The Fenland of eastern England was the largest single area of wet lowlands in the UK. In 1981 a Fenland Project began surveying the wetlands of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, and this `essay in landscape and persistence' presents a synopsis of the resulting field surveys. It examines human settlement patterns over the past 6,000 years, from earliest surviving deposits to Roman drainage attempts and medieval and modern life, agriculture and industry. This report provides a useful summary of the archaeological and environmental history of an important region of Britain.