The Eastern Counties of England have been
predominately agricultural since
Neolithic times having been largely bypassed by the Industrial
Revolution. From Viking times the wealth of the region, known as Anglia,
has been derived from the rich farm and fenlands.
The Fens where later drained with dykes and
windmills and the resulting additional farmland became some of the most
productive in the world. The remains of the windmills and of the later
steam powered pumping engines still dot the landscape.
In more modern times a new prosperity has
come to the Eastern Counties with many of the world's largest
Information Technology companies moving into an area, around the
Universities of Cambridge, that has become known as Silicon Fen. As a result of the
high wages offered by these businesses property values have increased
dramatically but so has the traffic!
