www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

A long-distance walking route using fenland rights of waylinking the historic centres of Ely and Peterborough

The Hereward Way For always, from the foot of the wolds, the green flat stretched

away, illimitable, to an horizon where, from the roundness of

the earth, the distant trees and islands were hulled down like ships

at sea.

The firm horse-fen lay, bright green, along the foot of the wold;

beyond it, the browner peat, or deep fen; and amongst that, dark

velvet alder beds, long line of reed-round, emerald in spring; and

golden under autumn sun; shining ‘eas’ or river reaches; broad

metes dotted with a million fowl, while the cattle waded along their

edges after the rich sedge-grass, or wallowed in the mire through

the hot summer’s day.

Here and there, too, upon the far horizon, rose a tall line of ashen

trees, marking some island of firm rich soil. In some of them the

huge ashes had disappeared before the axes of the monks; and a

minster tower rose over the fen, amid orchards, gardens, cornfields,

pastures, with here and there a tree left standing for shade.

‘Painted with flowers in the spring’ with ‘pleasant shores

embosemed in still lakes’ as the monk-chronicler of Ramsey has

it, those islands seemed to such as the monk terrestrial

paradises. Overhead the arch of heaven spread

more ample than elsewhere.

Hereward the Wakeby Charles Kingsley

The Hereward Way Long Distance Footpathruns for 110 miles between Oakham in

Rutland and Thetford in Norfolk. The fenlandsection runs for 43 miles through some of thelowest land in England, providing an uniquewalking experience. Probably one of the mostengineered landscapes in the country, this areahas an ancient and tangible history of flooding,island communities, drainage and agriculturalimprovement. This walk is readily accessible bypublic transport. Fenland towns offer goodaccommodation and refreshment for the traveller.

The route is signposted from the roadside, withall the signs bearing the logo or name ‘HerewardWay’. Changes of direction away from the roadare marked with yellow waymarks. This leafletprovides Ordnance Survey mapping of the wholeroute at a scale of 1:25000, from OrdnanceSurvey Explorer sheets 227 and 228

Hereward the Wake was an outlawed Englishnobleman who, in 1071, made a final standagainst William the Conquerer on the Isle of Ely.As the Normans lay siege to the island,

Hereward gathered together the English baronsat Ely, protected by the surrounding marsh. Heheld out for eight years before the Normansfinally took his stronghold and Herewardvanished with his men into the marsh.

Today his name is given to a long-distancefootpath across the land he knew, following bothancient track through the Cambridgeshire Fens.The landscape is now quite different from thatHereward knew, but is still an exhilaratingwilderness of big skies, beautiful sunsets andabsolute tranquillity.

Public footpaths link the Hereward Way fromPeterborough to join the Viking Way at Oakham,and from Ely to the southern end of the PeddarsWay near Thetford. The Hereward Way also links into two circular walks published byCambridgeshire County Council, the Bishops Wayat Ely and the Woodmans Way at March. Leafletsare available at libraries, TICs and at the CountyCouncil website

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/countrysideandrights

The fenland section of the Hereward Waystarts in Peterborough, only one mile from

the railway station. The City has strongassociations with Hereward the Wake who is saidto have ransacked, robbed and burnt to theground the old cathedral of Peterborough, thusmaking himself an outlaw and vagabond.

From the Old Customs House and the KeyTheatre, the Hereward Way follows the RiverNene out past the rowing course into the fens.The willows which line the banks in Peterboroughoccur frequently over the 43 miles of the routeand are native to this area. Willow and alder bothtolerate wet conditions and would have coveredlarge areas of fenland marsh in Hereward’s time.

Beyond Peterborough, the Hereward Waycontinues along raised embankments. Goodviews across the washland between the Neneand Moreton’s Leam (dug in the 15th century)are seen in the distance. Lying to the north ofWhittlesey, the Nene Washes comprise a largearea of open land created as a result of thedrainage of the surrounding fenland foragriculture in the 17th and18th centuries. Theland serves as the flood storage area for theRiver Nene. The combination of grassland andthe wetness make the Washes a great place forwildlife. Important numbers of wildfowl winterhere including Bewick swans from Russia andWhooper swans from Iceland. The washes are

some of the best floodplain meadows left inEngland and support a significant proportion ofthe country’s nesting black-tailed godwit andsnipe. When the floodwaters freeze, this is apopular area for ice skating.

In summer the washland is populated by grazingcattle and herons amongst meadows and ditchesfilled with lush and colourful wetland plants.

At the Dog in a Doublet sluice the Hereward Waycrosses the washland south into Whittlesey. Thesluice controls the flow of water to and fromPeterborough. Beyond the sluice gates the Nenebecomes a tidal river though still 20 miles fromthe sea outfall at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire.The market town of Whittlesey with the spire ofSt Mary’ Church rising 150 feet into the fenlandsky welcomes walkers with many opportunitiesfor refreshment and a railway station.

Whittlesey was historically an island of dryground surrounded by marshy fen, its name

deriving from Whittle’s Ea. Ea is the Anglo-Saxonfor ‘island’. The town has a long history. Bronzeage settlers built a kilometre-long timbercauseway across the marsh between Whittleseyisland and Peterborough island (remains of whichcan still be seen at the nearby Flag Fen centre).The Romans built a raised gravel road throughthe marsh north of Whittlesey (the FenCauseway).The town is mentioned, as Whitesig,in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Lines of willows can again be seen on theapproach roads to the town. The road from theDog in a Doublet sluice across the washlandoccasionally floods and for this reason a raisedbank with duck-board bridges is provided forpedestrians. Gaps have to be left in the raisedwalkway to allow water to flow underneath.

The rivers and waterways which dominate thelandscape through which the Hereward Waypasses were important in transporting produceinto and between the towns. Many of the publicrights of way which run alongside watercourses

owe their origins to the use of the tow paths byhorses towing barges of goods across the fens.In Whittlesey the Hereward Way follows theBriggate River, where a handsome pair of lockgates can be seen. To the east of the town, atAnglebridge, the route crosses two waterways,the Whittlesey Dyke or Sixteen Foot River andBevill’s Leam, or the Twenty Foot River (so-calledbecause of their original widths). In Hereward’stime, before the construction of these artificialwaterways, travellers would use stilts to cross themarsh between meandering streams and rivers.

By the time the Hereward Way rejoins the RiverNene in March, the walker really is in the

heart of the Cambridgeshire Fens. Here you cansee some of the more highly mechanised farmingmethods in England. Large machinery cultivatesthousands of acres of highly productive land. Thisland has always been productive but the foodHereward got from the land was very differentfrom that of today. The marsh and meres werefull of fish, eels and birds. Fenmen used punts(such as those seen in Cambridge) to huntwildfowl in the marsh. Punts slide easily betweenreed beds without disturbing the birds. Althoughthis unique way of life has gone and has beenreplaced with the specialised farming of today,the fen is still a remote and tranquil land. Thevisitor centre at the Wildfowl and Wetland TrustWelney centre, aswell as welcoming walkers toits restaurant, has an interesting display aboutthe old fenland way of life.

Sitting resolutely on its clay island in the fens isthe market town of March. The Hereward Wayfollows the river past traditional fenland housesalong West End up to the Clock Tower in theMarket Square. The river originally flowed aroundthe clay island, but to ensure that it could carryboats into the town a new channel was cutthrough the clay to divert the river.

The oldest part of March lies to the south of theriver where the 15th century church of StWendreda stands. On the way to St Wendreda’syou will pass a stone cross dating from about1450. It was probably used by friars as apreaching stone. These were usually replaced bybutter or wool crosses as trading grew inimportance.

From March the Hereward Way goes easterlyroughly following the line of the Fen Causeway.This Roman route through the Fens was carriedon bundles of brushwood and can still be tracedin crop patterns.

Welney marks the centre of the BedfordLevels, the generic name for the area of

land drained by the Old and New Bedford rivers.These two huge drainage channels were cut inthe mid- seventeenth century by the DutchmanCornelius Vermuyden who was contracted by agroup of investors headed by the Duke ofBedford. The Levels receive floodwater fromBedfordshire and Buckinghamshire aswell as thewater pumped out of the Cambridgeshire fens.The Washes, the land between the two Bedfordrivers, act as a huge inland reservoir in thewinter, holding water from land at or below sealevel. The very shallow gradients of thislandscape mean that water cannot flow quicklyout to sea and would flood all the fens if it werenot contained between the massive floodbanksseen at the Washes at Welney.

The flooding produced in the winter creates aninternationally important wintering site formigratory birds, especially Bewick and WhooperSwans aswell as many species of duck. Asfloodwater recedes in the spring waders such asblack-tailed Godwit, Snipe and Redshank come into breed. As one of the most important wetlandsites in Europe the Washes are protected underinternational conventions.

The Hereward Way continues along the top ofthe flood banks from Welney towards Ely. Fromhere you can see the unique landscape, theintensive arable fen, a pumping station built in1830 and Ely Cathedral in the distance. Thissection of the walk really illustrates what thefens are all about, bringing alive a historyspanning hundreds of year of man’s involvementon the land.

Ely Cathedral, the ‘Ship of the Fens’, marks theend of the Cambridgeshire section of theHereward Way. Ely, a former island, gave refugeto Hereward and today gives a warm welcome tothe weary traveller. We recommend you stay awhile to enjoy the delight of this Cathedral City.

Extra informationBased upon the Ordnance Survey mapping withthe permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’sStationery Office © Crown. Unauthorisedreproduction infringes Crown copyright and maylead to prosecution or civil proceedings.Cambridgeshire County Council Licence numberLA 07649X

This leaflet is one of a series produced byCambridgeshire County Council to encourage theuse and enjoyment of some of the many publicrights of way in Cambridgeshire. We hope youhave enjoyed the walks and would appreciateany comments you may have.

Public Rights of Way and Access, Box CC1305,Environment Services, Cambridgeshire CountyCouncil, Castle Court, Castle Hill, Cambridge,CB3 0AP Tel 0345 045 5212

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/countrysideandrights

© Cambridgeshire County Council. Published XX201X. 3rd Edition. Artwork by 2dgraphic.com

Follow the country code – why?Because the countryside is a place to beenjoyed by all; do protect wildlife, plants andtrees, don’t leave rubbish behind don’t disturbothers with unnecessary noise.

Because the countryside is a place of work; dokeep to paths and use stiles and gates to crossboundaries; don’t let your dogs disturb stockand don’t interfere with crops or machines.

Enjoying the countryside means respecting itslife and work. If you don’t, you won’t!

Access for allThe Cambridgeshire countryside is there to beenjoyed by EVERYONE. This route follows grassydroves which although muddy in winter are firm ifuneven underfoot in summer. There are no stilesand access to sections of the route from theroad is good. More information about otherAccess for All walks is available on theCambridgeshire County Council website atwww.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/countrysideandrights

Come and enjoy it

How to get thereBy bus

Stagecoach in Peterborough 01733 554575

Stagecoach in Cambridge 01223 423578

By train

Stations in Peterborough, Whittlesey, March and Ely

National Rail Inquiries 08457 484950

Inquiries

Cambridgeshire County Council Passenger Transport Inquiries tel. 0345 045 0675

The Hereward Way

Peterborough to Ely43 miles

Peterborough to Whittlesey8 milesWhittlesey to March11 milesMarch to Welney12 milesWelney to Ely12 miles

Brickworks

Site oflake settlement

A1139

A1139

A605

A605

A605A141

A1101

A1101

A10

A142

Whittlesey Way

A141

WWTVisitorCentre

Peterborough

Whittlesey

Turves

Christchurch

WelneyMarch

Little Downham

Ely

River Nene

Morton’s Leam

Twent

y Foo

t Rive

r

Sixt

een

Foot

Dra

in

The H

undr

ed Fo

ot W

ashe

s

PeterboroughCathedral

ElyCathedral

Cawdle Way

Bishop’s Way

Woodsman’s Way

ElyCathedral

Forehill

Back hill

PalaceGreen

River

side

River

Ous

e

Broa

d St

reet

Shoppingarea

RailwayStation

West Fen Road

EgremontStreet

Downham Road

Barton Road

Lynn

Roa

d

Barton R

oad

RailwayStation

PeterboroughCathedral

KeyTheatre

Shoppingarea

ToWhittlesey

ToLittle

Downham

River Nene

Cowgate

Bridge Street

Westgate

Broa

dway

Midgate

Bishops Road

RivergateCentre

Ely City Centre

Peterborough City Centre

Bourges Boulevard

Cambridge Road

Prickwillow Road