Fen Cottage Conservation

The National Trust has commenced conservation work on the historic Fen Cottage, one of the smallest properties owned by the Trust.

The cottage, No 5 Lode Lane, opposite the Wicken Fen Visitor Centre dates from the early 18th Century and is the only surviving building of the former hamlet along Lode Lane known simply as The Lode.

The conservation work will involve repairs and re-decoration to the external façade of the historic cottage using traditional methods and materials that would have been used when the building was originally constructed. The work is being undertaken by R G Carter (Cambridge) Ltd.

Fen Cottage was acquired by the National Trust in 1974 and extensively restored in1988. Inside the cottage is furnished as it might have been in the early 20th Century.

The livelihoods of its original inhabitants would have been closely linked to the Fen, including the harvesting of sedge, reed, litter and buckthorn (used in the manufacturer of gunpowder), peat and clay digging, and the shooting and trapping of wildfowl and fish. The local inhabitants would have used the local network of Lodes and rivers to transport goods and produce to market.

Fen Cottage is open to the public on Sunday's and Bank Holiday Mondays from 30 March - 19 October between 1400 - 1700.

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Further information: Contact Howard Cooper, Communications Officer, Wicken Fen Tel 01353 720274 Mobile 07826 874133 or e-mail howard.cooper@nationaltrust.org.uk