[74] From what has been said already, the reader will be led to regard the story of Frithric as largely mythical, but he will view the words here put into the saint’s dying utterance, as prophetic of the ultimate supremacy of the Saxon race. The narrative is finely solemn, for as this “swan-song,” was being sung, the Crowland fugitives were wading through the deep fens on a November night, just near enough to hear the distant passing knell. We are still ruled by the laws of King Eadward the Confessor—laws which owe something to Godwine and Harold. The Norman Conquest, however, had the effect, when the scathing had passed over, of developing the old principles of the Saxons—and thus “England was a gainer by the conquest.” This subject is ably discussed in Vol. V. of Freeman’s Norman Conquest.
[75] The Abbey of St. Edmund’s-bury too had the right of a fishery in a fen mere, just west of Upwell, granted by King Canute.
[76] As to abundance of water-fowl in the Fens, and the method of taking them, see “Decoy” in “Fenland, Past and Present.”
[77] The same source of information may be consulted respecting the fish in the Fen rivers and in the Wash.
[78] In the neighbourhood of the Fen rivers there are “Wash-lands,” (the word must not be confounded with The Wash which is a bay), that is, lands liable to be overflowed in winter or in wet seasons. They relieve the river banks from undue pressure of the water which must necessarily pass slowly to sea. The largest “Wash-land” in the fens is between the Old and New Bedford rivers, some 20 miles long and 3⁄4 wide in some parts, containing nearly 6000 acres; this “Wash” is generally overflowed in winter; the water does not overflow the banks, but is let into the Wash through a sluice near Earith. This shallow water is frozen over during hard winters, like that of 1878-9, and forms a firm skating ground for the “Welney skaters,” unsurpassed in speed. If the spring is dry the waters retire, and in early summer the grass is abundant, and upon it may be seen vast numbers of cattle grazing.
[79] On the wash-lands of the rivers great numbers of wild birds have been taken. For two centuries previous to the thorough drainage of the Fens, decoying was a means of capturing many thousands of birds annually, and in the “Washes” netting was practised.
[80] King’s Lynn had a considerable trade in wine, a century ago, and in the first year of the 19th century, 1280 tuns were imported, but since that time its wine trade has declined. See Appendix, [Note J].
[81] Porpoises are still common in the Wash.
[82] It must not be supposed that flowers did not grow in the Fens—the Flora was abundant and beautiful, but at the season of which the writer speaks, wild flowers would be scarce. (For ancient Flora, see “Fenland” p. 295.) Eight hundred years ago the monks may not have taken to floriculture.
[83] Seasonably.