Earith Village Sign

Earith is a village and civil parish in the Fens of Cambridgeshire England. A Roman bronze statue was found to the west of the village at Bury Fen in 1826. It is now in the British Museum. To the north east of the village, between the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River lies the remains of an English Cival War fort known as Earith Bulwark. It is believed to have been constructed as early as 1643, to fortify the crossing point of the River Great Ouse. Many fenland inhabitants resented the Royalists because they believed that the King's drainage projects undertaken by Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, had damaged their livelihoods (his Forty Foot Drain had been completed in 1637). Today, the fort is visible as a series of earthworks only, showing a square fort design with ditches and corner bastions. It is similar in design to Fort Nassauin the Netherlands. During the Second World War, a machine gun turret was built on the south bastion. In 1947, there was the "Battle of Earith Gap". Melting snow had built up in the Fenland waterways, unable to be released into the sea because of high tides. On 17 March a 50 yards (46 m) gap was torn in the river bank, and water poured out to flood the Fen farms for five days. Eventually the breach was blocked with amphibious vehicles while more orthodox repair work was carried out. On 17 January 1942 a number of RAF serviceman were killed in a crash involving a Hurricane from 61 Operational Training Unit and a Stirling bomber. The Stirling was flying from RAF Oakington with 7 Squadron and the accident occurred just north of Earith Bridge.