Fen skating
Encyclopedia
Fen skating is a traditional form of ice skating
in the Fenland
of England. The Fens
of East Anglia
, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates
were introduced into Britain from Holland or France
in the seventeenth century. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century they had become a feature of cold winters in the Fens. The golden age of fen skating was the second half of the nineteenth century, when thousands of people turned out to watch such legendary skaters as Larman Register, Turkey Smart
, Gutta Percha See, and brothers Fish and James Smart. The National Skating Association
was set up in Cambridge
in 1879 and took the top few fen skaters to Holland, where they had a brief moment of international glory with James Smart becoming Britain’s only ever world champion speed skater. The twentieth century saw a decline in the popularity of fen skating.
and John Evelyn
both recorded seeing skating on the canal in St. James's Park
in London during the winter of 1662. Pepys wrote "...over to the Parke (where I first in my life, it being great frost, did see people sliding with their skeats which is a very pretty art)...".
As a recreation, means of transport and spectator sport, skating in the Fens was popular with people from all walks of life. Racing was the preserve of workers, most of them agricultural labourers. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century racing was well established and the results of matches were reported in the press. The cold winters of the 1820s and 1830s saw a number of fenmen make a name for themselves as skaters. They included: John Gittam and John Young of Nordelph
; the Drake brothers of Chatteris
; Perkins and Cave of Sutton
; James May of Upwell
; waterman John Berry of Ramsey
; the Egars of Thorney
; the Staples of Crowland
; and William Needham of March
.
The championship matches took the form of a Welsh main or "last man standing" contest. The competitors, 16 or sometimes 32, were paired off in heats and the winner of each heat went through to the next round. The farmers and gentry who organised the matches would raise a subscription for prize money. £10 was a typical purse in the mid-nineteenth century, with about half going to the winner and the rest divided amongst the other runners according to how far they had got in the contest. This was at a time when agricultural labourers typically earnt about 11 shillings a week.
A course of 660 yards was measured out on the ice, and a barrel with a flag on it placed at either end. The course was divided down the middle with more barrels, sods of earth or piles of snow. The skaters were drawn in pairs, and started one either side of the barrel, skate down the course, round the barrel and back again, with each skater keeping to their own side of the ice. For a one-and-a-half mile race the skaters completed two rounds of the course, with three barrel turns. If there were 16 competitors the winner and runner-up would have skated a total of 6 miles.
There were also matches for women although they didn’t attract quite the same attention or prize money as the men’s matches. The Cambridge Chronicle, after a long account of a match at Ely
in February 1855 in which Turkey Smart beat Larman Register to win £7, told readers merely that "the white-bonneted Mepal girl won 10 shillings easily, and beat the Lynn girl – a good race". By the 1890s the women had at least acquired names; the Hunts County Guardian reported in February 1892 that Mrs Winters of Welney
had beaten 13-year-old Miss Dewsbury of Little Thetford in the final of a half-mile match at Littleport.
As well as competing in matches, the top skaters issued challenges via the press. Brothers Larman and Robert Register announced in the Cambridge Chronicle in 1853 that they could be backed to skate any two skaters in England for £20. And three years later Larman Register had teamed up with his vanquisher Turkey Smart to issue a similar challenge.
Another challenge for the fastest men was the straight mile with a flying start. In 1821 a Newmarket man made a wager of 100 guineas that a skater could cover a mile in three minutes. John Gittam of Nordelph won him his wager at Prickwillow
with 7 seconds to spare. A generation later Turkey Smart was backed to skate a mile in two-and-a-half minutes, but failed by 2 seconds.
runners. The footstock was made of beechwood. A screw at the back was screwed into the heel of the boot, and three small spikes at the front kept the skate steady. There were holes in the footstock for leather straps to fasten it to the foot. The metal blades were slightly higher at the back than the front. In the 1890s fen skaters started to race in Norwegian style skates.
, with Larman Register acknowledged as champion. Register’s reign as champion came to an end in December 1854 when he was dramatically beaten on Welney washes
by Welney
man Turkey Smart. The winter of 1854/55 was exceptionally cold and a month’s frost from the end of January saw Turkey Smart triumphant in twelve matches, skating to easy victories at Outwell
, Welney, Benwick
, Mepal
, March, Deeping
, Ely
, Peterborough
and Wisbech
. There was one defeat, at Salter’s Lode. His winnings came to a total of £54 15 shillings and a leg of mutton. The Cambridge Chronicle described how the match at Mepal, on a brilliantly fine day, had thinned the towns of Cambridge
, Ely
, St Ives
, Chatteris
and March of their population.
After beating three Southery men, Butcher, Porter and Larman Register, Turkey Smart met David Green of March in the final. "Smart beat Green easily, and carried off the laurels, and is generally believed to be the best man of the day".
Turkey Smart remained the champion for the rest of the decade, his nearest rivals being his brother-in-law Gutta Percha See, the Registers, Butchers and Porters of Southery, David Green of March, and fellow Welney men Wiles and Watkinson. But by the winter of 1860/61 he was no longer invincible; Gutta Percha See shared the laurels with him that year.
Several mild winters followed and when skating resumed in January 1867 younger skaters were threatening the champions. Turkey Smart won the Kimbolton Stakes on the flooded Huntingdon Racecourse
in front of a grandstand of local aristocracy, and followed it with a win at Denver, beating Robert Watkinson in the final, but these victories were followed by a first round loss at Welney. Larman Register had by now acquired some acreage and joined the ranks of race officials; his nephew and namesake was racing, although he never enjoyed quite the same success as his uncle.
The following year Stephen Smith, a farmer’s son from Conington
, Tom Cross of Ely
and the Shelton brothers from Ramsey
came to the fore. Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See continued to race, but were usually beaten in the early rounds of matches. The winter of 1874/75 saw Tom Watkinson of Welney acknowledged as champion. There was then an interval of mild winters, before the next generation of Smarts and Sees emerged as top skaters.
, Mepal
, Ely
, Bluntisham
, Upwell
, Wormegay
, Huntingdon
, Peterborough
, Swavesey
and Thorney
. At Spalding
there was a dead heat in the final between Fish Smart and Tom Watkinson and there was a defeat by Albert Dewsberry of Coveney
in a final at Peterborough.
Although speed skating was practised in other parts of the country, fenmen with their unique style, and combination of stamina and speed, were the acknowledged masters. Lancashire
sent three of their top skaters, G. Willcocks and the Boydells, to the Swavesey match in January 1879. All three were defeated in the first two rounds, with veteran Turkey Smart beating G. Willcocks by 200 yards in the first round. Afterwards one of the Lancashire skaters said: "We are the best men in our parts, but we run. These fenmen flee".
On Saturday 1 February 1879 a number of the great and the good of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire met in the Guildhall, Cambridge, to set up the National Skating Association
, with the aim of controlling the sport of fen skating. The founding committee consisted of several landowners, a vicar, a fellow of Trinity College
, a magistrate, two Members of Parliament, the mayor of Cambridge
, the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridge, journalist James Drake Digby, the president of Cambridge University Skating Club, and Neville Goodman, a fellow of Peterhouse College (and son of Potto Brown’s
milling partner, Joseph Goodman).
The next two winters, 1879/80 and 1880/81, were good skating winters. The newly-formed National Skating Association
held their first one-and-a-half-mile British professional championship at Thorney in December 1879. There was a field of 32, including former champions Turkey Smart and Tom Watkinson. Fish Smart won, beating Knocker Carter of Welney in the final. His reward was a badge, a sash and a cash prize, given as an annual salary in instalments in order to encourage the champion to "keep himself temperate". The National Skating Association
had also established an amateur championship, which was held for the first time at Welsh Harp
, London, in January 1880, and won by Frederick Norman, a farmer’s son from Willingham
. The professionals were labourers who skated for cash prizes; the amateurs were gentlemen who skated a bit slower for trophies.
Fish Smart remained unbeatable in the Fens during 1879/80 and 1880/81. He suffered one defeat in Lancashire when he skated on Carr Mill Dam
against Jack Hill of Billinge, but got his revenge in a return match at Welney. Fish Smart’s nearest rivals during those two winters were his younger brother Jarman Smart and Albert Dewsberry. In 1880/81 he successfully defended his title at Crowland, beating Albert Dewsberry in the final.
Fish Smart won his third and final championship in January 1887 at Swavesey, beating his cousin Isaac See (the younger son of Gutta Percha See) in the final. In the intervening years there had been some short frosts, but the National Skating Association
had not managed to arrange a meeting. They had taken Fish Smart to Holland for an international race in January 1885; he was beaten in the first round by Benedict Kingma. Two amateurs, Charles G Tebbutt and S Burlingham fared little better. A trip to Holland two years later was more successful. George See (Gutta Percha See’s eldest son) and James Smart (Fish Smart’s youngest brother) set up world records for 3100 m and 1 mile in friendly matches, and Charles G Tebbutt won an amateur race. The following year, 1887, James Smart and George See returned to Holland, with James Smart winning an international race over 2 miles at Amsterdam.
James Smart took the British professional title from his older brother Fish Smart at Lingay Fen in January 1889 and dominated fen skating for the next few years. He won the Dutch 1 mile championship in 1890/91 before successfully defending his British title. Two years later he did not compete in the British professional championship after falling out with the National Skating Association
(George See won that year), but he regained his title in 1894/95. Several mild winters followed and when the championship was next held, at Littleport
in February 1900, it was won by Fred Ward of Tydd Fen. That year, for the first time, the amateur championship was won in a faster time than the professional.
Littleport
had become an important centre for skating in last decade of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Peacock (owner of the Hope Brothers factory), leased a piece of ground by the railway line, embanked it, and flooded it to form a skating ground known as the Moors.
Lincolnshire
skaters, unhappy that the National Skating Association
was holding so many matches in the southern Fens or outside the Fens, formed their own association in 1890 and held amateur championships at Vernatt’s Drain and Cowbit Wash.
, accusing them of concentrating on international racing and destroying local racing. The National Skating Association also received criticism in the press: one article said that for various reasons the National Skating Association "has not commanded the confidence of the skating world" and that its off-shoot, the Metropolitan branch "has practically swallowed it up". In 1894 the National Skating Association decided to move their headquarters to London, from where they concentrated on figure skaters and rinkmen.
In 1902 the professional championship was for the first time won by an uplander, Wigan
lamplighter Joseph Bates who skated with a heart condition. The days when fenland agricultural labourers were masters of the sport were numbered, although the last three professional titles before World War I were won by fenmen; Fred Ward of Tydd Fen regaining his title at Lingay Fen in February 1905, and Sidney Greenhall of Landbeach
winning in January 1908 and February 1912 at Lingay.
There were no official matches during World War I
. A series of mild winters followed, giving an interval of 15 years with no championships. Fen skating during the late 1920s and early 1930s was dominated by amateur Cyril Horn of Upwell
; the professional title was won by Don Pearson of Mepal
. In 1947 the professional title made a brief return to Welney
when R.W. Scott was victorious.
The second half of the twentieth century saw rinkmen winning most of the championships, which were last held in 1996/97. In recent years fen skaters David Buttress of Mepal, and Malcolm Robinson and David Smith of Sutton have competed in events in the Netherlands and Austria.
.
. When it froze Corporations and landowners would flood their meadows to turn them into skating grounds. In Cambridge
, the Corporation pumped water onto Stirbitch Common and there was also a skating ground at Grantchester
Meadows. Lamp-posts can still be seen in the middle of fields by the river at Grantchester Meadows where the old skating ground used to be.
milling partner Joseph Goodman) the Bury Fen Bandy Club was responsible for formulating the rules of modern bandy
and introducing the game into the Netherlands and other Northern European countries as well as other parts of Britain. In 2010 England entered the Federation of International Bandy
.
was also played on ice in the Fens, though it never became as popular as bandy. In February 1855 the Cambridge Chronicle reported on a match between March and Wisbech on the Ballast Pits at March. The home team beat the visitors by 118 runs, thanks to a century not out by Rhodes. "The fielding and batting of many of the players was considered to be far superior to and more graceful than any cricketing on the green sward".
, on the River Great Ouse
a few miles upstream from Denver Sluice, was home to a number of skating families. Larman Register (1829-1897), was champion in the early 1850s; his brother Robert (1820-1890) and nephews Larman, Robert, William and George were also skaters. A story is told of how a group of Southery skaters challenged some railwaymen to a race from Littleport
to Queen Adelaide
where the river runs alongside the railway. The skaters beat the train. Larman Register is said to have led the skaters; since the race took place in 1870 it was probably the young Larman, rather than his more famous uncle. The Porter family also produced a number of top skaters - including Job, Brewer, Tom, Holland and Charles - and skaters’ wives (both Larman Registers married Porters). Chafer Legge, skater and bare-fist fighter, was employed by Newnham College, Cambridge
, to tutor their students in skating during the long freeze of 1895. Chafer Legge’s sons and daughter were also skaters, Noah being the most successful. Other skaters from Southery were the Butchers, and butcher Jesse Brown.
Welney
, a small village on the banks of the Old Bedford River
, in the heart of the Fens on the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border and three miles from the nearest railway station, produced so many top skaters that it became known as the "metropolis of speed skating". Members of the Smart and See families dominated British skating for two generations.
Turkey Smart (1830-1919) was champion in the 1850s. Gutta Percha See (1832-1898) usually ran second to his brother-in-law Turkey Smart, although he had a better season in 1861. Both Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See continued to race long past their prime, and were still taking to the ice for exhibition races in their sixties. Of Turkey Smart’s six sons only one – James - became a skater. Gutta Percha’s sons George and Isaac both became top skaters.
Fish Smart (1856-1909) was champion for a decade from 1878. He gained his name from his swimming prowess. His father, Charles Smart, had been a fast skater but had never mastered the art of slowing down for the barrel turn so had never featured in racing. Fish Smart’s younger brothers Jarman Smart and James Smart were also top skaters. Over a ten year period Fish Smart was virtually unbeatable. He was a popular sportsman; a poem was composed in his honour and a racehorse was named after him. Fish Smart left Welney to work on construction sites around England and had a spell in Egypt working on the unfinished Sudanese railway, but returned to skate in the Fens when it froze. In January 1889 he relinquished his title to his younger brother James. Fish Smart was killed in an accident at work on Hull dockyard railway in 1909.
James Smart (1865-1928) was the youngest brother of Fish and Jarman Smart. Unlike his brother Fish and uncle Turkey he always skated under his real name; attempts to call him Eagle to distinguish him from his cousin James Turkey Smart did not stick. He won the professional title of Great Britain in 1890, 1895 and 1900 and the Littleport Cup in 1892. He also won a world championship and a Dutch championship. Having spent some time training in Norway, he set up an agency to sell Norwegian skates in Britain.
George See (1862-1946) usually skated second to his cousins Fish Smart and James Smart, but took the British professional title in December 1892 when James Smart refused to defend his title. George’s younger brother Isaac See was four times placed in the professional championship but never won.
Other top skaters from Welney
included: George, Robert and Tom Watkinson, John Hills, John Wiles, Robert Naylor, Knocker Carter, bricklayer Harry Kent, and the Hawes brothers, brickmakers Alfred, William and James. Jane Winters, one of the fastest women skaters, came from Upwell but lived in Welney after marrying a Welney man. The Loveday brothers were top amateur skaters.
on the Isle of Ely
. In 1881 he was runner-up in the British professional championship. The next year he had his left leg amputated below the knee following an accident. He continued to skate and entered the 3-mile championship in 1887 with a cork leg, being beaten in the first round. "The old Fen flyer, however, went very respectably, and was rewarded with a collection."
villages on the southern edge of the Fens
produced a number of top skaters.
Isleham, on the River Lark
, was home to the Wells and Brown skating families. Nathan Brown and Tommy Wells were the most successful of a number of brothers.
Nearby Soham Fen produced J Collins and Frederic Fletcher, who nearly drowned in a second round race against Turkey Smart on Welney Washes in January 1870.
Walter Housden from Wicken won the amateur championship in 1891 at the age of 19. He then turned professional and was the first winner of the Hayes-Fisher Cup. He was placed five times in the professional championship but never won.
Sidney Greenhall from Landbeach won the professional championship in 1908 and 1912, and the Littleport Cup in 1909. His brother, wheelwright William, and sister Nellie were also skaters.
granddaughters, was well known for his skating scenes and portraits of skaters. JM Heathcote also drew skating scenes.
Duncan Stafford’s Fen-Skating Suite (for string quartet) was shortlisted for the Cornelius Cardew
Composition Prize in 1990.
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
in the Fenland
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
of England. The Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
of East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates
Ice skate
Ice skates are boots with blades attached to the bottom, used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice. They are worn as footwear in many sports, including ice hockey, bandy and figure skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with...
were introduced into Britain from Holland or France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the seventeenth century. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century they had become a feature of cold winters in the Fens. The golden age of fen skating was the second half of the nineteenth century, when thousands of people turned out to watch such legendary skaters as Larman Register, Turkey Smart
Turkey Smart
William "Turkey" Smart was a champion speed skater and the first of a dynasty of skaters from the small village of Welney, on the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire border in the centre of the Fens, England.- Early life and marriage :...
, Gutta Percha See, and brothers Fish and James Smart. The National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
was set up in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
in 1879 and took the top few fen skaters to Holland, where they had a brief moment of international glory with James Smart becoming Britain’s only ever world champion speed skater. The twentieth century saw a decline in the popularity of fen skating.
Early history
Metal-bladed skates were introduced into Britain, probably from Holland or France, in the seventeenth century; before this people had attached sharpened animal bones to their feet to travel on ice. Diarists Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
and John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
both recorded seeing skating on the canal in St. James's Park
St. James's Park
St. James's Park is a 23 hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London - the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less.- Geographical location :St. James's...
in London during the winter of 1662. Pepys wrote "...over to the Parke (where I first in my life, it being great frost, did see people sliding with their skeats which is a very pretty art)...".
As a recreation, means of transport and spectator sport, skating in the Fens was popular with people from all walks of life. Racing was the preserve of workers, most of them agricultural labourers. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century racing was well established and the results of matches were reported in the press. The cold winters of the 1820s and 1830s saw a number of fenmen make a name for themselves as skaters. They included: John Gittam and John Young of Nordelph
Nordelph
Nordelph is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 375 in 151 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk....
; the Drake brothers of Chatteris
Chatteris
Chatteris is a civil parish and one of four market towns in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely...
; Perkins and Cave of Sutton
Sutton-in-the-Isle
Sutton-in-the-Isle, commonly referred to simply as Sutton, is a parish and village in the county of Cambridgeshire in England, near the city of Ely. The "in-the-Isle" suffix refers to the fact that the village is part of the Isle of Ely, once an island in The Fens and also an administrative county...
; James May of Upwell
Upwell
Upwell is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 2,456 in 1,033 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk...
; waterman John Berry of Ramsey
Ramsey, Cambridgeshire
Ramsey is a small Cambridgeshire market town and parish, north of Huntingdon and St Ives. For local government purposes it lies in the district of Huntingdonshire within the local government county of Cambridgeshire....
; the Egars of Thorney
Thorney, Cambridgeshire
Thorney is a village about 8 miles east of Peterborough in the City of Peterborough unitary authority, England, on the A47. Historically it was part of the Isle of Ely, which was considered part of Cambridgeshire but was transferred into the former county of Huntingdon and Peterborough and...
; the Staples of Crowland
Crowland
Crowland or Croyland is a small town in south Lincolnshire, England, positioned between Peterborough and Spalding, with two sites of historical interest.-Geography:...
; and William Needham of March
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely, a separate administrative county between 1889 and 1965, and is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council.The town was an important...
.
Matches
When it froze, skating matches were held in towns and villages all over the Fens. In these local matches men (or sometimes women or children) would compete for prizes of money, clothing or food. "During severe winters it is no uncommon thing to see joints of meat hung outside the village pub, to be skated for on the morrow". The winners of local matches were invited to take part in the grand or championship matches in which skaters from across the Fens would compete for cash prizes in front of crowds of thousands.The championship matches took the form of a Welsh main or "last man standing" contest. The competitors, 16 or sometimes 32, were paired off in heats and the winner of each heat went through to the next round. The farmers and gentry who organised the matches would raise a subscription for prize money. £10 was a typical purse in the mid-nineteenth century, with about half going to the winner and the rest divided amongst the other runners according to how far they had got in the contest. This was at a time when agricultural labourers typically earnt about 11 shillings a week.
A course of 660 yards was measured out on the ice, and a barrel with a flag on it placed at either end. The course was divided down the middle with more barrels, sods of earth or piles of snow. The skaters were drawn in pairs, and started one either side of the barrel, skate down the course, round the barrel and back again, with each skater keeping to their own side of the ice. For a one-and-a-half mile race the skaters completed two rounds of the course, with three barrel turns. If there were 16 competitors the winner and runner-up would have skated a total of 6 miles.
There were also matches for women although they didn’t attract quite the same attention or prize money as the men’s matches. The Cambridge Chronicle, after a long account of a match at Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
in February 1855 in which Turkey Smart beat Larman Register to win £7, told readers merely that "the white-bonneted Mepal girl won 10 shillings easily, and beat the Lynn girl – a good race". By the 1890s the women had at least acquired names; the Hunts County Guardian reported in February 1892 that Mrs Winters of Welney
Welney
Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...
had beaten 13-year-old Miss Dewsbury of Little Thetford in the final of a half-mile match at Littleport.
As well as competing in matches, the top skaters issued challenges via the press. Brothers Larman and Robert Register announced in the Cambridge Chronicle in 1853 that they could be backed to skate any two skaters in England for £20. And three years later Larman Register had teamed up with his vanquisher Turkey Smart to issue a similar challenge.
Another challenge for the fastest men was the straight mile with a flying start. In 1821 a Newmarket man made a wager of 100 guineas that a skater could cover a mile in three minutes. John Gittam of Nordelph won him his wager at Prickwillow
Prickwillow
Originally a small hamlet on the banks of the River Great Ouse, but now on the banks of the River Lark since re-organisation of the river system, the village of Prickwillow has an estimated mid-2005 population of 440...
with 7 seconds to spare. A generation later Turkey Smart was backed to skate a mile in two-and-a-half minutes, but failed by 2 seconds.
Fen skates
In the Fens skates were called pattens, fen runners, or WhittleseyWhittlesey
Whittlesey, historically known as Whittlesea as the name of the railway station is still spelt, or Witesie, is an ancient Fenland market town around six miles east of Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire in England...
runners. The footstock was made of beechwood. A screw at the back was screwed into the heel of the boot, and three small spikes at the front kept the skate steady. There were holes in the footstock for leather straps to fasten it to the foot. The metal blades were slightly higher at the back than the front. In the 1890s fen skaters started to race in Norwegian style skates.
1850-1875
After a series of mild winters in the 1840s, skating was dominated for a few years by men from the Norfolk village of SoutherySouthery
Southery is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,161 in 476 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk....
, with Larman Register acknowledged as champion. Register’s reign as champion came to an end in December 1854 when he was dramatically beaten on Welney washes
Ouse Washes
The Ouse Washes are an area in the Fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, England. They cover the area between two diversion channels of the River Great Ouse: the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River .-History:...
by Welney
Welney
Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...
man Turkey Smart. The winter of 1854/55 was exceptionally cold and a month’s frost from the end of January saw Turkey Smart triumphant in twelve matches, skating to easy victories at Outwell
Outwell
Outwell is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk The village is west of Norwich, south-west of King's Lynn and north of London. The nearest town is Wisbech which is north west of the village. The Village is on the route of the A1101 Bury St. Edmunds to Long Sutton road...
, Welney, Benwick
Benwick
Benwick is a village and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately from Peterborough and from Cambridge...
, Mepal
Mepal
Mepal is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Mepal is part of the East Cambridgeshire district, and is located just north of the A142 road between Ely and Chatteris.-History:...
, March, Deeping
Deeping
Deeping may refer to:*The settlements of, and within The Deepings in Lincolnshire, England:**Market Deeping**Deeping St James**Deeping St Nicholas**Deeping Gate**West Deeping* Warwick Deeping , English author...
, Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and Wisbech
Wisbech
Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish with a population of 20,200 in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. The tidal River Nene runs through the centre of the town and is spanned by two bridges...
. There was one defeat, at Salter’s Lode. His winnings came to a total of £54 15 shillings and a leg of mutton. The Cambridge Chronicle described how the match at Mepal, on a brilliantly fine day, had thinned the towns of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
, St Ives
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England, around north-west of the city of Cambridge and north of London. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire.-History:...
, Chatteris
Chatteris
Chatteris is a civil parish and one of four market towns in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely...
and March of their population.
The clergy and 'squires', gentry and tradesmen – hale ploughboys and rosy milkmaids – ladies parties in carriages, gigs and carts, made their way to the bank near the bridge, and took their respective positions, where the view was excellent, and all that could be wished, for the 'St Ledger day on the ice'. A brass band of music from Chatteris was placed on the bridge, and played the most lively tunes: at the starting of a race, 'Cheer boys, cheer', and at the winning, 'See the conquering hero comes'. The number of persons present was stated at from five to eight thousand, and some said ten thousand. Punctually at the time appointed, half-past one, the racing commenced. The bold Fen-men soon appeared, whose iron frames, lion sinews, elasticity of action and body, astonished all beholders. They were a fine specimen of the bold peasantry of England.
After beating three Southery men, Butcher, Porter and Larman Register, Turkey Smart met David Green of March in the final. "Smart beat Green easily, and carried off the laurels, and is generally believed to be the best man of the day".
Turkey Smart remained the champion for the rest of the decade, his nearest rivals being his brother-in-law Gutta Percha See, the Registers, Butchers and Porters of Southery, David Green of March, and fellow Welney men Wiles and Watkinson. But by the winter of 1860/61 he was no longer invincible; Gutta Percha See shared the laurels with him that year.
Several mild winters followed and when skating resumed in January 1867 younger skaters were threatening the champions. Turkey Smart won the Kimbolton Stakes on the flooded Huntingdon Racecourse
Huntingdon Racecourse
Huntingdon Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in The Stukeleys near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England.It is also the venue for the annual Mascot Grand National, a race between the mascots of various football and other sports teams....
in front of a grandstand of local aristocracy, and followed it with a win at Denver, beating Robert Watkinson in the final, but these victories were followed by a first round loss at Welney. Larman Register had by now acquired some acreage and joined the ranks of race officials; his nephew and namesake was racing, although he never enjoyed quite the same success as his uncle.
The following year Stephen Smith, a farmer’s son from Conington
Conington, South Cambridgeshire
Conington is a small village in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire with about 50 houses and 150 residents. It lies about southeast of Huntingdon and south of the A14 road. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. It has a wonky steeple and one of the bells is one of the oldest bells...
, Tom Cross of Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
and the Shelton brothers from Ramsey
Ramsey, Cambridgeshire
Ramsey is a small Cambridgeshire market town and parish, north of Huntingdon and St Ives. For local government purposes it lies in the district of Huntingdonshire within the local government county of Cambridgeshire....
came to the fore. Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See continued to race, but were usually beaten in the early rounds of matches. The winter of 1874/75 saw Tom Watkinson of Welney acknowledged as champion. There was then an interval of mild winters, before the next generation of Smarts and Sees emerged as top skaters.
1878-1900
The winter of 1878/79 was a cold one; during December and January 21-year-old Fish Smart, a nephew of Gutta Percha See and Turkey Smart’s wife, notched up victories at WelneyWelney
Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...
, Mepal
Mepal
Mepal is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Mepal is part of the East Cambridgeshire district, and is located just north of the A142 road between Ely and Chatteris.-History:...
, Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
, Bluntisham
Bluntisham
Bluntisham is a village in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire), England. It is near Earith east of St Ives.The Prime Meridian passes through the western edge of Bluntisham.Also known as Bluntisham-cum-Earith...
, Upwell
Upwell
Upwell is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 2,456 in 1,033 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk...
, Wormegay
Wormegay
Wormegay is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some south of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.It covers an area of and had a population of 339 in 141 households as of the 2001 census....
, Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...
, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, Swavesey
Swavesey
Swavesey is a village lying on the Greenwich Meridian in Cambridgeshire, England, with an approximate population of 2,480. The village is situated 9 miles to the north west of Cambridge and 3 miles south east of St...
and Thorney
Thorney, Cambridgeshire
Thorney is a village about 8 miles east of Peterborough in the City of Peterborough unitary authority, England, on the A47. Historically it was part of the Isle of Ely, which was considered part of Cambridgeshire but was transferred into the former county of Huntingdon and Peterborough and...
. At Spalding
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....
there was a dead heat in the final between Fish Smart and Tom Watkinson and there was a defeat by Albert Dewsberry of Coveney
Coveney, Cambridgeshire
Coveney is a village north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. Several bronze axes have been found here, shields and a few swords, all dating from the late Bronze Age. Coveney is on a small 'island' rising to above sea level, some west of Ely city as the crow flies, but nearly twice that distance by...
in a final at Peterborough.
Although speed skating was practised in other parts of the country, fenmen with their unique style, and combination of stamina and speed, were the acknowledged masters. Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
sent three of their top skaters, G. Willcocks and the Boydells, to the Swavesey match in January 1879. All three were defeated in the first two rounds, with veteran Turkey Smart beating G. Willcocks by 200 yards in the first round. Afterwards one of the Lancashire skaters said: "We are the best men in our parts, but we run. These fenmen flee".
On Saturday 1 February 1879 a number of the great and the good of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire met in the Guildhall, Cambridge, to set up the National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
, with the aim of controlling the sport of fen skating. The founding committee consisted of several landowners, a vicar, a fellow of Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, a magistrate, two Members of Parliament, the mayor of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridge, journalist James Drake Digby, the president of Cambridge University Skating Club, and Neville Goodman, a fellow of Peterhouse College (and son of Potto Brown’s
Potto Brown
Potto Brown was a miller and nonconformist philanthropist in Huntingdonshire, England. He is commemorated by a statue in the village of Houghton where he was born, lived and died. Local schools and churches are a monument to his philanthropy....
milling partner, Joseph Goodman).
The next two winters, 1879/80 and 1880/81, were good skating winters. The newly-formed National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
held their first one-and-a-half-mile British professional championship at Thorney in December 1879. There was a field of 32, including former champions Turkey Smart and Tom Watkinson. Fish Smart won, beating Knocker Carter of Welney in the final. His reward was a badge, a sash and a cash prize, given as an annual salary in instalments in order to encourage the champion to "keep himself temperate". The National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
had also established an amateur championship, which was held for the first time at Welsh Harp
Brent Reservoir
The Brent Reservoir is a reservoir which straddles the boundary between the London boroughs of Brent and Barnet and is owned by British Waterways...
, London, in January 1880, and won by Frederick Norman, a farmer’s son from Willingham
Willingham, Cambridgeshire
Willingham is a medium to large village in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the edge of the Fens just south of the River Ouse. Driving north from the village one may observe the characteristic elevated straight roads and black soil....
. The professionals were labourers who skated for cash prizes; the amateurs were gentlemen who skated a bit slower for trophies.
Fish Smart remained unbeatable in the Fens during 1879/80 and 1880/81. He suffered one defeat in Lancashire when he skated on Carr Mill Dam
Carr Mill Dam
Carr Mill Dam is situated north of St Helens town centre, on the A571 , in Merseyside. It is the county's largest body of inland water, and offers picturesque lakeside trails and walks, as well as national competitive powerboating and angling events.Once simply a mill pond built to power Carr’s...
against Jack Hill of Billinge, but got his revenge in a return match at Welney. Fish Smart’s nearest rivals during those two winters were his younger brother Jarman Smart and Albert Dewsberry. In 1880/81 he successfully defended his title at Crowland, beating Albert Dewsberry in the final.
Fish Smart won his third and final championship in January 1887 at Swavesey, beating his cousin Isaac See (the younger son of Gutta Percha See) in the final. In the intervening years there had been some short frosts, but the National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
had not managed to arrange a meeting. They had taken Fish Smart to Holland for an international race in January 1885; he was beaten in the first round by Benedict Kingma. Two amateurs, Charles G Tebbutt and S Burlingham fared little better. A trip to Holland two years later was more successful. George See (Gutta Percha See’s eldest son) and James Smart (Fish Smart’s youngest brother) set up world records for 3100 m and 1 mile in friendly matches, and Charles G Tebbutt won an amateur race. The following year, 1887, James Smart and George See returned to Holland, with James Smart winning an international race over 2 miles at Amsterdam.
James Smart took the British professional title from his older brother Fish Smart at Lingay Fen in January 1889 and dominated fen skating for the next few years. He won the Dutch 1 mile championship in 1890/91 before successfully defending his British title. Two years later he did not compete in the British professional championship after falling out with the National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
(George See won that year), but he regained his title in 1894/95. Several mild winters followed and when the championship was next held, at Littleport
Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Littleport is the largest village in East Cambridgeshire, England, approximately north of Ely and south-east of Welney. It lies on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and Mare Fen...
in February 1900, it was won by Fred Ward of Tydd Fen. That year, for the first time, the amateur championship was won in a faster time than the professional.
Littleport
Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Littleport is the largest village in East Cambridgeshire, England, approximately north of Ely and south-east of Welney. It lies on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and Mare Fen...
had become an important centre for skating in last decade of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Peacock (owner of the Hope Brothers factory), leased a piece of ground by the railway line, embanked it, and flooded it to form a skating ground known as the Moors.
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
skaters, unhappy that the National Skating Association
National Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
was holding so many matches in the southern Fens or outside the Fens, formed their own association in 1890 and held amateur championships at Vernatt’s Drain and Cowbit Wash.
20th century
During a fen skating exhibition at Bluntisham School in 1891, a voice was raised against the National Skating AssociationNational Ice Skating Association
The National Ice Skating Association is a British organisation that is responsible for the development of ice skating careers. It is known as the biggest ice-skating company in the UK...
, accusing them of concentrating on international racing and destroying local racing. The National Skating Association also received criticism in the press: one article said that for various reasons the National Skating Association "has not commanded the confidence of the skating world" and that its off-shoot, the Metropolitan branch "has practically swallowed it up". In 1894 the National Skating Association decided to move their headquarters to London, from where they concentrated on figure skaters and rinkmen.
In 1902 the professional championship was for the first time won by an uplander, Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
lamplighter Joseph Bates who skated with a heart condition. The days when fenland agricultural labourers were masters of the sport were numbered, although the last three professional titles before World War I were won by fenmen; Fred Ward of Tydd Fen regaining his title at Lingay Fen in February 1905, and Sidney Greenhall of Landbeach
Landbeach
Landbeach is a small fen-edge English village about five miles north of Cambridge. The parish covers an area of .-History:The fen edge north of Cambridge was well populated in Roman times, and the village's situation on a Roman road will have helped its growth...
winning in January 1908 and February 1912 at Lingay.
There were no official matches during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. A series of mild winters followed, giving an interval of 15 years with no championships. Fen skating during the late 1920s and early 1930s was dominated by amateur Cyril Horn of Upwell
Upwell
Upwell is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 2,456 in 1,033 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk...
; the professional title was won by Don Pearson of Mepal
Mepal
Mepal is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Mepal is part of the East Cambridgeshire district, and is located just north of the A142 road between Ely and Chatteris.-History:...
. In 1947 the professional title made a brief return to Welney
Welney
Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...
when R.W. Scott was victorious.
The second half of the twentieth century saw rinkmen winning most of the championships, which were last held in 1996/97. In recent years fen skaters David Buttress of Mepal, and Malcolm Robinson and David Smith of Sutton have competed in events in the Netherlands and Austria.
21st century
In January 2010 Fen skating championships took place at Earith and on Whittlesey Wash within the Nene Washlands Drainage Commissioners AreaInternal Drainage Board
An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...
.
Recreational skating
Skating in all its forms was popular in the FensThe Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
. When it froze Corporations and landowners would flood their meadows to turn them into skating grounds. In Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, the Corporation pumped water onto Stirbitch Common and there was also a skating ground at Grantchester
Grantchester
Grantchester is a village on the River Cam or Granta in Cambridgeshire, England. It is listed in the Domesday Book as Grantesete and Grauntsethe...
Meadows. Lamp-posts can still be seen in the middle of fields by the river at Grantchester Meadows where the old skating ground used to be.
Bandy
Bury Fen, near Bluntisham, was the home of the Bury Fen Bandy Club (unbeaten for a century). Under the captaincy of the Tebbutt brothers (grandsons of Potto Brown’sPotto Brown
Potto Brown was a miller and nonconformist philanthropist in Huntingdonshire, England. He is commemorated by a statue in the village of Houghton where he was born, lived and died. Local schools and churches are a monument to his philanthropy....
milling partner Joseph Goodman) the Bury Fen Bandy Club was responsible for formulating the rules of modern bandy
Bandy
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
and introducing the game into the Netherlands and other Northern European countries as well as other parts of Britain. In 2010 England entered the Federation of International Bandy
Federation of International Bandy
The Federation of International Bandy is the international governing body for the sport of bandy. It was formed in 1955 in Stockholm, Sweden, and has had its base in Sweden since 1979. The present offices are situated in Katrineholm....
.
Cricket
CricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
was also played on ice in the Fens, though it never became as popular as bandy. In February 1855 the Cambridge Chronicle reported on a match between March and Wisbech on the Ballast Pits at March. The home team beat the visitors by 118 runs, thanks to a century not out by Rhodes. "The fielding and batting of many of the players was considered to be far superior to and more graceful than any cricketing on the green sward".
Norfolk skaters
The Norfolk village of SoutherySouthery
Southery is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,161 in 476 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk....
, on the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
a few miles upstream from Denver Sluice, was home to a number of skating families. Larman Register (1829-1897), was champion in the early 1850s; his brother Robert (1820-1890) and nephews Larman, Robert, William and George were also skaters. A story is told of how a group of Southery skaters challenged some railwaymen to a race from Littleport
Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Littleport is the largest village in East Cambridgeshire, England, approximately north of Ely and south-east of Welney. It lies on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and Mare Fen...
to Queen Adelaide
Queen Adelaide, Cambridgeshire
Queen Adelaide, Cambridgeshire, England, is a hamlet in the Fens about northeast of Ely. The River Great Ouse passes through it.Close to the village is the junction of the Fen, Breckland and Ely to Peterborough railway lines...
where the river runs alongside the railway. The skaters beat the train. Larman Register is said to have led the skaters; since the race took place in 1870 it was probably the young Larman, rather than his more famous uncle. The Porter family also produced a number of top skaters - including Job, Brewer, Tom, Holland and Charles - and skaters’ wives (both Larman Registers married Porters). Chafer Legge, skater and bare-fist fighter, was employed by Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College...
, to tutor their students in skating during the long freeze of 1895. Chafer Legge’s sons and daughter were also skaters, Noah being the most successful. Other skaters from Southery were the Butchers, and butcher Jesse Brown.
Welney skaters
Welney
Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...
, a small village on the banks of the Old Bedford River
Old Bedford River
The Old Bedford River is an artificial, partial diversion of the waters of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the fourth Earl of Bedford who contracted with the local Commission of Sewers to drain the Great Level of the Fens beginning in 1630.The idea of...
, in the heart of the Fens on the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border and three miles from the nearest railway station, produced so many top skaters that it became known as the "metropolis of speed skating". Members of the Smart and See families dominated British skating for two generations.
Turkey Smart (1830-1919) was champion in the 1850s. Gutta Percha See (1832-1898) usually ran second to his brother-in-law Turkey Smart, although he had a better season in 1861. Both Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See continued to race long past their prime, and were still taking to the ice for exhibition races in their sixties. Of Turkey Smart’s six sons only one – James - became a skater. Gutta Percha’s sons George and Isaac both became top skaters.
Fish Smart (1856-1909) was champion for a decade from 1878. He gained his name from his swimming prowess. His father, Charles Smart, had been a fast skater but had never mastered the art of slowing down for the barrel turn so had never featured in racing. Fish Smart’s younger brothers Jarman Smart and James Smart were also top skaters. Over a ten year period Fish Smart was virtually unbeatable. He was a popular sportsman; a poem was composed in his honour and a racehorse was named after him. Fish Smart left Welney to work on construction sites around England and had a spell in Egypt working on the unfinished Sudanese railway, but returned to skate in the Fens when it froze. In January 1889 he relinquished his title to his younger brother James. Fish Smart was killed in an accident at work on Hull dockyard railway in 1909.
James Smart (1865-1928) was the youngest brother of Fish and Jarman Smart. Unlike his brother Fish and uncle Turkey he always skated under his real name; attempts to call him Eagle to distinguish him from his cousin James Turkey Smart did not stick. He won the professional title of Great Britain in 1890, 1895 and 1900 and the Littleport Cup in 1892. He also won a world championship and a Dutch championship. Having spent some time training in Norway, he set up an agency to sell Norwegian skates in Britain.
George See (1862-1946) usually skated second to his cousins Fish Smart and James Smart, but took the British professional title in December 1892 when James Smart refused to defend his title. George’s younger brother Isaac See was four times placed in the professional championship but never won.
Other top skaters from Welney
Welney
Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...
included: George, Robert and Tom Watkinson, John Hills, John Wiles, Robert Naylor, Knocker Carter, bricklayer Harry Kent, and the Hawes brothers, brickmakers Alfred, William and James. Jane Winters, one of the fastest women skaters, came from Upwell but lived in Welney after marrying a Welney man. The Loveday brothers were top amateur skaters.
Isle of Ely skaters
Albert Dewsberry, the second fastest skater of his generation and the only fenman to beat Fish Smart in his prime, grew up in CoveneyCoveney, Cambridgeshire
Coveney is a village north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. Several bronze axes have been found here, shields and a few swords, all dating from the late Bronze Age. Coveney is on a small 'island' rising to above sea level, some west of Ely city as the crow flies, but nearly twice that distance by...
on the Isle of Ely
Isle of Ely
The Isle of Ely is a historic region around the city of Ely now in Cambridgeshire, England but previously a county in its own right.-Etymology:...
. In 1881 he was runner-up in the British professional championship. The next year he had his left leg amputated below the knee following an accident. He continued to skate and entered the 3-mile championship in 1887 with a cork leg, being beaten in the first round. "The old Fen flyer, however, went very respectably, and was rewarded with a collection."
Cambridgeshire skaters
CambridgeshireCambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
villages on the southern edge of the Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
produced a number of top skaters.
Isleham, on the River Lark
River Lark
The River Lark is a river in England, which crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have been used for navigation since Roman times, and...
, was home to the Wells and Brown skating families. Nathan Brown and Tommy Wells were the most successful of a number of brothers.
Nearby Soham Fen produced J Collins and Frederic Fletcher, who nearly drowned in a second round race against Turkey Smart on Welney Washes in January 1870.
Walter Housden from Wicken won the amateur championship in 1891 at the age of 19. He then turned professional and was the first winner of the Hayes-Fisher Cup. He was placed five times in the professional championship but never won.
Sidney Greenhall from Landbeach won the professional championship in 1908 and 1912, and the Littleport Cup in 1909. His brother, wheelwright William, and sister Nellie were also skaters.
Fen skating in art and music
Charles Whymper, husband of one of Potto Brown’sPotto Brown
Potto Brown was a miller and nonconformist philanthropist in Huntingdonshire, England. He is commemorated by a statue in the village of Houghton where he was born, lived and died. Local schools and churches are a monument to his philanthropy....
granddaughters, was well known for his skating scenes and portraits of skaters. JM Heathcote also drew skating scenes.
Duncan Stafford’s Fen-Skating Suite (for string quartet) was shortlisted for the Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew was an English experimental music composer, and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated "people's liberation music".-Biography:Cardew was born in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire...
Composition Prize in 1990.
External links
- David Smith skating on Bury Fen, February 2009
- A championship match at Bury Fen, 1951
- Guardian photogallery of races at Earith, January 2010
- An article about bandy from the BBC with photographs of the Bury Fen bandy team and pictures of skaters by Charles Whymper
- Fen skating in Cambridgeshire Archives
- Latest news on fen skating