Search by topic
- archaeology
- architecture
- bricklayer
- Building of Local Interest
- carpenter
- church
- crime
- dressmaker
- fire
- Great Eastern Railway
- listed building
- medieval
- oral history
- Public House
- Rattee & Kett
- Religious House
- Roman
- scholar
- school
- Then and Now
- tudor
- women
- work
- world war one
- world war two
Search by text
Watercress beds on The Moor, Fowlmere c.1880 (photo J Bishop)(MoC349/75)Fowlmere Watercress beds / RSPB Reserve
History of the watercress beds
Vanishing Cambridgeshire p.109 contains extracts from publications describing the watercress industry:
Large beds of watercress have been laid down at Fowlmere where water is raised by a dam to spread over the low-lying land. An industry of some dimensions has grown up and there is a growing demand from London. (CDN 22.5.1905)
Watercress beds west of Fowlmere OS map 1901
In the late 1930s about ten men were employed full time with another three being taken on at busy periods. There were also six women who bunched up the cress. Lorries loaded with wicker baskets full of cress went to London’s Covent Garden Market. … The main cress beds ceased production after the 1950s although W Hallworth was still supplying the markets and the village in 1965. (L W Price, Foulmire Moor and Fowlmere RSPB reserve, 1994)
Fowlmere RSPB (RGL Oct 2022)
Fowlmere RSPB (Oct 2022)
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@
License
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
