The Fens are lowlands in eastern England, bordered by Hills and meet the North Sea at the Wash. This reclaimed land is under constant threat from the sea, shaped by silt that built and eroded it overtime. This land has fertile peat soil, which is great for farming but can easily flood. In the past, it was mostly water, and Viking ships could sail through it. People have worked for a long time to dry out the land using pumps and dykes to control flooding from rain and tides. However, not everyone was happy with these changes. Original inhabitants- fisherman and reed cutters valued the wetlands and fought back. Tom’s ancestors, the Cricks sabotaged drainage works and protested the Dutch engineers brought in to transform the land. The Fens’ transformation from water to land continued under the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden who successfully changed the routes of the river and drained large area of lands, but eventually had consequences. Nature fought back- silt built up in the waterways, causing blockages and floods. The land itself shrank because the peat dried out, making the region sink and become prone to floods.
The land was hard to control despite all the hard work put into it. Tom’s family, who once opposed draining the land, eventually became part of the effort to manage and maintain it. Over time, the Cricks shifted from being people of the water to people of the land. However, they never fully severed their connection to the water. They became like “amphibians,” working the land while still remaining tied to the water. Tom’s father, for instance, continued to catch eels, maintaining his bond with the water even as he worked on the land.
The Fens are so flat that they seem endless like walking across ‘nothing’. This flatness reflects water’s natural tendency to level everything. Tom’s ancestor Jacob Crick worked wind powered pumps to keep the land dry. Later, his son William helped dig a new channel to straighten the Ouse river. It shows how the Crick family became used to this new life. During this period, a Norfolk farmer named Thomas Atkinson saw potential in the Fens. He bought marshland at a low price and invested in drainage projects. While revolutions and wars shook the entire Europe, the Cricks were busy reclaiming land. Atkinson’s projects including the construction of locks and sluices left a lasting mark and the Cricks became pump operators and lock keepers. The Cricks never rose above their humble roles. Unlike the Atkinsons, who saw opportunities, the Cricks preferred storytelling. They filled the Fenland with ghosts and legends turning their harsh reality into a magical fairytale. The Cricks, despite being dull, had vivid imagination and believed in fairy tales and supernatural. For centuries, they remain isolated from the outer world. This changed during WWI, when George and Henry Crick where called to serve in war. The war was turning point that shattered their old way of life.