Floods

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Weather Report

Finally some improvement !!!!

For the record according to the Met Office from late Friday of last week rain fell in this area for 55 hours without break. In that time 80mm fell which is double the average total for May. Wet !!!!!!! Also it was rather cold.

Thursday dawned bright and although shower clouds developed it remained bright for most of the day - except when I needed good light for photography. Forecast for Fri / Sat good, Sunday in doubt. Early part of next week looks promising so may at last make some progress.

Today (Thursday) explored more of the Fens especially that area to the east of Chatteris around the Duke of Bedford’s drainage channels. In case you are wondering where all the medieval church reports have gone …. there are v few in this area. Most settlements barely existed until massive reclamation schemes in the nineteenth century so most churches are Victorian. For the same reason there is a general lack of old buildings except …..

Highlight of the day was possibly the hillfort at Stonea. Those of you still paying attention may wonder if this is a typographical error. HILLfort …. Yes, that’s correct. In fact Stonea is considered to be the lowest altitude of these forts in the country - it is at sea level. This type of defended settlement is obviously more likely to be found in highland but Stonea has the classic defensive ditch / embankments so is justifiably included in the category. Walking across the site you need some imagination as centuries of ploughing and infill have reduced the size of the defences. The fort dates from the late Iron Age and was probably in use until the end of the first century AD when the Romans finally subdued the local tribes.

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