When Samuel Pickwick, famous for his “Pickwick’s Papers”, visited Cambridge in 1838 he met a host of fascinating characters who shared a wealth of fascinating details about their life and times. 

He recorded their stories in an undiscovered Scrapbook.

From bargees he learns of the problems of drainage, of floods and skating;. He learns of the hardship which lead to the Littleport Riots of 1816, of more riots over enclosure and the coming of threshing machines. 

While many of the local poor were chained in Ely Gaol or forced into the new Union Workhouses, strangers flocked to a Community in the fens at Manea, only to have their dreams of Utopia dashed.

In this presentation Mike Petty will share some of their stories

Please book via our website: https://fascinatingfens.com/fen-folks-friday/