Three Ancient Villages on the Waters Edge: Witcham to Sutton. The Fen Edge

The Fen Edge Trail is a national initiative set up by The Cambridgeshire Geological Society as part of their Geosites work. The CGS was born from the natural history department of Cambridge University and promotes interest in the geology of Cambridgeshire, the UK and worldwide.
This walk, on the northwest edge of the Isle of Ely, links the three villages of Witcham, Mepal and Sutton. The high ground forming the Isle, reaching some 86 feet (26 metres) above sea level, consists of Jurassic clays overlain in part (although not in this area) by Cretaceous Lower
Greensand. This bedrock is capped with Glacial Till and Glacial River material.
The Isle of Ely is better thought of as the ‘Ely archipelago’ since it includes such separate ‘isles’ as Littleport, Coveney and Wardy Hill.
Prior to the draining of the fens in the 17th century the Isle was
surrounded by freshwater marshes and meres. This walk follows ancient droves and ‘ways’ around the edge of the ‘island’ linking the historic villages that sit on key promontories where once our ancestors sat and looked out across the extensive marshes (a sea during Neolithic times!).
We start in a ‘bay’ where Witcham sits; we then rise over one of several headlands to drop down into the fen via a 2000 year old road. By following the old Catchwater and crossing a section of fen we arrive at the village of Mepal - once the jumping off point to the island of Chatteris.
From Mepal our way follows the great works of the 17th century drainage engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, as we walk a section of the raised banks of the ‘New’ Bedford Level. At Sutton Gault we start walking up off the fen to arrive at a ‘headland’ that rises steeply back up onto the Isle at the village of Sutton
More information about the Fen Edge Trail can be found by following the below link. You will also find detailed information about each published walk.
(Above copied from guide)
There are two leaflets for each walk - the first is the Maps leaflet and the second is the Details leaflet.
www.fenedgetrai...
Direct Walk Downloads:
www.fenedgetrai...
Opening thumbnail obtained from (Cambridgeshire Geological Society):
images.app.goo...
Witcham Roman Helmet: By Michel wal (Own work), CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikime...