12)

13. Flooding and the Fen landscape

The Fens were always shaped by water.

A striking photograph shows:

• A flooded cottage with a bed raised above water level
• The impact of the 1947 floods. The military operation to save the area was called Noah’s Ark.

Another account describes:

• Sudden rising water
• Evacuation
• Damage to homes and livelihoods

(see pages 15 & 14)

14. Objects, work and memory

Photographs throughout the booklet connect stories to objects:

• Horse-drawn carts
• Agricultural machinery
• Butter churns
• Steam engines

These images show:

• The transition from manual to mechanised farming
• The central role of tools in everyday life

(see pages 16–18)

15. Industry and change

Later sections describe:

• Local factories (such as the Ely beet factory)
• Changing agricultural practices
• Increasing mechanisation

These developments mark the transition from:

• Traditional rural life
  to
• Modern industrial agriculture

(see page 13)