Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NEN (The)

NEN (The), a river of Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Norfolk, and Lincoln. It was known to the Romans as Aufona; and is sometimes called the Neneor the Nyne. It rises near the village of Naseby in the N W of Northamptonshire; runs in the direction of S by E, to Northampton; is joined there by a mainhead-stream, running eastward from the vicinity of Daventry; goes, from Northampton, north-eastward, past Cogenhoe, Doddington, Wellingborough, Higham-Ferrars, Thrapston, and Oundle, to the boundary with Huntingdon at Elton; traces the boundary between Northampton and Huntingdon, northward to Wansford, and eastward thence to Peterborough; goes thence east-north-eastward, across the N end of Cambridgeshire, by an artificial cut, called the New Lean, to Wisbeach; and proceeds thence northward, partly across the E border of Norfolk, and partly within the border of Lincolnshire, to the Cross-Keys horn of the Wash, between Terrington, St. Clement and Sutton, St. Mary. Its total length ofcourse is about 70 miles; the parts of its course from Peterborough to the sea are all within reclaimed marsh; and the parts around its mouth, to the distance of 8¼ miles north-north-eastward from its original embouchure, are within the portion of the Wash which was recentlydesigned to be reclaimed from the sea and called Victoria county. Vast sums have been expended in regulating, altering, and embanking its course through the marshes, and in forming and maintaining the sluices for drainage within the scope of its basin.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a river"   (ADL Feature Type: "rivers")
Administrative units: Cambridgeshire AncC       Huntingdonshire AncC       Lincolnshire AncC       Norfolk AncC
Place names: AUFONA     |     NEN     |     NEN THE     |     THE NEN

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.