Welches Dam

Welches Dam is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Manea, in the Fenland district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is around 5 miles (8 km) to the north west of Ely. The parish covered an area of 2,355 acres (953 ha). Within the parish boundaries were the hamlet of the same name and the settlement of Purls Bridge. In 1951 the parish had a population of 69.[1] Welches Dam is the site of the visitor centre for the RSPB Ouse Washes reserve.[2][3]

Welches Dam
Welches Dam is located in Cambridgeshire
Welches Dam
Welches Dam
Location within Cambridgeshire
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom

The parish of Welches Dam was surrounded by those of Coveney, Manea, Mepal, and Witcham.

History
Welches Dam in 1892

The history of the parish is tied to that of The Fens and the battle to drain it in the first half of the 17th century. The original principal drainage channel for the area, the Old Bedford River, ran through the parish.

The parish's name derived from Edward Welsh who built a dam across the Bedford River. Welsh was an employee of the Adventurers, the 17th-century entrepreneurs who invested in the results of Vermuyden's efforts to drain the fens.[4]

Fortrey Hall, the 17th-century ancestral seat of the Fortrey family, lay in the parish.

In 1849, 11 of the 187 residents of the parish died in an outbreak of cholera.[4]

Welches Dam was formerly an extra-parochial tract,[5] from 1858 Welches Dam was a civil parish in its own right,[6] on 1 April 1960 the parish was abolished and merged with Manea and Chatteris.[7]

Church

The mission church of St Eanswythe was built in 1909.[8]

References
  1. "Population statistics Welches Dam ExP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  2. Ouse Washes.info
  3. RSPB Ouse Washes
  4. "Welches Dam". Victoria County History.
  5. "History of Welches Dam, in Fenland and Cambridgeshire". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  6. "Relationships and changes Welches Dam ExP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  7. "March Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  8. Welches Dam on Genuki.org.uk
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