Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The dangers of decoration
THE FENS, EAST ANGLIA, 1658
The changing tides of history have brought only one example of a large and impressive 17th-
century engraved map safely to the shores of later times. This is one sheet of 16 which were
made to celebrate the achievements of an ambitious seven-year engineering project to drain
the Fenlands and so turn waterlogged flood-prone land into good farming soil. The National
Archives holds the only known copy of the first edition. Why did more copies not survive?
The timing of its production, and its distinctive decoration, together told against it.
Around the edge of this map range 87 coats of arms of investors - 'adventurers' - in a
private venture company set up to drain the Fens during the 1650s, when England was ruled
by Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads. Many of these arms-bearers were Parliamentarians
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