The Fens.
The parish that talks about dirt more than any other, because its dirt is disappearing at roughly a centimetre a year and everybody there knows it.
The ground it covers.
Cambridgeshire, south Lincolnshire and west Norfolk — the black soil, roughly. The boundary follows the landscape rather than the county line, which is why it looks wrong on an administrative map and right on a soil one.
It meets second Tuesday of the month, 7pm. A meeting room above a shop in Wisbech at twelve pounds an hour, split between whoever turns up.
Priya Mattock is the warden. Agronomist working out of March. Joined to argue about soil and has not stopped. The wardenship is unpaid, was not appointed by us, and can only be ended by the parish itself.
- 1,203
- members
- February 2025
- opened
- Second Tuesday of the month
- cadence
The details.
The parish
- Ground
- Cambridgeshire, south Lincolnshire and west Norfolk — the black soil, roughly
- Members
- 1,203Register at 30 August 2026.
- Rank by size
- 7 of 12
- Opened
- February 2025
- Cadence
- Second Tuesday of the month, 7pm
- Venue
- A meeting room above a shop in Wisbech at twelve pounds an hour, split between whoever turns up
The warden
- Warden
- Priya MattockA volunteer member, not staff, and not paid.
- Day job
- Agronomist working out of March. Joined to argue about soil and has not stopped.
- Confirmed by
- The parish, at a meet
- Can be stood down by
- The parish, at a meetNot by us. That is deliberate.
Everything on this page is the parish’s own, published by its warden. We host it and we do not write it.
What it actually does.
Soil organic matter tracking
Thirty-one members submit an annual figure. The parish average has moved from 3.1 to 3.4 per cent in two years.
Cover crop trials
Nine members running the same three mixes, sharing the results honestly, including the failures.
Drainage clinics
Two a year with a drainage contractor who answers questions for the price of his lunch.
The peat argument
A standing, civil, entirely unresolved discussion about what to do when the ground is going.
The next three things in the diary.
Published by the warden. If it says nothing is in the diary, nothing is in the diary.
Monthly meet — cover crop results
Wisbech, 7pm. Nine trial plots, nine sets of numbers, some of them embarrassing.
Monthly meet
Wisbech, 7pm.
Drainage clinic
On a farm near Chatteris. Twelve places, wellingtons essential.
Who runs it.
One volunteer and a register. There is no third layer.
Priya Mattock
Agronomist working out of March. Joined to argue about soil and has not stopped.
The parish
1,203 members, of whom about thirty-one come to any given meet, which is a completely respectable turnout for anything.
What members of this parish said.
Nobody else wants to talk about organic matter percentages for two hours. These people do.
I read the minutes, I have used the lending list twice and I have never been to a meet. Nobody has ever made me feel odd about that.
Not in this one?
Placement is by postcode and moving takes a tap. Twelve parishes, all free.
