Exploring the Fen-Edge - Rex Sly

Having written on the fen interior, its agriculture and its people, Rex Sly's love for this enigmatic part of the country inspired him to research a part of the Lincolnshire fen-edge.

There is no straight line dividing the fen from the uplands. Small upland peninsulas run into the fens and conversely the fen creeps into the uplands, as if both have vied for their common rights against evolution.

Most of the fen-edge settlements relied on their own individual fens for their very survival, villagers having grazing rights on common pastures in the fens up until they were enclosed and drained in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. 

His journey follows the route of the Roman Car Dyke from Peterborough to Lincoln, visiting the villages and towns on the way.