Island of Ely.--Haddenham.--Aldreth, Conqueror's Causeway,
Belsars Hill.--Wilburton.--Sutton.--Wentworth.--Via
Devana.--Girton, College.--Oakington,
Holdsworth.--Elsworth.--Conington, Ancient Bells.--Long Stanton,
Queen Elizabeth.--Willingham, Stone Chamber.--Over,
Gurgoyles.--Swavesey, Finials.--Ely Road.--Chesterton.--Fen
Ditton.--Milton, Altar Rails.--Horningsea.--Bait's Bite, Start of
Race.--Clayhithe.--Waterbeach.--Car
Dyke.--Denny.--Stretham.--Upware.--Wicken Fen.
From the bridge over the Ouse by the Earith sluice we see the
sea-board (for that and nothing less is the word which its appearance
irresistibly suggests) of the Island of Ely, rising before us, with a
couple of miles of level fen between. We may reach it, if we will, by
the main road, which leads eastward to Haddenham, the southernmost of
the island villages. Haddenham stands on a projecting peninsula of
high ground, the highest in the island, rising to nearly 150 feet,
almost cut off from the rest by two inlets of fen (Grunty Fen on the
north-east and North Fen on the north-west), and nearer than any other
part to the mainland on the south. This quasi-insulation has left a
curious mark on the Ecclesiastical map of Cambridgeshire. Throughout
the whole Isle of Ely--the old Fenland Archipelago--the Bishop acts as
his own Archdeacon. An Archdeacon of Ely there is; but his
jurisdiction is confined to Cambridgeshire proper, Cambridgeshire
south of the Isle. It extends, however, over Haddenham and the
neighbouring village of Wilburton, the two parishes in this peninsula.
Haddenham has a fine Decorated church; the tower showing the first
development of that style from Early English (1275), and the transepts
its transition into Perpendicular (1375). The fifteenth century font
is richly panelled, with roses and shields supported by lions and
angels. This church was founded by Owen, the "Over-alderman" who
governed the Island of Ely under St. Etheldreda, the Foundress of the
Cathedral, and Queen of the Isle as the childless widow of its last
native ruler, King Tonbert.[190] Owen's name is interesting as
testifying to the Celtic survival in the fenland, already spoken
of.[191] The broken cross bearing his name, now in the south aisle of
Ely Cathedral, was originally set up at Haddenham; and, after being
for ages an object of veneration, was, at the Reformation, mutilated
and degraded into a horsing-block. At length the revived decency of
the eighteenth century removed it to Ely.
[Footnote 190: See Chap. XIV.]
[Footnote 191: See Chap. VIII.]
The village of Haddenham lies chiefly along the road running southward
to the hamlet of Aldreth, on the very verge of the Island. The nearest
point of the low-lying mainland is only half a mile away; the "Old
River" of the Ouse (now, since the construction of the Bedford Rivers,
become quite a scanty watercourse) flowing between. This was the point
selected by William the Conqueror for the famous Causeway, whereby,
after being once and again baffled by the valour of Hereward, he
ultimately succeeded in forcing his way into the Island.[192] For
centuries afterwards this continued to be the chief entrance from the
Cambridge district, till superseded by the present road via Stretham. A
small barrow at the southern end of this causeway, which is now a mere
field-track, still bears the name of Belsar's Hill, after the knight
who, in this campaign, acted as the Conqueror's Commander-in-Chief.
[Footnote 192: See Chap. XIV.]
Wilburton, a mile to the east, was given to Ely by St. Ethelwold,
Bishop of Winchester, the prelate who aided in King Edgar's
restoration of the Monastery of Ely, after its destruction by the
Danes, in 870, had laid it waste for upwards of a century. The church
has some fine woodwork in stalls, screen, and roof, adorned on the
spandrills and bosses with the three cocks of Bishop Alcock, the
founder of Jesus College. While Archdeacon of Ely he here entertained
Henry the Eighth, when, as Prince of Wales, he accompanied his father
on the last Royal Pilgrimage ever made to the shrine of St. Etheldreda
at Ely, which he himself was so soon to despoil and destroy. A good
brass (now affixed to the wall) commemorates Alcock's predecessor in
the archidiaconate, Richard Bole (1477). And yet another Archdeacon,
Wetheringset, is also here buried. Some curious metal-work hangs from
the roof, and on the north wall of the nave are ancient frescoes,
representing not only St. Christopher, the usual subject, but the much
less known St. Blaise and St. Leodegar. The former was Bishop of
Sebaste, and was martyred in 316 A.D. He became the patron saint of
wool-combers, and was specially venerated in Leeds and Bradford. The
latter was Bishop of Autun in Gaul, during the seventh century. There
is here a fine old red-brick manor-house, called the Burgh-stead (or
Bury-stead), built in 1600 by a London alderman to whom Queen
Elizabeth sold the Manor,--after filching it from the Bishop of Ely,
according to her usual practice.
[Illustration: _Wilburton._]
The whole peninsula is specially rich in memorials of long past ages.
In the peat of the old Ouse channel by Wilburton was found a great
hoard of bronze weapons, lying in a promiscuous heap, "in such a
manner as to suggest that a canoe with a cargo of bronze scrap had
been upset there," as Professor and Mrs. Hughes picturesquely put it,
in their "Geography of Cambridgeshire." Grunty Fen has produced a
bronze sickle, and two splendid ornaments of twisted gold; while, a
mile east of Wilburton, a British urn was discovered, associated with
the bones of the urus, or gigantic wild ox of the Neolithic Age. And
between Earith and Wilburton there has been dug out gold ring-money.
[Illustration: _The Burystead, Wilburton._]
* * * * *
But a yet more striking approach to the Island of Ely may be made by
taking at Earith the road through the toll-gate which leads northward
immediately alongside the great embankment of the New River, and lies
some few feet below the level of its waters. For three miles this
association continues; then road and river part company, and the
former drives straight across the fen to climb the western shore of
the island. The change of scenery when you reach that shore is
striking in its suddenness. You have been travelling for miles through
the bare, treeless, dead level of the fen, with its immense width of
view; then, almost in a moment, you find yourself ascending a steepish
hill through a tree-shaded hedge-bordered cutting which might be in
Kent or even Devonshire.
At the top of this brow you look down on the fen behind you and on
either hand, your southern horizon being bounded by the near uplands
of Haddenham, with the flat bay of North Fen between. And very shortly
you come to the undulating village street of Sutton, with its highest
point crowned by the truly glorious church. This church is all in one
style, Decorated, on the verge of developing into Perpendicular,
having been built by Barnet, Bishop of Ely 1366 to 1373. The splendid
tower is crowned by an octagonal steeple, and that again by a second,
richly pinnacled, and is a landmark for many miles along the valleys
of the Ouse and Cam.
From Sutton we reach Ely by way of Wentworth and Witchford. The former
name is supposed to be a corruption of Owensworth, and to commemorate
that the place was of old the property of St. Owen. The little church
has a Saxon porch, with twisted pillars, and contains a remarkable
carving of the same date, representing an ecclesiastic wearing the
pall of a Primate. His left hand supports an open book, while in his
right he holds, not a cross or pastoral staff, but something more
suggestive of an aspersory for holy water. The corbel in Ely Cathedral
depicting the burial of St. Etheldreda shows us a figure similarly
equipped.
* * * * *
In looking southward from Sutton Church, three steeples are specially
conspicuous in the Ouse valley. They are those of Over, Swavesey, and
Willingham. All are churches of the first class, and all are best
reached from Cambridge by way of the Via Devana, which, after crossing
the "Great Bridge" and climbing the ascent past the Castle, continues
its straight course to the north-west under the designation of the
Huntingdon Road. Just as it leaves the town a branch-road on the right
leads to the village of Histon, which the jam factories of Messrs.
Chivers have made one of the most flourishing in the county. The
church here has some good Early English work, and a remarkable "Rood"
(much defaced) on the gable of the S. transept. This is an almost
unique example of the early "Majestas" type of crucifix (p. 339).
Christ, with outspread arms, wears, not the Crown of Thorns, but the
Old English "king-helm," and is fully robed. About 1200 this ideal
type gave place to the later "realistic" crucifix.
[Illustration: _Sutton Church._]
A mile beyond the last houses of Cambridge the Via Devana comes to the
huge red-brick mass of Girton College, which has been already spoken
of.[193] Its spacious grounds and never-ending corridors impress the
mind with admiration for the enthusiasm and energy which has thus
materialised Tennyson's vision of University education for women. At
this point another northward turn takes us to Girton Church, where
there are good brasses to two successive fifteenth century parsons. In
their day the living belonged to Ramsey Abbey, by the gift of Eric,
Bishop of Dorchester (1016). We next come to Oakington, the Mecca of
Cambridgeshire Free Churchmen. For here, in the quiet little
Nonconformist Cemetery, rest, side by side, the three men to whom the
chief sects of the county trace their spiritual ancestry--Francis
Holcroft, Joseph Oddy, and Henry Oasland.
[Footnote 193: See p. 144.]
The first named was a Fellow of Clare College where he had for his
"chum" (_i.e._ chamber-mate, as we find the word used in "Pickwick")
Tillotson, the future Archbishop of Canterbury. He began his
ministerial career by taking on himself to supply the place of a
brother collegian, the Puritan minister in charge of Littlington, near
Royston, who, most un-Puritanically, was often incapacitated by drink
from performing his duties. Later, in 1655, when still only
twenty-two, he himself became pastor of the adjoining parish of
Bassingbourn. When the "Black Bartholomew" of 1662 deprived him of
this charge under the Act of Uniformity, he preached, at the risk of
fine and imprisonment, throughout the neighbourhood, binding together
his adherents in a loosely-knit organisation, whose members were
admitted on subscribing the following Profession of Faith:
"We do in the presence of the Lord Jesus, the awful crowned King
of Sion, and in the presence of his holy angels and people and
all besides here present, solemnly give up ourselves to the Lord
and to one another, by the will of God, solemnly promising and
engaging in the aforesaid presence to walk with the Lord and with
one another in the observation of all Gospel ordinances, and the
discharge of all relative duties in this church of God and
elsewhere, as the Lord shall enlighten us and enable us."[194]
[Footnote 194: _Cambs. Monthly Repository X._]
His efforts were vigorously seconded by Oddy and Oasland, whose
consciences, like his own, would not permit them to use the Anglican
Prayer Book; and the units of this embryo Church, who were often
spoken of at the time as "Mr. Holcroft's disciples," became widely
spread throughout the county. Already, before the end of 1662, they
had regular meetings at Barrington, Eversden, Waterbeach, and Guyhirn,
as well as Cambridge; and when, ten years later, they became licensed
by the King's Proclamation of Indulgence, we find the number increased
fourfold. So far Nonconformity had been the only bond between these
scattered bands of worshippers; but they now began to differentiate
themselves into Baptist, Independent, and Presbyterian Congregations,
though the lines were not as yet sharply drawn, and, indeed, are not
even now sharply drawn in the country villages, where a man is
"Church" or "Chapel," caring little what may be the precise
denomination of his chapel. The strength of the Dissenting spirit thus
implanted at Oakington may be measured by that of the language
employed by the zealous Archdeacon of Ely, who, in 1685, declares this
to be "the most scandalous parish and the worst in the diocese. The
people most vile. A Fanatic Schoolmaster."
From Oakington the lane leads on to Long Stanton, where the two
churches of St. Michael and All Saints are both noteworthy. The former
is a simple Early English building with a _thatched_ roof (till lately
made of reeds from the fen, a far more durable material than straw,
but now unobtainable), a rich double piscina, and an oak chest dating
from the twelfth century. The latter, at the other end of the "long"
village street, is a Decorated cruciform structure, the south transept
having become the mortuary chapel of the Hatton family, who bought the
lordship of the manor from Queen Elizabeth.
That rapacious monarch, her father's worthy daughter in ecclesiastical
spoliation, had seized upon it amongst the surrenders which she
exacted from Bishop Cox, the first Protestant to be Bishop of Ely. On
his accession she confiscated a full half of his episcopal property,
and was constantly insisting on further denudations, including Ely
House, Holborn. On this final act of despotism goading him into
remonstrance, she is reported (in Strype's _History of the
Reformation_) to have made the well-known reply, "Proud priest! I made
you. And I will unmake you. Obey my pleasure, or I will forthwith
unfrock you." Only his speedy death (in 1581) prevented her from
actually carrying out this threat. After it she kept the whole
property of the See in her own hands for no less than nineteen years,
when she handed it over to Bishop Heton, shorn of yet another moiety,
which included the Manor of Longstanton with its ancient episcopal
palace.
This palace had a further connection with Elizabeth; for in it she was
entertained by Bishop Cox after that visit to Cambridge in 1564, when
her erudition so thrilled the University.[195] And it was here that
she was disgusted by the blasphemous entertainment got up for her
benefit by the Protestant undergraduates, in which a performing dog
danced with a consecrated Host in his mouth. King's College Chapel was
the scene originally intended for this outrage; but the graver
academic programme there lasted so long that the Queen could not stay
for the afterpiece. The disappointed students begged leave to follow
her and give an evening performance at Long Stanton. Mutual disgust
was the result. As soon as Elizabeth understood what was going on she
indignantly swept from the room, ordering every light to be instantly
extinguished, leaving the wretched boys to grope for their properties
and get back to Cambridge as best they could.
[Footnote 195: When praised for loveliness by the Public Orator she
showed, to the loud admiration of her auditors, that she both
understood and spoke Latin by exclaiming coyly "Non est verum."]
[Illustration: _All Saints' Church, Long Stanton._]
Following the road to Long Stanton station (six and a half miles), we
there cross the G. E. R. (St. Ives Branch) and proceed, along a
somewhat dreary stretch, to Willingham (nine miles), where an
exceptionally fine church (All Saints) rewards our toil. After
lingering in neglect and decay for years beyond the neighbouring
churches, it has now become an ideal example of judicious restoration,
very different from the drastic process too often known by that name.
Every ancient feature and development has been preserved, including
the beautiful roof,[196] with its elaborate carving, its tiers of
angels and its double hammer beams, the fine parclose screens, and the
Perpendicular pulpit. Beneath the clerestory may be seen traces of no
fewer than four successive layers of frescoes, which, from the twelfth
to the seventeenth century, each in turn adorned the walls. But the
most striking feature of the church is the small Decorated "treasury"
adjoining the north wall of the chancel. It is wholly of stone, even
to the roof with its richly wrought "beams"; an almost unique example
of this method of treatment. Dowsing here destroyed, on 16 March,
1643, "forty superstitious pictures, a crucifix, and two superstitious
inscriptions, also two pictures of the Holy Ghost and one of the
Virgin Mary in brass."
[Footnote 196: This roof is traditionally said to have been that of
the great church of Barnwell Abbey (see p. 160). It obviously was made
for a larger nave than that of Willingham, and has been cut down to
fit its present purpose.]
From Willingham a field road will take us, if desired, to Belsar's
Hill,[197] which, besides its historical associations, is rich in the
pretty crystals of selenite or gypsum. And though, as has been said,
the track is now all but disused, it is still possible to follow the
Conqueror's causeway to the Ouse and get ferried over to Aldreth.
[Footnote 197: See p. 283.]
* * * * *
The next turn on the Via Devana is the southward lane to Madingley,
already described. Southward also lie Lolworth, Boxworth and Elsworth.
The last has an exceptionally fine church, Decorated throughout, and
displaying the almost unique feature of small lockers for books in the
fourteenth century stalls. Conington, near the road on the same side,
has a stone-ribbed spire containing three mediaeval bells--a rare
survival. They bear the following inscriptions:
1. ASSVMPTA . EST . MARIA . IN . CELIS . GAVDENT . ANGELI
LAVDANTES . BENEDICVNT . DOMINVM.
Mary is taken up to Heaven. The Angels are glad.
They praise and bless the Lord.
2. SANCTA . MARIA . ORA . PRO . NOBIS
Holy Mary pray for us.
3. VIRGO . CORONATA . DVC . NOS . AD . REGNA . BEATA .
O crowned Maid lead us to realms of bliss.
[Illustration: _Over, South Porch._]
Northward we find the magnificent churches of Swavesey and Over
already mentioned. The former is one of the noblest in Cambridgeshire.
The nave is Perpendicular, but the large windows in the south aisle
are really Early English lancets, the Perpendicular tracery being
inserted--a most unusual development. The finials of the fourteenth
century benches are to be noticed, especially in the north aisle,
where they take the form of grotesque animals. The small size of these
seats suggests that they were meant for children. The little ones
would be charmed with these delightful finials, representing a fox
and a goose, a fox and a stork, a bear and a dog, a wolf and a hound,
an eagle and a snake, a wild boar, a lion, a pelican, a cherub, St.
Peter, and an angel playing upon a dulcimer.
[Illustration: _Over._]
At Over every feature of the church is noteworthy. It is entirely
built of Barnack stone, richly ornamented externally with running
ball-flower patterns. The southern porch is beautifully proportioned,
and the gargoyles extraordinary specimens of birds and beasts,
apparently under the same inspiration as the Swavesey finials. Over
the west door is a sculpture (almost weathered out of knowledge) of
Our Lady in Glory, a very rare subject; also the arms of Ramsey Abbey,
to which the benefice was presented by Ednoth, Bishop of Dorchester,
who lies buried in Bishop West's chapel at Ely.[198] The tracery in
general is Decorated, but the spire rises from an Early English tower,
and the chancel is also Early English, with inserted Perpendicular
windows. The Sanctus Bell[199] still hangs over the eastern gable of
the nave. The interior woodwork is of the best, the roof is
Decorated, and there is an exceptionally good sixteenth century
pulpit. The arcading above the windows of the south aisle, with its
banded Early English shafts, is another beautiful feature here. On
some of the churchyard tombstones wall-rue may be found growing, a
rare sight in this neighbourhood. From Over a lane leads on, crossing
the Hundred Foot Bank to Overcote, that fascinating Ferry Inn upon the
Ouse whose charms have already been dwelt upon.
[Footnote 198: See Chap. XVII.]
[Footnote 199: See p. 231.]
* * * * *
Formerly, as we have said, the regular road from Cambridge to Ely was
by way of the Causeway at Aldreth. But this roundabout route of over
twenty miles compared unfavourably with the shorter line taken by the
Cam, which was accordingly the favourite for such as could afford
boat-hire. In the eighteenth century regular packet-boats ran daily
between the two places, drawn by horses. To-day the only passengers on
the river are pleasure-seekers, and the ordinary way to Ely from
Cambridge is by the road supposed to represent the hypothetical Akeman
Street of Roman days.[200] This road turns northwards round Magdalene
College, and runs through the suburb of New Chesterton. Old Chesterton
stands on the river, east of the road, and has a finely-proportioned
steeple, with particularly melodious bells, and a slender spire. At
this point is the winning-post of the College boat races.[201] On the
opposite bank, a mile lower down the stream, is Fen Ditton, the "Ditch
End" where the Fleam Dyke strikes the river.[202] Ditton Corner, just
beneath the parish church, is the favourite spot for seeing these
races, as it commands a view of two long reaches, and is also (as a
bend in the stream must needs be) a highly probable spot for bumps.
[Footnote 200: See p. 252.]
[Footnote 201: See p. 146].
[Footnote 202: See p. 170.]
Leaving these to the right, we reach Milton, whence the poet's family
name is said to be derived, and where the church has seventeenth
century altar rails, a very rare possession. Just opposite, with a
ferry between, is Horningsea, where there is another good church.
Between this and Fen Ditton is an ancient building, now used for farm
purposes, which the Ordnance Map marks as "Biggin Abbey." An abbey,
however, it never was, being only one (and the smallest) of the many
scattered mansions of the Abbot and Bishop of Ely. On the stream
beside it is Baitsbite Lock, the starting-point of the boat races.
Here along the towing path may be seen the posts, set at regular
intervals on the brink of the stream, to which each boat is moored by
the "starting cord" held in the coxswain's[203] hand. He must not let
it go till the gun is fired. Thrilling moments pass while he counts
aloud the last seconds--"five ... four ... three ... two ... one," and
the muscles of the crew grow ever tenser, till, at the signal, he
flings the cord into the water, and every oar strains its utmost in
the first stroke.
[Footnote 203: This word is invariably abbreviated to "Cox," which is
also used as a verb.]
[Illustration: _Swavesey._]
The next lock is Clayhithe, two miles further down the river, with an
inn beside it in special favour for Cambridge boating pic-nics. Here,
too, is the lowest bridge over the Cam, indeed the only one below
Cambridge. It belongs to a private company, and is rigorously tolled.
A pretty shady lane leads to it from Horningsea. Hard by, on the left
bank, are the villages of Waterbeach and Landbeach. They are
respectively four and twelve furlongs from the stream, and mark
successive boundaries of the fenland waters. Between them runs an
ancient earthwork, the Car Dyke (probably of Roman date), which of old
kept those waters in flood time from drowning the meadows to the
south. Starting from the Cam at Clayhithe it runs along the whole
western limit of the fenland. It reaches the Ouse near the large
village of Cottenham (where the east window of the fourteenth century
church is copied from one in Prior Crauden's Chapel at Ely) with over
2,000 inhabitants, and goes on past the tiny and picturesque Rampton,
with under 200, to Willingham and Earith, Ramsey and Peterborough,
Deeping and Sleaford; finally ending its long course on the banks of
the far off Witham, hard by Lincoln.
[Illustration: _Swavesey Church._]
For a mile or so our "Akeman Street" follows the course of the Car
Dyke, and then strikes northward across the fen, along a causeway of
its own, passing near the remains of Denny Abbey, a small foundation
which passed through unusual vicissitudes. Originally a Benedictine
House, it was transferred in the twelfth century to the Templars, and
in 1290, passed from them to the Minor Sisters of the Franciscan
order. Marie de Valence, the foundress of Pembroke College, was a
noted benefactress to Denny, and in her statutes solemnly enjoined on
the scholars of the former institution "kindness" towards the recluses
of the latter. The abbey is now a farm, but there are more remains of
the monastic buildings here than almost anywhere else in the county.
Much of the church is built into the farm house, and the refectory is
in use as a barn. Many old walls and dykes may be traced, while a
large entrenchment to the south is known as "Soldiers' Hill." This
name may be due to the Templars.
Two miles further we cross the old bed of the Ouse (containing now
only such scanty waters as the Bedford rivers have left to it) at
Elford, and enter the Isle of Ely. The ramp of the Island, however,
lies two miles further on yet. We climb it by the village street of
Stretham, where the ancient Town Cross still exists, an interesting
and rare feature. It stands hard by the church, which contains various
ancient tombstones, one to Nicholas de Ryngestone, rector under Edward
the First, and a late fifteenth century brass to Dame Joan Rippingham,
mother of two other rectors. A later rector was ejected in 1644 "for
having made new steps to the altar, himself bowing twice as he went
up, and as often while he came down." The church was an ancient
possession of Ely, but was reft from the See by Elizabeth. Stretham
lies at the extreme end of the little peninsular ridge on which
Wilburton and Haddenham stand.[204] Beyond it we sink to the enclosed
inlet of Grunty Fen, passing the hamlet of Little Thetford, and rise
again to the higher ground where the towers of Ely greet our eyes, a
little over a mile away.
[Footnote 204: See p. 282.]
[Illustration: _Cottage at Rampton._]
After leaving Waterbeach our road has diverged widely from the Cam.
Those who have followed the river course, either by boat or by the
towing-path, will be rewarded by finding themselves, in course of
time, at Upware, the tiniest and most sequestered of hamlets, where
the wide Fens spread all around, bare, treeless, houseless, open to
the sweep of every breeze, and giving the same delicious sense of
space as a sea view. The whole atmosphere breathes remoteness, the
very inn calls itself "FIVE MILES FROM ANYWHERE." But, though wide,
the view is not like a sea view, boundless. The Island of Ely limits
it to the north-west, and to the south-east the nearer uplands of East
Anglia. For here is the nearest point on the Cam to Reach, the little
hamlet once so important an emporium, where the Devil's Dyke runs down
to the Fen.[205] To Upware, accordingly, there was cut through the
sedge and peat, at some time beyond memory, the long straight waterway
of Reach Lode, whereby even sea-going ships were able to discharge
their cargoes on Reach Hithe. At a later date, but as early as the
twelfth century, Burwell Lode was led to the same outlet. Those to
Swaffham and Bottisham come in somewhat higher up the river.
[Footnote 205: See p. 194.]
[Illustration: _Dovecote at Rampton._]
A mile to the east of Upware we can see how mighty a task those men of
old undertook who cut these lodes through the primaeval jungle. For
here is that Wicken Fen, which we have already spoken of,[206] where
a square mile of that jungle is preserved in its primaeval condition,
and where (in all but the old bird life) the fauna and flora of the
old Fenland may still be studied in their old environment; where the
peat is still spongy under your foot, and the tall crests of the reeds
rise high above your head. To dig out masses of that spongy peat, to
cut through miles of those tall reeds would be no light business even
with our own modern means of excavation. What must it have been to the
rude implements of the ancients?
[Footnote 206: See p. 180.]
[Illustration: _The Quay, Ely._]
Some two miles beyond Upware the Cam falls into the Ouse, and the
united stream sweeps past Thetford and round the corner of the island
to Ely, where the Cutter Inn (near the railway station) makes a good
landing-place.