Holland Fen

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Holland Fen is a small settlement in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It lies about 5 miles northwest of Boston and just west of the River Witham. It has been known as Haute Huntre or Eight Hundred Fen.

In 1720, Earl Fitzwilliam ordered the fen to be drained after being frustrated by local officials. He built the North Forty Foot Drain to carry water into the River Witham. This drain was later diverted to the South Forty Foot Drain at Cooks Lock and from there to Boston Haven through Black Sluice. The Haute Huntre was drained and enclosed in 1767.

Holland Fen was made an ecclesiastical parish in 1812 and was abolished in 1948; today it is part of the Holland Fen with Brothertoft parish.

The church in Holland Fen is All Saints’, built in 1812 as a chapel of ease to Fosdyke. It is brick, in the Perpendicular style, with a chancel and nave and a bell turret. A 1964 note by Pevsner mentions a chancel dated 1880, a west gallery on iron shafts, a pulpit with fluted pilasters, and a chalice probably by William Bell.

Today All Saints’ Church is part of the Holland Fen with Brothertoft Group, also known as “Five in the Fen.”