Earith

Earith
Earith  Earith shown within Cambridgeshire
Population	1,677 (2001)
OS grid reference	TL373743
Civil parish	Earith
District	Huntingdonshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Huntingdon
Postcode district	PE28
Dialling code	01487
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
List of places UK England Cambridgeshire

Coordinates: 52°21′N 0°01′E / 52.35°N 0.02°E / 52.35; 0.02

Earith is a village and civil parish in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies south of Chatteris and east of Huntingdon, in the District of Huntingdonshire. At Earith, two artificial diversion channels of the River Great Ouse, the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River, leave the river on a course to Denver Sluice near Downham Market, where they rejoin the Great Ouse in its tidal part. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,677.^[1]

The village has a post office, a Tandoori Takeway, a Hair Salon, 1 pub (The Crown), a part-time surgery and a school. In June 2013 the Riverview Pub was converted into Earith Tearooms. The village does not have a parish church.

A business now occupies what was once the National School, and the Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1828, is now a private house.

Leisure

The village is home to a marina, and during winter months ice skating is popular at nearby Bury Fen. Both activities are depicted in the village sign.

Two large lakes were formed to the north of the village during gravel quarrying in the 1960s. Today the site is home to a fishery.

History

Signpost in Earith

A Roman bronze statue was found to the west of the village at Bury Fen in 1826. It is now in the British Museum.

To the north east of the village, between the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River lies the remains of an English Civil War fort known as Earith Bulwark. It is believed to have been constructed as early as 1643, to fortify the crossing point of the River Great Ouse. Many fenland inhabitants resented the Royalists because they believed that the King's drainage projects undertaken by Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, had damaged their livelihoods (his Forty Foot Drain had been completed in 1637). Today, the fort is visible as a series of earthworks only, showing a square fort design with ditches and corner bastions. It is similar in design to Fort Nassau in the Netherlands. During the Second World War, a machine gun turret was built on the south bastion.^[2]

In 1947, there was the "Battle of Earith Gap". Melting snow had built up in the Fenland waterways, unable to be released into the sea because of high tides. On 17 March a 50 yards (46 m) gap was torn in the river bank, and water poured out to flood the Fen farms for five days. Eventually the breach was blocked with amphibious vehicles while more orthodox repair work was carried out.

On 17 January 1942 a number of RAF serviceman were killed in a crash involving a Hurricane from 61 Operational Training Unit and a Stirling bomber. The Stirling was flying from RAF Oakington with 7 Squadron and the accident occurred just north of Earith Bridge. ^[3]

Transport

The village was connected to the railway network in 1865, with a railway station located to the east of the village, in an area named Earith Bridge, on the Ely and St Ives Railway. Passenger services were discontinued in 1931, and the Earith section of railway was closed in 1958.

The long distance footpath the Ouse Valley Way links the village with Stretham (11 miles (18 km)) and St. Ives (6 miles (10 km)).

Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire and Whippet Coaches operate bus routes that serve Earith. Whippet Coaches routes 21 and 22A, and the Busway A service of Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire, connect Earith to Somersham and St Ives. At peak times, the Stagecoach route continues via the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway to Cambridge.^[4]

References

External links

Media related to Earith at Wikimedia Commons