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Archiver > ENG-WISBECH-AREA > 2005-05 > 1116926865


From: Phil Ridgway <>
Subject: Re: [WISBECH] Terminology lesson required "down under"
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 10:27:45 +0100
References: <42929001.1070208@iinet.net.au>
In-Reply-To: <42929001.1070208@iinet.net.au>


Marlene Greenwood wrote:
> Hi
>
> My forebears on both sides have connections to the Wisbech area. I have
> an Ordanance Survey Road Atlas as my main geographical reference.
>
> Terminology questions:
>
> What is "Tydd." eg Tydd St. Giles, Tydd St Mary, Tydd Gote.
>
> What is "Croft." eg Wyrde Croft,
>
> What is "Fen." eg Tydd St Giles Fen, Morris Fen, North Fen, West Fen.
>
> Regards
>
> John Greenwood
> Canberra
>

Hi,
1) The place name Tydd is from the Old English tydd, or "shrubs or
brushwood".
[A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University
Press, 1991]

2) Croft / [Origin unkn.] A piece of enclosed land used for tillage or
pasturage; esp. a plot of arable land attached to a house. Also, a
smallholding worked by a tenant;

3) Fen / n.1[OE fen(n) = OFris. fen(n)e, OS fen(n)i (Du. veen), OHG
fenna, fenni (G Fenn), ON fen, Goth. fani clay, f. Gmc.]

(A tract of) low land covered wholly or partly with shallow water or
subject to frequent flooding; Ecol. wet land with alkaline, neutral, or
only slightly acid peaty soil (cf. BOG n.1). OE

The Fens: low-lying districts of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and
neighbouring counties in eastern England, which were formerly marshland
but have been drained for agriculture since the 17th cent.


One more you might come across " Fen Tiger "

A Fen Tiger is a person born in the approximate area enclosed by a line
starting at Wigginhall St Mary Magdalen, River Ouse to Denver Sluice,
New Bedford or Hundred Foot River to Earith, Bluntisham, Warboys,
Yaxley, Whittlesey, Thorney, Tydd St Giles, and back to Wigginhall St
Mary Magdalen.
The “Fen Tigers” in the early days were the people who lived and worked
in the harsh conditions in the fens of Cambridgeshire. They tell of the
freezing East Anglian wind that’s so lazy that it goes right through you
rather than go around. The people had to fight like tigers to stay alive.

If you haven't come across this website -- it gives some useful
information :-
http://contueor.com/wisbech/


The fenland area has to be seen to to be appreciated, rich fertile soil,
completely flat, criss-crossed by straight drainage ditches, and with a
wind which blows in straight off the North sea. I cycled through it a
couple of years ago thinking the flat contours would be easy -- I hadn't
allowed for the headwind!!
Best wishes,
Phil Ridgway


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