THE
P RTAL
May 2013
The fens
My colleague at The Portal, Will Burton, lives nearby,
so after visiting him, I made my way to Saint Ives. The
earth in the field beside the road was rich and black.
The road ran along the river bank, and the land was
some twenty feet below the river level. The fens are
quite a sight and puzzling to those who do not know
their secrets.
Page 12
measure. The war over, they were replaced, but with
round not pointed arches! Was this a reference to their
helmets I wonder? The builders took the chance at this
re-building to add a stone parapet to the whole length
of the bridge.
shaking caused by traction engines
At some point in its history the chapel gained two
extra stories. But during the 1930s shaking caused by
The land is drained and the peat laid down above the traction engines caused the authorities to remove the
earth shrinks and it causes the land level to get lower. top two stories. That they were able to do this was due
The gap between
to the death of
water level and
Mrs Bullen who
land
becomes
lived in the chapel
ever greater. The
with her husband.
result is more
He moved to live
drainage and even
with their son
more shrinkage.
and the place was
The land sinks
put up for sale. It
even more. It is a
must have been a
course of events
noisy place to live,
that will have only
the river traffic,
one
outcome.
the road traffic
Eventually the land will revert to pure fen. Nature will and the rail traffic all on the doorstep. But there were
win. But in the meantime, we do our best to keep the compensations, for the fishing was excellent!
water at bay.
£20 deposit for the keys
It was bright spring morning when I parked my car
and walked to the Norris Museum in The Broadway,
Saint Ives. There, a pleasant lady gave me the keys to
the Chapel, for although it is maintained by English
heritage, it is actually owned by Cambridgeshire
County Council. You have to leave a £20 deposit for
the keys, but you get this back when you return them.
It is a short walk to the bridge along – of course -
Bridge Street.
six hundred years of traffic
Saint Ives was bustling with people and market stalls
as I walked in the sun. The old cattle market is still
recognisable, although in use as a car park now. The
Great Ouse was a real picture the day I visited. The
Quay, the flats overlooking the water, the bridge itself,
all were stunning beautiful. To think that the bridge
has withstood all but six hundred years of traffic; and
until the last few years still carried buses and lorries as
well as pedestrians.
Oliver Cromwell
Mass in the Chapel
From this time on, the chapel has been designated
an Ancient Monument and now it is available for us
all to enjoy. Inside it does not look much like a chapel.
The chairs and general untidiness do nothing for the
atmosphere.
There is a downstairs with a balcony over the river,
precarious, but beautiful. I am told that the local
Catholic Priest celebrates Mass in the Chapel most
weeks during the warmer months, (or he did up until
2001). I hope this is true. It is, after all, a chapel. The
Chapel of Saint Ledger needs to be used as such.
Do go and pay it a visit if you are in the area. There
is an Ordinariate Group in nearby Huntingdon as
you will find out elsewhere in this edition of The
Portal. They are based at Saint Michael the Archangel.
However, the Catholic Church in Saint Ives is also
worth a visit. The Parish Church of the Sacred Heart is
in Needingworth Road and I hope to visit it very soon
myself, for it has its own wonderful and unusual tale
to tell.
Following the Reformation, the Chapel was at
For more information about Saint Ives in general, or
various times in use as a private house, a public house about the Bridge and its romantic Chapel, contact:
of ill-repute (!) and a doctor’s surgery. During the
The Norris Museum, The Broadway,
Civil War – remember Oliver Cromwell was born in
Saint Ives, Cambs PE27 5BX
Huntingdon and lived in Saint Ives – Roundheads blew
01480 497314
up the two arches farthest from the town as a defensive
www.norrismuseum.org.uk