Facts about March
General Info
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. It was the county town of the Isle of Ely which was a separate administrative county from 1889 to 1965. It is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council. The town grew by becoming an important railway centre. Like many Fenland towns, March was once an island surrounded by marshes.
History
Recorded as Merche in the Domesday Book. Modern March lies on the course of the Fen Causeway, a Roman road, and there is evidence of Roman settlements in the area. Before the draining of the fens, March was effectively an island in the marshy fens. The town probably owes its origin to the ford on the old course of the River Nene, where the road between Ely and Wisbech, the two chief towns of the Isle of Ely, crossed the river.
A single arch bridge was built over the River Nene towards the north end of the town in 1850. High Street, which is the chief thoroughfare, is continued over the bridge to Broad Street on the north side of the Nene, and The Causeway is lined with a fine avenue of elm and other trees. A Local Board of Health was formed in 1851, under Act 14 and 15 Vict. c. 10, but by the provisions of the Local Government Act 1894 the town became governed by an Urban District Council of 12 members.
