Priory Farm, Wicken

History of Priory farm

1901 Ordnance Survey map detail showing Priory Farm, numbered fields, Priory Drove, and Little Fen Drove in Wicken.

Priory Farm, Wicken, OS 1901

A black and white map shows Wicken, Burwell, and Priory Farm, with a hatched area indicating specific land boundaries.

Plan of local area, Wicken, from ‘The Farm in the Fen’.

See ‘The Farm in the Fen‘ by Alan Bloom, 1943 pub. Faber and Faber. The author describes how he purchases the farm just before WWII. It lies next to the National Trust Wicken Fen reserve, and like much of the local farmland has been neglected for many years and is in a poor condition for agricultural with inadequate drainage. The advent of WWII changes everything and the restoration of farmland for food production is a national priority. The book is a vivid account of life for farmers in the fens, the peculiar issues of the drainage and the various roles of the many individuals involved.

Such was the national interest in land reclamation that Burwell Fen was visited by the King in 1942. Signs were set up to show what areas of reclaimed land were being used for now. The King was accompanied by the Queen, the Minister of Agriculture, the Duke of Norfolk and Tom Williams MP. Land girls from Manchester dug bog oaks and drove tractors. Local men were digging out six-foot dykes. After 2o minutes the Royal Party left the site back to the Cock-Up bridge.

Detailed hand-drawn map showing fields, lodes, and sites of buildings in Wicken Sedge Fen, including labels for land use.

Priory Farm in 1939 (from. The Farm in the Fen)

A detailed line-drawn map of Wicken Sedge Fen and surrounding fields showing land use, locations, and dates from 1941 to 1943.

Priory Farm in 1943 (from. The Farm in the Fen)

A brick arch tunnel set into a grassy bank, with a metal grille across the water at its entrance beneath a wooden fence.

Burwell Lode improved culvert (from The Farm in the Fen)

Side view of a weathered human skull showing clear cranial sutures and teeth, set against a plain light background.

Skull found on farm dated c.3,000 old (from The Farm in the Fen)

Three people in flat caps and work clothes stand in a muddy trench, with a shovel resting on the bank to the right.

Ditching by hand, Priory Farm c.1943 (from The Farm in the Fen)

A tapered smock windmill with four lattice-style sails stands in a field next to a small sign on a post and a dark figure.

Last remaining pumping windmill is area of Priory Farm c.1943 (from The Farm in the Fen)

Two men in flat caps and vests stand by a long, dark log partially unearthed from a narrow trench in an open, grassy field.

Digging out a bog oak, Priory Farm c.1943 (from The Farm in the Fen)

Two men in simple work clothes stand on and beside a large, tangled pile of dark, weathered logs in a field at Wicken.

Pile of bog oaks 200 yards long and 5 yards wide, Priory farm c.1943 (from The Farm in the Fen)

A row of large, rectangular haystacks stands in a flat, open field under a cloudy sky, with a small mill structure nearby.

The Mill, Priory farm c.1943 (from The Farm in the Fen)

People in flat caps and heavy coats work at a wooden sorting table beside a large pile of potatoes in a field near Wicken.

Riddling potatoes, King Edwards on priory farm c.1943 (from The Farm in the Fen)

A narrow, water-filled ditch runs through a flat, marshy landscape with low-lying vegetation under a distant treeline.

Harrison’s Drove 1940, Priory farm (from The Farm in the Fen)

A straight, narrow concrete track stretches into a flat, open fenland landscape under a cloudy, expansive sky.

Harrison’s Drove 1943 with new concrete surface, Priory farm (from The Farm in the Fen)

Projects

Wicken

Share this article

Facebook Bluesky

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

Licence

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 not including content on external links as indicated by.