Chippenham and its history: Part I
Chippenham Fen Today
This is the first of a series of posts exploring Chippenham in Cambridgeshire, especially its Fen and its history. Counterintuitively, perhaps, I am going to start by looking at the Fen as it is today and then turn back the pages to explore a number of different themes.
And I will consider the way in which Empire, and global developments far away, impacted this small rural village and its fen – a village whose population was less than 300 in 1279, had fallen by a half in 1377, and risen to just 517 by 2011.
So let’s start with the Fen as it is today.
The first time I visited Chippenham Fen I was blown away – not literally (although it was a blustery day), but by its magical atmosphere. It clearly helped that I was the only person on the Fen that morning, causing me to feel I had walked into a secret garden along the lines of the one imagined by Frances Hodgson Burnett in her novel of that name.
I had previously visited other Cambridgeshire fens, including Wicken, Holme and Woodwalton but they had seemed to me to be somewhat more managed, and certainly much busier. Indeed, at times Wicken can appear as busy as a south coast beach on a hot summer’s day. Either way, walking around Chippenham Fen felt to me a far more primordial encounter with the natural world than I had experienced at any other fen.
Subsequent visits have proved equally magical and solitary, even though I have now met at least two other people on the Fen! Presumably, some people do make regular visits to the site since there is a volunteer group advertised.
All in all, I believe Chippenham can boast that it has a fenland jewel.
The quietude of the Fen, and the impression I formed of it, has surely something to do with its hidden-away nature.
Certainly, I found it hard to locate on my first visit. After vainly driving around Chippenham, Fordham and Snailwell trying to find a way in, I eventually parked in a layby on the Fordham/Snailwell road and strode down a public footpath that seemed to be headed in the right direction. Fortunately, it was.
I later discovered that access to the Fen is also possible by means of another public footpath, on the Chippenham/Snailwell road. Strangely, however, I could find no indication on any of the footpath signs that they lead to the Fen.
What further increases the sense of hiddenness is that it is necessary to obtain a permit (and to get one you need to be a ‘bona fide naturalist’ or photographer) in order to access most parts of the site. That said, since one of the public footpaths runs through the middle of the Fen and the other skirts its edge, anyone is free to walk through or around the northern side of the site (should they happen upon the Fen!).
It was only after I had obtained a permit from Natural England (which currently manages the Fen) that I learned that the “official” entrance to the site is via Park Farm, which is on a very tight corner of the Chippenham/ Snailwell road. If you approach the farm in a vehicle the gate opens automatically, allowing you to drive down a very dusty lane past a number of farmhouses known as Phantom Cottages. There is, however, no public car park when you arrive at the end of the lane, and to enter the Fen with a vehicle you need to know the combination number of the padlock securing the main gate (which is only given to permit holders).
As you enter the Fen there is a Natural England shed at the main entrance (called the “Reserve Base”), but this is for the use of site workers. Unlike Wicken Fen, there are no toilets or other facilities. It is, it seems, a fen more for the cognoscente than the nature tourist.
Impressions aside, what can be said about Chippenham Fen? We can say that it is situated five miles north of Newmarket between the villages of Chippenham and Fordham and that it covers 117 Ha. We can say that it is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Ramsar wetland site; and we can say that it is part of the Fenland Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
We should also note that the Fen incorporates Snailwell and Poor’s Fens as well, although the latter are in Snailwell Parish, not Chippenham Parish.
Different
The Woodland Trust describes Chippenham Fen as “one of the best remaining areas of undrained, semi-natural Fen in Europe”. It adds that it consists of peat soil laid over chalk rock, with a layer of clay between.
However, while it is only six miles from Wicken Fen, Chippenham Fen is rather different. It shares many wetland elements with Wicken, but its peat is much shallower (from a few centimetres to a maximum of c.2m) and, as the Parish Council points out, “Unlike the typical Cambridgeshire Fens which are on flat land below sea level, Chippenham Fen is twelve metres above sea-level and surrounded by higher farmland.”
A 2018 report by consultants Sheffield Wetland Ecologists noted, “Botanists and ecologists at Cambridge have long recognised that Chippenham Fen is ‘different’ to its more studied counterpart at Wicken, most obviously by the occurrence of springs.”
In fact, as the Parish Council indicate, Chippenham Fen is unlike most Fens in East Anglia. Making this point in their report, the Sheffield ecologists cite a 1951 paper published by M Kassas in the Journal of Ecology. “Wicken Fen”, says Kassas, “is obviously a relic of a Fen proper (Niedermoor [or low moor]) whereas Chippenham Fen is a spring Fen (Quellmoore [or spring water moor]). The former Fen lies over a ground below mean sea-level, whereas the latter Fen occupies ground which is almost everywhere above 40 ft. O.D.”
Kassas adds: “The natural physiography of Chippenham puts it out of contact with the development of the great Fenland area surrounding the Wash and under the influence of changing sea-level. Chippenham Fen owes its existence in part at least to springs feeding its basin and leading to the development of spring Fens.”
This draws our attention to the fact that no fen is an island, particularly now that most of East Anglia’s wetland has been drained and our increasingly populated island is putting huge pressure on groundwater, with the need for more and more water to be abstracted from our rivers and streams.
Clearly this pressure has consequences for the pockets of remaining fenland. This can be bad news for the plants and wildlife that depend on them. Peat needs to be kept wet to support the flora and fauna that depend on it. And if it dries the land sinks, and the peat degrades and blows away. There are also significant implications for climate change here too, because peat holds a large amount of carbon (see this visualisation for a sense of how much). Lost peat means large increases in emissions of carbon dioxide.
In the case of Chippenham, there have been concerns since at least 1988 that the Fen could be impacted by a lowering of the surrounding groundwater.
Mixed fen
Chippenham Fen, says the Parish Council, contains “substantial areas of spring-fed calcareous species-rich fen, and more nutrient rich tall fen, as well as a range of unimproved wet meadows, saw-sedge beds, small areas of chalk grassland, scrub and wet woodland”. In other words, it is a “mixed fen”.
The saw-sedge is one of the most important habitats on the Fen, the Parish Council adds, since large stands of this plant are rare in Europe.
In addition to the reeds, grasses, sedges and rushes, says Natural England “More than 400 species of wildflowers have been recorded including marsh helleborine, black bog rush, bogbean, bog pimpernel and saw-wort, southern marsh and fragrant orchids.”
There were some fine specimens of marsh orchids visible when I visited in June (see photo below).
In a review of the flora of the Fen published in 2015 Alan Leslie, former Cambridgeshire County Recorder for the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI), noted that the Fen is “certainly the largest and perhaps now the only site in the British Isles for Cambridge Milk-parsley [Selinum carvifolia]” (More on Selinum carvifolia here).
Once also seen in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire it seems this plant has now disappeared from these counties. It was last seen in nearby Fordham Abbey in 1949, and in Sawston Hall Moor in 1988. At that time there were up to 1,000 flowering plants in Sawston, but the Sheffield ecologists believe it is now absent there too. This, they say, is likely due to a lack of grazing and a lowered water table due to water abstraction.
Recalling that the rare Swallowtail Butterfly depends on Milk Parsley I emailed Alan Leslie to ask if there are any Swallowtails on Chippenham Fen. He replied that Swallowtails depend on a different type of milk parsley. “The plant that is generally associated with the Swallowtail Butterfly is Milk Parsley or what used to be called Peucedanum palustre but now Thyselium palustrem.
Leslie added that while Thyselium palustrem is not present on Chippenham Fen it is well known on Wicken Fen (where the Selinum does not occur). However, while attempts have been made to reintroduce the Swallowtail at Wicken (which included planting a lot of Milk Parsley), he noted, it has not been possible to establish a population there.
In 1980 Chippenham Fen was also said to offer one of the few natural habitats in the British Isles for the Marsh Louse Wort (Pedicularis palustris). Unfortunately, Leslie notes in his review, this plant no longer appears to be present on the site. Nor, it seems are a number of other plants that used to grow there, including Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia palustris) and the Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris).
What we learn is that a fen is more than an area of wetland with a relatively static population of plants and wildlife. It is a fragile ecosystem under constant threat from the activity of humans, not least the threat of disruption to its water supply. And it can easily be harmed, damaged or even destroyed if it is not carefully preserved and managed.
The challenges of managing and maintaining a fen in today’s world are not insignificant. It needs to be done in a way that protects and preserves not just the water supply but the flora and fauna that inhabit its wetland. For this reason, for instance, Natural England mow and remove the saw-sedge cuttings in Chippenham Fen once every year or two in order to maintain the plant’s vigour. (The resultant crop is still used in thatching houses).
On a brighter note, plants and wildlife assumed lost from a site can suddenly re-appear. In 2010, for instance, Rosser’s sac spider (Clubiona rosserae) was rediscovered at Chippenham Fen. It had not been seen on the site for 19 years and was believed to be extinct.
Birds, moths and buffalo
In terms of bird species, the Fen is home to woodcock, snipe, and nine species of warbler. There is a sign at the entrance to the Fen with information on recent bird sightings. In addition, an external web site records these. (There is on this site a report of a nightingale having been seen/heard in Chippenham in 1987).
The Parish Council notes that the combination of habitats at Chippenham is also very favourable for invertebrates. “Several hundred different moths have been found including the rare Silver-barred moth which flies readily if disturbed during the day. And there are some flies and other insects which are not found elsewhere in the UK.”
Elsewhere, the government website says that over 500 moth species have been recorded, including the Reed leopard. It adds that the Fen also contains many nationally scarce, rare invertebrates particularly Diptera (two-winged or “true flies”).
As part of the management process at Chippenham Fen, in 2011 Natural England began a grazing trial in which water buffalo were introduced, on the basis that grazing animals help keep the landscape open and assist wetland and grassland plants to become established and flourish. This in turn helps the wildlife that depend on those plants. Buffalo are less fussy than cattle when it comes to grazing on grassland.
“Buffalo are pretty hardy which is why we got some as a grazing experiment in the first place,” says Chris Hainsworth, Natural England Senior Reserve Manager, who is responsible for the site. “They are generally healthy and rarely require vet attention.”
He adds: “It is quite a hard life for them as they live outside all year and although there is plenty of grass it’s pretty rough and poor quality.”
He adds: “Basically, we underestimated the load they brought from the other farm which was an error on our part. 7 buffalo then became 6 as one had a twisted intestine and died from that. 6 became 5 as a buffalo died this year due to old age. We now have 5 buffalo.
“We are not sure whether to allow the herd to die out as although they are good management tools it is quite expensive in terms of staff time. In addition, they poach parts of the site over winter. As they have got older, they require more winter feeding to maintain condition. The ideal set up would be if we could have a grazier bring cattle on during the summer and then we could rest the site over winter.”
For now the buffalo are still in the north meadow and often visible from the public footpath (see map above).
Future
As we will see in future posts the state and fate of Chippenham Fen and the surrounding land has historically (and unsurprisingly) been heavily dependent on the lords of the manor/ owners of Chippenham Park estate. I will discuss one of the owners in some detail in a future post.
It is worth noting that most of the Fen is still owned by Chippenham Estate (which in 2011seems to have started trading as Chippenham Park Events), and the estate has been owned by the same family since the 18th Century.
This means that Chippenham Fen is leased by Natural England rather than owned by it. Part of the Fen is also leased from Fordham Abbey Farms – namely the woodland fringe on the North of the river towards Snailwell known as the Underdown plantation (see map above). This web page might seem to imply that Natural England has been managing the site since it was designated an SSRI in 1988 but I was not able to clarify that before I published this post. (But see update below).
In a sense then, Natural England pays for the privilege of managing the site. At the time of posting, however, I had not been able to establish exactly when the lease expires and how much Natural England pays to manage the site. Hainsworth thought the lease expired in 2043, which might seem to suggest that Natural England has been managing the site since the last war rather than 1988. (But see update below).
The lease with Fordham Abbey Farms expires soon, and I assume the company concerned is this one here. It is not clear what will happen to this part of the Fen going forward.
My next post will look at past attempts to drain Chippenham Fen.
Two short Soundscapes of Chippenham Fen can be heard/viewed here and here
UPDATE 10
SEPTEMBER 2021
After I posted this I received a further email from Chris Hainsworth clarifying that Natural England, or the Nature Conservancy Council as it then was, took over management of Chippenham Fen in 1963 and he confirmed that NE has a 99-year lease with Chippenham Estate, which therefore ends in 2062. The lease with Fordham Abbey Farms ends in 2023.
“I am afraid the rate we pay is commercially sensitive and I would therefore prefer not to divulge,” said Hainsworth.
He added, “Designation to SSSI status does not confer management to NE. SSSI can be owned by anyone. NNR status is within NE’s gift. We do have some other bodies such as RSPB / National trust who run NNR. There are 2 NNRs in private ownership but it is generally only agreed if we are confident the partner can maintain the NNR criteria.”
Part Two of this series can be read here.
FURTHER READING
Flora of Chippenham Fen by Alan Leslie (2015)
The Eco-Hydrology of Chippenham Fen, Cambridgeshire – An Assessment by the Sheffield Wetland Ecologists (2018)
Chippenham Fen NNR. Botanical, Invertebrate & Hydrological monitoring 1991- 1995 Final Report (ENRR191) (1996)
A Cambridgeshire Community: Chippenham from Settlement to Enclosure, by Margaret Spufford (1965)
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