Yes! This summer in the spirit of commemoration of the people who took to the streets to protest their lot, Littleport Community School pupils re-enacted this important part of their village’s history. Along with other groups, the children in period costume set off from the site of former pub, The Globe. Dozens of angry residents had gathered there for the monthly benevolent club meeting to discuss the hardship being caused by the astronomically rising prices…
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200th Anniversary Day of Remembrance
This was the day after a very special memorial service held in Ely on the anniversary weekend of a day of remembrance for the five Littleport Martyrs hung 200 years before for their part in what had been a fenland wide uprising. These were spontaneous protests at the starvation and privatisation everyone who relied on work from the land was suffering after the end of the Napoleonic wars. A riot started in Littleport and became…
Read MoreThe Day The Fen Tigers Revolted
By Roger Rudderham, on behalf of The Littleport Society An extract from an article by the late James Wentworth-Day “A farm wagon, drawn by four black horses lumbers towards the city of Ely. Four muzzle loading punt guns, each eight feet long and loaded with a pound of swan shot, stick fore and aft out of the wagon like the long guns in a battleship’s turret. Behind the wagon march along the rugged peaty road,…
Read MoreCrowning Around Bike Show with Spitfire Flypast
MCC 363 set up to honour those who participated in the Littleport Riots of 1816 are holding a special 200th anniversary at The Crown Pub in Littleport on Saturday 7th May 2016. The Crown of course was one of the three pubs within a store’s of each other – the Globe (now the Co-op) and George and Dragon (now a private hone) so a very appropriate venue. The road will be closed for the usual…
Read MoreThe Field Theatre Group Presents…
The Field Theatre Group are delighted to announce that they have received a Heritage Lottery grant for activities to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Littleport and Ely Riots. Following on from the success of our recent community projects, Littleport Festival Fourteen and The Horseman’s Word, residents are invited to participate in a variety of fascinating project strands. The project, entitled Riot in the Blood will involve the creation of a ‘digital narrative’ which will…
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First published 25 years ago – this article by Maureen Fresco is as interesting now as it was then! Everyone in the Fens knows Littleport; they had riots there didn’t they? Yes, as far back as the 13th century the people had rioted against the threatened drainage of the Fens when they thought that their livelihood was threatened, but the Littleport Riots of 1816 was an entirely different thing. Farm workers and men returning home…
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