Swavesey Village and floods
| The village is long and thin, based on a single
street development, with its share of thatch and cottage gardens, greens and ponds. Being
on low-lying fenland and so close to the River Ouse, it has had, over the centuries, its share
of floods and the hardship they bring to what was a farming community. There is a wooden
chest in the church, given in thanks for help from the Mansion House Inundations Relief
Fund after the great floods of 1875. Most farmers and 81 families of farmers and
labourers were in need of help.
In June 2002 we learned that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds [RSPB] is proposing to flood great stretches of farmland just to the south of the River Ouse. This will allow us to turn full circle: these same lands were drained over the last few centuries. We now know that the cost of drainage and flood defences are too high. The RSPB will gradually re-create the wetlands which were so productive in centuries past. Swavesey will benefit considerably if this scheme procedes. |
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