A Brief History of Morrowfen

The town is old, but its records are younger than they look. The first careful history of the parish was Mr Wren’s pamphlet of 2019, and the present account draws on it, with corrections where the parish records disagree.

The founding, c. 1180

Morrowfen was founded, as far as the records show, by monks of Aingersby Abbey, who in about 1180 began draining the eastern fen and established a small settlement at the slight rise that is now the centre of town. The first church was built and dedicated to St. Within, about whom little is known except his commemoration in this fen.

The monks dug the Old Eau, which still runs to the east of the town, and established the first drainage channels. They did not, so far as is known, dig the Seventh Drain.

The Plague and the Morrowfen Vow, 1349

The Plague reached the fen in 1349. The Morrowfen Vow is said to have been made in that year, in circumstances that are not recorded. The Gazette does not, at present, publish a full account of the Vow. It is mentioned in the parish records in two places, in passing, and the parish is content, for the moment, that it should remain so.

The Morrowfen Bell, 1643-1644

During the Civil War, in 1643, the bell of St. Within’s was taken by Parliamentary forces. It was returned, by a route that is not recorded, in 1644. The route is one of the small mysteries of the parish. The Gazette notes it and moves on.

The Seventh Drain, 1826

The Seventh Drain is, on the Improvement Commissioners’ plan of 1826, a new channel dug that year in the north-west marsh. The modern channel does not match the 1826 plan. The discrepancy is the subject of the mysteries page.

The railway, 1903

The Halt opened in 1903, on the Aingersby to Norham line. It was, and remains, a single-platform halt. One train each way most days, plus a Saturday market train. The bench at the Halt has been painted heron-white, by tradition, since at least 1948.

The Great Flood, 1947

The Great Flood of 1947 was the most serious flood in living memory. The town centre was rebuilt around a slightly higher street level; the old street level can still be seen in some cellars. The tower of St. Within’s was restored. The Pumping Station was built.

Drain Day, observed annually on the Saturday nearest 14 February, marks the receding of the Flood, the date of which is approximate.

The town seal, 1949

The current form of the town seal, depicting a heron rampant on a field of reeds holding a quill, was re-drawn in 1949 by the then-Parish Clerk, Mr Albert Drury. The Drury family connection to the seal is, in the parish, not often discussed.

Willow Bend, 1991

Willow Bend Caravan Park opened in 1991. The opening was, by long tradition, controversial; the Drainage Committee’s concern at the time was about run-off into the marsh. The concern was, on the whole, addressed.

Willow Bend’s inclusion in the Drainage Committee’s population count is, in 2026, one of the principal reasons the Committee and the Council are at odds over the census.

The Gazette, 1948

The Morrowfen Gazette was founded in 1948, in the year after the Great Flood. Its founding editor was a Mr R. Pell, whose grandson Owen Pell is the present Town Crier.

Today

The town is small, fond of itself, and at present engaged in a long-running argument about how many of its residents there are. The Drainage Committee has the louder voice. The Parish Clerk has the better filing system. The Gazette has the better prose. The Mayor has the small heron badge.

A longer account, with sources, is held in the Reading Room museum cabinet.