THE MIDKNIGHT GARDEN: Home to The Serpent Priesthood & Knights of the Red Order.

The fens where i grew up, were once a mysterious world apart; a vast land of water and peat bogs splattered with tiny islands where the only way to get around was by lone punts and other such water craft. These were the days before the fens were drained to make way for rich agriculture land. A silent world in which other-worldly mists eerily swirled in and out of the lives of the fishermen, the fowlers and the reed cutters as they endevoured to walk about on wooden stilts when the waters rose dangerously high. Even now long after the drainage; the fens do seem to remain a world apart, open, flat, peat blackened and with dykes and embankments that weave their way silently across a ghostly landscape. The feel of a once vast water world still lingers on in the collective memories of today’s fenland folk and many tales are told of witches, sprites, boggarts, will o’the wisp and other strange folk. The many strange place names of the fenland towns and villages that often suggest the ‘ways of old’, seem to have their own tales to tell still waiting to be told. Echoes of the past are everywhere and often time itself appears to have stood totally still. But what of the fenland people themselves and the real, often hard lives they once lived? I hope to be able to give you an insight, a brief glimpse into the winter customs and traditions of the fens.

The Fen Skaters

At the turn of the last century it was still very much a hard way of life with little or no luxuries, especially at Christmas. Home made paper chains and holly would decorate the sparse rooms at Christmas and piles of logs filled the hearths and the rooms would always have a smokey air about them. It was always crisply cold outside (or so it seemed) and everyone huddled around the crackling hearth after a long hard day working on the land. Christmas trees, if you could afford one and many couldn’t, would be decorated with sugar mice, fir cones, and even real tiny candles on metal clip holders. Lots and lots of shimmering tinsel would be hung over the tree, something the children always loved doing and even clumps of cotton wool were scattered on the branches to imitate snow. The aroma of fresh pine filled the household but one never dressed the tree before christmas eve and on coming downstairs on christmas morning, gasps of delight would fill the house as the children of the household caught first sight of the glittering bedecked tree. It was as if a magical winter fairyland had indeed appeared before one and all. Homemade cakes and puddings filled the kitchen shelves and the luxury of the day would be a box of dates, a dish of nuts, an orange or an apple, all washed down with ginger wine. Usually the Christmas dinner would be a goose or a chicken, plucked and fully prepared in the home kitchen on Christmas Eve, after the children were sent to bed early. It was nothing unusual in those days for the women folk to be up to their elbows in giblets! On Christmas evening the pleasures were simple – lots of roast chestnuts, hot mince pies and a cup of cocoa, whilst playing dominos, draughts and the good old favourite, ispy.

The Old Yule or Christmas tree

My own personal memories of growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, were of decorating our real christmas tree bought from Ely market or the local greengrocers, which my dad always carried home on his pushbike. The trees always smelled so fresh and the whole house permeated with the refreshing smell of pine. I remember decorating our tree, which always stood in the front room, in front of the window. The front rooms in those days were always kept ‘for best’ so one always knew it was a special occasion when it was time to dress the tree. I remember dressing the tree with pink and white sugar mice and shiny glass baubles and icicles; we used real candles on the tree in those days, in metal clip-on candle holders, although i don’t really remember actually lighting them! And i have just remembered (in 2026), the little metal clip on birds with the flexible tails – i could i have forgotten those! I remember covering the boughs of the tree with old fashioned shimmering tinsel strands and slewing cotton wool balls all over it too. Paper christmas angels lovingly created at school were also placed upon the tree. Of course we children always enjoyed making our own decorations, including seemingly miles and miles of paper chains all stuck together individually by us children working hard at it in the kitchen. The best decorations however, were always saved for the front room. I remember that very front room always being so chilly and the smokey smell of ‘coke’ fuel wafting around the room as it slowly warmed up, all being a part of those christmas memories.

In those days the ladies of the house always gutted and prepared the christmas bird the night before, usually chicken or goose, and we children delighted in being horrified at the bloody site of our mother being ‘up to her elbows’ in giblets and blood! My brother remembers asking our mother to cut open the bird’s crop so he could see what it had been eating. I do remember one time when my Nan visited from London and seeing both Nan and Mum in the old white-washed walled scullery plucking frantically away at a large white goose, while the scullery floor grew thick with feathers! My brother remembers coming down into the kitchen one night because he couldn’t sleep, only to find our father hard at work making his christmas present  – a wooden hand crafted fort, for him! All of this would have been carried out on christmas eve. I remember too the aroma of the sausage rolls and mince pies cooking and of course on christmas morning the smell of the wonderful herbiness of the christmas bird all ready and cooking in the gas oven! My brother also remembers things like the clip on candles and the home made eggnog, which latter became known as ‘snowballs’, interestingly he remembers how decadent it was for a young boy to see both his mother and father with these ‘continental’ drinks.

We placed gifts from friends and family tantalizingly around the base of the tree and were always allowed to open just one present on christmas eve, which we did with great excitement and anticipation. Upstairs though we hung up a large white pillowcase at the end of the bed and also one of our own knitted knee-socks. I always loved to receive books and painting materials, and i remember two of my best ever presents being my wind up Hornby train set and my conjurers set. It was a simpler time in those days, but very precious. In our little knitted stocking we would find small gifts, chocolates, nuts and tangerines, maybe a packet of wax crayons and some pencils; these items simple in themselves always seems so magical and precious on christmas morning.

Nan and Grandad from London were often with us in Ely for christmas, yet Dad often arrived late for christmas dinner, as he worked at the Ely Sugar Beet Factory and this time was the busiest time of the year, for it was the time of the sugar beet ‘campaign’ and dad worked shifts as did all the workers there.  They worked hard on the sugar beet harvest and there were no special compensations – christmas or no christmas! For a tea-time treat mum often made a snowman out of an old preserving croc which she would cover with sheets of cotton wool and created a round head out of cotton wool with a hat on it. She would then fill it with extra treats for our annual tea-time lucky dip which was all great fun. In the evening i remember toasting chestnuts on the open fire on the old black coal shovel and watching them hiss and burst! The adults and older children drank egg nog, while the younger ones fizzy corona, and we enjoyed a feast of dates, nuts and tangerines; only usually obtained at christmas time! Of course there was no tv in those days but we did have a radio and thrilled to the seasonal dramas which usually included a good old children’s drama. If we were to play games it would have been i spy, passing the parcel or musical chairs. All in all on looking back they were very simple days, but very, very magical and special days too. There was a tangible ‘feeling’ in the air on christmas day, in those far off childhood times. I don’t know if it was because i always saw the magic in everything, but what i do know is that i picked up on the magic at the time and remembered the magic as it was, not just as a rose coloured memory looking back. Simple time yet very precious times that somehow seem to be from another almost forgotten world these days…..

A hard fenland winter always meant good skating though and 1814 was one such a winter, when the usually sluggish River Cam became a beautiful sheet of smooth, shinning ice, all the way down to Ely. It was a strange sight to see the skaters in their caps and gowns on their steel propellers, whirling away under Clare Hall, Gerard’s Hostel and Trinity Bridges, their usually formal gowns streaming out behind them. The fens used to produce some of the finest speed skaters in the country and anyone who has lived in the fens for a long time will no doubt be familiar with the tradition of fen skating. These events were an important event and regularly drew huge crowds and according to a local newspaper report of the time, over six thousand people gathered on Whittlesey Mere on the Monday after Christmas in 1840, both to skate themselves and to watch 16 of the best runners of the day compete for the prize money of £10. An exciting event in every ones eyes, mark my words. And the only accidents reported afterwards were damaged noses and darkened eyes in consequence of fouling or the skaters running into each other!

The little fenland village of Welney boasts the honour of having the fastest speed skaters of all time. All of them having learnt their art on that swampy piece of ground known as Welney Wash which floods every winter. In the 1890’s skaters came from as far afield as Norway and Holland. In those days the winters certainly lived up to their name and produced enough ice each year to last long enough for the fenland skaters to acquire great skills and Cambridgeshire was indeed an ideal nursery for skaters because of it’s many long, open stretches of water. And the fen folks would often use the ice to go about their daily business, especially when the roads so often became impassable. What a breathtaking sight it must have been to see these skaters flying over the ice at a speed of nine or ten miles an hour as part of their daily lives. Indeed the ice became a lifeline; linking village to village and skaters could easily cover forty to seventy miles a day. My own grandfather who hailed from Wicken was also a fenland skater, indeed a champion of his day. His rusty old skates, left hanging on a hook in the back shed, would have been taken down and worn again with pride as he honed his skills by skating all the way from Wicken in the fens all the way down to the River Cam in Cambridge.

The Fen Skaters

Many more tales are told of the fenland skaters and of individual achievements and of weeks and weeks of solid frost – what would we make of it now I wonder and just how would we cope? It somehow seems kind of fun to get the chance to try this almost forgotten fenland sport. Interestingly enough, the very cold winter of 2009 through to 2010 again saw the revival of the fenland skaters. For the first time in decades the fens froze over allowing skaters onto the ice in areas such as Earith in Cambridgeshire. Long forgotten skills were revived and skaters who thought they would never experience the thrill of the open ice again took out of storage their old skates and found themselves competing with old and young alike again for the title of speed skater of the fens. Let’s hope then that this tradition along with many others, continues to make a welcomed return every few years, thus keeping alive the unique history of the watery fenlands.

In early January of 2026, the fenland fields and washes froze over once again bringing skaters out from far and wide, some traveling many miles to enjoy the miles of frozen fields on which to skate. Some were professional speed skaters and the sight of all those skaters were an amazing sight to behold. However health and safety prevailed with many messages going out of where and where not to skate. Welney and Upware were once again the most popular spots proving once again that fenland skating is indeed still very much alive and well.

Old Father Christmas

Researched from “A Fenland Christmas” by Chris Carling (incl. exerts from Celia Dale, Mabel Demaine, Revd H I C Blake, Frances Collinwood) Compiled with many extra personal childhood and family reminiscences and research from ‘yours truly’  and the ‘Ford’ family. Extra fenland skating snippets from X/twitter. (Fen Skaters@FenSkaters)

From the ‘Keeper of Scrolls’

Updated December 2019/2025/2026