Stretham, United Kingdom

Several fires have occurred in the village. In 1696 damage assessed at £2,170 was caused and a general collection was made. A more serious fire broke out on May Day 1844 in a hovel next to the blacksmith's shop. The whole of 'Bell Street' was destroyed and £20,000 worth of damage was caused. There was no engine in the village. About two o'clock the Haddenham engine arrived, and good use made of it, under the most active and energetic directions of the Rev. S. Banks, incumbent of Haddenham may be attributed the saving of a great part of the village. A fire of a similar character occurred in Stretham seventy-three years earlier, going over very nearly the same ground. This occurred early on a Sunday morning in May 1771, and in a short time consumed four houses, a malting and a barn, causing considerable losses for the owners.

In the autumn of 1850 four fires, the work of incendiaries, occurred at Stretham in as many weeks, "by which property to a large amount was sacrificed." A detective from London made investigations, but the culprit was not discovered. In the September 1850 fire it was reported that the Red Lion Inn had been totally consumed.

The Stretham steam pumping engine, built in 1831 by Butterley Company, was one of the largest beam engines in the Fens; at 15 rpm it generated 105 horsepower lifting 30 tons of water per revolution, or 450 tons per minute.

The village was the site of an observation post of the Royal Observer Corps, in use during the Cold War from 1962 to 1968. The post is situated near the windmill, which also served as an aircraft post from 1936.

The river floods that began in mid-March 1947 affected over 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) of England, impacting thirty counties. It was the worst UK flooding event for over 200 years. The winter of 1946–1947 had been very severe, with mean average temperatures 4 °C (7 °F) below normal, for that time of year. Snow had been falling continuously since 23 January, with drifts up to 23 feet (7.0 m) deep in places. As the thaw began in mid-March, the warmer weather brought heavy rains. The rain running off the frozen ground, combined with the thaw, overwhelmed multiple rivers in England and eastern Wales, which flooded. The pumping station at Chear Fen, near Stretham, ran only for a short time during the floods, when one of the boilers broke down completely and the other boiler could not raise pressure. In 1950, a new pumping station was opened.

On 21 May 1954 a Swift, a jet flying out of RAF Waterbeach crashed onto the Chittering Farm Estate in Stretham Fen. Flying Officer Neil Hamilton Thornton, the pilot, was killed.

The skeletal remains of a 130-million-year-old Upper Jurassic Pliosaur were discovered in a 5 feet (1.5 m) deep Kimmeridge Clay pit in the village in 1952 by workers of the Great Ouse River Board. These carnivores could reach up to 65 feet (20 m) in length and pliosaur teeth are a common fossil; full skeletons are however rare. This particular 23 feet (7 m) example was named Stretosaurus macromerus in honour of the village where it was found.