YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

A
History of the Fens
— OF—
South Lincolnshire
BEING A DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVERS WITHAM
AND WELLAND AND THEIR ESTUARY, AND AN
ACCOUNT OF THE RECLAMATION, DRAINAGE, AND
ENCLOSURE OF THE FENS ADJACENT THERETO.

BY
W. H. WHEELER, M.Inst.C.E.,
AUTHOR OF
" Tidal Rivers, their Hydraulics, Improvement and Navigation," and " The
Drainage of Fens and Low Lands by gravitation and steam power."

SECOND EDITION. GREATLY ENLARGED.

BOSTON :
J. M. Newcomb.
LONDON :
Simpkin, Marshall & Co.

PREFACE.
THE first edition of the " History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire"
was published in 1868. The fact that this has long been out of print,
and that the publisher is frequently applied to for copies, appears to warrant the
issue of a second edition.
In the preface to the first edition it was stated, as a reason for its publica
tion, that the author, having had occasion to examine documents relating to the
outfall of the drainage of the Fens, had been induced by the interest of the
subject to extend his researches into the various reports and papers which relate
to the general history of the reclamation and drainage of this district, and had
collected together sufficient facts and statistics to enable him to complete a
short History of the Fens of this part of the County of Lincoln.
During the six and twenty years that have elapsed since this was written,
the author has had . further opportunities of making himself acquainted with a
large number of Acts of Parliament, Reports and other documents which have
come into his possession or which are to be found in charge of the officers
of the several drainage 'districts ; at the British Museum, the Record Office,
the Library of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, and the Stock Library at
Lincoln. These documents, scattered about in different places, are practically
inaccessible to persons requiring information on the subjects to which they
relate. Upwards of one hundred and sixty Acts have been passed relating to
the drainage, reclamation and enclosure of this part of the Fenland. The
greater part of these Acts are now out of print and difficult to procure.
With the information obtained from these sources, it has been possible to give
'a much more complete history of the early condition and reclamation of the
Fenland than was contained in the first edition. In fact, the book has been
entirely re-written, and now contains a record of events and statistics which, it
is hoped, will render it useful as a work of reference to the officers and commis
sioners having control over the drainage works, and also to the inhabitants who
find the funds for maintaining the same, and, as a source of information, to those
interested in the Fenland.

PREFACE.

The first part of the book is devoted to the early history of the Fenland
from the time of the Britons up to the reclamation carried out in the middle of
the last, and the beginning of the present, century. In the subsequent chapters
a history of each district is given separately, including an abstract of the Acts
of Parliament under which the works have been carried out, the constitution of
the Trusts, the rate of taxation and the cost of management. These chapters
include matter relative to the Court of Sewers, with a description of its history
and functions ; the enclosures and drainage system of the parishes in North
and South Holland, including the South Holland Drainage and Embankment
Districts ; to the river Witham and the six districts into which the ' level is
divided ; to the Black Sluice and Holland Fen ; to the rivers Welland and Glen,
with an account of Bicker Haven and Crowland Washes ; to Deeping Fen
and Crowland ; to the Estuary and the proposed schemes of reclamation ;
to Boston Harbour and the Witham Outfall.
The Drainage system of the Fenland is described in a separate chapter and
an account is given of the several kinds of pumping.machinery in use, and the
cost of construction and working.
In the chapter on Agriculture the history of this industry is traced from
the time of the Saxons ; the rent and value of land at different periods, both
before and since the reclamation, the rate of wages and the price of produce at
different times, the crops grown, and the tenures under which the land is held,
are all fully dealt with.
Roads, waterways, bridges, railways and means of transit are described, as
also the various changes made in the management of the highways, turnpike
roads and main roads, with the cost of their management.
The concluding chapters deal with geology, water supply, natural
products, climate and health.
In the Appendix will be found a list of the names of places, rivers, and;
principal drains, with the different ways of spelling the same and their deriva
tion. The spelling of many of the names in old records varies frequently from
that used in the present day, and in some cases the old names have become]
obsolete and difficult to trace. The author has endeavoured, as far as he was
able, to give a guide to these. The area and rateable value of each parish is
also given and the changes that have been made in the Fen Allotments unded
the Divided Parishes Act.
A glossary of words used in the Fenland ; the titles and dates of all the
Acts of Parliament relating to the drainage, reclamation, navagation and roads
a list of the books and reports relating to the Fenland ; an abstraft of the
verdict giving the names and situation of the public sewers in North Holland!
are also given. In South Holland it has not been the practice of the Court to)

PREFACE.
have similar verdicts made, so that the position of these sewers is not given. The
rainfall, and statistics as to floods, temperature, wind and tides, the levels of all
the principal sills of the sluices and sea banks above Ordnance datum, and borings
taken at various places, showing the strata, are also included.
The illustrations comprise a general map of the Fenland ; and separate
maps of each district, showing their past and present Drainage Systems. These
maps have been prepared from those found in old reports and from the Ordnance
Map, and, as far as practicable, are all reduced to the same scale.
The author takes this occasion of thanking the many friends from whom
he has derived assistance and who have allowed him the use of reports and
other documents in their possession. He begs especially to acknowledge the
valuable information as to the river Witham and the East and West Fens which
he was enabled to obtain from several volumes of pamphlets, reports and papers,
collected by Sir Joseph Banks and now in the library at Revesby Abbey,
which were kindly placed at his disposal by the late Right Honorable Edward
Stanhope. The author hopes that the time and trouble which he has devoted to
collecting and recording the information contained in this book will be accepted
by the reader as a set-off against its literary defects.

CONTENTS.
Preface.
Chapter i . Early history of the Fens.
2. The Court of Sewers.
3. The North Holland parishes.
4. South Holland, including the South Holland Drainage District and the
South Holland Embankment Trust.
5. The River Witham.
6. The Witham Drainage Districts.
7. The Black Sluice.
8. The Black Sluice Districts.
9. The Welland and the Glen, Bicker Haven and Crowland Washes.
10. Deeping Fen, Bourne South Fen and Thurlby Fen.
11. The Estuary and proposed schemes of reclamation.
12. Boston Harbour and the Witham Outfall.
13. The Drainage system of the Fenland, with a description of the pumping
machinery.
14. Agriculture of the Fenland. Rent and value of land. Rate of wages.
Value of produce. .
15. Waterways, roads, bridges, and railways.
16. Geology and water supply.
17. Natural history and products, climatology and health.
APPENDIX.
1 . Names of places, with the area and rateable value of the parishes.
2. Books and reports relating to the Fenland.
3. Titles and dates of Acts of Parliament relating to the Fenland.
4. Glossary of words used in the Fenland.
5. Rainfall, floods, temperature, wind and tides.

CONTENTS.

6. Levels of the sills and sluices, sea banks, &c, &c, reduced to Ordnance
datum.
7. Borings, showing strata.

ILLUSTRATIONS.
1 . Sketch map of the ancient Fenland.
2. General map of the South Lincolnshire Fenland at the present time.
3. Brands used for marking cattle in the Fens.
4. South Holland.
5. South Holland before the enclosure of the marshes.
6. The Witham from Lincoln to Boston in 1762, before improvement.
7. The First, Third and Sixth Districts of the river Witham.
8. The East Fen in 1661, before the construction of the Adventurers' Drains.
9. The Fourth District of the Witham and Skirbeck Hundred, including
the East Holland towns and Boston Deeps.
10. The Black Sluice Level and parishes in Kirton Hundred.
11. Bicker Haven.
12. Deeping Fen and Crowland Washes at the present time.
13. Deeping Fen in 1645.
14. Deeping Fen in 1763.
15. Diagram, showing the geological strata and relative level of surface
of land and sea level.
16. Diagram, showing annual rainfall.

Fold out

CHAPTER I.
Early History of the Fens.
I""HE Great Level of the Fens comprises a tract of land on the
East Coast, extending southwards from the highlands in
incolnshire, for a distance of about 60 miles, and occupying
irtions of six counties. It is only the history of the part in South
incolnshire that is dealt with 'in this book, or the area that is
>unded approximately on the north by the Steeping river and the
teh water drains, and by Revesby, Tattershall, Kirkstead,
irdney and Lincoln ; on the west by the Car dyke, and on the
uth by Bourne, Market Deeping, Crowland and the old South
olland or Shire drain, to the Nene, and on the east and north by
5 river Nene and the coast of the Wash to Wainfleet.
This tract comprises the lands adjacent to the Witham, known
. the Six Witham Districts, including the East, West and Wild-
iore Fens ; the East Holland towns, or the parishes from
Vainfleet to Boston, lying along the east coast of the Wash ; the
arishes lying between the Witham and the Glen ; the Black Sluice
^evel, with Holland Fen; Deeping Fen and the lands on the north
jf the Welland ; the South Holland District ; and the land along
the coast from Fosdyke to the Nene. The Witham District, the
Black Sluice Level, Deeping Fen, the South Holland Drainage
District and some smaller districts are managed under special Acts
of Parliament. The rest of the area remains under the jurisdiction
of the Court of Sewers.
The whole of the Holland division of Lincolnshire is in the
Fenland, which also extends on the north of Sibsey, by an irregular
line into the Lindsey division, and on the west of Swineshead into
Kesteven. The area of the South Lincolnshire Fenland is about 363,043
.cres, of which 118,726 acres is in Lindsey and Kesteven. The
reater part of the land, amounting to 277,795 acres, consists of rich
Uuvial deposit, the surface of which averages from ij to 5^ feet
¦elow the level of high water in spring tides, and the remaining
m',248 acres of fen or peat, the surface of which is from 6 \ to i2-§-
:ftet below high-water level, the average being about j% feet below.
Ihe area of lowland coined by steam power is 124,600 acres. The

BOUNDARY OF
THE LINCOLN
SHIRE FENLAND.

LEVEL OF
LAND.

PHYSICAL

towns and villages are situated entirely on the alluvial land, the
level of the ground on which they are situated being the highest in
the neighbourhood and varying from i£ to 3 feet below high water,
The ground on which the churches stand is generally about the
level of ordinary spring tides. Scattered about are plots of ground,
formerly called islands, which are more elevated than the rest of the
district, of which Stickney, Sibsey and Gedney are examples. The
high ground in these places is above even the highest tides, as is
also that in Boston, Spalding, Donington, Kirton, Holbeach, Fleet,
Pinchbeck and Gosberton.
The Fens have obtained a world-wide notoriety ; and a general,
condition. though very erroneous, impression prevails among those who do not
know the county, that this part of Lincolnshire is a dull and dreary
land, to be avoided by all except those whom necessity or the calls of
business compel to visit its unattractive scenery. But it will be found,
on closer investigation, that the Fenland has many attractive features,
while the rich grazing and corn lands stand unrivalled for their
productiveness, and are cultivated by inhabitants, whose condition,
general intelligence, physique and health will bear very favourable
comparison with those of any other part of Great Britain. An
inspection of the tombstones in the village churchyards, or of the
parish registers, will show that life is frequently prolonged to an
unusual age, while a visit to one of the Fenland towns on a market
day, or at a fair, will convince the visitor that more robust or healthier
working men, or comelier damsels, are not to be met under similar
circumstances in any other part of Great Britain. ^
If the country lacks the interest that is derived from a variation
of hill and dale, it is recompensed by other features. The air
generally is clear and transparent ; a day's fog is very rare and the
inhabitants enjoy " as sunny skies, as beautiful starlit nights and as
magnificent cloudscapes as any people in England." The sunsets
frequently are of surpassing grandeur and beauty. The heavy
snowdrifts and storms of other parts are mitigated in the Fenland
and when many parts of England lying along the river valleys are
frequently suffering from floods and inundations the Fenland is free
from such disasters, its drainage being thoroughly under control.
A journey through the Fenland provides a constant source of
interest. In the northern part, the county-city of Lincoln stands
out pre-eminently for the varied relics which it contains of pa§
ages, and for the beautiful cathedral, which, towering high above
the Fens, is visible for many miles. Along the Witham, besides
ruins of Kirkstead Abbey, will be found near Tattershall a most,
perfect specimen of brickwork in the castle built by Cromwd
treasurer to Henry VII; and scarcely is this lost sight of, when
magnificent tower of Boston Church rises high above the level 1
with its beacon lantern standing like a guardian over the Fenlar

ATTRACTIVE
FEATURES OF
THE FENLAND.

PREVIOUS TO
THE ROMAN
INVASION.

Passing along through the villages will be found churches which,
either from their size, the beauty of their design, or their historical
associations, stand out as monuments of the piety of the ancient
Fenmen, and will well repay a visit of inspection. As the southern
extremity of the Fen is reached the ruins of Crowland Abbey and
the unique triangular bridge recall all that we owe of religion and
learning to St. Guthlac and his pious successors. As the Cathedral
of Lincoln is conspicuous on the north, so Peterborough attracts
attention in the south. The general characteristics of the district
are not without their interest. In the late summer or early
autumn the Fenland roads and the wide drains are flanked on each
side either by the golden waves of the ripening corn, moving gently
in the breeze, and extending far away on the horizon, or by rich
pasture fields, in which are grazing cattle and sheep of a quality
and size indicative of the richness of the land on which they are
reared. The whole, a picture of luxuriant nature, which justifies the
remark of Cobbet, when he made his excursion through the Fenland,
that "everything taken together, here are more good things than
man could have the conscience to ask of God."
No trustworthy record of the state of the Fens previous to the
invasion of the Romans, shortly before the Christian era, exists.
The condition of the Fenland and the history of its inhabitants can
therefore, only to be gathered from scattered remarks in Tacitus and
other Roman writers. Generally it may be assumed that originally
the whole of that part of the east of England extending from
the Trent to Huntingdon, except the high land about Lincoln, was
one vast morass, into which the waters of the Trent, the Witham,
the Welland, the Nene and the Ouse discharged themselves, and
which, being below the level of high tides, was subject to constant
inundation by the sea. Gradually the land rose by the deposition
of alluvial matter and the constant growth of vegetation, leaving,
however, large creeks, or arms of the sea, which afterwards became
pools of stagnant water. On the accreted land, interspersed amongst
the pools and meres, were spots of high ground, on which the few
and scattered inhabitants lived, their only means of communication
with the mainland, in winter, being by coracles, or wicker boats
covered with skins. These islands, although no longer standing
out prominently amidst a vast area of submerged territory, may,
as already mentioned, still be traced by their higher elevation and
by the terminations of their names.
" The original inhabitants of the Fens most probably migrated Motiey-s
from the opposite coasts of Holland and Belgium, from the delta Dutch Rcfublic-
forn»ed by the mouths of the Rhine, the Scheldt and the Meuse, a
f'ict resembling the Fenland, inasmuch as it consisted of wide
rasses, in which oozy islands were interspersed among lagoons
1 shallows, a district partly below the level of the tides and

subject to constant overflow from the rivers, and to frequent inun
dations from the sea." In Caesar's account of Britain it is stated
that the Fen coast was peopled by Belgse, drawn thither by the
love of war and plunder. Strabo says that the latest emigration of
Gauls and Belgse took place only a few years before Caesar's

SELECTION OF
LOW LANDS FOR
SETTLEMENTS.

THE COR-ICENI.

Henry's Great
Britain.

Kemble's
Saxons in Eng
land:- "¦

Oliver's
Religious Houses
on the Witham.

'HE ROMAN
PERIOD. 60 B.C.

It is a singular fact in the early history of civilization that,
while land was plentiful and people few, selection should have been
made for purposes of settlement of low and swampy tracts of land,
which could only be inhabited by maintaining a constant struggle
with the rivers and the sea. The ancient Egyptians carried out
most extensive works of reclamation. The Romans, not content
with appropriating land all over the world, added to their territory
at home by draining lakes and reclaiming marshes. Holland is a
wonderful example of land gained from the sea, and held by the
enterprise and skill of man. In more recent times our own colonists,
with all the vast territory of America to choose from, yet selected!
the low swampy plains bordering on the Mississippi as one of their
principal settlements, which could only be made profitable after an
enormous cost had been incurred in embanking and confining the
river. The Fenland affords another example of this singular pecu
liarity and we can only wonder why the Britons, Romans, Saxons
and Danes should all successively have made settlements amongst
the meres and swamps of the Fens.
The tribe of Britons who occupied Lincolnshire were known as
the Iceni, from the word Ychen, oxen. They were closely connecteff
with the Coritani, who occupied the east coast up to Cambridge and
Huntingdon, and whose name was derived from Cor, a sheep^
The joint tribe being known as the Cor-Iceni. Their principal
occupation and chief means of subsistence was pasturage, the rich
marshes and higher land in the Fens affording excellent feeding
ground for their herds. They lived almost entirely on flesh, milk
and birds, and grew little or no corn, until taught by the Romans.
Lindcoit (Lincoln) was the principal town of the Cor-Iceni and is
referred to by Ptolemy as a place of importance. Bardney.is
supposed to have been their chief Druidical station, its name
" Bard's Island," denoting its origin. The remains of two British
encampments have been discovered, one on the moor near Tatter-
shall and the other at Revesby, where the contour of the land
at the present day shows traces of what are supposed to have been
British settlements.
The Romans first came to Britain about sixty years before the i
Christian era. Soon afterwards they found their way into the?!
district. In a.d. 61 Suetonius Paulinus subdued the Coritafi' N,
Iceni, and Roman military colonists began to settle in this count
At the end of the first century, a Roman colony was founded

COLONIA.

Lincoln. The soldiers are said to have cruelly oppressed the
inhabitants and, not content with turning them out of their houses Henry's History
and- depriving them of their lands, insulted them with the name of
slaves. Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, a prince renowned for his
opulence and grandeur, was killed, all his possessions were seized
and plundered by the Roman soldiers, his Queen was beaten with
stripes for remonstrating, his daughter violated and his relations
taken as slaves. The chiefs of the Iceni were deprived of their
possessions and the inhabitants who were left complained that the
Roman governor lorded it over their persons, and the Procurator over
their fortunes. At last the Iceni, inflamed with resentment, flew to
arms and, being joined by the Trinobantes, poured in a torrent on the
Roman colony at Camalodunum, put to the sword all who fell in their
hands and laid all the buildings in ashes. Afterwards Boadicea, who
was queen of the Iceni, headed a further revolt against the Romans, «•¦>¦ ".
but was subdued by Suetonius Paulinus.
After this the Romans made great changes in the country of the
Cor-Iceni, by introducing the cultivation of corn and by building forts
and stations. Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) was one of the nine colonies "»»«»
held by the veteran soldiers of the legions on condition of rendering
military service. The place was strongly fortified, the eastern wall
running nearly in a line with the transepts of the present minster,
which stands partly within the site of the fortress. In time it became
one of the most considerable towns which the Romans occupied in
Britain, and is mentioned several times by Ptolemy and Antoninus.
Lincoln, in fact, became a minature Rome, governed by similar laws
and adorned with temples, courts, theatres and statues.
The rich lands bordering on the Fens, under the tillage of the
Roman colonists, proved very productive, and this county was one
of the most plentiful provinces of the empire, and a market for
export to other conquered countries. A fleet of 800 vessels, which
had been built on the Rhine, for transporting food for the use of the
armies, was sent to Britain to fetch corn ; and the colonies on the «.=•
upper Rhine were preserved from famine chiefly by corn sent from
Britain. The principal port used by the Romans in their traffic with the
continent was Wainfleet (Vainona) and this place was connected va.nc
with Lincoln by a road passing through the Fens to Horncastle
(Banovallum). Another road went to Burgh, which was also a
Roman station. Boston then had no existence either as a town or
port. The whole country between - Washingborough and Boston
!was at the time of the Roman invasion a vast swamp and it is
extremely improbable that any defined channel existed of sufficient
jjiie to be navigable. Wainfleet, on the other hand, was the first
inWeltered land their vessels would make after leaving the open ocean
i bid, being protected by Gibraltar Point, the boats would lie in a

Tig : /.

ROMAN MENT
INHAB

TREAT-
OF THE
ITANT5.

safe haven. After the cut or canal had been made between Lincoln
and Dogdyke the vessels would, no doubt, pass up the Deeps and
reach Lincoln through Boston.
After having subdued the country, the policy of the Romans
appears to have been to try to make the inhabitants forget their
nationality and become Roman citizens. For this purpose, Tacitus
tells us in his life of Agricola that in order to reclaim the natives
from the rude and unsettled state which prompted them to war and
to make them reconciled to quiet and tranquility, they were incitej
by private instigation and public encouragement to erect temples,
courts of justice and dwelling houses. Liberal education was
provided for the sons of the chieftains, so that they became ambi
tious and acquired a taste for those luxuries which stimulate vice.
The captives taken in war, and the more menial of the natives were
made slaves, and were occupied in carrying out works of improve
ment. Galgacus, a British chieftain, in a harangue to the Britons
on the eve of one of the battles between the natives and the Rom^M
thus addressed his followers : — " Our children are torn away|
levies to serve in foreign lands, our estates and possessions J
consumed in tributes, our grain in contributions, our bodies 1
worn down amidst stripes in clearing woods and draining marshel

BANKS.

They were also employed in the formation of roads for the purpose of
connecting together the chief military stations and ports. A
description of those made in the Fenland will be found in the chapter
on roads. Tradition has always given credit to the Romans for the con- the roman
struction of the sea banks running along the coast, which
protect the Fens from inundation from the tides, and are known at
the present day as " the Roman Banks." Dr. Stukeley con
sidered that these banks were made in the time of Severus, which
seems not obscurely hinted at by Herodian III, who observed in
speaking of this general, " But he had it in his particular care to
make passes over the Fens, that the soldiers might stand firm and
fight upon hard ground; for many places in Britain are marshy
through the frequent overflowing of the ocean, over which the
inhabitants will swim and walk, though up to their middle in
water." While there is no trustworthy evidence to prove that such is the
case, every fact seems to point out the Romans as the only people
who could possibly have carried out such a large undertaking.
The length of these banks on the Lincolnshire coast, extending
from Wainfleet to the outfall of the Witham, and on the coast
between the Witham and the Welland, and also between the
Welland and the Nene is not less than 50 miles. The average
height may be taken at ten feet. The construction of a work of
such magnitude would require a vast army of men, and an
torganization which could only be supplied by the Roman govern
ment. These banks are not works of a character that could be
carried out in portions and spread over a great number of years.
fThe enclosure of a large tract of marsh covered by the spring
(tides is a work that requires great vigour and must be carried on
^continuously, or the earth put into the bank during one set of tides
^will be washed away again. Even with the experience of the
rpresent day, there have been' attempts at enclosure which have
utterly failed : the banks have been carried a certain distance,
but the final closing in has been found so difficult and costly that
the attempt has been abandoned.
It is known from history that the Romans, either previous
'to the time when the Lincolnshire banks were constructed, or
soon afterwards, carried out very large works of a similar
Character, a detailed account of which is given by Dugdale. Dugdaie's Em-
From Pliny we learn that in the year 593, B.C., when C. Anicius b%'rk^infd
callus and M. Cornelius Cethegus were consuls, the senate being
counsel concerning the provinces, there was a motion made
mcerning the improvement of a great level of waste land lying
ader water, about 40 miles from Rome, in Latium 
'kSfH senate thought they should deserve the praise of good

husbands for the commonwealth, if, in this opportunity of leisure,
they should gain such a quantity of rich land to Italy. Neither was
this employment thought too mean for the legions, though con
sisting of free-men ; for the Roman and Italian infantry, as well
accustomed to the spade and basket as to the sword and buckler,
worked for the common good in time of security. The consuls,
(anno 566, ) had given a precedent, who, lest their soldiers should
be idle, employed them in making of highways. Hereupon it was
decreed that one consul should attend the enemy and the other
undertake the draining of the Pompeian marshes. By order of
the senate the Pompeian Fens were laid dry by Cornelius
Cethegus the consul, and were made good ground. The Fens
about Placentia were secured by banks from the inundations of
the Po. The country in Gallia Cisalpina lying flat and towards
the sea, which was a fenny marsh was, by the help of banks
and trenches, drained and made useful for tillage. The Emperor
Claudius employed 30,000 men for the space of eleven years in
draining the Fucine lake in Italy.
It is also recorded that Probus prevented the irregularities
of the soldiers by employing the legions in constant and useful
labours. When he commanded in Egypt, he executed many j
considerable works for the splendour of that rich country. The !
navigation of the Nile was improved, and temples, bridges, t
porticoes and palaces were constructed by the hands of the
soldiers, who acted by turns as architects, as engineers, and as
husbandmen. It was reported of Hannibal that, in order- to
preserve his troops from the dangerous temptations of idlenesSj,
he had obliged them to form large plantations of olive trees
along the coast of Africa  He thus converted into tillage
a large and unhealthy tract of marsh ground near Sirmium.
Gibbon's De- Another powerful motive that would lead to the embanking of
ih"eRoman"Em- the Fens doubtless arose from the security they afforded to the
pm' natives, who, as related by Marcellinus, " not dwelling in the
towns but in cottages within fenny places, compassed with
thick woods, having hidden whatsoever they had most estimation
of, did more annoyance to the wearied Romans than they receive!
from them." In fact the Fens formed a sort of camp of refuge for
the Britons, as later they did for the Saxons, where it would be
impossible for any military force to follow and dislodge them ; and
it is evident the Romans could neither pasture their cattle on the
marshes nor enjoy any security for their property until the natives
were hunted out of their retreats.
That the native inhabitants were also employed in tr
embankments may be gathered from the expression used in
speech of the British Chief, Galgacus, already quoted, in whicl

complained that their bodie's were worn down in clearing woods and
draining marshes.
There is every probability that the Britons resisted the raising
of the sea banks and the presence of the Romans in. the Fens, as
much as their successors did when the'se were finally reclaimed ;
and attempts would be made to frustrate the enclosure by cutting
through and destroying the newly-made banks for several years
after their construction. To prevent this, it would be necessary to
have watchmen stationed along the banks, and probably for this
purpose the raised mounds, which exist up to the present time along Fen Mounds.
the course of the banks, were constructed. Various theories have
been assigned for the origin of these mounds, but it is more
reasonable to suppose that they were used for this purpose than,
as has been suggested, for places of sepulture or of worship. It
is hardly likely that sites would be chosen for either of these
purposes on land constantly flooded with water and away from all
habitations. No bones or traces of sepulture have ever been
discovered when these mounds have been cut into, or removed. If
these mounds were constructed at the same time as the banks, they
would afford forts or places for the encampments of the guards on
watch, and a refuge for any men who might be overtaken at high
tides, during the construction. The position of these mounds is
almost invariably near a fen or river bank. Several of them have
been levelled, but mounds are yet to be found, at Friskney Row, two
miles from the bank, at Wrangle, on the high land within a mile of
the Outer Fen Bank, but close to the bank known as Wrangle Sea
Dyke. Another, known as King's Hill, is close to the bank on the
south side of Wrangle Common and on the site of an ancient circular
camp : both these banks were probably made as part of the general
scheme, or previous to the construction of the outer banks. At
Freiston ij miles from the Sea Bank. In Skirbeck an elevation is
still known as Toot or Look Out Hill. Near Rochford Tower in
Fishtoft ; and at Sandholme in Frampton. On the Witham, the
Mill Hill, opposite the Hammond Beck Outfall ; and on each side
of the river at Fishtoft and Wyberton. The latter has within the last
few years been removed : no antiquities or remains of any kind
were discovered during its removal. At Kirton Skeldyke ; and
between Kirton and Fosdyke ; in Sutterton, Swineshead, Drayton,
Wigtoft, and Donington Eaudyke, all about i mile from the banks
of Bicker Haven ; two near Holbeach Clough ; one each at Fleet,
and Gedney ; and seven others near the banks between the Nene
and the Ouse.
The only other probable solution of the origin of these mounds
is that they were erected by the Saxon settlers, after the Roman
Sanks had been built, for the purpose of lighting beacon fires in
"ird^r to give notice all along the coast when the Danish marauders

ROMAN DRAIN-

were is covered approaching. It is on record that a tax of
twelve pence was levied on every hide of land, for guarding the
coast against the Scandinavian invaders. Fires lighted on these
mounds might have formed a part of this system of warning and
defence. At the time when the Romans settled in Lincolnshire, the land
"/OHKa" on which the lower part of the city of Lincoln now stands, and also
a very considerable area on its west side, was low swampy ground,
frequently covered by water. The deepest part of this swamp is
still a pool, and is known as Brayford Mere. The city derives its
name from this pool, the ancient British word for a deep pool being
Lynn. The meaning of the word Lincoln is, therefore, " the
settlement by the deep pool." The Witham and the Till dis
charged their water into the Lynn, and the swampy and low ground
was frequently flooded by the overflowing of the Trent, which was
then unembanked. The overflow from Brayford Mere would be
either by a natural water course along the line of the Fosdyke, or
through the gap in the high land below the high part of the
city, into the meres on the south, where was another great mere,
extending from Washingborough to Chapel Hill, into which the
Langworthy, the Bane and the Slea discharged their waters. The
outlet for this mere was a winding tidal creek, extending through
the marshes below Chapel Hill to the Scalp at Fishtoft, which has
since become the channel of the Witham. In order to drain these
meres and swampy grounds, the Romans either enlarged an old
waterway, or cut the channel to the Trent, now known as the Fos
dyke, the prefix of this name being the Roman word for an embanked
cutting or ditch, the affix being Saxon and having the same
meaning. For the drainage of the mere below Lincoln, the
Cardyke, [Car being the British word for Fen) was cut, skirting
the higher ground on the west side and preventing the highland
brooks from pouring their contents into the mere. The Cardyke
was continued along the west side of the Black Sluice level, which
was a continuation of the same mere and ran southwards to Thurlby
and thence to the Welland and the Nene. It was made navigable
and afforded communication between Peterborough and Lincoln
and thence by the Fossdyke to the Trent. The course of this canal
can be clearly traced at the present day, many parts being still in
use for drainage purposes. Remains of forts, placed for its pro
tection, have been discovered at Billingborough, Garwick, Walcot,
Linwood, and Washingborough. i
For the drainage of Brayford Mere and of the swampy ground
'witham." round Lincoln and to afford a better outlet for the Witham water,'a
straight cut was made by the Romans through the gap in the cliff
below the city to Shortferry and thence, skirting the high land i
the tidal creek at Chapel Hill. This cut now constitutes m

THE FOSDYKE.

THE CARDYKE.

THE LOWER

II
channel of the river Witham. This catchwater drain intercepted
the water of the Langworthy and all the other brooks and water
courses which formerly passed their water into the mere. The
absence of all winding in the course of the channel between Lincoln
and Chapel Hill, and the fact that portions of the fen lie on the east
side, between it and the high land, indicate that this river was never a
natural stream.
The watercourse now known as the Hammond Beck was either
cut for the purpose of diverting the water from the mere of the
Lindsey Level or was a natural stream, straightened and improved.
The course of another artificial cut or drain may be traced in
the Westlode, which drained the low lands towards Deeping
Fen and emptied into the Welland.
Ample testimony to the wisdom that designed this system of
catchwater drains is provided by the various projects that have been
brought forward by modern engineers, for utilising such parts of the
Cardyke as passed through the fens then immediately under their
consideration ; and the system of catchwater drainage was adopted
by Mr. Rennie for the East and West Fens.
Other works, supposed to have been carried out by the Romans,
are the Roman bank, extending from the Welland, near Cowbit, in
an easterly direction to the Delph bank, which joins the sea wall.
At Whaplode Drove, Gedney Hill and Sutton St. Edmunds, traces
of Roman Camps have been discovered.
Numerous remains of buildings, which from time to time have
been discovered buried beneath the surface of the present city of
Lincoln, testify to the fact that it must have been an important
place during the Roman occupation. These discoveries tend to
show that the old Roman city lies about 9 to 12 feet below the
surface of the present town. Amongst other ruins, the bases of
large pillars of sandstone were discovered in 1878. A Roman
hypocaust was also found below the foundation of the present castle
prison ; a tesselated pavement was uncovered below the minstei LincofnGuide.
cloisters ; and, in 1879, another pavement was partially bared, below
I the Exchequer gate, and also part of the frescoed wall, on the
1 stucco of which the pattern was still visible. A Roman milestone
stood near the Bailgate, at the point where the eastern and western
streets of the military town crossed Ermine street. On it is an
inscription, which states that it was placed there, in the time of the
Emperor Gallienus, by Victorinus, who ruled in Britain 265-7, A.D.
The most interesting remnant of the occupation of the Romans is the
Newport gate, which was built by them and through which passed
lone of their main roads. A shield, supposed to be of Roman and
(British origin, and swords and spears of the same period were
discovered in the Witham when it was deepened in 1788. At
/ajnfleet, a coin of the Emperor Claudian was discovered about 40

ROMAN
ANTIQUITIES.

years ago, and, at an earlier period, when cellars for the Angel Hotel
were being dug, a pitcher of Roman make was found. Roman coins
have also been found at Boston, Spalding, Gedney, Sutton St.
Edmunds, and at Fleet, a large number of them being of the reign of
the Emperor Gallienus ; also a Roman sword, near Fleet mill ; at
Horncastle, Roman urns, coins of the reigns of Vespasian, Trajan,
Caligula and Nero. A quantity of pottery and coins have also been
found at Whaplode Drove and Fleet.
end of roma n After an occupation of upwards of 400 years, the Romans, about
*2o a.d. the year 420 A.D., withdrew their legions from Britain, to assist in
the defence of their territories nearer home, and the country then
became an easy prey to the Saxons, who had, for some time previ
ously, been making invasions of this part of the coast. The
colonists and Latinised natives, demoralised by the social refine
ments and luxurious habits acquired from the Romans, and degen
erated from their original standard of manliness and virtue, soon
gave place to the hardy and adventurous Saxons, and, within an
apparently short time, all trace of the forms of Roman government
and subjection disappeared. The great Roman city of Lincoln, being
taken possession of by Cerdic the Saxon, became one of the
principal settlements of the Angles and was made the capital of
Mercia and the residence of the Saxon king.
The colonists who now took possession of the Fenland were
offshoots from that vast, restless body of Saxons which gradually
spread north-west and across Central Europe, and extended to the
the saxons. coast, along the course of the Elbe. The tribe who settled near the
coast were known as the Angles, and these men, crossing the North
Sea in pursuit of plunder, and finding the Fenland not unlike the
land from whence they came, finally settled here.
The new settlers, who were known as the Gyrwas, or Fen-
men, appear to have thoroughly appropriated the land and all that
belonged to it, as their successors have since done in America and
the other colonies. All traces of the Britons have disappeared, and
hardly a single name is to be found in the fen district to show that
they, or the Romans, once occupied it. The only places whose
names bear any indication of British origin are Lincoln, Bardney
and Kirton. Even the names of the rivers, which in other parts of the
country have retained their ancient British designations, in the Fens,
afford, with perhaps the exception of the Glen and the Bane, no link
with the past. The Romans left their enduring stamp on the
country in the magnificent works which they carried out, in the
remains of their forts and dwellings, and in the coins and other
relics which, even to this day, are occasionally discovered; but so
completely did the Saxons take and retain possession of the Fenland
and absorb or disposess the previous occupants, that only ko
names, Lincoln and Fossdyke, remain bearing Roman traces JU

13
even in these two cases, only one half the name is Roman, the
other half of the latter being Saxon.
The Anglo-Saxons, having once taken possession of the Fens,
held their own against all comers, and, to this day, the Fenland, in
its names and manners, is more purely Saxon than any other part of
England. The Danes gained some foothold, but so far as names of
villages, places and people indicate they were unable to dispossess
the Saxons. The names of most of the villages skirting the Fen
land are of Danish origin, but only a few within the Fenland, and
these near the rivers and the coast, can be traced to the Danes. Of
the villages in the Fenland 29 have a Saxon origin, eight appear to
be more Danish than Saxon, and five are doubtful. Of the former,
fourteen have the termination Ton, four that of Ey, and three
of Fleet ; and, of the latter, two have Beck for a termination, three
Toft, and one Wick and Bech.
The Saxons, having settled down and colonised the land, not
only adapted themselves to the use of the products peculiar to the
district, by learning to eat fish, but brought with them from their
Teutonic homes the arts of agriculture and raised considerable
quantities of wheat for bread, and of barley for making beer, of which
they consumed very large quantities. From the numerous grants
of salt pans contained in old Saxon documents, it is evident also
that they had acquired the art of evaporating salt from the sea
water of the estuary.
Many of the Saxon chiefs, who came over in the first instance
for plunder, returned with their families and settled down as colonists.
These settlers constructed wattled huts on the highest ground they
could find, and for protection from sudden incursions, whether of
the water or their enemies, fenced the homestead round with a bank.
These first settlements were called Tons by the Saxons, each
being known by the name of the head of the community, and were,
no doubt, connected together by a causeway, raised above the level
of the floods in winter, which enabled the inhabitants to communicate
with each other. In some cases, these Tons had been the homes of
dispossessed Britons, as probably in the case of Bardney and Kirton.
Each settlement devoted space for worship and burial, the Druidical
grove or altar giving way- to the early churches of the Saxons and
their successors. The present site of the village churches may,
therefore, be regarded as the spot where the first settlement of the
families of the early colonists took place, and the present main
roads, as running along the site of the early causeways. As the
family increased, the banks of the Ton were extended and the
number of dwellings increased, and thus was commenced the
foundation of those scattered collections of houses and cottages to
\^hich the Normans gave the name of villages.

SAXON NAME
OF PLACES.

SAXON TONS

H

introduction of Christi
anity INTO THE
FENLAND.

Hollinshed.

ST. GUTHLAC.

Ingulph.

These Tons were subsequently joined into the Hundreds or
Wapentakes of Skirbeck, Kirton and Elloe by King Alfred.
During the seventh century, when Christianity was replacing
Paganism, four priests were sent from the monastery at Lindis-
farne in Northumberland, into Mercia, and their chief, Paulinus,
after having been made instrumental in the conversion of Edwin,
King of Northumberland, accompanied that monarch in his conquest
of Lindsey, the event being thus chronicled by Holinshed, who
gathered his account from Matthew of Westminster. " Moreover,
Pauline, after that he had converted the Northumbers, preached the
word of God unto them of Lindsey, which is a part of Lincoln-;
shire ; and first he persuaded one Blecca, the Governor of
Lincoln, to turn unto Christ, together with all his family. In
that city he also builded a church of stone work." This movement
had a material effect on the prosperity of the Fenland. Many of
the early monks, for pious purposes, settled in the district, and round
their settlements gradually sprang up monasteries, where the
Abbots reclaimed the fen around their dwellings and became the
prime movers in all works of improvement. The places where
these settlements took place were on the islands or high places in
the Fens. An old writer, describing these, says : " For by the
inundations and overflowing of the rivers, the water standing upon
the level ground maketh a deep lake and sorendereth it uninhabitable,
except in some high places which God of purpose raised (as may
be thought) to which there is no access but by navigable vessels.''
One of the earliest of these settlers was St. Guthlac, a youth of
the royal race of Mercia, who sought a refuge in the very heart of
the fens, at Crowland. His youth had been spent in accordance
with the wild barbarism of the times, in constant feuds with his
neighbours, in robbing them of their cattle, in sacking and burning
towns and homesteads. Suddenly, we are told, as he lay one night
sleepless in the forest, amongst his sleeping war band, there rose
before him the thought of his crimes and of the doom that waited
on him. At the abbey of Repton, the burying place of the royal
line of Mercia, he shore off the long hair which marked the noble,
and, moved by the life of the hermit saints, of which he had heard,
took himself to the heart of the Fens. Its birds became his friends^
they perched unhindered on his shoulder and rested in the thatch
that covered the little cell he had built, until his solitude was broken
by the crowds of devotees, by Abbot, and by Monk, by Thegn and
by Ceorl, as they flocked over the fen to the solitary cell, and so
great was the reverence that he won, that two years after his death
the Abbey of Crowland was raised over his tomb.
The Biographer of St. Guthlac gives us, in the following
description, some idea of the fens at the beginning of the eigh*i
century :— " There is in the middle part of Britain a hideous fen U

15
a huge bigness, which, beginning at the banks of the river Grante,
extends itself from the south to the north in a very long tract, even
to the sea : oft-times clouded with moist and dark vapours, having
within it divers islands and woods, as also crooked and winding
rivers. When, therefore, that man of blessed memory, Guthlac,
had found out the desert places of this vast wilderness, and by
God's assistance had passed through them, he enquired of the
borderers what they knew thereof, who relating several things of
its dreadfulness and solitude, there stood up one among them,
called Tatwine, who affirmed that he knew a certain island, in the
more remote and secret parts thereof, which many had attempted to
inhabit, but could not for the strange and uncouth monsters and
several terrors wherewith they were affrighted : whereupon, St.
Guthlac earnestly entreated that he would show him that place.'
Tatwine, therefore, yielding to the request of this holy man, taking
a fisher's boat (Christ being his guide through the intricacies of this
darksome fen) passed thereunto, it being called Croyland, and
situate in the midst of the lake, but in respect of its desertness
formerly known to very few; for no countrymen, before that devout
servant of Christ, S. Guthlac, could endure to dwell in it, by reason
that such apparitions of devils were so frequently seen there."
" Not long after, S. Guthlac, being awoke in the night time,
betwixt his hours of prayer, as he was accustomed, of a sudden he
discerned his cell to be full of black troops of unclean spirits, which
crept in under the door, as also at chinks and holes, and coming in,
both out of the sky and from the earth, filled the air as it were with
dark clouds. In their looks they were cruel, and of form terrible,
having great heads, long necks, lean faces, pale countenances, ill-
favoured beards, rough ears, wrinkled foreheads, fierce eyes, stink
ing mouths, teeth like horses, spitting fire out of their throats,
crooked jaws, broad lips, loud voices, burnt hair, great cheeks, high
breasts, rugged thighs, bunched knees, bended legs, swollen ancles,
preposterous feet, open mouths and hoarse cries ; who with such
mighty shrieks were heard to roar that they filled almost the whole
distance from heaven with their bellowing noises ; and, by and by,
rushing into the house, first bound the holy man ; then drew him
out of his cell, and cast him over head and ears into the dirty fen ;
and having so done, • carried him through the most rough and
troublesome parts thereof, drawing him amongst brambles and
briers for the tearing of his limbs."
A modern writer of more practical turn of mind suggests that
the ague which this pious saint suffered from was the cause of
many of the pains which he ascribed to the malice of the evil
spirits ; or, as Kingsley suggests in The Hermits, " The whistle of
the wind through the dreary night ; the wild cries of the water
»|owl, were translated into the howls of witches and demons ; and

i6
the delirious fancies of marsh fever made those fiends take hideous
shapes before the inner eye, and act fantastic horrors round the
Fenman's bed of sedge."
The reputation for piety acquired by St. Guthlac soon made
Crowland^ famous, and, after his death, Ethelbald, King of Mercia,
Anglo-Saxons whose Confessor he had been, determined to erect a monastery to
his memory, and endowed it with the whole Isle of Crowland,
together with the adjacent fens lying on both sides of the river
Welland. The ground on which the monastery was built, being so
moist and fenny as not of itself to bear a building of stone, a great
number of piles were driven deep into the ground, and a quantity of
firm, hard earth, brought from a distance of nine miles, was thrown
amongst them, and upon this foundation the building was erected.
The historian is in error as to the building being placed on
piles. The peat here being underlaid by a hard bed of gravel, piles
would be unnecessary. From the report recently made on the
present ruins of Crowland Abbey by Mr. Pearson, it appears that
the peat on. which the tower rests is less than two feet thick, and
that the bottom of it is 7ft. 9m. below the ground line.
The foundations rested on the peat which, owing to the
improved drainage, has shrunk, and caused the destruction of the
building. The bounty of the King was thus celebrated in poetry :—
" The Royal bounty here itself displays,
And bids with mighty pains a temple raise.
The soft, tbe slippery, the unsettled soil
Had long disdained the busy workman's toil.
No stone foundations suit this marshy land,
But piles of oak in goodly order stand ;
And boats, for nine long leagues, fetch filling land :
The fickle soil cements to solid ground.
The sacred pile on the firm base they found,
And art and labour grace the work around."
It will be unnecessary further to pursue the history of the
Abbey of Crowland ; suffice it to say that, though the Monks "had
ample possessions in the fens yet they yielded not much profit,
in regard that so great a quantity of them lay for the most part
under water." The Fens, however, served other purposes than that
of profit, for, in the many incursions of the Danes, they became
the chiefest refuge of the Monks, their lives being secured by
means of these spacious fens, in the reeds and thickets whereof
they hid themselves to avoid the cruelties of this barbarous people,
whilst the rest of their convent was murdered and their abbej
burnt. Saint Guthlac became the patron saint of the Fens, and the
numerous churches that are dedicated to his memory attest the
esteem and popularity of the first Christian reclaimer of this parbof
England. In a niche in the wall of the parish church of Fishtpft
is a statue of St, Guthlac, its patron saint ; ajid there is a traditflp!

SS4.

17
connected with this statue that so long as the whip, the usual Thompson's
insignia of the saint, remained in his hand, the parish of Fishtoft Boston.
should not be infested with rats and mice.
Another pious settler in the Fens was St. Botolf. He had st. botolf.
been sent to Belgium, as a youth, to be educated, and, having
acquired a great reputation for holiness and learning, returned to
England with high testimonials and a letter of recommendation to
the Saxon earl, Ethelmund, King of Mercia. Being desirous of
retiring to a lonely place, away from the wickedness' of the world,
he asked from the King a gift of land in the Fens, which being
granted, he choose a desolate spot on one of the holmes or islands
which rose a little above the level of the surrounding fen, which he
could occupy without dispossessing any previous owner. In this
spot, described as an unfilled place, a wilderness where no man
dwelt, he founded a monastery in 654, and was held in high esteem
by the Mercian Prince, whose confessor he was. St. Botolf, who is
described as having locks as white as wool, and with a heart like the
down of the thistle, lived long enough to see a monastery spring up
on the land which he had chosen for its isolation, and over which
he ruled in an exemplary manner, till his death, in 680. The
monastery was destroyed by the Danes in 870. The buildings
were, however, restored, and the place where it was situated was
called after St. Botolf, its pious founder. Round this nucleus
gradually sprang up other dwellings, till Botolf s ton became an
important place and developed into a town, the name being
shortened into Boston about two centuries ago.
In 678 Egfried of Northumbria founded the Bishopric of
Lindissee. In 767, Ceowulf was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln.
Several monasteries were established along the Witham and
in South Holland, and, around these, works of reclamation and
improvement were carried out by the abbots, and the land made to
produce corn and cattle.
In the year 870, the Marshes, as the Fens were then termed, are
described by Hugo Candidus as furnishing wood and turf for fire,
hay for cattle, reeds for thatching, and fish and water fowl for
subsistence. This growing prosperity, however, was much checked
by the incursions of the Danes. In 866, a Danish armament, under
Hubba and Hingva, invaded East Anglia.
The following account of the invasion of the Fens by a body
of Danes, in the year 870, is given by Sharon Turner:—" They sharo°"urner.
embarked on the Humber, and, sailing to Lincolnshire, landed
at Humberston, in Lindsey. After destroying the monastery
and slaying all the monks of Bardney, they employed the
summer in desolating the country around with sword and fire.
About Michaelmas they passed the Witham, and entered the
district of Kesteven, The Earl Algar drew out the youth of

INVASION OF
THE DANES. 866.

i8
Holland : his two seneschals, Wibert and Leofric, assembled, from
Deeping, Langtoft and Baston, 300 valiant and well-appointed men;
200 more joined him from Croyland monastry : they were composed
of fugitives, and led by Tolius, who had assumed the cowl, but who
previous to entering the sacred profession, had been celebrated for
his military character. Morcar, lord of Brunne (Bourne), added
his family, who were undaunted and numerous. Osgot, the sheriff
of Lincoln, collected 500 more from the inhabitants of the country.
These patriots, not 3,000 in number, united in Kesteven, with the
daring hope of checking, by their valour, the progress of the ferocious
invaders. On the feast of St. Maurice, they attacked the advanced
bands of the Northmen with such conspicuous bravery, that they
slew three of their kings and many of their soldiers : they chased
the rest to the gates of their entrenchments, and, notwithstanding a
fierce resistance, they assailed these till the advance of night com
pelled the valiant Earl to call off his noble army. The Enghsh
ultimately beaten, the Danes burned and destroyed all the towns
and villages and ravaged and destroyed Croyland Abbey. The vener
able Abbot was hewed down at the altar, and the Prior and the rest
of the monks murdered ; all the tombs and monuments were broken,
and the ' superb edifice ' devoured by fire ; having accomplished
which, they set out for Peterborough, then called MedehampsteaJ.
The Danes were finally defeated in 878, and Alfred the Great
re-ascended the throne of England. The monks returned to then-
ruined homes, which they soon set about rebuilding, and although,
during the intervening period of the Norman Conquest, several
incursions were made by the Danes, in which the Fenmen were
engaged, no special fact is recorded by history which throws any
light on the state and condition of the Fens during this period."
In the churchyard of Algarkirk Church whither it has been
removed from the church, is the effigy of a man, which is reputed ;
to be that of the Earl Algar here mentioned, from whom the Parish
takes its name, but its identity is doubtful.
Later on, there was another invasion under Guthrum, who,
having murdered the Saxon King, Edmund, took his throne and
ruled over Mercia and East Anglia. During the latter half of the
ninth century, the Danes had so completely got possession of the
North and West of Lincolnshire that it became almost a Danish
province, and, in common with the adjoining district of East Anglia,
this part of the country was governed by Danish lords. After
continual struggles between the Danes and the dispossessed
Saxons, a final arrangement was come to with Kino- Alfred, by
which this part of the East Coast was given up to the Danes,
and the country governed by them became known as the Danelagh,
i.e., the district under Danish laws. The part most exclusively
Danish stretches from the coast, in the neighbourhood of Alf4>rd|

19
over the Wolds to Horncastle. The smooth, sandy shore between
Theddlethorpe and Skegness was a favourite landing place for the streatfieid's
Danish boats, and the families whom they brought over settled undlTtTe Danes.
along the edge of the Fen, from Firsby round by Coningsby,
Digby, Asgarby, Haconby, to Stamford. Over this district they
have left their mark in the numerous villages and places, the
names of which are of Danish origin, and in the Danish derivation
of numerous words common only to East Lincolnshire.
East of the boundary line above given, names of Danish origin
are as conspicuous by their absence, as on the higher land skirting
the fen they are plentiful.
A final attempt to subdue the Fenmen was made by Sweyn,
the Dane, in 1013. He ravaged Kesteven, and burnt and pillaged
Boston. In 1016, Canute, or Knut, the Dane, ruled over all 101a-
Mercia. It is stated on the authority of Camden, that King
Canute first allotted the Common Rights on the Fens, and
" ordered the Fen to be parcelled out among the several towns
upon it, by Turkill the Dane, who divided it in such manner that alloTm'Jn/of
each town had such a proportion of Fen for its own, as each town "'io'ie™3'
had firm land abutting on the opposite Fen. He ordained that
no township should dig or mow without leave in the Fen belonging
to another, and that they should all have a common right of
pasturage, i.e., horn under horn, in order to maintain peace and
harmony among them."
Following the Danes, came the Normans, under William the
Conqueror. Not only did the Fenmen long and successfully
resist these Norman invaders, but the Fens became the refuge of
the discontented Saxons from all the country round; or, as
Dugdale puts it, " This land environed with fens and reed plecks
was unpassable ; so that they feared not the invasion of an'
enemy, and in consequence of the strength of this place, by reason
of the said water encompassing it, divers of the principal nobility of
the English nation had recourse unto it as their greatest refuge
against the strength and power of the Norman Conqueror." The
fenny districts of the kingdom of Mercia became the ' camps of
refuge ' of the scattered and discomfited Saxons. When William
the Conqueror had subdued all the rest of England, a brave body
of men in the Fens still refused him allegiance ; their remote situ
ation and solitary habits made them conservative of their ancient
rights and privileges, and zealous in their allegiance to their liege
lords and masters. " It is men of this kind, whose position gives
them more natural security than their neighbours, and consequently
more independence, who have been found the last to be conquered
n every country where their subjugation has been attempted.
What the rock and defile were to the mountaineer, the reed field

the Normans,

20

S. H. Miller's
Camp of Refuge.

Kingsley's
Hereward.

and mere were to the Fenman — his home, the source of his
subsistence, and his defence in seasons of oppression or misfortune."
Under Hereward, son of Leofric, Lord of Bourne, many a bold
fight was made for liberty against the usurpers, Ivo of Taillebois,
Guy de Croun and other Normans, to whom King William
had given the land of the Saxons. Driven by the conquerors from
place to place, they at last made the Isle of Ely their final camp of
refuge, where were collected many of the principal Saxon nobility
and ecclesiastics.
The struggles between the Fenmen and the Normans at Ely,
and in the adjacent Fens, are well described in the " Camp of
Refuge," which, being written by an author living in and thoroughly
knowing the Fenland, conveys to the mind a most interesting and
true picture of the Fens at that time.
Long and nobly did Hereward, by his sagacity, bravery, and
self-devotedness baffle all the attempts of the Normans to obtain
possession of the stronghold. The deeds of Hereward long lived
in the traditions of the people, and have come down to our. day in
the narratives of the ancient chronicles, and have lately been
revived by a modern writer in the graphic and touching romance
of Hereward, the last of the English, in which the writer shows a
knowledge of the fen country in Saxon times, such as only one
who had studied the chronicles could give. One short quotation
from this interesting work may here be given, as descriptive of the
fen country between Bourne and Crowland.
Hereward had just returned from Flanders to his native
country, and arriving at Bourne, the home of his ancestors, he
finds the place beseiged, and, on enquiring what has happened, is
answered, " What has happened makes free Englishmen's blood
boil to tell of. Here, Sir Knight, three days ago, came in this
Frenchman, with some twenty ruffians of his own, and more of
one Taillebois, too, to see him safe ; says that this new King, this
base-born Frenchman, has given away all Earl Morcar's lands, and
that Bourne is his ; kills a man or two ; upsets the women ; gets
drunk, raffles and roysters ; breaks into my lady's bower, calling
her to give up her keys, and when she gives them will have all her
jewels too. She faces them like a brave princess, and two of the
hounds lay hold of her, and say that she shall ride through Bourne
as she rode through Coventry. The boy Godwin — -he that was the
great Earl's godson, our last hope — draws sword on them, and he,
a boy of 1 6 summers, kills them both out of hand; the rest set on
him, cut his head off, and there it sticks on the gable spike to this
hour." Hereward, enraged beyond endurance by this and other
accounts of the evils that had fallen on his country, his family, and
his friends, rushed down to the hall, where were assembled the
Frenchmen, engaged in drunken revelry, and with his own hand

21

slays the whole of the guard left in charge of Bourne, fourteen in
number. The next day he set out for Crowland Abbey, with his
mother, the Princess Godiva, "and they went down to the water and
took barge, and laid the corpse of young Godwin therein ; and
they rowed away Tor Crowland by many a mere and many an ea ;
through narrow reaches of clear, brown glassy water ; between
the dark green alders, between the pale green reeds, where the
coot clanked and the bittern boomed, and the sedge bird,
not content with its own sweet song, mocked the song of all
the birds around : and then out into the broad lagoons, where
hung motionless, high over head, hawk beyond hawk, buzzard
beyond buzzard, kite beyond kite, as far as the eye could see.
Into the air, as they rowed on, whirred up the great skeins of
wild fowl innumerable, with a cry as of all the bells of
Crowland, or all the hounds of Bruneswald ; and clear above all
the noise sounded the wild whistle of the curlews, and the trumpet
note of the great white swan ; out of the reeds, like an arrow, shot
the peregrine, singled one luckless mallard from the flock, caught
him up, struck him stone dead with one blow of his terrible heel,
and swept his prey with him into the reeds again."
The King having at last subdued Ely, the Fenmen, in common
with the rest of England, had to submit to the conquering arm of
William of Normandy, and numerous grants were made to his
followers, the land in this district being chiefly shared by Allan
Rufus, Earl of Brittany and Richmond, Walter D'Eyncourt, Guy
de Creon or Croun, and Gilbert de Gand. The Earl of Brittany
had his chief residence at Kirton, and there is reason to suppose
that the Earl of Richmond had a seat in the parish of Boston, prior
to the thirteenth century. Walter D'Eyncourt also had a residence
at Kirton, although the head of his barony was at Blankney ; Guy
de Croun resided at Freiston.
But although, to a great extent, the Fenland had been parcelled
out in grants to the followers of the Conqueror, the Normans were
never able to subdue the Fenmen to the same state of vassalage as
the inhabitants of other parts of the country. Instead of the
Fenmen becoming Normans in manner and language, the
Normans gradually became converted into Fenmen.
The real spirit of Norman feudalism obtained but little hold in
this district. The Fenman still retained his sturdy independance
and, at the time when the Domesday book was compiled, no shire st^l}ln%g.
in England could vie with that of Lincoln in the number of its '«*•
freeholders. While the language of the rest of England was being
corrupted by the Norman French introduced by the Conqueror,
the Fens yielded neither to their language nor their manners, and
in the ordinary conversation of a Lincolnshire Fenman of the
present day is to be found purer Saxon English than in any other

LANGUAGE OF
THE FENLAND.

ORIGIN OF
NAMES AN D
PLACES,

22-
part of the country. It was from the fen town of Bourne thai
' the poet and the patriarch of true English ' Robert Manning, or
Robert of Brunne, as he was generally called, went (A.D.
1 300) to Cambridge, where he became ' the first great writer in
modern classic English.'
In fact, the Normans left as little impression on the Fenland,:
so far as the names of the people and the places are concerned,
as either the Britons or the Romans.
The retention of the expression Ton, in place of village, is one
among many proofs of this. The parishes on the east coast from
Friskney to Boston are still described as the "Holland towns"
and those on the south as ' the Eleven towns ' the ' town ' being a
corruption of the Saxon Ton.
The names which had been given to the villages by the Saxons
afford a clue to the physical condition of the place at the time it was
named. Thus Friskney, Stickney, Sibsey, Bardney, Fulney,
Gedney, were, more or less, islands surrounded by water. Stickford
was the place on the main road for crossing the swamp between the
East and West Fens. Butterwick and Wigtoft were havens, or
places where boats landed their goods, the latter being then on the
margin of Bicker Haven. Swineshead is derived from Swin, a
narrow channel or creek. Benington, Leverton, Freiston, Boston,
Wyberton, Frampton, Algarkirk, Donington, Gutheram-Cote,
Hubbert's Bridge, Hammond Beck, derive their names from
earls or chiefs, or other great men of the time, most of these
places having been settlements of the Saxon families of the
Benings, or the Dunnas, or of the Earls Leofric, Wibert, Algar,
Hubba, Guthrum, etc. Waynflete, Surfleet, and Hoffleet show
their position near tidal creeks. Skirbeck and Pinchbeck, their
position near fresh water streams ; Cowbit was a cow pasture ;
Kirton was the site of a temple or church, and was probably a
British settlement, the prefix meaning a circle, from which followed
the words kirk and church ; Langrick means simply the Long
Reach which the river has in this neighbourhood ; Dogdyke,
formerly spelt Docdyke, means a dock, or place where boats may
lie surrounded by a bank ; Fishtoft a place of fishermen, a tidal
creek running up to the village. The whole of the Saxon names
Domesday Book : °f the parishes in the Fenland are mentioned in Domesday book,
Smiiatfon.rans" except Benington, Brothertoft, Boston, Cowbit, Sutterton and
Swineshead. The omission of Boston is supposed to be due to its being
included in the Parish of Skirbeck, the place at that time
consisting only of the monastery founded by St. Botolf, and the
habitations which had grown up around it.
fen churches The churches mentioned in Domesday Book, as existing in or
norm'.Yws. near the Fenland at that time, were those at Bourne, Bicker,

23

Butterwick, Blankney, Bolingbroke, Dunston, Frampton, Fishtoft,
Heckington, Helpringham, Kirton, North and South Kyme, Lever-
ton, Metheringham, Nocton, Skirbeck, Stickney, Steeping, Stick-
ford, Sibsey, Thorpe, Tydd St. Mary, Toynton St. Peter's and
Wyberton; There were monasteries at the time of the Conquest at
Bardney, Boston, Crowland and Spalding.
After the Norman conquest, the Fens became a favourite
place- with the monks. On the banks of the Witham, twelve
houses were erected, within the space of twenty miles. On the
east, were Monk's House, Barlings, Bardney, Tupholme, Stixwould,
Kirkstead and Tattershall ; and on the west, Kyme, Haverholme,
Catley, Mere and Nocton.
In fact, the fen country was described by William of
Malmesbury, as being full of monasteries, and as having large
bodies of monks settled on the islands of these waters, to whom
were made grants of land and rights of fishing, fowling and
turbary (digging turf for fuel).
Reference has already been made to the attempts of the
Abbots to improve and reclaim the fen land around their mon
asteries ; and, as these increased in size and importance, they
attracted numerous tenants, retainers and servants, and the
Abbots became the principal landowners in the Fens.
Mr. Morton, in his History of Lincolnshire Churches, remarks
that, " on their first introduction the members of these monastries
were laborious men, who drained marshes, cleared woods, cultivated
wastes, and protected the country from the wolves, then numerous.
A colony of monks, in small numbers at first, transported them
selves into some uncultivated place, and there, as missionaries and
labourers at once, in the midst of a people as yet pagan, they ac
complished their double task with as much of danger as of toil."
Mr. Oliver also says, " The monks were expert agriculturists and
by persevering industry converted the ground adjoining their
houses into a rich and prolific tract, which distinguished them from
the estates of the neighbouring proprietors. Thus, Temple Bruer
was built on the barren heath ; Catley, Haverholme, and Kyme
in a flooded fen ; Epworth Priory in a wood ; Swineshead Abbey
amongst the willows in a marsh."
The character born by these different monasteries is thus given
in an old rhyme. Ramsay, the rich of gold and fee,
Thorney, the flower of many a fair tree,
Croyland, the courteous of their meat and drink,
Spalding, the gluttons, as all men do think,
Peterborough the proud.
Sautrey, by the way,
That old abbey,
i Gave more alms in one day than all they.

monasteries.

Oliver's
Religions
Houses on the
Witham.

Morton's
Lincolnshire Churches.

24

Dugdale.

Ingulph.

STATE OF TH
FENLAND, 12Q

In the eleventh century, Abbot Egelric so improved a portion
of the marshes round Crowland, as to be able to plough and sow
them, and was able to supply the whole country round with corn.
In the same century, also, Richard de Rubs, the king's
chamberlain, being much given to good husbandry, such .as
tillage and the breeding of cattle, took in a great part of the
common of Deeping Fen and converted it into meadow and
pasture. He also enclosed the river Welland by a mighty bank
and, erecting on that bank divers tenements and cottages, did,
in a short time, make it a large town."
The example thus set was followed by other owners.
In 1085, " The people of Hoyland, at Multon, Weston and
Spalding, in imitation of those at Depynge, by a common enact
ment agreed to among them, divided among themselves, man by
man, their marshes which were situate above the river Asendyk ;
on which some put their portions in tillage, others preserved them
for hay, while some again allowed theirs, as before, to be for pasture
for their own cattle apart from the others, and found the earth to
be rich and fruitful."
The impression which the fens made on those who visited them
at this time may be gathered from the remarks made by Henry
of Huntingdon, who, writing in the thirteenth century, says, "This
¦ fenny country is very pleasant and agreeable to the eye, watered
by many rivers which run through it, diversified with many large
and small lakes and adorned with many roads and islands."
William of Malmesbury also describes the Fens as "a very paradise
and a heaven for the beauty and delight thereof, the very marshes
bearing goodly trees  there is such abundance of fish as to cause
astonishment to strangers, while natives laugh at their surprise,
Water-fowl are so plentiful that persons may not only assuage their
hunger with both sorts of food, but can eat to satisfy for a penny."
The land, owing to its fruitfulness and the variety of fruit which
was grown, was described as affording " a mutual strife between
nature and husbandry, that what the one forgetteth the other
might supply and produce."
The Fens were not always the paradise described by Henry of
Huntingdon, for frequent floods and inundations caused great
misery and loss to the inhabitants. Thus, on New Year's day in
1287, according to Stowe's Chronicle, "as well through the
vehemency of the wind as the violence of the sea, the monasteries
of Spalding and many churches were overthrown and destroyed.
The whole of Holland, in Lincolnshire, was, for the most part,
turned into a standing pool ; so that an intolerable multitude of
men, women and children were overwhelmed with the water,
especially the town of Boston, or Buttolph's town, a great part
whereof was destroyed,"

CONDITION OF
1E DRAINAGE,
I2TH CENTURY.

25
The duty of repairing the banks and sluices which protected
the land from the inundations of the sea, and also of maintaining THe »»*|»«"
the channels of the watercourses in good order, devolved upon the
several owners of the lands adjacent to the same, according to
"antient and approved customs," but no special authority existed
for superintending such works, and insuring their maintenance in
proper condition. There were, consequently, frequent floods and
damage, caused by the neglect of the owners to maintain the banks
and drains. Dugdale, in his history of embanking and draining,
gives numerous extracts from the records of petitions to the King,
by inhabitants of the Fens, who had thus suffered, praying for his
interference. Such drainage as the Fens had at this time was by means
of the natural streams, and the remains of the works carried
out by the Romans. The Car Dyke on the west partially
intercepted and carried off the water from the numerous high
land brooks and streams, that extended from Lincoln to Bourne,
and the Witham fulfilled the same function on the east side of the
Fens, down to Boston ; below Chapel Hill, it had an exceedingly
tortuous course, and its channel, from neglect, had become
nearly filled up with weeds and deposit. The East and West
Fens were flooded all the winter, the outlet for the drainage of
the former being by Good Dyke into Wainfleet Haven, and, for
the latter into the Witham, at a gote, about two miles above
Boston. The Sibsey river and Hilldyke drain discharged into
the Witham, above Boston. Skirbeck was drained by the Scire
beck, which had an outlet into the Haven, below the town,
and which also took one of the principal drains from Boston,
the other, the Bar- ditch, emptying into the Witham. Fishtoft
was drained by the Graft drain, which emptied into Boston
Haven, about three miles below Boston. The other parishes
between Boston and Wainfleet were drained by sewers, which dis
charged by sluices through the Roman bank. Such drainage as the
Lindsey, or Black Sluice, Level had, was by the Ouse Mere Lode
into Bicker Haven, on the south, and by the Hammond Beck
into Boston Haven, on the north. Holland Fen and the lands
adjacent drained into Kyme Eau and the Skirth, which discharged
into the Hammond beck, near Swineshead. Frampton Town
drain, Kirton drain, The Five Towns drain, Risegate Eau, the
river of Byker, Coin drain, Lafen lode, and the Old Bech drain,
are all watercourses which were in existence previous to any
attempt at reclamation being carried out.
Deeping Fen, which was little better than a lake all the
winter, found an outlet into the Welland. Spalding was drained
by the Westlode ; Crowland, by drains made by the monks,
which discharged into the Welland, and into a branch of the

26
Nene, now known as the Old Shire drain, which formed the
principal outlet for the drainage of the district, south of the
Raven bank. The land north of this drained by the Moulton,
Holbeach and Whaplode rivers, and by Lutton Leam and Fleet
Haven, all of which had sluices in the Roman bank, which was
the only sea bank at that date.
The general condition of the Fens, as here sketched out, re
mained with little alteration, for a period of about five hundred
years. With the exception of small enclosures, made by the
religious houses which were established on the borders of the Fens,
no substantial reclamation was attempted.
The only works of which there is any record are those of John
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who resided at Bolingbroke Castle,
upon the border of the Fens, and who held considerable rights in the
Level, and of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, who, with a view to
the better drainage of the district, " procured an admeasurement and
division of all the surrounded grounds on the north of Spalding,
which, beforetime, lay promiscuously, a great work of excellent use,
not for those times only, but the fruit of it hath continued ever
since."
ton',Cii42.bos" In King Stephen's reign, Alan de Croun and Margaret,
Countess of Richmond, " caused to be made, a great sluice, below
the town of St. Botolph, where the Hundreds of Kirton and
Skirbeck divide and separate, in order to increase the rush and
force of the waters, by which the" harbour is made clear ; which
harbour is almost obstructed, and has perished, by reason of the
quantity of mud and sand brought up and deposited from day
to day by the flow of the sea ; and in order also that the
channel, by this means, might become deeper, so that the waters
from all the marshes of Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven, and
from the lands of the whole country, might come down and
flow into the sea more easily." This structure is referred to
subsequently, as the Great Sluice (Magna Slusa) in the channel
of the water of the Witham, below the town of Boston.
In 1316, an inquisition was held at Boston, concerning the
" Great Sluice in the Witham, at Boston," when the Jury made
a presentment that the sluice was ruinous and in great decay,
" because many doors are wanting, and also 500 piles from the
number with which it was constructed, and new fastenings have
to be brought, and also beams, planks, piles, and binders of every
kind suitable for use in water, to the great danger of all the district
in Holland and Kesteven and the marshes of Lindsey and Kes
teven." This sluice was again mentioned in Henry the Seventh's
reign (1543) when an ordnance of sewers was made at Donington,
by which it was enacted that the floodgate, or sluice, under

27
Boston Bridge, shall be made of new, because it was in decay,
and it was to be builded again in sort and order, as the most
noble Margaret, Countess of Richmond, first made it, 'and this
was to be done at the cost and charges of the Parts of Holland,
that is, the Wapentake of Kirton and Skirbeck Hundred equally,
to the half of the whole, the Wapentake of Elloe, one quarter,
and Town of Boston, one quarter.
It is not known where this strucure was situated. Probably
it was superseded by the sluice erected by May Hake.
Records exist of occasional grants of marsh or fen lands made 120B.
about this time. Thus a grant of marsh was made early in the 13th
century by King John to Thomas de Muleton, the land being
described as lying between the waters of Tydd.
In the reign of Henry III, some attempt was made to remedy
the condition of the Fens, as it is related that the King, taking notice
that not only the landowners in those parts, «but himself, had
suffered considerable damage by the overflowing of the sea, and ,216,
also of the fresh water, through default in repair of the banks,
sewers and ditches, directed the Shirereeve to distrain the goods of
all landowners who ought to have repaired the banks and scoured
out the drains.
The King's intervention did not take much effect, as subsequent
floodings and inundations are frequently recorded, some being due
to causes beyond human control, but most of them, to carelessness,
and even, in some cases, to wilful injury to the banks.
In 1287, through the vehemence of the wind and the violence stew's
of the sea, the monastery of Spalding and many churches were chrmlcl'< I287-
overthrown and destroyed. " All the whole country in the parts of
Holland was for the most part turned into a standing pool, so that
an intolerable multitude of men, women and children where over
whelmed with the water, especially in the town of Boston, a great
part whereof was destroyed."
In 1335, one Roger Pedwardine was accused of having cut the ,335
sea and river banks and thereby inundated the low country.
In Richard the Second's reign, an inquisition taken at
Bolingbroke and subsequently a presentment made in the
court of King's Bench, held at Lincoln, by the jurors of divers 1334.
Wapentakes, showed " that the marshes of East Fenne and West
Fenne, as also divers lands, meadows, and. pastures lying in the
towns of Leek, Wrangle, Friskeneye, and Waynflete, betwixt the
waters of Wytham and Waynflete, were drowned by a great inun
dation of water, so that all the inhabitants of those towns and of the
Soke and. Wapentake of Bolingbroke did wholly lose the benefit of
their lands and marshes there, through the defects of a certain flood
gate at Waynflete, which was so narrow that the course of the
waters passing that way could not get to the sea ; and that the

28

Inguiph, 1439,

Inguiph.

Hollinshed, 1571.

town of Waynflete ought to repair that floodgate, as anciently they
had wont to do  and that it would be necessary to have another
floodgate new erected, near unto the same, xxii ft. in breadth and that
the towns of Leek, Wrangle, Friskeney, and Waynflete, together.
with the Soke and Wapentake of Bolingbroke, as also all those
which had common of pasture in the said marshes, ought to contri
bute to the making thereof."
In 1439, there was such an excessive quantity of water in the
rivers and streams, in consequence of the extraordinary rains, that
the embankments around Croyland were unable to hold out against
the force of the impetuous torrent. The consequence was that the
waters, having swollen and beaten with all their force against the
embankments, broke through and inundated the entire surface of the
adjacent commons.
In 1467, there was "so great an inundation"of the waters, by
reason of the snows and continuous rains, that no man then living
could recall to mind the like. Throughout the whole of South
Holland there was scarcely a house or building but what the waters
made their way and flowed through it ; and this remained contin
uously during a whole month, the waters either standing there
without flowing off, or else, being agitated by strong gusts of wind,
swelled and increased still more and more, day after day. Nor, on
this occasion, did the embankments offer any effectual resistance, but
on the contrary, though materials had been brought from other
quarters for the purpose of strengthening them, they proved of very
little service for that purpose. However diligently the work might
have been attended to in the day time, as the water swelled and
rose, the spot under repair was completely laid bare during the
night." A century later, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, another
serious flood occured, when, owing to a violent tempest of
wind and rain, the whole country was flooded. An immense
number of ships were wrecked on the coast, churches and
buildings were swept away, and many lives lost. At Mumby
Chapel the whole town was lost, except three houses; and the
church was wholly otherthrown, except the steeple. A ship was
driven upon a house, the sailors saving themselves by clinging
to the roof ; and the narrative adds to the romance by telling us
that " the sailors thought they had bin upon a rocke and committed
themselves to God ; and three of the mariners lept out from the
shippe and chaunced to take hold of the house toppe, and so
saved themselves ; and the wife of the same, lying in childbed,
did climb up into the top of the house, and was also saved by
the mariners, her husband and child being both drowned."
Holland, Leverington, Long Sutton, and Holbeach were all
overflowed, and many sheep, oxen, and horses were drowned.

29
Bourne was overflowed to the midway of the height of the
church. This calamity extended over many counties, and did
an enormous amount of harm.
The continual complaints made to the Crown, as to the
loss arising from the constant flooding of the land, led to the
issuing of numerous Commissions, which had power to order
such works to be done as they considered necessary for the con»i»"ons
security of the Fenland, and to direct by whom the works were
to be carried out, and to assess the mode of payment. These
Commissions were renewed by succeeding sovereigns, till the time
of Henry VIII, when an Act was passed, investing the Chancellor
with perpetual authority to grant Commissions whenever they
should be required. The ordinance recites, that "whereas formerly
the marshes and low grounds had been, by politic wisdom, won
and made profitable for the good of the commonwealth, and
though divers provisions had formerly been made, yet none of
them were sufficient remedy for the reformation thereof."
This Act, with others subsequently passed, constitutes the
origin of the Court of Sewers, which now has control over the
banks and sewers in all that part of the Fenland which has not
been removed from its jurisdiction by special Acts of Parliament.
The more detailed history of this Commission is given in a
subsequent chapter.
After the establishment of the Court of Sewers, several
efforts were made to improve the Fens, but, owing to the difficulty
of arriving at a basis for the distribution of the payment of the
cost of carrying out the works proposed, and the inability of the
Court of .Sewers to compel the payment of the taxes for the
new works, no effectual scheme was carried out.
In the reign of Henry VII, a council was held to settle what
means could be devised for the improvement of the navigation
and drainage of the Witham, and it was determined to erect a
sluice across the river at Boston, to stop the tide from flowing
up the channel ; and an acre rate was levied on all the parishes
in Holland, to provide the money to pay for it. This sluice proved
of no advantage to the drainage, but the wooden bridge, which
was built over it, provided a means of communication between the
east and west side of the town of Boston, which could only
previously be accomplished by means of a ferry. Further par
ticulars as to the erection of this sluice will be found in the
chapter on the Witham.
Some improvement was made in the condition of the Fens
lying north of Boston, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by the
cutting of Maud Foster drain, and the erection of the original
outfall sluice, under the direction of the Court of Sewers.

MAY HAKE'S
SLUICE ON THE
WITHAM, 1600.

MAUD FOSTER
DRAIN, 1S68,

3°
first attempt In the same reign, also, prominent attention was given to
"on. RECLBMa- the question of reclamation of the East and West Fens, by the
attempt which was then being made by the Earl of Bedford and
others to reclaim the great Bedford Level, which, at that time,
^ct^Eiir1 included South Holland. The preamble of an Act, authorising
a scheme for the reclamation of this Level, recites that it was
passed for the " recovering of many thousands of acres of marshes
and other grounds, commonly subject to surrounding, within the
Isle of Ely and the counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, North
ampton, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Essex, Kent and
Durham ;" that " it is apparent to such as have travelled in the
execution of Commissions of Sewers, that the washes, commons,
marshes and fenny grounds, there subject to surrounding, may
be recovered by skilful and able undertakers, whereby great and
inestimable benefit would arise ;" that the draining of these
lands was chiefly hindered owing to the great part of them
being commons, the holders of rights having, therefore, no
power to make bargains for the work to be done, or, on
account of their poverty, to pay the charges. This Act en
abled the majority of the Commoners and owners to contract
with any persons who were willing to undertake the drainage,
and to grant to them part of the commons for so doing.
The advantages expected to be gained by the enclosure of
the Fens are thus set forth in a subsequent Act, relating to the
Bedford Level; "that, if drained, the great Level may be made
Bedford Level profitable and of great advantage to the commonwealth, and to
° ' * 49' the particular owners, commoners and inhabitants, and be fit to
bear cole seed and rape seed in great abundance, which is of
singular use to make soap and oils within the nation, to the
advancement of the trade of clothing and spinning of wool ; and
much of it will be improved into good pasture for feeding and
breeding of cattle, and of tillage to be sown with corn and grain,
and for hemp and flax in great quantity, for making all sorts of
linen, cloth and cordage for shipping within the nation, which
will increase manufactures, commerce and trading at home and
abroad ; will relieve the poor by setting them to work, and will,
in many other ways, redound to the great advantage and strength
ening of the nation."
isoa. Shortly after James the First's accession to the throne, a
series of destructive floods burst the embankments of the Fens
on the East Coast, and swept over farms, homesteads, and villages,
drowning large numbers of people and cattle. The King, on being
informed of the great calamity which had befallen the inhabitants
of the Fens, principally through the decay of the old works of
drainage and embankment, declared that, for the honour of his
kingdom, he would not any longer suffer these countries to be

ENCLOSURE
OF MARSHES IN
SOUTH
HOLLAND, 1000.

31
abandoned to the will of the waters, nor let them lie waste
and unprofitable ; and that, if no one else Would undertake their
drainage, he himself would become the " undertaker." However, a
measure of taxation for the recovery of these lands, which was
accordingly proposed to the Commons, was rejected.
In 1625, a very high tide occured, described as being the
highest ever known in the Thames, and the sea walls in Kent,
Essex and Lincolnshire were overthrown, and great desolation
caused to the lands near the sea.
During this reign, a large tract of marsh land in South
Flolland, lying between the Roman bank and the South Holland
embankment, was enclosed by a bank, extending from the Welland
to the Nene at Tydd. In 161 5, a grant was made to certain statei(P5aPers'
adventurers, on behalf of the Duke of Argyle, of the marsh lands
left by the sea, in Wigtoft, Moulton, Holbeach, and Tydd St.
Mary. These were to be reclaimed at the expense of the Earl,
with a reservation of a fifth portion, and a rent of ^76 5s. od. to
the King. The grant included also certain common lands. In
1640, a grant was made to the Duke of Lennox, by Charles I, of
Sutton marshes, with power to embank and enclose them.
Vermuiden, in a report to the King on the draining of the great
fens, the particulars of which are fully set out in his Discourse
on Draining, published in 1642, advised that the rivers Glen and
Welland should be diverted to the Nene, and the waters of the three
rivers carried in one common outfall to the sea. This scheme
was opposed by Andrew Burrell, in a pamphlet, published in 1642.
In the same reign, several Courts of Sewers were held, and the adven-
Commissioners appointed by the King, and orders made for
works to be carried out for the reclamation of the Fens, and
rates to be levied for payment of the same, and, in default of the
owners to pay these, the Fens were to be handed over to certain
" adventurers," who, in consideration of grants of a portion of the
reclaimed land, undertook to carry out the necessary banks, drains
and sluices for the "exsiccation" of the Fens. Sir Anthony recla„»t,on
Thomas was the "undertaker" for the Fens between the Witham °*0™lrrVns
and the coast. He commenced operations in 1631, and completed ,oc"-
the work three years after. For seven years, the Adventurers
enjoyed the fruit of their labours, building houses, sowing corn,
and feeding cattle therein ; at the end of that time, the dispossessed
Fenmen, finding that done of which they themselves despaired,
in a riotous manner, fell upon the Adventurers, broke the sluices,
laid waste their lands, threw down the fences, spoiled the corn,
demolished the houses, and forcibly regained possession of the land.
The condition of Holland fen attracted a great deal of lindsey level,
attention in the reign of Charles the first, and the King, at one
time, intended himself to undertake its reclamation, but subse-

1667.

32
quently parted with his interest in it to Sir William Killigrew,
who, with the Earl of Lindsey, then Lord High Chamberlain,
joined the Adventurers, and undertook the drainage of the fens
lying between Kyme Eau and the Glen, called after the principal
adventurer, the Lyndsey Level, and subsequently the Black
Sluice District. On the completion of the drainage work in 1636,
Dugdale, 1635. the Earl and his fellow Adventurers inclosed the fens, built
houses and farmsteads, and, having brought the land into culti
vation, continued in peaceable possession for about three years.
At the end of this time, the Commoners and Fenmen, after a
vain attempt to dispossess the Adventurers by petitions to
parliament, broke down the sluices, filled in the drains, destroyed
the crops, and, having driven the Adventurers away, " held
possession, to the great decay and ruin of those costly works and
exceeding discommodity to all that part of the country."
state Papers, Subsequently, a grant was made to the same Adventurers,
giving leave to drain 72,000 acres of the Fens, extending from the
River Glen to Lincoln, and thence to the Trent, and the Adven
turers were put in possession of 14,000 acres, as a recompense
for the outlay they had incurred.
There is no record as to what was done under this grant.
In Queen Elizabeth's reign, an Act was passed, giving power
to make the Welland navigable from Stamford to the« sea. The
work was carried out, under the superintendence of the Court of
Sewers, at the expense of the Corporation of Stamford and their
friends. A Court of Sewers, held at Bourne, in the reign of
Charles I, granted to Thomas Lovell a concession of the right
deepino fen, to drain Deeping Fen, on receiving, as compensation, a third of
the reclaimed lands. Sir Thomas Lovell made an attempt, and
partially drained the Fen, but failed to carry out the works in
accordance with his contract. King Charles the First " being
desirous that the work should be prosecuted for the country's
good and his own service, in a manner that would most conduce
to the public and general advantage of the whole Fens, was pleased
to declare himself the sole Adventurer for the drainage of Deeping
Fen." The King, however, was unable to carry out his intentions,
and a fresh contract was made, in 1638, with Sir Anthony Thomas
and Sir William Ayloff. By the works executed by these Under
takers, the land was so well drained, that in summer the whole
Fen yielded great quantities of grass and hay, and would have
been made winter ground, but the Fenmen, taking advantage of
the confusion throughout the whole kingdom, which prevailed at
that time, took possession of the land, and, the banks and sewers
being neglected, it became again overflowed.
The more detailed account of the various schemes and works
carried out at this period, and subsequently, will be found in the

STAMFORD CANAL.

CONDITION
OF THE FEN
LAND PREVIOUS
TOTHE RECLAM
ATION.

33
chapters giving the history of the different districts in which they
were situated.
The Crown and the Adventurers, having failed in their attempts
to reclaim the Fen, principally from the lawlessness of the Fenmen,
the land reverted back very much to its original condition, and so
remained for upwards of a century.
In Cox's Magna Britannia, published in 1728, it is remarked, Magna°*Britan
regarding the Fens of Lincolnshire, that " several attempts have ma' I?28-
been made to drain this level, and some gentlemen, who have
estates under water, have endeavoured to get an Act of Parliament,
but have met with such opposition from the gentlemen in the
higher parts of the country, who fear that, if these Fens be drained,
it will sink the value of their estates, that they have not been able
to effect it."
Previous to the final reclamation of the Fenland, in the middle
of the last and the beginning of the present century, this district was
thus described by Dugdale, " and if we weigh the great inconven
ience which these overflowings have produced, certainly the advant
age by the general draining ought the more to be prized ; for in the
winter-time, when the ice is strong enough to hinder the passage E^^g\nd
of boats, and yet not able to bear a man, the inhabitants upon the Draining.
hards and the banks within the Fens can have no help for food,
nor comfort for body or soul ; no woman aid in her travail, no
means to baptize a child, or partake of the Communion, nor supply
of any necessity, saving what those poor desolate places do afford;
and what expectation of health can there be to the bodies of men,
where there is no element good ? The air being for the most part
cloudy, gross and full of rotten harrs ; the water putrid and
muddy, yea, full of loathsome vermin ; the earth, spongy and boggy,
and the fire, noisome by the stink of smoaky hassocks."
Macaulay also describes the inhabitants as a half-savage people, Macauiay's
leading an amphibious life, sometimes rowing, sometimes wading Hts<°/««3. "e'
from one firm mound to another, and known as Breedlings.
Both these pictures are overdrawn. The Fenland, before the
reclamation, was made up of two parts, the larger area consisting of
a level tract of alluvial, or marsh land, which, although imperfectly
drained, was seldom actually flooded. Interspersed amongst this
were the Fens, large tracts of low, peaty land, always more or less
flooded in winter, and a large part of which consisted of meres, and
pools of water. These marshes and fens afforded valuable summer
grazing for horses, cattle and sheep. On the higher patches of
ground lived the Fenmen, who attended to the cattle, and gained
their subsistence by fishing and fowling and rearing large flocks of
geese. On the higher land, adjacent to the Fens, were the villages
and churches, which, with the exception of Frithville, Midville,
Eastville, and; Langrick-ville? which were newly created at the

34
enclosure, were the same then as now. The condition of the
inhabitants of these villages, and their means of communication
with the rest of the world, was neither better nor worse than that
of many other parts of England.
the fens. Elstob says, " The Fens were formerly in the nature of
meadow land, fruitful, healthful and profitable to the people in the
Eistob's high country in time of drought, hence we find Leland and other
Bci%?d Level!" writers very lavish in their praises of this once fruitful country."
In wet seasons, however, their condition differed very much from this
description. A writer, who lived near Kyme Fen in the early part
of the last century, describing Holland Fen, says that, previous to
the improvement of the Witham and the making of the Grand Sluice,
he had, " times out of number, seen cows loosed out of their hovels
and swim across the water with nothing but their faces and horns
above the surface, and then take footing at mid-rib-deep, but not
one spot of dry land, and then forage till weary and return to their
hovels by swimming. No place was more famous for this than
Chapel Hill, inaccessible, but by boat or riding horse belly-deep, and
more in water than mud. I have also known in the whole parish
of Dogdyke, not two houses communicable for whole winters round,
and sometimes scarcely in summer. Sheep used to be carried to
pasture in flat bottomed boats. Clip them in the boat and after
wards fetch them away in the same conveyance."
The road which ran from the high country to Boston, through
the West Fen, and known as the Nordyke and Hilldyke Causeway,
was only distinguished from the surrounding marshes by rows of
willows and was frequently covered over a great part of its length by
water. In places there were swamps, which being quite impassable
by strangers, guides, who moved about on stilts, were employed to
take persons across.
Clarke's Mr. Clarke in his Fen Sketches quotes from a pamphlet called
Fen seiches. the Anti-Projector, written about 1606, in the time of James I,
" The Undertakers have always vilified the Fens and misinformed
many parliamentary men that all the fen is a mere quagmire, and
that it is a level hurtfully surrounded and of little or no value. But
those who live in the Fens, and are neighbours to it know the
contrary ; for first, the Fens breed infinite numbers of serviceable
horses, mares and colts, which till our land and furnish our neigh
bours. Seco ndly, we breed and feed great store of young cattle and
we keep great dairies, which afford great store of butter and cheese
to victual the navy. Multitudes of heifers and Scots and Irish
cattle have been fatted on the Fens, which afford hides and tallow.
Thirdly, we mow off our Fen fodder, which feeds our cows in
winter, which being housed, we gather such quantities of compost
and dung that it enriches our pastures and corn ground, half in half,
-whereby we have the richest and certainest corn land in England,

35
especially for wheat and barley, wherewith by sea we do and can
abundantly provide London and the northern parts in these necessi
ties. Fourth, we keep great flocks of sheep upon the fens.
Fifth, our fens are a great relief not only to our neighbours, the
uplanders, but remote countries in which otherwise some years
thousands of cattle would want food. Sixth, we have great store of
osier, reed and sedge, which are such necessaries as the countries
cannot name them for many uses, and sets many poor on work.
Lastly,we have many thousand cottagers which live in our fens,
which otherwise must go a begging."
The arguments for and against reclamation were thus expressed
in a pamphlet published at the time. It was said that the Fens were
" nurseries and sem inaries " of fish and fowl, which would be destroyed
by the drainage ; that the sedge, turf and reed would likewise be
destroyed, and that many thousands of people then gained their
livelihood by fishing and fowling in the fens, while the turf furnished
fuel for the poor. The answer to this was that a tame sheep was
better than a wild duck ; and a good fat ox than a well grown eel ;
that the sedge would be replaced by good grass and grain, and that
a man would not have any cause to complain who had a suit of
buckram taken from him -and one of velvet given instead.
In addition to the opposition of the natives, other agencies were
brought to bear against the fen Drainers. Satirical poems and
ballads were composed and sung with great applause in the fen
towns, and their cause was even advocated by men of learning and
social standing. Amongst others, Fuller, in his history, speaks of
the attempted enclosure of the fens as a trespass on the divine
prerogative for man to presume to give other bounds to the water
than that which God had appointed ; and he intimates that Provi
dence had specially left this district for the production of fish and
fowl,- and of sedge, turf and reeds.
In isolated spots, scattered over the low, flooded fen part, lived
the Fen Slodgers, the half amphibious beings described by Macaulay,
who got their living by fishing and fowling. These men lived in huts, r
erected on the mounds scattered amongst the chain of lakes, which Lives of the
were bordered with a thick crop of reeds, their only way of access
to one another, and of communication with the towns or villages near,
being by means of small boats or canoes, which they paddled along
with a pole, and also used in their fishing and fowling expeditions.
These men were violently opposed to any attempts to alter the
state of the Fens, believing they had a kind of vested interest in the
fishing and fowling, by which they gained their scanty subsistence.
Although their condition was very miserable, they nevertheless
enjoyed a sort of wild liberty amidst the watery wastes, which they
were not disposed to give up. Though they might alternately burn .
and shiver with ague, and become prematurely bowed and twisted

THE
FEN SLODGERS.

THE FEN CODE
1S49>

36
with rheumatism, still the fen was their native land, such as it
was, and their only source of subsistence, precarious though it might
be. The fens were their commons, on which their geese grazed.
They furnished them with food, though the finding thereof was full
of adventure and hazard. What cared the Fenmen for the drowning
of the land? Did not the water bring them fish, and the fish
attract wild fowl, which they could snare and shoot ? Thus the
proposal to drain the fens and convert them into wholesome and
fruitful lands, however important in a national point of view, as
enlarging the resources and increasing the wealth of the country,
had no attraction whatever in the eyes of the Slodgers. They
muttered their discontent, and everywhere met the reclaimers with
opposition, and frequently assembled to fill up the cuts which the
labourers had dug, and to pull down the banks which they had
constructed ; and to such an extent was this carried that in some
places the men had frequently to work under the protection of an
armed guard. But their numbers were too few, and they were too
widely scattered to make any combined effort at resistance.
In the general management of the Fens, so early as the reign
of Edward VI, a code of fen laws had been enacted for defining the
rights and privileges of the commoners, and for the prevention of
disputes and robbery. The code, drawn up by the Council of the
Duchy of Lancaster at the Great Inquest of the Soke of Boling
broke, held in 1548, was confirmed in Queen Elizabeth's reign,
(1573), and remained in force until the enclosure of the Fens at the
Thompson's beginning of the present century. The code consisted of seventy-
BM(o»,[andoid t%0 articles, a short summary of which may be interesting, as
affording an insight into a state of society now passed away for ever.
One of the first rules related to the brands or marks which
each person who stocked the fens was required to place upon his cattle.
Each parish had a separate mark and no man was allowed to turn
cattle out to common until they were marked with the town brand.
The illustration on the next page shows the character of some of
these brands.
No foreigner, or person not having common right, was allowed
to put cattle on the fens, under a penalty of forty shillings ; fish or
fowl at any time; or gather any turbary or fodder in the East Fen,
without a licence from the approver, under a penalty  for each
offence. Penalties were also attached to the following o'ffences:
putting diseased cattle on the fens ; disturbing the cattle by baiting
with savage dogs ; for leaving any dead animal unburied for more
than three days ; for putting swine on the fen, unrung, or geese
which were not pinioned and foot-marked ; for taking or leaving
dogs there after sunset ; for bringing up crane birds out of the
East Fen. R^ms were not allowed to be kept in the Fen between
St. Luke's day and Lammas. No person was allowed to gather

37
wool who was above twelve years of age, except impotent
persons ; no cattle were to be driven out of the fens, except between
sunrise and sunset ; and no cattle were to be driven out of the fens
during divine service upon the sabbath, or holy days ; all cattle
were to be ' roided ' or ' voided ' out of the East Fen before St.
Barnaby's day, yearly ; no reed thatch, reed star, or bolt was to be
mown before it was of two years' growth ; each sheaf of hatch
gathered or bound up was to be a yard in compass ; wythes were
only to be cut between Michaelmas and May-day ; no man was
allowed to ' rate ' any hemp or flax in the common sewers or drains.
Chajui.
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By an order, passed in Queen Elizabeth's reign, every township
in the parts of Holland, claiming common in the West Fen, was
ordered to show to the Queen's steward,, at the next court-day, its
charter or title to such common right. No swans', cranes', or bitterns'
eggs, or any eggs excepting those of ducks and geese, were allowed
to be brought out of the fens. No fodder was to be mown in the
East or West Fen before Midsummer-day annually. No person
was allowed to use any sort of net or other engine to take or kill
any fowl, commonly called moulted ducks, in any of the fens, before
Midsummer-day, yearly. A code of seventeen articles was also
devised by the fishermen's jury, relative to the fish and fishing in
the fens. The principal fish referred to were pike, eels, roach and

WITHAM ACT
1762.

38
perch. The laws related chiefly to the kind of nets allowed and
to the manner of using them.
Before being sent into the common fen, the live stock were collected
at certain defined places and marked, and again, on being taken off
in the autumn, they were brought to the same place to be claimed
by their owners. Thus in Pinchbeck the stock were collected at
the Market Cross and a due called Hoven was paid. Bailiffs
were appointed to look after the stock. On the marshes in South
Holland a Marsh Reeve was also annually appointed, and a
Marsh Shepherd, their wages being paid by a rate of is. 6d. for each
horse and neat beast, and 3d. for each sheep, grazed on the commons.
The Fens remained in the condition described until the year
1762, when an Act was obtained for the improvement of the low
lands on the Witham. The Witham was straightened and
deepened, the Grand Sluice at Boston erected and the fens drained
and reclaimed. The Witham Act was followed by one for the
better drainage and reclamation of Holland Fen, and of the Black
Sluice District, in 1765. The Act for the enclosure of the East
and West Fens was passed in 1801, and for Deeping Fen about the
same time. The works carried out under these Acts will be
described in the following chapters.
hioh tides Even after these works had been carried out the country was
still subjected to severe losses from floods and high tides. At the
end of the last and the beginning of the present century, several
very high tides occurred which did much damage. On January
1st, 1779, a heavy gale of wind caused the tide to flow unusually
high, to the damage of Boston and the neighbourhood. On
October 19th, 1801, and on November 30th, 1807, high tides
occurred, which flowed so high as to deluge the streets of Boston
and to inundate the houses. Indeed the latter tide caused the water
to rise so high as to enter the church and flow as far as the pulpit.
The extraordinary high tide of November 10th, 1810, was
attended by the most calamitous results, caused by breaches of
the sea banks in several places along the coast. Particulars as to
the damage caused by this tide will be found in the chapter on'
North Holland. In 181 5, a very high tide again flowed over the
banks in some places and did a great deal of injury. In March,
1820, there was a high tide, which rose 4 inches higher than the
tide of 1 8 10. This tide is the highest on record. It proved
disastrous to the private banks enclosing the out-marshes from
Butterwick to Wainfleet. The highest tide in recent years was in
1883. It rose at Boston to within four inches of that of 1810.
The wind had been previously blowing strongly from the North-
West, and this, occuring during equinoctial spring tides, caused the
water to rise four feet three inches above the ordinary height of a
spring tide. The low parts of Boston were flooded. The river

AND STORN

TIDE OF 1BB3.

FABBIT8.

39
banks in Boston Haven, and on the river Welland, had breaches
made in them in several places, but as these only protected modern
enclosures, the flooding of the land and damage was confined to a
comparatively small area.
By so precarious a tenure is the fen land held, and so great is p"zsc"l"„'°"
the necessity for constant and unremitting vigilance and care, that
with the least neglect, only, perhaps, an unseen rat hole, the waving
corn fields maybe turned into a sea of water. So important has every
thing that is conducive to the preservation of these banks been
deemed by the Legislature of the country, that, in an Act passed for
the preservation of Fish in Ponds and Conies in Warrens, in 1765, 5 e°'i765'. *" I4
it was enacted that the provisions as to rabbits should not extend to
the fen banks, the exempting clause reciting that " Whereas great
mischief has been, and still may be, occasioned by the increase of
conies upon the sea and river banks in the County of Lincoln, or
upon the land or ground within a certain distance from the said
banks ; for remedy thereof be it enacted that nothing in this Act
contained shall extend to prevent any person from killing and
destroying, or from taking or carrying away in the day time any
conies that shall be found on any sea or river banks, erected, or to be
erected, for the preservation of the adjoining lands from being over
flowed by the sea or river waters, so far as the flux and reflux of
the tide does extend, or upon any land within one furlong distance
of such banks, but that it shall be lawful for any person to enter
upon any such banks, land or ground, as aforesaid, within the County
of Lincoln, and to kill, destroy, and carry away in the day time, to
his or their own use, any conies so found upon any such, doing as
little damage as may be to the owner or tenant."
This Act was repealed by the 7 & 8, Geo. II, c 27, but a 24 & 25 vict,
similar clause was re-enacted in the 24 & 25 Vict., c. 96, sec. 17,
which runs as follows : — " Provided that nothing in this section
contained shall affect any person taking or killing in the day time
any rabbits on any sea bank or river bank in the County of Lincoln*
so far as the tide shall extend or within one furlong of such bank."
It is also forbidden under the laws of the Court of Sewers to
keep rabbits anywhere near the banks. Thus, by an order of the
Court, sitting at Boston, made in 17 so, two occupiers of land at Minutes.
„ . ° ,,.,,¦ , , Courtof Sewers.
Freiston were presented, as keeping rabbits so near the sea bank as |th juiy, 1750.
to do damage thereto, and were ordered to destroy the rabbits and
restore the damage done to the bank, under a penalty of £"10.
In the Deeping Fen Act of 1856, a penalty of 40/- is provided I9V'?£&' 6s'
for any person who shall be convicted of knowingly permitting any
rabbits or geese to be upon any of the banks or forelands belonging
to Deeping Fen. It is also forbidden that horses or cattle should be the »i<>9.
allowed to go on to the banks, and orders have been made to this Minutes.
effect, from time to time, A presentment having been made that cer- °jan°, ii™ "'

4°
Minutes. tain banks had been damaged by horses and carts using the same, the
Ma" Mta?!!!*! dykereeves were ordered to put up stop gates, to prevent this. The
laws, even in olden times, were very stringent as to the preservation
of the banks. Swine were not allowed to go upon them, unless
they were ringed, under a penalty of one penny — equal to a shilling
of our money. In case of a breach, the Sheriff was authorised to
impress diggers and labourers for repairing the embankments. A
damTg'iV f°" terrible penalty for neglect is mentioned by Harrison, in his preface
banks. to Hollinshed's Chronicle, who says, that " such as having walls or
banks near unto the sea, and do suffer the same to decay, after
convenient admonition, whereby the water entereth and drowneth
up the country, are by a certain ancient custom apprehended,
condemned, and staked in the breach, where they remain for ever a
parcel of the new wall that is to be made upon them, as I have heard
reported." Yet important as the preservation of these ramparts is to the
security of the country, perhaps little thought is given by the
occupier 6f the land as he pursues his daily calling, as to how much
he owes to these works of the ancient Romans. Custom makes all
things common ; and yet when the danger comes the sturdy inde
pendence and self-help, so characteristic of the Fenmen, is called
forth to the fullest extent.
" No one has ever seen a fen bank break without honouring
the stern quiet temper which there is in the fen men, when the
north-easter is blowing above, the spring tide roaring outside, the
brimming tide-way lapping up to the dyke top, or flying over in
sheets of spray ; when round the one fatal thread which is trickling
over the dyke, or worse, through some forgotten rat hole in its side,
hundreds of men are clustered, without tumult, without complaint,
marshalled under their employers, fighting the brute powers of
nature, not for their employer's sake alone, but for the sake of their
own year's labour, and their own year's bread. The sheep have
been driven off the land below : the cattle stand, ranged shivering
on high dykes inland : they will be saved in punts, if the worst be
fall, but a hundred spades, wielded by practised hands, cannot stop
that tiny rat hole. The trickle becomes a rush, the rush a roaring
waterfall. The dyke top trembles — gives. The men make efforts,
desperate, dangerous, as of sailors in a wreck, with faggots, hurdles,
sedge, turf; but the bank will break, and slowly they draw off, sullen,
but uncomplaining ; beaten but not conquered. A new cry rises
among them. Up, to save yonder sluice; that will save yonder lode;
that again yonder farm ; that again some other lode, some other farm,
far back inland, but guessed at instantly by men who have studied
from their youth, as the necessity of their existence, the labyrinthine
drainage of lands which are all below the water level, and where
the inner lands in many cases are lower still than those outside,

C. Kingsley.

4i
" So they hurry away to the nearest farms ; the teams are
harnessed, the waggons filled, and drawn down and emptied ; the
beer cans go round cheerily, and the men work with a sort of savage
joy at being able to do something, if not all, and stop the sluice on
which so much depends. As for the outer land, it is gone past hope ;
through the breach pours a roaring salt cataract, digging out a hole
on the inside of the bank, which remains as a deep sullen pond for
years to come. Hundreds, thousands of pounds are lost already,
past all hope. Be it so, then. At the next neap tide perhaps they
will be able to mend the dyke, and pump the water out ; and begin
again, beaten but not conquered, the same everlasting fight with
wind and wave which their forefathers have waged for now 1800
years." Another telling description of the breaking of a bank in the
Fens will be found in George Manville Fen's Dick 0' the Fens.
in which the fen scenery and surroundings are very vividly and truth
fully described.
The principle on which the drainage of the Fens was originally
designed was that of gravitation, but, as in process of time the peat
subsided, it became necessary to supplement this by steam power.
Further details of the works of drainage, and of the constitution of
the various Commissions which have the control over them, will be
given in connection with the history of each Level. The reclama
tion of the Fens, and their present wonderfully fertile condition, is due
to the ingenuity and perseverance of their inhabitants, aided by the engineers en
1 -ii r 1 1 • 11 tii* ii gageointhe
skill of the most talented engineers who have lived during the last fens.
hundred years. During this period nearly every engineer of
eminence has left his mark on some part of this great level, but pro
minently above all stands the name of John Rennie. Smeaton, the
engineer of the Eddystone Lighthouse ; Telford, the great
road maker and bridge builder ; Labelye, the designer of the
old Westminster Bridge ; Mylne, the builder of old Blackfriars
Bridge ; Cubitt, Brunei, Walker, Robert Stephenson, Hawkesley,
Hawkshaw and Coode, have all been called in at various times ; and
even now it is only by the constant and vigilant attention of skilled
men that the Fens are preserved. The ruin and devastation, the long
and costly litigation,. and the ultimate heavy tax on the land, caused
by the Middle Level inundation in Norfolk, is a sad instance of the
serious consequences arising from neglect, and shows how depend
ent is the preservation of the land on the skill and attention of the
engineer. The change that has come over the Fenland is thus vividly de
scribed by a modern writer. " The Fens, upon which our Danish
fore-elders looked from their upland homes, and into which perhaps streatfeiid's
they sometimes descended for purposes of plunder, are no more. Lt"the'D^nesTd
The vast mere, studded with the island homes of English Colonists

FEN DRAINAGE.

CHAPTER 13.

THE FENLAND
BEFORE AND
AFTER RECLAM
ATION.

42
which stretched from Horncastle and Spilsby to Ramsey and Hun
tingdon has disappeared, and given place to one of the richest
agricultural districts in England. As we contemplate the never
ending fields of corn, and mustard, and potato in our railway jour
ney from Huntingdon to Firsby, we can scarcely repress a sigh
after the beds of osier and sedge, which were so much more
natural, if far less profitable. We, perhaps, confess that things are
better as they are ; yet we cannot dissemble our regret at the
change. Gladly would we recall the water fowl that have taken
their flight from these regions, never to return, save in the form of a
rare and occasional visitant, coming, we may fancy, as the repre
sentative of an exiled race, to weep over the progress of the plough,
and then too often to be ruthlessly butchered by the gun : an
abomination of desolation unknown to the swans and ruffs and
oyster-catchers of happier days, when bird-stuffers and museums
were as yet unknown. Again, as we picture to ourselves the lovely
insects, which, after swarming for ages amid the willows and water
plants of Lincolnshire, have become lost, not only to the county
but to England, within the memory of living man ; or when in some
rich herbarium we examine the faded specimens of aquatic plants,
whose place in the British Isles knows them now no more, how can
we help longing to look out upon the scene that met the eye of
Asgeir, Askr, and Hundolf, as they gazed from their new abodes
over Stickenai, and Sibolsey to Botulfston and Swinesheafod be
yond ? But while much, very much, has gone and much more is
going, it is a thought full of interest that so many natural objects
remain to connect the present with the past. As we gather the
wayside flowers there is pleasure in recollecting that they are sprung
from those which Britons, Romans, Saxons, and Danes have plucked
before us. As we wander through the woods that still remain, is
there no interest in the thought that where the Englishman now shoots
the rabbit and the pheasant, our rude forefathers hunted the wild
boar and waged hereditary warfare on the wolf ? It may be mere
sentiment, but as we hear the shrill whistle of the curlew, or watch
the marshalled ranks of wild geese, as they fly from the salt marsh
to the Wolds we find pleasure in the remembrance that Geirmund
and Ulfric saw the same sights a thousand years ago. It may be
mere sentiment, yet it is sentiment springing from the loving
sympathy that knits one generation to another, and that forms a
bond between man and the world of nature that ministers to his
wants."

43

DUTIES

WITH REGARD
TO RIVERS AND
DRAINS'

CHAPTER II.
The Origin and Constitution of the Court of Sewers.
UNTIL the reign of Henry the VIII, the watercourses and sea
banks of the country may be said to have been without any OF THE cnow"
J J J WITH REGARD
special protection, and great loss was frequently incurred by the
eruption of the tides through neglected banks, and by the flooding
of the country, owing to obstructions in the rivers caused either by
accumulation of deposit, or by weirs and mill dams placed across
them by persons for their own profit and advantage. The difficulty
and uncertainty of obtaining redress by proceedings at common law
led generally to an appeal to the King, for " our ancient monarchs
were much interested in preserving their dominions from the
ravages of the sea, and their subjects were as careful to second
their designs by keeping up a system of drainage. Accordingly, on
the one hand, it is to be found in our legal history, that it was not
only the custom of the Kings of England, but their duty also, to
save and defend the realm against the sea, as well as against
enemies, so that it should neither be drowned nor wasted ; and, on
the other, that to stop the water channels which were made from
time to time, for public or private convenience, was a grievous Callis-
offence punishable by action or indictment, according to the nature
of the wrong ; that it was held that the King's subjects ought by
the common law to have their passage through the realm by bridges
and highways in safety ; so that if the sea walls were broken, or the
sewers and gutters not secured, that the fresh waters might have
their direct course, the King was empowered to grant a commission
to enquire into and hear and determine the defaults." Again,
Fitzherbert says, that " Royal Commissions were granted when the
sea walls were broken, or when the sewers and gutters were in need
of repairs so that the fresh waters could not have their courses ; and
that the Commissions in question issued, because the King was
bound of right so to keep his kingdom against the sea, as that it
were not drowned, or wasted, and also to provide that his subjects i^wo^iewers.
should pass through the kingdom with safety."
By Magna Charta it was provided that no town, nor freeman,
should be distrained to make bridges or banks, but such as of old
time and of right had been accustomed to do so. By which it

44

EARLY COM
MISSIONERS >

6 HenryVI, C 5.
1428.

THE BILL OF
SEWERS ¦
23 Henry VIII,
C;. 153 1-

3 & 4 William
IV, C 22. 1833.

appears that the maintaining of the sea defences had been considered
a special grievance by those who had been distrained for their
repairs. The Commissions, issued by the King, consisted of two or
more persons holding either a judicial position in the kingdom, or of
considerable standing, who were directed to visit the locality and to
hear all complaints, and had power to levy fines and make orders
for the necessary works to be done for repairing and maintaining the
sea banks, and cleansing and keeping open the sewers. They were
issued by virture of the King's prerogative at common law, until
the reign of Henry VI, when it was enacted by Parliament that,
considering the great damage and losses which had happened by
the great inundation of waters in divers parts of the realm — Lin
colnshire being particularly mentioned — and that much greater
damage would be likely to ensue if remedy were not speedily pro
vided, that during the ten years next ensuing several Commissions
of Sewers should be made to divers persons by the Chancellor of
England for the time being, who were to enquire as to the defaulters
to repair the sea banks, and make such orders as they deemed
necessary, with power to fine and distrain those who refused to obey
them. These Commissions were renewed by succeeding Parlia
ments until the sixth year of Henry the VIII, when they were
declared to endure for ever, and the Chancellorwas invested with per
petual authority to grant such Commissions wherever need should
require. This Act was incorporated with another, passed in the 23rd
year of the same reign, called The Bill of Sewers, in which all the
former enactments were contained ; and although some alterations
and additions were made in the reigns of Edward VI and Queen
Elizabeth, yet the. Act passed in the reign of Henry VIII still con
tinues as the chief structure on which the powers and duties of
Commissions of Sewers have been reared. In the reign of William
IV several alterations were made in the original enactment, to
adapt its working to modern times ; but the principle of its
original constitution remained unaltered.
The purpose for which the Court was created was the preser
vation of marsh and low lands, the maintenance of the sea
banks and other defences, and the removal of impediments and
obstructions made in the streams or sewers by the erection of mills,
mill-dams, weirs, gates, &c. It was invested with jurisdiction over
" all walls, fences, ditches, banks, gutters, gates, sewers, callies,
ponds, bridges, rivers, streams, watercourses, &c."
The word Sewer in modern times has a much more restricted,
if not different, meaning attached to it than that originally intended.
The word is now invariably associated with the disposal of the
refuse water from dwelling houses and towns ; whereas formerly, it

45
was applied to water courses and streams in general. Authorities
differ as to the derivation of the word, the opinion of Sergeant
Callis, the great authority on the Law of Sewers, being that it was
the diminutive of a river. Others tracing it to a corruption of the
word issue ; or seoir, to sit, and eau, water ; or to the words sea
and merez The word Gowt, Gote, Goyt, or Goat, which is of frequent
occurence and may also be considered as peculiar to fens
and marshes, is used to express a construction in connection
with drainage, as for instance, Anton's Gowt, Slippery Gowt. The
word is derived from the Saxon, and is defined by Callis to be " an
engine erected and built w:'th percullesses and doors of timber,
stone, or brick." Its use is said by the same authority to be two
fold : the first to cause fresh water which has descended on low
grounds to be let out through them into some creek of the sea •
and the second, to return back salt water direct, which during some
great floods of the sea may have flowed in upon the land. These
structures are now generally known as Sluices, and consist of a
culvert passing through a bank, and provided with doors which
allow the inland water to flow out and prevent the river or sea water
from flowing in and flooding the land inside the bank.
Romney Marsh, a tract of land in the county of Kent, possesses
the distinction of having first drawn up any definite rules for the guid- -
ance of Commissions of Sewers, which formed a precedent for
the custom of all other fens and marshes. Nearly all the Commis
sions, and even the statute of Henry VIII, direct that the laws and
customs of the Commissioners are to be made after the " laws and
customs of Romney Marsh." Thus also, at the building of the
Grand Sluice at Boston, by May Hake, in the reign of Henry VII,
assessment was made to raise the money, and the same was
ordered to be levied " according to the laws of Romney Marsh,"
whence also were derived the offices of Bailiff, Jurats, and
Levellers. These laws were drawn up by Sir Henry de Bathe, a
judge in the reign of Henry III ; and Lord Coke observed, " that
not only those parts of Kent, but all England receive light and
direction from those laws."
The banks and sewers of Romney Marsh were originally placed
under the care of 24 Jurats or Marshmen, chosen by the commoners,
and sworn to do their duty. Their origin and powers were derived
from a charter which had been granted by the King. These
powers not being well defined, and opposition having arisen as to
the order made, Sir Henry de Bathe and two other Commissioners
were empowered by King Henry III to enquire into the matter. At
the request of the Council of the Commonalty of the Marsh, these Com
missioners made and constituted six ordinances for the future good
management of the Marsh, of which the followingis a summary : —

THE LAWS OF
ROMNEY MARSH.

46
I. Twelve men were to be chosen, who, after being sworn, were to
measure the sea banks, the measure being the perch of 20 feet.
By the same measure all the land and tenements subject to
danger in the level were also to be measured. This being done,
the 24 existing Jurats were to set off the several portions along
the bank, and to appoint to every owner his share, which he
should be bound to repair according to the proportion of acres
subject to danger.
2. On danger of a breach of the banks, the Jurats were to meet
together and view the banks, and determine to whom the defence
of the same should be assigned.
3. The Bailiff of the Marsh was then to give notice to the persons
liable to do the work within the time assigned by the Jurats ;
and on default of their doing as ordered, the Bailiff was to make
good the repairs, and the defaulter to be called upon to pay
double the charge incurred ; the sum to be recoverable by a
distress on lands situate within the marsh.
4. When land was held in partnership, the Jurats were to deter
mine the portion to be repaired by each partner, and in default
of any one partner to do the work assigned to him, the work
was to be done by the other partner, who would hold the land
of the defaulter till double the cost incurred was repaid.
5. In case of all the partners being negligent, then the Bailiff was to
do the work, and recover double the cost, by distraint if
necessary.
6. That all the lands in the level should be kept and maintained
against the violence of the sea, and the floods of the fresh waters,
with banks and sewers, by the oath and consideration of 24
Jurats, at the least, for their preservation, as anciently had been
the custom.
At a subsequent Commission, issued by King Edward I, it
was ordered that the Bailiff of the Level should be elected " by the
lords of the towns lying therein or their attornies," and that the
Bailiff so chosen should be a person residing and having lands in
the level. In spite of these ordinances the maintenance of the banks was
continually neglected, and floods occurred ; those who were most
disposed to do the work knowing that, by the carelessness and
neglect of their neighbours, their own lands were still liable to be
drowned.
the court of Notices of several of the Commissions issued by the Crown
sewers. £rom tjme to timej £or tlle pUrp0se 0f preserving the sea banks in
Lincolnshire, and for keeping open the various sewers and water
courses and maintaining the gates and sea defences, have been
already given in the introductory chapter. It is therefore unnecessary
to refer to them again.

47
The Court of Sewers, as now constituted, consists of persons
holding freehold property in any part of the county to which the
Commission belongs, and who have tiualified themselves by taking
the necessary oaths.
Persons qualified must, by the Act of William IV, be in
possession of property in the county in which they shall act as
Commissionors, in their own right or that of their wives, of the yearly
value of j£"ioo ; or of lands held for a term of years of the clear
yearly value of ^faoo ; or be heirs apparent to a person possessed of
freehold property of the clear value of £200 ; or a leaseholder of an
estate for 21 years, of which 10 years are unexpired, of the yearly
value of ^"aoo ; or the agent of qualified persons or bodies corporate
holding freehold property of the yearly value of £300. Every
Commissioner before he can act must take an oath in the form
set out in tho statute of Henry VIII, to perform his
duties faithfully, and also as to his proper qualification. The
Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of a Corporate town within the
Level to which the Commission relates are ex-officio members of
the Court. It will be observed that the word Court is used. The pro
ceedings are not purely ministerial, but are judicial, and, as Callis
observes, " their Court is one of record, and an eminent Court of
record," and so Lord Coke, when writing of courts, enumerates
among them " The Court of Commissioners of Sewers."
In former times tho Commissions only lasted for ten years, or
until the demise of tho reigning sovereign. The commission is now,
by the provisions of 24 & 25 Vict, c. 133, a perpetual body, fresh
members boing added when necessary by an application made by the
Court to the Lord Chancellor.
The Court may meet at such times as its members think fit, but
ten days notice of the intended meeting must be given by advertise
ment in a newspaper of the county. Emergency meetings may be
held on the requisition of the Clark and two members of the Court.
Throo members form a Court, except when the construction of new
works is under consideration, when six are required, and at each
meeting those present elect their chairman. A payment of 4s. is
allowed to each member who attends the Court, to cover his
expenses. The Court has power to direct the sheriff to summon a jury
" to enquire of or concerning any of the matters and things
authorised and directed to be enquired into, under any of the Acts
and Laws of Sewers of old time accustomed, and to administer oaths
to such jury."
The first duty of a new Commission was to summon a jury,
who were to make a presentment as to the persons liable to main
tain and repair, or to contribute towards the repair and maintenance

4»
of all defences, banks, and other works under their jurisdiction ; and
the verdict of such jury, once made, held good during the whole time
of the existence of the Commission.
The Commissioners have power to levy rates, as occasion may
require, for every distinct level, valley, or district ; and to appoint
any surveyors, collectors, treasurers, and other officers for such
district. This is the wording of the Act, but the ordinary course of
proceeding in this district is for each parish to appoint two officers,
called Dykereeves, to lay and collect the necessary rates and
maintain the banks and sewers, — and these appointments, and all that
relates to them, are subject to the approval of the Court. The
Dykereeves present their accounts to the vestry of the parish, at
Easter. For the general expenses of the Court a call is made on
the dykereeves of the several parishes, in proportion to the amount at
which the parish is assessed to the rate. Surveyors are appointed
by the Court itself, who have the general supervision of the works,
and, when defects exist, their duty is to make a presentment to the
Court, which then orders the Dykereeves of the parishes, in which the
work is situated, at once to amend and repair the same and to levy
rates for payment of the cost.
In the Kirton and Skirbeck Wapentakes, a Riding Jury used
annually to make an inspection of the sea banks and works of
Minutes,24"june, drainage, and report to the Court as to any defects. They were
allowed ios. per day for horse hire and expenses in their own
wapentake, and 14s., if they attended out of it. By an order of
Court made in 1818, Dykereeves and Jurors were allowed sums
varying from 4s. 6d. to 6s., for their expenses at the Court, accordingto
the distance of their parish therefrom.
It has been held that the persons liable to be rated to the
Sewers' rates are those whose property, situate within the Commis
sion derives benefit or avoids danger from the execution of the
. works, and that this principle was affirmed by the Act of Henry
VIII, and has been preserved in all subsequent statutes ; and there
fore the rate is leviable according to the value of the property, and
not according to its superficial extent, houses and similar property
being therefore rateable.
The practice has, however, always been in this district, up to
Court of sewers, recent times, to make the rate an acre rate. In 1883, when some
considerable repairs were required to the bank in Skirbeck Quarter,
Counsel's opinion was taken as to whether the rate ought to be levied
on the assessment of the several parishes over which the charge was
spread, instead of making it an acre rate, and on this opinion the
Dykereeves were ordered to have the rate made on the assessment.
In carrying out works, the Commissioners are bound to have
the same executed in a skilful manner and to take all reasonable
precautions to prevent damage being done to other persons. It has

RIDING JURIES.

Court of Sewers

PROPERTY
LIABLE TO RATES

23 April, 1884.

OF
THE COMMIS
SIONERS.

OWN ERSHIP
AND MAINTEN
ANCE OF THE
SEA BANKS.

49
been held that even where Commissioners are a public body, bound liabilities
to discharge a public duty without reward and without funds, they
are liable for the negligence of those whom they employ. This was
decided in the celebrated case of the failure of the Middle Level
Sluice and consequent inundation, (Coe v. Wise). The employ
ment of a competent contractor will not free the Commissioners
from liability, but they must be able to show that the work was
skilfully designed and carried out under the direction of a qualified
superintendent, and that there was no negligence.
The obligation to maintain the sea banks was originally on
those whose lands adjoin the sea, and this was called the Custom of
Frontagers. This duty can only be put off by showing that some
other persons are bound by prescription, or otherwise. This obliga
tion attaches to some lands by the nature of their tenure, although
such lands may not be near the sea. The difficulty, however, of
dealing with individual liabilities, when the safety of a whole Level
depends on immediate action, has in some cases thrown the obliga
tion of repairs, by custom, on the whole township. A few instances
still remain in this county in which individual proprietors are liable ;
and in case such persons do not maintain the particular banks,
sluices, or sewers for which they are liable, after seven days' notice
from the surveyor or dikereeve, the court may order the same to be
done, and the expenses can then be recovered by distress.
At the time of the great tide of 1810, when the whole level was Boston Court of
inundated, the Court of Sewers, sitting at Boston, submitted a case ^nov./iSio68
to Sergeant Lea and Mr. Dampier, two of the most eminent Counsel
of that day, "as to whether the expense of repairing the breaches
in the sea bank, and also of heightening and strengthening the
banks is not chargeable upon the whole level, they being found
insufficient in height for the defence of the country ; whether that
expense must be borne by the parties only who are liable to the
ordinary repairs thereof, and in particular how far the level can in
the present instance be made to extend." The case was afterwards
amended by an enquiry as to whether the Court had the power to
charge the lands in the East Fen and the lowlands adjacent thereto,
on extraordinary occasions, although those lands are in the Lindsey
Division and on ordinary occasions under the jurisdiction of the
Spilsby Court.
Acting on the advice given by Counsel, the Court spread the
charge over the whole level of the Wapentakes of Skirbeck and
Kirton, the extent of land liable and the proportion in which the
money required should be paid being settled by a jury for each
Wapentake, summoned by the Sheriff, at the request of the Court,
for that purpose.
In 1883 on some extensive repairs being done to the bank in Boston court of
... , 1 1 ,1 /-. , 1 Sewers. Minutes
Skirbeck Quarter, which were deemed by the Court to be extraor- ?8 Aug., 1883.

5°
dinary, and not such as persons by prescription could fairly be liable
to, an order was made that the cost of the work of reparation be paid
by the entire district which would be liable to be damaged by a breach.
Orders have also been made by the Court setting aside the
orders making . . . J 1 * 1
banks repair- individual liability of owners m certain parishes, and making the
maintenance of the banks a charge on the whole parish. Thus, a
Court of Sewers, petition having been presented to the Court as to the method of
March "g, 1818. repairing the sea banks in Algarkirk and Fosdyke, a Commission
was appointed to view the banks and report. They made a present
ment to the following effect. That these banks were known as
' best ' and ' worst ' banks and had been maintained on all ordin
ary occasions at the cost of the owners of land, in the proportion of 7
feet of the best banks, and 1 foot of the worst, to every acre of land,
and to every cottage having less than an acre attached thereto ; that
by a verdict made in 1800 the proportion had been set out by
boundary posts, but that these had all been displaced, owing to the works
rendered necessary by the great tide of 18 10 ; that by this system
it was found very inconvenient and difficult to get repairs executed,
and to enforce payment by the parties charged with the same ;
and that it was desirable that the whole system should be changed, and
that, for the future, on all ordinary occasions, the banks should be
repaired by the landowners chargeable with the dykereeve rate, by
an equal rate in proportion to their holdings, to which course also
the Vestries of the parishes had offered no objection. The Court
accordingly ordered that this presentment should be adopted and
made a law of Sewers.
As regards the ownership of of the^banks, Callis says, that " the
the sea banks, ownership of a bank of the sea belongs to him whose grounds are
next adjoining, according to the principle adopted concerning high
ways." This ownership, of course, is only a limited one. The
freehold belongs to the frontager or other person entitled thereto,
and all advantages and privileges, as the herbage of the bank, &c,
are his ; but the Court of Sewers has complete control over the
bank, and the owner cannot do any act to injure the safety or
stability of the samev The custom with respect to the herbage of
the banks is various. There can be no doubt that originally, where
the frontager was liable to repair, this herbage naturally belonged
to him ; but when this obligation of repair was shifted to the town
ship or parish, the privileges attaching, in most cases, went with it,
as a means, partly, of defraying the expense of the maintenance of the
banks. In many parishes the grass on the banks is regularly let,
and the proceeds carried to the credit of the parish fund ; in others
the banks have been treated as common or waste land and sold
under Inclosure Awards ; while again, in other parishes the frontagers
still continue to exercise this right. Custom has operated so long
in each case as to have created a right.

DAMAGE CAUSED
f STORMS AN
HIGH TIDES.

5*
A frontager liable for the repair of a sea bank, which is under
the jurisdiction ot the Court, can only be made to carry out reason- av storms and
able repairs, and is only liable for damage due to negligence on the
part of himself or his predecessors. He cannot be held answerable
for damage caused by extraordinary high tides, tempests, or floods.
During an extraordinary storm and high tide which occurred in
January, 1 881, considerable damage was done to a sea wall in the
Fobbing Level in Essex. The owner of the land repaired the sea bank,
under an order of the Court of Sewers, and then sued the Court for the
expenses incurred in so doing. Evidence was given to show that the
owners of this land had, from time to time, repaired this bank ; and that,
about seven years previously, on an order of the Court, in common with missioned of
other frontagers, they had raised the height of the bank. It was held 'Hing level" '
that the evidence of these repairs did not make the owner of the land
liable to a large and indefinite liability, such as that caused by ex
traordinary tides and floods, but only to damage due to ordinary
causes and negligence.
The Court of Sewers has not a general jurisdiction over all sea
banks, simply because they are a means of defending. the land from
the invasion of the sea, but only over banks which have been placed
specially under their control. A case bearing on this was tried at
the Norfolk Summer Assizes of 1885, where an action was brought west Norfolk
against an owner of land to recover damages for loss sustained from faa„yUr"v, 2rch-
the flowing of the tide through a gap in the bank, and, a nonsuit being dale-
entered, this was appealed against in the Queen's Bench Division, in
December 1885, and confirmed ; and, on being carried to the
Court of Appeal, in the following March, it was again upheld. The
facts of the case were as follows. The defendant in the case was the
owner of land near Lynn, abutting on the river Nar, at its junction
with the Ouse. On this land was an old river bank, which was
situated some distance back from the river, an outer bank having
been erected at the same time nearer the river. The defendant, or
his tenant, had for the purpose of his business, cut through this inner
bank, and made a considerable opening in it. In March, 1883,
there occurred an extraordinary high tide in the river Ouse, which
was higher than any tide known within the memory of living man.
The water poured through the opening and flooded the premises of
the plaintiffs, doing very considerable damage. The plaintiffs con
tended (1) That the inner bank was an ancient bank, erected for the
protection of the adjacent lands, which the owner of the land was
bound to maintain for the benefit of the adjoining owners ; or at
least to leave in an undamaged condition. (2) That the bank was
vested in the Court of Sewers, and that, therefore, the act of the
defendant, on the authority of the case, Attorney General v.
Tomline, in cutting through it was actionable. At the trial the
Judge ruled that no sufficient evidence was given to connect the

52
defendant with the act complained of. The only evidence as to the
liability to re pair was that' the tenant had previously done repairs,
which was held to be insufficient. Upon the question of this bank's
being under the control of the Court of Sewers, the evidence was also
held to be insufficient, no presentment of this bank having been pro
duced. The only evidence given was that a Commission had issued,
vestingthe sea defences of Norfolk in the Commissioners. There was,
however, in this case an outside bank, the date of which was un
known, and which might have been the ancient bank. He, there
fore, withdrew the case from the jury, and entered a nonsuit. On
the appeal, the Judge held that the plaintiff's case rested on two
alternatives, either that the bank was an ancient bank, which the
defendant was bound to maintain ratione tenura, or that the bank was
under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Sewers. Upon the
first point the evidence was not sufficient ; and on the second it was
held that the mere fact that the bank was an old one was not suf
ficient to bring it within the jurisdiction of the Commissioners, there
being no evidence of any exercise of jurisdiction over it. The 47th
section of the Act of 4 William IV only showed what banks the
Commissioners might, if the proper steps were taken, bring within
their jurisdiction : so that a protecting bank does not ipso facto vest
in the Commissioners.
Throughout the greater part of South Lincolnshire sea banks
have been erected outside the old Roman bank, either by private
owners or by special Acts obtained by the parishes. The repair of
these banks does not come under the jurisdiction of the Court.
When the obligation to maintain these banks is not defined under
the powers by which they were erected, disputes have arisen as to
Hudson v. Tabor the liability of one frontager to another for damage caused by neglect.
- Formerly the liability to repair sea ban ks and defences against the
sea was regarded as a public duty, but a case was decided otherwise
in 1876. The land of a proprietor in Essex, abutting on a tidal
creek, was flooded during an extraordinary high tide, and he brought
an action against an adjoining frontager, for having neglected to
maintain his portion of the bank. At the trial there were no evi
dence to show that the defendant was bound by prescription to
repair the bank, and the Court held that the mere fact of each owner
having for his own protection kept up the wall did not establish a
liability to do so for the protection of an adjoining owner, and that
the length of time during which such repairs had continued added
nothing to the argument. The plaintiff also contended that as it
was the duty of the Crown to protect lands adjoining the sea from
being flooded, that therefore the liability must be capable of enforce
ment : but the Court held that there was no obligation at common law
to repair, and that as this bank was not under the jurisdiction of the
Court of Sewers, the Crown, through the Court, could not be called

53
on to order the bank to be maintained. While this case settles that
a frontager is not bound, at common law, to maintain his portion of
a sea bank, and that he is not necessarily responsible for injury
caused to the adjoining lands by a breach, it has, on the other hand,
been decided that if injury arises from interference with any natural
barrier, such as a bank of shingle, by which interference damage °™omtine'a
is caused by the tide or waves, the person causing such damage
will be liable, and that it is the duty of the Crown to afford protec
tion to the land of the subject. A clear distinction in this case is
drawn between artificial and natural barriers.
Where the obligation is imposed, either by any special enact
ment of the legislature or by prescription, on Commissioners, or
others, to maintain sea or river banks against floods, if the damage
is caused by extraordinary floods, and no negligence can be shown,
and if all reasonable precautions have been taken, there will be
no liability as to damage caused by such floods. During a flood in
the river Glen, in 1872, a breach of the bank occurred, and a large Hardwick v.
area of land was inundated. An action was brought to recover
damages against the Black Sluice Commissioners, the parties liable
for the maintenance of the bank. The case was tried at the Lincoln
Spring Assizes ini873. The question left to the jury was, whether the
bank in question was in a fit and proper condition to protect the
lands from such floods as might reasonably be contemplated.
The jury finding in the affirmative, the verdict was recorded for the
defendants, and was afterwards held good on appeal. On the other
hand, in the case of a breach which occurred in the banks of the
South Delph, during an unusual flood in the river Witham, the Gna^Northem
Great Northern Railway Company were found liable for the damage Rallwfany. Com"
caused, the evidence satisfying the jury, at the Lincoln Assizes,
where the case was tried, that the liability to repair the bank
rested on them ; that repairs which had been executed by the
Company had not been done in a skilful manner ; and that the
breach was not due to the backing up of water owing to the default
of the river Commissioners. On appeal, this verdict was sustained.
In connection with the ownership of the sea banks it will not ownership of
be out of place to refer to the great dispute which took place in
the reign of Edward III, between the Abbots of Peterborough and
Swineshead, as to the proprietorship of the marsh land on the
exterior of the banks of Bicker Haven, which accreted by the
deposition of the alluvium washed up by the tides, a process which
was evidently going on rapidly in those days. The various com
missions, arbitrations and trials concerning this suit were spread
over a period of 25 years, and it was only finally settled by an appeal
to Parliament. The contention appears to have been as to the
ownership of certain marshes in Gosberton (part of Bicker Haven)
which had accreted, and which lay in front of the manor of the Abbot

LANDS COVERED
BY THE TIDE-

54
of Swineshead, on which ground he claimed it. The Abbot of Peter
borough, on the other hand, set up a claim, because, although the
land lay in front of the Abbot of Swineshead's Manor, it was separa
ted from it by a creek, the accretion having gradually extended
from the Manor of Peterborough in a lateral direction, so as to over
lap the land of the adjoining proprietor. The following is an
account of the commencement of the proceedings: — "Memorandum.
Dugdaie-s That in the year of our Lord MCCCXLII, 16 Edward III, the
EmDmSgand Abbot of Swinesheved and Sir Nicholas de Ry, Knight, did implead
the Abbot of Peterborough for CCCXL acres of marsh, with the
appurtenances, in Gosberchirche, viz., the Abbot of Swinesheved
for CC and Sir Nicholas for CXL, by two writs. And the first day
of the Assizes at Lincolne was on Wednesday, being the morrow
after the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula ; at which time there came
thither Gilbert de Stanford, then Celerer to the convent, John de
Achirche, bailiff of the said Abbot's Mannors ; together with Sir
John de Wilughby, Lord of Eresby ; Sir John de Kirketon, and Sir
Saier de Rochford, knights ; John de Multon, parson of Skirbek, as
also divers others of the said Abbot's Counsel. And because the
defence of this suit seemed difficult and costly to the Abbot, in
regard that his adversaries had privately and subtilly made the
whole country against him, especially the Wapentake of Kirketon,
he submitted to an amicable treaty of peace, on the day preceding
the assize, the place of their meeting being in the chapter house of
Lincolne : at which treaty, in the presence of Sir Nicholas de
Cantilupe (who was the principal mediator betwixt them, as a friend
to both sides) and other knights and friends, above specified, the
said Abbot of Swynesheved and Sir Nicholas de Ry did set forth
their claim in that marsh ; affirming that it did belong to them by
right, by the custom of the country ; because that it was increased
and grown to their own ancient marshes by addition of sand which
the sea had by its flowings cast up ; insomuch as by that means
coming to be firm land, they said that they ought to enjoy it, as far
as Salten Ee ; and in regard that the said Abbot of Peterborough
had possessed himself thereof, contrary to right, and against the said
custom, they had brought the assize of novel disseizin in form aforesaid.
Whereunto the Counsel for the Abbot of Peterborough
answered that the custom of this province of Holand, so stated by
the plaintiffs, ought thus to be understood and qualified, viz., that
when, by such addition of any silt or sand, there should happen an
increase of land, and, by the sea's leaving thereof, become firm
ground, it ought to belong unto him to whose firm and solid ground
it first joined itself, without any respect whether it grew directly to
it, or at one side. And they further said that the before specified
marsh did originally join itself to the ancient marsh of the said
Abbot of Peterborough, whereof that monastery had been seized

55
time beyond memory, as it appeared by Domesday Book, where it is
recorded that the Abbot of Peterborough had XVI salt pans in
Donington ; moreover, in the Charter of King Richard I,
there were confirmed to the said Abbot three carucates of land, with
the salt pans and pastures, and all their appurtenances, in Holland ;
so that the said soil, increasing little by little, ought not to belong to
the Abbot of Swinesheved and Sir Nicholas, according to the custom
of the country ; because that a certain part of Salten Ee, which
was not then dry land, did lye betwixt the old marsh belonging to
the said Abbot of Swinesheved and Sir Nicholas, and the marsh
whereof they pretended to be disseized ; which part of Salten Ee
could not at all be drained ; because that the fresh waters used to
run through that place from the parts of Kesteven to the sea."
It will be unnecessary to follow the case through all its various
stages. The final settlement was made by six arbitrators who
awarded that the Abbot of Peterborough was to pay a certain sum
of money to the others, and they in return were to give up all their
right to the marsh. " And as to the future increase of ground,
which might happen to either party, that it should be enjoyed by
him to whose land it did lie most contiguous." And this was con
firmed by the Parliament which sat in the seventeenth year of the
reign of King Edward III. The question was again raised and was
not finally settled till the 41st year of King Edward's reign, " when
was that memorable verdict touching the customs of the country,
that the lords of manors adjoining to the sea should enjoy the land
which is raised by silt and sand, which the tides do cast up."
It is now held that the title to the fore-shore, between high and
low water mark, is in the Crown, the department charged with its
care being the Board of Trade. By ancient grant, charter, or pre
scription, it may have become vested in the subject, and purchases
from the Crown are now frequently made.
Land gradually and imperceptibly formed by alluvium, until its
surface reaches above the level of ordinary high water, becomes the
property of the owner of the land to which it is attached.
The Court of Sewers has power, besides the maintenance of old
and existing defences, to improve existing works, when it is neces- of c"o"rt
sary for the more effectually defending and securing any lands
within the jurisdiction of the Court, against the irruption or over
flowing of the sea, or the draining and carrying off of the superfluous
waters. When the cost of such works exceeds £"1000, plans
and estimates must be prepared and notice given by advertise
ment for two months previous to the order being made ; notices,
also, must be affixed to the church doors of the parishes, for three
successive Sundays. If the proprietors of half the rateable area
dissent, the Commissioners cannot proceed with the work. If there
is no such dissent, the Court can borrow money for the execution

POWER

SEWERS TO EXE
CUTE WORKS-

FORMATION OF
NEW COURTS OF
SEWERS'

COURTS.

56
of such works, to be repaid within a period not exceeding four
teen years.
With regard to the soil thrown out of a sewer when it is being
cleaned out, widened or deepened, this may be removed by the
frontager for his own use (3 and 4 William IV, c. 22, clauses 22 and
23.) But if he does not remove it within six months the Commis
sioners can order the owner or occupier to remove it, or they can
themselves remove or dispose of it.
Under the Land Drainage Act of 1861, Commissions of Sewers
may, with the approval of the Inclosure Commissioners, be issued
for districts where they have not formerly existed, if it can be shown
that the state of the drainage is such as to require some controlling
body to superintend the outfalls ; but as the Act also gives the
option between a Commission of Sewers or an Elective Drainage
District, the latter method has been generally adopted in these places
where the provisions of the Act have been applied.
Lincolnshire Thus it will be seen that the Court of Sewers is not only an
ancient but a very important body of Commissioners, with respon
sible duties and extensive powers. They can summon juries,
administer oaths, lay rates, levy fines, and issue distresses. Many
of their acts are judicial, and can only be set aside by appeals to the
higher courts. Before the existence of the Witham, Black Sluice,
Deeping Fen, South Holland, and other Drainage Commissions, the
whole of the sewers and banks in this neighbourhood were under
the control and management of the Court of Sewers, and even now
there are few parishes which do not, to some extent, depend on the
sewers, gotes, and sluices of the Court of Sewers for their drainage.
Although there are several Courts in Lincolnshire, the Com
mission extends to the whole county, and the members have the
right of attending and voting at any of the Courts, a privilege which
is sometimes taken advantage of on important occasions, or when
the appointment of a clerk or other officer is made. As a rule, how
ever, the members confine their attendances to the Court which has
jurisdiction over the neighbourhood in which they reside.
The two Courts in the division of Holland are that for the
Wapentake of Skirbsck and Kirton, in the north ; and of Elloe, in
the south. A full exposition of the law relating to Courts of Sewers and
copies of the various Sewers Acts will be found in a work published
in 1884, by Messrs. G. G. Kenedy, Recorder of Grantham, and J. S.
Sanders, of the Midland Circuit.

57

SKIRBECK HUN
DRED.
Map. Fig. g.

KIRTON HUN
DRED.

CHAPTER III.
North Holland Parishes.
NORTH HOLLAND contains the Hundreds of. Skirbeck and
Kirton. The Skirbeck Hundred includes all the parishes
lying on the east coast, between the Witham and the Lindsey Divi
sion, known as the East Holland Towns, namely, Boston, Skirbeck,
Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Leverton, Benington, Leake and
Wrangle. The Kirton Hundred includes the following parishes,
lying south of the Witham, and between this river and the Ham
mond Beckon the west, viz., Algarkirk, Bicker, Brothertoft, Doning-
ton, Fosdyke, Frampton, Gosberton, Kirton, Quadring, Skirbeck Map- Fig' I0'
Quarter, Sutterton, Swineshead, Surfleet, Wigtoft and Wyberton ;
also the following places, formerly extra-parochial, viz., Hart's
Grounds, North Forty Foot Bank, Amber Hill, Great and Little Beats,
Copping Syke, Drainage Marsh, Ferry Corner Plot, The Friths,
Hall Hills, Pelham's- Lands, Pepper Gowt Plot, Seven Acres, Shuff
Fen, Simon Weir and South of Witham. Skirbeck Hundred con
tains, exclusive of the Borough of Boston, 29,064 acres ; Kirton
Hundred 63,513 acres ; and the new parochialised places 6,929 acres.
The sewers and ancient sea banks in North Holland are
under the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers for the Wapentakes,
or Hundreds, of Skirbeck and Kirton, which meets at Boston. The
former includes the parishes on the coast, north of the river
Witham,. known as the East Holland Towns, and also Friskney and
Sibsey, which, although in the Lindsey Division of the County, are
under the jurisdiction of the Boston Court. The fen portion of
these hundreds has been withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the
Court, the East and West Fens being in the Fourth District of the
Witham Commission ; and the fens in the Kirton Hundred, in the
Black Sluice District.
Owing to enclosures which have been made during the present
century, the ancient sea banks are now nearly all inland, the excep
tions in North Holland being a short length in the parishes of
Skirbeck and Skirbeck Quarter, both on the river, and part of the
bank in Freiston and Wrangle.
The principal parish sewers in North Holland empty themselves
either into the Hobhole, or the Maud Foster, Drain, but a few
discharge their contents by sluices through the sea bank.

drainage and
sea banks.

HAMMOND BECK-

58
The drains in the Kirton Wapentake are larger and of more
importance than those in the Skirbeck Hundred, and most of them
have two outfalls, one into Boston Haven, or the river Welland, on
the east side, and the other into the Hammond Beck on the west
side, the sewers running continuously from one outfall to the other.
The principal watercourse is the Hammond Beck which is pro
bably a natural stream straightened and improved by the Romans. It
is eighteen miles long. It commences at a short distance north of the
Glen, in the parish of Pinchbeck, and formerly discharged direct into
Boston Haven, but now fallsintothe Black Sluice. Itforms the bound
ary between the fen and the high land. Its outfall into the Haven
was at the point where the Parish of Boston and the Hamlet of
Skirbeck Quarter join. It was formerly navigable for small boats,
and a bridge was built to carry the road from Boston to Kirton over
it. The remains of the old sluice and bridge were uncovered in
1835, and the arch was found to be 6ft. wide and 6ft. high. There
were two pointing doors each 5ft. 6in. high and 3ft. wide. This
Boston? s Sluice was probably erected in 1597.
The channel and banks of this stream were formerly under the
jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers, and were maintained by
the parishes through which it passed. Frequent references are
made to its condition in the old Inquisitions of the Court of Sewers,
and in 171 3 the Court ordered it to be made 24 feet wide and 4 feet
deep, as decreed by the Redstone Gowt Law. By the Act of 1765,
it was transferred to the Black Sluice Commissioners, who now
maintain it.
The other ancient sewers, frequently referred to, are the Rise-
gate Eau, the Ouse Mer Lode, which formerly emptied into
Bicker Haven, but now into the Risegate Eau ; the ' River of
Byker,' which commences at Bicker Gauntlet, and, running through
the village, forms the eastern boundary of the parish of Donington,
and also formerly discharged into Bicker Haven ; and the old Beche
drain, which forms the boundary, for part of the way, between
Pinchbeck and Surfleet, and discharges into the Glen.
The Glen, (called the 'River of Surfleet,' where it passed
through that parish), before it was placed under the charge of the
present Commission, was under the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers,
and its banks and channel were maintained by the parishes through
which it passed. It was a constant source of trouble, and frequent
references were made in the old Inquisitions, to the flooding caused by
neglect to maintain it in proper order.
A rather singular dispute as to the drainage of this district
occurred in the reign of Edward I (1283). The Abbot of Peter
borough brought an action against Ranulph de Rye and others for
putting him out of possession of his freehold, consisting of 40 acres of
marsh at Gosberton. The defendants pleaded in defence that eighteen

DUGDALE.

59
years previously the sea had made a hollow in the land of the Abbot ;
which continuing for a long time, they afterwards drained it, and
that they were justified in so doing because " the custom of that
country was such that whensoever the sea did by its raging over
flow any man's lands, and, meeting with any resistance, or upon its
going back, waste away any of the said land, and make a hollow
place, no man ought to fill up that place, but to cleanse and drain it
for the common benefit of the country, and so to let it remain in the
same condition that the sea first leftit." The jurors, however, found
that the land was "the several ground of the Abbot, in which ho person
without his leave had anything to do" ; that a great flood had hap
pened which broke the Abbot's bank, which breach the Abbot had
repaired as was lawful for him to do, and that the said defendants
had afterwards made a ditch upon the soil of the Abbot, against his
leave, and excluded him from coming to the marsh. The Abbot
had judgment to recover his seizin and twenty shillings damages.
In the twenty-third year of Edward I, at an Inquisition held commissions
J J , .OF SEWERS
at Gosberton, it was found that the water from the sewers in 1293.
Donington ought to have a free passage into the river of Byker,
which runneth to the sea (Bicker Haven), and to be opened at all
times, except when there should happen an abundance of water that
the sewers could not suffice, but that the province of Holand would
be drowned ; in such case it was to be lawful for them to stop the said
sewers. It was also found that the channel of Byker ought to be
repaired by the town of Byker ; that the sewer of Quadring Ee ought
to be repaired on one side by the town of Quadring, and on the other
by the town of Gosberchirche, and thence to the sea by the town of
Surflet, and that the river of Surflet (the Glen) into which the
Beche did descend, ought to be 16ft. wide, and that it was then so
straightened by the men of Surflet, and raised to such a height,
that the water of Beche could not have its current to sea as formerly.
That the Hachelode was a common sewer, and ought to be ift. wide
at its entrance from the marsh, and, lower down, 6ft. as far as the sea,
and be repaired by the town of Pinchebec till it came to the sea.
In the ninth year of the reign of Edward II, at an Inquisition 13le_
held at Boston, orders were made relating to the same sewers ; and,
with reference to the river of Byker, that it would be proper that the
town of Byker, for its own benefit and commodity of the whole
country, should make a certain clow with two doors, each of them
4ft. in breadth ; which clow should be always open, unless a great
inundation of the sea should happen.
At the same Inquisition it was also found that the sewer
called the Hammond Beck, at the South End of Boston, was
obstructed by the inhabitants of that town, on the west part
of the bridge, and also by the inhabitants of Skirbeck ; and that
it ought to be repaired by the said men of Boston.

6o
In the thirty-fifth year of Edward III, a Commission, having
made enquiry, found that "Wigtoft Gote ought to be repaired by the
towns of Wygtoft and Swinesheved, that the town of Swinesheved
ought to repair Swineshed Ee from the north side of Swinesheved
unto Bicker Ee, that the towns of Bicker, Donington, Quadring and
Gosberkirk ought to repair Bicker Ee from the bsginning of Bicker
to the sea, and to make it 24ft. in breadth and 6ft. in depth ; viz.,
the town of Bicker to Bonstake, and from thence the town of Doning
ton to Quadring, and from thence Quadring and the Commoners there
of to Gosberkirke, and Gosberkirke to the sea, and that it ought to run
all the year. It was also presented that the gutter of Quadring called
Augot was broken ; and that it was necessary that it should be
removed nearer to the sea by a hundred perches ; as also that the
ditches wherein the salt water came should be stopped ; moreover,
that the Gote called Sangote in Gosberkirke was ruinous and that
it ought to be repaired by the owners of certain lands in Surflete
and Gosberton ; and that the Newgote of Surfleet ought to be
repaired and made 2ft. deep, by the town of Surfleet unto Totis-
brige ; and that the town of Gosberkirke ought to maintain the gutter
called the Thurgote, because at that time the said town and Surflete
were almost drowned by an arm of the sea, which grew by reason
of the said gutter and Salten Ee." The Jurors also " presented that
the sea banks and others belonging to Surflete, Gosberkirke and
Quadring were too weak and low " ; and the town's representatives
having acknowledged before the Shire-reeve that they ought of right to
repair them, ' ' they were amerced and distrained thereto ; and the town
of Sotterton with all the rest were likewise amerced, because they
came in by great distress."
In the forty-ninth year of Edward III, a Jury found that the towns
of Wiberton, Frampton, Kirton and the West of Boston ought to re
pair and maintain the E dykes from the Schust to Deynboth ; as also
the towns of Swynesheved and Wyktofte ought to scour the sewer
called Swineshed Ee from Candleby Hill to Bicker Ee. In the follow
ing year the inhabitants of Surflete acknowledged that they ought to
repair a bridge in Surflete and cleanse the river of Burne (the Glen),
every fourth year, from Newsende in Pinchbec Marsh, which
ought to be repaired by the town of Pinchebec unto Surflet, and
and from Surflet to the sea, according to a decree made by the
Justices of Sewers for those parts.
From this time up to the reign of Elizabeth there is no record
in Dugdale of any order of importance as to the banks and sewers
of this part of the county. In the fifteenth year of Elizabeth's reign
an Inquisition sitting at Boston found that the Mer Lode could not
convey away the water falling thereinto, and decreed that it should
be scoured and made 16ft. wide and 6ft. deep, from the infall out
of the Fen, unto a certain place called Elwood Elmes, by the town-

6i
ships of Quadring and Donington ; and that from here it should be
turned and made of the like breadth and depth by the inhabitants of
the said town of Quadring to Gosberton Ee, and at the falling thereof
into the said Ee there should be a substantial stone bridge made
and erected for the public roadway, at the charges of Quadring and
Donyngton, and likewise a dam at Partye Bridge ; and moreover that
the inhabitants of Quadring and Donington should for ever after
enjoy, for the commodity of their said watercourse of Merlode, the
same drain called Gosberton Ee, under the sea dyke, from the infall
of Merlode thereinto. In consideration whereof it was decreed that
Quadring and Donington should make another drain in Gosberkirk
Ee, to stop and turn the watercourse of Rysegate from the old
course towards the sea dyke at a place near Challan Bridge, where
it was decreed that a bridge should be made at the charge of Quad-
ring and Donington, and that these townships should scour a new
drain to be called the Newe Ee of Surflet and Gosberkirk, which
would be beneficial for the speedy conveyance of the water of
Kesteven and Holand from the said old course in Rysegate Ee by
the same New Ee. By a decree of Sewers, made at Helpringham
three years later, it was reported that the "New Gote, set in the sea
dyke of Surflet, did of a sudden, after three weeks settling thereof,
sink into a quicksand, and it was ordered that the same should be made
again, more substantially, and set upon a better and firmer founda
tion ;" also that two new bridges should be erected upon the
Newdike sewer at Rysgate Ee-mouth by the inhabitants of Gosber
kirke and Surflete, one in Quadring up-Fen for the road coming
from Westrop, and the other within the limits of Byker in Heken-
dale Wathe, of such height as boats might well pass under ; also
that one bridge over the sewer at Kyrton Fen, another at Frampton
Fen, and another at Lichfield End, should be repaired by the town
ships and persons who of right ought to do the same, and that they
should be of 12ft. in breadth and of height sufficient for boats to
pass under.
The history of the Risegate Eau will be found further on, and
other orders of the Court of Sewers, in the chapter on the Black Sluice.
The sewers in North Holland are divided into two classes, the
first being public sewers maintained by the Dykereeves of the re
spective parishes out of the rates, and the other private or petty
sewers, which are maintained by the frontagers.
The last Inquisition, Presentment and Verdict for the wapen
takes of Skirbeck and Kirton, was made in 1862. The jury, for both
wapentakes, consisted of Joseph Pocklington, Algarkirk ; John
Ward, Boston ; John H. Farr, Boston West ; James Lancaster,
Boston ; Thomas L. Clayton, Boston West ; Samuel Belton,
Boston West ; Joseph Perry, Boston ; John Hurl, Boston ; Jona
than Fox, Brothertoft ; John Roberts, Wyberton ; Charles Benton,

verdict of leap.

62
Frampton ; George Ward, Frampton ; Robert Ownsworth, Kirton
Fen ; George W. Hides, Sutterton Fen ; Richardson Dring, Sut
terton Fen ; James Sharp, Sutterton Fen ; George Wadsley,
Sutterton Fen ; Richard Sellers, Sutterton Fen ; William Wadsley,
Algarkirk Fen ; Jonathan Ward, Algarkirk Fen ; Edward Woods
Ullyatt, Algarkirk Fen ; William Plant Harrison, Frithville ; John
Bland, Frith Bank ; David Lawrence, Frith Bank ; John Foun
tain, Kirton Fen ; Frederick Cooke being then clerk of the Court,
and Frederick Lyon Hopkins, chairman.
A list of the banks and sewers presented at this Inquisition will
be found in the appendix. The total area of land, as determined
thereat, was 20,214 acres in Skirbeck Hundred, and 30,483
acres in Kirton Wapentake.
The sea and river banks protecting North Holland from the
sea banks. tides have been a constant source of trouble, and the minutes of the
Court Of Sewers contain numerous records of breaches, and orders
made on the persons liable for repairs. Thus, in 1713, it is recorded
that by the rage and violence of the spring tides, the haven banks,
west of Shuff Fen, had been overflowed, and the Sheriff was asked
to summon a Jury to examine the same ; and again, in 1715, it was
presented that the banks protecting Wildmore Fen were in a defec
tive condition, and full of 'gooles.'
The most disastrous results to the country from breaches and
overflowings of the banks were from the great tide of 1810. This
occurrence was thus described at the time.
" On Saturday morning, about seven o'clock, it began to rain at
Boston, and continued to do so throughout the day. The wind ac
companied the rain impetuously from E.S.E., and gradually in-
^iov'.,i3,G!oio.e' creasea- in roughness. From eleven o'clock in the day till six in the
evening, it blew extremely hard ; and from that hour till nine, a
perfect hurricane. The consequence of this continued gale for so
many hours in one point was, that the tide in the evening came in with
great rapidity, and rose, half an hour before the expected time of full
flood, to a height exceeding by four inches what it is recorded to have
-attained on any occasion preceding. The consternation produced
by the rise of water several feet above its usual level, may well be
imagined to be excessive. Houses, which on no occasion whatever
before had been invaded by the tide, were now, by its over-pouring
all probable bounds, filled to a great depth with the water, which
rushed into kitchens and cellars, and inundated every apartment
until it found its level. Whole streets were thus circumstanced ;
and some were for two or three hours inacessible but to those who
' had resolution enough to wade up to the knees. The performance
of divine service on Sunday in the parish church, Boston, was pre
vented by the tide on the preceding evening having completely
¦ flooded the area appropriated to public worship. The height of the

GREAT GALE
. -- 1B10.

63
water against the western end of the steeple, was two feet eight
inches and a half — four inches higher than in the year 1807.
Friskney new sea bank was broken by the tide in two or three
places ; Leverton new sea bank the same ; of Freiston new bank
scarcely a vestige was left ; the old bank, also, in that parish was
broken in many places, as was Boston East old bank, and the banks
at Skirbeck Quarter, Wyberton, Frampton, and Fosdyke. — It may
be well here to observe, that the new banks are those lately made
on the enclosure of the marshes from the sea, but are not relied upon
for the defence of the country at large. The old sea banks, un
happily for the country, have proved insufficient in height, as the
surge passed over them almost along the whole line : and this was the
cause of the breaches, — the overflow having first scoured away the
banks, from the summit to the base, on tlie land side. The situation
of the country, in consequence, from Wainfleet almost to Spalding
a distance of 30 miles, is such as exceeds our powers of description.
The hotel (Plummer's) at Freiston Shore was for some hours
in danger of being quite washed down ; the great bow window of
the dining-room, although a considerable height from the ground,
was forced from the building by the water, and carried to the dis
tance of several fields. Dead sheep are seen lying in numbers
from every road that is passable. The roads from Boston to
wards the sea at Fosdyke Wash are nearly impassable, being horse-
belly deep in water, and the communications along the sea banks
are cut off by the breaches in them ; but the Court of Sewers is sit
ting daily at Boston, issuing orders for the security of the country.
What was an extraordinary thing was, that the tide, when it
had flowed to its highest, did not perceptibly subside for more than
an hour." For several days the water remained on the land, and was so
deep that the Commissioners appointed by the Court of Sewers to
view the banks at Fosdyke were unable to do this, as the roads
leading from Boston to Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, and Algar
kirk, were so completely inundated as to be impassable on horse
back. This tide rose 4ft. 7^in. above an ordinary spring tide, or
I7'93ft- above ordnance datum, and from 6ft. to 10ft. above the
surface of the land. There is a mark cut on the west side of the
tower of Boston Church, showing the height to which the church
yard was flooded.
The Court of Sewers met at Boston on the following day, court of
Sunday, when it was reported that the whole line of sea bank within s™"%™\™les
the two wapentakes, extending from Friskney to Fosdyke, was over
flowed in places, and several large breaches made, particularly in the
parishes of Boston East, Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Boston West,
Skirbeck Quarter, Frampton, Kirton, Algarkirk, Fosdyke and
Surfleet. The Court appointed John Farnsworth, for the Kirton

64
wapentake, and Francis Pinkerton, for the Skirbeck wapentake as
' particular surveyors,' with unlimited powers to employ men and
obtain materials for repairing the breaches. At a subsequent Court)
Court ot Sewers. - .
Minutes Mr. John Renme of London was appointed engineer, to examine
the banks, and report as to the works to be done to make the same
secure for the future ; and Anthony Bower, of Lincoln, was ap
pointed to take the levels of the banks from Friskney to Fosdyke,
with cross sections of the same. They were also directed to ascer
tain the extent of the country liable to be flooded, which would
be benefited by raising and strengthening the banks.
j. Rennie, At a Court of Sewers held at the Guildhall,' Boston, on the i ith
e .4, i 12. peb_ T812, the report of Mr. Rennie was read, in which he stated
that he had examined the sea banks from Wainfleet to the Grand
Sluice at Boston, and thence, on the north-east side of the river, to
the river Glen ; and that by his direction Mr. A. Bower had taken
levels of the banks. These levels showed that the lowest part of
the bank, from Wainfleet to Boston, was only one foot above ordi
nary spring tides, and that from Boston to the Five Towns Sluice,
on the river Welland, the banks were above the level of ordinary
spring tides. The ancient bank, over which the Court had jurisdic
tion, was round Bicker Haven, but owing to the enclosure of
this estuary, the interior banks were much neglected, and in many
paces were under the level of spring tides ; and in their then
condition they were not generally calculated to resist much more
than the ordinary spring tides. He advised that all the banks
should be raised and strengthened, the sea-slope being brought to a
batter of 5 to 1 and the land-slope of 2 to 1. The estimated cost from
Friskney to Boston was ^"21,511 ; and from Boston to the south
west side of Bicker Haven, including a new bank on the Glen,
£1 1 ,467, both estimates being exclusive of land required for getting
materials. As regards the land that would continue to be inundated if the
breaches made by the tide of 1810 had not been repaired, Mr.
Rennie stated, in a subsequent report, that, as far as he could form
March 16, 1812. an opinion, the tidal water would be stopped on the west side of the
Witham, by the banks of the Black Sluice Drain, Hammond Beck,
Pinchbeck township, the river Glen, and the Vernatts ; on the
east, by the banks of Frith Bank Drain, Newdike to Freiston
Common, Hobhole Drain to Benington Bridge, Lade Bank Drain,
and on to the Steeping river bank and the high lands in Wainfleet.
The Court, having considered the report, resolved " that the
""Minutes'6™' plan recommended by Mr. Rennie for strengthening and heighten-
Feb. n, 1812. jng ^ sea ^3^3 jn ^e Wapentakes of Skirbeck and Kirton, for
the more effectual defence and preservation of the country against
the sea, is of too serious a magnitude to be adopted at the present,
and that therefore this Court will confine its deliberations to the

Court of Sewers,

65
business of repairing the breaches and defects in the sea banks, and
placing the country in the same state of security that it was deemed
to be in immediately previous to the 10th of November, 1810."
The Court after duly considering the cost of making a survey and
obtaining levels of the land, came to the conclusion that all the lands
within the Wapentakes of Skirbeck and Kirton were, with some small
exceptions, considerably below the high water mark of the 1810 tide,
and that the whole level should be subjected to charge accordingly.
Special Juries were summoned by the Sheriff of the County to view
the lands in the Skirbeck and Kirton Wapentakes, and determine
which of those lands ought to be brought into charge upon the level.
At a subsequent Court, George Meeds, the foreman of the
Skirbeck Jury, presented the verdict, by which it was found that Ta„^utj|'
the parishes were liable in the following proportions : —
Kirton Wapentake. Assessment Per Acre.
a. r. p. s. d.
Skirbeck Quarter... ... 439 o o 10 o
Wyberton ... ... 1522 20 10 0
Frampton ... ... 1987 3 21 70
Kirton ... ... ... 3150 20 60
Swineshead ... ... 1264 00 26
Wigtoft... ... ... 1477 30 40
Sutterton ... ... 1791 30 50
Algarkirk ... ... 1617 30 70
Fosdyke ... ... 815 20 90
Quadring ... ... 1208 20 20
Quadring Hundred ... 519 2 o 26
Gosberton ... ... 2614 20 30
Surfleet ... ... 2025 10 50
20,434 1 21
Special Collectors were appointed for each parish, to gather in
the rate. The verdict of the Skirbeck Jury was presented at another court of sewers
Court by Mr. Joshua Aspland, the foreman, and the lands held Marehis\si8i3.
liable were assessed, as follows : —

Skirbeck

Wapentake.

Assessment, Per Acre.

a.

r. p.

s. d.

Boston East

468
3 *3
6 8
Skirbeck
¦¦¦ 2394
2 17
6 8
Fishtoft...
2087
0 38
5 0
Fishtoft Hundred
369
0 2
4 0
Freiston
¦•¦ 3135
0 37
6 8
Butterwick
1251
2 32
4 0
Benington
1886
0 5
3 4
Leverton
...
2236
0 31
2 8
Leake ...
... 4123
2 26
2 0
Wrangle
... 4727
0 35
1 6
Friskney
4220
3 19
1 2
26,900 2 15
66

Thompson's Boston.

high tide of ibis.

SEA BANKS
RAISED.
Court of Sewers.
Minutes,
27 Nov., 1817.
LEVEL STONES.

Court of Sewers.
Minutes,
21 Oct.., 1820
25 Nov., 1820
15 Dec, 1820

HEIGHT OF SEA
BANKS.

The verdict of the Jury in each case was ordered to be made
' A Law and Ordinance of the Sewers.' The amount required for
repairing the breaches and the other expenses relating thereto was
ordered to be raised by an acre-tax upon the lands set out in the
verdict. From the above verdict it would appear that the cost of
making good the damage and strengthening the banks amounted to
^"5,662 in Kirton Hundred and ^4,794 in Skirbeck.
One account states that the loss sustained throughout Holland
was very large, great numbers of sheep and cattle being drowned
and corn and hay stacks swept away. The damage done was
estimated at ^16,840 for individual losses, injury to the public sea
banks at ^3,500, and to private sea banks at ^"8,000, or ^28,340 in all.
A subscription was set on foot to relieve in some degree the distress
of those who had been injured by this great calamity. It is evident
that the damage to the sea banks is much under-estimated in the
above account.
In February, 1816, a very high tide occurred, which covered the
top of the sea banks in several places, by as much as from six to nine
inches. A Jury was summoned by the Sheriff to view the condition
of the sea banks, and, on their report, Mr. Farnsworth was appointed
by the Court ' Particular Surveyor ' of the sea banks which were
presented as defective, and he was directed to furnish the dykereeves
with a specification of the manner in which the said defective
work should be made good.
Under this and other orders, the banks, particularly in Skirbeck
Quarter, Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, Algarkirk, Fosdyke, Boston,
Skirbeck, Fishtoft and Freiston, were raised and strengthened in the
defective places, and land was purchased for the purpose.
The Riding Jury who viewed the sea banks in 1820 made a
presentment that, owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the proper
heights to which the banks should be maintained, it was desirable
that level stones should be affixed, in each parish, with figures cut
in them giving the height at which the top of the bank should be
above these stones. Mr. J. Cole was accordingly appointed by the
Court to take the necessary levels, and these stones were fixed ac
cording to his directions.
The top of the sea bank was ordered to be two feet above the
great tide of 1810. This makes the bank 6ft. 7m. above ordinary
spring tides, or 19-936:. above Ordnance datum. The heights given
on the stones will be found in the Abstract of the Jury of 1862.
[Appendix viii.)
The Sewers' rates, laid in the several parishes in recent
years, amount to about the following sums. In addition to these,
special rates have been laid to pay the interest and instalments
of loans raised for the works done to the Five Towns and Risegate
Eau Drains.

67

Skirbeck Hundred.

Kirton Hundred

Boston East ...

2d.

in the

£

Boston West 2d.

in

the/

Sibsey

4d.

per acre

Skirbeck Quarter 6d.

per acre

Fishtoft

3d-

a

Wyberton .

.. 4d.

JJ
Fishtoft Hundred
2d.
jj
Frampton .
• 3d-
it
Leake
3d.
a
Algarkirk .
• • 5d.
tt
Wrangle
3d.
tt
Sutterton .
6d.
a
Butterwick . . .
3d-
tt
Fosdyke
6d.
j j
Friskney
3d-
tt
Kirton
• 3d.
a
Skirbeck
6d.
tt
Wigtoft .
IS.
a
Leverton
4d.
))
Quadring .
. 4d.
a
Freiston
6d.
a
Gosberton .
. 4d.
a
Benington
5d-
it
SwinesheadNorth 6d.
a
PARISH SEWERS.
,, South6d. ,,
Surfleet 6d. ,,
In the following pages, the system of drainage of each separate
parish is described, so far as it is under the jurisdiction of the Court
of Sewers, and abstracts are given of the Acts which have been passed
for the enclosure of the common lands in these parishes, and for the
embankment of the marshes.
Boston. — The drainage of the lands in this Parish is by several
sewers. On the east side of the town the principal sewer discharges
at a sluice, formerly known as Dipple Gowt, into the River Witham,
immediately below the Grand Sluice. It is now entirely covered
over. It passes through the town in a circular course, under the
Red Lion Hotel, the Corn Exchange, and at the back of the
Grammar School, to another sluice at the Ferry at the end of St.
John's lane, where tidal water is taken in for flushing it. Other
smaller sewers run down Main Ridge and Chapel street, and, also
another, under Bargate Green, discharge into Maud Foster Drain.
A sewer, commencing at Frith Bank and running along the Frith
Bank road, Robin Hood's walk, Norfolk street (formerly Sluice Lane)
and then across the end of North street, empties into Bargate drain
near Bargate Bridge (formerly Pedder's Bridge). This sewer is
also covered over where it passes through the town. On the West
side the main outlet was formerly into Hammond Beck in Skirbeck
Quarter. This sewer continued as an open drain at the back of King
street and Liquorpond street, and also extended to West street and
Fydell marsh. The outfall of this sewer, is into the Haven in
Skirbeck Quarter. The lower part now consists of a large
brick culvert. The remainder of this open sewer has been filled in
and superseded by brick sewers under the streets. That portion of
the Parish known as Boston West, formerly part of Holland Fen, is
dealt with in the account of the Second District.
Early in the present century, an Act was obtained for enclosing
the common lands, containing 1,388 acres, lying between Hilldyke,
and Long Hedges and Willoughby Hills, commonly known as 50 Geo. m, c. 50,
Boston East, and also the lands allotted to the Parish of Boston in
BOSTON EAST
ENCLOSURE.
I8IO.
68

TRANSFER OF
LAND TO OTHER
PARISHES, 18S1.

BOSTON WEST.

INCLOSURE ACT.
7 Geo. iii, 1767.
10 Geo. iii, c 40,
1770.
2 Geo. iii, c no,
1771.

the East and West Fens under the Enclosure Act of 1801. John
Burcham of Coningsby, Charles Wedge of Westley Bottom, and
Anthony Bower of Lincoln, were appointed Commissioners for
dividing and allotting these lands. For the purpose of estimat
ing the value of the land, Robert Millington of Gedney, William
Thacker of Langrett Ferry, and Thomas Rockliffe ofFulletby were
appointed 'quality men, valuers and appraisers.' The Commissioners
were allowed three guineas a day, including their expenses, and the
Quality Men two guineas, for their services. The Commissioners were
empowered to make roads and drains, and to allot three acres of land to
the Surveyor of Highways for the repair of the roads. The Mayor and
Burgesses of Boston, as Lords of the Manor, were to have one thirtieth
part of the commonable lands in Boston East, and in lieu of the
tithes, of which they were the owners, one ninth part of the common
and a plot, equal in value to one fifth of the arable land there under
cultivation, and two seventieths of the other land, in lieu of great and
small tithes, whilst the renTainder was to be allotted amongst the
owners of houses and toftsteads. The award when made was to be
enrolled with the Town Clerk and he was bound to supply copies of
any part thereof at the rate of four pence per sheet of 72 words, and
to allow any person interested in the award to inspect the same for
a fee of one shilling.
The land dealt with by this Act was transferred from Boston
parish, under the divided Parishes Act, in 1881 and 1882 ; that in
the East Fen, containing 397 acres, to Leake ; the allotment in the
West Fen at Carrington, containing 25 acres, to that parish ; the
allotments in the West Fen at Mount Pleasant, containing 880 acres,
to Frithville and that at Boston East, about 770 acres, to Fishtoft.
Boston West is in the Kirton Wapentake, and runs by the side
of the river Witham, from Boston nearly to Langrick Ferry, being
bounded on the south by the North Forty Foot drain, and on the
west by the parish of Brothertoft. It contains 1,502a. 2r. 5p., and
forms part of the Municipal Borough of Boston. It elects one
member on the Black Sluice Commission. It was allotted to the
parish of Boston by the award made under the Holland Fen
Enclosure Act, and was divided and allotted under the powers of an
Act, obtained in 177 1, for dividing and enclosing the common fen
belonging to Boston West. The quantity allotted was 1,513a.
3r. 14P, the difference between the rateable area and this quantity
being due to roads and drains.
. Thomas Staveley of Kirton, Peter Packharness of Benington,
and William Elstobb of London were appointed Commissioners to
allot the land, and to set out the roads (which were to be sixty feet
wide and to become highways) , bridges and drains. They were to be paid
^84 each for their time and expenses. The award was to be enrolled
with the Clerk of the Peace for the division of Holland, and be open

DRAINAGE.

SCIRE BECK.

69
to inspection on payment of a fee of one shilling and two pence for
every hundred words copied. This award was printed and issued by
C. Preston of Boston. Sixty acres ofland abutting on Hall Hills road
were sold by auction by the Commissioners to pay the expenses, in
lots of ten acres, at an average price of ^"42 an acre.
The principal drain of the district commences at the north west
part, near Brothertoft, and discharges into the North Forty Foot
Drain, nearwhere the New Cut commences. The drainage is under
the jurisdiction of the Second Witham District Commissioners.
This district is subject to the sixpenny and eightpenny Witham drainage rates.
Second District Tax ; the sixpenny Black Sluice rate ; the Witham
Outfall rate ; and the Second District Interior Rate.
Skirbeck. — The principal drain for this parish, before the
works were carried out for draining the Fens, was the Scire Beck,
which commences near High Hills, at the north-west extremity of
the parish, whence it runs along Robin Hood's Walk, crossing
Norfolk-street, and running towards the present Bargate Bridge. At
the point where it crossed Bargate near Mill Hill, it was spanned by
Pedder's Bridge, whence it ran nearly in the same direction as the
present Maud Foster Drain, its course, however, being very tor
tuous. Near Mount Bridge it diverged to the west, passing near
the Muster Roll Houses, and, after crossing the Skirbeck-road, joined
Boston Haven by an outlet a little below the site of the old Gallows
Mills, which were situated where the south end of Boston dock now
is. The upper part of the drain is still open, and in use. The
middle part may be traced by the boundary line between the
parishes of Boston and Skirbeck. The lower part has been converted
into a brick sewer, and discharges into Maud Foster Drain near the
Muster Roll Houses. The oak framing and planking of the old
culvert and sluice in the river bank, which had been abandoned
since the cutting of Maud Foster drain in the 17th century, was
laid bare when the river bank was removed during the construction
of the dock.
The whole of the drainage of this parish discharges into Maud
Foster drain, except a small area, which drains into the Graft Drain
in Fishtoft. The outlet into Maud Foster is on the east side, near
Bargate Bridge, and on the west side by two sluices near the Boston
Cemetery. By an arrangement, made in 1881 and confirmed by the Court graft drain.
of Sewers, the land which drains into the Graft pays the parish of Minutes,"
Fishtoft at the rate of threepence an acre. . 6 Au°'* l8Sl'
The liability to repair the sea bank, until recently, devolved on
the owners of a large number of plots ofland, but is now undertaken
by the Dykereeves, on behalf of the parish. A great part of the
bank was either removed or superseded when the Boston Dock was
built.

DRAINAGE.

SEA BANK,

70

ENCLOSURES.
7 Geo. iii, 1767

58 Geo. iii, 1818.

TRANSFER OF
LAND TO SIBSEY.

GRAFT DRAIN.

Thompson's Boston.

FISHTOFT GOTE,
1711.

INCLOSURE.
50 Geo. iii, c. 53.
Itiio.

By the award made under the West Fen Enclosure Act 446a.
ir. 29P. of land were allotted to this parish in the West Fen.
There were also in the parish other commonable salt marshes and
commonable lands, and an act was obtained in 181 8 for enclosing
and allotting these. John Bircham of Coningsby was appointed
Commissioner for the purpose. The act directed that two acres
should be set out for the repair of the roads and that the herbage of
this should be let by the Surveyor, and the rents applied to the
repair of the roads ; the Lord of the Manor was to be allotted one
thirty- fifth in value of the marsh and other commonable lands, in lieu
of his rights, and the rector and vicar 193a. 3r. in the West Fen,
in lieu of both great and small tithes. A public road, called Watson's
Hum, was set out, 30ft. wide. The Award is dated 19th November,
1833, and is deposited at the Sessions House, Boston, and the charge
for copying, as fixed by the Act, was fourpence per sheet of 72 words.
The allotment belonging to this parish in the West Fen was
transferred by order of the Local Government Board, in 1880, con
firmed by the Act 44 Vict. c. 17, to Sibsey.
Fishtoft. — The principal sewer is the Graft Drain, which com
mences at the northern extremity of the parish, near Willoughby
Hills, and, running nearly through its centre terminates at the river
Witham, a little above the outfall of Hobhole Drain. It was formerly
"a creek of considerable magnitude, which flowed from near Fishtoft
Church to the neighbourhood of the present Hobhole Sluice, and it
is stated that persons still living remember fishermen drying their
nets on the Churchyard wall."
In 171 1, a Law of Sewers was enacted for erecting anew Gote
where the old Fishtoft Gote formerly stood, which had blown up
and become dilapidated. The new Gote was made of good and sub
stantial wood and timber, 40ft. long, 3ft. 8in. wide and 4ft. deep,
with two doors, hung on hinges. Robert Clarke and Thomas Lote
of Fishtoft, were appointed Surveyors General of the work ; and an
order was made on the owners of land in the parish for the cost,
which amounted to ^"243 8s. 8d.
The portion of the creek between the Sluice and the river was
known as ' Scotia Creek.' This name was taken from a steam
boat, named the Scotia, which traded between London and
Boston, before the river was straightened and improved, and was
docked in this creek.
Within the last few years, owing to a defect in the Gote, it has
been abandoned, and the drainage diverted into Hobhole Drain.
The lands allotted to thisParish in the East and West Fen, con.
taining 2,794 acres, and other commonable and waste lands, were en
closed under an Act obtained in 1810. The preamble recites that
there were in this parish several open fields and ings, contain
ing together 2,795 acres, and marshes containing 95 acres ; and that

7i

this common land was intermixed and dispersed, and, therefore, in
capable of improvement, and it was desirable that it should be
divided and inclosed. This commonable land consisted principally
of allotments in the East, West and Wildmore Fens. There were also
some small pieces of waste land within the boundary of the parish,
and some salt .marshes, which had accreted on the coast. The Com
missioners appointed by the Act to divide this land were John Bur.
cham of Coningsby, William Whitelocke of Brotherton, and
Charles Wedge of Westley Bottom ; but the award was subsequently
made by William Simonds, William Porter and Samuel Vessey.
Their remuneration was fixed at three guineas a day, while engaged,
and was to include travelling and other personal expenses. They
were empowered to alter the roads, to make drains where required ;
to allot a plot, not exceeding two acres, for the repair of the highways,
(the herbage from the same to be let by the Highway Surveyor) ; to
allot to the Rector, in lieu of all tithes, a plot of land in the West or
Wildmore Fen, equal in value to one-fifth part of all the arable land
in the parish, which was in cultivation at the time, and one-tenth of
the open fields and ings, and one-ninth of the marshes and other
commonable lands. The cost of the enclosure was to be met by the
sale of sufficient land.
The public roads set out under the award were, the Hum
Road, 30ft. wide ; Gay's Field Road, 30ft. ; Bailey's Acre Road,
30ft. ; Church Green Road, 40ft. ; Burton Croft Road, 30ft. ;
Clamp Gate Road, 30ft. ; Penhill Field Lane, 30ft. ; Wythes
Road, 30ft. ; Freiston Low Road, 30ft. ; Freiston High Road,
60ft. ; Ings Road, 15ft. ; Medlam Drain Bank, 50ft. ; Whistley
Bridge Road, part 15ft., and the remainder 30ft. ; Mere; Booth
Road, part 20ft., and part 40ft. ; and Leeds Gate Road, 25ft.
The award is deposited at the Sessions House, Boston.
The outlying portion of Fishtoft, then inclosed, was taken from
the Parish in 1881 and added to other Parishes under the Divided
Parishes Act, that in Wildmore Fen being transferred to
Langrick-ville, and that in the West Fen, known as Fishtoft Fen,
to Frithville. At the same time, land at Willoughby Hills and Long
Hedges, taken from the parish of Boston, was added to the Parish
of Fishtoft. About a hundred years ago the area of the parish was increased
by the enclosure of 176 acres of salt marsh from the estuary, now
known as the Milk House Farm ; and by another enclosure of
50 acres, being part of the bed of the old river and known as the Blue
Anchor Bight. When the new cut was made for the river Witham
through Burton's Marsh, in 1833, a small part of the parish was severed
and is now divided by the channel of the river. In 1872, another
small enclosure was made and added to the Milk House Farm, but
the greater part of this enclosure was taken for the new bed of the

ALTERATION OF
PARISH.

ENCLOSURE C
SALT MARSH.

DRAINAGE.

ENCLOSURE OF
MARSHES.
48 Geo. iii, 1808.

ALTERATION OF
PARISHES.

GEA BANKS.

72
Outfall. In the Court of Sewers' verdict the Parish is divided into
two parts, namely Fishtoft and Fishtoft Hundred.
Freiston and Butterwick. — These Parishes are drained by a
number of small sewers, discharging by culverts emptying into Hob
hole Drain. The lands lying outside the Roman Bank in Butter
wick drain by a sluice in the sea bank, about half a mile below the
Coastguard station.
In 1733, a Petition was presented to the Court of Sewers, by
the parishes of Freiston, Butterwick and Fishtoft Hundred stating
that there was a great want of fresh water for the cattle, and that
this could be supplied by means of a water engine placed near the
Howdyke Drain in Freiston, and that this engine would also be
useful in better draining the parish. The Court accordingly made an
order sanctioning the erection of the engine.
In the beginning of the present century, an Act was obtained
for embanking the salt marshes in the parishes of Freiston and
Butterwick, and for enclosing the same and also other common
lands. The area of land embanked from the sea, lying outside the.
Roman Bank, was 300 acres. The open fields and ings enclosed were
1,500 acres and also about 100 acres of waste ground. A Committee,
consisting of John Linton, Samuel Barnard, John Coupland, Richard
Hanson, William Plummer, Richard Bazlinton and Henry Cook,
was appointed to superintend the works relating to the embanking
and draining of the marsh, which were to be carried out under the
direction of an engineer. The Enclosure Commissioners were John
Burcham of Coningsby, William Whitelock of Brotherton, and John
Bonner of Langton, their remuneration being fixed at three guineas a
day, including expenses. They were directed to enclose and allot
the commonable lands, alter roads and make drains and sluices,
where necessary ; to allot 2 acres to the Surveyors of Highways for
the purpose of getting materials for the repair of the roads ; to sell
sufficient land to pay expenses, and to allot the remainder in the pro
portion of one half to the owners of houses having common rights
and the other to owners of land and of the tithes. On
completion of the Enclosure Works a Surveyor was to be appointed
to take charge of the same by the majority of the owners of the
marshes present, at a meeting to be held on the Thursday in Easter
week. The Surveyor was empowered to levy rates for the mainten
ance of the bank. A special rate, not to exceed ^"io an acre, can
be laid at a meeting of not less than three proprietors.
The Allotments in the West Fen belonging to Freiston were trans
ferred to the new Parish of West Fen, and those in the East Fen be
longing to Butterwick, to Leake, under an order of the Local Govern
ment Board of Dec. 1 88 1 , which was confirmed by the Act 44 Vict . C. xvii.
The ancient sea bank in this parish is nearly three miles in
length. It suffered very severely during the great tide of 1810,

73
after which it was heightened and strengthened. The duty of keep
ing it in repair devolved on a great number of the owners of land in
the parish, whose respective lengths were set out by boundary posts.
There are no less than 900 portions of bank so set out, the propor
tion being calculated at the rate of 5^ft. of bank to one acre of
land. By an order of the Court of Sewers the bank is now repaired
by the Dykereeves, the cost being paid out of the dykereeve rate.
In 1 89 1 a petition was presented to the Court of Sewers, pray- Boston Court of
ing that the whole of the Sewers' work in the parish might be done Minutes',
by the Dykereeves, but it was held by the Court that the petition 9 July' lS8*'
could not be legally granted.
Benington. — That part of this parish which is inside the drainage.
Roman bank, is drained by sewers, discharging into Hobhole drain.
The land outside the Roman bank discharges its drainage at Ben
ington Gowt in the sea bank, and by another smaller sluice about
three-quarters of a mile more to the north.
In 1815 an Act was obtained for embanking and enclosing the embankment
common lands in this parish, consisting of "527 acres, allotted to the ,"°ENI;|-MU"
ac 55 Geo- "'¦ c- 86i
parish in the East Fen by the award made under the Act of 1801. 1815.
A plot, containing 400 acres, was allotted to the Rector, in lieu of all
tithes. In 1880 this outlying portion of the parish in the East Fen
was transferred to Leake.
The marsh enclosed outside the Roman Bank is about one
mile in length, and half a mile wide.
Leake. — This parish is drained by sewers, which discharge into drainage.
Hobhole drain, the principal outlets being at Benington and Simon
House bridges. The land outside the Roman bank discharges its
drainage by a sluice in the sea bank, which was probably built in
1749, as an order was made by the Court of Sewers at that time
for a new outfall sluice to be erected for Leake and Leverton
parishes. In 1810 an Act was obtained for enclosing and dividing the inclosure act.
common lands, and for making provision for the maintenance of the 5° Gea 111,0.127,
new sea bank. The Act provides for a meeting of the owners of
lands, to be held yearly on the Thursday in Easter week, when a
surveyor is to be appointed, and a rate laid for the maintenance of
the new sea bank, and also of the ancient sewers bank, and all
other works connected therewith.
The allotments to this parish, under the Fen Enclosure Acts,
in the East Fen, amounted to 1,523 acres.
The outlying lands, consisting of allotments in the East Fen
in the Parishes of Benington, Boston, Butterwick, Leverton and
Revesby, were transferred to this parish in 1881.
Leverton. — This parish is drained by sewers which discharge
into Hobhole drain, the principal outlet being at the Ings Bridge.
The land outside the Roman bank discharges its drainage by two

ALTERATION PARISH-

DRAINAGE.

74
sluices in the sea bank, the principal of which is 4ft. in diameter.
In 1735 this parish complained that the Benington land, being higher
than theirs, caused injury by overflowing the land from Scott's dyke ;
and an order was made by the Court of Sewers that Benington should
embank Scott's dyke and should pay dykereeve rate to Leverton
for the Ings land which drains to Leverton drain.
inclosure act. In 1810 an Act was obtained for inclosing the common lands
5? G!i0-8m' c- and providing for the repairs of the new sea bank.
A tract of marsh land containing 395 acres had been embanked
sea banks. ;n z g0 1 , at a cost of ^5,000. The bank in this parish is i£ miles
long and about half a mile nearer the sea than the old bank. No
sufficient provision was made for the maintenance of the banks. It
was therefore provided by the Act of 1810 that an annual meeting
should be held on Thursday in Easter week, when a Surveyor was
to be appointed and rates laid. The Surveyor was- empowered to
maintain and repair the new bank and the ancient sewer's bank, and
the drains, sluices and other works belonging to the enclosed land.
The Commissioners appointed to allot and divide the common lands
were Samuel Vessey, William Simonds and William Porter.
The outlying portions of this parish in the West Fen were trans
ferred by the Act 24 Vict. c. 17, in 1881, to the new parish of West
Fen, and those in the East Fen to Leake.
The amount raised by special taxation for the sea banks, accord
ing to the return of 1892-3, was ^"20, of which ^"16 was spent on
works and £1 on management. In the previous year, work cost
Wrangle. The newly enclosed land in this parish is drained
by sewers which discharge by sluices in the sea bank. The
remainder of the parish discharges its waters into sewers which
communicate with those of the Fourth Witham District, and through
them into Hobhole Drain, the principal outlet being at Lade
Bank. In 1807 an Act was obtained for enclosing and dividing Wrangle
47 Geo. iii, 1807. Common, containing 1,250 acres, and also other common lands amount
ing to 1 50 acres. The Commissioners for carrying out the Act were
John Burcham of Coningsby and William Whitelock of Brotherton.
The Commissioners were empowered to make such drains and roads
as they considered necessary, to allot two acres of land to the Sur
veyors of Highways for the repair of the roads ; 35 acres were to be
allotted in satisfaction of the manorial rights ; one-ninth part of the
common was to be allotted to the Impropriator of the tithes, and a
plot equal in area to one-fifth of the arable lands within the parish,
and two-sevenths of all the other lands. One moiety of the re
mainder was to be divided amongst the owners of houses in Wrangle,
having right of common, and the other half amongst the owners of
land having right of common.

alteration of
parish,

EXPENDI TURE.

DRAINAGE.

INCLOSURE ACT.

INCLOSURE AND
EMBANKMENT ACT.

75
A tract of marsh land outside the Roman bank about half a M*R,H tNOI-<,a-
URE.
mile in width was enclosed, in this and the adjoining parish of
Friskney, in the year 1808.
Friskney. This parish is in the Lindsey Division, but is drainage.
within the jurisdiction of the Boston Court of Sewers. The sewers
in this parish discharge into the Fodderdyke and other drains belong
ing to the Fourth Witham District and thence into Hobhole. The
marsh enclosure, outside the Roman bank, drains through a sluice in
the new bank.
A large area of low land in this parish was, previous to its the fens.
enclosure, generally flooded for six months in the year, the water oidfieid-s wain-
seldom entirely subsiding until the month of May, or later. The
fen land was known as the Moss-berry or Cranberry Fen, from the
quantities of cranberries which grew in it. In some favourable
seasons, as many as 4,000 pecks were collected, the average being
2,000. The price paid to those who picked them was 5/- a peck.
Friskney was also noted for its decoys and the immense quantity
of wild fowl caught in them. In one season, prior to the enclosure
of the fens, ten decoys, five of which were in Friskney, furnished
31,200 duck, widgeon and teal for the London markets.
In 1809, an Act was obtained for embanking and enclosing the
salt marsh outside the Roman bank, and also for enclosing and
dividing ' the moss or moor ground, open fields and commonable 49 Geo. iii, 1809.
lands.' A Committee was appointed under the Act for superintend
ing the embankment and the draining of the marshes, consisting of Sir
James Winter Lake, Edward Greathead, Thomas Booth, Edward
Shaw, the Rev. Joseph Walls, Joseph Hunt and Thomas Hunt
Oliver, each being allowed five shillings a day for his expenses.
The works were to be done under the direction of an Engineer
appointed by the Committee, who were authorised to lay a tax on
the owners of the marsh land for defraying the cost of embanking.
After the work was completed, it was to be placed under the charge
of a Surveyor, appointed annually, at a meeting of the proprietors to
be held on the Thursday in Easter week, who was to be paid such
yearly salary as should be thought reasonable at the time of his
appointment. The Surveyor is authorized to lay an acre rate, such
being approved by a majority present at a meeting of the proprietors.
In default of payment, an application may be made to a Justice of
the Peace for the parts of Lindsey to order a distress.
The Act also directs that the- owners and occupiers of the newly
embanked marshes and also of the old embanked marshes shall
keep the boundary ditches 4ft. wide, at the top, and 3ft. deep, and
cause the same, from time to time, to be roaded and scoured, and
bridges and tunnels to be laid where necessary. In default, after 1 4 days
notice, the work is to be done and the defaulter charged with the
cost.

THE HAVEN.

76
For enclosing and dividing the common land, Anthony Bower
was appointed Commissioner. The usual powers were given to make
roads and drains ; two acres were to be allotted to the Surveyor of
Highways for the maintenance of the roads ; one thirtieth part of
the commonable lands to the Duchy of Lancaster as owner of the
manorial rights ; one half of the remainder amongst the owners of
houses having right of common, and the rest amongst the
owners of land having right of common.
The Award, when enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace for the
Parts of Lindsey, was to be deposited in the Church at Friskney.
The area of the Fen Land was 813 acres, and there were also
137 acres of other common land. The area of the marsh enclosed
from the sea was 620 acres.
bank rates. The amount raised by taxation for the sea embankments in
1892-3 was ^"24, the expenditure on works was ^21 (in the pre
vious year ^22) and on management, £5.
Wainfleet. This parish is in the Lindsey division and under
the jurisdiction of the Spilsby Court of Sewers, but its general drainage
system is intimately mixed up with that of the East Fen and the
Fourth District. Wainfleet was a town in the time of the Romans,
being then called Vainona. Dr. Stukeley says that the haven was
then near where St. Thomas' Church stands, now called Northolme.
It seems to have been 30ft. wide, a mile above the church, as
appears by an old clough which existed there. The Haven was
the only place on the coast where the vessels of the Romans could
ride safely and find protection, and Wainfleet was the principal landing
place for their station at Lincoln. A road was made from Wainfleet,
across the Fens to Horncastle, and thence to Lincoln and Doncaster,
and Salter's Gate is supposed to be the remains of it, as this commu
nicates with Friskney, where are the remains of salt works. Traces
of a road are also visible from Wainfleet to Burgh, which was also a
Roman station.
Previous to the enclosure of the East Fen the drainage of this
parish was under the control of the Spilsby Court of Sewers, and
numerous records exist as to Commissions held to enquire as to the
condition of Wainfleet Haven, and the drainage of the East Fen.
oidfleid. From the earliest period of which there is any record it appears
that the waters of the East Fen, and even part of those of the West
Fen, drained into Wainfleet Haven. About the year 1532, a consid
erable part of the fen water was diverted to the Witham. The
Adventurers who undertook to drain the East Fen in the middle of
the 1 6th century, " by the advice of experienced artists in draining,
finding that Wainfleet Haven was not a proper and fitting sewer
for the Fens to drain by to the sea, enlarged the ancient sewers which
led to the river Witham and Boston Haven." The further history
of the drainage of this parish is dealt with in that of the East Fen.

DRAINAGE.

97
In 1813 an Act was obtained for embanking, enclosing arid l"olMU"' *ND
-' O' O EMBANKMENT
draining the Salt Marshes in this parish, containing 500 acres, and ACT\..
also for enclosing and dividing about 60 acres of other common 53 soi^'isi"!' c'
lands. Anthony Bower of Lincoln, and John Burcham of Con-
ingsby, were appointed Commissioners for carrying out the provi
sions of the Act. The former died before the enclosure was
finished, and Samuel Bower was appointed in his place. The sum
of three guineas a day, including expenses, was allowed for their
remuneration. The usual powers for making drains and roads were
given. Such portion of the common lands was to be allotted to the
Bethlehem Hospital and the Duchy of Lancaster, as Lords of the
Manor, as the Commissioners should deem equal in value .to their
manorial rights, and the remainder amongst the Commoners according
to their respective rights. The Commissioners were also to embank
the open salt marshes, and provide for their drainage and carry it
through any ancient enclosures in the parish, if necessary.
The owners and occupiers of the marshes to be embanked, and also of
the then embanked marshes, were directed by the Act to keep their
boundary ditches 4ft. wide and 3ft. deep, and to cause the same from
time to time to be roaded and scoured.
After the embankment should be completed, the works were to be
maintained by a Surveyor, appointed annually by the proprietors, at a
meeting to be held on Thursday in Easter-week. The Surveyor was
empowered to levy an equal acre rate, and also to levy the same on
such of the old embanked lands as were improved by the drainage to
be effected under this Act ; the rate to be approved at a meeting of
proprietors. In default of payment a distress warrant can be issued
by a Justice of the Peace for the parts of Lindsey.
By an amended Act, James Bradley of Boston was appointed 6 Geo. iv, 1825.
as an additional Commissioner. By the first Act, the Commis
sioners were empowered to levy a rate on the owners of the marshes,
for the purpose of the work, not exceeding ^"20 an acre : by the
second Act it was enacted that every proprietor, having a frontage of
land towards the sea, should keep in repair so much of the said sea
bank as might adjoin his frontage, and in case of neglect, the sur
veyor, afters three days' notice, was authorised to do the work, and
charge the owner with the expenses.
Sibsey. — This parish is in the Lindsey Division, but its drain
age is under the jurisdiction of the Boston Court of Sewers.
Before the enclosure of the Fens, the principal watercourse for
the drainage was the Sibsey river, which ran from Cherry Corner to
Cow Bridge, and thence along Frith Bank to the Witham at
Anton's Gowt. This water course was straightened and improved
and the part between Cherry Corner and Cow Bridge, known as
Stone Bridge Drain, forms one the catch-water drains of the
Fourth District System. Part of the drainage went to Hilldyke,

DRAINAGE

NORDYKE CAUSE
WAY.

78
which at one time was a watercourse of considerable importance,
connected with the Witham, which boats were able to navi
gate. In 1568 a scheme was promoted for supplying the town of
Boston with water from this stream. Boston must have had some
right to this water, as, in 1376, in a pleading in the King's Bench, it
was found that Boston and Skirbeck ought to cleanse the sewer
from Hilldyke to the Witham, in consideration of which they had
commons in the marsh of Bolingbroke.
A large part of the water from the East Fen was formerly dis
charged by a drain which crossed the road at Nordyke Bridge, and
went thence to the Witham. Owing to the bad condition of the
Outfall, this part of the parish was frequently flooded, and it is re
corded that in the 13th century, two men, carrying a corpse from
Stickney to ' Cibecy,' to be buried in the churchyard, were drowned
when passing along Nordyke Causeway, and, at an enquiry, it was
found that ' divers persons were every year drowned,' in consequence
of which the Sheriff was commissioned to seize the land of the
Abbot of Revesby, until security was given for the repair of the
causeway, it being his duty to keep it in order, in consideration of
lands which had been given him for the purpose.
In 1 735 a new sluice, called Maud Foster, was built under an order
bt maud foster 0f the Court of Sewers, in Boston Haven, and the drainage of Sibsey,
in common with that of other lands to the east of it, was diverted from
Anton's and New Gote, in the Witham above Boston, to the new
outfall. The area of land in Sibsey taxed towards the new works
was 2,400 acres. Subsequently, attempts were made to bring the
water of the West Fen and also of the northern part of the East Fen
into the new system, the Sibsey Cut being made from the south west
corner of the East Fen, to Hilldyke, and an opening being made from
the West Fen, by means of Medlam Drain, to Cherry Corner ; and, a
sluice which existed there being removed, the West Fen water was
allowed to escape into Mill Drain. The controversy over this
matter led to serious rioting, of which Sibsey was the centre.
In 1810 an Act was obtained for enclosing and allotting the
50 Geo. iii. common land awarded to this parish in the East and West Fens.
Under this Act, ia. 3r. 25P. in Chapel field was allotted for the
repairing of the Church.
.teration of In J 88 1 an order was made under the Divided Parishes Act, for
the parish, transferring the outlying portion of the parish in the West Fen and
adding it to Frithville, whilst fen land in Frithville and Skirbeck was
added to this parish.
Kirton Wapentake.
Boston West. The description of the enclosure of this parish
will be found with Boston East, in the Skirbeck Hundred.
Skirbeck Quarter. The main outfall for the drainage of this
parish is into the South Forty Foot Drain. A tract of land in the

DRAINAGE
MAUD FOS
SLUICE,

INCLOSURE ACT

79
Hamlet, called Loate's Plot, containing 45 acres, drains into Wyber- drainage.
ton Town Drain and consequently pays dykereeve rate to that parish, C°UMhiutesler8'
in accordance with a Law of Sewers. 0ct- Mp :754>
The sea or river bank in this hamlet has been a constant
source of trouble and expense, and the records of the Court of Sewers "" B""1'
contain numerous entries ordering repairs to be done. In 1734 a
petition was presented that the bank, from the Shottles to Marsh
coiner, was very much out of repair and gone to decay, whereby the
country was in great danger of being overflowed with salt water ; and
asking that the bank should be repaired at the cost of the land
owners, and an order was made accordingly. The hamlet suffered
very much from the great tide of 1810, and again from that of 181 5.
A great part of the old sea bank is now inland, owing to several
enclosures of marsh which have been made, but there still remains
the length from the outfall of the Old Hammond Beck to the corner
opposite Boston Dock.
By the verdict of 1 862 it was found that the repair of this bank de
volved on the owners of seventeen different plots of landin the hamlet.
In 1883 the condition of the bank below the Black Sluice had
become dangerous, and the top had subsided below its proper
height, owing to the settling of the foot of the bank into the river,
caused by the deepening of the Haven and the scour of the
tides and freshets, and an order was made by the Court for its repair.
The bank was accordingly strengthened at the back, and raised.
The cost of this work was ^"270.
It being held by the Court that these repairs were extraordin- Court ot Sewers
ary, being occasioned by the alteration in the bed of the river, and 10 Nov. fssV
not such as persons, liable by prescription, could fairly be answerable
for, the costs were ordered to be paid by an acreage rate over the
entire district that would be liable to be damaged by a breach.
By a subsequent order, the rate was laid on the assessable value, and 23 April, 1884
not by the acre. The following are the parishes on which the levy
was made and the proportion allotted to each. Assessment.
a. r. p. s. d. £ s. d.
Skirbeck Quarter ... 557 o 26 26 69 12 6
Wyberton  2040 00 09 76 10 o
Frampton  3040 3 11 04 50 13 o
Kirton  4834 37 03 60 8 6
Swineshead North ... 1043 00 03 13 1 o
The rate for Skirbeck Quarter amounted to is. 8d. in the pound,
The fen portion of this hamlet lies about three-quarters of a
mile west of Boston, between the North and South Forty Foot THC FCN
drains. It contains 276a. 2r. 2op. It forms part of Holland Fen, 7 Geo. iii, 1767.
and was awarded under the Holland Fen Enclosure Act.
Skirbeck Quarter elects one member of the Black Sluice Com
mission, and the owners of land in the fen portion one member of the
Second Witham District Commission.

8o

INCLOSURE ACT.

29 Geo. iii,
1789.

c-3,

DRAINAGE RATES.

DRAINAGE.

The fen was enclosed under an Act obtained for Dividing and
Inclosing the Common Fen belonging to Skirbeck Quarter in the Parish of
Skirbeck. William Gee of Swineshead, Thomas Staveley of Kirton,
and Edward Hare of Castor, were appointed Commissioners for
dividing and alloting the land, and they were to be paid twenty
guineas each for their services.
The award, when executed, was to be enrolled with the Clerk
of the Peace for the Division of Holland, and to be open to inspection
on payment of a fee of one shilling and two-pence for every 72
words copied. The award is deposited at the Boston Sessions'
House. The old portion of the parish is subject to the dykereeve rate
of the Court of Sewers. The fen is subject the sixpenny Black
Sluice rate and to the sixpenny and eightpenny Witham
District rates. The whole parish is subject to the Witham Outfall
tax. Wyberton. This parish is drained by a sewer called the
Town Drain, which runs from the Hammond Beck through the
centre of the parish, to the sluice in the old sea bank at Slippery
Gowt, whence it has since been continued through a newly enclosed
marsh to the channel of the Witham.
In 1733 an order of the Court of Sewers was made that the
then existing Sluice should be wholly taken down, and rebuilt with
brick and timber,- 38ft. long, 4ft. high and 3^ft. wide. The cost of
this new sluice was ^"297 us.
Previous to the straightening of the river, the channel came
close to this sluice. After the fascine work had been put in and the
marsh grew up, this outfall silted up and became disused, the drain
age finding its way into the Hammond Beck. In the year 1864 the
Boston Harbour Commissioners embanked the marsh. On this
being done, the Vestry of Wyberton required that an outfall for the
drainage should be provided in the new bank, and further contended
that, as the outfall of the sewers had become blocked up owing to
the works of the Commissioners, they were bound to open up the
drain across the marsh. After some litigation, the Commissioners
agreed to do this. A sluice was built in the new bank and the
drain cleaned out and deepened. The outer sluice is kept in repair
by the Boston Harbour Commissioners, the Dykereeves of the parish
having the management of the doors.
There are 45 acres of land in Skirbeck Quarter and 562 acres
in Frampton which drain by the Wyberton Town Drain and pay
dykereeve rates to this parish.
The allotment in Holland Fen awarded to this parish is situated
about three miles north-west of the village, and is not divided from
the rest of the parish. Access is given to that part of the fen lying
on the north side of the South Forty- Foot Drain, by the Wyberton.

INCLOSURE ACT.

8-r
Chain Bridge, across the Hammond Beck, and by the bridge over
the Forty-Foot, on the main road ; and to Shuff Fen, by a brick
bridge across the North Forty-Foot, known as Benton's Bridge.
The allotments made to Wyberton, under the Holland Fen
Award were, the Bridge Piece, containing 87a. or. 22p., on the south
side of the main road from Boston to Swineshead ; part of the
Middle Fen lying on both sides of the New Hammond Beck,
169a. 3r. 14P. ; the Great Fen lying on the north side of the South
Forty Foot drain, containing 473a. or. 2op., and Shuff Fen on the
north side of the North Forty-Foot, containing 261a. ir. T5p., making
a total of .991a. 2r. op.
In addition to the land in Holland Fen, there was also other
common land, known as the Reaches Marsh, containing 25 acres.
This land is described ' as formerly left by the sea, ' and is part of the old
bed of the river Witham, lying about half-a-mile north-west of
Langrick Ferry. It was originally let by the parish in aid of the rates,
the inhabitants, before it was inclosed, having exercised common
rights over it. There was also another small piece of common land,
containing four acres.
In 1789 an Act was obtained for dividing, allotting, and enclos
ing the above described lands. Stanley Marshall of Freiston, 29 Geo. Hi, 1789.
Joseph Newman of Boston, and John Parkinson of Asgarby, were
appointed Commissioners, their remuneration being fixed at £"63,
and £1 us. 6d. a day each, for every day engage*d in viewing,
valuing, exchanging, and allotting the ancient inclosures and other
lands exchanged under the powers of the Act.
The Commissioners were directed to set out, form, and put in
good repair, a public road, 40ft. wide, across the Great Fen, from
Wyberton Great Bridge to the bridge over the North Forty-Foot
Drain, and from thence over Shuff Fen to the Turnpike-road lead
ing from Langrick Ferry to Swineshead, and such other roads as
they might deem necessary. The owners of the land were not to be
allowed to plant trees within fifty yards of the roads.
Reaches Marsh was directed to be sold, and the proceeds ap
plied to defraying the expenses of enclosure ; and one-ninth in value
of the whole fen, and a plot, equal in value to i88f acres of the
average value, to be awarded to the Rector in respect of the tithes.
The Award, after being enrolled by the Clerk of the Peace for the
Division of Holland, was to be deposited in the parish chest in the
church, and be open to any person interested, on payment of one shilling ;
and for copies of any part, at the rate of two-pence for 72 words.
The old part of this parish is liable to the dykereeve rate of the
Court of Sewers. The fen land is in the Sixpenny District of the
Black Sluice, it also pays the tax of the Second Witham District,
and sends one representative to each Trust. The whole parish is
liable to the Witham Outfall Tax.

DRAINAGE RATES*

82

ENCLOSURE OF
MARSH.

Holland Fen
Award, 1767.

ENCLOSURE ACT.
24 Geo. iii, 1784.

About 300 acres of marsh land were embanked and brought
under cultivation, about 1864-6, by the Boston Harbour Commis
sioners, Mr. Edward Black, and the Crown.
Frampton. This parish is drained by a sewer which extends
from the Hammond Beck to the Witham Outfall, where it discharges
a small part of the drainage through a sluice in the bank.
A portion of the parish, containing 562 acres, drains into the '
Wyberton Town Drain, and, in accordance with a law of Sewers
made in 1754, pays, dykereeve rate to that parish.
The Allotment awarded under the Holland Fen Award is
adjacent to the old enclosed land in the parish, lying #bout 3^
miles north-west of the village. The Fen is divided by the New
Hammond Beck and the South Forty Foot Drain, access being
obtained over these by means of Baker's Bridge and Hubbert's
Bridge. The Allotment consists of a part of the Bridge Piece, lying
between the Old and New Hammond Becks, containing 262a. 3r.
i6p. ; part of the Middle Fen, lying between the New Hammond
Beck and the South Forty Foot Drain, containing 468a. 3r. ip.; and
part of the Great Fen on the north side of the South Forty Foot,
containing 526a. ir. 33P.; together, 1,258a. or. iop. There were
also 10 acres of other commonable land in the parish ; the Holmes,
containing 22 acres let by the parish in aid of the rates, and part of
the Reaches Marsh, containing 100 acres and ' formerly left by the
sea,' and part of the bed of the old river Witham lying about three
quarters of a mile north-west of Langrick Ferry ; also the common
land known as the Mill Field, Spot Field, Whorley Dale Field, &c.
An Act was obtained for dividing and enclosing these fens and
other common land in the year 1784. John Parkinson of Asgarby,
Edward Hare of Castor, and Joseph Newman of Boston were the
Commissioners appointed to carry out the work. They were to have
^"63 as their remuneration, out of which they were to pay their
expenses. They were directed to make such public roads, not less
than 40ft. wide, as they deemed necessary, and to allot the herbage of
both the ancient highways, as well as of the roads set out under this
Act, which should be made open, and not fenced on both sides, to
the owners of the lands through which such roads passed. One-
ninth part of the fen was to be allotted in lieu of tithes, and other
land to the value of ^"10 a year, and also 223a. ir. 25P. in lieu of
tithes on the old land, and 22a. 2r. i6p. in lieu of tithes of Wykes
Demesnes. The Rector and the tenants of these allotments were given
right of footway over the banks of the North and South Forty Foot
Drains to the same. The Commissioners were also to set out to the
Vicar and Churchwardens and to the Lords of the Manors of Earl
Hall and Stone Hall a piece of the fen of the annual value of ^30,
for the benefit ' of indigent and industrious persons ' belonging to

83
the parish, who receive no weekly or monthly contribution there
from; which land was never to be let for a longer term than 4 years
at one time, one moiety of the rent to be distributed in coal and the
other at the discretion of the trustees. It was provided by
the Act that the sum of £10, clear of all deductions, should be paid
annually to the Vicar of Frampton by the owner of the great tithes,
rectory and glebe lands, and that the Commissioners should allot 6
acres of fen of average value for augmenting the vicarage. Power
was given to put up fences and gates at the ends of any roads or
highways, except turnpike roads, to prevent cattle from trespassing
about the parish, which gates were to be maintained by the
Surveyor of Highways.
The Award, after being enrolled, was to be deposited in the
parish chest in the Church and to be open to inspection on payment of
one shilling ; a copy to be supplied of the whole or any part at the
rate of two-pence for 72 words. The Commissioners were empow
ered to ascertain the value of the tithe on certain salt marshes
which were likely to be enclosed, such value not to exceed one-
seventh, or be less than one-tenth, of the value of the land em
banked. Tenants for life, or trustees holding part of the marsh,
were empowered to borrow £3 per acre, on the security of the land
enclosed, towards the cost of the work. The trustees of the Don-
nington turnpike road were empowered to let Amber Hill, subject
to the right of the Surveyor of Highways to get materials for the
repair of the roads in Frampton, but no building was to be erected
thereon. The Reaches Marsh is part of the old river Witham, lying reaches marsh.
between the North Forty- Foot Drain and the river, about three-
quarters of a mile north-west of Langrick Ferry, and between 6 and
7 miles distant from the village of Frampton. It was proposed to
add this land to the parish of Coningsby, under the Divided Parishes
Act, but, this being opposed by the inhabitants, it still remains a
portion of the parish.
The old portion of this parish is subject to the dykereeve rate "»»"«»« rates.
of the Court of Sewers, the fen portion to the Black Sluice Sixpenny
District rate and the Second Witham District rate, and the whole of
the parish to the Witham Outfall tax. The owners of land in the
parish are entitled to elect one member of the Black Sluice Trust
and those in the fen portion one member of the Second District
Trust. Kirton. The main sewer in this parish, called ' Kirton Town's drainage.
Drain,' extends from the Hammond Beck at Kirton Holme
in a south-easterly direction to the sea bank at Kirton Skel-
dyke, where there is a sluice, and thence along an open drain 15
chains in length, across the marshes to the Welland. The length
of the drain from one sluice to the other is over 8 miles. The sluice

84
in the bank at the Welland end has 4ft. 6in. of waterway, and that at
the Hammond Beck 5ft. 9m. The level of the sill of the former, or
sea sluice, is 4-8ft. above Ordnance datum, and that in the Hammond
Beck 6-8gft. above. The bottom of the drain at Kirton Bridge is
1 -4ft. above the sill of the sea sluice. Considerable difficulty has
been found in keeping open the drain across the marshes to the
Welland, from its tendency to fill up with alluvial matter. The
sluice has frequently been closed and the whole of the drainage
has at such times found its way to the Hammond Beck.
the welland In 1 7 1 5 the outfall sluice into the Welland was reported by a
Jury of the Court of Sewers as defective, owing to the sandy founda
tion, and it was advised that a new sluice should be erected between
Kirton and Fosdyke, and that the old one should-be blocked up. A
Law of Sewers was made ordering this work to be done. In 1881
^"470 1 os. was expended in repairs and improvements of Kirton
drain. In 1894 a proposal was made to erect a new sluice at
the end of the creek running between the newly enclosed marshes in
Kirton and Fosdyke and to connect the two banks, the estimated cost
being ^3,400, but this scheme did not receive the sanction of the
Court of Sewers.
welland taxa- In the session of 1 867 the Welland Commissioners obtained an
. Act of Parliament empowering them to raise further money. The
c. 195. area of taxation was extended, and included land in the parish of
Kirton which is rated at fourpence per acre. The inhabitants
petitioned against the Bill, contending that they derived [no benefit
from the works in the Welland, the sill of the Outfall Sluice being
from 4ft. to 5ft. above low water in that river. (By the Welland
Act of 1 794 it was proposed to bring the outfall of the river Welland
to Wyberton roads, and lands in Kirton and the adjoining parishes
were to be made subject to a tax of twopence per acre. This
scheme was not carried out, and, by the Welland Act of 1824 the
lands in Kirton were exempted from this taxation.) The Petitioners
further contended that Kirton was sufficiently drained by means of
the Outfall into the Hammond Beck, and only partially by the
Welland, and that if better drainage were required, the Black Sluice
Commissioners had power, by mutual agreement, to give a more
complete drainage. A clause in the Act gave the right to claim
exemption in case the parish were able to prove that Kirton was
not drained by the Outfall of the Welland. If the Trustees after
hearing the parishioners would not entertain their claim to exemp
tion, there was to be an appeal to the Quarter Sessions at Spilsby.
As the Trustees declined to give any relief, the parishioners appealed,
and the case was heard at the Quarter Sessions at Spilsby, in 1869,
with the result that the parish remained liable to the tax.
the fen. The land in Holland Fen allotted to this parish lies on the
north side of the South Forty- Foot Drain, in the centre of Holland

85
Fen, and is about six miles long by three-quarters of a mile wide.
Access from the older part of the parish is obtained by Hubbert's
Bridge. There is also a portion of the fen on the south side of the
drain, extending up to Kirton Holme, and along the north side of
the old Hammond Beck.
The area of land allotted to Kirton under the Holland Fen Awtrd, 1707?
Award was 3,448a. or. 23P. There were also in the parish other
common lands, known as the Meers, the Russian Ings, Little Hum,
Kirton Ings, Little Ings, Maumsgate — otherwise Mornsgate — Middle
Field, Grave's Field, Broad Field, Ax Head, Handtoft, Eau Bridge
Field, Great and Little Mantle, Cemcroft, Hum Field, Skeldike
Field, Bendike Field, Hallstock, and Bucklegate Field, containing
altogether 600 acres.
This land was enclosed and allotted under an Act passed in enclosure act
1772. The Commissioners appointed were Peter Packharnis of " Geo- "'¦ I77z
Benington, Thomas Hogard of Spalding, and John Hudson, of
Louth. Their remuneration was fixed at ^84 each. The expenses to
be incurred in carrying out the Act were to be paid by an equal pound
rate, or acre tax, levied according to the value of land allotted.
Sixty acres in the High Fen, abutting, on the east, on the road
leading to Langrick Ferry, were allotted to the Vicar in lieu of the
vicarial tithes ; 310 acres and also 25 acres in the High
Fen were allotted to the owners of the great tithes ; and,
in addition to this, one-ninth part of the commons, in lieu of both
great and small tithes and all ecclesiastical dues and payments,
except Easter offerings, mortuaries and surplice fees ; and 101 acres
to the Earl of Exeter, the Lord of the Soke of Kirton, in lieu of his
rights of brovage, and as ' Lord Paramount ' or ' Lord and Owner
of the Soil.' The remainder of the land was to be allotted in the
proportion of eight acres to every house, four acres to every toft-
stead, and the rest amongst the owners of the enclosed lands, in
proportion to the rates paid to the dykereeve assessments. The
Commissioners were empowered to make such roads, ditches and
fences as they deemed necessary.
The award was to be engrossed, and, after being enrolled with
the Clerk of the Peace for the Parts of Holland, was to be deposited
in the common chest of the Parish Church, a fee of one shilling
being charged for inspection, and twopence for every 100 words
for a copy of the whole, or of any part.
The right of the parish to obtain materials for the repair of the
roads from Amber Hill was confirmed, subject to the Trustees
having power to let the same.
The old lands in this parish are liable to the dykereeve rate of
the Court of Sewers, but they are not liable to the Black Sluice tax, as
the drainage by the Hammond Beck is an ancient right. The fen
portion is in the Sixpenny District of the Black Sluice, and pays the

DRAINAGE RATES.

86
rates of the Second Witham District. The whole parish pays the
Witham Outfall Tax.
Wigtoft, Sutterton, Algarkirk, Fosdyke and Swineshead.
The drainage of the five parishes or ' towns ' of Wigtoft, Sutterton,
Algarkirk, Fosdyke, and part of Swineshead is effected by what is
known respectively in the different parts as the Five Towns, Four
Towns, Three Towns and Two Towns Drain. This system of drain
age is connected both with the Hammond Beck and the Welland.
The dividing line of the watershed is at Acre Land Clough, at
Fishmere End, on the northern boundary of Wigtoft. North
west of this, the main drain is known as the Simon Weir Drain, and
passes through Swineshead to the Hammond Beck, which it joins a
little above the Kirton Outfall. About mid- way on the Simon Weir
Drain are doors across the drain, pointing towards the Hammond
Beck. Wigtoft is drained by two sewers running on the east and
west side of the parish. The East Drain runs from Cawdron's Sluice
to Fishmere End, and discharges into the Simon Weir Drain to the
west of Acre-land Clough. The water of the West Drain runs
partly north and partly south, the division being about mid-way
between the turnpike road from Fosdyke to Swineshead, and that
from Boston to Spalding. The northern portion joins the Cross
Drain, and empties into the East Drain. The southern portion runs
along the west side of the parish, and through Sutterton to the
outfall at Fosdyke Bridge. From near Acre-land Clough one
drain passes through the east side of Algarkirk parish and Fosdyke,
to the Outfall near Fosdyke Bridge, a second, starting from the same
point, crosses the main road from Boston to Spalding, and passes
about mid-way between Sutterton and Algarkirk churches, crossing
the main road to Fosdyke, to the same outfall. The length of the
Simon Weir Drain from Acre-land Clough to the Hammond Beck
is 3 miles 35 chains. The Five Towns Drain, from Acre-land
Clough to the Welland, is 6 miles 20 chains in length. The highest
part of the drainage system is at Acre-land Clough, from which
point the drains fall both ways, the fall in the bottom being 2ft. 1 iin.
to the Hammond Beck, and 5ft. to the sill of the sluice in the Wel
land. There is no sluice at the Hammond Beck, but only an
archway, having 5ft. 6in. water-way. The old sluice near Fosdyke
Bridge, had 6ft. 6in. water-way. The area drained by the Five
Towns Drain is 9,000 acres. In 1883 a new Outfall Sluice was
sluice. built at the Welland, having 8ft. of opening, the sill being placed
o-62ft. below Ordnance datum, or about 4ft. below the old sill.
The drain was widened and deepened to adapt it to the new
sluice, the bottom being made 8ft. wide. In floods, the water
runs about 3ft. deep on the sill. In summer, the water is held
up to 6ft. 6in. above the sill. The estimated cost of this clean
ing and deepening of the drain was £"888. The new sluice was

FIVE TOWNS

87
erected by Messrs. Pattinson & Co., in 1881, under the direction of
Mr. John Kingston, the cost being ^"2,394. The despening of the
drain was let to Mr. Barwell. To cover the cost of these works a
sum of £"3,500 was borrowed in 1883, repayable within 20 years.
For rating purposes the Five Towns Drain includes the lands in «»T»«o »»"¦
Swineshead, which pay dykereeve rate and lie to the south of
Black Jack Road, from Coney Hill to Pippin Hall Bridge, known as
Swineshead South, and land in Wigtoft, Sutterton, Algarkirk and
Fosdyke ; the Four Towns, the land in Wigtoft, Sutterton, Algar
kirk and Fosdyke ; the Three Towns, Swineshead South, Wigtoft, and
Sutterton ; the Two Towns, Wigtoft and Sutterton. In each case the
fen land is excluded, and only such parts of the parishes as are liable
to dykereeve rates are taxed to the sewers rate.
Under the River Welland Act of 1794 the lands in these parishes welland tax.
drained by the Welland were made liable to a tax of twopence per 3°a°J ig5,Vlct"
acre as a contribution towards the cost of the intended new Outfall ;
as this Act was not carried out, it was repealed by the Act of 1824.
By the Act of 1867 the lands in the Five Towns District, except
those in Swineshead, were made liable to a rate not exceeding 4d.
per acre. The parishioners appealed against the rate, in the manner
provided in the Act, but were not able to obtain any relief.
A considerable area of land in these parishes was removed from
the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers by the Black Sluice Act. The
particulars of this, and of the enclosure of the common lands in these
parishes, will be found described in the chapter on theBlack Sluice.
The land in the old part of the parish is subject to dykereeve rate, drainage rates.
and to the Witham Outfall Tax, to which also the fen portion is liable.
The allotments in Holland Fen made to the Parishes of Algar- algarkirk and
kirk and Fosdyke are situated about nine miles distant from the FOSDV"E FENS-
villages of the parishes to which they were originally allotted and Award, 1767"
from which they are now separated under the Divided Parishes Act.
Algarkirk Fen is a narrow tract of land in Holland Fen, being
about five and a half miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, ex-
extendingfrom theSouth Forty-Foot Drain to Kyme Eauandbounded
on the west by the Skirth and Holland Dyke. It is described in the Act
as comprising Clay Hills, Little Sand Hills, Great Sand Hills,
Fleet Wood and part of the Common Rakes, and containing 2,380a.
ir. 22p. Fosdyke Fen lies adjacent to the river Witham, the
eastern boundary being the course of the old river, and the western
a narrow strip of land adjacent to the North Forty- Foot Drain. It
is described in the Act as comprising part of the Gowt Plot and
part of Langrett Plot and as containing 879a. 2r. 3op. These fens
are in the Sixpenny District of the Black Sluice and Second Witham
District. The taxable area of Algarkirk Fen is 2,337a. ir. igp. and
of Fosdyke Fen 887a. ir. 23P. Each of these allotments elects one
member of the Black Sluice and of the Second District Commissions.

1767.

THE PARISHES.

URE.

SUTTERTON
ENCLOSURE ACT.
2 Geo. iii, 1772.

88
algarkirk in- The j?en allotments were divided and allotted under an Act
CLOSURE act.
Geo. iii, c. 69, obtained in 1767. The Commissioners were Daniel Douglas of
Falkingham, Thomas Hogard of Spalding, and Thomas Stavely of
Kirton, each of whom was to be paid £"63 for his services and
expenses. They were empowered to divide and allot the land, and
to set out roads and drains.
- The Award, when executed and enrolled with the Clerk of the
Peace for the division of Holland, was to be deposited in the Common
Chest in the Parish Church of Algarkirke cum Fosdyke, and to be
open to inspection on payment of a fee of one shilling, and two
pence for every hundred words copied.
alteration of The fen portion of the parish of Fosdyke was transferred to
THE PARISH re; ^ A J
Brothertoft Parish in 1881. Algarkirk Fen was transferred to the
new Parish of Amber Hill in 1880.
marsh enclos- In 1 864 an embankment was constructed, enclosing the marsh
land in Fosdyke bordering on the Welland Outfall, Mr. W. Bett
being the Contractor ; and in 1870 a second enclosure, extending up
to Kirton Outfall, was made.
The Act for enclosing the land awarded to Sutterton under the
Holland Fen Enclosure Award, containing 2,488a. 2r. 22p., and the
other commonable lands was obtained in 1772. Thomas Hogardof
Spalding, William Elstob of London, and William Jepson of Lincoln
were appointed Commissioners under the Act. Edward Hare of
Castor was appointed Surveyor. By direction of the Act, 137a. ir.
3op. of marsh land and 140a. in Rose Platts were awarded to the
Vicar in lieu of the tithes in the parish ; to the Impropriator of the
great tithes, land to the value of £"20 a year ; also to the Vicar
and owner of the great tithes, one-ninth in value of of the common
fen and marsh lands, of which the former was to have three-fifths
and the latter two-fifths. The Lord of the Manor was awarded 86
acres in lieu of his rights of brovage. A number of public roads are
set out in the award, varying in width from 60ft. to 30ft. The Award
is dated 25th March, 1774, and is desposited at the Sessions House,
Boston. The fee for inspection, as directed by the Act, is one shilling
for complete copies, or twopence for 100 words. It was also directed
that a copy should be deposited in the Parish Chest.
The land awarded to Swineshead under the Holland Fen
Award comprised the following places : Chapel Hill Hum,
Award, 1767" adjoining the Witham five miles above Langrick Ferry ; part
of Great Smeeth Hall, adjoining the North Forty-Foot at the
North End of Kirton Fen ; part of the Common Rakes, on the
north side of, and adjoining the South Forty-Foot Drain, on the
west of Algarkirk Fen ; part of Far Cattle Holme, on the south
side of the South Forty-Foot, between the Hammond Beck and the
main road to Sleaford ; part of Brand End, on the west side of the
East Plot ; part of the Rushes ; Creasy Plot, near Sykemouth,

SWINESHEAD THE FEN.
Holland Fen

INCLOSURE ACT.

89
the whole of First Cattle Holme ; part of Fore Fen, near Kirton
Holme, on the west side of the Five Towns Drain. There was
also other common land in the parish, called Sidecroft Common, the
whole containing 2,095 acres. The owners of lands and toftsteads
in Swineshead, together with those in Wigtoft, also had common
rights over Wigtoft Marsh in Bicker Haven, containing 450 acres.
This land was divided and allotted under an Act passed in 1773.
The Commissioners for carrying out the Enclosure, were Peter Pack- 13 Geo. iii, 1773.
harniss of Benington, Thomas Hogard of Spalding, and William Fil-
lingham of Flawborough. Each Commissioner was entitled to
receive £"84 for his services and expenses. The award, after being
enrolled, was to be deposited in the parish churches of Swineshead
and Wigtoft, and to be open to inspection on payment of a fee of one
shilling, and twopence for every 100 words extracted.
The Commissioners were authorised to make roads over such
public and private lands as they deemed necessary, and to do all
necessary ditching and fencing. The herbage of the roads was vested
in the Surveyor of Highways, and was to be let by him for the bene
fit of the parish. The right of the parish to obtain materials for the
repair of the road from Amber Hill was reserved.
The expenses attending the carrying out of the Act were paid
by an equal pound rate or acre tax. The Earl of Exeter, as Lord
of the Soke of Kirton and as Lord Paramount of the Soil, was
to be allotted 15 acres in Wigtoft Marsh. Two-thirds of the re
mainder were allotted to Swineshead, and one-third to Wigtoft.
One-tenth of the Wigtoft allotment was set apart for the Impro
priator and Vicar, in lieu of the great and small tithes. One acre
was allotted to the owners of houses, and half-an-acre to owners of
toftsteads, and the remainder amongst the owners of land in the
parish in proportion to the dykereeve rates paid.
In Swineshead the allotment to Trinity College, as Impropriator,
was 320 acres in Brand End Plot ; 20 acres near the Black Sluice
Drain and the turnpike road ; to the Vicar a plot of the value of
£*5 a year ; and also to the Impropriator and Vicar one-ninth part
in value of the common land ; to the Lord Paramount, as
owner of one-third part of the soil and of the brovage, 72 acres ; and
to the owners of the Manor of Swineshead, Swineshead Abbey or
' Swineshead de-la-Mere ' and ' East Evening,' such quantity as
the Commissioners should consider sufficient recompense ; five acres
to each owner of a house ; two and a half acres to each owner of a
toftstead ; and the remainder amongst the owners of the enclosed
lands, in proportion to the amount they were assessed at to the dyke
reeve rate.
In order to increase the value of the living of Swineshead,
land to the value of £"30 a year, out of the quantity allotted to the
Impropriator, was to be set aside ; and the Governors of Queen

go

DRAINAGE RATES.

ALTERATION OF
THE PARISHES.

HIGHWAY ~ HATE
OF NEW PART OF
PARISH.

Shaw v. Thorpe
1893.

FORMATION OF
TWO LEVELS.

Court oi Sewers.
Minutes,
6 Aug., 1881.
13 May, 1882.

WIGTOFT. THE FEN.

INCLOSURE ACT
12 Geo, iii, c. ii2,
1772.

13 Geo. iii, 1773.

Anne's Bounty were authorised to contribute out of their funds a
sum of £too.
The fen land is in the Sixpenny District of the Black Sluice, the
area of land paying rates being 2,117a. ir. op. It is also in the
Second Witham District. The parish elects one member of each of
these Commissions. The old lands in the parish are subject to the
dykereeve rate of the Court of Sewers, and the whole parish pays
the Witham Outfall Tax.
Under the Divided Parishes Act, the fen land at Chapel Hill
belonging to Swineshead was transferred in 1880 to a new parish,
called Pelham's Lands.
By an Order of Council (23 April, 1890), the following places, at
one time extra parochial, but afterwards made into separate parishes,
were added to Swineshead, viz., Gibbet Hills, Royalty Farm,
Mown Rakes, Little Brand End Plot, and Great Brand End Plot.
After the amalgamation, these places were rated to the High
way rate of the parish. This liability was contested, on the
ground that when this land, part of Holland Fen, was enclosed, it
was, with other lands, sold under the Act of 1767, to pay the cost of
the enclosure, and that under the Local Enclosure Act, it was
exempted from taxation during the first lease. The case, Shaw v.
Thorpe, was tried before Mr. Justice Wills and Mr. Justice Charles, in
1893, who held that, as the purpose for which the exemption was
originally made no longer existed, the land was not exempt from the
parochial rates.
In 1 88 1 a petition was presented to the Court of Sewers, pray
ing that the land on the north- of Black Jack Road in Swineshead,
with the Fen Houses, should be made into a separate level for rating
to the Court of Sewers, on the ground that this land did not drain
to the river Welland, and an order was accordingly made that the
parish should be divided into two levels, one on the north and the other
on the south of the Blackjack Road, and separate dykereeve rates laid
on each. The area of fen land in Wigtoft parish allotted under the
Holland Fen Award, of 1767, was 994a. ir. 34P. There
were also in the parish other common lands, known as Green
Row Common, Asperton Common, Easthorp Common and Burtoft
Common, and other waste land, containing altogether 30 acres.
This land was divided and allotted under an Act passed in
1772. The tract of land known as Wigtoft Marsh, over which the
parishioners, in common with those in Swineshead, had rights, was
divided and allotted under the Swineshead Enclosure Act of 1773.
The Enclosure Commissioners apppointed under the Act were,
William Jepson of Lincoln, Thomas Hogard of Spalding and William
Elstobb of London. They were to be paid £"63 for their remunera-

9t

tion. The expenses of carrying out the Act were to be defrayed by
' an equal pound rate or acre tax,' according to the value of the land
allotted. The allotment to the Vicar was to consist of 60 acres at
the east end of Sykemouth, and to the Vicar and Impropriator land
of the annual value of £1 20, and also one-tenth of the whole fen in
lieu of tithes, one-third of which was to belong to the Vicar. To the
Lord of the Soke, for his rights as Lord Paramount, or owner of one-
third part of the soil and of the brovage, 33 acres ; to every owner
of a house in the parish five acres ; to every owner of a toftstead
two-and-a-half acres ; and the remainder amongst the owners of
land, according to their assessment to the dykereeve rate.
The Commissioners were empowered to set out such public or
private roads and to make such ditches and fences as they should
deem necessary.
The award, when engrossed and enrolled, was to be open to in
spection on payment of one shilling, and a copy supplied at the rate
of twopence for every 100 words. A copy was to be deposited in the
common chest in the parish church.
The right of the Surveyor of Highways to obtain materials from
Amber Hill, for the repair of the roads, was continued, and no build
ing was to be erected thereon.
The old portion of this parish is subject to dikereeve rate. The
fen portion is in the Sixpenny District of the Black Sluice, the
rateable area being 981 acres, and in the Second Witham District.
The whole parish is liable to the Witham Outfall Tax.
Gosberton, Quadring and Surfleet. — The Main Drain for
such parts of these Parishes as are not in the Black Sluice district
is the Risegate Eau, which extends from the Hammond Beck in
Gosberton Risegate, to the Welland, about a mile above Fosdyke
Bridge. The length between the two points is seven miles. The
drain has an outfall at both ends, the natural division for the flow
of the water being about midway at Belney Bridge, the lands on the
west side of the bridge draining to the Hammond beck, and those
on the east side to the Welland.
There is frequent mention made of this Sewer in the records
of the Court of Sewers. In the reign of Edward III, upon an in
quisition taken at Gosberchirche, it was found that "the Sewer of
Risegate had gutters which ought to be repaired and maintained by
the towns of Gosberchirche and Rysgate and that it was obstructed
by Ranulph de Rye towards the marsh, and likewise that it ought
to be of the same breadth and depth, and that there ought to be a
Sluice betwixt the marsh and it, of sixteen feet wide ; and that the
course of that Sewer, which towards the sea was called Newe Ee-
gate had wont anciently to run directly through the midst of the
marsh in Gosberchirche belonging to the Abbot of Peterborough,
until 36 years before, and that, by the flowing of the sea and of the

RISEGATE EAU.

Dugdale.

92
fresh water, it became obstructed, and thereupon by force made
itself another current, which it then held."
In Queen Elizabeth's reign the Commissioners of Sewers sitting
at Boston found that " the sewer called the Merlode (Ouse Mer Lode)
could not, without an excessive charge, carry away the water falling
thereinto, nor have any fit place at the outfall thereof, whereon to
erect a sufficient gote, and decreed that it should be secured and
made 16ft. wide and 6ft. deep, from the infall out of the fen unto a
certain place called Elwood Elmes, by the townships of Quadring and
Donington ; and that thence it should be turned and made of the
like breadth and depth, at all times henceforth, by the inhabitants of
Quadring to Gosberton Ee, and that at the falling thereof into the
said Ee there should be a substantial stone bridge made and
erected for the public roadway there at the charges of Quadring and
Donyngton, and likewise a dam at Partye bridge ; and that the
inhabitants of Quadring and Donington should for ever after enjoy
for the commodity of their said watercourse of Merlode the same
drain called Gosberkirk Ee, under the sea dyke, from the infall of
Merlode thereinto ; and from the said dam to be made towards the
sea unto the gote which thenceforth should be appointed to be made
for them and their said drain of Merlode by all the limits thereof,
unto the outfall of that their drain into the sea at their private drain.
In consideration whereof they decreed that the townships of Quadring
and Donington should make another sufficient drain in Gosberkirke
Ee to stop and turn the watercourse of Rysegate out of and from the
old course thereof, towards the sea dyke aforesaid, at a place in Gos
berkirke, near unto Challan bridge, where they decreed that a bridge
should be made and set up at the charge of the townships of Quadring
and Donington ; and that there the townships should scour a new
drain from thence, of the like breadth and depth, which should be
called the New Ee of Surflet and Gosberkirk ; the accomplishing of
these directions being most beneficial to the receipt and speedy con
veyance of the waters both of Kesteven and Holland from the said
old course in Rysegate Ee by the same New Ee in form before
recited." By a subsequent decree, made at Helpringham in Queen
Elizabeth's reign, " it appearing that the New Gote,- set in the sea
dyke at Surfleet at the charge of the inhabitants of Donyngton and
Quadring, did of a sudden, after three weeks settling thereof, sink into
a quicksand, it was ordered that the same should be made again
more substantially, and set upon a better and firmer foundation." By
the same commission it was also ordered " that upon the sewer called
Newdike two new bridges should be erected at Rysgate Ee mouth,
by the inhabitants of Gosberkirke and Surflete in their limits, and in
Quadring Up Fen against the common way running from Westrop ;
and the other within the limits of Byker, in Hekendale Wathe, over
to Hekendale Hills, of such height as boats might well pass under."

NEW SLUICE.

93
At the time when these orders were made, Bicker Haven had
not been enclosed, and was an open salt water estuary or creek, and
Risegate Eau discharged into it at the upper end, the gote referred to
above being that now known as Lampson's Clough. When Bicker
Haven was enclosed Risegate Eau was carried across it by a new
cut to an Outfall in the Welland, where a sluice was built. An
illustration, showing Bicker Haven before Enclosure, will be found
in Chapter IX, On the Welland.
In 1710 a new Outfall Sluice was ordered to be built, and an
assessment made, for payment of the cost, on the landowners in
Gosberton, Surfleet, Quadring, Quadring Hundred and Donington,
according to the Law of Sewers formerly made. In 1884 an order
,., ..,„. , ... Boston Court of
was obtained under the Land Drainage Act of 1861, authorising Sewers.Minutes,
the following works, and the borrowing of ^7,630 to pay for the ** y' ' 4"
same, viz., (1) the making of a new sluice in the river Welland and
diverting the course of the drain to the new sluice, 10 chains to the
west of the old Outfall, the estimated cost of this work being
^"3,500 ; (2) the widening and deepening the drains from the existing
inner sluice to Lampson's Clough and Five Bells Bridge, and the re-
moval of the inner sluice and Lampson's Clough, and the erection
of a bridge in its place, the estimated cost being ^4,175 ; (3) the
deepening of the Merlode drain at a cost of ^340. The first work
was to be charged on lands paying dykereeve rate in Gosberton,
Quadring, Quadring Hundred and Surfleet, also lands in Gosberton,
Surfleet, Quadring, Algarkirk and Sutterton, lying south of the
Roman Bank, and west of the old Sea Bank ; the second work, on
lands in Gosberton, Quadring, Quadring Hundred and Surfleet, sub
ject to sewer rate ; and the third work by lands in Quadring, subject
to sewer rate.
The old sluice in the Welland, erected in 1803, was superseded,
and the new sluice erected in its place. The old sluice had an open
ing of 5ft. and its sill was 5'83ft. above Ordnance datum. This sill
was subsequently lowered to 3ft. above, and in 1873 to 2 -69ft. above,
Ordnance datum. The new sluice has an opening of 8ft., and its sill
is about gin. below Ordnance datum, or 3ft. below the sill of the old
sluice. It was built under the direction of Mr. John Kingston, by
Mr. J. Barwell, at a cost of ^2,800. In heavy floods the water runs
2ft. gin. above the sill, the summer level being 7ft. 3m. above.
The deepening of the Risegate Eau and the Merlode Drain was done
by Messrs. Cooke and Bennett.
The taxable area covers 9,000 acres, but about 11,000 acres dis
charge their water by this drain, one part going to the Welland, and
the other to the Hammond Beck. The marsh lands, which hitherto had
not paid dykereeve rate, were brought into taxation for the new works.
The sluice in the Hammond Beck has 7ft. 4m. of opening, and
is 6ft. 3m. above Ordnance datum.

94

DRAINAGE RATES.

QOSBERTON DRAINAGE.

GOSBERTON FEN.

INCLOSURE ACT.
Geo. iii, 1799.

SURFLEET FEN.

INCLOSURE ACT.
17 Geo. iii, c.140,
1777.

From the Hamm ond Beck to Lampson's Clough, Risegate Eau
has to be maintained by Gosberton and Surfleet ; thence to the sea
by these parishes in conjunction with Quadring and Quadring
Hundred. The old lands in these parishes are subject to the dykereeve rate
of the Court of Sewers. The fen portion is in the Eighteenpenny
District of the Black Sluice, and each parish sends one representative
to the Trust. The fen land is also subject to the Witham Outfall
Tax. The lands draining by the Risegate Eau, east of Quadring
Bank, and the road in continuation of this bank, leading to Pinch
beck, in the parishes of Quadring, Surfleet and Gosberton, are subject
to the Welland Tax of fourpence an acre, levied under the Act of
1867. These lands are free from the Witham Outfall Tax.
In addition to the Risegate Eau, Gosberton and Surfleet drain
by Lathom's or Lafen Lode, and the old Beche Drain.
There are several cloughs and sewers, also connected with the
Glen, for obtaining a supply of fresh water.
There are 305 acres of land in Gosberton Parish which drain by
the Merlode and pay dykereeve rates to Quadring. The fen land
in this parish is in the Black Sluice District and is bounded by
Surfleet Fen on the north, the Beche separates it from Pinchbeck
Fen on the south, the South Forty-Foot Drain is on the west, and
the Hammond Beck Drain on the east. The district contains 1,170a.
2r. 13P. and elects one member of the Black Sluice Trust.
In i7gg an Act was obtained for dividing, allotting and inclosing
the common fen droves and waste lands in Gosberton. The Act
recites that this land in its then condition was of very little value,
but was capable of improvement, and that it contained 1400 acres.
William Ashton of Brandon, John Renshaw of Owthorpe, and
William Golding of Donington were appointed Commissioners, with
power to enclose, divide and allot the land, and were to be paid two
guineas a day for their services. They were to set out such public
roads as were necessary, forty feet wide. These roads were to be
formed by a Surveyor appointed for the purpose, at the expense of
the proprietors, and after being certified as completed to become
public highways. The bank between Gosberton and Pinchbeck
Fens, by the side of the higher land drain, was to be raised and
strengthened to prevent the water flowing out of Pinchbeck Fen.
The fen land in Surfleet lies between Gosberton and Quadring
Fens, and between the Hammond Beck on the east, and the South
Forty-Foot on the west. It is in the Eighteenpenny District of the
Black Sluice, its rateable area containing 760a. or. 31 p. It elects
one member of the Black Sluice Trust.
The Fen was enclosed under an Act obtained in 1777 for divid
ing and enclosing the common fen, common marsh, common fields
and waste grounds in the Parish of Surfleet. The total area dealt

DRAINAGE RATES.

QUADRING.

95
with by the Act includes, in addition to the fen which is in the
Black Sluice District, the marsh lying near the Welland, formerly
part of Bicker Haven, containing about 400 acres.
Thomas Pilgrim of Heckington, John Hudson of Louth, and
Benjamin Rippin of Kirton were appointed Commissioners for
dividing and enclosing the fen, and they were to be paid sixty
guineas each for their services and expenses. They were to set out
the public roads necessary, 40ft. wide, which were to become, when
constructed, public highways. The Commissioners were directed to
erect two new engines for draining the Fen and also such banks,
drains, sluices and bridges as they found necessary. The Award,
when executed, was to be enrolled and deposited with the Clerk of the
Peace for Holland and to be open for inspection on payment of a fee
of one shilling, and two pence for every 100 words copied.
The old lands in Surfleet are subject to the dykereeve rate of
the Court of Sewers and the Fourpenny Welland tax ; and the fen
lands, to the Black Sluice and Witham Outfall taxes.
The principal drain in Quadring and Quadring Hundred is the
Mer ox Ouse Mer Lode, which runs from Stong's Tunnel to Risegate
Eau at Lampson's Clough and so to the Welland, and a branch called
the Coin Drain. There are 305 acres in Gosberton which drain by
the Merlode and pay dykereeve rates to Quadring. Quadring and
Quadring Hundred have jointly with Gosberton and Surfleet
to maintain the Risegate Eau from Lambson's Clough to the
Welland. The fen land in Quadring in the Black Sluice District lies
between the Ouse Mer Lode on the north and Surfleet Fen on the
south, being bounded by the South Forty-Foot on the west and the
high lands in Quadring and Gosberton on the east. It includes
Quadring High Fen, Quadring Hundred Fen and the Shoff,
Quadring containing 65a. 3r. 2gp., Quadring Fen Shoff i,85ga. 2r.
3p., and Quadring Hundred Fen 400a. ir. 7p., together 2,325a. 3r.
4p. Each of these fens returns one member of the Black Sluice
Trust. The whole are situated in the Eighteenpenny District, and
are liable to the Witham Outfall tax.
In 1775 an Act was obtained for dividing and inclosing the
common fens, common meadows, common fields and waste grounds 15 Geo. iii
in the Parishes of Quadring and in Quadring Hundred. The High
Fen is described as containing, with the Shoff, 1,300a, and the Low
Fen in Quadring Hundred, 1,1 00a.
The Commissioners appointed were Daniel Douglas of Folking-
ham, John Hudson of Louth, and William Jepson of Lincoln, who
were to be paid seventy guineas for their services.
The Commissioners were authorised to set out any roads re
quired, and to give directions for the erection of banks, sluices,
bridges, drains and engines, as they might think convenient. The

QUADRING FEN

INCLOSURE ACT.

96
public roads were to be sixty feet wide, and to be deemed high
ways. A copy of the Award, when executed and enrolled with the
Clerk of the Peace, was to be deposited in the parish church of
Quadring, so far as it related to that parish, and the other part in
the parish church in Gosberton, and be open open to inspection on
payment of a fee of one shilling, and twopence for every ioo words
copied.
drainage. Donington. — The ancient sewers in this parish have received
Dugdale. notice from very early times. In the reign of Edward I., at
an Inquisition held at Gosberton it was found that " the sewers of
1M3- Scathergast, Swyneman Dam, and Swane Lode, in Donington,
ought, and had used to be 16 ft. in breadth, and so deep as that
the water might have a free passage ; and that they ought to be re
paired by the town of Donington, unto the river of Byker, which
runneth to the sea ; and to be opened at all times, except when
such an abundance of water the sewers could not suffice, but that
the province of Holand would be drowned." In such case it was to
be lawful for them to stop the said sewers. It was also found that
the channel of Byker ought to be repaired by Byker. At a subse
quent Session it was found that the portion belonging to Byker ex
tended to Bondistac ; the town of Donington having to maintain it
from Bondistac to Quadring, to the breadth of 24ft. ; the town
of Quadring to repair it to Gosberton ; and the town of Gosberton
thence to the sea (Bicker Haven.) The sewer here referred is that
which runs through the village of Bicker, and along the northern
boundary of Donington, and formerly emptied into Bicker Haven,
but now discharges into the Hammond Beck.
A large portion of this parish consists of fen and ing land.
This tract, called the New Enclosures, lies to the east of the
South Forty-Foot Drain, and is intersected by the old Hammond
Beck. It is bounded on the north by Bicker Fen and Ings, on the
east by the high lands in Donington, and on the south by Quadring
Fen. It includes the parts known as the North Ings, the North
Fen, West Dales, Gibbet Fen, 'Mallard Hum, Up Fen, Shoff Fen,
and the South Ings. It comprises 3,100 acres, or about half the
land in the parish.
The land lying on the west of the Hammond Beck drains into
the South Forty-Foot, and that on the East into the Hammond Beck,
except a small area lying in the North Fen, which finds its way into
the Forty-Foot by a tunnel under the Hammond Beck. The surface
of the land varies from 15 feet in the lowest part to 21 feet in the
highest, above the sill of the Black Sluice, 12 miles distant.
The Bridge End, or Holland, Causeway passes through this
Fen. This was a road originally made by the Romans and its
surface is raised considerably above the level gf the adjacent land,

97
and before the Enclosure of the Fens formed a barrier to the water
which was poured into the fen lying south of it from the numerous
becks which came from the high lands. The maintenance of the
west end of this bank devolved on the Abbot of St. Saviour's
Priory, which stood at the west end of the road, where the hamlet of
Bridge End now is, certain lands having been given to the Priory to
provide the funds for this purpose. The eastern part of the bank
had to be kept in repair by the inhabitants of Donington. A
bridge over the Hammond Beck, then known as Peecebrigge had
been built by the Abbot of Spalding, who took toll of persons
passing over it, and a Jury found that he ought to maintain it.
In 1767 an Act was obtained for dividing and enclosing the inoloburc act
open fields, meadows, common fens and other commonable places 7 "^767! c" a
within the parish of Donington, and for draining and improving the
same. Under this Act Commissioners were appointed to allot the
common lands, and to make such roads, drains, bridges and engines
as they thought necessary. The public roads were to be set out
sixty feet wide. Bicker parish was to be entitled to get earth for
repairing Bicker Ing or the North Fen Bank. The Commissioners
were to meet once a year, on the Monday in Easter week, to appoint
an officer to manage the works and to collect the rates. On the
death or resignation of a Commissioner, a new Commissioner was to
be appointed by the majority of the proprietors. By this Act persons
proved guilty of maliciously injuring the works were to be deemed
guilty of felony. Under the powers of this Act the fen was drained
by three wind engines with scoop wheels, two of which were erected
for lifting the water off the low land into the Forty-Foot and one for
lifting the water into Hammond Beck. One of these wooden wind
engines remains in existence at the present time ; the others have
been rebuilt. The length of the drain made under the powers of the
Act was about seven and three-quarter miles. Arthur Young gives
the cost of enclosure as ^"1,100 on 1,728 acres ofland, the original
value of which was ^380 and the improved value in i7gg
^681. The wind engines were only capable of lowering the water aft. Report, w. H.
below the average surface of the low lands and 3ft. 6in. below wheeler.
the average level of the whole district. In times of heavy floods "¦"•
the water in the South Forty- Foot, before the improvement of the
Outfall, used to rise at Donington Bridge three feet above the lowest
land, the ordinary wet weather and winter flow in the drain being 2ft.
5in. below the average surface of the low lands. The lower lands
were consequently frequently flooded and the drainage was generally
in an unsatisfactory state. drainage dig-
" TH1CT.
The powers of the existing Commissioners, as laid down
by the Act of 1767, were too limited to admit of their carrying out
the required improvements. In 1884 this Fen was therefore con-

TRICT.

DRAINAGE.

98
tituted a Drainage District under the provisions of the Land
Drainage Act, 1861, the provisional order to that effect being
47and48Vict.,c. confirmed by Parliament. The Drainage Board consists of twelve
41, 1884. members, who are qualified by being proprietors, or heirs apparent,
or agents to proprietors of not less than twenty acres, or by the
tenancy of not less than forty acres. All persons paying drainage
rates are entitled to vote at the election of members.
rates. The amount raised by rate in 1892-3 was ^"69. The expenditure
in maintenance was £"56, and in management ^39, total ^"95. There
was no outstanding loan.
The fen land is subject to the Black Sluice Drainage Rate of
eighteenpence an acre, the rateable area being 4,470a. ir. 2ip.
Donington sends one representative to the Black Sluice Trust. The
parish is also subject to the Witham Outfall Tax.
Bicker. — The principal Sewer in this Parish runs through the
village, and was formerly known as the River of Byker. It has
been referred to in the account of the parish of Donington. The
fen land in the Black Sluice District lies to the west o,f the village,
between the Hammond Beck and the South Forty- Foot Drain, and
between Donington Fen on the south, and Swineshead Low Ground
on the north.
1 nclosure act. The fen and other common lands were enclosed under an Act
6Geo- % c- 82- passed in 1766, in which it is stated that the fen and open fields con
tained 2,300 acres, and included Priest field, Meeking Hill field,
Wilson Dyke field, and Graft Bull Hum, containing together about
100 acres, and the Church lands.
John Landon of Milton, Joseph Robertson of Sibsey, and
Samuel Elsdale of Surfleet, were appointed Commissioners to divide
and allot the common land. They were directed to sell the out
lying pieces named above, in lots of 10 acres, towards paying the
expenses ; to allot the Vicar a plot equal to an annual value of
^"200 and the Lay Impropriator of /40 in lieu of tithes ; the Lord
Paramount and Owner of the Soil, 18 acres ; and the Lords of the
Manor of Bicker Beaumont, Helpringham-cum-Bicker, Whaplode
Hall, and Huntingfield Hall, two acres each. Three-fifths of the
remainder were to be allotted to the owners of houses and toft
steads in Bicker having right of common of the yearly value of six
shillings ; and two-fifths to the commoners.
The Ing or North Fen Bank, which had from time immemorial
been repaired with earth taken from Donington North Fen, was, in
future, to be repaired in the same manner. Four and a half acres
were set aside for providing materials for repairing the roads, the
herbage of the same to vest in the Surveyor of highways. The
Commissioners were to set out the necessary roads, which, if public,
were to be 60ft. wide and to be deemed highways ; they were also
tp see to the necessary drains, engines an4 other works.

99
After tho enrolment of tho award with the Clerk of the Peace,
the Commissionors were In hold a mooting annually, on thefirst Friday
in October, at tho Bull Inn, Donington, notice of the meeting being
given at llio parish church. At this mooting a Superintendent of
Ihe Drainage Works anil a Collector of Taxes were to be appointed,
On the death of any Commissioner, or on his vacating his office, the
surviving Commissioners were directed to call the proprietors of the
land together, to appoint a new Commissioner. Two Commissioners
nre empowered to act, and they have power to lay the necossary tax
to maintain the works.
Bicker Von is in the Eighteenpenny District of the Black Sluice,
tho area contributing being 2,56oa. 2k. i8p., and is liable to the
William Outfall Tax. The drainage of tho other portion of the
parish is under the control of tho Court of Sewers, and pays
dykeroovo rates.

IOO

ROMAN BANKS'

CHAPTER IV.
South Holland.
SOUTH HOLLAND consists almost entirely of alluvial land,
and is bounded by the river Welland on the west, the coast of
the Wash on the north and east, the river Nene on the east, and the
South Holland or Shire Drain on the south, which separates it from
Plate 4. the Bedford Level.
The central portion, about 5 miles in width, lying on the north
and south sides of the main road leading from Spalding to Sutton
St. Mary, was enclosed by banks constructed during the Roman
occupation, the northern bank still being known as the Roman
Bank and the southern bank as the Raven Bank. The outlets or the
drainage through the Roman Bank may still be traced in the names
' Moulton Sea End,' ' Holbeach Clough,' ' Fleet Hum,' ' Gedney
Dyke ' and ' Lutton Gate.'
On the south of the Raven Bank was a'tract of low fen land
subject to inundation from the overflowing of the Welland and the
Nene, and north of the Roman Bank was the coast of the Wash.
The general features and characteristics of the central portions show
that it was inhabited in early times and there are also remains of
Roman Castella at Whaplode Drove and Gedney Hill. The villages
are all situated in this central portion, and, from the names which
they now bear, show that they owe their original settlement to the
Saxons, the termination ton in Weston, Moulton, Lutton and Sutton,
denoting that these were originally settlements of Saxon Chiefs f
the termination lode of Whaplode refers to the stream which runs
through it ; Fleet takes it name from the salt water creek now
known as Fleet Haven ; Bech in Holbech means a boundary stream ;
and the termination of Gedney, an island, or tract of land surrounded
by water, inhabited by a Saxon family of the name of Geden or
Gedden, hence Geden's Ey, shortened into Gedney.
The coast gradually accreted outside the Roman Bank until the
reclaimed. sait marshes extended northwards from the ancient bank, for a
width varying from 2 to 5 miles, the surface of this land being about
3 feet higher than that inside the bank, the level of the land between
the South Holland Embankment and the Roman Bank, being
from 13 to 14 feet above the mean level of the sea, and that between
Plate 5. tjie Roman Bank and the Raven Bank from g to 1 1 feet.

NAMES OF VIL-

¦ALT MARSH

Fold out

Fold out

.TemSlaX.

Fig: 5.
CKajv-.J*'

jCU £ Jlhni

101

The area of land which has been reclaimed from the sea in
South Holland, between the Nene and the Welland, since the
enclosure made by the Romans, is about 35,162 acres.
The first notice that occurs as to these enclosures is that of a
grant made by King James I to C. Glemmond and John Walcot
of London, as nominees of the Earl of Argyle, of a certain marsh
(mariscus salus) left by the sea in Wigtoft, Moulton, Whaplode,
Holbeach, and Tydd St. Mary, which was to be drained at the
expense of the Earl ; one fifth being reserved to the king, and
also certain common lands to the neighbouring townships. In a
subsequent document it is stated that the king, having granted to
James, Earl of Carlisle, all salt or fresh water marsh grounds to be
inned and banked" from the sea which belong to the king by his
royal prerogative, the Eari of Lindsey and others named are
directed to compose any difference which may happen between Sir
Peregrine Bertie and Sir Philip - Lunden (to whom the Earl had
granted all the salt marshes within the counties of Lincoln and
Cambridge, except Long Sutton) and the adjacent lords, freeholders
and others who pretend to right of common in the marshes.
An enclosure of marsh was made in the parish of Tydd St.
Mary in 1632 containing 1121 acres, and lying between the old
Shire Drain on the south and Dereham Drain (now the New South
Holland Drain) on the north.
Sutton and Lutton marshes, containing 6,760 acres, were
enclosed in 1660. This enclosure comprises the land lying between
Dereham Drain on the south, the bank running by Sutton Bridge,
West Mere Creek and King John's House to Anderson's Sluice in
Lutton Learn on the east ; then westwards, along the parish boun
dary to the Roman Bank at Lutton Corner, the west boundary
being formed by the Roman bank, which ran due south through
Sutton St. Mary to Dereham Drain.
In 1660 a very extensive enclosure containing 17,374 acres was
made by certain Adventurers in the parishes of Gedney, Whaplode,
Holbeach and Moulton. This enclosure comprised nearly all the
marsh lying between the Roman Bank on the south and that after
wards enclosed by the South Holland Embankment on the north.
The bank commenced near the Boat Mere Creek and went north
ward, past Drove End and the Red House, thence westward, north
of Lapwater Hall and Leaden Hall, past Holbeach Old Outfall,
then southwards to the old Guide House, then westward to Wrag
Marsh and the Welland at Lord's Drain Outfall.
In 1720 an enclosure of 1,332 acres was made near the Nene, the
bank starting three quarters of a mile N.E. of Sutton Wash and
running on the other side of the present channel of the Nene, to
where the lighthouse towers are now, and then westward to Ander.
son's Sluice.

INCLOBUHEB
FROM THE SEA.

State Papers,
Domestic, 1615.

State Papers,
1634.

102

Plate 4.

SEWERS COM-
MISSIONS.

Dugdale.

In 1747 the Govenors of Guy's Hospital made an enclosure of
528 acres adjoining the last, the bank running from near where the
lighthouse towers are, northwards by Baxter's Sluice to Boat Mere
Creek. Other enclosures, outside this, were subsequently made, one
in 1806 and the other in 1865, containing together g44 acres.
In i7g3 the South Holland Embankment, or Sixteen Mile Bank
was made, enclosing 4,5g5 acres ; this will be more fully described
later on. Outside this, enclosures of 533 acres were made by John
son and Sturt in 1838, of 597 acres by T. Steer in 1840 and 1850 ;
the Gedney enclosure of 360 acres in 1875; and the Moulton
enclosure of 400 acres in the same year. These several enclosures
will be found marked on the plan of South Holland.
Partial attempts at the reclamation of the fen or southern part
of South Holland had been made from time to time by the different
owners. The Abbots of Crowland had constructed banks, enclosing
the land round the Abbey, and made drains for carrying away the
water. They also made a bank from Crowland to Spalding, in order
to obtain a road between the two places, which assisted in keeping
the flood water of the Welland out of this part of South Holland.
The attempts made by other proprietors are shown by the names
now existing, as ' Jiggin's or Jenkin's Bank ' in Holbeach Fen,
' Jay's Bank ' in Fleet Fen, ' Osgodyke Bank,' ' Weydyke '
' Dales Bank,' ' Mill Bank ' and the ' Delph Bank.' Inguiph states that
a large tract of land was reclaimed in the gth century in ' Holbeehe
and Capelode.' Several orders have been made by the Commissioners
of Sewers respecting this district. In a Commission issued in the
reign of Henry II (11 78), it was recited that through the inunda
tion of the sea inestimable damage had happened.
In I2g4 an order was made for repairing the banks of Sutton
Marsh, betwixt Scoft and Gedney. And it was also found that the
towns of Tydd and Sutton " could not be preserved except the fresh
water of Scoft near Trokenhou were restrained unto the breadth of
four feet." In the reign of Edward II, Commissioners were
appointed to inspect the banks and sewers upon the sea coast
(betwixt Tid Brigge and Surflete Brigge), "which had been broken by
tempestuous waves" and they were directed to be made higher and
thicker. Numerous orders were also issued as to the size the principal
water courses and sewers were to be made. It was also ordered " that
Fishermen should not prejudice the common sewers by lepes, weels,
or other obstructions whereby the passage of the waters of Spalding
or Pinchbeck towards the sea might be hindered " ; and it was
ordained "that all persons, as well rich as poor, should be obedient to
all mene works to be made as well in the sewers as in the marsh ;
and that every man having one messuage and ten acres of land
should find towards that work one tumbrel ; and he who had less,
one able man of eighteen years of age at the least ; and if the tumbrel

103
should make default, to pay for every day fourpence, and a man two
pence ; which hire to be allowed by the said Wardens for the behoof
of those towns (Spalding and Pinchbeck) ; and that once in the year
an account should be given thereof, upon notice given in the churches
of the said towns by the Common Cryer."
The same Commission presented that " for the preservation of the
town of Spalding, the Sewer of Peseholme Gote, unto the old Fen
dyke, ought to be scoured and repaired to Capel Brigge, 20ft. in
breadth ; and from that old Current unto Hergate 18ft. ; and from
Hergate unto the Old Fen Dyke 16ft. ; and that the sewer was in
decay through the default of the tenants of the Abbot of Croyland
and the freeholders of the Prior of Spalding and the tenants of the
Abbot of Angiers." Also that the roadway leading from Ratun Row
unto the house of John Fitz Simon unto Westlode Outfall and thence
to Peccebrigge ought to be so broad that two carts might meet
thereon, and that the fen bank from the Abbot of Croyland's Mill
unto Pichale should be raised 2ft. ; "and that the great bridge called
Spalding-brigge was then broken and ought to be repaired at the
charge of the whole town" of Spalding, and also "Batemanne brigg from
Westlode," and likewise that " Halmergate, Newgate, Fulnedrove,
Spalding Drove and the old Fen Dike ought to be repaired and that
Hevidings betwixt Spalding and Weston, abutting on Weston Mere,
should be made 12ft. thick, so that the water of Weston should not
enter into the fields of Spalding. ' ' They further found that the common
roadway betwixt Pichale and Brotherhouse was cut in sunder by the
Prior of Spalding and ordered that bridges should be made thereon, so
that carts might pass, and also from Brotherhouse to Clote, and that
the Common way from Clote to Croyland was then in decay, and that
no more trenches be made to the hindrance of the King's highway.
Again, in the tenth year of Edward II, Commissioners were appoin
ted to view and repair the banks and sewers in the marshes of
Gedney, Holbech, Sutton and Flete, and in the following year a
Commission was appointed to inspect the banks and sewers upon the
sea coast betwixt Tid Brigge and Surflete Brigge ; and four years
afterwards the banks, sewers and bridges between Holand and Tyd.
In 1571 a Dykereeve's inquest was held at Tydd and a verdict, Murra .s Ver.
known as Murray's verdict, given (Roger Murray being the foreman d!ct w-
of the Jury,) setting out the various sewers and banks maintainable
by the parishes, and this Jury also found that the sea bank from the
Gote northward to Cross Gate ought to be amended by the land
holders by ' acre silver ' and that the inhabitants for their passage
thereon should make common mene work upon the sea bank yearly
if need required, upon pain of every inhabitant in default of so doing
paying twelve pence. The verdict also found that other work of
repair to the drainage and banks, including Tydd Gote should be
done by the inhabitants by mene work, and that six bridges of stone

104

Dngdale.

BnrrelL 1642.

over the common "sewer ought to be repaired by 'acre silver' ; that
the South Ea Bank should be repaired by the land holders, and
that there ought to be a stone bridge over the Ea, between thestuices
at Tydd bridge, and a cart bridge over the said Ea at Low Gates
End, and that the Shire Gote ought to be maintained by the town
ship of Sutton.
In the reign of Edward VI a Commission was directed to Thomas
Holland the Elder, Richard Ogle and others, authorising them to
raise money by an assessment of one penny per acre fbr freehold,
and one half-penny for copyhold land in the township of Sutton, for
the purpose of repairing the bridges, sewers and banks which had
fallen into decay, and for making a new drain from a place in
Sutton called Sutton Gote to a place called the Black Aric upon the
sea. At a Session of Sewers held at Huntingdon in the reign of James
I, the rivers called High Fen Dyke and South Ea (a branch of the
Nene) were ordered to be secured from Clowes Cross to Holgate by
the land owners of Sutton and Tydd St. Mary's on the north part,
and from Holgate to Goldyke by the inhabitants of Gedney and
Sutton, and from Goldyke to Dowesdale on the north side by the
inhabitants of Whaplode, Holbech, Flete and Gedney ; from Dowes
dale to Crowland at the Prince's charge for his lands in Crowland.
In 1629 the Aduinturers of the Bedford Level cut the new
South Ea from Crowland to Clowes Cross and the Shire Drain from
Clowes Cross to Tyd, and so to the sea, and a sluice was made at
Tydd upon the Shire Drain to keep out the tides.
Very considerable difficulty appears to have arisen in construct
ing the sluices for the drainage of the marshes, for it is stated that
" the old drains were new scoured out, the outfall being as before
by the Shire drain and the sluice at Tydd, for the sluices set in the
marshes are all lost, which cost ^"25,000."
In 1642 a scheme was brought forward by A. Burrell for
improving the drainage of South Holland by widening and deepen
ing the South Ea and the Catwater, and opening out the Shire
Drain and continuing it one and a quarter miles, from Hills Sluice to
the south-east corner of Sutton Marsh and mailing a sluice there
with a 20ft. opening.
Numerous Commissions, besides those already referred to, were
issued for the protection of the banks and drainage of the district, up
to the time when the Court of Sewers was permanently established.
A large part of the drainage of South Holland has been
excluded from the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers by Aifts of
Parliament creating the special districts of Deeping Fen, Spalding
and Pinchbeck Blue Gowt District, and the South Holland Drain
age District. The remaining land, not provided for by these Afts,
still remains under the jurisdiction of the Court.

¦ CA BANK**

¦ twin* RATE*.

105
•The Court for this district is known as the Hundred of Elbe 00UBT <"
and its sittings are hold at Spalding. The parishes under the juris
diction of this Court are Cowbit, Crowland, Deeping St. Nicholas,
Fleet, Gedney, Holbeach, Sutton, Moulton, Pinchbeck, Spalding,
Sutton St. Mary, Tydd St. Mary, Weston and Whaplode. The
outer sea banks are maintained by the South Holland Embankment
Commissioners and private owners.
The general sewers' rates vary from about 2d. to 5d. per acre,
and rates for special purposes levied during recent years have been,
in Tydd St, Mary 4d. to 8d. ; Sutton St. James 4d. to 1/- ; Sutton
St. Edmund 4d. to 7d. ; Sutton St. Mary, 4d. to 1/4 ; Lutton, iod,
to 1/2 ; Gedney 7cl. to 1/6 ; Flejt, iod. to 1/6 ; Holbeach, 9d. to 2/1 ;
Whaplode, 4d. ; Pinchbeck, 3d. to 4d. ; Crowland, id. to 2^d.
Tho principal drains under the control of the Court of Sewers
are described in the parishes in which they lie, where are also to
be found the particulars of the Arts which have been obtained for
enclosing the marshes and common land. The account of the
enclosure of Deeping Fen will be found in a separate chapter,
South Holland Drainage District. -This level, which was
formerly very imperfectly drained and frequently flooded, lies on the
east side of the river Welland, between Spalding and Brotherhouse,
extending eastwards to the Nene. It consists of the fens lying
south of the Raven Bank in the parishes of Spalding, Weston,
Cowbit, Moulton, Whaplode, Holluach, Fleet, Gedney and Sutton.
The boundary is set out in the original Act as extending on the ioundary.
north from Spalding High Bridge to the high road leading to 13000,111,0.104.
Holbeach, nearly as far as Weston ; then following the boundary
between Weston and Moulton in a southerly ¦ direction to the
Moulton river, down to the Roman Bank ; thence along this and
Hurdle Tree lane to Sutton St. Mary ; thence southerly to the old
South Eau ; and along this in a westerly direction to the Postland
Estate, the boundary of which it follows to Brotherhouse Bar ; and
thence along the Brotherhouse Bank to Spalding, where it crosses
the river, and running round Hawthorn bank, again crosses the
river at the High Bridge. Additional lands have since been
admitted into the district by agreement. The boundary is marked
by the dotted line shown on the plan of South Holland.
The principal drain was formerly the Old Shire drain, the
boundary of the county of Lincoln, and at one time the course of
the river Nene, into which also the Welland at Crowland discharged
a part of its waters. This watercourse has been variously known
as the South Eau, tlu Shire Drain, and the Old South Holland
Drain. The outlet sluice is into the Nene near Tydd Gote.
¦ The area of land included in the first Act was 19,400 acres, but
this was subsequently increased, the area now being 36,4.00
acres.

Plats 4.

• HIRE DRAIN.

io6

SOUTH HOLLAND
DRAINASE ACT OF

The Preamble of the Act of 1793 described these lands as being
,793. much annoyed in the winter season with water, for want of a proper
23 io9°'i793. "" drainage and outfall to the sea, and that they were thereby rendered
in a great degree unprofitable to the owners thereof, and that they
were capable of being effectually drained and preserved.
The Commissioners appointed for the purpose of draining,
preserving and improving these low lands were George Maxwell of
Fletton, Edward Hare of Castor, and John Walker of Sutton St.
Mary. Their rate of remuneration was fixed by the Act at two
guineas a day, and they were empowered to carry out the necessary
works for the drainage of the district, to prevent Water from Deeping
Fen passing by a subterraneous tunnel under the Welland into the
Lord's Drain, the Adventurers of Deeping Fen being paid ^"1,500 as
compensation for their rights in the Lord's Drain. The Lord's Drain,
the South Eau Bank and the Queen's bank, so far as they formed a
barrier bank to the district, were in future to be placed under the
control of the Commissioners and Trustees appointed by the
Act.
works carried The following were the principal works carried out by the
missioners. Commissioners: a new main drain 14 miles long, extending from the
Nene at Peter's Point, about half a mile above Sutton Bridge, to
Wheat Meer Drain, 24ft. wide at the lower end, with a batter of 2
to 1, and a foreland of 15ft. on the Tydd side, the bottom dimin
ishing to 10ft. at the upper end, with a batter of i£ to 1, and fore
lands of 10ft. ; the highland drain, 5 miles long, and a lowland
drain 4 miles long ; the erection at the outfall of the drain of a sluice
of three arches of a total clear waterway of 26ft. ; a bridge over
Dereham Drain for the Wisbech turnpike road, with 24ft., open
ing and another for the road from Long Sutton to Tydd St.
Mary with a waterway of 22ft. ; and one at Gedney Drove, with
a 22ft. waterway.
For raising the money for defraying the expenses incurred
under the Act, the Commissioners were empowered to levy an
acre tax apportioned according to the benefit accruing to the
lands taxed, not exceeding forty shillings an acre, the payment
to be spread over three years.
The owners of certain lands lying on the west side of the
Welland between Hawthorn bank and the Westlode, were to have
the right to drain by the Lord's drain and by the new cut, on their
paying compensation for such drainage.
The Commissioners were empowered and directed to erect a
drainage engine in either the parish of Sutton St. Mary or Tydd, to
lift the water out of the main drain, which lay to the south of the
Roman Bank, and to put pointing doors in the drain, to prevent the
water so pumped from backing up the other part of the drain ; also
an engine for lifting the water out of the Lord's drain on the south

107
side of the Roman Bank. The wheels in either case were not to
lift against a greater head than 8 feet.
The Award made by the Commissioners, after being enrolled
with the Clerk of the Peace, was to be deposited in the Town
Chest in the parish of Holbeach, and be open for inspection or
copying on payment of the usual fees.
After the execution of the Award and the completion of the formation op
works ordered by the Commissioners, a Trust was to be appointed,
on which every Lord of the Manor, the Rectors or Vicars of the several
parishes through which the drain was made, the Senior Bursar of
of St. John's College, Cambridge, and every Proprietor of ioo acres,
or every lessee under the Crown of ioo acres, or their agents duly
appointed, were eligible to act. This qualification was altered by
the Act of 1 817. A Superintendent of the drains and works was to be
appointed at the Annual Meeting to be held at the Chequers Inn at
Holbeach, on the second Monday following the 4th of May, or, in
default of a fresh appointment, the Superintendent retained his office.
The Trustees were empowered to levy an equal acre rate, not
exceeding one shilling in any one year, on the occupiers of land
within the district, the rates paid by tenants to be deducted from
any rent due.
Persons found maliciously injuring'the drainage'works, or letting
in salt water through the sluices, were to be liable to be transported
for seven years as felons.
Under the Fleet Enclosure Act of 1794 some slight amend- 34 Geo. m, c. 94,
ments were made in this Act, as to the sale of lands in Fleet and I794,
Holbeach, and the position of the outfall of the .new drain was more
clearly defined, a clause in the Act directing " Peter's Point to be
that point of land which projects into the bay of the sea at a certain
salt marsh in Tydd St. Mary in the County of Lincoln, belonging to
the Governors or Trustees of Guy's Hospital." The new drain was
to commence at the salt marsh and continue in a straight line across
the sea bank, and thence by the side of an ancient gote and across
a part of the embanked marsh belonging to Guy's Hospital.
The drain as set out above was made between 1793 and 1796,
the date on the sluice being 1795, and it, with the other works, was
carried out under the superintendence of Mr. Thomas Pear of
Spalding, and of his son, who succeeded him.
In the year 1795 an Act was passed dealing with the Barrier barrier sank.
Bank and the road running along it. By an Act granted to the 35 Geo- '"• w*-
Adventurers of Deeping Fen in 1665 (16 and 17 Chas. II), they
were required to make and maintain the bank on the east side of
the Welland, from Brotherhouse to Spalding High Bridge. Subse
quently, in the reign of George III, an Act (12 Geo. Ill), was
obtained ' for the better preservation of the great bank of the river
Welland... and for making and keeping in repair a road thereon, and

SOUTH HOLLAND
DRAIN'

io8
also from thence to the village of Glinton in Northamptonshire.'
On the expiration of the term granted by the Turnpike Act there
was owing to the persons who advanced the money ^"8,925, in
addition to 13 years interest. No application being made for a
continuance of the term, the securities become void. It was there
fore arranged amongst the Trusts interested in the preservation of
the Barrier Bank, that this should be taken out of the jurisdiction of
of the Deeping Fen Trust and vested in the South Holland Drainage
Trust, the former paying, as compensation for getting rid of their
liability for its maintenance, £"1500 ; the Corporation of Bedford
Level were also to pay £"500 out of the North Level Funds, as
compensation for the improvement made in the bank by the Turnpike
Trust ; and the South Holland Drainage Trust, £"1,000, in considera-
ti6n of the tolls, which after the passing of the Act they would be
entitled to take. This £"3,000 was to be paid to the creditors of
the old Turnpike Trust, making a dividend of 40 per cent, of the
principal sum due to them.
The maintenance and repair of the Barrier Bank from Spalding
to Brotherhouse was, after the passing of the Act, to vest in the
South Holland Drainage Trust, which was also to maintain a
road on the top, and to have the right to levy tolls on all horses,
cattle, or vehicles using the road, a provision being made that no,
toll gate was to be erected nearer to Spalding than Handkerchief
Hall. The provision relating to the repair of the road was only to
remain in force for 21 years. This term was subsequently extended.
The right of road over the portion of the bank leading from the
south-west end of Crowland to the end of the bank at Peakirk
belonging to the Corporation of the Bedford Level, was continued ;
the toll house called ' Gilbert's Bar,' erected by the Turnpike
Trustees, was vested in the Corporation of Bedford Level ; and they
were authorised to collect the same tolls at this gate as were
collected at the gate near Cowbit. Their power to raise, maintain
and support the bank was not interfered • with ; and they were
authorised to prevent ' during the continuance of high water the
passage of any carriage in such part of the bank belonging to the
Corporation.' The South Holland Commissioners were to enlarge and raise
the Barrier Bank to such height as they should deem sufficient ' to
resist the water of the river Welland, and to protect the lands in
South Holland from inundation,' and ' to top the bank with a
sufficient quantity of gravel for making a good and permanent road
thereon ;' and the Trustees were afterwards to maintain the bank
and road, and if at any time ' any goole or breach or overflowing of
the waters ' should happen through the bank between Spalding and
Brotherhouse, to the annoyance of the lands in Sutton St. Edmunds,
Sutton St. James, or Tydd St. Mary, or in any part of Holland

THE OISTRICT

109
Elloe, .and the same were not amended by the Trustees within ten
days, then the Dykereeves of the parts affected were empowered to
repair the same and recover the cost from the Trustees.
By an Act passed in 1838 this road was declared to be a 1 and 2 vict., c.
turnpike road, the Committeemen of the South Holland Drainage 7,Ii'
being placed in the same position as other Turnpike Trustees. The
time during which the Trustees were authorised to collect tolls was
extended for 31 years after the passing of the Act. On the expirat
ion of this term the road became a highway, and was maintained
by the highway surveyors of Spalding and Cowbit respectively, the
toll bar at Cowbit being removed. This, being a disturnpiked road,
became a main road, under the Highway Act of 1878, and received
grants towards its maintenance from the County Fund. In i88g
the maintenance of the road on the Barrier Bank passed into the
hands of the Holland County Council. The toll-bar at Brother-
house was removed in 1892. Lord Normanton, who is the
owner of the Postland Estate, and had hitherto maintained the
portion of the road between Brotherhouse and Crowland, having
given up all rights over the road, it also became a main road under the
management of the County Council.
In 1812 the South Holland Commissioners promoted a Bill for condition
amending and rendering more effectual their previous Act. Con
siderable opposition was raised to the powers sought by the Com
missioners by several of the Proprietors, and meetings were held at
Spalding and Holbeach, in March, 1812, of which Sir Joseph Banks
was chairman ; and a series of resolutions was drawn up and printed.
The failure of the works carried out to effect the expected improva-
ment of the drainage was attributed by the Proprietors present at
these meetings to the fact that Kinderley's Cut, in the Nene, had
not been extended, and that as this extension was the main induce
ment for obtaining the previous Act, "the Commissioners had
expended the great sums entrusted to them in the execution of a
plan which they knew would prove ineffectual, unless works should
be executed by parties over whom neither they nor their employers
have, or ever had, any kind of control ; that the Wisbech waters,
when they passed near to the Sea Sluice, over-rode the South Holland
waters, so as to prevent their discharge until the waters of the Nene
had passed off ; and that when the South Holland waters and those
of the Nene were on a level, there was a depth of 5ft. Sin. on the
apron of the sluice ; that owing to the way in which the scheme had
been designed, the works carried out, and the unfair manner in
which the taxes had been levied, the proprietors present considered
the Commissioners had forfeited their confidence, and had proved
themselves utterly unfit for their office ; that they were prepared to
approve of the promotion of a new Act to authorise the execution of
an effectual plan of drainage, but that, if the Commissioners pro-

PORT.

no
ceeded with their present Bill, they were determined to oppose it
when it came before Parliament."
The carrying out of the works had imposed taxes on the
Proprietors of sums varying from 20/- to 40/- an acre, in return for
which they received very httle benefit, owing principally to the
defective discharge at the outfall into the Nene, the water having to
push its way to the river through beds of shifting sands.
¦enkie-s re- From a report made by Mr. John Rennie in 1813 ' for
completely draining South Holland,' it appears that, notwithstand
ing the works executed under the powers of these Acts, "the drainage
was still found to be incomplete and many thousands of acres of
valuable land were during the winter and spring so flooded that their
produce was of Httle comparative value, and therefore little had been
effected towards the great object of a complete drainage." The
great defect in the drainage arose from the want of a proper outfall,
the main drain terminating at Peter's Point, which was too far up
the Nene, so that even in the lowest tides the water in the river did
not subside sufficiently to admit of a free discharge of the water
from the lands. At neap tides in summer low water stood 3ft. gin.
on the sill of the sluice at Peter's Point. The fall of the water in
the river Nene at that rime was so great that the water discharging
by the Lutton Learn sluice, 2 miles lower down the Nene, was 18
inches below that of the South Holland Drain. Mr. Rennie there
fore proposed the erection of a new sluice near the then existing
sluice at the outfall of the Lutton Learn, having its sill 4ft. lower
than the present sluice, and that a new cut, five furlongs long, should
be made from the sluice to Crab Hole. The sluice was to have three
sets of pointing doors of 12ft. opening each, or 5ft. more waterway than
the then existing sluice. The total area to be drained by the new sluice
would be 35,000 acres, viz., 26,000 of South Holland and 9,000
drained by Lutton Leam. From the sluice to a little above Barlieu
Bridge the Lutton Leam was to be enlarged and deepened, thence
to Almond's Farm Bridge a new drain was to be made to join the
Bender Slough Drain, which was to be deepened and enlarged, to
its junction with the South Holland Drain. The estimated cost of
this scheme was ^83,531.
Mr. Rennie drew attention in his report to a scheme which he
thought would be of great benefit to the whole of this part of the
Fens by extending the North Level Drain from Gunthorpe Sluice to
the Lutton Leam, and making this extended outfall the common drain
of the two districts, the great advantage being the concentration of
a large body of water into one common outfall and its effect in
maintaining and keeping the outfall open.
No action was taken to carry this scheme out, and several difficult-
27 ^gj"*"0-60' ies having arisen in carrying out the provisions of the two previous
Acts and in obtaining payment of the sums assessed on the lands

amending act.

TRUSTEES.

Ill
for the work done, an amending Act was obtained in 1817. The
qualification of the Trustees was altered, every person being quali
fied to be a Trustee who owned, or rented under the Crown, 80 acres
of land, also the Bursar of St. John's College, Cambridge and the
Master of Sidney Sussex College. The Trustees were to have votes
for every 200 acres beyond the first 80 acres, but no one to have
more than four votes, unless he owned 1,180 acres, and then to have
votes for every 500 acres beyond 680, not exceeding 8 votes in
all. Power was given to the Trustees to act by Agents.
The Trustees were directed to meet once a year on the
second Monday in May, at Spalding, instead of at Holbeach, as
in the previous Act. At every third Annual Meeting the Trustees
were to appoint five of their number to act as a Committee. All
powers formerly vested in the Trustees were transferred to the
Committee, who have full control and management of all the works,
the laying and collecting of rates, the appointment of the Treasurer,
Clerk, Collector, Superintendent and other officers. They are
allowed all reasonable expenses attending their meetings, not
exceeding £"5 for each meeting. Three members form a quorum.
Accounts of receipts and expenditure by the Committee are to be
presented at the Annual Meeting of the Trustees.
In order to meet the outstanding debts incurred by the
Commissioners, the Committee were authorised to levy for one year
an extra tax of five shillings an acre, or, if this should prove insuf
ficient, a further additional tax of two shillings. The power to levy
the ordinary annual tax of one shilling an acre was continued and
such further annual tax as might be deemed necessary, not exceeding
sixpence an acre. The lands draining by the Lord's Drain, not
included in the boundaries set out in the first Act, were to be
charged sixpence an acre, to be used in discharging the expenses of
maintaining the Lord's Drain.
The Committee were authorized to borrow a sum not ex
ceeding £"3,000. This was increased by a subsequent Act to ro""-
. ° ** J land 2 Vict.,c.
£15,000. 78.
The herbage of the Barrier and other banks was to be let by
the Committee, to be grazed with sheep only, the rents being applied
to the same purposes as the tax. Any cattle or swine found on the
banks were to be impounded, under a penalty of ten shillings for
swine and twenty shillings for horses or other cattle. Any person
convicted of keeping rabbits on the banks was made liable to a
penalty of forty shillings.
The Committee were further empowered to admit adjacent admission
lands into their drainage system, on proper compensation being
paid, and provided that no lands not having a right of drainage
into the Nene should be admitted without the consent of the Com
missioners of the Nene Outfall.

SORROWING

HERBAQC Or

ADJAOCNT LANDS.

EFFECT OF
IMPROVEM ENT
>F THE NENE
OUTFALL.

REPORT'

112
In 1832 a new channel was made for the Nene, by a cut
through Cross Keys Wash, from Gunthorpe Sluice to Crab's Hole,
a distance of 5 miles, and continued for a further i-J miles through
the sands by training banks. This new outfall lowered the level of
low water in the channel of the river about 10 feet.
Prior to this improvement the water stood on the sill of the
sluice to a depth of 5ft. in summer, when a shoal of sand frequently
formed on the outside, and was seldom lower than 2ft. 6in. in
winter. After the improvent the sill of the middle arch was lowered
a foot, and the water then fell out 2ft. 9m. below the sill, making a
difference of upwards of 5ft. in the level af the water in the drain.
millinoton-s In 1 848 Mr. Edward Millington made a report to the Com
mittee of the Trustees. This report shows that the sill of the
Outfall Sluice was 7ft. above low water, as then existing, below
Sutton Bridge, and 8ft. 8in. above low water in Wisbech Eye.
There was a fall in floods with the water running 2ft. over the sill
of from 4ft. to 5ft. to the surface of low water in the Nene near the
Outfall; and it was anticipated that when the improvement works
in the Nene were completed there would be a fall of from 6ft. to 7ft.
from the sluice in floods and from 8ft. to 9ft. in ordinary seasons.
The bottom of the main drain was 3ft. below the sill of the sluice,
gradually rising until it became level with it at Red House Bridge,
five-and-a-quarter miles up the drain. Above this the bed rose with
an inclination of from 3m. to 4m. in a mile, and in the whole length
of the drain, fourteen and a quarter miles, the bottom rose 5ft. 9m.
The low lands at the extremity of the drain near Peakhill were
only from 6£ft. to 7ft. above the sill of the sluice, and were con
sequently frequently flooded. The land in the parish of Gedney
Hill and in Fleet was from 6ft. to 6|ft. above the sill, the distance
from the sluice varying from 9 to 1 2 miles ; the land in Holbeach,
between the main drain and Holbeach Drove, was from 6in. to gin.
higher than that in Fleet. The low lands in Holbeach and Whap
lode Drove Common, distant from the sluice fourteen and a half
miles, were from 6ft. to 7ft. above the sill.
E™.?",TJ,UL In an A(^ Passed m l857, it is recited that the Outfall Sluice
(erected in 1795) had become dilapidated and could not be effectually
repaired, and that the construction of a new Sea Sluice was imme
diately required. This damage was partly caused by the breaking of a
14 andjs Vict., dam when the sluice was under repair in 183 1. At the time when
the tide broke through the dam the apron was up and also the boarding
in the body of the sluice, and the sluice doors had been removed.
The scour of the tidal water through the sluice forced several of the
sheet piles out of their places, and otherwise damaged the foundation.
The damage was made good as far as possible, but the sluice was
never afterwards in a satisfactory condition, and was consequently
subject to leakage, especially after very high tides and was regarded

SLUICE.

185 I.

BYE LAWS.

"3
by those who had charge of it as insecure. The Committeemen were 14 and 15 vict.,
authorised to levy for five years a further tax of two shillings an acre,
for the purpose of raising the necessary funds for rebuilding the sluice.
They were also authorised to borrow a further sum of £["10,000.
The new sluice was erected in 1852 by Messrs. Grissell & Co.,
under the direction of Mr. William Lewin, and had two openings
of 8ft. each and one of 15ft., making a total waterway of 31ft.
The sill was placed 5ft. lower than that of the old sluice and is now
5.5ft. below Ordnance datum, or about 4^ft. above low water of
spring tides in the estuary. The cost of the sluice (and of other
attendant works and expenses, £"2,000) was £"10,500. The water, in
very high floods, lises, when the doors are closed by the tides, to over
1 oft. on the sill. In ordinary floods the depth when running is from
3ft. to 5ft. The area of land draining by this sluice is about 34,000
acres. One of the first practical applications of the Centrifugal
Pump to drainage works was made at the works carried out for
the construction of this sluice.
In 1842, at an annual meeting of the Trustees, the following
Bye Laws were passed for the management of the district, which
were to take effect on notice being given to the owner or occupier ;
the defaulter being liable to a penalty of £"5.
1. — Trees or hedges growing near drains, so far as the branches
overhang the drain, to be lopped and pruned.
Ditches along which water from other lands has course to any
public drain to be deepened and cleansed.
Tunnels of adequate size and dimensions for gateways across
any public drains or ditches to be provided.
¦Headings or other works for preventing the issue of water from
or into the public drains to be kept in order.
¦No injury to be done to any drain, sluice, or other work ; no
obstruction to be placed in any drain ; no bank or heading to
be cut, or tunnel or other work opened for the purpose of
directing the course of the water.
The area of land now under the jurisdiction of the Trustees,
including that which has been added by petition of the owners since ««»'™«-
the passing of the original Acts, is 36,285a. or. 3ip., of which
4,428* acres drains by Lord's Drain.
The taxes annually levied and other receipts are as follows :—
£ s. d.
One Shilling on 31, 856^ acres ... 1,5631510
Sixpence on 4,428^ acres draining by
Lord's Drain ... ... no 15 10
Two Shillings on 187a. or. 37P- in
Lord's Drain district now drain
ing by Main Drain ... ... 18 14 8
1,693 6 4

TAXES AND EX-

114 £ „. d.
Bank and other rents ... ... 226 9 o
Interest, &c. ... ... ... 80 14 9

414 II
688 3

45

90 10

8

4 1
79 8
366 9

3 2
0

£"2,000 10 I
The expenses as taken from the accounts for 1892-3, include: —
£ s. d.
Maintenance of Main Drains and
Sluice
Parish Works
Lord's Drain district
Barrier Bank
Rents, Rates and Taxes
Management ;tf 1,643 3 10
There is a surplus income of about . £"400 a year, which is
invested to meet heavy renewals of works, and emergencies. A
large amount was paid for rebuilding one of the bridges, a few years
ago, out of this fund. The balance invested at the end of 1892 was
£"3,100. There is no outstanding loan. The tax levied in 1894
was 1/- in the South Holland District and 6d. in the Lord's Drain
District. South Holland Embankment. — A Trust was created in
33 Geo. iii, ^. 16, the year 1793, under an Act of Parliament passed in the reign of
52 Geo. Hi, c. 175, George III, (amended by a second Act obtained in 1812) for
l8'2, enclosing the large tract of salt marsh lying between the Welland
and the Nene, north of the Roman Bank. The area of land enclosed
was stated to be as follows : —
ACREAGE AND
PARISHES.

Private Salt Marsh in the Parish

of Spalding

dL.
35

,. P
2 3

,» >>

Moultbn

249

2 23

>> ,,

Whaplode

166

2 6

,, ,,

Holbeach

2059

2 18

»» »»

Gedney

612

3 37

Commonable in Moulton

861

2 28

,, Gedney

6og

0 29

4.595
0 24
EMBANKMENT ACT.
The Common land in Moulton was assessed by the Commis
sioners in their Award at £^8,371 3s. 4d. ; and that in Gedney at
£"5,968 10s. 8d.
At the time of Inclosure there were ten owners of private lands,
of whom the principal were N. Garland, W. Drake, M. Dayrell,
— Coates, Lord Boston and the Earl of Buckingham.
This land is described in the Preamble of the Act as being
overflowed by the sea at every spring tide, and as being of little
value ; and it is stated that the embanking and draining would be of
great advantage to all persons interested therein. For the purpose of
SEA BANK.

"5
carrying out the work, T. G. Ewen of Norwich, Edward Hare of Castor
and George Maxwell of Fletton were appointed Commissioners, their
remuneration being fixed at two guineas a day. The Commissioners
took the oath in July, 1793, and the bank was completed and the
Award made in April, 1 811, the work having thus occupied nearly
eight years.
The embankment commences at the north-west corner of Wrag
Marsh Farm, which is about a mile and a half above Fosdyke Bridge,
and continues nearly parallel with the Welland for three miles, to
Moulton Outfall, whence it continues along the coast in a broken line
to Boat Mere Creek, where it terminates by a junction with the
existing sea bank. The total length of the outer bank is about 15
miles. The course of the bank is shown on the plan of South pia'e 4.
Holland in this Chapter. The depth of the marsh enclosed varied
from 20 or 30 chains to a mile. The size of the bank is given in the
Act as being in the lowest part of the marsh 11ft. high, and
63-J-ft. wide at the base, with slopes of four to one on the outer
slope and one and a half to one on the inner slope. On the
highest part of the marsh the bank was not to be less than 8ft. high,
with 47ft. base, and the same slopes. (At the present time
the top of the bank is about 20ft. above Ordnance datum.) Cross
banks were to be made with slopes of one and a half to one on both
sides in the narrowest part of the marsh, wherever the Commis
sioners should think necessary, to prevent a general inundation in
case of a breach in any part of the outer bank. The slopes were to
be flagged with sods two and a half inches thick, and the banks
sown with rye grass.
All necessary drains and private roads were to be made by the
Commissioners. The boundaries between- the different owners
were to be straightened, the divisions, where they abutted on the
new bank, to be made in straight lines for a length of one hundred
yards, and as nearly parallel as practicable. All claims to accretion
after the bank was made were to be regulated by a continuation of accretion out-
*^ J cinr Tur bank.
these straight lines across the sea bank, and into the marsh for ever
after acquired from the sea.
Provision was to be made for the drainage discharging by the
two existing sluices, erected for the purpose of draining the lands in
the parishes of Moulton, Whaplode and Holbeach, and by several
private sluices for draining the lands adjoining the new enclosure, by
the erection of the following new sluices, viz., one near the mouth
of Holbeach Creek, 16ft. wide, with the floor 2ft. lower than the
then existing Sea Sluice ; one at the mouth of Holbeach
Creek for the drainage of lands in Moulton, 10ft. wide, with the
floor i8in. lower than the existing sluice ; one, near the mouth
of the Old Fleet Haven, for draining the marshes adjoining
the same, 8ft. wide, with the floor i8in. lower than any of the then

SIDE THE BANK-

6LUICES.

TRUSTEES AND
OFFICERS.

116
existing sluices in the sea bank ; one near the mouth of Daws-
mere Creek, 5ft. wide, with the floor i8in. lower than the existing
sluice ; and another near Boatmere Creek, 4ft. wide, with the floor
i2in. lower than the existing sluice, called Baker's Sluice. Drains
were also to be made connecting the old and new sluices.
The new sluices and drains were to be considered as part of the
works, and to be from time to time repaired, cleansed and scoured]
the cost being paid out of the rates levied by the Superintendent. In
default the Surveyor of Sewers was to have the necessary work done,
and the cost to be recoverable from the Superintendent. Provision
was also made in the case of neglect to have the sluices opened,
when required, by an application to a Justice of the Peace, who
was authorised to order the sluices to be opened.
Twelve Trustees were nominated in the Act, who, together with
four delegates chosen by the Commoners in Moulton and Gedney,
were to have the management of the banks, sluices and other works
after completion. The future Trust was to consist of the heirs or
assigns of the then owners, interested in the enclosed marsh to the
yearly value of fifty pounds or upwards, or in any allotments made
of the commonable part of the marsh of the yearly value of twenty
pounds. The banks with the cess or foreland on the land side and
the drains, sluices, bridges and other works were vested in the
Trustees, as a Corporation in perpetual succession. The Trustees
were directed by the Act to meet annually, on the Thursday in Easter
week, at the Chequers Inn, Holbeach, or such other place as they
might think fit. At this Annual Meeting they were to appoint a
Superintendent, who was to have charge of the banks, sluices, &c,
and to have power to levy a rate not exceeding one shilling an acre
in one year, for the repair of the new bank and works, and payment
of the expenses of management. He was also directed to call upon
the persons who had previously repaired the old banks and sluices
to keep these in order at their own cost. The rate was to be paid
by the occupier of the land, and deducted from his rent, if a tenant.
The Superintendent was to be appointed in writing, to find surety
to the amount of £"500, and be removable by the Trustees at
pleasure for neglect or misconduct. The Trustees were also directed
by the Act to appoint at the Annual Meeting five persons, not
necessarily Trustees, to act as a Committee and to meet in any case of
emergency, three of whom were to be a quorum, and they were
empowered to levy such further rates as they might deem necessary
for the safety of the bank, sluices and other works. Provision was
made to prevent the stocking of the bank, for the first seven years
after completion, with any other cattle except sheep, under a penalty
of £"5° ; and, after the expiration of this period, any swine, horses or
cattle found on the banks might be impounded in the common
pound until a fine of ten shillings a head for swine and twenty

ii7
shillings for horses and cattle, and expenses were paid. If any
owner knowingly keeps rabbits upon the marsh or banks he is liable
to a penalty of forty shillings ; also any person mooring any vessel
to the sluices or laying the same within eighty yards is liable to a
penalty of £"50.
The Act of 181 2 amended some of the clauses in the first Act, 5* g^ThCc."',
and provided that certain irregularities in carrying out the provi- l8l2>
sions of the same by the Commissioners should not affect the
validity of, or vitiate the proceedings under the Act, andthat the works
done should be deemed to have satisfied the requirements thereof.
This Act also repealed so much of the Welland A ct of 34 Geo. iii,
as related to the unembanked lands adjoining the sea bank. It also
recited that great damage was done to the new sea bank by an
exceedingly high tide, accompanied by a violent tempest, which
happened in November, 1810, and gave further powers to the Com
missioners to repair the damage then done, and to repay the outlay
which was made by the owners at the time for the preservation of the
banks. In repairing the banks it was found necessary to abandon a
considerable quantity of land within the line of the original embank
ment, and at this part to make a fresh bank within the line of the
old one. For these repairs a rate of thirty shilling an acre was laid.
The Act further provided that notice of any rate made by the Com
mittee should be given for three weeks in a newspaper circulating
in the County, and by writing fixed on the principal doors
of the churches of Spalding, Moulton, Whaplode, Holbeach,
and Gedney, twenty days previous to the time appointed for
payment. Provision was made in this Act for the appointment
of a Clerk and Treasurer, for borrowing money, and the payment of
the expenses of the Committee at their meetings, not exceeding five
pounds for each meeting.
The total cost of carrying out the works, and of the Award, was
£"45,227, or about £"10 an acre.
The rate for the maintenance of the South Holland Embank
ment is about one shilling an acre, the maximum amount which the penditure.
Superintendent is authorised to lay without the authority of the
Committee, and produces £"221.
The expenses of maintenance, according to the last annual
taxation return (i8g2), amount to £"73, and of management to £"78,
total £"151. There is no outstanding loan.
Blue Gowt or Spalding and Pinchbeck District. — This
district, which is shown on the plan of Deeping Fen, lies to the
south and east of the river Glen, and is bounded by it on the north ;
on the west by the Dozens Bank, on which runs the main road
between Podehole and Dovehirne ; on the south by the site of the
Old Westlode Drain, up to Spalding ; and thence on the south east,

COST OF WORKS.

RATES AND EX-

BOUNDARY

n8
up to the junction of the Welland and the Glen, by the Roman
Bank. It contains about 4,500 acres. The drainage is by the
Blue Gowt Drain, from which the water is lifted by an engine into
the Glen, a little above its junction with the Welland.
41 Geo. m, 1801. Under an Act passed in the reign of George III, for inclosing
the Common lands in Spalding, Pinchbeck and the other parishes
drainage. adjoining the Welland and the Glen, the drainage of this district
was provided for by the deepening and widening of the Blue Gowt
Drain, from its outfall to its then termination near the turnpike road
leading from Spalding to Donington, and continuing it thence by a
new cut to Dozens Bank. The bottom of the drain was made 10ft. at
the lower end, gradually diminishing to 6ft. at the termination, with
slopes of 2 to 1, and forelands of 10ft., up to Stickwith Gowt, and
above that if to 1, and 6ft. forelands. A sluice was erected at its
junction with the Glen, having 14ft. waterway. Another drain was
also directed to be made, branching from the Blue Gowt Drain near
the turnpike road and extending thence to the Vernatts Drain, and
so much further on the south side as might be found expedient, with
a culvert under the Vernatts of 3ft. diameter, for the purpose of
draining such of the lands lying between the Westlode and the Glen
as are so situated as to discharge their water through the Blue
Gowt Drain and Sluice into the river. The Proprietors of this part
of the district were also authorized by the Act to erect a drainage
engine for lifting the water off the land lying between the Vernatts
and the Westlode, and west of Two Plank Bridge,, for discharging
the water into the Vernatts, subject to certain restrictions. The
Proprietors of the whole district were also authorized to erect an
engine for lifting the water out of the Blue Gowt Drain into the
Glen, but this power was not exercised and that part of the Act was
repealed by the Act of 1832, when fresh powers were obtained.
The drainage being found very defective, on account of the
height of the water at the outfall of the Blue Gowt Drain, it became
necessary to lift the water by steam power. The powers for this
2 win. iv, 183a purpose contained in the Act of 1801 being found insufficient, a
separate Act was obtained by the Proprietors. Under this Act
Leonard Browne of Pinchbeck, William Peppercorn of St. Neots,
Thomas Brabins Measure of Pinchbeck, William Wiles of Pinch
beck and George Brown of Gosberton were appointed Trustees for
the better effecting the drainage, and for supporting and keeping in
repair the Blue Gowt Drain and other sewers and banks. The first
Trustees were appointed for 3 years, when the Proprietors of the
land were to have the opportunity of electing fresh Trustees if they
wished, otherwise the existing Trustees were to continue in office
until death or resignation, and so on, every three years. Every
Owner of ten acres has one vote at the election, and an additional
vote for every 50 acres up to 10 votes. If he have over 500 acres

iig
he has an additional vote for every 200 acres beyond the 500, up to
12 votes. Owners may delegate their power to their Agents by a
written authority. The Trustees are to call a meeting of the
Proprietors of lands once a year, on the first Monday in October, for
the purpose of presenting their accounts, notice of such meeting
being first advertised.
The Trustees are empowered by the Act to appoint a Clerk>
Collector, Superintendent and Treasurer, arid are allowed their
reasonable expenses in attending meetings.
They were empowered to erect on the Blue Gowt Drain at
Stickwith Gowt a good and substantial engine, to be worked by
steam, with -all proper machinery, houses and sluices, and also to
deepen and widen the Blue Gowt Drain and to support and maintain
all the works belonging to the said drain ; but no part of the water
of the Blue Gowt Drain was to be discharged into the Vernatts
Drain, and the engines erected were not to be used when the Glen
could not discharge its water owing to the height of the water in the
Welland. The Act directs that the Owners and Occupiers of land in the
district shall maintain in order the droveway, outring, or partition
and division dikes, to a width not exceeding 8ft. at the top, or in
default, after notice given, the Superintendent is empowered to do
the work at the cost of the owners or occupiers, who are further
subject to a fine of three shillings a rood.
The land is divided into four districts for the purpose of rating,
the lowest rated paying one-fourth of that paid by the highest, and
the other two one-half and three-quarters respectively. The land
lying between the Roman Bank and the Vernatts Drain, called Marsh
Lands, and Monks' House Farm were exempted from taxation.
The taxes are levied on the Owners, the Occupiers being liable
for payment, but being allowed to deduct the rate from the rent.
Persons neglecting to pay the taxes for 14 days after the time
appointed for payment are liable to have their their effects distrained
upon and are subject to a penalty of 5/- in the £".
The Trustees were authorized to borrrow £"5,000 for the
purpose of carrying out the work.
The engine erected by the Trustees in 1833 is a low pressure
condensing beam engine, 20 N.H.P., and works a scoop wheel of 24ft. inert.
diameter and 2ft. 2in. width, the scoops being 5ft. long. The wheel
makes 7 revolutions to 28 of the engine. The average head is from
5 to 6ft., rising in floods to 8ft. The boiler pressure was originally
4lbs. and the coal consumption if tons in twelve hours. A new
boiler has recently been laid in place of the old one and the pressure
increased to 2olbs. Some improvements have also been made in the
engine and the coal consumption reduced to one-third of what it
used to be. The area drained by the engine is 6,000 acres.

PUMPING MACH-

120

DRAINAGE RATE.

The rate generally levied by the Trustees is 3/- an acre on the
district paying the maximum, and in proportion on the other
districts. The amount raised by rates, according to the Govern
ment taxation return of 1892-3, was £"467, and from other sources £"4,
total £"471. The expenditure, in maintenance £"542, management
£"134, interest £^15, total £"691. The outstanding loan amounted to
£"300. In the previous year maintenance cost £"273.
Pinchbeck South Fen, or the Fourth District. — Pinch
beck South Fen, which is shown on the plan of Deeping Fen,
includes part of Pinchbeck Common. It lies between the Glen on
the north and west, and the Counter Drain on the south, extending
np to the Dozens Bank, on the main road between Podehole and
Dovehirne on the east, and the Cradge Bank on the west ; it
contains 1,425a. 2r. i6p.
41 Geo. iii, c. 128, This was one of the districts set out under the Deeping Fen
Enclosure Act of 1801, and is the only one now remaining as a
separate district, the others having been done away with under the
Deeping Fen Act of 1856.
Under the Enclosure Act the Owners of land in the Fourth
District were directed to elect Trustees, who were empowered to
erect and maintain engines, and carry out such works as they
deemed necessary for the drainage, and to levy taxes not exceeding
2/- an acre in any one year, to pay for the same. By the Act of
4 Geo. iv, 1823. 1823 the powers of the Trustees were extended and, with the consent
of three-fifths of the Owners, the annual tax can be raised to 5/-.
The main drain for this district runs parallel with the Counter
gine. Drain and crosses the main road, north of Podehole. The engine
was erected in 1829 at a cost of £"3,000. It is situated a quarter of a
mile on the east side of the main road at Podehole, and discharges
the water into the Vernatts Drain. The water is lifted by a scoop
wheel, 20ft. in diameter, having 42 scoops 5ft. 6in. long and ift. 3m.
wide. The average lift is 5ft. The wheel is driven by a beam
engine of 35 NH.P., the pressure in the boiler being from 61bs. to 7lbs.
The engine makes 30 revolutions, and the wheel 7f , in a minute.
The maximum rate of 5/- is generally levied by the Trustees.
Deeping Fen Washes Drainage District. — This is a
narrow tract of land lying between the river Glen and the Counter
Drain, containing 400 acres, and was originally left to receive the
overflow water from the Glen. The Counter Drain was constructed
to carry off this overflow water and to relieve the Glen. The south
bank is made sufficiently high to prevent the water from flowing on
to Deeping Fen from the washes. The Counter Drain receives
the water from Bourne South Fen and the Bourne and Thurlby
pastures lying to the south of Bourne Eau, and containing about
2,000 acres. Formerly this wash was almost always flooded in
winter:

DRAINAGE

121

24, 1873-

DRAINAGE RATES.

Since the improvement of the drainage of Deeping Fen, the
construction of a new outfall sluice for the Glen, and the strength
ening of the banks, these lands are less liable to flooding than formerly.
In 1873 this area was formed into a District by a provisional 36and37Vict,c,
order under the Land Drainage Act, subsequently confirmed by
Parliament. The amount raised by rates, as given in the return for 1892-3,
was £"23 ; maintenance cost £"5 and management £"7.
Spalding and Pinchbeck. — The greater part of these parishes
is included in special Drainage Districts, the south-west part of
Spalding, known as Spalding Common is part of the Deeping Fen
District, the south-east part of the parish is in the South Holland
Drainage District, the part west of the town is, with part of
Pinchbeck, formed into a separate level, known as the Blue Gowt
District. Pinchbeck North Fen is in the Black Sluice District and
the South Fen in Deeping Fen. The drainage of the remainder of
the parish is under the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers.
Weston. — The southern portion of this parish forms part of
the South Holland Drainage District. The northern part is under
the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers and is drained by the Lord's
Drain, which discharges into the river Welland about a mile below
the reservoir. Moulton. — A large tract ofland, containing 2,237 acres in this
parish, in common with the marshes in Holbeach and Gedney
lying outside the Roman Bank, was enclosed from the sea by a bank
running westward from the Old Guide House to Wrag Marsh,
constructed in 1660. A further addition of 1,081 acres was made to
the parish in 1 793 by the South Holland Embankment, when the
part known as the Red Cow District was enclosed. Of this addition
861 acres were common marsh. In 1875, 400 acres of marsh were
enclosed and added to the parish.
The parish consists of three divisions. The old part, lying
between the Roman Bank and Garner's Dyke, also called the
Raven Bank, and known as the ' Town Lands ' ; the fen,
lying south of Garner's Dyke and extending up to the Queen's
Bank ; and the enclosed marsh land, lying north of the Roman
Bank and extending up to the river Welland. The land lying south
of the Roman Bank is in the South Holland Drainage District. The
sea bank and Outfall Drain are maintained by the South Holland
Embankment Commissioners.
The principal sewers in the parish are the Moulton Meer Drain,
running along the western boundary of the fen, and discharging into
Lord's Drain, north of the village of Weston ; and the Moulton
river, which extends from the south end of the fen to the outfall into
the Welland on the north, a distance of 1 1 miles. The portion
south of the Roman Bank discharges into the South Holland

INCLOSURE OF
MARSHES

DIVISION OF THE
PARISH.

122
Drain. The northern outfall was diverted to its present outfall into
the Welland by the South Holland Embankment Commissioners.
The fen was formerly drained by a wind engine and scoop
wheel, situated at Dawsdyke near Engine Bank. In 1705 this
engine was repaired by Nathaniel Kinderley, at a cost of £"200.
A second drainage engine was erected in 1698 on the north side
of the Roman Bank at Sea's End, the work being done under the
advice of, and by, Mr. Hodgkin of Little Bytham.
The Sluice in the Sea Bank, constructed in 1660, appears to
have given the Dykereeves considerable trouble ; as in 1 693 Robert
Adams was paid £"26 for laying down a new sluice, to replace the
old one, and Joshua Bernard £"120 for its erection. This sluice also
proved a failure, and in 1739 John Scribo and John Parkinson were
called in to advise about it, and in the following year a new sluice
was built, at a cost of £"270, by W. Sands, who built the Glen Sluice
about the same time.
In 1733 Mr. Grundy, Surveyor, then of Leicester and after
wards of Spalding, whose name appears prominently in various
schemes for the improvement of the Witham, was employed
to make a map of the parish, and to take the levels thereof;
and prepare a scheme, with plan, for its better drainage. A copy of
this plan is now in the possession of the Rev. T. Russell Jackson,
the Vicar of Moulton. Mr. Grundy was also employed in 1739, at
a fee of 20 guineas, to make a map and take the levels of the
Common Salt Marsh.
In 1765 the sea bank in this parish was broken by a sudden
and unexpected tide, which inundated the marsh land, drowning
over 2,000 sheep, 7 beasts and 13 horses. During the gale and high
tide of 1810, a breach was made in the South Holland Embankment
in this parish, and considerable damage was done. This bank had
been constructed about 1793, and at the same time the Moulton
river was diverted by a new cut at the outfall, having 12ft. water
way at the bottom ; and a new sluice erected, having 10ft. opening.
Up to nearly the end of the 18th century there was a large area
of Common Marsh Land in this parish, known as the Bean Marsh,
the First Marsh, the New Marsh and the Salt Marsh. A Marsh
Reeve was appointed by the parish to look after this Common and
was paid a salary of £"4 a year. A Marsh Shepherd was also
appointed at a salary of £"20 a year. These expenses, together with
those incurred for mowing thistles, catching moles, repairing gates
and fences, &c, amounting to about £"45 a year, were met by a
marsh rate of is. 6d. for each horse and neat beast, and 3d. for each
sheep grazed on the common.
An Act was obtained in 1793 for dividing and enclosing these
33 Geo."m,"c.T' commonable salt marshes, droves, commons and waste lands,
I?93- containing, with other waste lands, about 2,000 acres. The area of

BREACH OF SEA
BANKS.

THE COMMONS-

ENCLOSURE ACT.

123
the marshes was 86ia. 2r. 2gp. the value of which was assessed by
the Embankment Commissioners at £"8,371 3s. 4d.
The Commissioners appointed under the Act were George
Maxwell of Fletton, Thomas Glover Ewen of Norwich, and Joseph
Newman of Boston, their remuneration being fixed at £1 2s. od. a
day, including their expenses. They were directed to divide and
allot the land ; to set out and make the necessary pubhc and private
roads and such drains as they deemed necessary, the pubhc roads
to be 50ft. wide. Two acres of land were to be set out for the pur
pose of getting material for the repair of the roads. Provision was
also made by the Act for raising the money for the share of the cost
of the South Holland Embankment.
In 1873 an Act was obtained for enclosing a further tract of
salt marsh, containing about 400 acres, extending up to the Wei- J^V^^ ^L
land, which had accreted outside the South Holland Embankment. °- tj°. l5^3-
The persons interested in this marsh were Lord Boston, Richard
Jackson, Edgar Walter Garland : the Rev. J. Russell Jackson, as
owner of the tithes : the Frontagers : and the Owners of the common
rights. Edward Millington of Fleet was appointed Commissioner for
the purposes of the Act, with power to make the embankments, roads
and sewers necessary. Also to determine the rights of, and to make
allotments to, the several claimants. The Award, when made, was to
be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace. So much of the marsh
was to be sold as would be sufficient to pay the expenses of embank
ing and carrying out the Act ; and a further portion for maintaining
the works. Lord Boston and the other Owners were to pay their
share of the cost. After the deposit of the award and completion of
the works, three Trustees were to be appointed for the management
of the marsh. Every owner of an allotment is entitled to one vote and
an additional vote for every acre. Every person qualified to be an
Elector is qualified to be a Trustee. The Trustees remain in office
for three years, or until their successors are appointed. Two
Trustees are a quorum : the office is to be at Spalding ; and a
meeting is to be held annually, and at such other times as necessary.
The Trustees have power to levy rates for the maintenance of the
works, no limit being fixed as to the amount ; the rate is to be paid by
the Occupier and to be repaid by the Owner. Failing payment, the
Trustees mav distrain. The roads made were to be deemed public
highwavs to be maintained by the Trustees, the cost being repaid
bv the highway Survevors. The length of the enclosure bank was
two and a quarter miles. The contract for making the bank, includ
ing the sluice, was £"5,574, equal to about £13 10s. od. an acre.
Holbeach asd Whaplode. — The large tract of Land, known as
Holbeach Marsh, lying north of the Roman Bank, was, in common
with the marshes in Moulton and Gedney, enclosed from the sea by
an embankment made about 1660, and by a subsequent enibank-

RCLOSUSE OF
¦AB5HE5.

124

INCLOSURE OF
MARSHES.

THE FEN.

DRAINAGE.

ment made under the South Holland Embankment Act of 1793.
The former enclosure was made by ' the Adventurers ' under a
grant by James I, in 1615, to Charles Glenmand and John Walcott
of London, on behalf of the Duke of Argyll, of marsh land left by
the sea in Wigtoft, Moulton, Holbeach and Tydd St. Mary. This
grant included a reservation of a fifth portion, and a rent of £"50 to the
King, and Common Lands to the neighbouring townships. This
marsh is referred to in a grant made by King John to Thomas de
Muleton, of ' the marsh lying between the water of Spaldyinge and
the water of Tyd.'
The area of land added to the parish of Holbeach under the
first enclosure was g,7g8 acres, and to Whaplode i,057acres; and under
the second, 2,o5g acres in Holbeach and 166 acres in Whaplode. In
1833 an attempt was made to enclose about goo acres in this parish,
and Gedney, byThimbleby, Wroods and Sers, the contract for the work
being let to Smith Simpson for £"13,480 ; but in February, 1835, the
bank was damaged by a heavy gale, and the contractor ruined. In
1838 a second attempt to enclose 533 acres of this marsh was made
by Messrs. Johnson and Sturton, who had purchased the property,
under the direction of Mr. Lewin of Boston, the cost of enclosure
amounting to £"37 an acre. This enclosure bank derived its name,
' Bull Dog Bank,' from the fact that the navvies who were engaged
in its construction seized a bull dog, which a bailiff had brought
with him to assist in the arrest of one of the men, and, having killed
it, buried it in the bank. In 1840 the remaining portion of the
marsh was enclosed under the direction of Mr. Millington.
The addition to the original area of the parish of Holbeach by
these enclosures from the sea was i2,3go acres, and of Whaplode
1,223 acres.
The fen, or that portion of these parishes south of the Raven
Bank, is in the South Holland Drainage District, and is drained by
the South Holland Drain into the Nene. The part north of the
Raven Bank is under the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers, and
drains into the Welland.
The principal drains are the Holbeach and Whaplode rivers,
which run northwards through these parishes from the Raven Bank,
the boundary of the South Holland Drainage District, to a common
outfall in the South Holland Bank, and thence by a cut, one mile in
length, to the new channel of the Welland. The Holbeach river
at its upper end has two branches, called respectively ' the new
river ' and ' the old river,' which, after running through the fen
nearly parallel, unite at Cockle Bridge, whence they flow on together
for about if miles, through Holbeach Clough, (the outfall before
the construction of the bank of 1630), where the Holbeach and
Whaplode rivers unite and discharge at the common outfall in the
sea bank. The area drained by this sluice is about 10,000 acres.

125
The sluice is a brick structure with three openings, the centre being
ioft. wide, and the two side openings 3ft. each. As, however, the
doors do not open to their full width, the clear waterway is only
12ft. The sill is 2ft. 9in. above Ordnance datum. The outfall drain
has 2 1 ft. bottom up to Fisher's Bridge and 15ft. up to the junction
with the Whaplode river. The sluice and drain up to the inner
bank were constructed under the powers of the South Holland
Embankment Act, and are now maintained by the Trustees.
The level of the low lands in Holbeach Fen, at the upper end
of the drain, is about 5ft. gin. above the sill of the drain, and, as the
water in heavy floods stands at low water to a depth of 2ft. on the
sill, these lands are imperfectly drained in wet seasons. The sill of
the sluice is 5ft. 3m. above ordinary low water in the Welland, and eSJ*°?' w'ah'
3ft. gin. above ordinary floods. 1883.
Formerly the channel of the Welland took its course in a large
bend to the south, passing very near this sluice. After the river
was straightened and the channel diverted, the discharge from the
sluice became very obstructed, owing to its distance from low water.
The water seldom ebbed out lower than 4ft. on the sill of the sluice,
when its level in the channel of the river, a mile distant, was 4ft.
below the sill, making a fall of 8ft. in one mile. Mr. Millington, the cnbitt, 'Dec.,
Surveyor to the Court, had advised the opening out of a channel l8*3'
through the marsh, to be made permanent with fascine work,
the estimated cost being from ^"2,500 to £"3,000, and this plan, being
approved by Mr. Cubitt, was carried out. In summer and in dry
seasons, this channel is still subject to be obstructed by accretion,
but it has rendered the outfall very much more efficient tha'n it was
before its construction.
This parish, in conjunction with Whaplode, obtained an Act in IKClMUBE ACT.
1812 for inclosing its common lands, and in 1835, in conjunction 52 Geo. iii, 1812
with Gedney, for embanking, draining and improving lands and salt 4 acd4,^35.' '
marshes in these parishes.
The Act of 1 81 2 states that at that time there was in the
parishes of Holbeach and Whaplode, a tract of land called Holbeach
and Whaplode Common, containing 1,800 acres, and also waste lands
and droves, and that these in their then condition were incapable of
improvement, and that it would be a great advantage if the
whole of these common lands were divided and inclosed.
The Commissioners appointed to carry out the Act were Samuel
Dickinson of Thurganby, Robert Millington of Gedney, and Thomas
Keeton of Market Deeping. They- were to allot the land, to sell
unnecessary droveways, to widen and repair the existing drains and
make any new ones they deemed necessary ; to set out 10 acres of
land in each of the parishes for the purpose of obtaining material for
the repair of the roads ; also to set out ponds, pits and watering
places on the commons for the use of the cattle of the occupiers ; to

INCLOSURE OF
MARSHES.

126
sell sufficient land to defray the expenses of the Commission and
to pay off the sum of £"3,550, owing on mortgage of 250 acres of
land inclosed under the authority of the South Holland Drainage
Act. The Award, after being enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace
of Holland, was to be deposited in the Parish Church of Holbeach ;
copies to be supplied at the rate of four pence per sheet of 72 words.
An account of the early history of Holbeach will be found in
the Historical Notices, by Rev. G. W. Macdonald, vicar of Holbeach
St. Marks (published by Foster, King's Lynn, 1890) ; also in the
Holbeach Parish Register (published by James Williamson, Lincoln,
1892). In this book will be found information as to the bounds of the
parish, &c.
Gedney.— The large tract of land, containing 4,027 acres, in
this parish, known as Gedney marsh, lying north of the Roman Bank,
was inclosed from the sea in common with the marshes in Holbeach
and Moulton by an embankment made about 1660 ; and a subsequent
addition of 1,222 acres, about half of which was common land, was
made by the South Holland Embankment, in 1793. In 1840 and
1850 two further inclosures, containing 597 acres, were made by Miss
Steer, and in 1875 a further inclosure of 360 acres of common marsh
was inclosed under an Act obtained in 1873, making a total addition
to this parish, from land reclaimed from the sea, of 6,206 acres.
state Papers, In a petition presented to the King by R. Colville and other
l635- owners of the Manor of Gedney, it is stated that the Lords of the
Manor had for time out of mind been possessed of the salt marsh
called Gedney Marsh, containing 3,000 acres, which the Copyholders
had in common, and had deposited 3,000 sheep on the same. Sir
H. Wooton, under a grant from James I, had obtained a patent of
this marsh, as land gained from the sea, at a rent of £"246 a year,
and his interest had passed to the petitioners. These marshes
were probably included in the grant made to the Duke of Argyle in
1615, on condition that the Adventurers should 'in and embank'
them, and were inclosed by the bank made in 1660.
the fen. The fen, or that part of the parish lying south of tne Raven
Bank, is in the South Holland Drainage District and drains to the
Nene. The part north of the Raven Bank is under the jurisdiction
of the Court of Sewers. North of the Roman Bank there are
several public drains originally made by the South Holland Embank
ment Commissioners and now maintained by them. The outfalls are
at Dawsmeer Sluice, with 5ft. waterway, and Boatmeer Sluice with
4ft. waterway. Two additional sluices, ' Garland's ' and ' Baker's,'
were constructed in the new sea bank. Owing to the inclosures
which have been made since the South Holland bank was construct
ed, additional sluices have had to be made in the outer bank. The
water originally discharging at Baker's Sluice now goes to Boat
meer.

127

INCLOSURE ACT,
31 Geo. iii.

4 and 5 Will, iv.,
c. 64, 1835.

. 213, 1873-

MEETINGS OF
COMMONERS.

BANK RATES.

Part of this parish drains by Lutton Leam and is taxed to pay
for the new sluice erected in 1888.
This parish obtained an Act, when the South Holland Embank
ment was made, for Inclosing and Dividing the Common Salt
Marshes and Waste Lands in Gedney and in Gedney Fen. A further
Act was obtained, in conjunction with Holbeach in 1835, for
inclosing land in these parishes. A third Act was obtained in
1873, for embanking and inclosing a further tract of about 360 acres 36 and 37_vict,
of marsh, which had accreted outside the South Holland Embank
ment, since its construction about I7g3- The length of the bank
was 2 miles 4 chains and the contract for its construction was
^7,000, equal to about £^23 per acre inclosed. Considerable difficulty
was experienced in the construction of this bank, the work being
much damaged by a high tide and storms before it was finally
completed. Under the Act of 1873 a meeting of the Commoners interested
in the Commonable Salt Marshes and in the Allotments, is held
annually on Easter Monday, in the parish church of Gedney, to
elect delegates and pass the accounts.
The rate laid in i8g3 was 5/- an acre, which produced £"gi 10s.
4d. The herbage makes £"5 a year. The disbursements consisted
of payment to the delegates £~io 10s., officer's salary £10, expen
diture on the sea banks, &c, £"52 7s. 3d., showing for that year an
excess of receipts over expenditure of £"23 13s. id.
Fleet. — The fen part of the parish, known as Fleet Fen, lying
south of the Raven Bank, is in the South Holland Drainage district.
The centre part of the parish, lying between the Raven Bank
and the Roman Bank, and that between the Roman Bank and
the South Holland Embankment, drain by Fleet Haven. The
portion of this drain north of the Roman Bank, and the outer sluice,
were constructed and are now maintained by the South Holland
Embankment Commissioners. Fleet Haven Sluice was made with
an opening of 8ft.
A further enclosure of salt marsh, which had accreted outside
the South Holland Bank, was made between 1834-40, and the Fleet
Haven Drain was continued across this enclosure, a sluice being
constructed in the new bank. Part of this parish drains by Lutton
Leam and is taxed to pay for the cost of the new sluice erected in
1888. A small piece of marsh land, containing about 255 acres, was
added to this parish by the enclosure made in 1660.
The common waste lands and droves in this parish, containing
500 acres, were enclosed under an act passed in i7g4, the commis
sioners being George Maxwell of Fletton, Edward Hare of Castor,
and John Walker of Sutton St. Mary, the remuneration for their
services being fixed at £2. 2s. a day. These Commissioners
were to allot the common lands and also certain droves which were

DIVISION OF
PARISH.

DRAINAGE*

INCLOSURE ACT,
34 Geo. iii, 1794-

128
considered wider than necessary ; to sell part of the land to pay the
expenses ; to set out such public or private roads as they deemed
¦ necessary, the latter being not less than 40ft. wide ; and to set out two
acres of the common land for the purpose of getting material for
these roads. This act also amended the clauses in the South
Holland Drainage Act of 1793, as to the sale of land in this parish
and Holbeach. The Award was directed to be enrolled with the
Clerk of the Peace of Holland and a copy was to be deposited in the
parish church of Fleet.
Long Sutton. — This parish includes the hamlets of Sutton
St. Mary, Sutton St. Nicholas, (otherwise, Lutton,) Sutton St. James
and Sutton St. Edmund's. Each of these hamlets is separately
rated to the poor and maintains its own highways.
There is a tradition, for which however there does not appear
to be much foundation, that anciently there was a village called
Dalproon, on a site near the South Holland Sluice and that it was
washed away in the great flood of 1236. The tradition is preserved
in the following lines : —
When Dalproon stood,
Long Sutton was a wood :
When Dalproon was washed down,
Long Sutton became a town.
inclosure of The large tract known as Sutton Marsh, containing 6,760 acres,
3UTTON MARSH. - .. .11lr, , _
was enclosed trom the sea in the middle 01 the 17th century. In
S^'i64aPerS' 1640, King Charles I, by letters patent, granted these marshes to
the Duke of Lenox under a rent of .^"300 a year, with power to
embank and inclose them. The inclosure bank commenced at the
sluice in Dereham Drain (now incorporated in the South Holland
Drain) at the north-east corner of Tydd St. Mary's Marsh, and ran
by Sutton Wash, West Mere Creek and King John's House, to a
sluice, afterwards known as Anderson's Sluice, in Lutton Leam,
about if miles east of the Roman Bank. It then turned west for
about 2 miles, to the point where the Roman Bank bends south,
known as Sutton Corner. The Roman Bank, which runs south
through Sutton St. Mary, formed the west boundary.
In 1 7 17, Lord Lenox's interest was sold by order of the Court
of Chancery, and was purchased by a Mr. Wollaston for £"31,800,
the unembanked lands being estimated by the purchaser as being
as valuable as those which had been inclosed. Opposition was
raised against the inclosure of the open marshes, and a petition was
presented to the King (agamst a Bill which had been introduced), 'for
preventing the inning and embanking ' of these salt marshes. The
overflowing of the tide on these marshes was stated ' as scarce ten
times a year two feet deep.' The bill was withdrawn and in 1720
closure. 1720. Mr. Newland, who had then become the owner, made an in
closure of 1,332 acres, the bank starting about three quarters- of a

NEWLAND'S

i2g

GUVS HOSPITAL
INCLOSURES. 1T4T.

THE COMMONS.

mile north-east of Sutton Wash and running, in an irregular line along
the east side of the present channel of the Nene, to the point where
the west light tower stands, then turning west to the bank near
Anderson's Sluice and Lutton Leam. Part of this inclosure now
lies on the east side of the new outfall of the Nene. In 1733 these
lands became the property of Guy's Hospital.
In 1747 a further inclosure of 762 acres was made, 528 acres of
which lie between Lutton Leam and Gedney parish, and 234 acres
south of the Leam. A new sluice was put in the Leam about
if miles east of Anderson's Sluice, which was known as Bothamley's
or Baxter's Sluice, now removed.
A further inclosure of 313 acres, called Shearcroft's Inclosure,
was made by Guy's Hospital in 1805, and the present inner Leam
Sluice was constructed. The bank of this inclosure extends from
Skate's Corner, near the Lighthouse Towers, to Boatmeer Creek.
The last inclosure of 400 acres was made in 1865, and the
sluice erected close to the river Nene outfall, under the direction of
Mr. Millington.
Up to nearly the end of the last century there was a large tract
of Common Land in this parish, containing between 3,000 and 4,000
acres. The whole of this common and the marshes from Tydd
Gote toLutton were without trees or hedges. They grew a rough grass
and nettles, and were grazed by horses, cattle, sheep and pigs, often
sent by owners of stock from considerable distances, on agistment.
The road from Lincolnshire to Norfolk traversed this common and
marsh, to the Cross Keys Wash, which was only fordable at low
water. Drovers with their cattle for Lynn and Norwich markets,
horses, vehicles and foot passengers were piloted over the two miles
of the Wash by guides on horseback, the foot passengers being
mounted on pillions behind the guides. Accidents frequently
occurred, owing to the shifting nature of the sands.
In 1831 the Nene embankment and roadway towards Lynn, two button bridge.
miles in length, was made by a company of Proprietors, under an
Act obtained in 1825. An oak bridge was constructed across the
new cut of the Nene, the centre portion of which was made to open
upwards to allow vessels to pass. This was replaced by a swing
bridge in 1851, which in 1866 was transferred to the railway
company. Between 1788 and 1790 the common marshes and fens in this
parish were divided and inclosed under an Inclosure Act. The
commons dealt with were Long Sutton Common, containing 2,500
acres ; a fen, called Sutton St. Edmund's Common, containing 700
acres; and several common waste grounds.
The Commissiopers appointed to carry out the Act were
Edward Hare of Castor, Edward Stone of Leverington, and John
Oldham of Tydd St. Mary. Their remuneration was fixed at £2 2s.

INCLOSURE ACT.
28 Geo. Hi, 1788.

130

DRAINAGE,

LUTTON LEAM,

Dugdale.

a day, including their expenses. They were to allot the lands, and sell
a portion of the commons to pay the expenses ; to set out such roads
as they deemed necessary — one of a width of 66ft., running across the
common from Dereham's Drain to the Old Leam and thence by
Steward's Marsh to the turnpike, and adjoining the west side of the
Guy's Hospital estate, (now known as Hospital Drove) ; to
set out 10 acres of land, for the purpose of getting materials for the
repair of the turnpike road which passed through the parish, which
land was to vest in the Turnpike Trustees. The Award, when en
rolled, was to be deposited in the parish church of Sutton St. Mary.
In 1827, when the New Cut for the Nene was made, a portion
of this parish was severed and left on the east side of the river and
about 200 acres were taken for the cut and banks.
A small part of the south-west portion of Sutton St. Mary is
in the South Holland Drainage District, the remaining portion of
Sutton St. Mary and Sutton St. Nicholas drain by the Lutton
Leam Sluice into the Nene.
Lutton Leam is a very ancient outfall. In the Records of a
Court of Sewers held at King's Lynn in 1613 it is described as 'the
deep called Lutton Leame.' It was at that time proposed to bring
the water from Wisbech and Elm, which then drained by the Four
Gotes, across Tydd marsh and Sutton marshes to King's Creeke, and
thence to fall into ' the deep called Lutton Leame,' which was
stated to be a shorter course to the river by six miles, and as having
a much better outfall.
The outfall of the Leam was originally at Lutton Gote in the
Roman Bank, but when the inclosure bank of 1660 was made, a
new sluice, called Anderson's Sluice, was built if miles east of the
Roman Bank. In 1774, a third sluice, known as Bothamley's or
Baxter's Sluice, was erected, about one mile further east. This has
since been removed. In 1806, when a further inclosure was made,
the sluice was placed three quarters of a mile further east, where
the inner sluice now stands, and about one mile from the Nene
outfall. When the last, or Shearcroft's inclosure, was made in 1865,
a new sluice was erected in the inclosure bank close to the channel
of the Nene, and a sluice-keeper's house built near to the sluice.
The first sluice for Shearcroft's inclosure was erected under the
direction of Mr. Cressy, a Civil Engineer, of London. It
however blew up on the night following its completion. The
present inner sluice was built in 1806, under the direction of
Mr. Thomas Pear, of Spalding, and has an opening of iojft.
The outer sluice, erected in 1865 by the Governors of Guy's
Hospital, under the direction of Mr. Millington, had an opening of
8ft ; the decrease in the waterway, as compared^with the inner sluice,
being compensated for by the greater depth at which the sill was
placed. In 1881, the sill of the 1806 sluice was lowered by the

131
Court of Sewers, the work being done by Messrs. Cooke and
Bennett, Contractors.
On March nth, 1883, the outer sluice was damaged by a high
tide which made a breach through the bank of the Nene adjoining
the sluice, and carried away the sluice-keeper's house. The cause
of the breach was supposed to be due to a rat, or rabbit hole, in the
bank. The sluice was taken down and rebuilt at some distance
back from the Nene in 1888, under the direction of Mr. John
Kingston, by Mr. James, the Contractor. The cost was £"4,326,
which, with engineering, legal and other expenses, made the total
cost £"5,677 ; of which £"3,677 was paid by Guy's Hospital, and
£"2,000 by the Court of Sewers ; the rate for the payment being
levied on the parishes of Lutton, Gedney, Fleet, and Sutton St.
Mary. The total area of land draining by the Lutton Leam is 13,000
acres. Part of Gedney and Fleet is drained by this outfall.
Sutton St. Edmund's Great and Little Commons, which lie to button st.
the south of the Old South Holland Drain and, together with
Inkerson Fen, extend southward to the Old Wryde Drain, contain
about 1,200 acres. This land is the only part of Lincolnshire on the
south of the Old South Holland or Shire Drain. It is drained by the
New South Eau in the North Level System. The Great and v Geo. u, 1754.
Little Commons are exempted from taxation to the North Level.
The drainage was improved under the powers of an Act obtained 49 ,^f °j8 "'' Cl
in i8og, for Improving the Lands lying in the late Great Common
and in the Little Common of Sutton St. Edmunds, in the Parish of
Sutton St. Mary, otherwise Long Sutton.
The land was formerly drained by two windmills, driving scoop-
wheels, the one, known as Woolmer's, about 50 yards north of
Windmill corner; the other about if miles more to the north, called
Hockerson's, which threw the water into the Old South Eau, under
Murrow Bank above the Clows, and thence into the Shire Drain.
The tax, at that time, was 5/- an acre.
The drainage is under the power of the Commissioners appoin
ted by the Act of 1754.
St. Edmund's paid £"1,700 to the North Level Drainage in 1828,
for sending its water down the North Level Drain, to a sluice erected
under the direction of Mr. Millington.
The mill and wheel were done away with when the New North
Level Drain was made. Woolmer's mill was pulled down in 1843,
and Hockerson's mill, after being superseded by a steam engine, was
pulled down in 1838.
The amount raised by rates in the Sutton St. Edmund's Great
Common District, according to the return i8g2-3, was £"27. The
Expenditure on Works, £"n ; Management, £"17; Interest, £"4;
Total £"32. There was an outstanding loan of £90.

132

SUTTON ST.
JAMES-

INCLOSURE OF
MARSH, 1632.

THE COMMONS.

INCLOSURE ACT.
32 Geo. iii, c. 25,
1792.

DRAINAGE ACTS.
13 Geo. lii, c. 60,
I773-
48 Geo. iii,

23,

7 and 8 Geo. :
c. 85, 1827.

This part of the parish was formerly drained by Lutton Leam
through a branch of the old South Eau, which went east of Sutton
church. About 1756 it was drained by a windmill and scoop-wheel
into the Shire Drain by means of the Dunton Drain. In 1786 the
Court of Sewers directed the discontinuance of the payment to the
Leam drainage. In 1816 a right to drain direct into the Shire
Drain by Denham's Drain, as an experiment for 20 years, was
purchased from the proprietors of the Estate. In 1836 the right
was made perpetual. Sutton Saint James paid £"850 towards the
cost of the Nene Outfall, made in 1830. It was attempted to make
this land also contribute towards the cost of the North Level Drain,
but, after the matter had been before a Parliamentary Committee,
it was discharged from any payment. The Drainage Mill was
taken down and sold in 1836.
Tydd St. Mary. — Tydd St. Mary's Marsh, lying between the
Shire Drain on the south and the New South Holland Drain (which
replaced Dereham's Drain) on the north, containing about 1,121
acres, was inclosed by Vermuyden, under an agreement with King
Charles, dated 1631, about which time the Bedford Level Commis
sioners straightened and improved the Shire Drain. Hill's Sluice at
the Tydd Gote is dated 1632, and was then probably the outfall to the
Shire Drain, its water subsequently being directed to the Foul Anchor,
when the first Gunthorpe Sluice was erected near the Foul Anchor Inn.
When the marsh was inclosed about 600 acres near the village
were left for the householders to use in common, no limit as to the
number of stock to be put on by each inhabitant being reserved.
The commons were consequently stocked so heavily that hardly a
blade of grass was left. Thistles and nettles grew luxuriantly, as it
was nobody's special duty to keep them down. Sheep and lambs
were frequently lost amongst them and were worried to death by
maggots. In 1792 an Act was obtained for the inclosure of this
common land ; each householder who had stocked the common
during the previous 20 years, however small his holding, being
admitted as having an equal right.
In 1773 an Act was obtained for draining the lands in Tydd St.
Mary, with those in Tydd St. Giles and Newton, these latter being in
the Isle of Ely. In 1808 an amending Act was obtained, and a
further amending Act in 1827. These Acts principally relate to the
drainage of Tydd St. Giles, which is in the North Level.
This parish paid £"300 to the North Level District in 1528 forthe
right to drain some of its outer lands, known as Rippingale, Chapel
and Tilney. The tunnel into the Shire Drain at Eau, or High Bank,
near Marwold Lane was constructed in 1849, and Wanton's tunnel
into the South Holland Drain was lowered in 1853.
The roads in this parish, and in Long Sutton, are known a.s gates;
thus, there is Bad Gate, Chapel Gate, Gilbert Gate, Acres Gate,

133
Broad Gate, Elder's Gate, Hunt's Gate, Low Gate, Roe Gate and
Cross Gate. Some of the roads are also distinguished as dykes, as
Master Dyke, Bully Dyke, Draw Dyke and Green Dyke.
The Hamlet of Tydd Gote is named from the fact of the outfall
gote or sluice being built there. The earliest recorded sluice is men
tioned in I2g3, the second in 1551, the third and present — called
Hill's Sluice, or Tydd Gote Bridge — in 1632. This was erected by
the Bedford Level Adventurers, when they turned their North
Level water from Guyhirne.

TYDD GOTE.

134

CHAPTER V.
The River Witham.
course of the g jj E river Witham takes its rise near Thistleton and South
RIVER. jj
I Witham, about ten miles north of Stamford, at an elevation
of 339ft. above the level of the sea, and, after a circuitous course of
about 68 miles, empties itself into Boston Deeps. The shape of the
river may be compared to a horse shoe, the upper part of the shoe
being at Lincoln, and the two ends respectively at South Witham
and Fishtoft, the distance between the two points being about 28
miles. The Witham, on leaving Thistleton and South Witham, flows
almost due north, past Colsterworth, Great and Little Ponton, to
Grantham, where it is 170ft. above the sea. It then continues its
northerly course past Belton and Syston, whence it takes a westerly
direction to Long Bennington, receiving on its way the Honington
Brook, and a stream, one head of which rises in the Vale of Belvoir
and the other at Denton, and both united join the Witham at
Hougham. It then again turns north, and passes Claypole,
Barnaby, Beckingham, Stapleford, Thurlby, and Hykeham. At
the latter place another tributary joins it, having its rise near
Caythorpe and Fulbeck, and then continues through a wide valley
to Lincoln, where it is only 16ft. above sea level. The principal
tributaries received in this part of its course are the Brant, 15 miles
long, which rises near Brandon, and the Till, 14 miles long, which
passes through Saxelby, Willingham and Upton.
Water supply of The geological formation is principally oolitic, and ex-
De"Rance. tends over 797 square miles, part of which is covered by alluvial
deposit ; 6 square miles consist of trias ; 240 of lias ; and 36 of
greensands and gault.
The river then passes through a deep depression in the cliff
which runs through this part of the country, and, after leaving
Lincoln, takes an easterly direction for about 8 miles ; then, bending
south for about 22 miles, reaches Boston, where it becomes tidal
and navigable for large vessels ; and, finally, after a further course
of 8 miles through a trained channel, discharges into the estuary at
Clayhole. Between Lincoln and Boston it is canalised and navig
able for barges.

[35

THE LANGWORTH;

The Langworth, which rises in the chalk hills between Market
Rasen and Louth, after a course of 18 miles, joins the river a short
distance below Lincoln.
The Bane, which rises in the same range of chalk hills near the bane.
Ludford, is 25 miles long, and passes through Homcastle and
Scrivelsby, joining the Witham near Tattershall. From Horncastle
to the Witham this tributary is canalised. The Slea, which rises the slea.
in the oolite near Ancaster and is fed by some strong oolite springs
at Sleaford, is also canalised, and joins the Witham near Dogdyke,
the length from the source being 22 miles.
The total length of the main stream is 89 miles, and of the length.
principal tributaries, g8 miles.
The area of the drainage basin may bs divided as follows : — drainage area.
High Land. Low Land. Total
Acres. Acres. Acres.
River Witham, above the Grand Sluice 414,998 33,897 448,895
Draining by the Black Sluice ... 57,490 76,861 134,351
Draining by Maud Foster and Hobhole
Sluices ... ... ... 21,330 62,576 83,906
Draining by Outfalls under control of
the Court of Sewers ... ... 13,600

680,752
In the report of the Parliamentary Committee on River Con
servancy the area of the drainage . basin is given as 1,050 square
miles, or 672,000 acres.
Sir John Hawkshaw makes the area draining by the Grand
Sluice greater than the above, and thus divides it : — High Level.
Acres.
Draining into the River Witham above Lincoln ... 152,000
Draining into the Fossdyke .. . ... ... ... 53,000
Draining into north-east side of the Witham below Lincoln 167,000
Draining into the Cardyke ... ... ... ... 40,000
Draining into Billinghay Skirth ... ... ... ig,ooo
Draining into the Sleaford Navigation ... ... 34,000

465,000
Lowlands drained by pumping ... ... ... 3g,ooo

NAME of

Total ... ... ... ... 504,000
of which 205,000 acres lie above Lincoln, and 2gg,ooo below.
The river has been called by three different names. Dr. Oliver
states that the ancient British name was Grant Avon, or the divine RIVER-
stream. The name of the principal town on the river, Grant-ham,
is evidence in favour of this. Leland is the authority for its being
subsequently known as the Lindis. Camden also says, ' the course
of Lindis river from Lincoln to Boston is 50 miles by water, as the
creeks go ' ; but there is evidence that the river was known as the
Witham long antecedent to the time when Camden wrote,

136
There is no record of the name by which it was known during
the Roman period. Since the Saxon times it has been known as the
Witham. The word Witham is probably derived from Wye-om, or
river plain.
ancientcourse There is every reason to suppose that the river now known as
OF THE RIVER. •*
the Witham, extending from its source above Grantham to the sea
below Boston, is the result of the union of the two streams, the
Witham and the Langworth. The Witham proper originally dis
charged its contents into the large mere above Lincoln, and so
drained to the Trent. The Langworth emptied into the large mere
lying between Washingborough and Chapel Hill, the outlet for its
water being by the tidal creek which extended from the lower part
of this mere, through the marshes where Boston now stands, to the
sea. Another outlet probably ran through the East and West Fens
to Wainfleet Haven. The two large lakes, one above and one below
Lincoln, which existed previous to the drainage works carried out
by the Romans, were separated by comparatively high ground,
extending from the edge of the peat, near Greetwell, to Lincoln.
The land lying west of Lincoln towards the Trent is all very
low, and beneath the level of the flood water in that river. A
practical proof of this was given in I7g5 when the bank of the Trent
at Spalford broke, and the whole area of land between the Trent and
Padiey's Lincoln was under water, in some parts to a depth of ten feet, the
course of the water being stopped by the High-street, which is
raised from 12ft. to 15ft. above the surrounding land. During the
flood about 20,000 acres of land to the west of the city were sub
merged. In 1770 the Fossdyke embankment at Torksey gave way,
the water flowing up to Lincoln.
There is every reason to assume that the Romans, for the
purpose of draining the low swampy ground to the north and west
of the city, and for the purpose of allowing boats to get there from
the Trent, either deepened and improved an existing watercourse, or
cut a new channel along the line of the present Fossdyke Canal. At
the same time they banked out the Trent and drained all the low
ground, except the deep part of Brayford Mere. For the purpose of
draining the Mere below Lincoln and also for making a canal, along
which boats could get from the sea, past Boston and up to Lincoln,
a cutting was made through the high land east of Brayford Mere, to
Short Ferry, about two miles below Fiskerton, and thence along the
edge of the high ground, until it joined the tidal creek near Chapel
Hill. Down to Lincoln, the Witham, like all other rivers, has
innumerable bends, while from Lincoln to Short Ferry, the course
is almost a straight line, and below Short Ferry to Chapel Hill, the
channel is only curved sufficiently to follow the high land, and is
too direct ever to have been the course of a natural stream. There
are also several small tracts of fen on the east side which have been

alteration of
the river by
the romans.

J37

cut off by the channel. Below Chapel Hill, before the New Cut was
made in 1761, the tidal creek or river was very tortuous, there being
no less than thirty bends in a length of 12 miles.
There is no record of any works having been carried out for
straightening the river or making a new cut above Chapel Hill,
except across the bend at Branston, since the Roman occupation.
It has been stated that the tide formerly reached Lincoln, and
that vessels came up on the tide to Lincoln past Boston. There is
no doubt that after the works carried out by the Romans there was
communication with the sea by this course, but neither then, nor
indeed, at any time, either before or since, would it have been possible
for the tide to reach Lincoln under the present geological conditions
of the district. Before the flow of the tide up the river was stopped
by the erection of the Grand Sluice, it seldom or never went beyond
Dogdyke or Chapel Hill. The bed of the river at that time was
higher than it is now, and the soil excavated for the deepening of the
old channel was hard clay, the surface of which at Kirkstead was
3fft. above the sill of the Grand Sluice. Before the improve
ments were made the fall in the surface of the water from Lincoln
to Boston was 16ft. An average spring tide rises about 13ft. at
Boston, the surface of high water at spring tides being about
13.34ft. above Ordnance datum (mean level of the sea.) The
surface of the land at Lincoln, between Brayford Mere and Stamp
End Lock, varies from 18 to 20 feet above Ordnance datum, the sur
face of the Mere being considerably above the level of a high tide.
By a survey of the Witham made in 1743, as nearly as the
levels from the ' primary point ' can be traced, and reduced to
Ordnance datum, the bed of the river at the High Bridge at Lincoln,
previous to the improvements, was i5-5gft. above Ordnance datum, and
at Washingborough it was 1 i^ft. above. The outfall below Chapel
Hill, up which the tide flowed, being only a shallow winding creek,
it is evident that it would not have been possible for the tide to
flow up to Lincoln.
The whole of the water coming down the upper Witham does
not pass along the channel which goes through the city. A consider
able portion is diverted in floods by the Syncil dyke, which, leaving
the Witham about half-a-mile above the city, joins the river
again near the Great Northern Railway Station. There is no record
of when this drain was cut, but there can be no doubt that its original
purpose was to relieve the city from flooding. Stukely says, " after
the Norman Conquest the great part of the City of Lincoln was
turned into a Castle. I apprehend they added the last intake south
ward in the angle of the Witham and made a new cut called the
Sincil dyke, on the south and east side, for its security." He gives,
however, no authority for this statement, and it is more probable that
it was the work of the Romans, and formed part of the system of

LIMIT OF THE
TIDE.

Grundy.

SYNCIL DYKE.

138

Stukeley's
Richard tyf
Cirencester.

OUTFALL OF THE
RIVER.

The Fenland.
Miller&Skertch- ley.

THE FOSSDYKE.
Dugdale's
Embanking and
Draining.

drainage which they they carried out. Smeaton's and Grundy's
report, of 1762, states that the water of Brayford Mere, into which
the Witham falls, is prevented from running off below a certain
height by a shoal or natural stanch in the river, between the Mere
and Lincoln High Bridge, called Brayford Head ; that as the bottoms
of Sincil Dyke and the Gowt Bridge Drain are several inches higher
than the top of the shoal at Brayford Mere, those two drains serve
only as Slaker Drains, to ease off the passage of the water in time of
flood. As regards the outfall of the river below Lincoln, Stukeley says,
that there was an outfall for the Witham " across that natural
declivity full east into the sea, as in the map of Richard of
Cirencester. This channel might pass out of the present river a
little below Coningsby, where the River Bane falls into it at Dock
Dyke and Youledale, by the waters of Howbridge north of Hundle-
house. So running below Middelhouse to Black Sike, it took the
present division between the two wapentakes all along the south
side of the deeps of the East Fen, and so by Blackgote to Wainfleet,
the Vainona of the Romans."
Mr. Skertchley of the Government Geological Survey traced
the old course across the gravel lands to the silt land of the West
Fen, where, the deposits being identical, its course is indistinguish
able, and he gives a diagram showing the deposit along the supposed
ancient channel.
There is a free communication between the Witham and the
Fossdyke and some of the Witham water finds its way to the Trent
by this course. The water for locking is entirely supplied from the
Witham. Dugdale describes the Fossdyke as extending " from the great
marsh below the City of Lincoln into the Trent at Torksey seven
miles, made by King Henry I, in the year 1121, for bringing up of
navigable vessels from the river into the city  and did no less
benefit to the parts adjacent by draining that fenny level from the
standing water then much annoying it." Dugdale is in error in
ascribing the making of this watercourse to Henry I. There can
be no doubt that Stukeley is correct in ascribing it to the Romans,
and that it was originally a continuation of the Car Dyke. Lincoln
at one end, and Torksey at the other, were both Roman stations.
The work referred to by Dugdale was the opening out of the old
canal. In the reign of Edward III, the Fossdyke had become so grown
up with grass and trodden in by cattle that boats could no longer
pass along it, and a presentment as to its condition was made to the
King in Parliament, by the citizens of Lincoln and the tradesmen
of York, Nottingham and Hull, " representing the damage from
ships and boats not being able to pass therein with merchandise and

22 and 23 Chas

ANCIENT NAVIGA
TION TO LINCOLN*

T39
victuals from these towns to Lincoln and thence to Boston. Where- Dugdale.
upon Commissioners were appointed to enquire into the matter, and
it was found that the landowners abutting on the channel ought to
repair the same." Very little more is heard of the Fossdyke till the
reign of Charles II, when an Act was passed empowering any
person to open up the communication through the Fossdyke to
Torksey and through the Witham to Boston, and under the powers
of this Act the Fossdyke was again opened out.
Stukeley says that " about eighty years ago (1755) when the
navigation was restored to Lincoln they made a new crooked course
for the Foss into the Trent. It went originally straight forwards
through the riverine into the marshes.... The water at the sluice is
generally a yard and a half higher in the Foss than in the Trent."
The fall from the Fossdyke to the Trent is given in Mr. J. Rennie's
report of Dec. 1802 as 6ft. In high floods the water in the Trent rises
above that in the Fossdyke, and the lock is provided with a double
set of gates, one pair for the purpose of holding up the water in the
Fossdyke and the other for preventing high floods in the Trent from
backing up into the Fossdyke.
During the Roman occupation and after the works already
referred to for connecting Lincoln and Boston, the Witham no
doubt became the chief means of communication for vessels engaged
in exporting corn, and for bringing wine and goods from other
countries. The larger vessels which crossed the sea would probably
lie in the haven below Boston or perhaps at Dogdyke and discharge
into smaller boats, better adapted for the navigation of the upper
reach. By this means the long transport of the merchandise by
land from Wainfleet, which previously had been the sea port for
Lincoln, was saved.
There are no records of the condition of the river for a long
period after the Roman occupation. In William the Conqueror's
time Lincoln was one of the most important cities in England, and
Leland says that men flocked there by land and water. In the time
of Henry I V Lincoln possessed a very large share of the import and
export trade of the kingdom. The trade between Lincoln and the
Continent, especially in wool, became very considerable and this
city paid in Quin'zine duties in one year £"656 12s. 2d., and Boston
^780 15s. 3d., as against £"830 12s. iod. by London. In the
Hundred Rolls are to be found many instances of cargoes of wool
sent down the Witham. The trade was of sufficient importance to
lead to the construction of a dock and warehouses at a place called
Calscroft, near Sheepwash Grange, where the ships belonging to the
Lincoln merchants loaded and discharged their cargoes, and where ReuSoZ^Houses
the city and king's officers attended to collect the tolls. "" tlc witham-
There was also a dock, or place where vessels could lie and
discharge their cargoes into smaller boats, at Dogdyke, formerly

EARLY CONDITION
OF THE RIVER.

Dugdale.

I40
spelt Docdyke, this being the extent to which the vessels could take
advantage of the tide. In the Hundred Rolls mention is made of
tolls taken in 1265 for vessels going to Lincoln.
The river not being under any jurisdiction capable of keeping it
in order, or of compelling the removal of obstructions, the Channel
deteriorated so much that navigation became difficult. In 1342, a
petition was sent to the King, in which it was stated that the river
was so obstructed by mud that ships laden with wine, wool and
other merchandise, could no longer pass as they used to do. It was
probably owing to the defective condition of the navigation that the
trade fell off at Lincoln ; and in I36g the staple for wool was
transferred to Boston.
In the reign of Edward III, mention is made of a Commission
sent by the King to view the river between Boston and Lincoln,
" it having been turned out of its course in sundry places, and so
obstructed with mud, sand, and plantation of trees, as also by flood
gates and sluices, mills, causeys and ditches, that the course of the
same being hindered, caused frequent inundations of the land adjacent.''
Again, in the same reign, parliament was petitioned by the merchants
of Lincoln and other towns, complaining of the total insufficiency
of the river for navigation. A few years later a presentment was
made to the court of King's Bench, showing that the channel of the
Witham in Wildmore was bending and defective.
In the fifteenth century several complaints were made as to the
neglect of the Abbots of the monasteries along the river to repair
the banks and channel. In the reign of Richard II a Commission
was appointed for the view and repair of those banks and sewers
betwixt Hildike and Bolingbroke, and betwixt the river Witham
and the sea, and to do all things therein according to the law and
custom of this realm, and according to the custom of Romney
Marsh ; and also to take so many diggers and labourers, upon
competent salaries, in regard of the then urgent necessity, as should
be sufficient to accomplish that work.
At a Court held at Stickford in 1427, complaint was made that
Kirkstead Abbey had neglected to repair the banks of the- Wytham
from Swythut Hurne as far as Mere Dyke, by which neglect the
marshes of the East and West Fens suffered. At a Court, held at
Sibsey Hall in 1430, Kirkstead Abbey was again charged with
neglecting to repair the banks near the grange of Langwathe, so
that the waters flowed into the West Fen. At a King's Court held
at Bolingbroke in 1444, it was shown that the Fossat, called Yoledale
Dyke, taking the water thro' Witham Sewer and thence into Boston
Haven, was out of repair, so that the water overflowed the King's
Pasture and the West Fen, by neglect of the inhabitants of
Coningsby. At a King's Court held in 1453 the Radyke (a bank
with a road on it), called Witham Bank in the Parish of Coningsby,

141
from Anthon's Gowt to Danebooth, was out of repair by neglect of
the Abbot of Kirkstead.
It is unnecessary to give instances of the numerous complaints
that were made to the Courts as to the condition of the river. The
above are sufficient to shew that the duty devolving on the ripari an
owners of maintaining the banks and channel was carried out very
indifferently, and that the river was allowed to get into a very
neglected condition.
In the reign of Henry VII, a Commission was held, and an
enquiry made as to the best means of improving the river, both for
drainage and navigation. At this time "at a *full spring tide in
winter, when the flood and fresh water did meet together at Dockdyke
the salt and fresh water strove so together that the water so ran over
the banks and both sides of the haven that it drowned all the common
fen ; so that men might come with boats from Garwick to Boston
town : and likewise from Boston to Kirkby land side."
The Commission appears to have come to the conclusion that
this state of things would be remedied if the sea water were prevented
from flowing up the river. Accordingly it was determined to erect a
sluice with flood gates at Boston. For this purpose a warrant was
made out and given to the dykereeves of every township in Holland,
or to the ' Jurats,' to bring in the book of the number of acres in their
respective parishes, and proclamation was made in the market of
Boston that the Dykereeves had made certificate of the correctness
of the acre books, at the Hallgarth Inn at Boston, before the
Commissioners there assembled for the purpose ; order was also made
to levy statute duty and contributions. In order to hasten the work>
a sum of £1,000 was borrowed until such time as it could be levied
according to the law of Romney Marsh. The following Officers
were also appointed, viz. a Receiver of the levy, or Prest ; two Bailiffs of
Sewers ; four Collectors and two Expenditors. The work of erecting
the sluice was entrusted to May Hake, probably a Dutchman, and
an indenture was made with him to make and finish a sluice and
dam in the Witham, in the town of Boston, on such ground as he
might select. He and his man were to be paid at the rate of four
shillings a day, with a gratuity of £"50 on the successful completion
of the work. Fourteen Stone-masons and Stone-hewers, brought
from Calais, were to have five shillings a week ' broken or whole.'
Ships were sent to Calais to fetch materials and ' the stuff and stone '
were to be conveyed to the churchyard at Boston.
The sluice was built in the middle of the river, a little to the
north of the present iron bridge. It was connected with the land on
each side and formed a bridge, and with alterations and numerous
repairs remained the only bridge across the river until the erection of
the present iron bridge in 1807. A stone pier 13ft. wide and 43fft
long was built in the centre of the river. On this by means of large

HAKE'S SLUICE

142

Grundy'si?*-^or£, '757-

LANGRICK GOTE,
IGOI,

Chapman's
Facts and Re
marks.

DECAY OF THE
RIVER.

Dugdale's
Embanking and
Draining.

State Papers,
1633.

iron hooks the doors for excluding the tide were hung, and recesses
were left in the masonry for the doors when open. There were two
openings, the large one 44ft. wide, and the small one 2if ft., or a total
waterway of 65fft. In a reference to this bridge in a pamphlet
published in 1642, it is stated that the doors were then no longer in
existence and that the tide flowed several miles above Boston. In
the year 1700, spring tides are stated to have risen ten feet at a
distance of five miles above Boston, and it is stated in a paper by one,
Dr. Browne, written about the year 1560, " that the sluice was not
according to the first meaning and determination, but should have
been made with a pair of fludd gates, that the fludd should have no
further course than the bridge, but so to have returned back again ;
and the fresh water following the salt, which should continue fresh
above the bridge, to have had at all times fresh water for the
commodity of the town during the time of the fludd. And also to
have scoured the haven daily, both above the sluice and to the
seaward." About the year 1 601, in the reign of Elizabeth, a further attempt
to improve the drainage was made by erecting a new gote of four
brick tuns or openings, at Langrick, with doors pointing towards the
river, for the purpose of discharging the water from the Gill Syke
Drain which conveyed the water from Holland Fen, and which
previously had discharged into the Welland.
From this time the river continued to decay, owing partly to the
decline of trade and commerce at Boston, and also to the suppression
of the Religious houses by Henry VIII ; the owners of which had
always been assiduous in attending to the work of drainage, and
had given employment to the vessels navigating the river by importing
large quantities of wine and other merchandise from the Low
Countries. With reference to this, Dugdale says, "It hath been a long
received opinion, as well by the borderers on the Fens as others, that
the total drowning of this great level hath for the most part been
occasioned by the neglect of putting the laws of sewers in due
execution in these latter times ; and that before the dissolution of the
monasteries by Henry VIII, the passages for the waters were kept with
cleansing, and the banks with better repair, chiefly through the care
and cost of those religious houses."
In 1633, when the Adventurers were attempting to drain the
East and West Fens, in a communication from the King to the
Court of Sewers it is stated that it was found impossible to keep the
fens drained unless the banks of the Witham from the Bane to
Anthon's Gote were kept in repair, and directing that a sufficient
tax be laid on Wildmore or Armetree Fen and such other grounds
as lie under the said bank, and to make a bargain with the under
takers for their present and perpetual maintenance. The fens along
the Witham were included in a grant made to the Earl of Lindsey,

H3
Sir W. Killigrew, Sir Edward Heron, and others, in the reign of ""H""*^,'""."
Charles II. The area granted covered 72,000 acres on the north """^ ,M7-
side of the Witham, extending from the river Glen to Lincoln, and
from Lincoln to the Trent. The Adventurers were to drain the
lands and make them winter grounds and to have as their Slate PaperS|
recompense 24,000 acres. The adventure was divided into 20 Domestic.
shares ; each shareholder finding a proportionate amount of the
capital required and receiving in return his proportion of the land
awarded. The Earl, within two years after the contract was made
with the Court of Sewers, in accordance with the terms of the grant,
began the draining and performed it according to his contract,
making all the level ' winter ground,' except 7,000 acres, left ' for
receptacles for water,' and he and his co-adventurers were put in
possession of 14,000 acres, part of the lands contracted for. A tax
of 13s. 4d. per acre had, before the contract was made, been ordered
by the Court to be paid by the owners, and those who paid this, the
Earl of Lincoln being one, kept their lands, although the works of
drainage greatly exceeded this amount.
The works carried out by these Adventurers became ultimately
abortive, owing to the opposition and lawlessness of the Fenmen-
In the reign of Charles II, an Act was passed with the object of
improving the navigation between Boston and the Trent through
Lincoln. The preamble of this act recites that " whereas there
hath been for some hundreds of years a good navigation betwixt the 22 and chas
Borough of Boston and the river of Trent by and through the City "•
of Lincoln, and thereby a great trade managed to the benefit of
those parts of Lincolnshire, and some parts of Nottinghamshire and
Yorkshire, which afforded an honest employment and livelyhood to
great numbers of people. But at, the present time the said naviga
tion is much obstructed and in great decay, by reason that the river
or antient channels of Witham and Fossdyke which run betwixt
Boston and Trent are much silted and landed up, and thereby not
passable with boats and lighters as formerly, to the great decay of
the trade and commerce of the said city and all market towns neare
any of the said rivers ; which hath produced in them much poverty
and depopulation." By this Act power was given to the Mayor and
Corporation of Lincoln to receive tolls upon the Witham and
Fossdyke for the purpose of improving the river.
No improvement appears to have been effected on the Witham
under this act, the works being confined to the Fossdyke.
In a report on the condition of the river made by Mr. Tames
C J J CONDITION OF
Scribo in 1733, he found as the result of ' an exact ' survey of the THE nlVE:R '"
river between Lincoln and Boston made by John Pitchford, that the tury.
fall of the water from Lincoln to Boston was 16ft. ; that the haven
or river, for above 20 miles, was very crooked and winding and in
several places not above 1 8ft. or 20ft. in breadth and very shallow ;

ACT FOR THE IM
PROVEMENT OF
THE NAVIGATION, 16T1,

144

Scribo's Report,
1733-

SCRIBO'S
SCHEME OF |K
PROVEMENT

NORTH FORTY
FOOT DRAIN.

Chapman's
Facts and Re
marks.

Fig. 6.

and that there were several large rivers and brooks which brought
down the water from the uplands, five of which were any of them
larger than the aforesaid winding haven, so that after the great
downfall of rains and snows, which frequently happens in the winter
season, and the river below Chapel Hill not being of sufficient
capacity to carry down the floods, the banks were generally over
flowed and several thousand acres of rich pasture land were laid
under water to the depth of three feet, to the great prejudice of the
landowners, as well as the navigation ; and that these waters re
mained on the land and stagnated for 3 or 4 months ; he found the
navigation between Lincoln and Boston was so bad that only vessels
of very small burden could pass from one place to the other ; that
several proprietors had endeavoured, at great expense, to remedy the
inconvenience to their drainage by cutting drains, erecting engines,
and embanking their separate estates, but without success ; he
expressed the opinion, that if this state of things continued it
would not be many years before the navigation would be entirely
lost, and draining thereby rendered impracticable. To remedy this
he proposed a scheme of improvement, including a new straight cut
from Tattershall through Holland Fen to Lodowick's Gowt at
Boston, reducing the distance from over 20 miles, which it was
along the existing winding course, to 1 1 \ miles ; or, as an alternative,
a cut from Tattershall through Wildmore Fen to Anton's Gowt.
Three locks were to be placed in the river, one between Lincoln and
Creampoke Sluice, the second at Hare Booth, the third at the upper
end of the new cut, " this to have strong sea gates to stem the salt
water from flowing up the river in dry seasons." The estimate for
the Holland Fen Cut was £"g,7o6, and for the one through Wild-
more Fen £^6,363. Nothing, however, was done towards carrying
out this scheme.
About the year 1720 Earl Fitzwilliam, having made repeated
application, without success, to the Court of Sewers to drain his
lands lying in Billinghay Dales and Hart's Grounds, on the west
side of the river near Kyme Eau, determined to undertake the work
himself. For this purpose he constructed a drain, commencing
above Chapel Hill, passing under Kyme Eau and running nearly
parallel with the present course of the Witham, to Brothertoft,
whence it turned at a sharp angle, in an easterly direction and joined
the Witham near where the footpath leaves the Carlton road for
Boston West. A sluice was built at its junction with the river,
called Lodowick's Gowt, having a waterway of 15ft. This drain,
known as the North Forty Foot, was subsequently diverted into the
Black Sluice Drain by a cut to Cook's lock.
Great objection was raised to the cutting of this drain at the
time, on the ground that it diverted water from the river, which used
to find its way into Langrick Gowt. and assisted in keeping the

Fold out

H5

portion of the river between there and Boston open. It does
not appear to have afforded much relief to the land it was in
tended to benefit, for it is said that the tenants cut the banks
to rid themselves of the water and let it flow into Holland Fen.
It must, however, have been of some use, as, owing to' the
wretched condition of the Witham, it is stated that at that time
the principal part of the water forced its way out of the main
channel at Chapel Hill into Lord Fitzwilliam's Drain and, flow
ing down that, reached the Haven through Lodowick's Gowt.
And to such an extent did the river continue to decay and
its bed to silt up, that it was reported that " the Lady of the
Manor's tenant inclosed and took to himself a great part of the old bed
of the river, where it passed through Wildmore Fen, and called his
new acquisition, marshes." N. Kinderley, who inspected the river
in 1736, reported that there were " no banks from Dogdyke to Lincoln
on the west side to keep the upland water from flooding the lands,
and also on each side to near Tattershall, and so, by spreading, the
water loseth its velocity and quantity, which, if kept in a body, would
scour the river, which is now daily rising. Where it meets the sea
tides every spring at Dogdyke, the land on each side, where no banks
are, is constantly drowned on every land flood. The tides did not
flow much above Anthony's Gowt, and the bed of the river was
silted up within two feet of the top of the banks."
The width of the river at this time was 83ft. at high water, and
65ft. at low water, near Boston Church ; 63ft. through Boston
Bridge, and 103ft. at high water and 66ft. at low water, at Doughty's
Quay. The greatest rise of the tide at the Bridge was 13ft. and
the low water stood 4ft. on the sill of Lodowick's Gowt.
The course of the river, as it then existed, is shown on the
plan, Fig. 6, taken from Mr. Grundy's map of 1762. At this
time a considerable portion of the West and Wildmore
Fens, and part of the East Fen and the East Holland parishes,
used to get rid of their water by drains entering the Witham at
Anthony's Gowt, and by a sluice known as New Gote. In 1735 a
Jury of the Court of Sewers, summoned to consider a petition of the
Owners of land in this district complaining of the great losses they
had sustained, owing to the defective condition of these outfalls, found
that " the river Witham was nearly lost by reason of the alteration
and destruction of the course of the Channel and especially through
great quantities of sand thrown into the same by the force of the
sea." A report, published some years later, described " this once
flourishing river " as having for many years " been falling into decay
by the banks being suffered to become ruinous and incapable of
sustaining and containing the water in times of high water floods,
so that those floods which were necessary and useful heretofore, by
their velocity and weight, to cleanse out the sand and sediment

N. Kinderley. 1736-

Fig. 6.

Grundy and
Langley Ed
wards. 1761.

GRUNDY'S
SCHEME, 1744.

146
brought up by the tides, have been, and now are suffered to run out
of their ancient and natural course, and expand over the adjoining
fens and low grounds, whereby those sands, for want of a reflowing
power .of adequate force to carry them back, have now so much
choked up the Haven from Boston to the sea, that for several years
past the navigation thereof has been lost to shipping, and it is now
become even difficult for barges of about 30 tons burden to get up
to the town in neap tides ; and for several miles above the town of
Boston the said river is totally lost, in so much that its bottom is
in many places some feet higher than the adjoining low grounds,
and the site thereof, converted into grazing and farming purposes
. . . and the flood waters lie so long stagnant on the land as to
destroy the herbage thereof, and render them not only useless and
unprofitable, but also extremely noxious and unwholesome to the
adjacent inhabitants."
In the year 1744, Mr. John Grundy of Spalding, in conjunction
with his son, prepared a scheme for restoring and making perfect the
navigation of the river Witham from Boston to Lincoln, and for
draining the low lands contiguous.
Messrs. Grundy proposed by their first and second schemes to
merely widen and deepen the existing channel between Chapel
Hill and Anton's Gowt and to cut off some of the worst curves. By
the third scheme they proposed to make an entirely new cut from
Chapel Hill to Anthony's Gowt along the lowest part of Wildmore
Fen, a distance of seven miles. The bottom of the cut to be 20ft. wide,
and 5ft. deeper than the existing bed of the river. Above Chapel
Hill the channel, for three miles, was to be widened and deepened ;
and from there to Lincoln to be scoured out and the shallow places
removed. Three stanches were to be erected, between Lincoln and
Tattershall, to hold up the water for navigation. The estimated cost
was £"4,695. If the lower part of the channel should be made with a
70ft. bottom, so as to make the river better for the navigation, and
further improve the river between Tattershall and Lincoln, the
estimate was increased to £"7,056. For the improvement of the fens
on the west side of the river, they proposed to make a new drain from
near Fiskerton, through the centre of the fens, under Billinghay
Skirth and joining Kyme Eau, to enter the New Cut at Chapel Hill.
Sluices were to be put at the end of this new Drain, and at the out
falls of the Bane, Billinghay Skirth and Newdale dyke, to keep out
the tides The cost of this, with cleaning and scouring out all the
main drains on the east side, and making good the banks, was esti
mated at £"8,257. The earth-work was estimated at three shillings
a floor for barrow work, and at two shillings for . part barrow and
part casting, or 2fd. and ifd. per cubic yard respectively.
In 1745, Mr. Daniel Coppin also made " proposals for the more
effectual draining all the levels contiguous to the river Witham from

Hi

'. COPPIN'S PRO
POSALS, 1745.

the city of Lincoln to Chappie Hill and likewise all the fens and low
grounds which empty themselves into Lodowick's Goat ; and at the
same time to restore the almost lost navigation upon the said river
to a better state than ever it was." He proposed making a new cut
from Tattershall Ferry House through Billinghay Dales, continuing
along the course of the North Forty-foot, which was to be widened
to 6oft., and made 8ft. deep. At Lodowick's Gowt a Grand Sluice
was to be built, which, " when open, was to be of sufficient capacity
to discharge as much water as the full run of the river can produce
and when shut to stop the sea from getting into the new made river.'
The sluice was to be 65ft. wide, with 16 openings of 3ft-
each, the gates to work in oak standards, one foot wide. By
this plan about 20 miles of the winding parts of the river Witham
were to be cut off, and the water caused to run, in almost a direct line,
through a deep channel and about twelve miles nearer. In order to
restore the navigation, a separate cut was to be made near the Grand
Sluice, from the Haven into the new river, and a double lock built,
having a pen 40 yards long for boats to pass through. In order to
hold up the water for the navigation, stanches were to be fixed, which
"ina wet season were to be taken off by means of a crane and laid
by, till wanted in a dry season, and that nothing of them would
remain in the river but the upright posts to which they are fixed."
One stanch was to be fixed at Tattershall Ferry, and the other at
Monk's Ground, near Lincoln. The cost of this scheme, as estimated
by William Jackson, was, for the sluice, £"2,680 ; for cutting the new
channel, £"4,601 ; for bridges, £"500 ; and for supervision of work,
£"389 ; making a total of £"8,270. This was to be paid for by a rate
of three shillings on 56,652 acres benefitted. The cost of the navi
gation works was put at £"2,562, which was to be paid for by the
Corporation. In November, 1752, and January, 1753, meetings of Land
owners interested in the drainage were held at the Reindeer """"j"8
Inn at Lincoln, to consider the state of the river. The
scheme of Messrs. Grundy, and that of Mr. Coppin, were
taken into consideration, and it was determined that an application
should be made to Parliament to appoint Commissioners to consider
the best means of effectually draining the fens and low grounds.
In order to defray the cost of carrying out the scheme, and of pre
serving the drainage, it was agreed to levy a yearly tax, not exceeding
one shilling per acre, on all lands benefitted ; of ninepence, after
wards altered to eightpence, on half-year or Lammas lands ; and
of sixpence, afterwards altered to fourpence, on the Commons. The
sunk tunnels under Kyme Eau and Billinghay Skirth were to be
taken up and the water restored to the river. Kyme Eau was to be
connected with the new channel through Wildmore by a short cut and
all the river and main drains emptying into the Witham were to be

MEETING OF

1TG2.

GRUNDY'S

148
cleaned out, deepened and embanked. The tunnel in the bank of
Kyme Eau, near Damford Sluice, was to be restricted to the pur
pose of letting water into Holland Fen for watering cattle in dry
seasons, and similar tunnels, not exceeding gin. square, were to be
allowed through the banks for the same purpose, where judged
necessary. In order to restore the navigation the Commissioners
for the City of Lincoln and the town of Boston were to order and
direct whatever works they considered necessary.
Subsequent meetings were held at Horncastle and Boston, in
October 1753, when it was finally determined that Messrs. Grundy's
plan for improving the old river by cutting off the curves should be
adopted, as this was thought most practicable, in order to reconcile
the interests of the several parties concerned, and they were instruc
ted to make a further report, and " propose a method of executing
the work in such a manner as may be adequate to the general
drainage of all those tracts of low lands interested therein." Accord-
report. ,ts3 ingly Messrs. Grundy prepared a report, which was submitted to a
subsequent meeting held at Lincoln, from which it appears that
the floor of Anthony's Gowt was 4ft. 8in. higher than the
level of low water in the Haven at Fishtoft and that the sur
face of the land in Wildmore Fen and Billinghay Dales
was 11ft. higher. They therefore advised that the bed of the new
river should be as deep as the floor of Anthony's Gowt, so that when
there was 4ft. of water in the river there would be 2ft. 4m. fall from
the lowest land sinto it. They advised that the ' proposed Grand
Sluice ' should be erected a little above Anthony's Gowt, because at
that place it would be above all the outfalls of the Wildmore, West and
Holland Fens, and of Frith Bank, and also because the ground there
would be more solid than in tbe old channel near Lodowick's Gote;
that the course of the new river should be by a straight cut com
mencing a little above Lodowick's Gote to Anthony's Gote, and
from thence in a nearly straight line across Wildmore Fen, to a place
in the old river, called Midsands ; there crossing the channel into
Holland Fen and joining the old river again at Langrick Ferry ;
thence, after crossing the old channel again, proceeding in a straight
direction to Coppin Sike, and thence to Chapel Hill. This line was
selected as cutting off all the worst bends in the old river, equalis
ing the land divided, as nearly as practicable, between Wildmore and
Holland Fen, and as interfering very little with private property,
the whole length of 10 miles, with the exception of about four fur
longs, being through Common land. The first length was to be 56ft.
wide at the bottom and 70ft. at the top and 7ft. deep, with forelands
40ft. wide. The estimated cost was as follows : — £ s. d.
For the new Cut ... .... ... 11,605 *6 °
Improving the river above Chapel Hill ... 2,200 o o

149
Private land taken, estimated at from £10
to £"20 an acre
The Grand Sluice
Supervising the works and unforseen
accidents

Scouring out Kyme Eau, Billinghay Skirth,
Dunsdyke, &c, and putting sluices at
the end of the first two
Navigation Locks and two Stanches

£
236
2,100 600

d. oo

16,742

4>°45 1.975

£"22,762 1 0
At a meeting held at Lincoln in November, 1753, which lasted
three days, it was resolved that an application be made to Parlia
ment for an Act giving power to carry out a scheme on the lines
laid down at the previous meetings ; that the ' Grand Sluice ' for
stemming the tide, should be placed between Lodowick's Gote and
Anthony's Gote, but as near the former as practicable ; and that in
order to secure the drainage no stanches, or other works for
navigation, should be placed in the river between Lincoln and
Boston, that would pen up the water within two feet of the surface
of the land. A subscription was started towards the expense of
obtaining the Act. A full report of the proceedings and copy of
Mr. Grundy's report will be found in Padiey's Fens and Floods. The
Act, however, was not applied for at this time.
Five years later a fresh proposition was made by Messrs.
Grundy, that in place of erecting a new sluice near Anthony's Gowt,
as originally proposed, the structure erected by Make Hake in 1500,
and used as a bridge, should be converted into a sluice by erecting
a middle pier of wood in the centre of the large tun, by altering the
buttresses on each side to adapt them to receive circular doors
pointing seawards, and by erecting a new stone pier on the west
side, with a lock 14ft. wide, for the navigation. There would thus
be four pairs of pointing doors, giving a total waterway of 65f ft.
The estimated cost of this was ^"3,827.
This scheme was submitted to the Corporation of Boston, and
on their behalf Mr. Fydell, who was one of the most active promoters
of the river improvement schemes, wrote to Mr. Banks of Revesby,
stating that, while the Corporation were desirous of assisting in every
way in improving the drainage, they were apprehensive that Mr.
Grundy's plan would not give sufficient accommodation for the
navigation, and that they had taken the opinion of Mr. Langley
Edwards, an Engineer living at King's Lynn, who advised that he
did not consider that sufficient water-way for the drainage and
navigation could be obtained at the bridge, and therefore it would
be better to erect an entirely new sluice further up the river.

MEETING AT
LINCOLN. ITS3.

GRUNDY'S AMENDED
•HEME, ITST,

Langley Ed-
waius.

150

MEETING AT
SLEAFORD, 1TBO

EDWARDS REPORT
AND SCHEME
1760.

In 1760 a further meeting of Landowners, was held at Sleaford,
and Mr. Fydell was requested to employ Mr. Langley Edwards to
examine the schemes of Messrs. Grundy for improving the river.
langley The report of Mr. Edwards is prefaced by saying that this work
" will be a lasting honour to those who are the promoters of it ; a
great addition of fortune to those who have the property in the
lands to be regained ; a great and extensive benefit to trade and
commerce, by opening a certain inland navigation from Boston to
Lincoln, and through those towns from the utmost extent of the
navigation of all those inland rivers which empty themselves into
the great bay, called the Metaris Estuarium, to the utmost extent of
the navigation of all the inland rivers which empty themselves into
the Humber ; a great addition to the health of all the inhabitants
of the circumjacent city, towns and villages, by removing the cause
of those noxious vapours which must arise from stagnant waters,
and which by the various action of the winds, are wafted into the
nostrils of those who are seated within the reach thereof." Mr.
Edwards reported generally in favour of Messrs. Grundy's scheme,
but advised that the river should be made deeper than they pro
posed ; and also that the Grand Sluice instead of being placed near
Anthony's Gowt, should be erected " near the brick kilns above
Bardyke Sluice and the river be cut to it, from where the proposed
new river falls into the old one above Lodowick's Gowt, in such
direction that it may discharge the water just opposite to, and about
two furlongs above, Boston Bridge." The floor was to be laid level with
low water at the Outfall of the river at Fishtoft, or 3ft. iin. below
the floor of Lodowick's Gowt. The bottom of the river from Lang
rick to Anthony's Gowt was to be 40ft. wide, and thence to Boston
50ft. bottom and goft. top. Instead of scouring and embanking
Dunsdyke and Hareshead drains, he proposed to take out the shallow
places in the Car Dyke from Hareshead Drain to Billinghay Skirthi
and raise the low places in the banks, and by this means to intercept
the water from the high land in the district, and convey it to the
Witham. He also considered that by making the river deeper the
stop doors at the ends of Kyme Eau, the Bane and Billinghay
Skirth would not be required.
The estimate was £"31,221, the amount being greater than
that of Messrs. Grundy, owing to the increased width and depth
given to the Channel, and to an increase in the rate of wages since
their report was made.
In the following year the whole matter was referred to a joint
Commission of Engineers, consisting of Mr. John Grundy, Mr.
wardT, Smeaton. Langley Edwards and Mr. J. Smeaton, who were directed
17611 jointly to report as to the best scheme to be carried out.
In this report, after stating the general condition of the river and
the principles on which any scheme of improvement should be

i5i
based, they advised that the new sluice for stemming the tides
should be erected between Lodowick's Gowt and Boston Bridge
on a piece of land known as Harrison's Four Acres, the floor to be
level with low water at Wyberton Roads ; its clear water-way fo
be 50ft. ; to have three pairs of pointing sea doors with draw doors
on the land side. A new cut was to be made from this sluice to
Anthony's Gowt, 80ft. wide at the top and 50ft. at the bottom and
10ft. deep; and another cut thence, through Wildmore Fen to Chapel
Hill, having 50ft. bottom and 8ft. in depth. The banks, formed with
the material excavated, to be set back 40ft. from the channel.
From Chapel Hill the river was to be continued in its then course,
but to be deepened and widened, where necessary, so as to give a
40ft. bottom up to three miles above Chapel Hill ; thence up to
Branston Dyke the bottom to be 30ft. wide, and from thence to
Stamp End in Lincoln, 24ft. ; one wagon bridge and two horse
bridges were to be built over the river ; Kyme Eau was to be
scoured out and embanked from Dampford Sluice to the river ;
Tattershall Bane from the mouth to Dickinson's Engine ; Billinghay
Skirth from the Witham to Kyme Causeway Bridge ; Barling's Eau
to be scoured out up to Barling's Abbey ; the Dunsdyke to the
Car Dyke to be deepened and embanked, or the Car Dyke to be
re-instated and the water of Dunsdyke to be turned into it ; also
Nocton Dyke, Hareshead Drain, Washingborough Beck, up to Carr
Dike, Tupham Dike, Bardney or Tile House Beck, Southery Eau,
and Stixwold Beck were to be scoured out ; and a new sluice was
to be erected at Anthony's Gowt, for the more certain drainage of
Wildmore and West Fens. The effect of these works, they con
sidered, would be to lower the water in the river 4ft. in ordinary
seasons. For the navigation, a lock was to be erected at the Grand
Sluice, having two pair of doors landward, and one pair seaward,
and, in place of stanches as previously proposed, three locks were
to be constructed between Boston and Lincoln.
The estimated cost of this scheme was — £ s. d.
The Grand Sluice ... ... ... 4,000 o o
The New Cut and improvement of the river 23,465 14 5
New Sluice at Anthony's Gowt ... 600 o o
Bridges and other works ... ... 1,000 o o
Land ... ... ... ... 2,088 15 o
Scouring out and embanking the side drains 3,6g5 o o
The Locks and navigation works ... 7, 370 o o
General superintendence and unforseen con
tingencies . . .. ... 3,000 o o

^45,2ig g 5

The inclosed land required to be taken for the work was
estimated at ,£"30 an acre ; the commons at £"10 an acre ; the earth-

MEETING

A SCHEME
ADOPTED. .

152
work at five shillings a floor, or fourpence a cubic yard, where it had
to be moved 40ft., and for less distances, four shillings. This was
exclusive of barrows and planks.
At a meeting of landowners, held at Sleaford, in November,
sleaford. ,7e,. 1 76 1 , this report was approved, and the general proposals, or heads,
of a Bill for carrying out the scheme were agreed to, and a subscrip
tion raised to meet the preliminary expenses. The chairman at this,
and the other meetings which were held, was Lord Vere Bertie ; and
the others who seem to have taken the most active part in promoting
the improvement of the river and drainage were Mr. John Chaplin,
Mr. Richard Fydell, the Rev. Charles Beridge, Mr., afterwards Sir
Joseph, Banks and Lord Manners. Mr. Robert Banks of Sleaford,
was appointed Solicitor to the Bill.
The principal subscribers to the fund for preliminary expenses
were, the Merchants and Inhabitants of Boston, by R. Fydell,
£"128 ; The Corporation of Boston, £"ioo ; Lord Vere Bertie, £"36 ;
Lord Fitzwilliam, £"40 ; The Mayor of Boston, £"30 ; Lady Dash-
wood, £"21 ; Mr. J. Chaplin, £"56/10 ; Mr. Jos. Banks, £"23 ; Lord
Fortescue, £"21 : 10 ; Rev. John King, £"26 ; Mr. Amcotts, £"21 : 10 ;
Mr. Hume, £"31 : 10 ; Rev. C. Beridge, £"io: 10.
The obtaining of this Act was opposed by the Owners in Holland
Fen, by the City of Lincoln and by the towns of Gainsborough, Rother-
ham, and Rochdale, on the ground that it would be injurious to the
navigation by the Fossdyke. Nottingham and Derby petitioned in
favour of the Bill.
At last, in the second year of George III, "an Act for
draining and preserving certain low lands, lying on both sides of the
e 1761'. c' 32' river Witham, in the county of Lincoln, and for restoring and main
taining the navigation of the said river from the High-bridge, in the
city of Lincoln, through the borough of Boston to the sea," was
passed. The preamble to this Act recites, that the river Witham,
in the county of Lincoln, was formally navigable for lighters, barges,
boats, and other vessels from the sea through Boston to the High-
bridge, in the city of Lincoln ; but by the sand and silt brought in
by the tide the outfall thereof into the sea had, for many years last
past, been greatly hindered and obstructed, and was then in a great
measure stopped up, lost, and destroyed, and thereby great part of
the low' lands and fens, lying on both sides of the said river (and
which contain together about one hundred thousand acres), were
frequently overflowed and rendered useless and unprofitable, to the
great loss of the respective owners thereof, the decay of trade and
commerce, and the depopulation of the country ; and that in the
judgment and opinion of experienced Engineers and persons of known
skill and ability, the navigation of the said river Witham, and the
outfall thereof into the sea, were capable of being restored and
maintained, and the said low lands and fens of being drained, culti-

OPPOSITION THE SCHEME.

WITHAM DRAIN
AGE ACT.

Fold out

153
vated, and improved, but that the same could not be done without
the authority of Parliament.
The district now included in the Witham Commission is that
tract of land lying on either side of the river, extending from
Lincoln on the north to the town of Boston on the south, stretching
eastward as far as the higher grounds in Freiston, Butterwick,
Benington, Leake, Wrangle, and Friskney, and bounded on the
west by the Car Dyke, the old catchwatei drain of the Romans, which
separated the high lands from the fens. The East Fen was not
included in the first Act, but was added in the year 1801.
For the purposes of the Act the level was divided into six Fig. 7,
Districts. The First, comprising the fens on the south-west side
of the Witham, extending from Lincoln to Kyme Eau ; the Second,
Holland Fen and the adjoining lands, bounded by Kyme Eau on the
north, the Witham on the east, and south and west by Swineshead
and Heckington ; the Third, comprising the fens on the north-east
side of the Witham, stretching from Lincoln to the River Bane at
Tattershall ; the Fourth, the Wildmore and West and East Fens •
the Fifth, fens in Anwick, North Kyme, Ruskington, Dorrington,
and Digby ; the Sixth, fens in South Kyme, Great Hale, Little Hale,
Heckington, Ewerby, Howell, and Swineshead.
By this Act, the General Commission consists of 37 Members;
31 of whom are elected by the several Districts, in the following
proportions. The First is entitled to send 7 Representatives, the
Second 6, the Third 5, the Fourth 8, the Fifth 2, and the Sixth 3.
Each Member elected must qualify for the office by taking a pre
scribed oath, and must be in possession of land of the value of ^"ioo
per annum, or of personal property to the value of £"2,000, or be heir
apparent to landed property of the value of £"200 per annum. The
remaining six members consist of the Mayors of Boston and Lincoln
for the time being, and. two Commissioners elected by the city of
Lincoln, and two by the borough of Boston. The Commissioners
are elected every three years, but, in default of such election taking
place, the old Commissioners remain in office. An annual meeting
is held every year on the first Tuesday in July, and may be called at
either Lincoln, Boston, or Sleaford.
The several Districts are managed by Commissioners elected by
the several parishes or places in the district, each sending one
member. The General Commissioners are elected by the District
Commissioners. For the purpose of raising the funds for carrying out the works,
the Commissioners were authorised to levy a rate on all lands in the
First, Second, Third and Fourth Districts, not exceeding one shilling
an acre on private property ; eightpence for half-year lands ; and four-
pence on Common land, so long as it remained common, but when
inclosed, the rate could be raised to a shilling. For the Fifth and

WORKS CARRIED
OUT-

154
Sixth Districts the rates were not to exceed sixpence, fourpence, and
twopence respectively. Power was given to inclose part of Hol
land, West and Wildmore Fens, and also in other places, and to let
the land for 21 years — the rents to be applied towards paying the
taxes. The rates levied were to be paid by the Landlords.
The works for the 'improvement of the drainage sanctioned by
this Act, and subsequently carried out, consisted of straightening
the course of the river Witham by making a new cut from Boston
to Chapel Hill, and cleaning, widening and deepening the river
from that place to Stamp End, near Lincoln. The fishing weirs and
other obstructions which had hitherto hindered the full course of the
waters were removed ; the sides of the river were embanked and the
water prevented from flowing on the adjacent lands, while its dis
charge was effected by the cleansing and deepening of the Kyme
Eau, Billinghay Skirth, the Bane, and other tributaries and side
drains. The new cut from Boston to Anthony's Gowt was made 80ft.
wide at the top, 50ft. at the bottom, and 10ft. deep. The banks
on each side were set back 40ft. and averaged 10ft, high. The cut
from Anthony's Gowt to Langrick was to be 68ft. at the top, 50ft. at
chapman's the bottom and gft. deep. The cut from Boston to Chapel Hill
Facts and Re- according to the Act was to be made in as straight a direction as
the nature of the ground would admit. The cause of the existing
bend in the channel is thus explained by Mr. Chapman, " It was
intended by the Engineer to go in a direct line between those two
places ; but to oblige one large Proprietor the channel was turned
from its proper direction so as to run by Anthony's Gowt ; and to
accommodate another, it was made to go off thence, at a sharp
angle, towards Langrick."
At the lower end of the cut the Grand Sluice was erected for
THE GRAND
sluice. <¦ stemming the tide,' on a piece of ground called Harrison's Four
Acres, between Lodowick's Gowt and Boston Bridge ; the floor was
laid 3ft. lower than the floor of the gowt, and its capacity, or clear
water-way was to be 50ft., and there were to be three pairs of
pointing doors to the sea-ward, to shut with the flow of the tides (a
fourth opening being built by the Navigation Commissioners),
and also frames, provided with drop, or draw-doors, on the
land side, to be shut occasionally in order to retain fresh water
in dry seasons for the use of cattle and the navigation, the
top of the draw- doors being guaged to such a height as to re
tain the water of the river not higher, at ordinary seasons,
than 2ft. below the medium surface of the lowest lands that drain
therein. A new sluice, of 14ft. water-way, was also made at Anthony's
Gowt for the discharge of the water from the West and Wildmore
Fens, having a pair of pointing doors towards the Witham to
prevent the floods of that river backing on to the Fens, The sluice

ANTHONY'S GOWT

OTHER WORKS,

155
was connected with the former system of drainage by a new Cut to
the place where the old Gowt stood. The Commissioners were
further empowered to build a bridge across the new Cut, or river, at
a point about half-way between Anthony's Gowt and Boston, for the
purpose of preserving the communication with the several lands of
Boston West and Holland Fen. This part of the Act was never
carried out.
The new course of the river is shown in Figs. 7 and g. Flgs' 7 and 9-
As it was considered necessary for the effectual scouring out of
the outfall to preserve the living water, and to confine the flood
water, and also for the effectual drainage of the land, the Com
missioners were empowered to carry out the necessary works in
Kyme Eau to a place called the Clapps at Ewerby Corner ; Tatter
shall Bane to Dickinson's engine ; Billinghay Skirth to Billinghay
Town and to Kyme Causeway Bridge and the junction of Scopwick
Beck with North Kyme Fen Dyke ; Dun's Dyke to the Car Dyke ;
Barlings Eau to the Abbey ; Washingborough Beck to the Car Dyke ;
Stickswould Beck, Southery Eau, Tupholm Dyke, Bardney Beck,
Stainfield Beck and Bullington Beck to the adjoining high grounds.
A cut was to be made from Langrick Gowt to the new river ; and
the drains leading from Heckington Eau and the drain from the
Skirth across Holland Fen were to be scoured out. Lodowick's Gowt
was to be connected with the river by a new cut. All out ring, or
division dykes, were to be maintained by the Owners or Occupiers of
the land at a breadth of gft. and 5ft. deep. The tunnels sunk under
Kyme Eau and Billinghay Skirth were to be removed, the Owners of
the land in North Kyme and Billinghay Dales were to be permitted, if
they found it necessary for the drainage of their lands, to lay a
tunnel 2ft. square under Kyme Eau and convey their water to the
Witham through Langrick Gowt. Dampford tunnel under Kyme
Eau was to continue. The tunnels, not exceeding gin. square,
through the south bank of Kyme Eau, in South Kyme near Dam-
ford Sluice, and also that in Dogdyke, and at How Bridge, for
conveying the water into Holland and Wildmore Fens respectively,
and Heckington tunnel were to be continued. The road leading
from Tattershall Ferry to Billinghay was to pass along the bank on
the north-west side of the Skirth and to be a public highway, the
bank being enlarged to a width of 40ft. for that purpose.
A Navigation Commission was also appointed, separate from
the Drainage Trust, consisting of the Mayor of Lincoln and four
other Members elected by the Burgesses, the Mayor of Boston,
four Members elected by the Corporation, and ten Members elected
by the General Drainage Commissioners. The function of this body
was to take steps for the restoration of the navigation ; and for this
purpose they had the power to erect locks, make cuts, and clean out
the river as far as the High Bridge in the City of Lincoln, and from

THE NAVIGATION.

156
below the'Sincyl Dyke, and to build such bridges, locks, stanches,
and other works, as they should think necessary, provided that the
water should not be penned up higher than 2ft. below the natural
surface of the land. A lock was also to be erected at Boston. To
enable them to execute these works they were anthorised to take
tolls (not exceeding is. 6d. per ton) on all boats navigating the
Witham, and to raise money on the security of the tolls. In
pursuance of the powers so granted, the Commissioners expended
£"6,800 in deepening the river and building the new locks and other
works, and once more made it navigable for vessels. The first
navigation lock was erected at Kirkstead, where there was a rise of
ift. gin. into the next reach, which extended to Barlings, where
there was a second lock with a rise of 2ft. 3m. ; the last lock was
at Stamp End, having a rise of 3ft. 8in., making the total rise
7ft. 8in. The top of the river at Stamp End was 17ft. above the sill
of the Grand Sluice. _;
opening of the The foundation-stone of the Grand Sluice was laid' by Mr.
itss." E Charles Amcotts, on the 26th March, 1764 ; and it was opened by
the Engineer, Mr. Langley Edwards, on the 15th October, 1766, in
the presence of a very large concourse of spectators, estimated as
numbering ten thousand persons, ' amongst whom were many of the
nobility and gentry from remote parts of the kingdom.' The Sluice
disappointed the expectation of many who had come to witness the
opening ceremony, and one of the visitors relieved himself by
composing the following verse : —
Chapman's "Boston, Boston, Boston!
marks. ' Thou hast naught to boast on,
But a Grand Sluice, and a high steeple ;
A proud, conceited, ignorant people,
And a coast where souls are lost on."
The Sluice had three openings of 17ft. 2in. each, and a lock
15ft. 3m. wide, making the total water-way available in floods 66ft.
gin. The pen height of the water for navigation purposes was gft.
on the sill. The General Commissioners expended in the erection
of the sluice and other drainage works the sum of £"53,650, which
was raised on mortgage.
These works, having been successfully carried out as designed
by the promoters, proved of immediate advantage to the drainage
of the fens bordering on the Witham, between Lincoln and Chapel-
hill ; but the East and West Fens still remained in a drowned state.
The history of their reclamation will be found in the next chapter.
The waters of Holland Fen and of the districts adjoining were sub
sequently provided for by the drainage carried out by the Black
Sluice Commissioners.
The erection of a sluice across the river for ' stemming the tides'
was not generally approved at the time, and the Commissioners were

157

warned that it would probably have an injurious effect on the
channel below it.
The views of those who were opposed to the erection of the
sluice were thus expressed by Mr. Elstob, an Engineer employed on
the Bedford Level, " And as to the great Sluice lately erected at
Boston, at the mouth of a fine, and what might otherwise be, a very
beneficial new river, a little above the Town, for keeping out the
tide ; I am so far from expecting any advantage from the said Sluice,
that I am fully of opinion, if it is kept constantly in use, and under
the same regulations for damming up the water above as at the first,
that in the course of a few years, the channel instead of being
improved, will be greatly injured, and the outfall prejudiced thereby.
And had that expense been saved, and the tides had free admission
into the said new river, there is great reason to believe that the
Channel and Outfall would, in a short time, have been improved by the
weight and force of the returning ebbs ; and the outfall scoured out
so deep, that vessels of twelve or thirteen feet water, or more, might,
upon any ordinary tide, come up to the quays and wharfs of the
Town, much better than they used to do before the late decay of
the river." Within a very few years it became apparent that this warning
was well founded, and that by obstructing the free passage of the
tides, a very serious error had been committed. For a short time
the collecting the waters together and speedily discharging them
through the remodelled drains into the Witham, and through the
new cut into the haven, had a beneficial effect, by scouring out its
bed and lowering the level of the water throughout the fens ; but
very soon the effect which invariably follows the stoppage of the
tidal flow by the erection of weirs or dams of any description across
a tidal river showed itself. The tidal stream, arrested in its progress
by the sluice, became quiescent, and the silt and mud brought up and
held in suspension, so long as the water was in motion, sunk by its
own gravity directly stagnation took place, and gradually formed a
deposit on the bed of the haven. Owing to the doors having be
come silted up in the summer of i79g, the water could not get away
when the floods came, and many thousands of acres were covered
with water, and the damage done was of very great magnitude.
Previous to the year 1800, in average winter seasons, the water
never fell below 9ft. 6in. on the sill, and in floods rose considerably
higher ; while in summer time, there not being back-water sufficient
to remove the deposit, it accumulated to such a degree as com
pletely to close the doors. A few years after the erection of the
sluice, it appears to have risen to a height of 10ft. on the sill, com
pletely stopping all communication between the barges navigating
the Witham and the vessels employed in exporting and importing
coal and other commodities. The drainage also became defective.

EFFECT OF THE
GRAND SLUICE ON
THE RIVER.

Elstob's
Bedford Level.

Report of J.
Rennie, 1807.

Chapman's
Facts and Re
marks.
Rennie'sKeport, 1802.

158

Rennie'sReport, 1800.

Telford's Re
port, 1823.

Chapman's Re
port, 1808.

Sir J. Hawk-
shaw s Report,
1864.

Wheeler,
On the Witham,
Min. Pro. Instit.
CE. Vol.28.

Mr. Rennie, in a report made to the Corporation of Boston on the
condition of the river, speaking of the quantity of silt deposited in
the Channel, says, " Had this river with its subsidiary streams been
completely embanked through the fens and low lands, so as to have
confined it to a Channel of dimensions sufficient to contain the water
in times of flood and no more, it would then have been constrained
to pass off more rapidly to seaward, and, of course, would have
ground its Channel deeper, and prevented the great deposition of silt
which now takes place. ... If the Grand Sluice were entirely
taken away and the tide suffered to flow up the river, it is evident
it must move with a greater velocity through the Harbour of Boston
to fill up the space above ; and providing there is a sufficient quantity
of fresh water and fall to drive back the tide water, etc. during the
ebb, it is equally evident the constant action of this great body of
water passing through the Harbour would grind the Channel deeper."
Mr. Telford, reporting in 1823, says, "The defective state of the
Haven being so apparent, it is superfluous to enter upon any detailed
description of it. . . . I am of opinion that the existing defects
may be traced chiefly to the obstruction created by the Grand Sluice
in preventing tidal water from flowing up further than the Town of
Boston." Mr. Chapman, an Engineer employed by the Proprietors
of lands draining into the river in the First District, to report as to
the condition of the river in 1808, after calling attention to the fact
that the Haven, in dry summers, was sometimes ' barred up with silt
and sand to the height of ten or twelve feet above the sill of the
Grand Sluice,' attributes this to the stoppage of the flow of the tides,
and quotes the instance of Denver Sluice, which by stopping the
flow of the tide up the Ouse, damaged Lynn Harbour ; also of the
Sluice erected on the Rother, which ruined Rye Harbour ; and
shows by the instance of the River Hull, where the tide flows freely
for 20 miles, carrying the muddy water of the Humber without
silting or deterioration, that the apprehensions as to the permanent
silting of the Witham, if the tides were allowed a free course, were
groundless. Sir John Rennie subsequently reported that he consid
ered that great injury was done to the river ' by the obstruction
occasioned by the Grand Sluice in preventing the free flow and reflow
of the tides.' In more recent times, Sir John Hawkshaw, in
reporting to the Corporation of Boston on the state of the Haven,
said that one of the most effective means of improving the Channel
in Boston Harbour would be to remove the Grand Sluice and allow
the tide to ebb and flow in the upper Witham. The effect of the
construction of sluices across tidal rivers was fully discussed at a
meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1868, after the
reading of a paper on the River Witham by the Author.
In 1776 a joint report was made by John Smith and James
Creassy to the Commissioners on the state of the Witham, and as

LINCOLN. 1732.

Grundy and

to how far a complete drainage is, or can be, performed by the smith's and
powers given in the existing Act. They reported that between port. .tts.
Chapel Hill and Lincoln, in winter, the water in the river was seldom
below the surface of the adjoining lands. The plan proposed to
remedy this, was to cut two drains, ioft. wide at bottom, parallel to
the river, from Chapel Hill to Lincoln, on each side of the river ;
to scour out the Car Dyke to Billinghay Skirth, under which a
sunken tunnel was to be placed. The high and low land waters
were thus to be kept separate above Chapel Hill, and below this the
river was to be widened in the Clay Reach, so as to be of the same
width as the parts which had scoured out to a greater width than
left when originally made. The estimated cost of carrying out this
scheme was £"28,022, exclusive of the land required.
The low lands lying west of Lincoln, being the general reservoir drainage at
of the waters that in floods are brought down by the Witham from
the upland country, being constantly flooded and the owners finding
great difficulty in obtaining an efficient drainage, Mr. J. Smeaton
was instructed by a meeting of Landowners held at the Reindeer Inn,
Lincoln, in September, 1782, to report as to the best way of
improving the navigation of the Fossdyke and the drainage of these
low lands. A report had previously been made by Mr. Grundy and Smeaton. 1762.
Mr. Smeaton to Mr. Ellison on this matter, but " the contrariety of
opinion among the parties interested prevented the execution of the
scheme then proposed." At that time there was a fall of 14m. from
Brayford Mere, the ultimate drainage of all the lands in question,
through Lincoln to the Witham, at the point where the Sincyl Dyke
fell into it, and a further fall of 5fin. to Stamp End. The stanch
at Lincoln Lock below Stamp End had been put higher than the
natural stanch at Brayford Head and consequently held up the
water in Brayford Mere higher than it ought to be. To improve
the drainage they considered that it would therefore be necessary to
reduce the height of the stanch at Lincoln Lock to the Parliamen
tary height, or provide a new outfall for the Sincyl Dyke below the
stanch, or else to move Lincoln Lock to a point above the present
outfall of the Sincyl Dyke. This latter plan was the one recom
mended by Mr. Smeaton. He also proposed to deepen the Witham smeaton. 1782.
up to the new lock ; to scour out and widen the Sincyl Dyke ; to
dyke and scour out Great Gowts Drain and carry it under the
Witham by a tunnel 4ft. square, with doors pointing to the Sincyl
Dyke ; to scour out Sincyl Dyke, from the tail of the Great Gowts
Drain to its upper mouth at the Witham, and construct a weir, 60ft.
long, along the bank of the Witham, at the junction, the crest being
one inch above ordinary summer level in the Witham, so that the
Sincyl Dyke should only fake the flood water ; to scour out the
Lesser Gowt Drain and fix a weir, 45ft. long, at its junction, the crest
being ifin. lower than the other weir ; a drain to be carried from

i6o

W. Jessop. 1792.

the tunnel at the head of the Great Gowts Drain to Swan Pool and
be connected with the lands in Burton and Carlton by an iron pipe,
2ft. 6in. in diameter, under the Fossdyke ; a navigation lock to be
fixed at Brayford Mere, with gates pointing towards the Fossdyke
and a weir for overfall water beyond that required for the naviga
tion ; a stanch to be fixed at Brayford Head, the top being
the same height as the existing natural weir ; a side weir, 100ft.
long, to be fixed at Torksey, so that the top waters should run into
the Trent when its level would admit of this being done, the crest
being 6in. below the gauge bar of Torksey Lock. To prevent
the Trent waters over-riding those of the Fossdyke, the weir was
to be on a separate cut, having doors 8ft. wide at the end pointing
to the Trent.
No action appears to have .been taken On this report, as, t en
years afterwards, Mr. W. Jessop was consulted as to the navigation
of the Fossdyke and reported on this, and its effect on the drainage,
to the effect that, from the obstructions at Brayford Head and the
narrowness of the passage through the bridges and between the
walls of the river, the flood waters of the Witham were confined to a
very low discharge to the detriment of the lands west of Lincoln ;
but that it was an advantage to the lands below in checking the
quantity of water which went down the river in floods. He advised
lowering Brayford Head 2ft. and replacing it with a moveable weir,
and extending the Syncil Dyke to a point below Stamp End Lock.
About this time (1792-4) Acts were obtained for making navig
able communication between the town of Horncastle and the
Witham, by canalising the river Bane and making a new Cut as far
as Tattershall ; and also between the Witham and Sleaford, by
canalising the river Slea.
At the beginning of the present century Mr. Chapman thus
described the condition of the Fens in a pamphlet entitled Observa
tions on the Improvement of Boston Haven, " Of the last six seasons,
Chapman. 1800. four have been so wet that most of the new enclosed fens bordering
on the Witham were inundated and the crops either lost or
materially injured. Many hundred acres of the harvest of i7gg were
reaped by men in boats. Of the oats fished up in this way some
sold in Boston market at 25/- per last, when good oats were selling
at ten pounds." In another pamphlet, written by ' A Holland
Watchman,' the reaping is described as having been done by
men standing up to their middle in water and clipping off the ears
wherever they peeped above the surface.
In October, 1802, in accordance with instructions of the Witham
Commissioners, Mr. J. Rennie made an inspection of the river, and
reported that he found the Grand Sluice completely silted up, there
being 10ft. depth of silt on the sill, or 2ft. 6in. higher than the water
in the river above the sluice. With 8ft. 6in. of water on the sill of the

HORNCASTLE
AND SLEAFORD
CANALS. 1702.

CONDITION OF
THE DRAINAGE IN
(BOO.

. Rennie's Re
port, 1802.

i6i
sluice, the depth in the Channel varied from 7ft. up to Chapel Hill
to 3ft. 6in. at Tattershall, 2ft. 4m. at Kirkstead, and ift. 4m. on the
Shoals at Bardney. The surface of the water at Lincoln High
Bridge was gft. 5fin. above that at the Grand Sluice, equal to an
inclination of 3fin. per mile. The clear waterway through Lincoln
Bridge was only 15ft. 6in. The Witham was stated to be deprived
of a considerable quantity of its water in summer by the working of
the lock in the Fossdyke at Torksey, the fall into the Trent being
generally about 6 feet. In floods, the waterway of the Witham,
through Lincoln and by the Sincyl dyke, being insufficient to carry
off the water, a great quantity passed away through Torksey Lock,
and thus the river was deprived of the benefit of floods in winter and
of a great part of the water in summer. He recommended that
the Witham should be embanked, deepened and straightened where
necessary, and the locks and st anches at Kirkstead and Barlings
replaced with others of better construction, and in better situations;
and a capacious cut should be made, from the Witham above Lincoln
to the river at Washingborough, to carry off the floods ; that the Till
should be embanked ; the Foss deepened, widened and scoured out ;
and reservoirs constructed for supplying the Foss navigation with
water, or in preference, a steam engine erected for pumping the
water from the Trent. He considered it a matter for regret, that
when the works were originally designed, the Navigation Channel
was not made at one level from Boston to the Trent. • For the
purpose of avoiding the difficulty of getting through the Grand Sluice
in summer, he proposed to make either a sluice at Anton's Gowt, so
that barges could navigate the Frith Bank Drain to Maud Foster ;
or else that a new Cut should be made from above the Grand
Sluice to Skirbeck Quarter.
A further report was made by Mr. Rennie in the following year
and, as objections had been raised to a proposal for making a new
Cut below the Grand Sluice to Skirbeck Quarter, partly on account
of the expense, he proposed that this should terminate at Boston
Bridge, nearly opposite the church, though owing to the silting up
of the river this would only give a navigation at spring tides. In
addition to the recommendations previously made he proposed that
a straight cut should be made from Dogdyke Ferry to Tattershall
Bridge ; also a new cut across the bend of the river above Timber-
land Dyke, a new lock being placed on this bend in place of the one
at Kirkstead, which was then in a dangerous condition ; also a
straight cut from Horsley Deeps, across the bend to a little above
Grub Hill, with a new lock at the lower end in place of that at Bar
lings Eau ; that the lock at Stamp End should be rebuilt, with its sill
3ft. lower ; and generally to deepen the river where required ; also
that the principal works recommended in Mr. Smeaton's report on
the lands bordering on the Foss should be carried out, The

Rennie. 1803.

1 62
quantity of water coming down the Witham in summer he found to
be 5g3,28o cubic feet, of which about half was used for lockage at
Torksey ; and that the remainder passed through Stamp End Lock.
He again recommended supplying Torksey Lock with a six H.P.
engine to pump the water out of the Trent, the annual cost of which,
including 10 per cent, interest on outlay (£"160), he estimated at
£"381. The estimate for the whole work was as follows:
The Cut at Boston and Lock  3>5oo
Works in the Witham and above Lincoln ... 54,900

PROPOSED
IMPROVEMENT OF
THE RIVER.

^58,400
At a meeting of the General Commissioners, held at the
Peacock Inn, at Boston, Mr. John Linton in the chair, it was
resolved " That it appears to this meeting that it is desirable to take
effectual means for completing the drainage and navigation on a
dead level with the sill of the Grand Sluice"; and in 1806 Mr.
Bower. 1806. Anthony Bower was directed to fnake an estimate of the cost of
carrying out this work. This estimate amounted to ^92,736, and
included the new cut at Dogdyke and Horsley Deeps, and three
new locks, but was exclusive ofland. Mr. Bower pointed out in his
report that if this were done it would " reflect the highest honour and
credit on the country by effectually draining the land which, for
ages, had been subject to be flooded, and totally take away the use
of the engines."
In April, 1807, at a meeting of the General Commissioners,
held at Sleaford, the Earl of Buckinghamshire in the chair, a series
of resolutions was passed, stating that, whereas, by the enclosure of
Rennie. 1807. tne West and Wildmore Fens their funds had been considerably
increased, they proposed to improve the navigation of the Witham
by making the river on a level from the Grand Sluice to Lincoln,
and removing the locks at Kirkstead and Barlings ; and that it was
desirable that its management should be handed over to a Company,
if one could be formed for this purpose ; and Mr. J. Rennie was
directed to examine Mr. Bower's estimate for this work. In his
report, while generally confirming the estimate, he made additions
increasing it to £"106,720, exclusive of the cost of any land required.
He, however, pointed out that, as the lands above Washingborough
Ferry are at a higher level than those below, there was no very mate
rial advantage in extending the level to Stamp End Lock, but that
if a lock were constructed a little below Washingborough Church,
a saving of £"16,000 could be effected. He advised that the
drainage of the low lands west of Lincoln could be accomplished by
extending a proposed Cut from the Great Gowts Drain to Stamp
End Lock down to Washingborough Ferry.
Opposition arising to this scheme by some of the landowners
along the river, Mr. Rennie was requested to give his opinion on

i63
the best means of supplying the lands adjoining the river with Rennie. 1807.
water in summer-time, for cattle and fences, so as to be able to
' satisfy the doubts of those persons who are not yet fully ac
quainted with the different benefits that will be derived from the
execution of the proposed plan.' In his report he points out that
by the removal of Kirkstead Lock, the water would be lowered in
that reach ift. gin. ; and by the removal of Barlings Lock, the water
would be reduced 2ft. 3m., or a total of 4ft. ; and that when this was
done the land along the former reach would be only 3ft. 6in. above
the surface of the water in the river, a height not more than
necessary for drainage, and sufficient to supply the ditches with
water if they were properly scoured out and deepened. As the land
above Barling's lock would be about 6ft. above the reduced surface
of the water, he proposed that the springs at Washingborough should
be conducted in a delph behind the banks, at a proper height for
the supply of those lands with water. He further advised that
the main river and side drains should be properly embanked, so as
to contain the floods, and anticipated that if the river were deepened
as proposed, many of the wind engines then in use could be
dispensed with. With reference to the inconvenience suffered from
the silting up of the channel, and the consequent stoppage of the flood
waters at the Grand Sluice, he advised that if ever Boston Haven
were to be improved it should be done by means of a straight
channel to the Deeps, or by straightening and deepening the existing
channel, which, he deemed, would be an essential advantage, both
to the drainage and navigation.
Acting on this and the previous report, the Commissioners, in 48 Ge0, hji0. io8i
the following year, obtained an Act for carrying out these works of l8oS-
improvement, which recited that the powers granted by the Act of
i7gi were not sufficient to enable the Commissioners to execute all
the works therein contemplated, and that several of them were then
uncompleted ; that in consequence much land was liable to injury
from floods, and the commerce of the country greatly interrupted.
It will be unnecessary to refer further to this, as the money
authorised (£"70,000) was never raised, and the Act was repealed
by a subsequent one.
Previous to this Act being obtained Mr. 'Chapman was directed
by the Proprietors of lands in the First District to report to them
on the probable effect of carrying out Mr. Rennie's scheme for
the drainage and the water-supply of their lands. He reported that at
that time it was with difficulty that the water in times of flood was
prevented from overflowing the banks protecting the lands in
Blankney, Martin, Timberland and Billinghay Dales ; that, if the
water from the lands west of Lincoln were to have free admission to
the Witham, no harm would accrue to the district, if the works
proposed by Mr. Rennie were carried out, but that in addition the

CHAPMAN'S
REPORT, 1808.

RENNIE'S
AMENDED SCHEME,

WITHAM

164
water-way of the Grand Sluice should be enlarged from 66ft. gin. to
goft. He advised that it was necessary for the purposes of Agricul
ture that the water in the ditches should be kept at a level of not
less than ift. gin., or more than 2ft. 6in., below the surface of the
peat lands, and to insure this and also for providing water for
cattle, he proposed that the Car Dyke should be scoured out, and
that the water not required for the locks at Lincoln and Torksey
should be diverted into it. Considering that it was a great error
ever to have stopped the free flow of the tides by the erection of the
Grand Sluice, he proposed that in enlarging it the doors should
be so arranged that all ordinary tides should be allowed to have a
free course through it, excluding only high spring tides in times of
land floods. He further recommended that in order to obtain really
efficient drainage the outfall from Boston to the sea should be improved.
It being found impracticable to raise the money necessary for
carrying out Mr. Rennie's scheme, he was called upon to suggest an
amended amended plan and made a further report to the Commissioners in
which the works enumerated in an Act obtained in 181 2 were
recommended. By this Act the powers vested in the Commissioners of Naviga-
navigation act. tjon were transferred to a Company of Proprietors, who were to
52 e°i8'i2.9' 10 ' undertake the whole management of the navigation and the works
pertaining thereto. The tolls were fixed at three shillings per ton
on all goods conveyed between Lincoln and Boston, or, for shorter
distances, three halfpence per ton per mile. The duties of the Pro
prietors of the navigation, and of the Drainage Commissioners, as to
maintenance of the different portions of the river and its embankments
were set out, and the following new works, as recommended by Mr.
Rennie, authorized, viz., the scouring out, widening, deepening,
and embanking of the Witham, from the Grand Sluice to the High
Bridge in Lincoln. The lower end was to be finished to a fifty feet
bottom, diminishing to 36ft. at Horsley Deeps, to 24ft. at Stamp
End, and 20ft. between there and the High Bridge. From Horsley
Deeps a new cut was to be made to the Woadhouses in Fiskerton,
with a 30ft. bottom. A new lock, 80ft. long by i6fft. wide, was to
be made at the entrance of the new cut at Horsley Deeps, with a
rise of 3ft., and another at Stamp End in Lincoln, of the same
dimensions, with a rise of 4ft., and a' stone weir ot the same level as
the gauge mark at the High Bridge. The sill of the lower lock was
to be level with the bed of the river, which was then 6ft. under the
gauge mark at the Grand Sluice. A weir was to be built above
Barlings Eau, the crest of which was to be 12ft gin. higher than the
sill of the Grand Sluice. The old locks across the river at Barlings,
Kirkstead and Stamp End were to be removed ; and, if found
necessary, the lock at the Grand Sluice was to be enlarged to the
same size as the other locks. The banks were to have slopes of 3 to

r6s
i on the river side, and 2 to i on the land side. On the south side,
the bank was to have a 10ft. top and to be puddled in the middle. The
top was to be gravelled, and bridges put over on the side cuts so as
to make an efficient towing path. Stop doors were to be fixed at
the ends of Billinghay Skirth and the Bane.
In order to provide for the flood -waters from the west side of
Lincoln, a weir twenty-eight feet in width was to be made in the
east bank of the Witham, at the head of Bargate Drain, the
top level with that of the weir at Stamp End, with one or more
sluices in it ; the slacker never to be drawn when the surface of the
water in the Witham was below the top of the weir, without the
consent ot the Mayor of Lincoln or the Lessee of the Fossdyke
Navigation ; the Sincyl dyke^and Bargate Drain were to be scoured
out and deepened, and a new cut made from the junction of the
latter with the Witham, along the back of its south bank to Horsley
Deeps, to join the river below the new lock at Branston ; and a
delph or soak dyke cut parallel with the north bank of the river from
Barling's Eau, as far upwards as should be found necessary to take
the water lying on the north side of the navigation.
The following works were to be maintained by the Proprietors
of the navigation, viz., the lock at the Grand Sluice, and the locks at
Horsley Deeps and Stamp End : the weirs at Barlings Eau and
at Stamp End Lock ; the towing paths, bridges, fences and other
works pertaining to the navigation ; also the Great Gowt Drain
and tunnel, and the Little Gowt Drain WTeir. The Grand Sluice,
the channel and banks of the river from the Grand Sluice to Stamp
End Lock ; the stop doors across the drains, the Sincyl Dyke and
Bargate Drain, with the weir and sluices at the head of Bargate
Drain, were to be maintained by the Commissioners of Drainage. The
wall on the south side of the river, between Stamp End and the High
Bridge, was to be maintained by the Frontagers. The Navigation
Company was to scour out the old course of the river from Barlings
Eau, so as to make it 20ft. wide at the bottom, and 6ft. deep, and to
embank it with banks of sufficient strength for the passage of the
waters of Barlings Eau and the side drains.
To carry out these works, the Company of Proprietors were
authorized to raise among themselves a sum of £1 20,000 in shares
of £"ioo, and to borrow, on the mortgage -of the tolls and dues, the
sum of £"60,000. In consideration of the benefit to the drainage by
the improvement tp the river, and an agreement on the part of the
Navigation Proprietors to advance and apply the sum of £"30,000
towards the execution of drainage works, the Commissioners were
to contribute the sum of £"1,400 per annum out of their general fund ;
and a like sum of £"1,400 out of the funds specially provided by this
Act, to the Company of Proprietors. To enable them to do this,
they were authorised to collect additional taxes from the First and

1 66

Rennie 1813.

Rennie. 1816.

7 Geo. iv, c. 2,
1826.
10 Geo. iv, 1829.

REPORT ON THE
ENLARGEMENTOF THE GRAND
SLUICE.
Rennie. 1818.

Third Districts, the lands in which were divided into four districts,
and rated at eighteen, twelve, six and three pence respectively.
The Company were authorised to take tolls for goods carried
from any place within one mile of Lincoln High Bridge, or of the
Grand Sluice at Boston. The rate was fixed at if d. per ton per mile,
with a minimum of eighteenpence and a maximum of three shillings.
Market boats were to be reckoned as carrying two tons. Skiffs or
boats carrying less than two tons, and passing through the locks,
were to pay one shilling, in addition to the toll due on the goods
carried, or sixpence each if two boats passed through the lock at the
same time. Boats navigating the Horncastle or Sleaford Canals
were to remain liable to the toll of ninepence per ton, and to a
further toll of one-half the amount then paid upon the Witham.
The navigation tolls were exempted from parochial rates.
Fears being entertained by the owners that the low lands lying
between Kirkstead Lock and Chapel Hill would be injured by the
mode in which the work was being executed, Mr. Rennie was
directed to report on the matter, and replied to the effect that until
the passage from the west of Lincoln was opened out no harm
could accrue from carrying on the works above Kirkstead simultan
eously with those below, that the ' mud-barge ' was intended to work
upwards and that he expected her progress would keep pace with
the works above.
In carrying out the works it was found that the amount allowed
in the original estimate was insufficient. In reporting on the works
in 1816, Mr. Rennie attributes this to the construction of a new
lock at Anthony's Gowt ; the fall of Tattershall bridge, which had
to be rebuilt ; the difficulty in excavating the new channel, part of
which, below Kirkstead, turned out to be a running sand and part a
very hard marl. In order to obtain additional funds for carrying on
the work, application was made to Parliament for power to raise a
further sum of £"60,000 on the security of the tolls. This also proving
insufficient and further money being required, a third Act was
obtained empowering the raising of a further sum of £"70,000,
making the total amount raised under the powers of the three Acts
£"310,000. By this Act the Navigation Company undertook the
maintenance of all works above the junction of the South Drain with
the old course of the river at Horsley Deeps. A provision was also
inserted in the Act for regulating the passage of steam boats.
Pcjwer was taken in the Act of 18 12 to enlarge the lock of the
Grand Sluice to the same dimensions as those of the locks at Horsley
Deeps and Stamp End. In 18 18 Mr. Rennie was directed to report as
to the best means of obtaining more water-way at the Sluice. In his
report he states that this could be done by decreasing the width of
the pier between the lock and the adjoining drainage tun, this being
thicker than the others ; but this, while increasing the navigation

THE RIVER IN
IS30-

167
lock, would only give a partial relief to the drainage. A more
effective plan would be to convert the navigation arch into a drain
age tun, enlarging it to the same size as the others and constructing
a new lock for navigation on the east side, but he considered that
there would be difficulty in keeping the Cut from this open, as the
river then curved to the west. A more effectual scheme he there
fore considered would be to make a new Cut on the west side from
a short distance above the Grand Sluice to the river below the
bridge, with a lock on it, near its junction with the river, turning the
present lock into a drainage tun. None of these recommendations
were carried out.
The works authorised under the Acts for improving the naviga
tion were not completed until i82g. In making the excavation for
the Horsley Deeps Lock a canoe was found, 8ft. under the surface.
It had been hollowed out of an oak tree, was 30ft. 8in. long, and
measured 3ft. in the widest part. Other canoes were also dug up,
one of which is deposited amongst the collection of antiquities in
the British Museum.
The condition of the river when the works were completed was condition or
as follows. The Grand Sluice had a total water-way, including the
navigation lock, of 66fft., its sill being 5ft. 6in. above mean low
water of spring tides in the estuary, or 3- 20ft. below Ordnance datum.
The Grand Sluice was situated eight miles from the outfall into the
estuary, the last two miles being through shifting sands, amongst
which the channel was constantly altering its position. In dry
seasons, owing to the absence of back water from the stoppage of
the tides, the doors were frequently blocked up with silt, which
occasionally accumulated to the depth of 10ft. This accumulation
had to be moved by the winter floods before a clear passage down
the Haven could be secured.
From Boston to Chapel Hill the bottom of the river was 50ft
wide, at Tattershall Bridge 45ft., at Bardney Lock 36ft. From
Bardney Lock (Horsley Deeps) to Boston, a distance of twenty
three and a half miles, the drainage and navigation channels were
the same ; thence to Lincoln, nine miles, there were two channels,
the water in the Witham being held up at Bardney Lock and at
Stamp End Lock for navigation, and communicating with the Foss
dyke navigation to the Trent. The sill of Bardney Lock was 3ft.
ioin. above that of the Grand Sluice and to maintain 5ft. of water
on Bardney Lock sill, 9ft. had to be held up at the Grand Sluice.
On the south side of the navigation, for the purpose of drainage, a
new cut, called the South Delph, extended from Horsley Deeps to
the junction of the Sincyl Dyke at Lincoln. At the head of the
Sincyl Dyke was fixed a weir and draw-doors, over and through
which are discharged flood waters from the Witham. The Sincyl
Dyke also took the water from the sunken tunnel under the

CONDITION OF
THE OUTFALL.

SIR J. RENNIE'S
REPORT, 1822.

ENGINES.

1 68
Witham to the Great Gowt Drain and from the weir on the.
Little Gowt Drain. The watei from the upper Witham, except
that passing down the Sincyl Dyke, flowed into Brayford Mere and
passed thence through the High Bridge at Lincoln, to Stamp End
Lock, the discharge being regulated by the draw-doors and weirs
at Stamp End. The quantity of water passing into the Sincyl
Dyke was regulated by gauges.
The area taxable for the purposes of the General Commissioners
of Drainage was about 127,800 acres. With some alterations the
arrangement of the drainage continues the same at the present time.
Notwithstanding the large amount spent on the upper part of the
river, owing to the defective condition of the outfall, the drainage
remained in an imperfect condition. In 1821, a general meeting of
all parties interested in the drainage and navigation was held, and
Sir John Rennie, who had succeeded his father as Consulting
Engineer to the Commissioners, was directed to make a report as
to the best means of improving the river from the Grand Sluice to
the sea. The report was addressed to the Corporation of Boston,
the Commissioners of the River Witham, the Commissioners of the
Black Sluice Drainage, and all parties interested in the improve
ment of the River Witham. He pointed out that owing to the
works which had been carried out, there was little obstruction to
the drainage or navigation above Boston, but that " immediately
on leaving it the channel became so circuitous and disproportionate
in width, that the effect of the scour by the waters acting in one
compact and undivided body, was lost, and the river, particularly
during the time of ebb, not being able to maintain so great a
channel clear, became dispersed into a variety of minor and insignifi
cant channels, which, meandering through the extensive and shifting
sands by which they were surrounded, with difficulty forced their
way at last to the sea." As this report, and a subsequent one, and
that of Mr. Telford, made in 1823, deal principally with the river
below the Grand Sluice, the recommendations contained in it will
be dealt with in the Chapter on the Harbour. One of the recom
mendations which affected the river immediately below the Grand
Sluice, namely, the straightening of that part of the river lying
between the bridge and the sluice, was carried out by the Harbour
Commissioners in 1825.
To protect their lands from flooding, the Owners had, from time
to time, embanked them, and erected windmills for lifting the water
out of the drains into the river, there being no less than 14 wind
engines in use between Lincoln and Dogdyke. Subsequently steam
power was used. In order, if possible, to prevent this expenditure,
Sir John Rennie was again instructed, by the General Commissioners.
to report as to the best means of improving the outfall and lowering
the water in the Witham, sufficiently to allow of the drainage of the

i6g
lowest lands by gravitation ; and, further, as to the effect on the
general interests of the Trusts of the proposed pumping scheme.
In two reports, made in the year 1830, dated respectively the sir Jj8 Renn«.
gth of August and the 17th September, he stated that the state of
drainage in the first district, was very imperfect, and that the chief im
pediments to the discharge of the waters arose from two causes ; the
first, the obstructed state of the outfall of Boston Haven, between the
Grand Sluice and Hobhole ; and the second, the existence of the Grand
Sluice and the inadequacy of the interior drains to convey the downfall
waters into the Witham. With respect to the first, he referred to the
improvements already carried out by the Corporation of Boston, by
straightening the river and making the new cut through Burton's
Marsh, and by the removal of the old wooden bridge with its piers,
and the erection, in its place, of the present iron structure ; but, he
thought that the outfall was capable of very considerable further
improvement, and proposed a scheme, the particulars of which will be
treated of more fully in a succeeding chapter ; and he also recom
mended the making of a new cut through the Marshes, from the
Black Sluice to Bell's Reach, at a cost of £"8g,3i3. For a
removal of the second cause of impediment, from the con
fined state of the outlet of the river and the constant holding
up of the water for the purpose of navigation, he proposed that
a new sluice should be erected between the Grand Sluice and the Iron
Bridge ; that from this a new cut should be made, in a direct line,
to- join the North Forty-Foot above Toft Bridge, which was to be
deepened and cleaned out to the Sleaford navigation, and that from
there the present line of the Dales Head Dyke should be enlarged and
deepened as far as Washingborough, the estimated cost being
^"52,873- These recommendations were not carried out, but the Com
missioners, at a meeting held in 1832, passed several resolutions
stating that it was their opinion that the steam engines proposed to
be erected by the First and Third Districts would prove injurious to
the banks of the river, and the drainage of the other Districts, and
therefore they determined to oppose the powers sought to be obtained
from Parliament by those Districts. The system of drainage by
pumping was not, however, stopped. The total of the several
engines now in use, above the Grand Sluice, is over 350 horse
power. In 1846, the loop-line of the Great Northern was constructed, transfer of
the line between Boston and Lincoln running for the greater part of
the distance along the east bank of the river, leaving it at Horsley
Deeps, and thence to Lincoln, running on the north bank of the " 71. l£>46~
South Delph. At the same time the rights of the navigation were
leased to the Great Northern Railway Company for ggg years, at a
rent charge of £"10,545 a year, equal to five per cent, on the amount

THE NAVIGATION
TO THE G. N,
RAILWAY
9 and 10 Vict., c

170
of the capital, which then stood at £208,900 in shares, and £2,000
in debentures, the rest of the money originally raised and expended,
having been paid off. From the parliamentary return of 1870,
£"24,000 had then been paid off since the Railway Company took
the navigation. The Railway Company, in taking over the navigation, assumed
the liabilities of the original owners with regard to the banks, and
these have since proved a source of litigation.
liability for From Boston to Bardney Lock, the east bank, — and above
MAINTENANCE OF 11,1 p ,111 Till 1*1
river banks, that, both banks — of the river, and the banks of the old course oi the
river by Barlings Eau, have to be maintained by the Railway
Company, except those in Washingborough and Heighington, their
liability for these having been released by a payment of £2,000,
made in 1857, to the Washingborough Trustees, who, in consider
ation of this sum, released the Railway Company from all past and
future liability in respect of defective banks in this part of the
river. In the spring of 1862, owing to an unusually heavy rainfall, the
river Witham became flooded above its ordinary height, and on the
28th March the bank of the South Delph gave way, the water
pouring through the breach, which was 156ft. long, and inundating
1,800 acres of land in Branston Fen. An action was brought
against the Great Northern Railway Company for compensation.
CRaUway'cGom-' The case was tried at the following Lincoln Summer Assizes. The
pany. Company contended that the act of 1812 authorised the making of
a delph, but that no mention was made of a bank, and that there
fore they were not liable for its maintenance. They further con
tended that the flooding was due to the bad condition of the channel
of the river, which was filled with weeds, and in places silted up, and
which ought to have been maintained in order by the Drainage Com
missioners. The Plaintiffs contended on the other hand that a delph
could not be made without a bank ; that the bank was made with the
material excavated in making the delph, and that it was subsequent
ly put in proper order by the Navigation Company. This bank
had been raised and repaired by the Railway Company in 1858, and
an arrangement made with the Branston Drainage Trustees, that
the expenses should be borne jointly. It was further contended
by the Plaintiffs that this work was not properly done, and several
local experts were called, to prove that wet clay puddle was put in
the bank instead of its being ' punned ' with dry clay. The Jury
gave their verdict for the plaintiffs, the damages being agreed to at
£475- A rule nisi was obtained to set aside this verdict, on the ground
that the judge at the trial had not allowed the question to go to the
Jury as to whether the mischief had not been caused by default of
the Witham Drainage Commissioners in not providing a proper

i7i

outlet for the waters in the river below Horsley Deeps, which had
consequently backed up into the South Delph, and so caused the
flooding. The rule was subsequently discharged by the Court of
Exchequer, July 6th, 1863, Baron Bramwell remarking, " I desire
not to have it supposed that I discharge the rule because I am of
opinion that the Great Northern Railway Company would have
been liable if the banks were broken through the water being pent
back upon them improperly by persons below ; but the rule is dis
charged upon the ground that we cannot collect from the summing
up of the learned judge that he took a different view on the
trial." In March, 1889, a breach occurred in the bank of the old
channel of the Witham, and flooded ' Branston Island ' as that
portion severed from, the rest of the fen by the making of the new
cut for the river is called, and the land was flooded from 4 to 5ft.
deep. An action was brought at the Lincoln Summer Assizes in
1889, against the Railway Company to recover damages, but the
matter was settled by agreement before coming into Court, a verdict
being recorded for the Plaintiffs and the Company paying £900
damages besides the costs incurred.
Continual complaints being made as to the state of the
banks and of the inefficient condition of the river for carrying off the
floods, Mr. William Lewin, who had been the resident Engineer to
the Commissioners for a long period, was directed to make a report
as to the best means of improving the drainage. In his report he
first deals with the question as affecting the whole of the Fen
district, and points out that no effectual remedy can be provided
unless the outfall to the sea be improved, and advises that the new
cut to Clay Hole, which had been recommended 120 years pre
viously, should be carried out without delay. With regard to the
river above the Grand Sluice he states that it is not in the state it
ought to be in, the bed of the river being from 2ft. to 5ft. above the
sill of the Sluice. He recommended that the bottom of the river
should be made one foot below the sill of the Sluice from Boston to
Bardney, the sill of the Sluice lowered 4ft. and that of Bardney
Lock 5ft. ; the Sincyl Dyke widened and deepened. The estimated
cost of these works was £40,003.
On the 1 gth of March, 1861, a deputation from the Commission
waited on Sir John (then Mr.) Hawkshaw, C.E., in London, to
consult him with reference to the state of the drainage, the immed
iate object being the improvement of the condition of the East and
West Fens, but Mr. Hawkshaw was directed to turn his
attention to a scheme for the general improvement of all the fens
under the jurisdiction of the Witham Trust.
For the general plan of improvement Mr. Hawkshaw re
commended the adoption of the old project for forming a new Cut

Law Times
Reports.

Ward v. G. JV.
Railway Com
pany.

INEFFICIENT
CONDITION OF
THE DRAINAGE.

LEWIN'S REPORT,
I860.

1^2
hawkshaws fo day Hole, as he considered that this would improve the outfall
REPORT, 1881. J ' *
of all the great drains which empty themselves into the Witham.
Failing to obtain the consent of the other Trusts interested in
the promotion of a general scheme for improving the Outfall, the
Commissioners had to fall back on such measures as they could
carry out themselves without the assistance of other Trusts. Sir
John Hawkshaw was therefore directed ' to examine and report on
the state of the drainage of the river Witham above the Grand
Sluice, embracing the ist, 3rd, and 5th Districts, with a view to any
improvement that could be effected.' Accordingly, in the autumn
of 1862, he caused a survey to be made of the river from the Grand
Sluice to Lincoln. With the data thus obtained, and from facts
gathered from other sources, he drew up his report, and laid before
ditto. 18.2. f.ne Commissioners the works that he considered necessary for put
ting the upper part of the river in as efficient a state as possible
under its present condition in connection with the navigation, the
existence of the Grand Sluice, and the stale of Boston Haven ;
which, when completed, would enable the Commissioners to lower
the height of the water in the channel, and so improve the drainage
of the lands, without hindering the navigation ; and by strengthen
ing the banks, remove all cause of apprehension as to their safety.
The estimated cost of the works was £53,000, and the advantage to
be gained by the drainage, was the lowering of the level of the water
in the Witham by two feet on an average. He estimated that a very
considerable saving would be effected in the cost of working the
pumping engines when the works were completed. If, however, the
works for improving the Outfall, as recommended in his previous
report, were carried out, he considered that then the Grand Sluice
sill could be lowered, and the whole of the engine-power dis
pensed with.
The works were on the same lines as those laid down by Mr.
Lewin in his report of i860, except that he advised the postpone
ment of the lowering of the sill of the Grand Sluice until the Outfall
below was improved. In concluding his report he drew attention to
the fact that the highest flood level, which up to that time had been
i4fft. above the sill of the Grand Sluice, reached in some places along
the river to the top of the banks.
improvement The Commissioners hesitated some time before adopting this
as and"g' Viet., scheme of interior improvement, but at last, finding that no general
c. 124, 186;. pian was iikeiy t0 be successfully carried out, three years afterwards
they obtained an Act "for the further Improvement of the Drainage
and Navigation by the River Witham," which received the Royal
Assent on the igth of June, 1865. Under the powers of this Act
the Commissioners were authorised to execute the following works :
viz., to widen, deepen and scour out the river Witham, from a point
about six miles above Boston to Horsley Deeps, so that the bottom

should throughout this length be on a dead level ; also to raise and
strengthen the banks ; to deepen, scour out and strengthen the
banks of the Old Witham, Barlings Eau, Billinghay Skirth, and the
several tributaries in connection with them ; to alter and lower the
sills of the several sluices of the above streams, and also those of
the Sleaford and Horncastle navigation, and the sills of the following
delphs, viz., Timberland, Metheringham, Nocton and Branston.
The Great Northern Railway Company, as the owners of the
navigation, were authorised to widen, scour out and deepen the
channel and strengthen the banks of the South Delph, to lower the sill
of Anton's Gowt and Horsley Deeps Locks, and re-build the latter, if
necessary ; and for this purpose they were empowered to raise the
sum of £10,000 by the creation of new capital. The General
Commissioners were authorised to borrow a sum not exceeding
£55,000 on mortgage of new taxes, to be levied for the purpose
of this Act, the extinction of the debt being provided for by the re
payment of thirty -five annual instalments. The lands in the First,
Third, and Fifth Districts were taxed for these special works in four
classes, as arranged by the Act of 181 2, with an additional annual
payment of three shillings, two shillings and sixpence, two shillings,
and one shilling per acre respectively. Power was also given to the
Commissioners to make bye-laws for the regulation of the fishery,
and other incidental rights and privileges attaching to the river
and the drainage.
The works authorised under this Act, so far as they related to
the drainage, were carried out under the direction of Mr. Edward
Welsh, C.E., who became the resident Engineer of the Com
missioners after the death of Mr. Lewin ; and those connected with
the navigation, by the Great Northern Railway Company.
These improvements, when completed, only demonstrated more
forcibly than ever that works carried out in the upper portion of the
channel were practically useless, unless provision were made for the
discharge at the Outfall to the sea.
In i86g, the water rose so high in the river, after a heavy rain,
that a bank was broken near Stixwould, and 1,500 acres ofland were
inundated. This was one of the worst floods ever known in the
Witham, the water rising, at tide time, to a height of 15ft. 11 in. on
the sill of the Grand Sluice, and about 40 square miles of low land
being inundated to a depth varying from one to five feet. The loss
due to this flood was estimated at £100,000. All the lower part of
the City of Lincoln was inundated. The banks of the Fossdyke,
and also of the South Delph near Heighington, and those at Bardney
and Branston, gave way. The bank of Billinghay Skirth was also
broken, and about 3,000 acres flooded, driving the inhabitants from
their homes.
The highest previous flood on record was in 1852, when the

EFFECT OF THE
DEFECTIVE OUT
FALL.

FLOODS. 1889.

174

DEPOSIT AT THE
GRAND SLUICE.

Welsh's Report,
Dec, 1894.
MEETING OF
LANDOWNERS.

INSTRUCTIONS TO
ENGINEER.

water rose in the Witham at Nocton to 17ft., and at Boston to
14-fft. above the Grand Sluice sill, with a rainfall of 4-32 inches
in the previous month, and 15-32 inches in the previous four
months. A flood in November, 1875, which occurred after the
improvements, rose as high at Bardney, and at Boston one
foot higher, with a rainfall of 4.90 inches for the month, and
12-30 inches for the previous four months; and the flood in
January, 1877, rose nine inches higher at Bardney, and seven
teen inches higher at Boston, with the same rainfall for the
previous month, and two inches less in the previous four months.
In September, 1880, very heavy floods again occurred. The
streets of Lincoln were inundated, and a large area of fen land was
placed under water, which rose, in some fields in the fen, as high as
the heads of the sheaves of corn which, owing to the wet season,
were still standing in the fields. In 1882, there were also heavy
floods ; Barlings Eau bank gave way, and a very large area of land
in the neighbourhood of Lincoln was under water. In 1883, the
Witham overflowed its banks above Lincoln and flooded several
thousand acres, and the bank gave way near Southrey.
The deposit of silt outside the Grand Sluice, at times when
there were not sufficient freshets to carry it away,' still continued, and
the doors of the sluice were frequently blocked up. This deposit ac
cumulated to the height of 10ft. 9m. in 1864 ; 9ft. 8in. in 1865 ; lift.
iin. in 1868 ; 10ft. 3m. in 1870 ; and lift. 4m. in December, 1874.
Owing to the serious amount of damage done by the constant
flooding of the land, and to the banks, and no action being taken
by the General Commissioners, the principal Landowners met
together and consulted as to the best course to be pursued, and at a
meeting held in London, in February, 1877, the following instructions
were given to Sir John Hawkshaw, CE.
1 That Sir John Hawkshaw be requested to examine and consider
fully the whole drainage system of the valley of the Witham
both above and below Lincoln, and including the water drain
age of that city, and to report to this Committee upon the most
efficient and most economical method of carrying off the waters
of those districts to the sea without flooding.
2 That it is desirable that in making this inquiry Sir. J. Hawk
shaw should examine into the causes of the late severe floods
in the different districts in which they occurred.
3 That Sir J. Hawkshaw should embrace in his consideration the
internal drainage of the fen lands as well as the drainage of
the river Witham itself.
4 That in any proposal for letting the water from above Lincoln
into the Witham below the city more freely than at present, it
is essential that the low lands below Lincoln should be
secured against increased danger of flooding.

175

9

10
n

That Sir J. Hawkshaw be requested to consider whether it
would, or would not, be desirable to provide for carrying off the
water above Lincoln, and the high land water below, to the
Witham outfall by a separate channel or channels.
That considering the very heavy taxation of some of the lands
below Lincoln, it would be a great advantage if a system of
drainage by gravitation could be adopted, so as to avoid the
expense of local engines, and the necessity of keeping up delph
banks capable of resisting the pressure of a large body of water.
That Sir J. Hawkshaw be requested to direct his attention
to the state of the bed of the river.
That Sir J. Hawkshaw be requested to report whether, in his
opinion, the navigation of the Witham interferes with the
efficient drainage of the county, or renders it more costly, and, if
so, to what extent ;
And whether it is desirable to make any change or improvement
in the Grand Sluice, at Boston ;
And also to report fully upon the outfall of the river.
And generally it is the wish of the Committee that Sir J.
Hawkshaw's report should be as wide and comprehensive as
possible, and that he should deal, in it, with the whole question
referred to him, in all its bearings.
In his report Sir John Hawkshaw assumed that the maximum
quantity of water to be provided for, as passing down the Witham
and through the Grand Sluice, off the whole drainage area of 504,000
acres was that equivalent to a continuous rainfall, of one quarter of
an inch, in 24 hours, amounting to 3 1 8,000 cubic feet per minute. A
quarter of an inch of rainfall in 24 hours is the quantity which has
always been taken by Engineers who have been engaged in these
fens, as the quantity to be provided for in the low districts ; but, as
the area draining by the Witham contains a large proportion of
high land, the strata of which, such as the chalk and oolites, is of
an absorbent character, this estimate would appear to be too high.
The free flow of the water from above Lincoln he found restricted
by the regulations as to Bargate Weir and at Stamp End, also
by the contracted water-way under the High Bridge and through
the City ; the water from the western drainage district throttled by
having to pass through a small culvert under the Witham ; and the
North and South Catchwater Drains of the West District
obstructed by the height to which the waters rose during flood time
in the Fossdyke and the Witham, into which they discharge.
The works recommended and the estimated cost of the same
were as follows : —
1 . Cutting a new Channel from the Witham near
Bargate Weir to the South Delph, at a point just
below the City, the channel having a bottom width of

HAWKSHAW'S
SCHEME. 1877.

Hawkshaw. May, 1877.

176

20ft., and erecting a new Weir and Sluice near Bargate £
Weir. Widening the bridge under the High Street,
and the Railway Bridge  34>000
2. Widening and deepening the channel of the
South Delph, and raising and strengthening the banks
to a bottom width of 20ft  19,000
3. Widening and deepening the Witham from
Horsley Deeps to the Grand Sluice and strengthening
the banks. The bottom to be lowered 7ft. at the
Grand Sluice, and rising at the rate of four inches a
mile, the bottom width to be 108ft. from Boston to
Chapel Hill and 52ft. at Horsley Deeps, with slopes
of 2 to 1  197,000
4. Replacing the Grand Sluice with a new one
having a width of 11 oft., and its sill 7ft. lower than
the present sill  80,000
5. Constructing a reservoir of about four acres near
the new sluice for the purpose of taking water in at
spring tides, and allowing it to flow out again in dry
weather at low water for the purpose of scouring away
the sand which accumulated in the Haven  4,000
6. Enlarging the water-way of the Witham below
the Grand Sluice as far as Maud Foster Sluice . ... 33,000
7. Widening and deepening the Witham above
Lincoln from the head of the new channel to Wel-
bourn Mill  26,00.0
8. Widening and deepening the river Brant to
near Welbourn Ford ... ... ... ... ... 5>400
9. Making a short drain from the end of the main
drain of the West District Drainage, and a culvert
under the Witham near Bargate Weir, and erecting
a 30 H.P. pumping station for the West District
Drainage ... ... ... ... ... .... ... 4,100
10. ' Widening and deepening the Car Dyke from
Washingborough to Billinghay Skirth, for the purpose
of keeping the upland waters out of the Nocton,
Metheringham and Timberland Delphs ... ... 32,500
11. Widening and deepening Billinghay Skirth
and raising and strengthening the banks  7,000
12. Widening and deepening the existing low level
drains between Washingborough pumping station
and Chapel Hill and erecting a 300 H.P. pumping
station there and doing away with the present pump
ing stations between Chapel Hill and Washing
borough ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 72,200
13. Enlarging Kyme Eau from the proposed pump
ing station to the Witham ... ... ... ... 2,000

The total cost with contingencies (but exclusive of

parliamentary or engineering expenses) being

¦£"567.820

REPORT. IB78.

177
The advantage to be gained were stated to be the reduction of
the flood level 3ft. in the Witham at Bargate Weir ; 15m. in the
South Delph ; 2ft. at Horsley Deeps ; and ift. at Chapel Hill.
For the further improvement of the outfall Sir John Hawk
shaw considered the most effectual way woujd be to carry out the
new cut from Hobhole to Clay Hole, but that its cost would be too
large for merely drainage purposes. The more economical plan
which had been proposed by Mr. Wheeler, the Engineer to the
Boston Harbour Commissioners, and approved by them, of dredging
the existing channel through the Clays and turning the river to Clay
Hole, although less effectual, would, he considered, be of some
advantage. The prospect of obtaining a reduction of only one foot in the
flood level in the lower part of the river, after an expenditure of
upwards of half a million of money, and without securing any
improvement in the outfall to the sea, did not commend itself to the
Landowners, and no action was taken on the recommendation
contained in this report.
In the following year Mr. J. Evelyn Williams, who had je.will.ams-
succeeded Mr. Welsh as resident Engineer to the Witham Drainage
Commissioners, was directed to report to them on the means of
improving the drainage. Mr. Williams, in his report, stated his
opinion that in the removal of obstructions to the natural flow of
water, it is advisable to commence at the lowest point possible, and
to work upwards. He agreed with the opinion of all the Engineers
who had previously reported, that the most effectual and permanent
remedy for the defective condition of the outfall for the drainage
water was the scheme for making a new Cut through the Clays ;
but that, if the cost of this work should preclude the possibility of
its being carried out, then much relief might be obtained by carrying
out the scheme proposed by the Harbour Commisisoners, for training
and dredging the Channel to Clay Hole. By this plan he considered
" that the beneficial effect of the scour of the flood and tidal waters
which was distributed and absorbed in struggling seaward through
shifting sands, and in opsning out fresh and minor channels, would
be concentrated and utilised in maintaining one deep and fixed out
let for the flood waters. Further, the fixing and deepening of the
outer channel would tend to counteract the deposition of sand in
the river, in front of the sluices during dry summers, and which is
now caused by the tidal water flowing over the shifting sands in the
Estuary." He estimated the cost of this work at £28,500. Between
Hobholeand Maud Foster Drains, heproposed that the channel should
be deepened ; that a straight Cut should be made for the river, from
Maud Foster to St. John's Road Ferry, and suggested that the loop
cut off up to the Black Sluice might be converted into a wet dock ;
or, if that were not found practicable, the deepening and

i78
improving the channel along this length and up to the Grand Sluice;
the construction of an additional drainage tun at the Grand Sluice,
on the east side ; and taking off the forelands, and enlarging the
Witham between Tattershall Bridge and the Grand Sluice. The
estimated cost, exclusive of the Cut across the bend above Maud
Foster Sluice, but including the training of the river from Hobhole
to Clay Hole, he put at £89,347.
If these improvements were carried out Mr. Williams
estimated that they would effect a depression in the low water
flood line to the extent of three feet at Hobhole Sluice, two feet
at the Black Sluice, and two feet six inches at the Grand Sluice.
He further suggested that if the Grand Sluice were removed
from its present site to Chapel Hill, an additional sea outlet would
be obtained from Kyme Eau, with five feet more fall, as it would
then discharge below the point where the water would require to be
held up for navigation purposes ; also that the Car Dyke should be
converted into a catch-water drain, and be connected with Bargate
Weir, and thus the upland water, both above and below Lincoln,
could be discharged at a sea sluice across the end of Kyme Eau,
and below the new Grand Sluice to be erected at Chapel Hill. The
estimated cost of this scheme, including the enlargement of the river
and strengthening and heightening the banks below Chapel Hill
and other incidental works, he estimated at £300,000. And if
to this were added the improvement of the Outfall by the
new Cut through the Clays, and above Maud Foster, and deepen
ing and improving the river, £"200,000 more, or together about
£500,000, exclusive of land and parliamentary and engineering
expenses.
w.tham outf.ll in jgyg Mr. Thomas Garfit, who was then Member for the
borough, took active steps to bring together the chief representa.
tives of the different Trusts interested in the improvement of the
drainage and navigation, and it was chiefly owing to his exertions that
in August, 1879, a meeting of representatives from the Witham
Drainage, the Black Sluice Drainage, and the Boston Harbour
Commissioners took place at Boston, Mr. Banks Stanhope of
Revesby being in the chair, to consider the improvement of the
outfall of the River Witham below the Grand Sluice. At this
meeting the two schemes for effecting this improvement were
submitted for consideration and it was resolved to carry out the
larger plan for cutting through the Clays, which had been recommended
about 80 years previously. The basis of payment, which had been
the cause of the failure of all previous attempts to improve the
outfall, was settled on the principle that the lands paying drainage
taxes, whether to the Drainage Trusts or to the Court of Sewers,
should pay a uniform acre tax, the contribution of the Harbour
Trust being a fixed sum. It was also agreed that the work should be

SCHEME, 1879.

179
carried out by an Outfall Board, consisting of representatives from
the contributing Trusts.
With as little delay as possible an Act was obtained giving witham outfall
power to carry out the works, and the new cut was opened in 1884. 43 and*!! vict.,
Further details as to this work will be found in Chapter XIV, on 0l I53' l88°'
Boston Harbour.
No continuous heavy downfalls of rain, such as occurred previous
to this work being done, have happened since, to prove the efficiency
of the scheme, but the predictions of the Engineers have been more
than realised and the water lowered at least four feet in floods. The
low water in the haven has ebbed .put to 3ft. below the sill of the
Grand Sluice when the freshets were not running. Another great
advantage has accrued in the absence of the blocking up of the
water-way by the deposit of silt below the Grand Sluice, and in this
respect the exceedingly dry seasons which have occurred since the
Cut has been made give a sufficient indication that such deposits
, are not likely to occur again.
Concurrently with the works carried on for the improvement of witham
J t *• IMPROVEMENT
the Outfall, the Witham Commissioners, under the powers of an Act ««.
obtained in 1 881, enlarged the Grand Sluice and improved the H c^gVissi!0'''
channel from the Sluice to Tattershall ; for which purpose
they were authorised to raise £40,000 and to levy additional
taxes on the First, Third and Fifth Districts, to the amount
of eighteenpence an acre for payment of the interest on the
money borrowed for the works, and sixpence an acre for their
maintenance. The money borrowed has to be paid off by 35 equal
instalments. By clause 36 of the Act every Commissioner is to be
allowed ten shillings and sixpence for each attendance at a meeting
of the General Commissioners, and one guinea for attendance at a
Committee Meeting.
The work of altering the Grand Sluice was carried out by Mr. enlargement
W. Rigby, from the plans of Mr. Williams, C.E., and consisted of "' sluicc.'"'d
replacing the old lock, which had an opening of 15ft., with a new
one, 30ft. wide, thus giving 15ft. additional water-way. The sill of
the new lock was laid 3ft. lower than the old sill. The contract
amount for the work was £10,000. At the same time a portion of
the forelands of the river was removed and the channel improved
up to Tattershall.
At the present time the General Commission for Drainage by witham drain
the River Witham is composed as follows, viz., Acres. Representa tives.
First District, Lincoln to Kyme Eau ... 24,916 7
Second ,, Kyme Eau to Boston ... 19,101 6
Third ,, Lincoln to the Bane... ... 4,621 5
Fourth „ East, West and Wildmore
Fens and the 5,000 acres ... 62,3g5 8

AGECOMM1SSION*

i8o

Acres. Representa tives.

Fifth ,, adjoining Kyme Eau ... 5,176 2
Sixth ,, West of Holland Fen ... 11,584 3
The Mayors of Lincoln and Boston ... 2
33
The Second and Sixth Districts drain through the Black Sluice.
They pay taxes for the maintenance of the west bank of the Witham.
The Fourth District drains into the Haven below the Grand Sluice
through Maud Foster and Hobhole sluices.
The taxes leviable under the different Acts obtained for the
improvement of the river are as follows :

First District.
Three parishes and seven dales
Eight parishes
Three parishes and two dales
Fifth District.
Six parishes
Third District.
Fifteen parishes
One parish
Two parishes .. .
Second District
Sixth District...
(Except Ewerby, which varies
from 6d. to 2d.)
The terminable taxes of 1865 expire in igoo, and those of 188 1
in 1917. Besides the taxes here given, the several districts are liable to
the taxes levied by the Interior Commissioners.
The Second and Sixth Districts are also liable to the Black
Sluice taxes.
The lands in the First, Third and Fifth Districts are liable to the
Outfall tax levied under the Act of 1880, which is not to exceed two
shillings per acre, including maintenance, and is to cease in 35 years
(19 1 6), by which time the whole of the borrowed money is to be
paid off. After that time the maintenance tax mentioned above
continues, but is not to exceed sixpence per acre. The land in
the Second and Sixth Districts contribute to the Outfall through
the Black Sluice.
receipts and The amount raised by taxes on the General Account of the
disbursements. Witham Commission is about £5,758 a year, and for foreland
rents £112, making an income of £5,870. The payments are,
Interest on debt at 4f per cent., £2,400 ; payment to the
Great Northern Railway, £2,800 ; maintenance of works,

Under the Act of
1762 & 1812 1865
s. d. a. d.

1881
s. d.

Total
per acre,
». d.

2

6

3

0

2

0

7 6

2

0

2

6

2

0

6 6

I

6

2

0

2

0

5 6

O

9

1

0

2

0

3 9

2

6

3

0

2

0

7 6

2

0

2

6

2

0

6 6

I

6

2

0

2

0

5 6

I

0

1

0

2 0

0

6

0

6

1 0
i8i
£500 ; management, £600 ; a total of £6,300, leaving a yearly
deficiency of about £430. This deficiency appears to be met out of
a large balance in the Treasurer's hands, which has been steadily
diminishing for some years past, and in 1895 was at £3,472. In
addition to the above, the interest on the loans and the instalments
of repayment of principal, incurred for works carried out under the
Act of 1865, amounting to £2,870, and under the Act of 1881,
amounting to £2,257, are met by special rates, as also that for the
interest on the loan for the Witham contribution to the Outfall
works, £1,446, and towards the maintenance of the same about £400
a year, making a total amount to be provided for of about £13,278.

182

CHAPTER VI.
The Witham Districts.

Fig- 7-

WITHAM FENG.

IMPROVED VALUE
OF THE LAND
AFTER INCLOS
URE.

Agriculture of
Lincolnshire, 1847.

Royal Agricult
ural Society
Journal, 1847,

BEFORE the works carried out for the improvement of the
river, in the middle of the last century, the land lying
along the Witham was an open common on which the inhabi
tants of the several parishes which adjoined it had grazing
rights. In summer, this common fen afforded grazing for cattle and
sheep, but was subject to be frequently flooded, and in winter, was
more or less under water, as it was only partially embanked from
the river. The improvement effected in the drainage by the deep
ening and straightening of the channel, and the erection of the
Grand Sluice, was not sufficient to render these lands fit for
cultivation, and for this purpose it was necessary that they should
be embanked, and the water raised from them by mechanical means.
It was also necessary that the Common rights should be extinguished
and that the lands should be divided and allotted. For this pur
pose special Acts of Parliament were obtained, and, in course of
time, the whole of the land was brought under cultivation.
Under the Act of 1762, the management of these Districts was
provided for by separate Commissions, consisting of members
elected by the several parishes. These Commissions have charge
of all the interior works, and the management of the pumping
engines and drains, and have power to lay. rates for their mainten
ance. The number of Members elected, and the qualification of the
Voters will be given under each District.
Arthur Young, when describing the lands along the Witham,
stated that " the produce before enclosure was little, the land letting
for not more than one shilling and sixpence per acre ; now (i79g)
from eleven to seventeen shillings . . . This vast work is effected by
a moderate embankment and the erection of Windmills for throwing
out the superfluous water." Mr. Parkinson, one of the Commis
sioners, largely employed under the Enclosure Acts, gave the old
rental value of 43,407 acres of this land at £5,g82, and the improved
value at £42,375. When the land was enclosed, part of it was
sold by auction by the Commissioners to pay the expenses, the
price fetched being about £14 an acre. In 1847 Mr. Clarke put the
average rental of this land as varying from about 25s. to 40s., the
greater part letting at 35s.

COMMISSIONERS.

I83
The First District. — This district is situated on the South Fis- ?•
and West side of the Witham, and extends from near Lincoln to
Kyme Eau. It contains 24,916 acres. It is described in the Act boundary
of 1762 as containing the Fens and Lowlands in Lincoln, Lincoln 2 Geo. m, u.
Common, Canwick, Washingborough, Heighington, Branston,
Potterhanworth, Walton, Dunston, Metheringham, Blankney,
/Linwood, Martin, Timberland, Timberland Thorpe, Walcot,
Billinghay Dales and Dogdyke. The boundaries are set out as
follows, viz., from twenty yards below the north end of Sincil Dyke
in Lincoln to Kyme Eau by the River Witham on the north ; from
the Little Bargate Bridge in Lincoln to Kyme Eau, by the high
ground of Lincoln, Canwick and Washingborough, the Car Dyke,
Thorpe Tilney and North Kyme Fen on the south ; and from the
Witham to the high grounds of Lincoln Common by a line drawn
at all places parallel within twenty yards from the east side of
Sincil Dyke on the west ; and from the River Witham to North
Kyme Fen by Kyme Eau and South Kyme on the east.
Eighteen Commissioners are elected, one by each of the several drainage
parishes and places named. The qualification of an Elector is the
ownership of land of the yearly value of £5, and farmers at rack
rents of £50, paying drainage rates, are also qualified. The election
is directed to be held at the parish church, or other usual place where
public business is transacted, on the first Tuesday in April, once every
three years. The District Commissioners so elected are to meet on
the third Tuesday in April, and elect seven Commissioners to
represent them on the Witham General Drainage Commission.
If no election of District or General Commissioners is held, the old
Commissioners remain in office.
Three parishes and seven dales in this district pay 2/6 an acre,
permanent tax to the Witham Drainage ; 3/- under the Act of 1865,
terminable in 1900, and 2/- under the Act of 1881, terminable in
1917 ; Eight parishes 2/- permanent tax, and 2/6 and 2/- terminable ;
Three parishes and two dales 1/6 permanent, and 2/- and 2/- terminable.
The Dales. — When the first Enclosure Acts were applied for,
owing to a fear that if the embankments were placed near the
channel of the river the liability to floods would be increased, the 37 Geo. m, c 77
space lying between the Dales Head Dyke and the river, about a Fis- 7-
mile in width, was left to form a ' wash,' and this screed called ' the
Dales ' was overflowed about nine months in the year. Several
windmills from the newly enclosed lands threw their water into
this Wash. In the year 1797 an Act was obtained, and this screed,
containing 2,800 acres, was embanked. John Hudson of West
Ashby was appointed Commissioner. By this Act the embankment
was directed to be commenced at the north-east side of Billinghay
Skirth, and to run parallel to the Witham to the north-east side of
Blankney parish bank, and was to be 6ft, wide at the top with 40ft.

THE DALES
INCLOSURE ACT.

1 84

INCLOSURE ACT.
7 and 8 Geo. iv,
c. 49, 1826.
10 Geo. iv, c. 49,
1828.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

Local Taxation
Returns. 1892-3.

PUMPING ENGINE.

INCLOSURE ACT.
5 Geo. iii, c, 74,
1765.

14 Geo. iii, 1774.

base ; thence it was to continue along the north-west side of
Blankney Fen to the then existing bank, at the north-east corner of
Blankney Fen. The side banks of Martin, Timberland Thorpe,
and Walcot Fens were to be extended to join the bank near the
Witham. The Blankney engine was to be removed, and be placed
in Martin Fen. Power was given in the Act to appoint officers, to
cleanse out the ditches and maintain and repair the banks, and to
fence, in default of the Owners doing the same. The award was to be
deposited in the chest in Timberland Church, and to be open for
inspection on payment of a fee of one shilling. The Trustees were
to meet every year on the second Tuesday in May, to lay acre rates
for expenses and salary of officers. Persons convicted of destroying
works were to be deemed guilty of felony.
Washingborough and Heighington Fens. — These Fens have
an area of 1,800 acres, and are bounded on the north-east by the
South Delph, on the south-west by the Car Dyke, and on the south
east by Branston Delph.
In 1826 an Act was obtained for enclosing, embanking and
draining the fens and low lands in the parish of Washingborough
and the township of Heighington ; an amending Act being obtained
two years later.
The Commission, as appointed by the Act, consists of the
Lord of the Manor, the Rector and two Members elected by pro
prietors of 30 acres, or tenants of ioo acres, in Washingborough, and
two by those in Heighington. Their duties are to maintain the
banks, drains and works. No new work can be undertaken without
the special consent of the Proprietors. No maximum rate of taxa
tion is fixed by the Act.
The average rate levied is about i/ii per acre. According to
the last Government Return of Taxation (1892^3) the rates produce
£200 a year, rents, &c, £124, making a total income of £325. The
cost of maintaining works is £266, of management, &c. £68 ; total
£344. For the previous year the receipts and expenditure were
rather less. There is no outstanding loan.
The engine for draining the fen is of 18 H.P., and situated
about a mile below the Five- Mile House Station. It discharges into
the South Delph.
The Banks next the Witham are composed principally of peat,
and are very leaky. During a flood in October, 1880, Heighington
Bank was broken, and the fen flooded.
Nocton, Potterhanworth and Branston. — The common
fen in the parish of Branston was enclosed under an Act obtained
in 1765. In 1774 an Act was obtained for enclosing the waste land and
fens in the parish of Potterhanworth, and giving power to erec}
banks, engines and sluices,

1 85
In I78g an Act was obtained for embanking the enclosed fen 29 Geo. iii, c. 32,
land in the parishes of Nocton, Potterhanworth and Branston, con- . 17„9' .
. . . '2 aid 3 Will, iv,
taming 5,850 acres. This Act was subsequently amended. <=. 96.
The preamble of the Act states that the fens and lowlands in inclosure act,
these parishes " were frequently overflowed and annoyed with water,
but if embanked and drained would be considerably improved, to the
great advantage of all parties interested therein, and to the benefit
of the public." John Hudson of Kenwick Thorpe, and John
Parkinson of Asgarby, were appointed Commissioners for carrying
out the works, and they were authorised to construct a bank from
the lower bank of the Car Dyke, near the south-west corner of
Nocton Fen, along the south-east side to the Witham, and then
running parallel with the Witham, but at a distance of two furlongs
from it, through the the fens of Nocton, Potterhanworth and
Branston, and along the north-west of Branston Fen to the Car
Dyke ; the top of these banks was to be 6ft., and the base 40ft. for
the side banks, and of those near the Witham 50ft. The Car Dyke
was to be enlarged and the east bank raised. Delphs were to be
cut on the outer sides of the banks near Branston and Washing
borough, having 20ft. top, 10ft. bottom, and 5ft. in depth. The
Commissioners were empowered to erect and maintain engines
and other works necessary for the drainage. A stanch was to be
put in the lower banks of the Car Dyke for the purpose of preserving
the water issuing from the beck near Nocton Road for taking the
same into the fens by means of a tunnel. The Commissioners were
also authorised to put in tunnels, not exceeding 12m. in width and
7in. in depth, under the bank from the Witham. For paying for
the works, power was given to raise £10,000, or by special consent
of the Proprietors a further sum. To meet the charges, a tax of
50/- an acre was to be levied on the Owners of the land, and by
special consent a further tax of 10/-.
When the works were completed, the duties of the Commis
sioners were to cease, and three Trustees were to be appointed to
take charge of the works, and levy the rates, at a meeting of
Proprietors of not less than 50 acres, to be held at the Rein Deer
Inn, Lincoln, after notice given on the church doors. The Commis
sioners so selected were to remain in office till death or resignation.
The annual taxes were not to exceed one shilling an acre, with
sixpence additional by consent of the Owners. Persons convicted
of maliciously or wilfully destroying the works were to be guilty of
felony. The award is dated nth January, I7g3-
Under the powers of the Witham Act of 1812 the South Delph branston
was cut through this fen, severing a portion, which is now called
Branston Island. A bank was made on the sides of the south Delph sou™„,^LPH
with the material excavated from it. These banks were maintained
by the Navigation Proprietors, and subsequently by the Great

BANKS.

MACHINERY.

1 86
Northern Railway. In 1858 the bank on the west side was repaired
jointly by the Railway Company and the Branston Trustees, being
puddled in the centre and raised from one to three feet.
In the spring of 1862 the bank of the South Delph gave way,
causing a breach 156 feet long, and the fen was flooded. An action
was brought against the Great Northern Railway Company, as
Owners of the navigation, and a verdict obtained by the plaintiff. It
is unncessary to refer further to this as the subject has already been
dealt with in the Chapter on ' The Witham.'
pumping Up to about the year 1832, when the amending Act was ob
tained, giving the Commissioners further powers of taxation, a wind
engine had been employed to work the scoop wheel for lifting the
water off the fen. This being found inadequate it was determined
that the wind engine should be replaced by a steam engine. The
Witham Commissioners applied for an injunction to restrain the use
of steam, on the ground that a greater quantity of water would be
thrown into the river, and with greater velocity, to the injury of the
banks. The application, however, was not granted.
The pumping engine is 40 H.P. ; the wheel is 3ft. wide, with
scoops 6ft. long. The area drained by the engine is 5,600 acres.
In March, 1889, a breach occurred in the bank of the
river Witham, on the east side of Branston Island, and this part of
the fen was flooded to a depth of from 4ft. to 5ft. The breach was
repaired by the Great Northern Railway Company. An action was
brought against them for the damage done, but they consented to a
verdict before the case came to trial, and the amount of damage was
settled by arbitration. The banks next the river are composed
almost entirely of peat.
In 1883 a new engine was erected for the drainage of Branston
Island, at a cost of about £600, by Messrs. Tuxford and Sons. This
engine is of 16H.P., and drives a centrifugal pump, 2oin. in
diameter. The lift is 10ft. The area drained is about 230 acres.
The average rate laid has been 2s. an acre.
rates and The income from taxation is about £420, and from rents and
expenditure. sunciries £"53 . total ^473_ The cost of maintenance of works
Ketarns,"^1! *s about £360, management, &c, £114 ; total £474. In the
previous year works cost £231 more, and the other items were about
the same. There is not any outstanding loan.
Dunston and Metheringham Fen. — Contains about 3,400
acres.
.nclosure act. . In J789 an Act was obtained for draining and inclosing the
29 Geo. iii, *. 69, inclosed commons, fens and ings in these parishes. Three Com-
I78o. • • , i r .
missioners were appointed for carrying out the work ; and it was
directed that the private roads set out were to be repaired by the
Owners of the enclosed lands ; three acres were to be set apart for
obtaining materials for the repairs of the roads ; the herbage of the

Fold out

i87

banks was to be let ; and the officers of the Trust were given power
to cleanse out ditches in case of the owners neglecting to do so.
The Commissioners were empowered to borrow £7,000 for embank
ing. Three Trustees were to be chosen at the end of three years by
the votes of Proprietors of 50 acres, for supporting the works. The
Trustees were authorised to lay a rate of is. an acre, and a further
shilling an acre may be raised by consent of the Owners ; and 10s.
more in case of accident.
The engine for draining this fen is situated about two miles
from the Witham, by the side of Metheringham Delph, into which
the water is discharged. It is of 20H-P. and drives a scoop wheel.
The highest lift is ten feet. The area drained by the engine is
3,400 acres. The average annual cost of maintenance, including
coal and wages, is £350.
The bank next the river is composed of peat and sand, which
allows of a considerable amount of percolation of water in
floods. The amount raised by taxation in 1892-3 was £285. Other
sources produced £126, total £411. The maintenance of works
cost £367, management, &c, £172, total £539. The items in the
previous year were about the same. There is not any outstanding
loan. Blankney, Linwood and Martin. — Arthur Young, in his
Survey of Lincolnshire, made in i7gg, speaking of Blankney Fen,
says, " Mr. Chaplin had 300 acres of fen by the side of the River
Witham, which were never let for more than £10 a year. Now he
could let it at n/- or 12/- an acre, probably more. This has been
effected by a moderate embankment and the erection of a wind
mill for throwing out the superfluous water. This drainage engine
cost £1,000 erecting. The sails go seventy rounds, and it raises
60 tons of water every minute, when in full work. It raises water
4ft. Two men are necessary in winter, working night and day,
at 10/6 each a week, with coals for a fire ; add the expense of
repairs, grease, and all together will amount to 2 per cent on the
£1,000 first cost. It drains i,goo acres. Two years ago the floods
over-topped the banks, and it cleared the water out so quickly that
not a single year was lost.'
A thousand acres of land in this district were let by auction
at Horncastle, at the end of the last century before the Inclosure,
for £10 an acre.
In 1787 an Act was passed for inclosing the lowlands and
common fens in the Hamlet of Martin, and in the Parish of
Blankney, and for draining these lands.
In 1832 a second Act was obtained for more effectually draining
the lands in Blankney Fen, Blankney Dales, Linwood Fen,
Linwood Dales and Martin Fen.

DRAINAGE ENGINE.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.
Local Taxation
Returns, 1892-3.

CONDITION of
THE FEN IN 1TSS.

Voting's
Agriculture of
Lincolnshire.

WIND ENGINE.

INCLOSURE ACT.
27 Geo. iii, c. 66.
1787.
2 and 3 Will, iv,
c. 94, 1832.

The district is under the charge of three Commissioners elected
by the Proprietors, whose duties are to maintain the works, consist
ing of the Timberland Delph, North Bank, Metheringham Delph,
South Bank, Engine Drains, and the Engine.
The engine is situated on Martin Delph, about half-a-mile from
the Witham, and is of 30H.P.
There is no limit to the amount of taxation. The rate averages
about 2s. an acre. The amount raised by taxation (1892-3) was
£393, special rates paid by owners £386, from other sources £143 ;
Returns, 1892-3. total £921. The expenses of maintaining the works £435, interest
on loan and re-payment of capital, £3g5, management, &c, £156,
total ; £984. The amount of loan then outstanding was £2,100,
which is being gradually paid off at the rate of £300 a year.
Timberland and Timberland Thorpe Fens. — The Act for

DRAINACE ENGINE.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

INCLOSURE ACTS.

25 Geo. m, c: 14. Inclosure of these fens was obtained in 1785, and a further Act for
2 and 3 vict o *he more effectual drainage of the fen and dales of Timberland and
10, 1839. Timberland Thorpe was obtained in 1839. The district is stated in
the Act to contain 2,500 acres, being bounded by Martin Fen on
the north, by the Car Dyke on the West, Walcot Fen on the south,
and the Dales Head Dyke on the east. The Commissioners ap
pointed to carry out the embanking and draining were John Hudson "
of Kenwick Thorpe, and John Dyson of Bawtry. They were
authorised to enclose the low lands with a bank commencing at the
north-east corner of the Walcot and Billinghay Bank, continuing
along the east side of the Dales Head Dyke, and thence along the
north side of the fen to the Car Dyke. The bank was to be 50ft.
broad at the base, 6ft. at the top and 10ft. high. Power was given
to construct the necessary drains, engines, bridges, sluices and other
works. The Commissioners were authorised to let the herbage on
the banks publicly, for periods not exceeding three years ; the
officers to have power to cleanse out all ditches, in default of the
owners doing so when requested. The award when made was to
be enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace, and to be deposited in a
chest kept in the parish church at Timberland. A sum not exceed
ing £4,000. was to be borrowed for carrying out the works on the
security of the rates. Special rates were authorised to be levied for
paying interest, and for providing for accidents or contingencies.
Persons destroying works were to be deemed guilty of felony.
When the work was completed three Trustees were to be
chosen at a meeting held in the vestry of the church, on a Friday,
after three weeks notice placed on the church doors, every Owner
of ten acres of land or more to have a vote. Such Trustees to
remain in office for three years, and to have charge of all the works,
and power to levy taxes. The taxes were to be laid annually at a meet
ing to be held on the first Friday in April, at the Blacksmith's
Arms, or other convenient house. The tax is not to exceed eighteen-

MACHINERY.

189
pence an acre, unless a larger tax, not exceeding two shillings, be
consented to by the Owners. The Trustees have power to appoint
and pay a Collector, Clerk, and other Officers.
This Act contemplated the raising of the water by wind mills, pumping
as there is a clause forbidding the erection of any buildings near the
engines. The wind engine was superseded in 1839 by a 30 N.H.P.
low pressure beam engine, working a scoop wheel 26ft. 6in. in
diameter. This was replaced in 1881 by a 50 N.H.P. high pressure,
condensing beam engine, working a centrifugal pump, having a
vertical fan placed under water, 4ft. in diameter, erected by Messrs.
Tuxford and Sons. The discharge pipe was 14m. in diameter. The
engine has a 36m. cylinder, with 6ft. stroke, and is capable of
working up to 150 I. H.P. The pump makes about 10 revolutions
to one of the engine. The fly wheel is 24ft. in diameter and weighs
13 tons. The chimney is 106ft. high. The maximum lift of the
water, previous to the improvement at the Grand Sluice and the
Outfall was 14ft. ioin. and the average lift lift. 6in. ; recently the
average has been reduced to 8ft. 6in. The outlet sill is about 6ft.
below the level of the lowest land. The engine drains about 2,850
acres under ordinary circumstances, but in high floods the drainage
extends over about 7,000 acres. The pump is calculated to lift 120
tons of water lift, high per minute, when running at 180 revolutions.
The banks are composed of a mixture of peat and clay, and
permit of a considerable amount of leakage in floods.
The average annual cost of working the engine and keeping the
drains clean, &c, taking the year 1881-3, was
For coal ... ... ... ... ... 372
For wages, cleansing drains, and all other expenses... 262
Interest on loan ... ... ... ... 170

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

£804

The annual rate laid has averaged about 4s. 6d. an acre. The
amount raised by rates in 1893 was £597 and from other sources
£65. For the year 1892-3, the expenses amounted to £684. The
amount of the outstanding loan at that date was £1,571, which is
being paid off by annual instalments of £253.
Billinghay South District. — The Act for enclosing and inclosure act.
draining this fen was obtained in 1777. The area of the fen was J7 Geoyn, c 7°.
set out in the Act as 4,526 acres. It is bounded by Timberland Fen
on the north west ; the Car Dyke and North Kyme Fen on the
west ; Drury Dyke and Kyme Eau on the south and the Witham
and Dales Head Dyke on the east. The Commissioners for
enclosing were Daniel Douglas of Falkingham, William Jepson of
Lincoln, and John Hudson of Louth. They were directed to set
out public roads 40ft. wide, which were to be deemed highways.

tgo
Six acres of land were to be allotted for getting materials for making
and repairing the roads. The herbage on the roads and on the
land set apart for the roads was directed to be let by the Surveyor
of Highways. The Commissioners were directed to embank the
fen on the side next to Timberland Fen, North Kyme Fen and the
Dales Head Dyke. They were empowered to divert the drain
which conveyed the water from ' Tomkins' Engine,' belonging to
Earl Fitzwilliam, across Billinghay Dales to the Twenty-Foot
Drain and to carry it to Drury Dyke by a new drain having 6ft.
bottom and 12ft. top, placing stop doors at the end. Power was
given to the Officers of the Trust to scour out the dykes if the
owners should neglect to do so. The Award was to be enrolled and
lodged in the chest at the parish church at Billinghay. The works
were to be paid for by an equal acre tax not exceeding forty shillings
an acre, or ten shillings additional by consent. Power was also given
to borrow £6,000 to enable the works to be carried on pending the
allotting of the land. Persons found destroying works wilfully were
to be deemed guilty of felony.
After the Commissioners had completed the works and made
their award, three Trustees were to be appointed for maintaining the
works and collecting the rates, such Trustees to continue in office
for three'years. The Trustees were to be elected every three years, at
the vestry of the parish church, on Friday, after three weeks' notice
given in the parish church, every owner of 50 acres having a vote.
The Trustees were to meet on the first Tuesday in April in every
year at the Cross Keys, Billinghay, or at some other public house in
the parish, to lay a rate not exceeding one shilling an acre, or, by
consent of the Owners, eighteen pence. The Trustees were autho
rised to appoint a Collector, a Clerk and an Officer for the manage
ment of the engine, banks and drains.
and 4 vict, t. in 1840 a second Act was obtained for the more effectual drain-
go, 1040. '
age of Billinghay Fen, Billinghay Dales and Walcot Fen, Walcot
Dales and North Kyme East Fen and Ings.
After the enclosure, Billinghay Dales was drained by a wind
engine. This was replaced in 1841 by a 30 H.P. beam engine
erected at Chapel Hill. The scoop wheel is 28ft. in diameter and 2ft.
3in. wide. The engine has a 2ft. 4m. cylinder and 6ft. 6in. stroke,
steam being supplied at a boiler pressure of 25 lbs. The highest lift
is 11ft. The cost of the engine and wheel was £3,600. The area
drained by the engine is about 4,500 acres.
According to the Government Taxation Return for 1892-3, the
amount produced by taxation was £519 and from other sources £75,
making a total of £597. Maintenance of works cost £205, interest
and repayment of loan £196, management £91, total £488.
The amount of loan then outstanding was £843 which was being
paid off at the rate of £1 50 a year. The rate varies from 2/6 to 4/- in the £.

BILLINGHAY
DALES PUMPING
MACHINERY.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

ijgi

Billinghay North Fen and Walcot Dales, containing
3,150 acres, are drained by a 25 N.H.P. engine erected in 1864,
driving a scoop wheel 31ft. in diameter and 2ft. wide, the bottom of
the wheel being 6ft. below the surface of the ground. The highest
lift is 13ft. and the average, previous to the outfall improvement,
was gft. The chimney is 90ft high. The cost of the engine and
wheel was about £2,500.
The average expenses for the three years, 1881-3, were as
follows ; —

Coal 
Wages, cleansing drain and all other expenses
Interest ...

£
270 246 350

s. o
o o

£866 o o
In January, 1877, during a high flood in the Witham, the bank
near to the Skirth gave way and inundated 2,390 acres of land.
The loss was estimated at £20,000.
The rate laid annually on Billinghay Fen, Walcot Fen, and
Walcot Dales, amounts to about 4/6 an acre. From the Government
Taxation Return for 1892-3, the rate is given as producing £475,
other receipts £166; total £641. The expenses of maintenance
were £220, interest and instalment of loan repaid £193, management
£85, other charges £39; total £537. The amount of loan out
standing was then £844, which was being paid off at the rate
of £148 a year.
The Second District. — This district extends on the south
of the river Witham, from Kyme Eau to Boston, and contains
19,101 acres. It returns six Commissioners to the Witham
Drainage Board. It pays taxes amounting to 1/- per acre to the
Witham Trust, in return for the benefit received from the embanking
and improvement of the river. This district, known as Holland
Fen, forms part of the Black Sluice level, it drains into the
South Forty Foot, and will therefore be described more fully in
Chapter VII.
The Third District. — This district lies on the north side of
the River Witham, and comprises the low lands bordering on the
river, from near Lincoln to the Bane, and contains 4,621 acres. It
is described in the Act of 1762 as comprising the low lands in
Monks, Greetwell, Willingham, Fiskerton, Barlings, Stainfield,
Bardney, Southrey, Tupholm, Bucknall, Horsington, Stixwould,
Swinesike, Woodhall, Thornton, Kirkstead, Tattershall Thorpe,
and Tattershall, and as being bounded as follows, viz., by the high
lands of the several places named on the north, the River Witham
on the south, the River Bane on the east, and Lincoln on the west.
Each of the parishes or places in the district elects one Commis
sioner, and the District Commissioners elect five General Commis-

BILLINQHAY
NORTH FEN AND
WALCOT DALES
PUMPING
MACHINERY.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

BREACH OF BANK.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

BOUNDARY.

Fig. 10, Chap. 7.

BOUNDARY.

Fig 7.

COMMISSIONERS.

DRAINAGE

COMMISSIONERS.

192
sioners. The qualification and means of election in each case are
the same as in the First District.
The district is divided into the following Drainage Levels, each
lev'e"ls" of which has obtained separate Acts of Parliament ; Greetwell ;
Stainfield, Barlings and Fiskerton ; Bardney, Southrey and Stix-
would ; and Tattershall.
Greetwell Drainage District. — The Act constituting this
1861. ' ' District was obtained in 1861. It includes the low lands or fens in
Cherry Willingham, Barlings and Fiskerton.
The district is managed by five Commissioners, each of whom
to be qualified must be Owner, either in his own right or in that of his
wife, of not less that 20 acres of land rated for the purposes of the
Act ; or be Occupier of 40 acres so rated.
An annual meeting is directed by the Act to be held at the
Saracen's Head, Lincoln, or other convenient place in the city, on the
5th of July, except when this occurs on Sunday, and then on the
following day.
The Commissioners are elected for three years, but are eligible
for re-election, and continue in office until their successors are
appointed. Every Owner of land has one vote in the election of
Commissioners for every 20 acres of land, and each Occupier one
vote for every 40 acres.
The Commissioners may purchase land in the District, not ex
ceeding 20 acres, and execute and maintain works, including pumping
engines and machinery. They have to pay to the Great Northern
Railway Company £5 a year for the extra expense incurred in
maintaining the bank of the Witham, due to the larger volume of
water which the pumping operations caused to flow into the river.
The maintenance of the North Delph, extending from near Lincoln
to Horsley Deeps, a distance of 9 miles, was transferred from the
Company to the Commissioners.
The Act provides that all Owners and Occupiers of land in the
district shall maintain and scour out the ditches adjoining or
belonging to their land ; or if they neglect to do so, the work is to
be done by the Commissioners at the expense of the owners or
occupiers in default. The Commissioners have power to go
over any land in the district to destroy moles or other
vermin. As soon as the drainage works were completed, the Act
directed that a Valuer should be appointed to estimate the probable
improvement in annual value from the works executed, and, if he
thought it desirable, to divide the District into Levels, and the rates
levied were to bear such proportion to one another as the Valuer
should determine.
The maximum rate which the Commissioners may lay must not
exceed 7/- an acre. There is a penalty of ten per cent on the

DITCHES.

TAXATION LEVELS.

193

amount of the rate if it be not paid at the proper time. The
Commissioners have power to borrow ^ to.ooo.
The land was formerly drained by a wind engine. In iS6^ a
pumping station was erected at the junction of the old river with
the South Delph, near Grubb Hill, consisting of a scoop wheel 31ft.
in diameter and aft. 4m. wide, the scoop having a depth of 5ft.
This wheel is driven by a horizontal engine of 30 H.P.. having a
aain. cylinder with 3ft. 6in. stroke, the steam bang supplied from
the boiler at a pressure of txdbs. The engine makes 30 revolutions a
minute, and the wheel 6f revolutions. The lift in times of flood is
raft, and averages gfft. The coal consumption is about 150 tons a
year. The cost of erecting the wheel and engine was £040.
In 1S93 an auxiliary plan: was put down by Messrs. Robey jt
Co., consisting of two 2iin. centrifugal pumps driven by a hori
zontal engine of 50 E.H.P.. and capable of delivering 90 tons a
minute in floods, or 40 tons from a level about 3ft. lower than that
reached bv the scoop wheel. The cost of this was £644.
The area of land drained is about 1.500 acres, and there is also
a great deal of high land water which finds its way into the district
drains, there being no catchwater drain. There is also a great deal
of soakage through the banks of the Witham.
The rates formerly were -'- an acre for genera^ purposes, and
S - for repayment of money borrowed and interest. This is
terminable in 1002. The rates now are 5 and 3 6 respec
tively. The rate produces £315. and the expenses of maintenance of
-works £141 9s. 6d., engine and scoop wheel £5$ 19s. jd., manage
ment £So : total A So i-s.
There is also an engine at Stainhe'd of 16 H.P. which is
situated near Barlings" Lock, and pumps into the old river near
Short's Ferry. This engine belongs to and is maintained by the
Proprietors of the land.
Bardxey District. — In 1S45 an Act was obtained for diam
ine and embanking the low fen land lying- in the parishes of Bardney.
Southrev. Tupholme. Bucknall. Hcrsington. SdxwouZd. Edlingtan
and Thimbleby, \rhich, it was stated in the preamble of the Act,
had been for many years past liable to inundation and thereby
injured and rendered to a great degree unprohtable to the Owners
an j Occupiers.
The area of land in the different parishes is thus set out in the
Act. Acres.

puanira
MACHINERY.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

6 and 7 Viet-, c

Bardney Southrev

290

194
Acres.
Tupholme  210
Bucknall  460
Horsington  320
Stixwould  600
Edlington   7°
Thimbleby  130

2,720

The Commissioners for draining the land and afterwards main
taining the works were to consist of the Lords and Ladies of the
several manors of Bardney, Tupholme and Stixwould, or their
agents appointed in writing. Each Commissioner before acting has
to make a declaration in the form given in the Act, subject to a
penalty of £50 for acting without having done so. It is directed
that an annual meeting shall be held, at Lincoln, on the first
Tuesday in July, — altered by the Act of 1856 to June — between the
hours of 10 and 12 at noon. Two Commissioners form a quorum.
The Chairman has a casting vote at all meetings. No order given is
to be revoked, except at a special meeting, of which 14 days' notice
must be given, stating the business to be done. John Wignall
Leather of Leeds, was appointed, by the Act, the Engineer to carry
out the works authorized by the Act. A Treasurer, Clerk, and
Collector of Taxes were to be appointed, the two former offices being
separate. Any officer taking any fee or reward on account of any
thing done by virtue of his office, or in relation to the functions of
the Commissioners, other than the remuneration allowed by the
Commissioners, is liable to a penalty of £50. All owners of land
subject to taxation are entitled to attend the annual meeting, when a
statement of accounts, made up to the previous April is to be laid
before them, and such information and explanation respecting the
proceedings of the Commissioners in the execution of the Act as shall
be required. The Statement of Account after being certified and
signed, is to remain with the Clerk, and be open to inspection, and
a copy forwarded to the Clerk of the Peace for the parts of Lindsey,
and thereafter be open to inspection on payment of one shilling. The
Commissioners were authorised to borrow £25,000, and to lay the
taxes necessary to pay the interest on the same and for maintaining
the works ; also to make bye-laws for regulating the carrying out
of their business and for the government of their officers.
The works, which by the Act the Commissioners were authorised
to carry out, were the construction of one or more mills or engines,
with all proper steam apparatus, machinery, houses and erections ;
to enlarge, or divert the existing sluices, banks, bridges or drains,
and make such new works as may be necessary, and to support and
maintain the same, and to have full power and control over them.

195
It was directed that the occupiers of lands should maintain all drove-
ways and division dykes and tunnels adjoining their lands, and put
down, when required, new tunnels under their gateways ; subject
to a penalty of one shilling foi every rod neglected to be roaded,
cleansed or repaired, after 2 1 days' notice given in writing ; and be
liable to have the work done by the Commissioners at the expense
of the defaulter. Any person interfering with the tunnels and
sluices next the river or outfalls, except the authorised officer, is
liable to a penalty of £10.
In the event of large floods, or any accident happening to the
sea doors of the River Witham, or the bursting of any of the banks
of the river or tributary streams under the control of the General
Commissioners, after notice in writing served on the officer in charge,
the engine is to cease working for a period not exceeding 72 hours,
or for a longer period by order of a Committee consisting of two
General Commissioners and one Commissioner acting under this Act,
subject to a penalty of £20 if the officer continue working the engine
after notice given. It was also provided that a gauge should be fixed
near where the engine throws the water into the Witham, and that
on it should be marked the height of the water in the river at
which the engine should cease working. The height was fixed
by Mr. Cubitt, by an award dated 28th June, 1844, at 14ft.
6in. The taxes levied under the Act are to be paid by the Occupiers
and deducted from their rents. In case of default of payment after
notice given, the occupier is liable to a penalty of 3/4 in the £, and
to have the same recovered by distress. The herbage on the banks
and forelands may be let for 3 years to the best bidder. The Com
missioners are authorised to destroy moles and other vermin found
about the lands, and to cut thistles and weeds on the banks, droves,
or waste lands. Persons are subject to a penalty of £20 for injur
ing the works ; of £50 for placing tunnels under any of the banks ;
of £10 for placing nets, grigs or other instrument for catching fish or
for other purposes across the drains, or in any way obstructing the
flow of the water. It is also forbidden to make any ditch above 2ft.
in width or depth, within 40ft. from the centre of any of the banks ;
or to plant any tree, or place any stack, or erect any building within
300 yards from any mill or engine used for the drainage ; or to
make any watering place for cattle in the drains.
In 1856 an amended Act was obtained which related chiefly to ,9 Vict., i856.
the borrowing powers, it being enacted that these should not
remain in force longer than 25 years after the passing of the Act,
within which period money raised on loan was to be repaid. Power
was also given to receive money on terminable annuities for a
period not exceeding 15 years. By the previous Act the amount of
rate was unlimited, but by this Act the rate to defray the working

ig6

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

BREACH OF
BANK,

DRAINAGE ENGINE.

expenses of the drainage and embankment is not in any one year to
exceed the amount of 10/- an acre.
The rates levied have varied from 5/- to 10/- an acre. In
recent years the lower sum has been found sufficient.
A rate of 5/- produces £652. The payments for the year ending
April, 1893, were as follows : Labour, &c, on drains and banks
and sluices £319, engine driver £63, coal £235, repairs to
engine £22, management £125 ; total £764. There is no out
standing loan.
In January, 1869, during a very high flood in the Witham, the
bank of this district broke and inundated 1,500 acres of land, 5ft.
deep. In February, 1883, there was again a breach in the bank at
Southrey. The drainage engine was erected in 1846, at cost of £3,545.
It is a low pressure condensing beam engine of 30 N.H.P., having a
32m. cylinder and 6ft. stroke. The water is lifted by a scoop wheel
28ft. in diameter, 2ft. 4m. wide, having 40 scoops, 5ft. 6in. long,
making 6 revolutions a minute to 18 of the engine. The average
lift of the water is 4ft. The boiler consumes about 3^ tons of coal
in 24 hours, the average annual consumption being about 200 tons.
The number of acres of low land paying drainage rates is 2,610,
but the quantity drained is about double this, as a large area of
high land outside the district drains down to the engine.
Kirkstead. — About 700 acres of land in this parish are
drained by steam-power. The engine, when not used for driving
the scoop wheel, is employed in driving the machinery of a flour
mill, which is placed between the engine and the wheel.
Tattershall. — This district was inclosed and drained under
36 Geo. Hi, 1796. the power of an Act passed in 1796, in which the land reclaimed is
described as marsh, meadow and low grounds in Tattershall and
Tattershall Thorpe, abutting on the river Witham, and as being
capable of improvement by embanking and draining.
The Award is dated gth November, I7g8.
John Hudson of Ashby Thorpe, George Bourne of Hough and
Samuel Turner of Busslingthorpe, were appointed ^Commissioners,
and were empowered to maintain, heighten and improve any exist
ing banks and drains, or make and maintain new ones, and any
culverts, bridges, engines, &c, and to set out roads, 40ft. wide.
Gotes were not to be put across the roads, nor any trees to be planted
within 50 yards. Four acres were to be allotted for the repair of
the roads. The Award after enrolment was to be kept by some
person appointed by the Lord of the Manor of Tattershall, and be
open to inspection by any person interested, on payment of one
shilling, and copies to be supplied at the rate of twopence for every
72 words. The Commissioners were to be allowed £2 2s. per day
for their services, including expenses.

DRAINAGE ACT.

RATTB AND
EXPENDITURE.

197
In case of any of the Commissioners dying, or refusing to act,
the Lord of the Manor had power to appoint a successor to one of
the Commissioners, the majority of the Landowners to one, and the
Rector of the parish to one ; or, failing such appointment by them, the
surviving Commissioners were given power to appoint to the
vacancy. Part of the moor, being of a 'lingy,' and very bad quality,
and not worth the expense of dividing and inclosing, was to remain a
common pasture, and the Commissioners were to specify the number
of beasts, horses, sheep, &c, each person should put on, and at
what seasons of the year.
The low land was formerly drained by a wind engine and scoop VncTn*"
wheel. The wind engine has been replaced by a steam engine,
situated between Kirkstead and Tattershall. It was erected in 1855
and raises the water from 2,000 to 3,000 acres, besides some high
land water. It is a low pressure beam engine. The scoop wheel is
24ft. in diameter, ift. 3-^in. wide, and has 36 floats. The estimated
weight of the wheel, shaft and gearing is 7 tons.
There is no limit to the amount of the rate which can be laid.
The annual average is about 4s. an acre.
The amount given in the Government Taxation Returns, as
raised by rate in 1892-3 is £129, cost of maintenance of works £73,
and of management £50; total £123. There is no outstanding
loan. Fourth District. Under the Act of 1762, the Fourth District OCSOB„riON 0F
is described as comprising the low lands in Coningsby, Mareham, T"' DlaT"ICT-
Hundlehouse, Revesby, Middleham, Moorhouse, Hermitage, New- 1762'
holme, Westhouse, Langrike, Langworth, Swinecote, Hagnaby,
Stickney, Wildmore Fen and the West Fen ; and as bounded by
the old River Witham and Tattershall Bane on the west ; by the
high grounds of Coningsby, the grounds of Tumby, the high grounds
of Mareham and Revesby, the grounds of East Kirkby, and the
high grounds of Hagnaby on the north ; by the high grounds of
Stickney and grounds of Sibsey on the east ; by grounds in the
parish of Skirbeck and Boston East, and the site of the ancient River
Witham on the south. Each parish or place named was entitled to
elect a District Commissioner, and these to elect eight Represen
tatives on the Witham General Trust. The mode of election and
the qualification were the same as for the First District. The
District Commissioners were to be elected on the first Tuesday in
April, every third year, and to meet at the White Hart in Spilsby,
to elect the General Commissioners, on the third Tuesday in April,
every third year. The place of meeting was altered, by the Act of 50 and 51 vict., u.
1887, to the Witham Office, Boston. I04, l887'
The East Fen and the low lands in Wrangle were added to the addition of the
district by the Act of 1 80 1. In 1818 the low lands in Steeping, ".ao. «e»t..°
Thorpe, Irby, Firsby, Bratoft, Croft and Wainfleet, known as 41 Gea hu I34

ELECTION OF
>MMISSIONERS.

BOUNDARIES.

198
58 Geo. iii, 1818. ' the 5,000 Acres,' were added. The number of Commissioners
remains the same as originally fixed.
The northern boundary of the district extends in an eastward
direction from Dogdyke Ferry on the River Witham, along the
Fig' 9- Catchwater Drain, past Revesby, to Hagnaby Corner, where the
West Fen is divided from the East Fen by a narrow strip of high
land, about half a mile wide and seven miles long, in which are
situated the villages of Stickford, Stickney and Sibsey. Passing
round this high land, the boundary continues along the Eastern
Catchwater, past Toynton and Halton Fen, to Halton Holgate, and
along the edge of the higher ground, past Great Steeping, Firsby
and Bratoft. The eastern boundary extends past Croft and the
west side of Wainfleet, Friskney, Wrangle Low Grounds and Leake
village, including Leake Common Side, and thence going in an east
erly direction, nearly up to Leverton village. On the south the line
runs westerly past the Ings Bridge, over Hobhole Drain to Hilldyke,
and along the Cowbridge and Frith Bank Drains to Anton's Gowt on
the Witham and thence to Langrick Ferry. The west boundary runs
in an irregular line on the east of the Witham, up to Dogdyke Ferry.
area. The area of this District is given in a report of the Committee
on the Fourth District, made in July, 1861, as 57,200 acres. In
Mr. Welsh's paper on the Lade Bank engines, the total watershed
vlin. Pro. Inst. . . r, r 1 • , ,11
ce., 1865. is given as 82,226 acres, of which 62,226 acres are taxable and
35,000 acres are drained by the pumping engines at Lade Bank.
The total area is divided as follows : Acres-
Wildmoor Fen, high land ... ... 2,g47
lowland  7)7*4 10,661

West Fen, high land ... ... ... 5,473
lowland ... ... ... 11,451

i6,g24
East Fen ... ... ... ... ... ... 2g,833
Five Thousand Acres ... ... ... ... 5,000

VILLAGES-

COMMON RIGHTS.

62,4l8
The only villages situated within the boundary line are those
of Little Steeping, Firsby and Thorpe, and these are in the area
known as ' the 5,000 Acres,' which did not form part of the district till
1818. With the exception of this newly added part of the district
nearly the whole of the land was extra-parochial and consisted of a
vast common, over which the inhabitants of the following surround
ing parishes had rights of pasturage, &c, viz., on the East and
West Fens in the Soke of Bolingbroke :— Sibsey, Stickney, Stick-
ford, West Keal, East Keal, High and Low Toynton, Halton,
Steeping, Thorpe, Spilsby, Hundleby, Raithby, Enderby, Lusby,
Hareby, Asgarby, Miningsby, East Kirkby, Revesby, Hagnaby
and Bolingbroke ; the Holland Towns, Boston, Skirbeck,

ANCIENT
DRAINAGE.

199
Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton and Leake ;
on Wildmore Fen, Haltham, Roughton, Thimbleby, Horn-
castle, Ashby, Low Toynton, High Toynton, Mareham-on-the Hill,
Wood-Enderby, Moorby, Wilksby, Mareham-le-Fen, Coningsby,
Scrivelsby-cum-Dalderby, Tumby, Revesby, Kirkstead, Fishtoft and
Frith Bank.
In summer these fens provided valuable pasturage for the stock condition of
111-1 r • T THE FENS BEFORE
of the farmers who had rights of common in them. In winter, reclamation.
being lower than all the surrounding ground, and no means of
drainage being provided, they became covered with water over the
greater part.
There were a few scattered inhabitants who lived in huts built
on the patches of high ground, and who gained a living by attend
ing to the cattle sent on in the summer ; by rearing geese ; and by
fishing and fowling,' the fens affording vast supplies of both fish and
wild fowl.
From an old parchment plan in the library of Revesby Abbey,
not dated, but probably made during the early part of the 17th
century, it appears that previous to the construction of the Ad
venturers' drains, the drainage of these fens was effected by the
Goodyke Drain, which received Toynton Beck and Silver Pit Drain,
on the north ; by the Old South Lode and Valentine's Drain on the
south ; all of which emptied into Wainfleet Haven. Hilldyke drain
received the water from Hagnaby Beck and from the Sibsey river,
(now Stone Bridge Drain), also from the Barlode Drain and from
the Old Mill Drain, which had the same course as the present Mill
Drain. It emptied into the Witham at New Gote, about a mile
above Boston. The West and Wildmore Fens were drained by
the Langworth, now part of the West Fen Catchwater, which
joined the Wttham at Dogdyke Ferry ; by the Langdyke Drain,
which also emptied into the Witham through Armtree Gote, about
2J miles below Dogdyke ; by Nunham drain and Old Drain, which
emptied at Anton's Gowt.
Steeping River is shown as running about i£ miles north of
Wainfleet, and to have entered the Wash by a separate outfall
from Wainfleet Haven. From Firsby Clough to White Cross
Bridge this river was called ' Fendyke ' and ' Lusdyke ' ; thence
to the sea, (8 miles), ' the Haven.'
Steeping River rises amongst the Hills at Salmonby, and
brings the water from Aswarby, Harrington and Partney. Before
the embankment of the river and the drainage of the fens, seven-
eights of the water is said to have gone on to the low lands in
Steeping, Firsby, Thorpe and Croft, and thence into the East Fen.
These low lands were constantly flooded.
The system of drainage as above described remained in opera
tion till the middle of the 17th century.

STEEPING river.

200
commissions of Tne earliest known records respecting the drainage of these
SEWERS. 1272. r ° "
fens are found in the proceedings in a suit in the reign of Edward
I, concerning the ditches and drains in the neighbourhood of
Wainfleet, when the Jurors found that the custom was such that
these should be cleansed every year, and that every inhabitant of
the towns draining ought to be taxed and assessed according to the
quantity of his land.
Dugdale. 1394. From an Inquisition, taken at Bolingbroke in the reign of
Richard II, it appears that the Goodike Sewer, which extended
through the East Fen into the Eas end, ought then to be sixteen
feet in breadth, betwixt the banks, and in depth eight feet, but that
it was stopped by a weir, and was not four feet deep. The South
Lode Sewer, extending from the Eas end, ought to be sixteen feet
broad, and eight feet deep. Both these sewers were to be cleaned out
by the Farmers of the fishing. The Sewer called the Lyme, beginning
at Steeping Mill and extending to the Clow betwixt Steeping and
Thorpe, was to be repaired by the township of Thorpe; and thence
to the Eas end, (called the Lusdyke,) the banks to be repaired by
the towns of All Hallows and St. Mary's, so that the water running
into the sewers might no way enter the fen. The sewers, from the
Clows of Thorpe to the Eas End, "ought to be sixteen feet broad and
eight feet deep, being obstructed by a wear which the farmers of the
fishing had set up ; and Henry, Earl of Northumberland, of right
ought to repair the same sewer from the Clowes to Southdyke-hirne,
by reason that he had the fishing there, as belonging to his manor at
Thorpe " ; and " the Lords of Bullingbroke and Dalby, or their
farmers, ought to cleanse the said sewer from Southdyke-hirne unto
the Eas end, because they had the fishing there." A fourth sewer
called Theviscrick, beginning in the mosses of Friskney and extend
ing to the Eas end, where the four streams meet, was also obstructed
by a weir for fishing, and ought to be repaired by the town of Frisk
ney ; and the sewer called Eas end should be 40ft. wide by 14ft. deep
to the sea, and be repaired by the Soke of Bolingbroke. It
was also ordered " that a new pair of flood gates should be
made at the damm, twelve feet wide, according to the direction of
skilful persons ; and that all the towns within the Wapentake of
Bolingbroke and Wrangle, Leake, Leverton, Benington, Butterwick,
Freston and Tofte ought, of right, to repair, maintain, open and shut
those flood gates on proper ti mes, on their own costs and charges for
ever, excepting in timber, iron work and also wages of carpenters."
To prevent further disputes as to the repair and management of these
flood gates, a certain sum was to be levied yearly, and placed
in the hands of two men, chosen by the towns in Bolingbroke,
and two by those in Skirbeck, who were to meet at
Wainfleet twice a year, to oversee the flood gates and
sewers.

201
Shortly afterwards a presentment was made in a Court of King's
Bench held at Lincoln, to the effect that the marshes in the East
and West Fens, and land in Leake, Wrangle, Friskney and Wain
fleet were drowned by a great inundation through defects in this flood
gate at Wainfleet " which also was too narrow, so that the water
passing that way could not get to sea ; and that the town of Wain
fleet ought to repair the flood gates, as anciently they had wont to
do." It was also decreed that another flood gate was to be
added near the old one, 18ft. wide, and that this should be paid for
by the same places as in the formsr order. Subsequently a further
presentment was made that the channels of Lusdyke and the Ea
unto Normandeepe (Boston Deeps) should be repaired by the
farmers of the fishing.
In the reign of Henry IV, and subsequently, Commissioners
were appointed to view and repair the banks and sewers between
Boston and Friskney, and " in respect of the great and instant
necessity, were directed to take as many diggers and labourers upon
competent wages, to be employed as they should think requisite." In
the reign of Edward IV, a Commission of Sewers, hefrl at Wrangle,
ordained that the inhabitants of the Soke of Bolingbroke and the Lord
of Dalby, and the King's farmer of fishing at Wainfleet and all others
draining thereby should scour and dyke the Haven of Wainfleet
from the the Ea's End unto the sea, in breadth 22ft. top and 13ft.
bottom, and 3ft. deep ; and that a sufficient gote or clow should be
set up at the outer end of the Haven, for stopping the salt water
from the north part thereof ; and also that an old gote and drain,
called Symond's Gote, extending in length from the deeps of the
East Fen unto the Fen Bank, and from there to the sea, should be
scoured out, and also that one gote should be made at Fen Bank,
and the other at the out end of the Ea.
At a Court held at Sibsey Hall, in 1430, it was presented that
the Abbot of Kirkstead had neglected to repair the banks of the
Witham near the Grange of Langwarthe, so that the river
water flowed into theWest Fen. At a King's Court, held at Boling
broke in 1483, the inhabitants of Boston and Skirbeck were fined a
mark for neglecting to repair New Gote Sewer in Sibsey.
In Queen Elizabeth's reign an order was made as to the cleaning
out of Goodyke, which is described as leading from the Ea's End to
the fen, and as to a new gote to be set in Wainfleet Haven within
' ten falls ' of Thorpe and Wainfleet Sea Gote, and a bank to be made
on the south side of the Haven, from the New Gote, and it was, at
the same time, decreed that the inhabitants of the seven towns of
Holland should be at the charge of the same.
A new gote, likewise, was to be set at the Fendyke Bank to take
in fresh water, and another gote, called Dale's Gote, and a new creek,
30ft. wide, were to be made from the N, ew Gote unto the Old Gote.

202

ATTEMPT TO
DRAIN THE FENS.
1632.
Oldfield's Wainfleet.

Maud Foster,
1568.

NEW CUT TO COW
BRIDGE. 1668.
Thompson's Boston.

THE LEVELTOWNS
AND WAINFLEET
HAVEN. 1S8S.

In 1571 an order was made that the Fendyke Bank — extending
from Wainfleet St. Mary to Deacon's Gap, near Friskney, from
thence to the Fen Clough, and from thence to Strange-place, a
distance of three miles — should, together with Simon Gote, be re
paired by the Commoners, because ' they got reeds and fish from
the fens and had bite for their cattle.'
From records of the Duchy of Lancaster, it appears that about
1532 an attempt was made to drain the fens. " The Undertakers, by
the advice of experienced artists in draining, finding that Wainfleet
Haven was not a proper and fitting sewer for the fens to drain by to
the sea, enlarged the ancient sewers which led to the river Witham
and Boston Haven, which drained the same effectually."
One of these drains was a cut from ' Cow Brygge ' to Boston
Haven, since called Maud Foster, which was made in 1568. There
is no record as to the origin of the name, Maud Foster. There was
an owner of property in Boston, called Maud Foster, who is fre
quently mentioned in the old records. She died in November, 1581,
and probably the drain, passing through some land belonging to her,
took its name from the owner.
In the records of the Corporation of Boston for 1568 it is. stated
that the new cut to Cow Bridge was made, and it was ordered that
" the dykinge of the new dreyne to Cow Brygge shall be doon with
such spede as may be convenientlie ; and for the charge thereof it is
agrede that the Mayor shalle dispose of the towne's money the sum of
twentie marks till further orders be taken." In 1569 the ' Surveyors
of the Highwaies ' were ordered to attend to the completion of the
' new dreyne.'
It appears that a new ' Clowe ' was made at this time at Hilldyke.
As in 1592 and I5g7, the Surveyors of Highways of the Parish of
Boston were allowed materials out of the town's store towards re
pairing the new Clow, and Hilldyke Drain was cleansed and scoured
by Boston. About 1588, a decree was obtained in the Duchy Court
for again improving the outfall by Wainfleet Haven, and an arrange
ment was made with the ' level towns ' of Croft, Bratoft, Irby, &c,
for carrying out and maintaining the works.
Although there is no record of the fact, Black Dyke was probably
made at this period for carrying off the overflow from the south-east
corner of the pits in the East Fen. It passed through Friskney and
emptied by Black Gote in the Roman Bank, into a creek on the fore
shore. This gote is first shown on the map of 1661.
The arrangement made with the parishes lying on the north of
the East Fen did not answer the expectations of the promoters of the
scheme, as, four years later, in i5g2, a bill was exhibited by certain
petitioners in the Court of Exchequer, praying to be released from
their coalition with the ' level towns,' the reasons assigned being as
follows. " It was soon found by experience, after building the said

263

Gowt or Clow in Wainfleet Haven and dyking the said eau or
haven, and the said drains called Goodyke, Southdyke alias South
Stream, the said run into the sea was not beneficial for the town
ships in the said soke, as was at first thought the same would have
been, nor was the piscary any way bettered thereby. Therefore it
was about two years after making the aforesaid decree by a view of
the Commissioners of Sewers for the said county, together with
experienced engineers and workmen, as also by Inquisition of Sewers,
found and declared, and a Decree of Sewers thereupon made, declar
ing that the said eau or haven was not the most proper drain of the
said Fens, nor of the towns of the Soke of Bolingbroke, saving only
for divers grounds lying in Little Steeping and part of Thorpe, and
of the Wold towns descending by Lusdyke, and of grounds drained
by Thieves' Creek, which perhaps may have some, although but
very little, advantage thereby ; and that by trying the bottom of the
said fens it was found that the same was four feet deep in water,
when the water in the said haven or at the outfall was but two
feet deep ; and also that the revenues of the said piscary are and
were much impaired and the towns of Bolingbroke Soke not a whit
bettered, so that the farmers in the said Soke had other ancient
drains, sewers and outfalls to run and issue their East Fen waters
into the sea, namely into the river Witham, to which the said fen
waters have a natural run and descent, and a clear contrary course
to Wainfleet Haven."
In Queen Elizabeth's reign some idea was entertained of making
an attempt for the recovery of the East Fen, and a survey was made
by order of the Queen, from which it was estimated to contain 5,000
acres, or thereabouts ; and it was considered that half of this, being
the skirts, hills and outrings, could conveniently be drained ; but
the other half, consisting of deep holes and pits, could not be
recovered. Beyond the survey nothing further seems to have been
attempted. Camden, who wrote his history in 1602, thus describes
the condition of the fens. " The fen called the West Fen is the
place where the ruffs and reeves resort in greatest numbers, and
many other sorts of water fowl, which do not require the shelter of
reeds and rushes, migrate hither to breed, for this fen is bare, having
been imperfectly drained by narrow canals which intersect it for
many miles. Twenty parishes in the Soke of Bolingbroke have
right of common on it, but an enclosure is now in agitation. The
East Fen is quite in a state of nature, and exhibits a specimen of
what the country was before the introduction of draining. It is a
vast tract of morass, intermixed with numbers of lakes, from half a
mile to two or three miles in circuit, communicating with each other
by narrow reedy straits. They are very shallow, none above four
or five feet deep, but abound with pike, perch, ruffs, bream, tench,
dace, eels, &c. The reeds which cover the fens are cut annually

Oldfield's
Wainfleet.

CONDITION OF
l-HE FEN IN 1602.

Camden.

Draining.
ADVENTURERS'ATTEMPTS TO
RECLAIM. 1603.

204
for thatching not only cottages, but many very good houses. The
multitudes of stares that roost in these weeds in winter break down
many by perching on them. A stock of reeds well harvested and
stacked is worth two or three hundred pounds. The birds which
inhabit the different fens are very numerous. Besides the common
wild duck ; wild geese, garganies, pochards, shovellers, and teals
breed here, pewit, gulls, and black terns abound : a few of the great
terns or tickets are seen among them. The great crested grebes,
called gaunts, are found in the East Fen. The lesser crested, the
black and dusky, and the little grebe, cootes, water hens and spotted
water-hens, water-rails, ruffs, red-shanks, lapwings or wypes, red-
breasted godwits and whimbrels are inhabitants of these fens. The
godwits breed near Washingborough, three miles east of Lincoln ;
the whimbrels only appear for a fortnight in May and then quit the
country."
Embanking and The positions of these lakes or pools is shown on the map. (Fig 8.)
In the next reign, in 1603, shortly after the accession of James I
to the throne, a series of destructive floods burst the embankments
of the fens on the East coast, and swept over farms, homesteads,
and villages, drowning large numbers of people and cattle. The
King, on being informed of the great calamity which had befallen
the inhabitants of the fens, principally through the decay of the old
works of drainage and embankment, declared that, for the honour of
his kingdom, he would not any longer suffer these countries to be
abandoned to the will of the waters, nor to let them lie waste and
unprofitable ; and that if no one else would undertake their drainage,
he himself would become the ' Undertaker.' A measure of taxation
for the recovery of these lands, which was accordingly proposed to
the Commons, was, however, rejected, and the King, restricted in
his means, confined his attention to works on the Great Level in
the counties of Cambridge and Norfolk.
In the reign of Charles I, (1631), a Court of Sewers was held at
Boston, the Commissioners being Robert, Earl of Lindsey, Lord
Great Chamberlain of England ; Edward, Earl of Dorset, Lord
Chamberlain to the Queen ; John Shorey, Mayor of Boston ; Sir
Robert Killigrew, Vice- Chamberlain to the Queen ; Robert Callice,
Serjeant-at-Law ; and others ; to make enquiry into the state of this
district. After hearing evidence, " they found that the following
lands were overflowed with fresh water, viz., Dockdike hurne,
from Armitage Causey, and Howbriggs, east, to the river of
Witham, west ; and from the said river of Witham, south, to Haw
thorne, north, from the east end of Hundell House grounds, and so
along by Raydyke, to the north side of Moorhouse grounds ; from
thence by Mareham, Revesby, East Kirkby and Hagnaby, to
Hagnaby gate ; and thence along by Barloade bank, and the
west end of Stickney Severals, to Stickney Graunge ; from thence on

205
the north side of West-house grounds, along to Black-syke ; from
thence on the north side of Medlam to Gamock Stake ; from thence
directly to the east end of Hundel House grounds from Stickney
Graunge, southwards, on the west side of the Severals of Stickney
and Nordyke Gate, east, to Nordyke stream, south, and the West
Fenne, west ; wherein is included Westhouse grounds, the low
grounds belonging to Stickney Grange and Thomedales, from Norlands
lane, along between Sibsey Severals and the new drain to Hale Causey ;
from thence along to the Shottells:" and also the "East Fenne, extending
in length from the Severals of Wainfleet on the east, to the Severals
of Stickney on the west : and in breadth from the Severals of
Waynflet, Friskney, Wrangle, Leake, and Stickney on the south :
and the Severals of Stickford, Keales, Toynton, Halton, Steping,
and Thorpe on the north, were for the most part surrounded
grounds ; and likewise that certain Severals and Commons of divers
Lords and Owners, belonging to Waynflet and Friskney, lying
between a bank called Fendyke Bank on the east, and East Fen on
the west, and abutting on the. old drain called Symon Gote towards
the south, and upon Thorpe Dales towards the north, and certain
severals of divers Lords and Owners belonging to Wrangle, lying
between the said old drain called Symon Gote on the east, and
Leake Severals on the west ; and abutting upon Lade Bank
towards the north, and upon the old Fendyke bank towards the
south, were surrounded grounds most part of the year ; and more
over that the several grounds and commons of divers Lords and
Owners belonging to Leake, lying betwixt the East Fen on the
north, and the Outweare bank on the south, and abutting upon
Wrangle Severals towards the east, and upon Sibsey Weare bank
and Stickney Wydalls towards the west ; and the Severals of divers
Lords and Owners of grounds belonging to Stickney Wydalls lying
betwixt the East Fen on the east and north, and abutting upon
Valentine Dyke towards the west, and upon a drain leading to
Nordyke Brigge towards the south, were surrounded grounds in the
winter time. And lastly that the Severals of certain Lords and
Owners of grounds belonging to Toynton next Spillesby, called the
Demesns, lying between the East Fen on the south, and a certain
meadow called the East Fen on the north, and abutting upon a drain
called Toynton Beck towards the east, and upon Hare Hills towards
the west, were surrounded grounds also for the winter season," and
that these lands were capable of recovery. They therefore deemed
that a tax of ten shillings an acre should be levied for the repairs of
the natural outfalls at Waynflete Haven, Black Gote, Symon Gote,
Maud Foster Gote, New Gote and Anton Gote, as also any other
cuts or drains that should be found necessary to be made or enlarged.
In default of payment a concession was granted to Sir Anthony
Thomas, John Warsopp and others, who became the undertakers of "B

THE ADVENTUR-

206
state Papers the drainage on being granted a certain quantity of the drained land.
Commissioners were appointed to divide and set out the lands
decreed to Sir Anthony Thomas and John Warsopp, out of the fens
to be drained by them on the north east side of the river Witham.
The Commissioners were directed to take care that 1,500 acres of
the drained land and fourpence reserved on every acre be tied for
the perpetual maintenance of the works ; and that 1,600 acres of
the lands decreed to the Undertakers in the East Fen and 400 acres
in the West Fen should be conveyed to the use of the poor cottagers
and inhabitants. The Adventures commenced operations in 1631, and enlarged
the drain which had been previously made, or as described in
Dugdale, "made a great and navigable stream, three miles in length,
from Cowbridge to the Haven, near Boston, and at the end of it the
old Maud Foster Gowt was replaced by ' a very large gowt of stone
and timber.'" This sluice had a water way of 13ft., and the bottom
of the drain was made 30ft. wide. In 1807 a stone was found near
Mount Bridge, bearing the following inscription, ' Anthony Thomas
Knight buylded this sluice, 1635.' They also made ' many other
petty sewers, gutters and streams, having their courses to the said
main river, and over them were erected many bridges and other
works, done with so much diligence ' that three years after the
Dugdale. 1635. commencement, a decree was made by the Court of Sewers " that,
on a view of the late surrounded grounds, viz., East and West Fen,
Earle's Fen, Armetre Fen, and Wildmore Fen, and other the
drowned commons and adjacent surrounded grounds, lying on the
north and north east of the river Witham, within the extent of the
said Commission, they adjudged the same to be so drained as that
hsy were fit for arable, meadow, and pasture. And that out of
3,000 acres of pits, deeps and holes which formerly existed, there
now only remained 1673 acres." And they confirmed to Sir
Anthony Thomas a grant of one-half of the commons land in the
East Fen, and a third of the Severals adjacent thereto ; and also
one-fourth of the West Fen and the surrounded grounds adjoining ;
2,500 acres of the lands so granted were made liable to the main
tenance of the works, and the rents were to be paid into the hands
of the Mayor of Boston, to be employed for and about the repairs of
the bridges, gotes and drains, until they amounted to the sum of
£2,000, to the extent of which amount they were always answerable.
The total quantity acquired by the Adventurers, as recompense for
their undertaking, was altogether 16,300 acres, which brought them
a rental of £8,000 a year. The amount expended in the drainage
and reclamation was £30,000, and they subsequently spent £20,000
in improving their lands and in constructing buildings.
Fig 8. The Fens, The drainage of the fens, as carried out by Adventurers, is
17th Century, shown on the Map of the Fens, Fig. 8.

Fold out

207
The works carried out by the Adventurers appear to have con- Fig. 8.
sisted in diverting the water from the West Fen and the South of
the East Fen, from the Witham at Anton's Gowt to the new Maud
Foster Gowt, and by constructing drains on the north to prevent
the high land water from flooding the fens, and by opening out and
improving the outfall to Wainfleet Haven. In the West and Wild-
moor Fens, the old Nunham Drain, which discharged at Anton's
Gowt, was improved, and a new drain extended from it in a westerly
direction to Dogdyke.
For seven years the Adventurers' tenants enjoyed their occupa- i«=-
tions, building houses, sowing corn, and feeding cattle thereon ; at
the end of that time, the Commoners, " finding that done, of which
they themselves despaired, made several clamours, but finding no
relief in time of peace, they resolved to try if force and violence
would compass that which neither justice nor reason could give ;
and to that end, a little before Edgehill fight, in 1642, they, being
incensed by some then in faction, took arms, and in a riotous manner
they fell upon the Adventurers, broke the sluices, laid waste their
lands, threw down their fences, spoiled their corn, demolished their
houses, and forcibly retained possession of the land." The new
sluice, erected at Maud Foster, was probably destroyed at this time,
as 80 years later reference is made in an order of the Court of
Sewers to the erection of a new sluice at a place ' where a gote
formerly existed.'
The Adventurers, finding that the Sheriff and other local
authorities could not afford them protection, petitioned the Houses
of Lords and Commons. With the former they were successful, the
Lords passing the Bill for the relief and security of the drainers,
because of the advantage accruing to the King by the improvement
of his lands, from fourpence to ten and twelve shillings per acre
yearly; and for repaying £50,000 expended by the Undertakers. Being
opposed by the Commoners they failed to obtain an Act from the
Commons. The Commoners stated in their petition that Sir A. Thomas
had not fairly obtained the decree from the Court of Sewers in the
first instance ; that he had not fulfilled his bargain, as the lands —
particularly in the West and Wildmore Fens — were not improved
by his works, but were then worth from 10s. to 15s. per acre
yearly ; further that the quantity of land granted to him was ex
cessive : and that he was already well paid for what he had done by
his seven years' possession ; that the profits the drainers had
enjoyed for seven years were £57,000, which was more than they
had laid out on the works. Having heard both parties, the House
of Commons ordered that the Sheriff and Justices of the Peace
should prevent and suppress riots, if any should happen, but ex
pressly declared that they did not intend thereby to prejudice the
parties interested in point of title to the lands, orto hinder the Com.

208
moners in the legal pursuit of their interest. Upon this the parties
commenced proceedings at common law against the Adventurers, in
which they were successful.
state Papers jn the case of the Adventurers in the East and West Fens as
Domestic, 1667. presented to the court it is stated that the level contained 45,000
acres, that Sir Anthony Thomas in his lifetime by the general
approbation of that part of the country undertook the draining
according to a Law of Sewers made on the 15th of April, in the
seventh year of Charles I, and that he was to have for his recom.
pense 16,000 acres. That, before draining, the land was not worth
fourpence per acre ; but he had rendered them so fertile that they
had abundant crops of all sorts of corn and grain and seed for oyl,
and His Majesty's customs had increased thereby and the country
people became much enriched who before were very poor. That
the Adventurers, with the children of him (Sir Anthony Thomas),
that had added so great a patrimony to the king, were by the
meaner and ruder sort of people expulsed their possession, and their
houses, works, crops and inclosures barbarously demolished and
destroyed, which had cost £50,000.
In the proceedings it was stated that at that time 52 towns or
villages, and 40,000 families had right of common in these Fens.
The Court of Sewers again resumed charge of the district,
CONTROL RE- ° °
sumed bt court taking over such of the drains and sluices as remained after the
destruction caused by the Fenmen. The drainage for a long time
after this remained in a very unsatisfactory state.
At a Court of Sewers held in 1722, it was presented that a new
gote ought to be erected nigh where a gote formerly existed, called
Maud Foster Gote, at the cost and charges of the Soke of Boling
broke and the towns of East Holland, the estimated expense being
£1,200. At the same, Court, Wainfleet Clough was presented as
not being sufficient to carry off the water, as twice as much water
then ran through the East Fen through Nordyke Bridge as went
down Goodyke and White Cross drains ; and an order was made
for the erection of a new sluice. Neither of these orders was
carried out.
At a general Court of Sewers held at Boston in 1734, a petition
of the Landowners and Tenants in Wrangle, Leake, Leverton, Ben
ington, Butterwick, Freiston, Fishtoft, Boston East, Skirbeck and
Sibsey was presented, showing that the ' New Gote' in the Witham
near Frith Bank was in great danger of being lost and asking that a
Jury might be called to inspect this, and also an old gote, called
' Maud Foster's Gowt,' as owing to the bad state of the drainage
the lands were constantly flooded. The Jury found that the ' New
sTuIce Gote ' had become ineffective owing to the condition of the River
Witham, which was silted up, and the Court,having viewed the fen
and the gotes.found the land to be in a grievous and deplorable con-

OF SEWERS.

MAUD FOSTER
DRAIN CONSTRUCTED

2og
dition, by reason of the violent and excessive inundations of fresh
waters, which in the late extraordinary wet season had descended
upon them from the high country, which had overflooded and
' drownded ' the same to the very great damage of the Owners, and
tending to the impoverishing and utter ruin of the King's liege
subjects, to the great diminution of his revenue and absolute
destruction and loss of the lands of the Petitioners and others. It
was ordered that " Maud Foster Gote should be cleaned, opened,
repaired and mended in her tunns, dams, aprons and wings, with
good and proper materials for the same, both with respect to her
stone, brick, timber, iron and clay works, to be done by acre silver
and proportioned rateably, according to the advantage and benefit of
the several Landowners, and quantity of acres on their benefit in the
respective towns, parishes and hamlets running and passing their
waters to the said gote." Further it was found that as the gote was
' too strait and narrow and cannot carry the waters off the lands,'
a new gote should be built at some convenient distance from
the said Maud Foster's Gowt, of brick and stone and timber, with
one tun 12ft. wide, and they estimated that the said gote and drain
would cost £1,000. The drain leading from the gote to Colling's
Bridge was to be ditched and cleansed and the old decayed bridges
taken up and new ones erected in their stead, and the drain, from
the gote to Pedder's Cross, made 30ft. wide at the bottom and 7ft.
deep, at a cost of 18/- a rood ; from Pedder's Cross to Colling's
Bridge, 30ft. wide and 5ft. deep. Mount Bridge, Hobson's*
Bridge, Main Ridge Bridge, Hospital Bridge and Colling's Bridge
were to be repaired or replaced. By " reason of the arduousness
and multiplicity of the said works, and great numbers of artificers
and workmen employed about the same, the Court appointed Maister
William Stennet and Maister John Millington, persons well skilled
and versed in accounts, the nature and price of materials, and
mechanicks, and the rate and value of workmanship, to be
Surveyors and Expenditors, and to inspect, survey, measure
and direct the works and materials used thereon, and supervise and
pay the workmen," and they were to be allowed and paid the sum
of 3/4 each day.
This sluice was subsequently described in Grundy's report as
having one arch of 15ft. and a draw door of 15ft., to retain the fresh
water, and which was drawn up by two large wooden screws, and a
pair of pointing doors.
At a subsequent Court it was shown on the ' modest represen
tation' of Samuel Preston, the Treasurer " that through the general
poverty of the kingdom and universal want of trade no reasonable
profit for the sale of any commodities produced in these parts could
be obtained, and that by reason of the particular distress of all the
said parishes in East Holland very little of the money due from the

210

rates which had been levied could be raised." The Court therefore
gave time for payment and authorised their treasurer to borrow
money for the purpose of defraying the more immediate expenses of
the said works.
The following table gives the acreage of the lands which were
taxed for the maintenance of Maud Foster Gowt and Drain. Acres.
Boston  37°

ATTEMPT
DRAIN THE
FEN BY
FOSTER

WEST MAUD
RAIN.

SkirbeckFreistonButterwick .
Benington LevertonLeake
Wrangle Sibsey
Frith Bank
Fishtoft

i, 880
i,g8o 779
1,560
1,300
3>6q2 2,0402,400 642740

17.383
The new sluice at Maud Foster and the cleaning out and deep
ening the drains leading thereto appear to have considerably
improved the condition of the drainage of those laiids which obtained
relief for their water that way. In fact, so much so, that the occu
piers of lands in the other part of the fens and in the Soke of
Bolingbroke were anxious to discharge their water that way also,
instead of through Anton's Gowt into the Witham, the drainage by
which, owing to the silting up of the channel of the Witham, had
become very imperfect. The Proprietors in the East Fen and others
endeavoured to set up a right to drain by the new sluice, losing
sight of the fact that, when the sluice was about to be built and the
drains made, the Owners of the lands in the Soke of Bolingbroke
were invited to join in the undertaking, and on account of their
refusing to do so the sluice and drains were made of less dimensions
than they would otherwise have been.
In 1754 at a Court of Sewers held at Spilsby, on the representa.
tion of certain owners of land, an order was obtained for deepening
and widening Medlam Drain to Cherry Corner and removing the
existing sluice, whereby the West Fen water found its way through
Mill Drain to Maud Foster.
In 1754 the Occupiers in the other parts of the fen attemped to
open up a communication between the waters of the west side of the
West Fen and the new outfall by Cherry Corner. This, however,
was opposed by the town of Boston on the ground that the waters
coming from the land in question ought by right to drain to the
Witham, and that to deprive that river of this supply would be
detrimental to the. navigation. They therefore petitioned the Court
of Sewefs to have the communication, which, had been opened out,

2lX
stopped again, by means of a door placed across the drain at Cherry
Corner, for the purpose of preventing the waters of the East Fen
and the east side of the West Fen from flowing to Maud Foster.
The Boston Court made the order as requested and directed the
Surveyor of the Soke of Bolingbroke to restore the drainage to its
former condition, under a penalty of £200 in default.
The controversy between the contending parties was carried on
for some time, and on one occasion led to some severe rioting in the
neighbourhood of Sibsey. It was not finally ended until the new
scheme for the improvement of the Witham was promoted. Boston,
however, succeeded in obtaining the construction of Anton's Gowt
in the new channel of the Witham, for taking the water from the
East and West Fens, the owners of land in those fens insisting on
a clause being inserted in the Act enabling them to drain by Maud
Foster, in case the drainage by Anton's Gowt proved ineffectual.
In 1784, Mill Drain was deepened and enlarged by Mr. Pacey
of Boston, acting under the direction of certain Proprietors of land,
and the drain, leading from Nordyke Bridge to Cherry Corner, was
lowered. This produced a partial drainage of the East Fen, and
lowered the water in the ' deeps,' but the effect was also to destroy
the herbage in the fen and hinder the navigation of the pools and
dykes. The Fenmen thereupon erected a dam across the new cut.
In a petition sent by the Fenmen relating to this drain, they say,
" It is well known that the temperate and industrious part of the
poor inhabitants of the Soke of Bolingbroke, has, for a long time,
supported themselves and their families comfortably with the pro
duce of the East Fen, by fishing and getting coarse and fine thatch-
Many of us, by the blessing of God and our own industry, has
procured a cow or two, which we used to graze in the said fen in the
summer, and get fodder for their support in winter, but, alas, of these
privileges we are in a great measure deprived by a set of men called
Commissioners, who hath imbibed such a rage for drainage, that
exceeds both utility and justice. Utility, because it destroys the
grass and herbage, and is hurtful both to farmers and poor men ;
justice, because it deprives the poor of their privileges — for the
fishery is ruined, the thatch is destroyed, the fodder very scarce.
And to make our grievance the more intolerable, and to complete our
ruin, and show how unfeeling they are, they even now are depriving
us of the benefit we expected from the late rains, that is, of getting
our fodder and fuel to land, by running the water away out of both
fens. We, your petitioners, humbly pray you to take up our cause,
and, if possible, procure redress for us, by causing a temporary dam
to be made in Sibsey Cut for our present relief, and a permanent
stanch for our future supply ; and, if practicable, we beg leave to
recommend to your consideration two Cuts, one on the north side
and the other on the south side of the fen, to set bounds to the cattle

OBJECTIONS TO
THE DRAINAGE
OF THE EAST
FEN.

212
and supply them with water, and secure a portion of land to bring
fodder and thatch. And your humble petitioners will be effectually
relieved from that state of distress and poverty which must be the
inevitable effect of the measures now pursued. And your humble
petitioners will ever hold themselves in gratitude and duty bound to
pray for your person and family." This was signed by 105 Fenmen,
of whom only ig were unable to write their names, and made a mark.
1T68, As a result of this petition, a sluice was built across Valentine's
Drain and the water in the East Fen retained at an agreed height.
Grundy's In reports made by Messrs. Grundy on the Witham in 1743
Report. 1744- and in ^^ they stated t]jat New New Gote which used to dis
charge the water of the West and part of the East Fen into the
Witham, when the river ran by its mouth, had by diversion of the
course become filled up and was then close dammed and neglected,
and that since the building of Maud Foster Sluice the water from
the fens had a better tendency that way, and that from this cause
Anton's Gowt was also 'quite landed up.'
About this time several reports had been obtained on the best
way of improving the River Witham and the adjacent fens, which
would, to a certain extent, affect the drainage of the West and
Wildmore Fens by Anton's Gote and New New Gote. In 1757
lord monson's Lord Monson brought forward a scheme for conveying the water
of the West and Wildmore Fens to the Witham by a new cut from
the south west corner of Frith Bank, or from Anton's Gote to New
New Gote, and thence by a cut to a new sluice of two arches, of
1 oft. waterway each, to be erected near the lime kilns in Boston,
a short distance below the present Grand Sluice, at an estimated
cost of £2,836. Medlam, Newham and Howbridge Drains, and
those bringing the water from the East Fen this way, were to be
scoured out, and the banks of Steeping river raised, at an estimated
cost for the whole of £8,200. Medlam drain was to be made the"
main drain for the East and West Fens, and the East Fen waters
were to be brought to the new main drain by Sibsey New Cut and
the old stream under North Dyke Bridge.
In 1761, in a joint report made by Messrs. Grundy and Son,
Mr. Langley Edwards and Mr. John Smeaton, on the improvement
of the river Withams, they advised that a new sluice should
be erected in place of the old Anton's Gote, and a new cut made
for the drainage of Wildmore and West Fens, the effect of which
and the new channel of the Witham would be to lower the water
by 4ft.
condition of In 1773 several meetings were held at Spilsby, and Messrs.
Stephenson, Elmhirst, Hogard, Robertson and Lovell were
appointed a Committee to view the fens and report on the best
method of draining them. The report states that, on viewing the
East Fen in August, the Committee found that on an average there

SCHEME, 1767.

THE FEN IN 1773.

213

was about i8in. of water on the surface, and in the Deeps from 5ft.
to 7ft. ; that Good Dyke Drain was foul with mud, and White Cross
Clough in a ruinous condition, and that there was 5ft. of water on
the sill ; that the drain from the sluice to Salem Bridge was defi
cient both in depth and breadth ; that the course of Wainfleet
Haven from the Salem Bridge to thenew sluice was very crooked, and
ran through high land : that the ' meals," or banks, along the course of
the Haven from the new sluice to Gibraltar Point were increasing
and running southward, and that the channel would in a short time
be lost ; that from Gibraltar House towards Skegness was a bold
shore, where the sea set in hard against the ' meals.' and that this
was a proper place for erecting a new sluice. The ' meals ' consisted of
a light blowing sand, but at the bottom of the channel was a strong
clay. This Committee advised that an Outfall Sluice, with two tuns
of 15ft. water way, with pointing and draw doors, should be erected,
and a new Cut made through the marshes to Wainfleet Haven,
where the living waters from Steeping River and the ' Levy ' towns
should join the waters from the East Fen ; that a new Cut be made
on the north-west side of Lord Pawlett's bank to White Cross
Drain, and that the Good Dyke and South Stream into the East
Fen should be enlarged. The Limb was to be made 30ft. wide, and
the banks from Steeping Mill to the north-east side of White Cross
were to be strengthened. The estimated cost of these works was
£12.398. This report was approved, and the whole question referred
to a further meeting of the Proprietors, to be held in London.
In 1774 meetings of the Landowners were held at the St.
Albans Tavern, London, and in the following year at Spilsby.
At the former Mr. Grundy was instructed to make a report
on the drainage of lands in the East Fen and the East Holland
towns draining by Wainfleet Haven and Maud Foster Sluice,
and on the best means of improving the same. Mr. Grundy, in his
report, thus describes the condition of the drainage. Steeping River,
after passing through a bridge at Halton, 13ft. cm. wide, fell into
Wainfleet Haven at White Cross Bridge. Below this bridge it was
joined by the Steeping Beck. The waters from the East Fen were
brought to the Haven at White Cross Clough by 'Goodyke.' Point
ing doors, which formerly had been placed in Goodyke to stop the
water from going into the fen. had been demolished and disused for
many years. Firsby Clough was 15ft. 3m. wide, and had a draw
door. The ' Lymn," from Firsby Clough to its outfall in Wainfleet
Haven at Stone Gowt, was 5ft. 4m. wide ; Bethlehem Bank formed
the eastern boundary of the low lands which drained into that stream.
The outfall clough, or sluice, in Wainfleet Haven was of brick, having
two arches, one of 5ft. ioin., and the other of 12ft. 6in., two arches
of the sluice as originally built having recently been thrown into one.
The Haven, from the Outfall Sluice to Stone Gowt, was very

¦ErnNGS OF
LANDOWNERS.

Gnmdy*s
Report. 177

CONDITION OF
THE DRAINAGE.

214
crooked, as it was also to Queen's Gote, an old deserted sluice.
The width of Stone Gote was 15ft. 2in. At a quarter of a mile
above Wainfleet All Saints there was an engine with a wheel, 13ft.
in diameter, for draining the low grounds in Wainfleet St. Mary.
There were also engines and wheels for draining 800 acres belong
ing to Bethlehem Hospital and lands in Thorpe and Croft. The
medium width of Wainfleet Haven, at the water line from the Sea
Sluice to White Cross Clow, was 18ft. nin., and the depth of water
3ft. 6in. The distance from Gibraltar House to the Sea Clow was
1 mile 3 furlongs, and the total distance to White Cross Clough
8 miles. Black Dyke is described as running from the East Fen
through the high tofts to the sea, having a bridge at Friskney, with
one arch of 10ft. 7m. Friskney was drained by an engine and
wheel, 14ft. 6in. in diameter, which discharged into the sea through
Friskney Clow. Hilldyke Bridge had an opening of 11ft. 7m., and
Maud Foster an outlet of 15ft., which was then a good outfall, as
the Haven was close under it. Hale Bridge was 14ft. wide and
Stone Bridge 20ft. The low grounds in Wrangle, Leake, Leverton,
Benington, Butterwick, Freiston and the Ings, Boston Long
Hedges, Skirbeck and Sibsey, all drained by Maud Foster. Fishtoft
Parish drained by Fishtoft Creek. There was a sea gowt at
Freiston Shore, having a pair of pointing doors of 4ft. 6in., which
drained the higher part of the parish ; at Leverton was a gowt 4ft.
wide, to drain the marshes and high land ; at Wrangle was the New
Marsh Clow 2ft. 4m. wide ; and under Friskney Sea Bank were five
outfall clows, two of 2ft., the Engine Drain 4ft. and the others 2ft.
7in. and 2ft. 8in. The level of the water in the drain at Salem
Bridge was 10ft. 2in. above low water at Gibraltar House ; in Black
Dyke 5ft. 4m. higher. The average level of the surface of the low
land lying between Wainfleet and Boston varied from 6ft. to 8ft.
above low water ; the water in Wainfleet Haven at Gibraltar
House was then ift. 4^in. lower than that in Boston Haven at Maud
Foster Sluice. About 24,500 acres of the level drained by Wain
fleet Haven.
Grundy proposed to divide the District into two Levels : the low
scheme.' lands lying east of Stickney, and as far south as Wrangle, to
drain by Wainfleet Haven ; and the remainder by Maud Foster.
At Wainfleet Haven a new sluice was to be built, about i£
miles below the existing sluice near GibraltarHouse,having five arches,
with 68ft. of water way. This sluice was to be connected with the old
one, which would inclose 63 acres of salt marsh. The Haven was to
be widened to a bottom of 66ft., for a length of one mile four chains.
The worst of the bends being removed. The ' Lymn ' was to be enlarged
and strengthened from Stone Gowt to Firsby Clough, and a new
sluice erected at the end, with an opening of 13ft. Steeping River was
to be deepened and enlarged for two miles, so as to have a 16ft. bottom.

GRUNDY'S

SCHEME, ITT6-

ROBERTSON'S SCHEME.

215
A main drain was to be made for the drainage of the East Holland
Towns of Wainfleet St. Mary, Friskney and Wrangle from the
main river, about half-a-mile above Salem Bridge, having 14ft.
bottom. Black Dyke was to be enlarged to a 12ft. bottom. Good Dyke
and South Stream were to be also enlarged. The estimated cost of
these works was £37,314-
As affecting this proposal to drain by Wainfleet Haven, it
appears that at that time the tide flowed 2\ hours in Boston Deeps
before it began to flow in the Haven opposite Gibraltar House.
In the following year schemes were brought forward by Mr.
John Hudson and Mr. Joseph Robertson of Sibsey.
Mr. Hudson's proposal, as laid before the Court of Sewers Hudson's
at Spilsby, in July, was to widen Wainfleet Haven from the Sea
Clough to Croft Outfall, so as to make the bottom 25ft. wide,
decreasing it to 16ft. at Good Dyke Sluice ; and to construct a pen
lock, 56ft. long and ioft.wide, instead of the sluice at Good Dyke.
Theestimated cost, including the widening of Steeping river and Good
Dyke South Stream, was £4,143.
Mr. Robertson's scheme was to add two arches of 13ft. each to
Maud Foster Sluice ; to enlarge the drain from 30ft. to 70ft. at the
bottom, for one and a quarter miles ; to enlarge Stone Bridge drain,
from Collins' Bridge (Cowbridge) to Hall Bridge, to a 40ft. bottom ;
the- drain from the East Holland towns to join Maud Foster at
Collins' Bridge ; a new drain from Hale Bridge to Cherry Corner to be
made to a 20ft. bottom ; the drains running from Cherry Corner to
the west side of the East Fen and connecting the East and West
Fen water, called Deepdale, to be enlarged to Valentine's Drain ;
Mill Drain to be enlarged from Collins' Bridge to Cherry Corner.
The estimated cost of enlarging these drains, with the bridges and
other works, was £18,615.
For the improvement of the drainage of the ' Levy ' towns, with
Friskney and part of Wrangle, a new sluice was to be built in
Wainfleet Haven, having 26ft. of opening, or else another tun to be
added to the old one ; the Haven to be enlarged to Stone Gowt to
a 40ft. and to White Cross to a 30ft. bottom. The bank of Steeping
River on the east side, from Firsby Clough to White Cross, was to
be raised, and a new drain made from Wrangle, through Friskney
and Wainfleet St. Mary, to the Haven. The total number of acres
chargeable for this portion of the drainage was put at n,gg3.
No action was taken on these reports, and the fens remained in
a most unsatisfactory state, owing to their lost and flooded condition, thWensTitts
and also from the disorder in stocking, and from those having
common rights sending in much larger quantities of stock than they
were entitled to. Cattle stealing and disease also detracted from
the value derived from the summer feeding, so that what was gained
jn one year was lost in another, In fact it was stated that some of

condition of

2l6

SIR j. banks.

the largest common right owners had ceased for several years to
send any stock to the fens.
The East Fen, being the lowest, was in the worst condition, and
there were there 2,000 acres always under water. The West and
Wildmore Fens are described as having ' whole acres covered with
thistles and nettles, four feet high and more.' Numerous attempts
were made to bring about the inclosure and drainage, but the matter
was protracted, owing to the difficulty in settling the basis on which
the land should be divided amongst those who claimed to have
rights in the different fens.
Sir Joseph Banks, of Revesby, took a very active part in en
deavouring to reconcile the various interests for one common object.
Young, 1799. Arthur Young says that he had much " conversation with Sir
Joseph Banks, who, I was glad, but not surprised, to find had the
most liberal ideas upon the subject of reclaiming the Fens. No man
sees clearer the vast advantages which would result from the mea
sure to the country in general. No man can be more desirous that
it should be effected. He has collected, with the utmost assiduity,
every document necessary for the measure, and is prepared for it in
every respect. He makes no conditions for himself personally
but will trust all to the Commissioners. . . . The waste and
disgraceful state in which so many acres remain rests not, therefore,
at his door. When I told him that upon enquiring why these
horrid fens were not drained and divided, it was said that ' Sir Joseph
Banks was like a great bull at Revesby, ready with his horns to
butt at any one that meddled,' he replied, ' very true, Sir Joseph
is that bull to repulse those who would pretend to carry the measure
upon wild and ill concerted plans in spite of him, but let them come
forward in the right way, and with any prospect of success, and
they shall find that Revesby bull a lamb.' "
'From a statement made by Mr. Anthony Bower, the resident
Engineer employed in carrying out the works, in his report made to
the Governors of the Bedford Level, it appears that the area of the
Fens in 1799 was as' follows : Acres.
 12,664

A. Bower, 1799.

East Fen ...
Lower part of West Fen...
,, Wildmore Fen

This land every Winter under water.
East Fen Deeps ...
No Man's Friend 

Under water in Summer.
High land draining through the Fen ...
East Holland towns and old enclosures

12,303 7.770
32,737 2,500 1,500
4,000
25,00025,000

landowners, its..

REPORTS, 1300.

217
This high land water overflowed the fens. " The whole of the
water off this area of 61,737 acres had to find its way to sea through
three small gowts or sluices ; viz., Anton's Gowt, which had an
opening of 14ft. ; Maud Foster, an opening of 13ft. ; and Fishtoft, an
opening of 4ft. The first was of little use, being so high up the
river Witham as to be over-rode by the most trifling flood ; the
whole drainage therefore of the fens and low lands had to depend
upon the small sluice at Maud Foster." This statement is not
quite correct, as part of the East Fen water found an escape through
Wainfleet Haven. There were also some small sluices in the sea
bank, under the control of the Court of Sewers, and part of the
water of Friskney was raised by an engine and wheel and sent to
sea through a small gowt.
The general surface of the East Fen and of Wrangle Common
was about 8ft. above the sill of old Maud Foster Sluice.
At a meeting of the Proprietors of Wildmore Fen, held at meeting of
Homcastle in i7gg, Mr. Rennie was desired " to cause the neces
sary levels and surveys to be taken and to report his opinion of the
best mode of effectually draining Wildmore Fen separately ; and
also the best mode of draining the East, West and Wildmore Fens
in one scheme." The surveys were made by Mr. A. Bower of "[""IE,,i
- •* REPORTS. la
Lincoln and Mr. Jas. Murray. The report is dated London, April
7, 1800. A subsequent report was made, dated Sep. 1, 1800. Mr.
Rennie reported as the result of his examination that the fens were
the receptacle not only of the waters which fell on their own surface
but of all that which flowed rapidly down from the high lands above,
and that owing to the smallness of the sluices, and their doors being
over-ridden by the water in the rivers, and the badness of the drains,
the greater part of the spring was gone before the water which had
accumulated in the fen could be carried off. To remedy this the
first object which required consideration was the outfall ; the
second, the discharging the water falling on the fens ; and the third,
the intercepting the high land water and preventing its entering the
fens. The drainage of the Wildmore and part of the West Fen was
made through Anton's Gowt, by means of the sluice erected by the
Witham Commissioners at the time the river was straightened, as
detailed in the preceding chapter, the sill of which was 2ft. above
the sill of the Grand Sluice. Through this sluice also were dis
charged the waters from the high country, lying in the lordships of
Kirkby, Revesby, Mareham, Tumby, and Coningsby; but in times
of flood the Witham over-rode the waters from these parts, and
they were driven back through Medlam Drain and West House
Syke to Cherry Corner, whence they found their way by Mill Drain,
or Stone Bridge Drain, to Maud Foster's Gowt, which consisted of a
single opening, 13ft. wide, its sill being 3m. lower than the sill of the

2l8
Grand Sluice. Low water of spring tides at that time stood about
4ft. gin. on the sill, and the general surface of the lands in the West
and Wildmore Fens was 9ft. above the sill, allowing a fall of 4ft.
3m. from the surface to low water mark. The lowest land in the
Fen, called ' No Man's Friend,' was one foot below the rest, and
was frequently covered with water to that depth. The East Fen
Deeps were covered, on an average, about 2ft. in dry summers.
objections The scheme recommended by Mr. Rennie, and adopted by the
to rennie's •* # *¦ ~
scheme. Commissioners, will be more fully detailed hereafter. Opinions
were much divided as to the best means of dealing with the drain
age. The Proprietors of Wildmore Fen were anxious, if possible, to
keep this separate and to discharge the water into the Witham at
Anton's Gowt. A strong feeling also prevailed that the drainage of
the East Fen should be discharged into the river at the old oulet at
Maud Foster, on the principle that for the preservation of an outfall
the tributary stream should be conducted to its channel at the high
est point possible. Others more intimately connected with the
district contended that the main object to be sought was the efficient
drainage of the Fens, irrespective of other considerations, and there
fore advocated a new cut to Wainfleet Haven ; while a third plan
, was that which was finally adopted, being a compromise between
the two, by which the water was to be conveyed by a new cut
through the centre of the East Fen, discharging into the river near
Fishtoft Gowt.
Owing to the obstruction in the Witham, caused by the silt
accumulating below the Grand Sluice from the want of scour, Mr.
Rennie was of opinion that the surface of the water in Anton's
Gowt could never be greatly lowered, even if a new cut were made
from it and the water carried to the Witham below the Grand
Sluice. He therefore advised against the scheme for draining Wild-
more Fen in this way. As regards the drainage of the East Fen by
Wainfleet Haven he says, " Were the Wainfleet Gowt to be taken
away and a new one established at the angle of the sea bank just
above Gibraltar House and about a mile and a quarter further to
seaward than the present gowt, the sill of which might be laid lower
than Maud Foster, so that nearly 4ft. of additional fall in the surface
of the water more than is at present might be obtained ; but before
the water could be brought from the East Fen to this gowt a very
expensive cut through land, generally from 12ft. to 13ft. deep, must
be made for the distance of eight miles. A new and expensive cut
would also be wanted for the Steeping, or Limb, River, and when all
was done the quantity of water which passes through Wainfleet
Haven being but small, the outfall could not be easily maintained
in an efficient state." He advised therefore, after duly considering
the whole of these reasons, that the only effectual place through
which the East Fen, and the low grounds in the East Holland

219
towns could be drained, was at Fishtoft, or rather lower than where
the present gote is situated. He points out that the expense of this
Cut would be considerable, as five and a half miles of it would re
quire to be excavated in ground from 15ft. to 18ft. high, and the other
four miles in ground from 10ft. to 12ft. high, but in his opinion the
excellent drainage which would be obtained by this means would more
than compensate for the expense. If, " however, Boston Haven were
to be improved so as to lower the surface of the water at Maud
Foster's Goat, the East Fen might also be drained through this
Outfall, which would not only save the expense of the proposed
catchwater drain from Sibsey Willows to Maud Foster, but also the
new Cut from Hilldyke Bridge to near Fishtoft, with the goat and
bridges. If this should take place (effecting a saving of £27,956)" he
considered " that these fens could afford to contribute liberally to the
improvement of Boston Haven ; and that the money would be
better bestowed in this way than in making the Cut in question."
In the second report he adds, " If the Haven was to be properly
improved I have no hesitation in saying the East Fen, with the low
lands in Friskney, &c, may be completely drained at or near Maud
Foster's Goat, but unless the gentlemen of Boston and others inter
ested in the navigation of, and drainage by, the River Witham were
to unite and bring about a proper improvement of the same, I cannot
advise the drainage to be conducted to any place higher than Hobhole."
Mr. Rennie urged very strongly on the Corporation of Boston
the scheme for straightening and improving the river from Maud
Foster downwards.
The estimated cost of the scheme for the West and Wildmore
Fens was £103,262, and for the East Fen with the Cut to Fishtoft
Gowt and the sluice, £85,290 ; together, £188,552.
When these reports were brought before the Corporation of
Boston, they expressed their willingness to contribute one-half of the
expense of straightening the river from Maud Foster to Hobhole, as
recommended by Mr. Rennie. This was not deemed sufficient by
the Drainage Commissioners, and finally, after a great deal of con
sideration of the several schemes, it was determined that the water
from the uplands and the West and Wildmore Fens should be
conducted to Maud Foster, but that the outfall of the drainage from
the sock and downfall of the East Fen should be near Fishtoft
Gowt. This decision failed to give general satisfaction, and one
pamphleteer, in a letter addressed to the Commissioners, asks how
many pails of water they expect will pass down Maud Foster Drain,
and observes, " If this drain is executed upon the proposed dimen
sions, from the sluice to Cowbridge, there will not be a supply of
water to cover that drain above one inch deep."
Mr. Thomas Stone strongly advocated the claims of Wainfleet
Haven as an outfall, and expressed the opinion that the proposed

T. Stone, 1800.

220

ROCKLINGTON'S REPORT. 1BOO.

FURTHER
OBJECTIONS!
Holland Watch
man, 1800.

drain through a gowt below Fishtoft would not completely drain
the pits in the East Fen, and that the Proprietors must be prepared
to^endure many very expensive calls upon their pockets.
Some of the Proprietors, also, who disagreed with Mr. Rennie's
scheme, obtained a report from Mr. William Pocklington of Sibsey,
who considered that the fens could be effectually drained at less
cost and with less waste of land than by the scheme proposed by Mr.
Rennie. He was of opinion that it was practicable to drain
the East, West and Wildmore Fens through Maud Foster ; that
by bringing all the water to one outfall there would be greater
certainty of preserving and keeping open the outfall. He proposed
leaving the deeps in the East Fen as they were, on the ground that
this would save a large amount of expense, and that they would be
much more useful left, as affording a basin for the reception of water
in violent floods, and as a reservoir for water for the use of the
country in dry seasons ; and also as a nursery for fish and fowl, and
for the production of reeds for thatching and ' bumbles,' (rushes
used for chair bottoms). His scheme for intercepting the high land
water was practically the same as that which Mr. Rennie afterwards
carried out. A new sluice with three openings was to be built in
place of the old Maud Foster Sluice. For the West and Wildmore
Fens the Mill Drain was to be enlarged, from Cowbridge to within
half a mile of Swinecotes, and a new drain cut thence to Medlam
Drain. For the East Fen Newdyke Drain was to be enlarged from
Cowbridge to Jenkinson's Lane, and a new cut made through the
centre of the East Fen near the Catchwater Drain by ToyntOD
Enclosure ; another Cut was to be made from the said Lane, through
Leake Mere, along the sewer by Wrangle Common, and another to
Toad Lane engine, and thence by Dickin Hills through the Moss-
berry ground, along the boundary of the fen, to the Catchwater
Drain near Steeping. The estimated cost of the whole of the scheme
was £56,102. This estimate was based on the drains having a
capacity of six cubic feet for low fen land, and twelve cubic feet for
high land, to every 1,000 acres. The cost of excavation, at that
time, was from 7/- to 8/- a floor, or about sixpence per cubic yard.
With reference to this proposed drainage of the East Fen by Maud
Foster, a pamhlet by ' A Holland Watchman ' was written to show
that the scheme was not practicable, the author resting his evidence
on the figures and levels given in Mr. Rennie's report, and remark
ing, " If the East Fen and the county adjacent, amounting to
30,000 acres, can be drained by Maud Foster, all the levels that have
been taken lose their credit, and the Levellers must look to theirs as
they are able.. ..The game of Anton's Gowt is about to be repeated
at Maud Foster, and as Wildmore and West Fens are now drained
at the former, just so will your fen and your present low lands be
drained at Maud Foster.... But for your comfort give up only the

221
East Fen Deeps (that is 3,000 acres) to wild fowl for the London
market ; to fish for the Boston market ; to reeds for your houses,
which will be covered with tiles or slate ; and to bumbles forllyour
chairs which (like those of other good farmers) will be made of
horsehair and mahogany; and then you may be drained tolerably...
The question is not whether a few acres of the deepest pits (to
which I see no objection) but whether three thousand acres shall be
left under water just at your doorr"
On the other hand Mr. William Chapman, in two pamphlets, l8o?B5a*8oI
strongly advocated the scheme for making Maud Foster the main
outfall, and expressed his doubt as to the wisdom of the resolution
passed at Boston, by which the waters of the East Fen and East
Holland towns were to be diverted to Hobhole, and also his dis
approval of the plan of bringing the Anton's Gowt waters down
to Maud Foster, thus depriving the channel through Boston of its
aid without substituting any equivalent. He considered that it
was " much to be regretted that those who are interested in the
present drainages should not see the advantages of an improved
haven ; advantages of no little importance to the town of Boston,
but of immense magnitude to the fens in general, and to the country
adjacent. . .By an improvement of Boston Haven the town would reap
some advantages, the country many  Fully convinced of the
wisdom of the proposed improvement and the lasting benefits which
would result from it, I trust that the country, the town and cor
poration will be prepared for union, and that to accomplish an
improvement of such magnitude it will not be found difficult to
raise the trifling sum of £41,270."
In April 1800 a meeting of the Proprietors of estates having
right of common and other interests in the fens, was held at the
Town Hall, Boston, Sir Joseph Banks being in the chair. At this
meeting after considering Mr. Rennie's and Mr. Pocklington's reports,
it was resolved that a subscription should be entered into to defray
the preliminary expenses of obtaining an Act, the amount contributed
to be in proportion to the number of acres owned in the fens. That
three bills should be promoted in Parliament, one for draining the
East, West and Wildmore Fens ; one for dividing and inclosing Wild-
more Fen ; and the third for dividing and inclosing the East and
West Fens. A subsequent meeting was held at the Bull Inn,
Horncastle, of the Proprietors of rights, in Wildmore Fen when
similar resolutions were passed.
In December of the same year a meeting of merchants and
ship owners was held at Boston to urge on the promoters of the
drainage the advantages to be derived from bringing all the drainage
water to Maud Foster, and recommending that a charge of four-
pence per ton should be levied on all vessels entering the port,
which, it was estimated, would produce sufficient to pay the interest

MEETING OF
COMMONERS. 1800.

222
on half the cost of improving the river from Maud Foster down
wards. At a meeting of the Proprietors held subsequently it was
resolved " that the proposal of the merchants, ship owners and
traders of Boston to cleanse and deepen the middle portion of the
River Witham at the joint expense of themselves and the Proprie
tors of the fens, without deepening the outfall of the said river to
the sea, is not likely in any degree to amend the actual outfall of
the land waters to sea, and cannot therefore materially contribute to
the improvement of the drainage."
Some difference of opinion also arose as to the manner in
which the fens should be allotted, and as to the amount claimed by
the Duchy of Lancaster. A meeting of the Proprietors was held
at Stickney to protest against the allowance of one twentieth, pro
posed to be given to the Duchy, in lieu of manorial rights, after
deducting the land required for defraying the costs of inclosure ; it
was also agreed that the land left after that taken to pay the expenses
of enclosure, ought to be allotted to the owners of common rights,
houses and toftsteads only, without any reference to the quantity of
T. stone, 1800. the land. It was stated in a pamphlet by Thomas Stone, Land
j. cope, 1801. Surveyor, published in London in 1800, that the lands thus to be
given to the Duchy of Lancaster, when drained and improved,
would be worth £80,000. Mr. J. Cope, in a printed letter dated
London, 1801, protested against this allotment to the Duchy,
pointing out that in Deeping Fen the proportion claimed for the
same rights, had only been one fortieth.
At a subsequent meeting of those who were promoting the
Bill for the Inclosure, held at Boston, it was resolved that in making
the allotment of land, after providing for inclosure, roads, drains
and manorial rights, one moiety ought to go to common right
owners and toftsteads, and that the other should be divided among
the proprietors of lands who had a house and who were entitled to
stock the fen, on the 27th July, 1800 ; in proportion to their lands
lying in common-right parishes and places, quantity, quality and
situation considered ; and it was further determined that those who
dissented from this should be left to their remedy in the Courts of
law.
drainage act. At last in 1 80 1 an Act was obtained entitled " An Act for the
41 Geo. iii, c 35. better and more effectually draining certain tracts of land, called
Wildmore Fen and the West and East Fens, in the county of
Lincoln, and also the low lands and grounds in the several parishes,
townships, and places, having right of common in the said fens, and
other lowlands and grounds lying contiguous or adjoining thereto."
43 Geo. m, c. In x803 an amending Act was obtained authorising alterations in
II8- some of the works set out in the first Act. By the first Act the
boundaries of the Fourth District of the Witham Commissioners,

223
as originally settled by the Witham Act of 1762, were extended and
the East Fen was made to include the low grounds adjacent, being
bounded as follows, "by the Parish of Skirbeck and the high lands of
Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake and
Wrangle, by the Parishes of Friskney and Wainfleet St. Mary's
and by Steeping River on or towards the east and north-east ; by
the Parish of Skirbeck and the high lands of Fishtoft, Sibsey
Willows, the high lands of Sibsey, Stickney, Stickford and West
Keal, on or towards the west; and by the high lands of East Kealj
Toynton All Saints, Toynton St. Peter's and Halton Holgate, and
by Steeping River on or towards the north."
Mr. John Renshaw of Owthorpe, Mr. William Whitelock of
Brotherton, and Mr. Joseph Outram of Alfreton were appointed
Commissioners for carrying int o execution the works authorised by
the Act, under the control of the Witham General Commissioners(
their remuneration being fixed at £3 3s. per day. On the completion
of the works they were to be vested in and remain under the control
of the Commissioners. The owners of certain low lands in Friskney,
Wainfleet St. Mary's and Wainfleet All Saints, and on the west
side of Steeping River, which were not within the boundary of the
Fourth District, had the option of being included, and of obtaining
the advantages of the provisions in the Act, if four-fifths of the
Proprietors (in value) signified their desire to that effect. This they
did and these lands were incorporated in the Fourth District.
It was enacted that the outring and division ditches should be
maintained by the Owners of the land adjacent, the dimensions
being given as gft. broad and 5ft. deep. By a subsequent Act power 58 Geo- "*¦ c> 6o'
was given to the Commissioners to require all Owners and Occupiers
in the Fourth District, to make and keep their division ditches and
tunnels sufficiently cleansed and scoured out, to such dimensions as
were directed upon the inclosure, or, where not defined, to such
reasonable dimensions as the Commissioners should think fit.
Persons convicted of wilfully damaging any of the banks or works
were to be deemed guilty of felony, or be fined at the discretion of
the Court. Under the powers of these Acts the following works were
executed for the drainage of the fens by Mr. Rennie.
For the drainage of the West and Wildmore Fens a catchwater
drain was made, skirting the adjacent high lands. It commenced
near the junction of the river Bane with the Witham, in the parish
of Coningsby, and passes through Tumby, Mareham, and Revesby,
to Hagnaby, running on the north side of the existing catch
water drain. At Hagnaby Corner it joined the old Gote Sike Drain,
and continued along that, the Fen Side Drain and Stonebridge Drain,
to Cowbridge, these drains being enlarged and deepened. This
catchwater drain is about eighteen miles in length, and the bottom

DRAINAGE
WORKS, 1803.

224
was made to an inclined plane, rising six inches in the mile. The
width of the bottom, at the lower end, is thirty feet, diminishing to
sixteen feet from Hagnaby Corner, and to eight feet at its commence
ment near Coningsby.
By the first Act it was intended that this drain should continue,
by a distinct Cut, parallel with Maud Foster, to the Haven ; and
discharge at a new sluice to be built at the side of Maud Foster,
so that the high and low land waters should have separate outlets ;
but by the amended Act obtained in 1803, the Commissioners were
authorised to omit the making of the new Cut from Cowbridge
to the Haven and the erection of the additional sluice, and, instead,
to make the existing arrangement by which the upland waters flow
to sea by means of Maud Foster Drain, and provision is made, as
hereafter described, for the West Fen waters to flow into Hobhole
when over-ridden by them.
A new sluice was built in Boston Haven, about three chains to
to the east of the sluice erected in 1734. The old sluice was
pulled down. The new sluice has three openings, of thirteen feet
four inches each ; the sill being one foot nine inches below that
of the Grand Sluice. The drain was deepened and widened to
Cowbridge, the bottom being made thirty feet wide, and rising
six inches per mile. Across this drain, at Cowbridge, a sluice
was erected, with pointing doors, to prevent the water from the
high lands, which discharges below this point, from backing up
into the fens. Above the doors a communication was made to admit
the West and Wildmore Fen waters into Hobhole Drain when they
are above the gauge weir, and in danger of flooding the low lands.
This drain, which passes under Stonebridge drain, the waters of
which are conveyed over it by a stone aqueduct, having three
openings of 12ft. each, joins the New Dyke Draiu, which was
enlarged and continued from Luke's Corner to Hobhole Drain, at
Freiston Common. A stop was placed above the aqueduct, for
the purpose of sending all the water that was possible through
Maud Foster Gowt at ordinary times ; but as soon as the water rose
within two feet of the surface of the low lands it ran over the weir.
In times of flood, when the water was within one foot of the
medium surface of the lowest lands, the doors were opened and the
water allowed to flow freely to Hobhole. There is also a side cut
near this place, in which is a lock to allow of the passage of boats
from the West Fen to Hobhole Drain.
30 and 31 vict., This restriction as to the passage of the waters out of the West
l867" Fen through New Dyke into Hobhole Drain was withdrawn in the
Act obtained in the session of 1867, and the Commissioners have
now power to allow the stop doors to remain open for the six
winter months, so that the West Fen waters are discharged at
Hobhole, instead of at Maud Foster as formerly.

225
From Cowbridge the drainage is provided for by the West Fen
Drain, which is a straight Cut, with a 30ft. bottom, as far as
the junction with Medlam Drain, at Swinecotes near Mount
Pleasant, where it turns to the west and joins Newham Drain ;
whence it continues along the old Howbridge Drain to Little Wild-
more, near Dogdyke, where the bottom was made only 8ft.
wide. It has an average inclination, throughout its whole length of
about nine and a half miles, of five inches per mile. Newham and
Sandbank drains were enlarged, so as to have 12ft. of bottom at
their junction with the other drain, diminishing to 8ft. at their
termination. The old Medlam Drain, which is the principal outlet for the
West Fen, was connected with the new drain at Swinecotes. It
was enlarged to 18ft. at its junction with the main West Fen Drain,
diminishing to 12ft. at its termination at Revesby Gap. The length
is about 6 miles, and the bottom has a rise of 6in. in a mile. There
is another Cut for the purpose of draining the south part of Wild-
more Fen, commencing at the West Fen Drain, at Cowbridge, and
extending on the south side of Frith Bank Enclosure to Anton's Gote
into Newham Drain, and thence along Castle Dyke and Long
Dyke Drains, which were enlarged and deepened. This drain was
made 16ft. in width of the bottom, at its junction with the West
Fen Drain, diminishing to 8ft. at the upper end. The length is
about 8 miles, and the rate of inclination was laid out at 4^-in. per
mile. For the drainage of the East Fen the highland water was pre
vented from flowing into it by a catchwater drain, commencing
by a junction with the Old Fen Side Drain, now part of the West
Fen Catchwater, about a quarter of a mile below Cherry Corner,
and passing through Northdyke Bridge, across Barlode Drain, to
Stickford, and thence along the skirts of the East Fen to Little
Steeping. This drain was made 16ft. wide at the bottom at its
commencement, diminishing to 6ft. at the termination. A new cut
was made from Hagnaby Beck to Barlode Drain to divert the
waters from their old course into this drain.
A new sluice was built in Boston Haven at Hobhole, in the
Parish of Fishtoft, about 4 miles below Boston. The sluice was
made with three openings of 15ft. each, the sill being laid 5ft.
below that of the Grand Sluice, or about ift. gin. above low water
of spring tides in Boston Deeps. At the time of construction,
the sill was 2ft. below low water in the river. From .this sluice
a new cut was made, running in a straight line in a northerly
direction through the Parishes of Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick,
Benington, Leverton and Leake, to the junction of the old New
Dyke Drain with the Leake and Wrangle Drain, near Benington
Bridge. From there it followed the course of the Leake and

HOBHOLE DRAIN.

FEN.

226
Wrangle Drain, which was enlarged and deepened to Simon House
Bridge, about 70 chains south of Lade Bank, whence a new drain
was cut through Lade Bank to Toynton St. Peter's. The lower
part was made with a bottom, 40ft. wide, diminishing to 12ft. at its
termination at the upper end. The length is 14 miles, and it was
laid out with a fall of 5m. in a mile. The lower end of this drain,
for about 5! miles, passes through high land, the depth of the
other drains, cutting being from 15ft. to 18ft. Barlode Drain was enlarged and
deepened to a 16ft. bottom and extended eastward to the new
Hobhole Drain. On the other side Good Dyke Drain was ex
tended westward to Hobhole Drain, which it entered opposite- the
junction with Barlode Drain. Lade Bank Drain was extended
from Cherry Corner to Hobhole Drain, being carried under the
Catchwater Drain at Nordyke Bridge, and from the east side of
Hobhole Drain, along the Fen Dyke Bank to Friskney, having a
10ft. bottom. Steeping River was deepened and embanked, so as to
prevent its flooding the low lands, as also the Great Steeping Beck.
These works were all carried out under the direction of Mr.
Rennie, Mr. Anthony Bower being resident Engineer, and the con
tract for the largest works being executed by Mr. John Pinkerton.
evel of the The general surface of the lowlands in the West Fen was, at
the time of the completion of the drainage, about eleven feet above
the sill of Maud Foster Sluice ; but a portion of the surface of
Wildmore Fen was a foot lower than this. The surface of the
highest part of the East Fen was about the same level, but a great
deal of it was a foot lower, and the lowest parts, formerly the Deeps,
were only nine feet above Hobhole sill.
To meet the expenses of carrying out and maintaining these
works the General Commissioners were authorised to levy
additional rates on the Wildmore and West Fens, to the extent
of fourpence per acre, so long as they remained common lands ; but,
on their enclosure, the rate might be raised to one shilling per acre.
On the East Fen a tax of one shilling per acre was imposed on the
lands held in severalty — eightpence per acre on half-year lands, and
fourpence on common lands — to be raised to one shilling on their
enclosure. They were also authorised to enclose and sell six hun
dred acres of the common land, the proceeds to be applied towards
the cost of the drainage.
The first stone of Hobhole Sluice was laid on March 7th, 1805,
and it was opened on September 3rd, 1806. The first stone of the
new Maud Foster Sluice was laid on the 21st of May, 1806, and the
sluice was opened the following year.
Mr. Bower, reporting to the Bedford Level Commissioners in
1 8 14, on the result of these works, says, " It is satisfactory to state
Bowery Report, that every wished-for object in the drainage of the whole of the fens
and of the low lands adjoining is effectually obtained, and the lowest

EFFECT OF THE
DRAINAGE.

227
land brought into a state of cultivation. The East Fen Deeps are
so perfectly drained, and so confident are the proprietors of this,
that part of them now forms a considerable farm-yard ; but stronger
proofs of this than mere assertion have now been had. There have
been within the last five years several extraordinary floods and high
tides, which have not in the smallest degree affected the works or
low lands ; and at this moment of time, when the low lands in every
part of the kingdom are overflowed by an ice flood, the East, West,
and Wildmore Fens and low lands adjoining are perfectly free, and
as ready for all agricultural purposes as the high country lands."
Separate Acts were obtained for the enclosure of the East and
West Fens, and for Wildmore Fen.
In the Preamble of these Acts the area of the East Fen is east and west
given as 12,424 acres, West Fen, 16,924 acres, and Wildmore
Fen, 29,348 ; total, 59,196 acres.
The Commissioners appointed by the Act to allot the East and 41 Geo. iii, c.
West Fens were John Renshaw of Owthorpe, William Whitelocke .jGeoaic
of Brotherton, and John Outram of Alfreton ; with Anthony Bower I29> l8l°-
of Lincoln, as surveyor. Robert Millington of Gedney, William
Thacker of Langret Ferry, and Thomas Rockliffe of Fulletby, were
appointed as ' Quality men ' for valuing the land, and Samuel
Tunnard of Boston, and Joseph Brackenbury of Spilsby were
named as Clerks in the Act.
The Commissioners were allowed by the Act £3 3s. od., and
the 'Quality men' £2 2s. od. a day, including their expenses.
The Commissioners were to set out such lands as they deemed
necessary, the public carriage roads to be 40ft. wide ; and it was
forbidden to plant trees within 50ft. of the roads ; the roads to be
properly formed and completed by Surveyors appointed by the
Commissioners, and the cost made part of the cost of enclosing ;
and two years after the making of the Award these allotted roads
were to be kept in repair by the parishes in which they were
situated. The costs of carrying out the Act were to be covered by
the sale by public auction of sufficient land. One-twentieth of the
fens was to be allotted to the Crown in right of the Duchy of Lan
caster, as Lord of the Manor, for all rights of brovage and agistment ;
land to the value of one-ninth part of the parochial and general
allotments was to be allotted to the Tithe Owners in lieu of all
tithes ; half of the remainder to the Owners of houses, toft
steads and lands having right of Common ; and the other half to the
parishes of Bolingbroke, Hareby, Asgarby, Lusby, Raithby,
Hundleby, Mavis Enderby, Spilsby, Halton Holgate, Little Steep
ing, Thorpe, Toynton All Saints, Toynton St. Peter's, East Keal,
West Keal, Miningsby, Revesby, East Kirkby, Hagnaby, Stick-
ford, Stickney, Sibsey, Frith Bank, Boston East, Skirbeck, Fishtoft,
Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, and Leake.

228
The award, after enrolment with plans, was to be deposited ' in
the Treasury of the Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Boston,
with the Records and Muniments belonging to the said Borough,'
and another copy at the office of Clerk of the Council of the Duchy
of Lancaster ; but in the subsequent Act the Award was directed to
be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace for the parts of Lindsey.
The Awards were to be open for inspection, on payment of a fee of
one shilling, and copies supplied at the rate of fourpence per
sheet of 72 words.
wildmore fen. Wildmore Fen was allotted under Acts passed in 1801 and 1802.
41 Geo. iii, c. The same Commissioners and Surveyor were appointed. The
Geo iii c. ' QuaUTy men,' or Valuers, appointed were William Porter of Freis-
Io8i ton, John Bonner of Langton, and Stephen Morris of Dunham ; the
Clerks appointed were Richard Clitherow of Horncastle, and
Francis Thirkill of Boston. The same regulations as to roads and
trees, and the sale ofland for payment of expenses were enacted. The
manorial rights of the Earl of Stamford and others were to be
compensated by an allotment of one-twentieth of the fen ; and the
remainder of the land to the Owners of houses and toftsteads and to
the parishes of Horncastle, West Ashby, Thimbleby, High Toynton,
Low Toynton, Mareham-on-the-Hill, Moorby, Wilksby, Mareham-
le-Fen, Wood Enderby, Roughton, Haltham-upon-Bane, Coningsby,
Dalderby, Kirkstead, Scrivelsby, Tumby, Bolingbroke, Revesby,
Toynton All Saints, Toynton Saints Peter'1;, Frith Bank and
Fishtoft. The Award was to be deposited in the parish church of
Horncastle, and copies supplied at the rate of fourpence per sheet,
One-ninth of the fens, after the deductions for the Fen Chapels, was
to be allotted to the Tithe Owners in lieu of all tithes.
fen chapels. Under the Enclosure Acts a fund was created for the erection
50 Geo. iii, u. ant^ maintenance of ' Chapels ' and the payment of the Ministers. For
129, 1810. this purpose, one-ninth part of the land alloted to the Crown for
42 ^loo'."' "' manorial rights in the East and West Fens, and 175 acres from
the lands to be allotted to the Tithe Owners, and 156 acres out of the
land to be alloted for parochial and general purposes ; and in Wild-
more Fen one-ninth of tbe manorial allotment and 50 acres from the
land awarded to the Tithe Owners, and 50 acres from that awarded
to the General Commissioners, were to be vested in the Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Lord of the
Manor of Armtree and Wildmore, the Bishop of Carlisle, the Arch
deacon of Lincoln, and their successors, to be held in fee for the
benefit of the said Chapels and their Ministers. The Chapels
erected under the powers given in these acts are at Midville, Mount
Pleasant, Carrington, Langrick Ville, and New Bolingbroke.
fen townships. Land, amounting to about 13^20 acres, was sold for the purpose
52 GT8i"!' c' 3' of the above Acts. This, with the land allotted to the Lords of the
Manor and for the fen Chapels, was not annexed to any parish. To

220.
remedy this, an Act was obtained in 1812, in the preamble
of which it is stated, that the population of these fens was rapidly
increasing, and that it would be for the public convenience if this
extra-parochial land were divided and constituted into seven town
ships. The townships formed by this Act are East Ville, containing
2,657a. ir. i2p. ; Midville, 2501a. ir. 6p. ; Frithville, 2,716a. 3r. 37P. ;
Carrington, 2,416 or. 13P. ; West Ville, i,g5oa. 2r. 2p. ; Thornton-
le-Fen, 1,425a. ir. 2gp. ; Langrick Ville, i,gna. 2r. 32P. Maps
showing the boundries of these townships were to be deposited with
the Clerks of the Peace of Kesteven and Holland. These town
ships were declared to be subject to the general laws of England
relating to constables and the relief of the poor.
The works carried out under these Acts left the drainage of the THE =• °°° «¦"¦
low lands by Wainfleet Haven untouched, and they remained very
insufficiently drained.
In 1814 a report was issued by Mr. Walker addressed to the w.waiker,i8i4,
Proprietors and Occupiers of low grounds in Wainfleet All Saints,
Thorpe, Croft, Irby and Firsby, draining through Wainfleet Haven,
in which he advised the deepening of Wainfleet Haven, the raising and
strengthening of the banks, removing the sluice and allowing the tide
to have free flow up the Haven, the estimated cost being £3,360 ;
or, as an alternative scheme, the erection of a steam engine where
Thorpe engine then stood, the estimated cost of which he put at
£g5o, and the annual expense at £200.
Subsequently a report was obtained from Mr. Rennie, in which j. Bennie, 1818.
he described the works he considered necessary to drain the district,
and to carry off the high land water to Wainfleet Haven. The area of
the district to be dealt with was 6,740 acres.
An Act was obtained in 1818, by which the lowlands in Great 5s Geo. Hi, c. 69,
Steeping, Thorpe, Irby, Firsby, Bratoft, Croft and Wainfleet All l8x8'
Saints, known as ' the Five Thousand Acres,' were incorporated with e"°°° ««"
. . .„ . . . ,. JOINED TO EAST
the Fourth District. For the better protection of the East Fen fen.
and of these low lands, the Witham General Commissioners were drainage works
authorised by this Act to widen and enlarge the mill race of Little
Steeping Mill, so that it should have 18ft. water-way ; and to
straighten and enlarge the Steeping River, through Little Steeping,
Great Steeping and Firsby, to Firsby Clough, and thence to make a
new Cut through Firsby, Thorpe and Wainfleet All Saints, to a point
about one mile from Salem Bridge, the bottom width being made
21ft. Beyond this the river was to be enlarged to a 21ft. bottom ;
the banks were to be raised 3ft., and be 2ft. wide at an average height
of nine feet above the land ; a ne w Cut or back delph was to be made on
the north-east side of the river to Wainfleet Sewer and continued
thence through Wainfleet All Saints, Thorpe, Firsby, Great Steeping
and Little Steeping to near Little Steeping water mill, with a 3ft.
bottom to Wardike Drain, and 10ft. beyond Wardike, diminishing

AUTHORISED.

230
to 6ft. at Firsby Clough, and beyond that to 3ft. Great Steeping
Beck was to be enlarged, from near Little Steeping Church,
to a 1 oft. bottom at the river, diminishing to 2ft. at the
upper efid. Five brick bridges, having 24ft. water way, were to
be erected. Firsby Little Clough was to be rebuilt, near the
junction of the new Cut with the Little River Limb, and Firsby
Great Clough to be rebuilt across the Steeping River with a water
way of 24ft ; Salem Bridge was also to be rebuilt with the same
water way. The following drains and sewers were to be straight
ened, deepened and improved, and to have a bottom width, re
spectively, asfollows : Steeping Sewer to 2ft.; Marshes Drain, Firsby
Sewer and Mold Drain, 3ft., diminishing to 2ft.; Irby Beck,
3ft. to ift., Bratoft Beck, or Cowcroft Drain, 12ft. to 4ft.; Little
River Limb to the bend in Bratoft ; a new drain to be cut on the
south side of the Limb from Irby Beck end in a westerly
direction to the junction of the river with the new Cut ;
a new drain on the north side of the Little River Limb
from Irby Beck in an easterly direction to its bend in Bratoft ;
a new drain on the west side of Lever Gate Road from
Irby Beck end through Thorpe to where Wardyke Drain crosses
the new Cut with a 4ft. bottom ; Wardyke Drain to be enlarged and
deepened from Fen Bank Corner to the new Cut, and to have a 20ft.
bottom, diminishing to 10ft. The remainder of the Wardike Drain to
be straightened and enlarged to 6ft. diminishing to 2ft.; also Wainfleet
Sewer from the high lands in Wainfleet All Saints to Fen Bank
Corner ; thence to the New Cut, with 3ft. bottom, diminishing to ift.
A new Cut was to be made from theWest End of Wardike through the
Dales to the White Cross Clough Drain, having 20ft. bottom ; also
a drain across the Steeping River, between the church of Wainfleet
All Saints' and White Cross Clough ; and sunken tunnels under the
Little River Limb at Irby Beck End, with two arches, 7ft. wide by
5ft. high ; one under the same river near Firsby Clough, 6ft.
by 4ft. ; and one under the New Cut, where the Wardike Drain
crosses, with three arches, each 7ft. by 5ft., and a brick carriage
bridge over the New Drain from the west end of Wardike
Drain to White Cross Clough Drain, with a water way of
24ft. The Steeping River and the works from Steeping Mill to Salem
Bridge, and the Wardyke Drain, from the south-west bank of the
new Cut to White Cross Clough Drain, were to be maintained and
supported by the General Commissioners, and all other works were
to be considered private, or interior, works of drainage, to be main
tained by Commissioners, appointed by the parishes as their
Representatives on the Board of the Fourth District, except as to
Salem Bridge, which was to be maintained by the same parishes as
were then liable to repair it.

ELECTION OF
COMMISSIONERS*

231
By the 13th clause it was enacted that if the Owners and
Occupiers of land in the Fourth District did not keep open their
division ditches and tunnels, the Commissioners could cause the
same to be done at the charge of the offender.
The total estimate for the works was £28^14. The Com
missioners undertook to execute the whole of the works on payment
to them of the sum of £18,627 by the owners of land in the several
parishes liable to be flooded by the Steeping River, or otherwise
benefited. Mr. John Burcham of Coningsby, was appointed Com
missioner to carry out the works.
By the same Act the method of electing the District Com- s Geo. iii, c. 32
missioners as set out in the Witham Act of 1762, was amended
as follows : —
The number of Commissioners was fixed at 26 ; five to
be elected by Wildmore Fen ; eight by the West Fen ; eight by the
East Fen and low lands in Wrangle, Friskney and Wainfleet ; five
by the low lands in Great Steeping, Thorpe, Irby, Firsby, Bratoft,
Croft, and Wainfleet All Saints. The latter were divided as follows,
viz., Great Steeping and Thorpe, 2; Irby and Firsby, 1 ; Bratoft and
Croft, 1 ; Wainfleet All Saints, 1. Every Owner often acres and
Occupier of 50 acres, chargable with taxes to the Fourth District, to
have one vote ; the qualification for a Commissioner being the owner
ship of 20 acres or the occupation of 100 acres. Owners were to be
allowed to appoint deputies to vote for them.
The satisfactory condition of the drainage, as described by Mr.
Bower in 18 14, did not remain permanent. Two causes conduced fen drainage
to the alteration. By the complete drainage of the spongy soil of
the East Fen, and its consolidation by working, the surface gradually
subsided from one to two feet. Also the channel of the Outfall from
Hobhole to Clayhole became raised from its former level by the
deposit of silt, owing to the neglect of proper training works. To
such an extent did this occur that the low water level of spring tides,
which, at the time of the erection of Hobhole Sluice, stood only 2ft.
on the sill, became raised to six and seven feet, and in times of flood
as much as eight and even ten feet ; so that, owing to the subsi
dence of the land on the one hand and the deterioration of the Out
fall on the other, the good effects originally felt by this drainage
were in a great measure neutralised, and in wet seasons the low
lands were liable to be flooded and the crops destroyed.
In the winter of 1866 a long continued and heavy downfall of
rain clearly demonstrated the system of drainage to be inadequate
to the discharge of the water. A very large area of land in the
East Fen was for many weeks completely under water. Viewed
from Keal Hill, the level was described as having the appearance of
one extensive lake, the course of the drains being indistinguishable
from the submerged lands. Occupiers, in some cases, had even to

DEFECTIVE CON
DITION OF THE

232
use boats to pass from one part of their farms to another, and the
roots stored in the fields were rendered quite inaccessible.
steam pumping In 1 86 1 Sir John Hawshaw was applied to by the General
"" TrE»"iT Commissioners to advise them on the drainage of this district, and
Hawkshaw,i86i requested to devise a plan for improving the drainage of the Fourth
District, as well as an alternative scheme, which, while improving
this particular tract of land, would also be more general in its
application. In 1865 Mr. Welsh, the Surveyor to the Commis
sioners, was also directed to report to them on the drainage of the
Fourth District. In these reports it is stated that the Fourth
District, including the East, West, and Wildmore Fens, and the Five
Thousand Acres, has a taxable area of 57,200 acres ; and the lands
north of Steeping River, of 5,000 acres ; but the area drained is about
9,000 acres ; that the Northern portion of the East Fen lies at a
lower level, by about 3ft., than the West and Wildmore Fens ; that
about 25,000 acres ofland in the East Fen, and 15,000 in the West
and Wildmore Fens, are below the ordinary flood level ; and that while
the larger portion of the West and Wildmore Fens, and the land
draining into Hobhole Drain below Lade Bank, are comparatively
uninjured by the water in the drains rising to eleven feet above the
sill of Hobhole Sluice, a considerable portion of the East Fen lying
to the north of Lade Bank, when the water rose that height, was
incapable of being drained by gravitation to Hobhole ; that the
portion of the East Fen, including lands draining into it, which
extends north of Lade Bank, amounts to about 30,000 acres, one-
half of which lies at so low a level as to require for its effectual
drainage that the water at Hobhole should not rise higher than
about seven feet above the sill, whereas that level was one foot below
low water of the Witham outside of Hobhole Sluice in times of
flood, which then rose to eight feet above the sill, and for this reason
these low lands could not on those occasions drain naturally by
Hobhole. • The general scheme for improving the Outfall, recommended
by Sir John Hawkshaw, is dealt with fully in another chapter ; it is
not necessary, therefore, to make further allusion to it here. The
local plan he advised was the placing of draw doors across Hobhole
Drain, near Lade Bank Bridge, and the erection of pumping engines of
180 horse-power at that spot, to lift the flood waters from the
northern to the southern side of the doors ; the maximum of the lift
being assumed at 5ft., and the extreme effect on the drain below the
doors — the raising of the water during the time the sea doors were
shut by the tides — i8in. The estimated cost was £15,000
for engines, pumps, draw-doors, land and works, and £3,000 for
parliamentary expenses, &c. The annual outlay for interest and
repayment of principal money borrowed, spread over 35 years, was
taken at £1,350, and for working expenses and maintenance £1,250 ;

233
together, £2,600, equal to a tax of about elevenpence per acre over
the whole district for the first 35 years, and of fivepence afterwards.
This scheme was considered at a meeting of the Commissioners
held in July, 1861, and it was then resolved : — 1. That a general
plan improving all drainage is preferable to a local one ; and also
that a natural drainage is preferable to an artificial one. 2. That
the Fourth District ought not to pay towards the general plan a
sum larger than it would have to expend for its own local drainage.
3. That if the benefit is, as anticipated, distributed to all the lands
in the Fourth District, all the lands should pay according to the
actual benefit received (the rate to be left to arbitration, the
maximum being fixed at three shillings, and the minimum at four-
pence, per acre). ... 10. That it would be desirable first to
attempt to carry out the general plan. 11. That in the event of
the other parties interested not being able or willing to carry out
their share of the expenses of the general plan, then it would be ex
pedient to have recourse to the local plan of draining the district
by steam power.
Mr. Welsh, in his report, recommended as an amendment on Welsh's Report,
Sir John Hawkshaw's plan, that the waters from the lands north
of Steeping River which, in his opinion, possessed ample elevation
for drainage by gravitation, should be prevented from flowing to
the proposed pumps at Lade Bank by stopping the Bellwater Drain
where the railway crosses it, and conveying the water by a new
cut to Fountain's Sewer, and thence to Hobhole Drain ; Fountain's
Sewer being enlarged. The high land sewer to run along Wrangle
Bank and Wrangle Common and discharge through the Upright
and Holland Sewers into Lade Bank Drain, which was also to be
diverted into Fountain's Sewer. This would have reduced the area
to be pumped to 25,000 acres.
Mr. David Martin, also, in a pamphlet addressed to the Com- d. Martin. 1867.
missioners, pointed out that the fen was pretty well drained before
the Steeping District was added, since when, the East Fen had been
subject to being flooded by the water from this district, which,
coming from land at a greater elevation, over-rode all the water in
the drains, so that the fen had became a pool for the reception of
this high land water. He therefore recommended that Bellwater
Drain should be made a catchwater for conveying these high land
waters to the sea, and that a new drain should be cut on the west
side of Hobhole Drain, from Fodder Dyke Drain to Bardolph Drain,
with other alterations in the arrangement of the several sewers, so
that the waters from the lower part of the East Fen might be con
veyed to an engine to be erected on the west bank of |Hobhole,
about half way between Fodder Dyke and Bardolph.
By carrying out the scheme suggested by Mr. Martin, the
engines might have been of much less power, and, having less

STEAM DRAINAGE.

234
work to do, an annual saving in working expenses might have been
effected ; but then, on the other hand, it was deemed that the in
creased outlay in the purchase of land, and the annual interest, would
make the result in the end nearly the same. Sir John Hawkshaw's
plan was therefore carried out as originally devised.
In 1866, the Commissioners, despairing of any general scheme
being carried out, decided on applying to Parliament for the necessary ¦
powers to enable them to erect a pumping engine at Lade Bank, for
the relief of the East Fen north of that point ; and for the better
drainage of the West and Wildmore Fens, the removal of the
restriction placed on the stop-doors at Cowbridge, so that the water
should be allowed to run freely out of the West Fen Drain, by New-
dyke or Junction Drain to Hobhole. They also decided to apply for
power to raise the sum of £20,000 on mortgage to pay for the
works, and to levy a tax, not exceeding sixpence per acre, on the land,
in addition to the two shillings on the West and Wildmore Fens,
and one shilling on the East Fen, already sanctioned by former Acts
(except on the Five Thousand Acres District).
. opposition to This course did not meet with general approval. At a public
meeting held at the Guild Hall, in Boston, the following resolution
was passed, viz., " That this Meeting views with considerable alarm
the introduction into Parliament of a Bill to provide additional means
for draining the Fourth District of the Witham Drainage and deter
mines to oppose it, as being inequitable and inefficient. Inequitable,
inasmuch as it proposes to lay an equal and uniform tax upon lands
that must be benefitted, upon lands that do not require, and cannot
receive benefit, and upon lands that may possibly be seriously
injured ; and inefficient, because it brings into immediate conflict the
waters of the East and West Fens ; does not provide for the per
manent working of the steam engines to be erected ; and does
nothing to improve the great Outfall of the district."
The Boston Harbour Commissioners, having had before them
the plan prepared by their Engineer, Mr. Wheeler, for training and
improving the outfall from Hobhole to Clayhole, at an estimated
cost of £20,000, endeavoured to get the Drainage Commissioners
to join with them in carrying out this scheme and to try its effect
before erecting the pumping engines ; and, being supported by Mr.
Abernethy, who had been called in to report on the feasability of the
scheme, opposed the Bill of the Fourth District in Parliament ; but
in this they were not successful, it being alleged by the Promoters
that no definite offer to carry out this or any other Outfall scheme
had been made by the Harbour Authorities to the Drainage Com
missioners. To remove this objection, before the Bill went into the .
Upper House, resolutions to the following effect were passed, and
sent to the Witham Commissioners : — (1) That the Scheme pro-"
pounded by Mr. Wheeler, as laid before the Committee of the House

STEAM
DRAINAGE ACT'

235
of Lords and supported by Mr. Abernethy, can be successfully
carried out for £20,000. (2) That the Drainage Commissioners be
asked to confer with the Corporation as to the means for carrying
out this scheme, which will be efficient for the double purpose of
Drainage and Navigation ; that the cost of carrying out such
scheme be borne by the lands beneficially affected and " by
the navigation ; that the necessary powers be applied for in the
following Session, and that in the meantime the pumping scheme be
suspended. The Drainage Commissioners would not consent to
this, but the Bill was not further opposed.
The Act known as the Wiiham Drainage (Fourth District)
Act, received the Royal Assent on the 15th July, 1S67. The Act ^"^d^i vTcl
gives the powers necessary for earring out the works above described Jg6y-
and for borrowing £20,000, which was to be repaid within 35 years
after the passing of the Act.
Under the Act of 1S1S there are 26 District Commissioners, 43 Geo. m, ^
elected in four separate portions, by the four sub-divisions of the
District and, under the original Witham Act of 1762, the District 2 Geo. in, ^32.
Commissioners elected eight of these to be General Commissioners.
By that Act these were not obliged to be Fourth District
Commissioners, but as the lands in the East Fen were lower than
those in the West and Wildmore Fen and as it was desirable that
the engines to be -erected should be under the care of the East Fen
General Commissioners, and also that the stop-gates at Cowbridge
should be under the care of West and Wildmore Fen General Commis
sioners, it was provided that four of the eight Commissioners should
be elected for the East Fen, two for the West Fen, and two for
Wildmore Fen. This clause was, however, repealed in the Act ob
tained in 1SS5, bv which the Hobhole Drain, steam engines, ^ and 49 vict,
and works mentioned in that section, and the working thereof, were, C-Ji8' aas-
bv this Act, vested in the General Commissioners, and placed
under the care of a Committee of five General Commissioners, of
whom two are to be East Fen, one West Fen, and one Wildmore Fen
General Commissioners, and one a General Commissioner, not
elected for the Fourth District.
The new Pumping Stari jn is situated on the west side of Hob
hole Drain, at Lade Bank, on lands formerly belonging to Hunston's
Charitv, and was erected under the direction of Sir John Hawk
shaw, by Messrs. Easton and Amos of London, Mr. H. C.
Anderson acting as their resident Engineer.
A full description of the pumps will be found in the Chapter on
the Drainage System. The amount borrowed for this work was
£18,000, bearing interest at five per cent.
The benefit to the occupiers of land in the East Fen from these ErrlCT or
works was very considerable ; the payment of the small additional pu«pi«g-
ta\- of sixpence per acre required towards the expenses of working

236

WITHAM outfall.

the engines, and the repayment of the money borrowed, bore no
comparison to the annual loss sustained by the destruction of crops
from the constant flooding to which this fen had been subject,
especially during the succession of wet seasons which followed a few
years after the engines were erected. The passing of the West Fen
waters, also, by way of Hobhole Drain, greatly facilitates the dis
charge of the drainage from the West Fen.
While, however, the pumps afforded a very large amount of
relief and placed the drainage of this district in comparative safety,
it continued still liable to flooding from the defective condition of the
Outfall, below Hobhole Sluice, the contracted area of the sluice, and
the condition of the banks of the Steeping River. Hobhole Drain
became incapable of discharging efficiently the large quantity of
water thrown by the pumps off the low land into it, below the stop-
doors at Lade Bank, and also that coming from the West and Wild-
more Fens. On several occasions, especially in December, 1868,
April, 1872, November, 1875, November, 1878 and September, 1880,
the pumps had to cease working, owing to the water being as high as
the top of the stop-doors, and some of the lowest land was flooded.
It was impossible that this condition could be remedied until
the Outfall of the river was placed in an efficient condition.
In 1880, the River Witham Outfall Improvement Act was
43 and 44g^ct-i passed, under the powers of which the Fourth District was to con
tribute towards the construction and maintenance of the new Outfall
in proportion to the number of acres in the district, as compared to
the whole contributing area. The Fourth District Commissioners
were not to be liable for any works above Hobhole Sluice. They
were authorised to borrow £49,000, to be repaid by instalments,
extending over 35 years from the 6th April, 1881. And they were
authorised to raise an annual tax, not exceeding one shilling per
acre, for repayment of the money borrowed, and of fourpence for main
tenance of the works. Certain lands in Boston, Skirbeck, Fishtoft,
Freiston and Sibsey were added to the Fourth District for the
purposes of this Act, and rendered liable to the Outfall Taxes.
The New Cut was opened in 1884, the bed of the Channel being
made 3ft. below the sill of Hobhole Sluice. A full description of
this work will be found in Chapter XII, on the Harbour, and
Outfall of the river.
The advantage to the drainage of the East Fen was greater than
had been anticipated. Previous to the opening of the Cut, the water
never ebbed out lower than 4ft. on the sill of Hobhole Sluice, and
in times of flood it did not ebb out below 7ft. or 8ft. on the sill. Sir
John Hawkshaw put the gain at 2ft., but it has been found to be as
Report on much as 5ft. 6in., and the water has at times ebbed out ift. 6in.
i.lE.awiinams, below the sill of the sluice.
l887- The amount contributed by the Fourth District to the Outfall

ENLARGEMENT OF HOBHOLE
SLUICE.

STEEPING, RIVER .

237
works was £41,1 19,. which was met by two loans of £28,000 and
of £21,000, bearing interest at the rate of \\ and 4J per cent.
In 1887 a further Act was obtained, — Witham Drainage {Hobhole
Sluice) Act, 1887, — authorising the widening and improving of Hob
hole Sluice, and the construction of a new opening, 15ft. in width, 5°canIo 5II^Lct'
making four openings, equal to a waterway of 60ft., the sill being
three feet below the old sill. The new opening was constructed on
the west side of the existing sluice. The cost of the work was
£5,905, of which £1,122 was for the cost of obtaining the Act,
£4,486 for works, and £2g6 for Engineer's and other charges. The
amount was paid for out of the £4g,ooo loan raised for this and the
Outfall purposes.
Provision was made in this Act for facilitating the collect
ion of the taxes and making the payment of them due on certain
fixed days, at Spilsby, Horncastle, Wainfleet or Boston, after notice
given by advertisement. The place of meeting for the Commis
sioners of the Fourth District for the purpose of electing General
Commissioners, named in the Act of 1762 as Spilsby, was changed
to Boston. The defective condition of the Steeping River and its Outfall at
Wainfleet remained a constant source of anxiety. The water coming
down very rapidly from the high land, and being unable to get
away with sufficient velocity, owing to the defective condition of the
channel and of the outfall at Wainfleet, rose to the level of the top of
the banks in times of heavy rain. On no less than three occasions
after the erection of the Lade Bank engines, the water overflowed
the banks and inundated the low land in the fen. Steeping River
had been much improved by the works executed under the Act of
1818, as already described, but the altered conditions of drainage
rendered further works necessary. A statement was issued by the
Commissioners to the Ratepayers, showing that further works were
necessary for the purpose of diminishing the risk of breakage and
injury to the banks on both sides of the river, for the maintenance
of which the Commissioners were liable, and the consequent flood
ing of the East Fen and Five Thousand Acre District ; for
diminishing the quantity of flood water going to the Lade Bank
engines and for diverting the same to an improved outfall for
Steeping River ; also for improving the fresh water supply to the
fens. A report was made to the Commissioners by Mr. Williams,
stating that the outfall channel from Salem Bridge was very
circuitous, its length, at average low water at Gibraltar point, being
nearly 7 miles, whereas the distance in a direct line is only 4 miles.
The water was prevented from getting freely away owing to the
restricted condition of Wainfleet stanch, which was only 16ft. wide.
The sea sluice, which was about 4J miles below Salem Bridge, had

STEEPING RIVER
ACT.

238
two openings, 12ft. 2in. and 5ft. gin. wide. The fall from Salem
Bridge to the sea sluice was at the rate of i2in. a mile. He advised
the cutting off of the worst bends of the river, and shortening the
course 1 mile 12 chains, and enlarging it, so as to give 15ft. at the
bottom ; the erection of a new stanch with 50ft. opening ; the
construction of an additional opening of 15ft. to the existing sluice ;
and the improvement of the channel below the sluice, for a distance
of 1 J miles. The estimated cost of these works was £^,425. It
was anticipated that these works would affect a depression of 2ft.
in the flood level above Salem Bridge.
The Commissioners applied to Parliament for further powers
to enable them to carry out this work, and in 1885 the Steeping
4 c. 158, 1885. ' River Act was obtained, authorising the straightening and widen
ing of Steeping River and Wainfleet Haven, from Salem Bridge to
low water in the Outfall channel, seaward of the Burgh Sluice
recently erected ; and the construction of a new stanch and a new
Outfall sluice with a 12ft. opening to the south of the old sluice, which
remained available as a flood channel. The old stanch was re
moved, and a new one built, near Croft Station, a mile east of the
old one, with two draw doors, each of 12ft. 6in. opening. The sluice
and stanch were built by Mr. S. Sherwin of Boston, at a cost of
about £3,300. The total cost of the works was — £ s. d.
Parliamentary, Legal and Engineering costs
in obtaining the Act ... .. ... 3,450 12 6
Land and Legal costs... ... ... ... 1,947 17 1
Works ... ... ... .. ... ... 9,830 10 7

RECEIPTS AND
EXPENDITURE.

£i5,44g o 2
To meet this, £15,000 was borrowed, bearing interest at 4J per
cent., and repayable by annual instalments in 35 years, from the 6th
April, 1885. To meet the interest on this sum, a tax, not exceeding
sixpence per acre on the Fourth District and the Five Tliousand A cres,
was authorised ; and lands in the parishes of Great Steeping, Irby,
Firsby, Bratoft, Croft, Wainfleet All Saints, Wainfleet St. Mary,
Stickford and Sibsey were added to the Fourth District for the
purposes of this Act only. The Commissioners of Sewers were
authorised to contribute yearly one-fourth of the expense of main
taining the channel in the tideway below Burgh Sluice.
The amounts annually raised and expended for Fourth District
purposes are, on an average, as follows : —
Receipts. £
General Tax, at 1/6 per acre ... ... ... 4,631
Foreland Rents ...  757
Fines and Sundries ... ... ... ... 10
£5..3Q8

239
Payments. £
Interest and Repayment by instalments of Loan
for Lade Bank engines ... ... ... 1,224
Management ... ... ... ... ... 642
Sluicekeeper's Wages ... ... ... ... 64
Roding drains and repairs ... ... ... .. 1,635
Lade Bank Engine   674

£4.239

Showing a surplus of income of £1,1 5g. This annual surplus
has since increased, the interest on the loan decreasing as the
instalments are paid off. The cost of the Lade Bank engines has also
been less during the late dry seasons, and also from the improve
ment of the Outfall. On the other hand, the Foreland rents have
fallen off. The surplus income was for some time applied to paying
off a debt due to the Treasurer, which had increased yearly from
1880, till it amounted to £5,031, since when it diminished until
1888, when it was cleared off. The balance in the Treasurer's hands
on the 30th June, i8g4, stood at £7,404. 53 half-yearly instalments
had been paid off the loan for Lade Bank engine in June, 1894, and
the whole will be paid off in 1902.
The instalments of repayment of the loans of £28,000 and
£29,000, borrowed in 1881 and 1883, to pay the contributions of the
Fourth District towards the Outfall, and for the enlargement of
Hobhole sluice, will terminate in 1916. The interest on the first
loan is \\ per cent, and on the second \\ per cent. The Precepts
paid to the Outfall Board amounted to £41,118 19s. 4d., and there
was spent on the Hobhole Improvement £5,919 14s. od. Parliamen
tary Expenses absorbed £1,515 is. iod., leaving a balance in hand
of £1,446 4s. iod. The interest and repayment of principal take £2,764
yearly which in 1892 required a rate of about tenpence an acre,
which was reduced to sixpence in 1893. The ordinary contributions
towards maintenance are covered by a rate of about twopence an acre,
which raises £593, but there appears to have been some extraord
inary charges which have required a rate of fourpence an acre. No
rate was laid in 1894 and there was then a balance of £710 in the
Treasurer's hands.
The Steeping River Improvement Loan of £15,000 requires
about £815 a year for interest and repayment of principal, which,
however, decreases annually. This is covered by a rate of sixpence
an acre, producing £810. The repayments on this loan will expire
in 1920. The main drains in the district are under the charge of the
General Commissioners. The engines at Lade Bank and Hobhole
Drain are under the charge of a special Committee, elected by the
General Commissioners.

SYSTEM OF
MANAGEMENT

240
interior dis- The interior drains are under the management of the 26 Fourth
District Interior Commissioners, elected in the manner set out in the
Act of 181 8. The tax levied for interior purposes is about fivepence
per acre for the East Fen, and fourpence for the West and Wildmore
Fens. A forfeit for non-payment of the taxes at the time named in
the annual advertisement is imposed, amounting to one shilling for
ten shillings and under, two shillings above ten shillings and so on in
proportion for any greater or less sum than twenty shillings. The
amount raised by taxation for the Interior District, in i8g2-3, was
£1,124 ; maintenance of works cost £742 ; management £366.
Total £1,108.
description of The Fifth District. — This district lies on the south side of
the district. the \yitham, to the north of Kyme Eau, and contains 5, 176 acres. It
comprises the low lands in Anwick, North Kyme, Ruskington,
2 Geo. Hi, c. 32. Dorrington and Digby, and is described in the act of 1762 as being
bounded by Digby Old Skirth Dyke and the dyke which is the
eastern boundary of the adjoining close, and that part of Digby
Engine Drain which extends from the said dyke to the engine,
Billinghay Skirth, and Billinghay Dales, on the north and east ;
Kyme Eau on the south ; the high lands of An wide, Ruskington,
Dorrington and Digby and the Car Dyke on the west. It elects
one District Commissioner for each of the parishes and places
named, and these elect two Representatives on the Witham General
Drainage Trust. The mode of Election and the qualification of
Voters is the same as described in the First District. It is divided
into four Levels, each having a separate Act of Parliament, viz.,
North Kyme Fen ; Ruskington, Dorrington and North Kyme ;
Anwick and North Kyme Praie Grounds ; and the Digby Drainage
District. The land is low, and depends almost entirely on pumping
for its drainage.
South Kyme Low Grounds, which lies within this district,
drains by Damford Tunnel, which passes under Kyme Eau into the
Merry Lands, in the Second District, and thence by Gill Syke to the
North Forty-Foot. It does not pay drainage rates to the Second
District. Anwick Fen. — This Fen was enclosed under an Act obtained
INCLOSURE ACT. ,
31 Geo. iii, c. 93, in i7gi, for dividing and enclosing the open common fields, meadow
ground, half-year land, common fens, and waste lands in the parish of
Anwick, and for embanking aid draining tlie fens and enclosed lands called
' the Praie Grounds ' in the township of North Kyme.
The District is managed by three Commissioners, elected every
three years by the Proprietors of not less that 50 acres. Their
duties are to maintain the works, consisting of the banks surround
ing the district, the engine drains and the engine. The ordinary
rate is not to exceed 1/- an acre, but, with the cpnsent of the Pro
prietors, the amount is unlimited.

1791-

241
Mr. Clarke, in his history of the Agriculture of Lincolnshire, Clarke,
says, that there were formerly in this district many windmills of journal, '1847. '
Dutch construction ; the Fens having been drained by the Flemings,
more than a century before the drainage of Anwick Fen. Part of the
north of the fen drained into Billinghay Dales, and the rest by
windmills into Billinghay Skirth. He states that before the in
closure the whole rental of Anwick Fen was £54 ; after the
enclosure it rose to £703.
Ruskington, Dorrington and North Kyme. — This District inclosure and
C 111 • '11 DRAINAGE ACT.
was tormed under the powers of an Act obtained in 1832, entitled, 2 and 3 wiiu v.
an Act for inclosing, draining and embanking lands within the
parishes of Ruskington and Dorrington, and the Hamlet of North
Kyme. The lands enclosed were described in the Act as being
subject to be overflowed with water, for want of proper banks, drains,
and outfalls ; and as including the Common Fen, the North Fen,
the Pringle and Kyme Pits, containing 462 acres ; and inclosed low
lands, containing 8ig acres. The North Fen and Pringle had been
excluded from the Inclosure Act for the parish of Dorrington, passed
in 1787. The ' low lands ' had been inclosed under the powers of
an Inclosure Act for the parish of Ruskington, passed in 1778.
The District is bounded on the south by Digby and Billinghay
and the Sleaford and Tattershall roads ; on the west, by the high
lands in Anwick, Ruskington and Dorrington ; on the north, by
Digby Drainage District, Billinghay and North Kyme Praie
Grounds ; and on the east, by Billinghay Dales. Under the Act
Thomas Greetham of Fiskerton was appointed sole Commissioner
and his remuneration was fixed at £3 3s. od. a day, and £2 2s. od.
at the end of three years. The Surveyor was to be allowed eighteen-
pence an acre for surveying and mapping, and £2 2s. od. per day,
consisting of eight hours between March and October, and six hours
for the remainder of the year. The Commissioner was empowered
to stop up and divert old, and to make new, roads ; to scour out,
enlarge, improve and embank any ancient drains ; to make the drain
adjoining Digby township 35ft. wide and 5ft. deep ; to make new
bridges, cloughs, windmills and engines as he should think needful. If
Proprietors neglect to clean out drains or repair banks, bridges, &c,
as directed in the Award, the Trustees are given power to do the
same, after 14 days notice, and charge the defaulter with costs.
Power was given to borrow £4,000. The herbage of the banks,
roads, and waste lands was to be let by the Trustees for grazing
sheep for three years, to the best bidder, and the proceeds applied to
the drainage and repair of roads. The Award was to be deposited in
a chest in the parish church of Ruskington.
After the Commissioner had completed his work, five Trustees
were to be appointed ; two elected by Ruskington, by Proprietors
holding 15 acres; two for Doprrington; and one for North Kyme, by

pumping
machinery.

BREACH OF BANK.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

BOUNDARY.

FORMATION OF
DRAI NAGE DIS
TRICT.

242
Proprietors holding 10 acres. They remain in office for three years.
Meetings for election were directed to be held in the respective
vestries of the churches of Ruskington, Dorrington and South Kyme,
after public notice fixed on the church doors, and also by advertise
ment in a newspaper circulating in the County of Lincoln, three
to form a quorum, and agents to have power to vote ; meetings for
laying rates to be held within eight miles of the parishes. If rates
be not paid, power to distrain after 21 days' notice was given. A
penalty of £10 was imposed on persons found guilty of opening the
cloughs and letting off water, and persons proved to have destroyed
any of the works were to be deemed guilty of felony. By the Act
of 1778 an Engineer was to be annually appointed to take care
of the engine and drains, at a vestry to be held on Easter
Tuesday. This fen is drained by a steam engine of 16 N.H.P., working a
centrifugal pump, situated about a quarter of a mile west of
North Kyme Causeway, the water being discharged into Billinghay
Skirth. The area drained by the engine is about 1,300 acres. This
engine was erected in 1854, at a cost °f £"I.44°-
In 1880 the bank which protects the fen was broken during a
high flood and the land inundated.
The amount of taxation is not to exceed £350 annually, without
the consent of the Owners. The amount laid used to average 5/6
an acre, but has recently been 4/-.
According to the Government taxation return for 1892-3, the
amount raised by taxation was £304, and from other sources £88,
making £392. The cost of maintaining the works was £239,
management, &c. £66 ; total £305 There is no outstanding loan.
Digby Drainage District. — This comprises Digby Fen, the
Pry Clos.es, Walcot Common and other low fenland in the parishes
of Billinghay, Walcot and Timberland Thorpe, and contains about
1,440 acres. Digby Fen had been previously embanked and was
drained by an engine and scoop wheel. The other part of the District,
being low and unembanked, was constantly flooded.
In 1 87 1 this level was formed into a separate Drainage District,
under the Land Drainage Act of 1861, the engine and wheel being
purchased from the owner.
A scheme for improving the drainage was prepared by the
Author, and under his direction the Scopwick Beck was deepened
and straightened, and the water carried to the existing scoop wheel.
The Grange Drain, skirting the high land on the north side, was
improved and converted into a catchwater drain, and continued
eastward to the end of the District, so as to discharge its water clear
of the fen. The engine is of 14 N.H.P., and the scoop wheel 24ft. in
diameter and ift. wide. The wheel makes 6 J revolutions per
minute, and the engine 40. The lift in floods is from 5ft. to 6ft,

243
From the Government Taxation Returns for i8g2-3, the amount
raised by rate was £221, and by special rate payable by Owners,
£376; making, with £13 from other sources, £610. Maintenance of
the engine and works cost £135, Interest on loan £151, Instalment
of principal repaid £228, Management £77 ; Total £sgi. The
amount of loan then outstanding was £2,g66.
The Sixth District. — This District is on the south side of the
Witham, and lies to the west of Holland Fen. It contains 11,584
acres, sends three Commissioners to the Witham General Drainage
Trust, and pays a tax of 6d. per acre to the . Witham Commis
sioners. The Outfall of the drainage of this District is the South Forty-
Foot, and the land was included in the Black Sluice Level under
the Act of 1765, and will therefore be described in the Chapter on
the Black Sluice.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

I I

244

T

BOUNDARY.

CHAPTER VII.
The Black Sluice District.
H E district included in the above heading is all that area of
land which pays taxes to the Black Sluice Commissioners ;
consisting of the Sixth and Second Witham Districts, including
Holland Fen, and what Dugdale calls the Lindsey Level. It is
bounded on the north by Kyme Eau ; on the east by the River
Witham and the town of Boston ; on the south and east by the old
Fig. 10. Hammond Beck, the Glen, and Bourne Eau ; and on the west by
the Car Dyke, which passes near to Bourne, Rippingale, Billing-
borough, Horbling, Helpringham, and Heckington. The taxable
area is 64,854 acres, but the total quantity of land which discharges
its water into the Witham, through the Black Sluice, is about
I34.35i acres.
The outlet for the drainage of this District is at the Black
Sluice, in Skirbeck Quarter. The main drain is the South Forty
Foot, which runs through the centre of the fen, and is 21 miles in
. length, receiving throughout its course the contents of about 30
other drains, the principal of which are the North Forty Foot, the
Clay Dyke and the Old and New Hammond Becks.
econdand The principal part of the northern oortion of this District,
:TH WITHAM . -
district. consisting of Holland Fen and the lands in the Sixth District,
originally drained to the Witham by means of Kyme Eau and Gill
Syke, which discharged at a sluice at Langrick. Subsequently,
after the North Forty Foot Drain was cut, a portion of the drainage
was discharged by it at Lodowick's Gowt, which was situated
about a third of a mile to the west of the present Grand Sluice,
the old course of the River Witham passing in that direction.
Owing to the defective condition of the channel and banks of
the Witham, this District was continually flooded from the river.
When the Witham was straightened and improved in the last
century, and the flood water banked out from Holland Fen, the
Second and the Sixth Districts were included in the area of taxation
liable for payment of taxes levied to meet the cost of improve
ment, and consequently these two Districts send representatives to
the Witham Commission. The drainage was subsequently diverted
and is now all discharged into the Black Sluice System by means of

Fig. 6.

Fold out

243

the South Forty Foot ; and these two Witham Districts now form
part of the Black Sluice System, and pay taxes to it, as well as to
the Witham. The southern portion of the District, formerly known as the
Lindsey Level, consists of a long narrow tract of land, lying between
the Cardyke and the high land on the west, and the Hammond
B eck on the east, and extends up to Bourne. This was originally
the site of a mere into which a number of high land streams poured
their contents. The ove rflow from this mere drained away to the
Glen by means of the old watercourse, called the Beche ; or to the
Witham by the Hammond Beck.
The early history of the District will be found in the Chapter
on North Holland.
Besides the ancient sewers, several new drains have been cut
from time to time, the largest of which, the ' Mid Fen Dyke,' formed
the boundary between Holland and Kesteven, and followed the
course of the present South Forty-foot Drain from Gutherham Cote
as far as the bend at Swineshead ; it then continued along ' Barkes-
mere ' and Holland Dyke to Kyme Eau.
In the thirteenth century, Richard I made an order freeing the
inhabitants of this part of Lincolnshire from all duties relating to
forest customs and the preservation of wild animals, with leave to
make banks and ditches, and to enclose the lands and marshes ; and
also to build houses and exercise tillage as they should think fit.
The disafforestation order related to lands, marshes, and tur
baries. The only trees which grew in this fen district were sallows,
willows and alders, which in places formed low thickets. The land
generally was covered with rushes, reeds and clumps of sedge. To
this solitary waste, deer and game and abundance of wild fowl
resorted. The boundary, as described in the King's order, was " in
length on the one side, from Swaston to East Deping as Kars did
extend itself . . . and in length on the other side towards Holand from
the bridge at Byker to the great bridge at Spalding. In breadth on
the one part from that great bridge to East Deping, and on the other
side from the land of Swastune unto the bridge at Byker."
In the reign of Henry Ilia precept was directed to the Shire
reeve of the county, touching the partition of Haut Huntre Fen
(Holland Fen), or Mariscus Octo Hundredorus, as it is called in
some of the old records, by the consent of those who had right
therein, whereby the King gave command that each town might
have its due proportion assigned to it. A perambulation was
made of the boundaries by twelve lawful Knights and these were
properly fixed. Subsequently, in the 44th year of his reign, the
King " directing his precept to the Shirereeve of the county, whereby
taking notice that not only the landowners in those parts, but
himself, had suffered inestimable damage by the overflowing of the

LINDSEY LEVEL.

DISAFFOREST ATION. 120T.

HOLLAND FEN.
1210.
Dugdale.

246
sea, and likewise of the fresh waters, through the default in the
repairs of the banks, ditches, gutters, bridges, and sewers in the
lands which lately belonged to William Longespe, in the Parts of
Kesteven and Holland, he commanded the said Shirereeve forthwith
to distrain all such Landholders who had safeguard by those banks
and ditches, and ought to repair them according to the proportion of
their lands, to the end that they might be speedily repaired in such
sort as they ought and had used."
In i27g a Commission was sent by the King to investigate
complaints as to neglect to repair the banks, sewers, ditches and
gutters, and to maintain the bridges, whereby the inhabitants of the
Wapentake of Kirton had sustained much loss by the overflowing of
the Haute Huntre Fen, and in the year following the Prior of
Spalding was summoned and ordered to repair the Peccebrigge.
Again, seven years later, there was a great inundation in those parts,
at which time most of Boston was drowned, and the King being
informed that excessive damage had befallen the province by the
want of repair of this Holand Causey, and by the decay of the
banks, ditches and sewers in those parts, gave special command to
the Justices itinerant to search the records and report to him as to
the persons liable for such repairs ; and this being done, and because
it was thought that it would be too much trouble and inconvenience
for so great a number of people to appear before the King whereso
ever he might then be in his realm, and therefore it might be better
to have the same discussed in these parts, the King appointed two
sewers commis- Commissioners, to enquire who ought to repair those banks and
sewers and to distrain them thereto.
In the 23rd year of the reign of Edward I, at an Inquisition
held at Gosberton, the Jury found that " Brunne Ee, Tolhan and
Blake Kyrk ought to be repaired, raised and scoured by the town of
Brunne from Brunne to Goderamscote on the north side ; and on
the south to Merehirne, beyond which the town of Pyncebek ought
to repair it unto Surflete ; and the town of Surflete from thence to
the sea. Also that the sewer of Briggefleeter ought to be repaired
by the town of Hekytone to the river of Swynesheved, whence the
river was sufficient thereof to Kyme mouth. That the sewer of
Encluse, near Boston, was stopped by the inhabitants of Boston on
the west part of the bridge there, and that it ought to be 3ft. in
breadth." In the reign of Edward II, the King's Justices sat at Boston to
make enquiry into the state of the drainage and other matters
relating to the Fens of Holland, when it was presented that, through
the neglect of the Prior of Haverholme, the whole marsh of Kesteven
and Holland was overflowed and drowned. It was found that the
sewer called Hammond Beck, on the south end of Boston, was
obstructed and ought to be repaired by the men of Boston inhabit- ,

SIONS<

247
ing the west side of the bridge, and by the men of Skirbeck ; and
for that reason all the said Inhabitants residing on the west side of
the bridge ought to common in the Eight Hundred Fen ; also that
the inhabitants of the ' Eight Hundreds ' ought to cleanse the river
of Swynesheved from Balberdebothe unto the north end of
Swynesheved town ; and the town of Swynesheved to do the like
from the said place unto the River of Byker. The other sewers then
in existence, and the places liable to their repair, were as follows, viz.,
the Swyneman Dam and Swane-lade, 16ft. to 20ft. wide, passing
near Donington, Quadring and Gosberton, to Bicker Haven, and
repaired by those parishes ; Risegate Ees (Risegate Eau), extend
ing from Gosberton to the sea, belonging to the parish of Gosberton;
the sewer of the Beche, running from Pinchbeck North Fen to the
sea, belonging to the parishes of Pinchbeck and Surfleet ; Burne
Aide Ee, running from Bourne through Surfleet to the sea ; the
first portion from Bourne to Gutheram Cote, belonging to the town
and the Abbot of Bourne jointly ; and thence to Surfleet, belonging
to the town of Pinchbeck, and after that to Surfleet. Dunsby was
drained by a sewer called the Soud ; Hacconby, by one called
Fenbrigg. After this several Commissions were issued to view the state of
the fens and fix the boundaries, the particulars of which are only a
recapitulation of the above. One Inquisition, held at Thetford, found
" that the banks of the Glen from Kate's Bridge to the sea were
broken on both sides and they ought to be repaired, raised 2ft. and
made 12ft. thicker. That this ought to be done on the north side by
the towns of Thurlby, Obthorpe and Eyethorpe unto the cross near
Abbote's Cote ; thence by the town of Brunne to Godram Cote ;
thence by Pincebec and Surflete to the sea. Also that the banks of
the river of Brunne ought to be enlarged from Leve Brigg in Brunne
unto Tollum, and be made 2ft. higher and 12ft. thick, and that the
town of Brunne ought to cleanse the Narwhee from Brunne to
Godram's Cote."
In 1376, it was found by a Sewer's Jury that " the said water
wathmouth at its junction with Kyme Eau, was the common
passage from Kesteven unto the River Witham, and that the ditch
which is called the Old Hee, lying betwixt Holland Fen and
Heckington Fen, ought to be cleansed and repaired by the in
habitants of the Eight Hundreds of Holland on the east part, and
by Henry de Beaumont, Lord of Heckington, and the Commoners
of Heckington, and Philip de Kyme on the west part, and from
Balberdebothe to ths river of Kyme ; and that the town of
Hekington and Gerdwike ought to repair and cleanse the stream
of Gerdwike unto the water of Swineshed, viz., unto Balberdebothe,
but the half of the said stream, unto the park on the south side, the
Parson of Hale ought to cleanse and repair." It was further pre-

248
sented " that at the head of Caresdik was a certain stream which is
called the South Ee, and ought to be repaired and cleansed by the
town of Little Hale and the Commoners thereof on the one part, and
by the towns of Helpringham and Biker unto Gobion Bothe on the
other part ; and that Hatchlode was a common sewer, and ought
to run at the same time that the sewer of Scathegraft did ; and that
it ought, at the entrance of the water from the fen, to be ift. in
breadth, and as much in depth, and within, by the town, to be 6ft. in
breadth to the sea ; and to be repaired by the town of Pincebec to
the sea ; also, that Brunne Old Ee ought to be repaired, raised and
cleansed and maintained by the town of Brunne ; by the Abbot of
Brunne from Brunne unto Goderamscote ; and the town of PincebeG
ought to repair the same to Surflet ; and the town of Surflet to
the sea. For the default whereof, *all the fen of Holland and
Kesteven was overflown and drowned."
In the 25th year of Edward III, a petition was presented to the
King and his Council in Parliament, by the inhabitants of the fens in
Kesteven and Holland, showing that the ancient boundary between the
two divisions of the county,the Mid-fen Dyke, and the other metes which
went through the said fens from the Welland to the Witham, were
at that time, by reason of floods and other impediments, so obscured
as to be no longer visible, and hence frequent quarrels occured
between the inhabitants : in consequence a Commission was appoint
ed, and the boundaries properly set out and defined by stone crosses.
About this time also, a presentment was exhibited against the
town of Bourne, with the hamlet of Dyke and Calthorp, and the
town of Morton and Hermethorpe, for turning the fresh water
towards the north, through the fens to Boston, instead of allowing
it to run eastwards towards the sea.
Three years afterwards, a Commission was issued to view and
repair the banks and ditches on the south side of the Witham, from
the town of Skirbeck to a place called the Shuff, and two years after
for those betwixt the towns of St. Saviour (Bridge End), near Gibbet
Hills, and Donington.
In the same reign, "the towns of Hekyngton and Gerwick were
found to be liable to repair and cleanse the one-half of Gerwick Ee,
on the north side, unto the cow stalls of the Abbot of Swinesheved
called Herevik ; and, by another Jury, that the inhabitants of the
Eight Hundreds of Holand ought to cleanse and repair the ditch
called the Old Ee, betwixt the Marsh of Holand and the Marsh of
Hekington, on the west side of Balberboth and Haggeboth of West
Crofte ; and the ditch from Balberboth in Hekington unto the
Distrithe in Swinesheved Marsh."
After this there appears to have been a long cessation of these
Commissions, until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as Dugdale says
he could not find the record of any more for this province, except

249
in the 6th year of the reign of Henry V, when a Commission was ,*"-
appointed to view and take order for the repair of the banks and
ditches, and to proceed according to the law and custom of the
realm. In the time of Henry VIII, the first systematic attempt at
drainage was made. A Commission of Sewers was appointed and
sat at Donington, and, having made survey of the fen, decreed that
two great sewers, 20ft. wide and 5ft. deep, running parallel, at a
distance of 36ft. from each other, should be cut from Gutheram's
Cote to a point called Wragmere Stake, where they were to unite
and continue in one channel, 30ft. wide, to Gill Syke, and then to
the river Witham at Langrick, where was a sluice. " And the
said waters from the rivers of Glen to Witham, so intended from
the south to the north, should fall into, enter, and go through all
the lodes and drains in the fens aforesaid which came out of the
parts of Kesteven to Hammond Beck, to the end that all the water
going together might the better run within its own brinks and
channels, and the sooner come to the sluice at Skirbeck Gote, and
the new gotes at Langrick." At Langrick a new sluice was to be
built of freestone, with four doors, each 8ft. wide. The sewers were
to be paid for by the several parishes through which the drains
passed, and the sluice by the fen towns in Kesteven, Heckington,
Kyme and Ewerby.
This order of the Court of Sewers was disobeyed by the
parishes, who, instead of performing the works severally required
of them, disputed the power of the Commission to make order for
the execution of new works of drainage, contending that their
functions only extended to the maintenance of the old and existing
works. And so matters remained in abeyance till Queen Elizabeth's ,„„,,.
time, in the 8th year of whose reign a Court of Sewers was held
at Sempringham, and a general tax was again laid for carrying out
the works ordered by the former Court ; but nothing was done until
nine years afterwards. At another Court, held at Swineshead, the
Countrymen complained that they were drowned more than formerly;
and upon this an order was again made that those drains which the
Duke of Suffolk and others had ordained to be begun about the
latter end of the time of King Henry VIII, as also some others,
should forthwith be set upon, and a tax was laid to pay for the
same. The towns again refused to pay, and nothing was done for
twenty-seven years, when the case was brought before the Court of
Queen's Bench. Dugdale gives the following account of the
trial :—
" In 43 and 44 Elizabeth a great controversy did arise in the
county of Lincoln about the erecting of two new gotes at Skirbeck Dugdaie's
and Langare, for draining the waters of South Holland and the fens Em^"^f ani
1 into Boston Haven, which work Sir Edward Dimock, Knight, did

REDSTONE GOWT.
1601.

250
by himself and his friends further what he could, but it was opposed
by the county of Kesteven ; and the exception taken thereto was
that the Commissioners of Sewers could not, by the power of their
Commission, make a law for the erecting of those new gotes where
never any stood before ; whereupon, the decision of this point coming
at length before the then two Justices, viz., Popham and Anderson,
they delivered their opinions, that the said new gotes, if they were
found to be good and profitable for the safety and advantage of the
country, they might be erected by the power of this statute."
Notwithstanding this judgment the inhabitants could not be
made to pay, and the works were never carried out.
In this reign, also, orders were made, at a Court held at Hel
pringham, " that the sewer called Ripingale South Dyke should be
dyked from Berham Pooles to Irelode, and thence to the Beche, 12ft.
in breadth, by the township of Pincebec ; also that Irelode drain
should be dyked and banked by Dowsby and Ripingale for their
limits ; and thence to the Beche by other townships through which it
passed ; that a bridge should be built by the inhabitants of Quadring
and Byker within the limits of Byker in Hekendale Wathe, over to
Hekendale Hills, of such height as boats might well pass under and
that bridges should also be built over the sewer at Kyrton Fen ;
another at Frampton Fen, and another at Lichfield End, by the town
ships and persons who of right ought to do the same : these bridges
to be 12ft. in breadth and of height sufficient for boats to pass under.
Also that the Waredyke, beginning atColehouse Stile and so extend
ing along the river of Burne Ee to Goodram's Cote, should be
continued from the said cote to Dovehirne and distant from the
river 100ft., and in breadth 12ft., and depth 3ft., at the cost of the
parishioners of Pincebec ; and that the sewer called Newe Dyke in
Dyke Fen should be perfected from Ee Dyke Bridge unto Holand Fen
Dyke ; also that the sewer extending against the east to Northgraft
should be dyked and banked by Hakanby, Dunsby and Pincebec,
and that the sewer of Northgraft, from the first fall of the water of
the fen to the sea, ought to be made 12ft. broad and 6ft. deep, by
Pincebec ; and that the the sewer called the Beche, from Wright-
bolt Clowe to the sea should be dyked and roded by the townships
of Pinchbeck, Gosberkirk and Surflet ; the sewer called the Maris-
beck to be scoured by the landholders ; the sewer from Colehouse
Stile to Frere Barre Hurne, thence to Burne Barre and thence to Ee
Dyke, to be dyked by the Landholders."
Under an order of the Court of Sewers, held at Boston, on
March 16th, 1601, Redstone Gote was constructed for the purpose
of affording a new outfall for the Hammond Beck. A new Cut, about
three quarters of a mile long, was also made, from it, to join the
Old Hammond Beck at Litchfield Bridge, and continued thence to
Kirton Holme. This new sewer was formerly known as the Red-f

25^

stone Gote or Adventurers' Drain, and now as the New Hammond
Beck. In 1673, Redstone Gote was presented to be rebuilt and
enlarged on the south side. Again in 1674, it was represented to be 'in
a lost ruined condition ' and that it would cost £1,000 to rebuild it.
The inhabitants of Kesteven objecting to the expense, the work was
deferred till 1695, when the Gote was rebuilt at a cost of £1,200,
which was paid in equal portions by Kesteven and Holland.
The cost of the erection of Redstone Gote and of other works
for improving the drainage, was apportioned over the District by the
verdict of a Sewers' Jury and made a law of Sewers, known after
wards as ' the Redstone Gowt Law,' which was adopted as the
basis for all future taxation.
In the reign of Charles I, three of the Commissioners of Sewers,
one of whom was Sergeant Callis, the author of the standard work on
the Law of Sewers, made a representation to the King that all this
fen was surrounded with water, and had no cattle on it, and praying
him to take some steps for its reclamation ; whereupon special
courts were held at Sleaford and Boston, in the year 1633, and an
order was made for the draining of the fens, a tax of 13s. 4d. per
acre being laid upon the land to pay for the same. The Landowners
still refusing to pay, three years afterwards, upon the direction of
the King, the Commissioners, at Courts held at Sleaford, Swineshead,
Boston and Bourne, on the recommendation of the King, made a
contract with the Earl of Lindsey, Lord High Chamberlain of
England, to drain the fens lying between Kyme Eau and the Glen,
computed to contain 36,000 acres ; for doing which he was to receive
24,000 acres of the reclaimed land, taken proportionately out of the
several fens. Whereupon the Earl of Lindsey set vigorously to
work, and completed the drainage so effectually that three years
afterwards, at a Court of Sewers held at Sleaford, after survey made
of the sluices, banks and sewers, decree was made that the Earl had
made full performance of his contract, and the grant of land he was
to receive as payment was ratified to him. The cost of this work
was £45,000. On its completion the Earl and his fellow Adventurers
inclosed the fens, built houses and farmsteads, brought the land
into cultivation, and continued in peaceful possession about three
years. About the same time, King Charles appointed Sir Robert
Killigrew and William Lackton to be the Undertakers for the drain
age of the Eight Hundred, or Haut Huntre Fen, being that portion
of the Level lying east of Earl Lindsey's Fen, or between Langrick
and Boston, computed to contain 22,000 acres ; and a tax of twenty
shillings per acre was levied upon 16,000 acres, to be paid by
the inhabitants of Brothertoft, Swineshead, Wigtoft, Sutterton,
¦fl lgarkirk, Fosdyke, Kirton, Frampton, Wyberton, Hale, Dogdyke,

NEW HAMMOND
BECK.

REDSTONE QOWT
LAW.

THE EARL OP
LINDSEY'S RE
CLAMATION.

HAUTE HUNTRE
FEN.

State Papers
Domestic. 1633

DRAINS.

252
and Boston, who claimed common therein. On this tax not being paid,
the Commissioners of Sewers, at a Court held at Boston, declared
the King to be the sole Undertaker for the draining thereof, and as
recompense for the cost of the same, granted to him 8,000 acres of
the reclaimed land. The King parted with his interest to Sir
William Killigrew, who was also a fellow Adventurer with the Earl
of Lindsey in his drainage of the rest of the Level ; and under his
direction this fen was drained and reclaimed.
adventurers' The principal drains which appear to have been made by the
Adventurers were a new Cut, called the South Forty-Foot, from
Swineshead to Boston, for the purpose of diverting the drainage from
Kyme Eau to Boston Haven ; and a Gote on the north of and adjoin
ing the present Black Sluice, about 55ft. in width, with four pairs of
pointing doors. From Swineshead the main drain was continued
to Bridge End Causeway, by improving the existing drain and also
making a new one parallel to it, to the west of the present drain
and thence to Gutheram Cote, the drains being known as the Double
Twelves Drain. This work was described as ' a navigable river
from Bourne to Boston, a distance of 24 miles.'
A new drain, called Clay Dyke, was cut through the centre of
Holland Fen, joining the new main drain a little above Hubbert's
Bridge, and a new Cut, called Brand Dyke, was also made from the
Car Dyke through Hale Fen, passing under the new South Forty-
Foot and discharging the high land water into the Hammond Beck.
A new Cut was made to bring the water from Heckington Eau to
Gill Syke, which discharged into the Witham by a sluice at
Langrick. The Earl and his partner, Sir W. Killigrew, were successful
the adventur- with the drainage, and the country began to assume a habitable
appearance, but several disputes as 'to the rights of the Adventurers
to their share of the reclaimed land having arisen, petitions were
presented to Parliament by the Fenmen. After an enquiry, orders
were granted by both Houses confirming the Earl in the possession
of his property. " The malcontents, thus failing to obtain their way,
in contempt of all law and order, destroyed the drains and buildings,
and also the crops — then ready to be reaped — to a very great
value "; and up to Dugdale's time had " held possession, to the
great decay and ruin of those costly works and exceeding discom
modity to all that part of the country." They also attempted to pull
down the new sluice at Boston, which had cost £6,000. Sir W.
Killigrew appealed to the Mayor of Boston, and prayed that an
order might be given " to enquire out those that are now pulling
that great sluice to pieces, which if it should, by this breaking up,
be suncke by the water getting under it, the sea will break in all
that side of the country, where no sea ever came. By the ruin of
this our main sluice I conseave a hundred thousand pound damagey

DESTRUCTION OF
HE ADVENTU
ERG' WORKS
Dugdale, 1662.

253

may be done to the country, which those rogues doe not consider
that doe steale and breake up the iron and the plankes of that great
Sluse." The ' rogues,' however, succeeded and the sluice was
completely destroyed, the water from the fen, for the next hundred
years, finding its way to Boston Haven by the outfall at Redstone
Gote, which was described in 1 765 as ' the course of the water
from the fens,' and by Lodowick's Gote and by the gote at Langrick.
It does not appear that the Adventurers could procure any
relief, as the unsettled state of public affairs, party spirit, and other
causes growing out of the circumstances of the period, seem to have
impeded the course of justice, and Sir William died, forty years after
his petition to Parliament, a poor man, ruined by his Adventure.
For nearly a hundred years the fen remained unreclaimed
Some idea may be gained of its condition from the following
description given by Mr. Thompson : — " The whole of the land
between Brothertoft and Boston was frequently overflowed during
the winter season. The turnpike road from Boston to Swineshead,
and the intersecting roads, leading to the adjacent villages were
covered with a considerable depth of water ; of course they were
dangerous to travel upon, and the country people brought their
produce to Boston market in boats, being enabled very frequently
to come in them as far as Rosegarth corner in West Street, the
water often reaching to the White Horse Inn in that street."
About the middle of the 18th century Earl Fitzwilliam, for the
purpose of draining his lands in Billinghay Dales, cut the North
Forty- Foot through Holland Fen and diverted the water which
went by Gill Syke to the Sluice at Langrick to a new outfall called
Lodowick's Gote, situated on the old course of the Witham, about a
third of a mile to the west of Boston Church.
In the winter of 1763 and following spring, the greatest flood
that was ever remembered occurred. Over the whole 22,000 acres
of Holland Fen not one single acre was dry. The Parish of
Brothertoft was entirely surrounded by water, which flowed into
the houses. The flood extended from the high land near Heckington
into the town of Boston. The banks of the Bourne Eau and
the Glen being broken, it was expected that the water would make
its way over the banks of the Hammond Beck, but by a great deal
of labour in cradging, and a fortunate change taking place in the
wind, the rest of the country was saved. This flood was caused by
continued rain and the imperfection of the drainage.
On the 28th April, 1764, a meeting of Proprietors of lands in
the fen was held at the White Hart in Boston. At this and sub
sequent meetings, it was determined to take steps to improve the
drainage, and to open out the Old Black Sluice, which had been
allowed to remain in ruins since its destruction by the Fenmen, a
hundred years previously. Mr. Langley Edwards, who carried out

Thompson's Boston.

NORTH
FORTY-FOOT. Fig 6.

GREAT FLOOD.
1703.

MEETING OF
PROPRIETORS.

2-54

LANGLEY ED
WARDS REPORT

the works for the improvement of the Witham, was appointed
Engineer, and presented a plan and report, by which it was proposed
to bring the whole of the drainage of the level from Gutheram Cote
to the Black Sluice at Boston. An objection was raised to part of
this scheme by the Owners of land at the south end of the district,
and they were supported in their opinion by Mr. Grundy of
Spalding,who proposed that the drainage of Spalding, Pinchbeck and
the other fens at the south end should discharge by the Old Beche
into the Glen. Mr. Edward's plan, however, obtained the support
of the majority, and was adopted, and it was determined to obtain
an Act of Parliament giving the necessary powers. Mr. Edwards
proposed opening out and repairing the Old Black Sluice ; cleaning
out the Black Sluice Drain to Swineshead ; thence making a new
drain along the course of the Old Double Twelves Drain, which
ran in the same direction as the Mid-Fen Dyke to Gutherham ;
and also other drains, which are described more fully later on.
black sluice A fund was raised by the principal Landowners for defraying
5 Geo*m c 85 ^e cos*- °f obtaining an Act of Parliament, towards which the
'7^5 Corporation of Boston subscribed £40, and the Act for draining
and improving certain low marsh and fen lands lying between Boston Haven
and Bourn, in the parts of Kesteven and Holland, in the County of
Lincoln was obtained.
The preamble of the Act states that " the lands to which it
relates were frequently overflowed with water, through the insuf
ficiency and decay of their Outfalls to the sea, whereby they were
become of far less value and use to the Owners thereof, though they
were very capable of being drained and improved."
Under the powers of this Act, the management was taken out
of the hands of the Court of Sewers, to whom it had reverted
after the failure of the Adventurers, and was placed in charge
of a Commission, consisting of one Representative from each
of the following parishes, Bourne, Dike, Cawthorp, Morton, Harms-
thorp, Hackonby, Stainfield, Dunsby, Rippingale, Ringstone, Kirkby,
Dowsby, Aslackby, Graby, Milthorpe, Poynton, Sempringham,
Billingborough, Horbling, Swayton, Helpringham, Little Hale,
Great Hale, Heckington, Asgarby, Howel, Ewerby, South Kyme,
Bicker, Donington, Quadring, Quadring Hundred, Gosberton,
Surfleet, Pinchbeck, Spalding and Cowbit, Boston West, Skirbeck,
Quarter, Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, Algarkirk, Fosdyke, Sutter
ton, Wigtoft, Swineshead and Brothertoft. All Proprietors of lands
of any estate of freehold, copyhold of inheritance, or leasehold.where-
in no more than half the yearly value thereof is reserved as a rent,
being of the yearly value of five pounds and upwards, and lying
within the parish or township ; and all Farmers at rack rent of lands,
being of the yearly value of thirty pounds, were authorised to have
voices. It was also enacted that every person qualified to act as

255
Commissioner must be in possession, by his own or-his wife's right,
of rents of the yearly value of £100 ; or be entitled to a personal
estate of the clear yearly value of £2,000.
The Commissioners are elected for three years,, but continue in
office after this period if the parishioners fail to hold an election at
the end of the three years. In case of vacancy from death or refusal
to act, another Commissioner to be elected within three months, or
failing such election by the parishioners, the Lord of the Manor to
have power to fill the vacancy. The elections are directed to take
place at the vestry or the usual place of meeting in the parish, on
the first Tuesday in May. Commissioners have power to appoint
a Deputy for three months, provided such Deputy possesses half the
qualification, or occupies £100 a year within the parish. The Com
missioners or their Deputies were directed by this Act to take a
prescribed oath before acting, but, by the Act of 1846, this oath was
repealed and in its place a declaration has to be made, to the effect
that the Commissioner is possessed of the necessary qualification and
will without favour or affection, hatred or malice, truly and impartially
perform the duties of the office. Each Commissioner was to be allowed
five shillings a day for his expenses when attending the execution of
the Act, which has to be paid by the parish represented. The limit of
the tax by this Act was sixpence per acre on lands in Bourne, Dyke,
Cawthorpe, Morton, Harmsthorp, Haconby, Stainfield, Dunsby,
Rippingale, Ringstone, Kirkby, Dowsby, Aslackby, Graby, Mil-
thorpe, Poynton, Sempringham, Billingborough, Horbling, Bridge
End, Swaton, Helpringham, Donington, Quadring, Quadring
Hundred, Gosberton, Surfleet, Pinchbeck North Fen, Bicker
Common, Bicker and Swineshead Low Lands on the east side of
Hammond Beck, and also the Common Marsh lying in Wigtoft
and Swineshead ; and threepence per acre on Swineshead Low
Grounds on the west side of Hammond Beck, Little Hale, Great
Hale, Heckington, Howell, Asgarby, Ewerby, and South Kyme,
on the south side of Kyme Eau ; and twopence per acre on
such part of the Common called Holland Fen, wherein the
following parishes had rights of Common, viz., Boston West, Skir
beck Quarter, Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, Algarkirk, Fosdyke,
Sutterton, Wigtoft, Swineshead, and Brothertoft. The Commis
sioners of the Second Witham District were to pay to the Black
Sluice Trust, the yearly rates of twopence and one penny per acre
out of the monies raised on land in Holland Fen, for the purpose of
interior drainage. If the above taxes were insufficient, the Com
missioners were empowered to levy additional taxes to the extent of
half the above amounts. Harts Grounds, the Great and Little Beats
and the inclosed lands in Brothertoft were exempted from taxation.
The District is defined in the Act as bounded " on the north-east
side by the south-west banks of the old and new River Witham, district 1

BOUNDARY

WORKS CARRIED
OUT UNDER THE
ACT.

256
excluding the said banks and the Haven of Boston from ChappeU
Hill Hum, to the north side of Lodowick Gowt, excluding the said
Gowt and banks thereof, and from the south side of the south bank
thereof to the south side of the south bank of the South Forty- Foot
at the Black Sluice by the Haven of Boston aforesaid ; and on the
south by the outside of the said south bank of the said Forty- Foot from
the said Town to the junction of the old and new Hammond Becks
with the said Forty-Foot a little below Wyberton Chain Bridge, and
from thence by the north bank of the said old Hammond Beck to the
east end of the Firth Lands, and thence by the east, north and west
banks ofthe said Firth Lands, andfrom thence bythe north bank of the
old Hammond Beck to Kirton Holme, excluding the said bank ; and
from thence to Swineshead High Bridge, by the lands of Kirton Holme
and the high grounds of Wigtoft and Swineshead, and from thence
by the turnpike road through Swineshead to the Guide Post near
Swineshead Drayton, and from thence by the division between
Swineshead and Bicker to Hoflet Stowe, and thence by the east
bank of the Wigtoft marsh to Lingerhouse, and from thence by the
south end of the said marsh to Quadring Eau Dike, and to the
division between the lands of Donington and Quadring, and thence
by the said boundary to Crane Bridge, on the turnpike road from
Donington to Quadring, and from the said bridge along the north
bank of Mer Lode to the east bank of Hammond Beck, excluding
the said Lode ; and from thence along the west side of the said east
bank, excluding the said bank, to the south side of the north bank
of the River Glen, belonging to the Adventurers of Deeping Fen,
and from thence westward along the south side of the said north
bank to Gutheram Cote, and from thence on the south side of the
north bank of the said River Glen, belonging to Bourne, as far as
Tongue End, and from thence on the same side of the north bank of
Bourne Eau as far as Bourne, and from Bourne on the west by the
high grounds of Bourne Dike, Cawthorpe, Morton, Harmsthdrp,
Hackonby, Stainfield, Dunsby, Rippingale, Ringston, Kirkby,
Dowsby, Aslackby, Graby, Milthorp, Poynton, Sempringham,
Billingborough, Horbling, Bridge End, Swayton, Helpringham,
Little Hale, Great Hale, Heckington, Asgarby, Howell and Ewerby,
to the south bank of Kyme Eau, and by the said south bank, and
the east bank of the said Eau to the said River Witham, near
ChappeU Hill aforesaid."
The following works were authorised to be carried out under
the powers of this Act, viz., the erection of a new sluice at the lower
end of the South Forty- Foot Drain, on the spot where the Old Black
Sluice formerly stood, the new floor lying on the old floor, and its
water way being 56ft., or the same dimensions as the old floor, when -
found, would admit of, with 4 pairs of pointing doors ; also a stanch
for retaining fresh water in dry seasons for the use of cattle ; the

257
South Forty-Foot was to be scoured and cleansed from the Black
Sluice to the east side of Hale Fen, having 6oft. top and 46ft.
bottom, to Clay Dyke, and from 3ft. to 5ft. deeper ; thence to Hale
Fen, 40ft. top and 30ft. bottom ; thence a new drain to be cut to
Gutherham Cote, having 40ft. top and 26ft. bottom, as far as Hel
pringham Eau ; thence to Bridge End Causeway, 35ft. wide at top
and 21ft. at bottom; thence in the same direction as the 'Double
Twelves ' to Gutherham Cote, gradually decreasing to 20ft. top and
10ft. bottom. The Hammond Beck from Redstone Gote to its junction
with the Forty-Foot, and the Old Hammond Beck from its junction
with the Forty-Foot, a little below Wyberton Chain Bridge until it
met the New Hammond Beck, and thence to its junction with
the Old Hammond Beck, above Hardwick Warth, 36ft. top and 20ft.
bottom, decreasing to 30ft. top and 16ft. bottom ; the Old Hammond
Beck to be scoured out to Pinchbeck Bars, with 26ft. top and 16ft.
bottom, gradually diminishing to the upper end ; one of the drains
from Gosberton Clough to the New Cut to be enlarged and made of
the same dimensions as the New Cut at the junction ; the side
drain to be scoured out along the course of the new drain as the
work went on.
The Deeping Fen Proprietors were to be exonerated from
keeping in repair the North Bank of the Glen, from Dove Hum to
Gutheram Cote, and the Black Sluice Commissioners to maintain
the same ; the Deeping Fen Proprietors paying £18 per annum.
They were also to keep in repair the bank from this point to the
high lands in Bourne, this parish and Cawthorpe, the other
Proprietors of the bank paying at the rate of 20s. a furlong for the
maintenance of the same between Gutheram Cote and Tongue
End, and 10s. a furlong from there to the high land in Bourne.
No soil was to be taken to repair the south banks of the Glen or
Bourne Eau within 20ft. of the north bank. Tunnels, not exceed
ing 9m. square, were to be laid through the banks on both sides,
for the purpose of letting fresh water into the common lands for the
use of cattle in dry seasons ; and all the tunnels then existing
through the banks of the Old and New Hammond Beck were to
remain. Pointing doors were to be put down at the east end of
Clay Dyke and on both sides of the Forty-Foot wheie the Skirth
crosses, and at Hale East or Brand Dyke.
Bridges were to be built and maintained by the Commissioners
wherever the new main drain crossed any public highway ; all
ancient bridges, where the drains were widened, were to be enlarged,
and private bridges, where necessary, were to be erected, to preserve
to the inhabitants of any place a passage to such parts of their lands
as should be cut off by the new drain. By a subsequent Act a
waggon bridge was to be built over Heckington Eau at Five Willow
Warth, and a horse bridge across the New Cut, between Little

258
Hale and Bicker Fens, to be afterwards maintained by Bicker and
Hale jointly.
The Eleven Towns of Holland having a right of Common
in Holland Fen were authorised to erect at the expense of the
Inhabitants, a bridge over the South Forty-Foot between Syke
Marsh and Clay Hills, and also a waggon bridge over the drain
at any place that the Commissioners might think proper. The
navigation hitherto in use was not to be obstructed and the bridges
were to be so constructed as not to hinder it.
The communication between Risegate Eau and the Hammond
Beck was not to be stopped or interfered with, and the Proprietors
of lands draining by it were to have the same rights of shutting
down or keeping open the doors of Gosberton Clough.
The Commissioners were to scour out and afterwards maintain
the following drains or becks, which convey the living and downfall
waters from the high land into the maindrain, viz., New Dyke in
Bourne, Scotten Dyke, Haconby Lode, Rippingale Running Dyke,
Dowsby Lode, Pointon Lode, Billingborough Lode, the Ouze Mer,
between Billingborough and Horbling, Horbling New Drain, Swa-
ton Eau, Helpringham Eau and the new Cut, leading from the Forty-
Foot Drain eastward to Brand Dyke ; the drain from the Clough at
Hodge Dyke End in the Parish of Ewerby-by- Asgarby, and Howell
Midfodder to Heckington Head Drain, and thence to Clay Dyke
into the South Forty-Foot.
drainage The diameters of any water wheels of the engines used for the
interior drainage were not to exceed 15ft. between Bourne Eau and
Rippingale Running Dyke ; i4^ft. from there to Poynton Lode ;
14ft. to Bridge End Causeway; and 13ft. below this.
The Commissioners were to make a drain from the Swines
head and Wigtoft Marshes to the Hammond Beck, the cost to be
defrayed out of the surplus money arising from the inclosure of the
marsh. Redstone Gote and the drain leading thereto were, after the
passing of the Act, to be repaired by the Commissioners.
Owners of land on the west side of the New Cut were to be
authorised to put down clows at their own expense, at the lower end
of the several drains next the Cut, for holding up water in dry
seasons, the doors to be shut down only on four days in a week.
For making or repairing banks the Commissioners were empowered
to take soil within 300ft. of any bank on making satisfaction for the
same. The Earl of Exeter was not to be hindered from taking
water out of the River Glen for his two decoys near Bourne ; nor
the Earl of Warwick from having fresh water for the use of his
lands in Algarkirk and Fossdyke from Kyme Eau, by tunnels under
the South Forty-Foot, Hammond Beck and other drains.
The Commissioners were authorised to appoint a Receiver o^
Taxes and a Treasurer, both officers to give security ; also a Cleij

WHEELS.

OMMODATION WORKS.

OFFICERS.

RATES

PFNALTY FOR
INJURING WORKS.

259
and Surveyor, and such other Officers as they should think fit.
For the collection of the rates each parish or township was-
once a year to nominate at a vestry two persons living within the
parish, to collect the rates due from persons in such parish, and to collection of
pay the amount received- half-yearly to the Receiver, for which they
were to be paid twopence in the pound. The penalty for refusing to
act after appointment was fixed at £5. By the subsequent Act it was
provided that these Collectors were to be appointed within one
month from the 7th of June in each year, and, if the parishes
neglected to return two names in writing before that date, the
Commissioners were empowered to make the necessary appointments.
The nominations by the parish were to be reported to the Commis
sioners and confirmed.
In order to prevent the new works from being rendered abortive, as
all previous attempts had been, by the lawlessness of the Fenmen, it
was enacted that any persons proved guilty of wilfully or maliciously
damaging any banks or works were to be deemed guilty of
felony, and the Court before which they were tried was to have
power to transport such felons for seven years. This clause was
repealed in the Act obtained in the 12th year of the present reign,
and in lieu thereof persons found guilty of injuring the works were
to become liable to a penalty of £5.
The amount authorised to be raised not proving sufficient, an IO Geo. iii, c. 41
amended Act was obtained, five years later, authorising the Commis
sioners to double the former taxes, which consequently became on
the respective districts eighteenpence, ninepence, and sixpence per
acre. They also obtained powers to carry out additional works, and
to contribute £3,000 towards cleansing, deepening and widening the
Glen from the sluice at the Reservoir to Tongue End, on the
Commissioners of Deeping Fen spending a similar amount.
They were further authorised to cause the Car Dyke to be scoured orains to be
out and maintained from Bourne Eau to the north side of Haconby
Lordship, and from there to cut a dike between Haconby and
Dunsby to the old Scotten Dike, and Rippingale Running Dike to
the New Cut ; also that part of Heckington Head Drain from
Howell Engine to the north-west corner of Truss Fen, and the
Hodge Dike Drain from Howell Midfodder, between Ewerby Fen
and Howell and Asgarby Fens, to the extent of the taxable lands,
and the drain called Labour-in-vain Drain from the Division Drain
of the fens of Heckington and Great Hale into the East Dike, and
thence by the Twenty-Foot Drain into the New Cut ; also the
Northland Dike, the Old Forty-Foot, the New Dike to the
Twenty-Foot, and thence to the New Cut ; also the drains
between Neslam Inclosed Grounds and Pointon Fen, and the drain
between the Fens of Aslackby arid Dowsby, and the drain between
the Fens of Hacconby and Morton, and the drain between Bourne

MAINTAINED BY
THE TRUST.

260
and Morton, from the new dikenear Cooper's Engine to the east bank
of the old Scotten Dike, were also to be scoured out and cleansed.
The Commissioners were empowered to cleanse and repair the
Fifteen-Foot Drain, from the New Cut toDampford Engine, and to
charge the expense to the Commissioners of the Second District, in
case they neglected to do this ; also to scour out Wyberton Drain,
Frampton Town Drain, and Kirton Town Drain, for the purpose of
discharging the water from the New Cut and the Hammond Becks
during the time that any work should be going on which would stop
the water flowing to the Black Sluice.
A pair of pointing doors was to be erected near Gosberton
Clough in Hammond Beck to prevent the flood waters flowing up
the beck, south of the doors.
Certain Owners of lands north of the Glen were to be allowed
to drain into their system upon payment of such rates as should be
agreed on, and such lands were to be exempted from the authority
of the Court of Sewers.
navigation. Power was given to erect a pen sluice, or lock, for navigation
at the Black Sluice ; and one at the east end of ths drove-way in
Little Hale Fen, and on the Hammond Beck ; the top of the pen
sluice at the Black Sluice, or Little Hale Fen, not to hold the water
higher than within 2ft. below the mean level of the surface of the
land within two miles of the New Cut and Clay Dike ; and any pen
stocks above this, to within i8in. below the surface, within two miles
of the west side of the New Cut. Power was also given to carry out
such works as were necessary for making the New Cut and the
Hammond Beck navigable, and to exact tolls from boats, provided
that such works did not prejudice the drainage. The pen locks or
stanches were at any time to be opened, if necessary, for the
drainage, on an order signed by three Commissioners.
The last attempt to drain the level was thoroughly successful.
The works were efficiently carried out, and, being well- designed,
entirely answered the expectation of the promoters. The fen,
which, before the drainage, was little better than a morass,
growing a coarse herbage and affording a scanty pasturage during
the summer months, became rich arable and grass land, and the
annual value increased tenfold.
Two years after the Drainage Act had been obtained* another
was passed for enclosing and dividing Holland Fen. This Act will
be referred to afterwards. The Enclosure and Drainage were not
carried out without difficulty.
Several serious riots were caused by the Fenmen, the successors
of those who had so effectually destroyed the works carried out by
Earl Lindsey and the former Adventurers. The enclosure was
regarded by these men as an infringement of rights and privileges,
which they had long enjoyed. Very lawless excesses were com!

INCLOSURE OF
HOLLAND FEN.

26l
mitted in opposition to,and to the destruction of,the public works; and
fences which were erected in the day-time, were frequently pulled
down during the night. So difficult was it found to maintain the
fences put up, marking the divisions of the allotted lands, that a
subsequent Act had to be obtained, authorising the removal and sale
of the fencing and the substitution of ditches.
In the summer of 1768 a number of Fenmen and others
assembled at Hubbert's Bridge, whence they proceeded to Boston
and to the offices of Mr! Draper, the solicitor to the Commissioners,
demanding all the papers relating to the Inclosure. Having seized
the box which contained them, they tore the contents to pieces.
They then went to the houses of those who were known to be pro
moters of the Inclosure, and threatened to pull their houses down if
they did not promise to desist from proceeding. From Boston they
went to Frampton, and in like manner threatened Mr. Tunnard and
others. Finally the troops had to be called in and ' Gentleman
Smith,' of Swineshead, the ringleader, was seized, and the riot quelled.
The state of Bourne Eau and the River Glen has been a con
stant cause of anxiety to the Managers of the Black Sluice District.
The bed of the latter river has gradually risen so high, by accumu
lated deposits, as to be above the level of the fen, and thus the
drainage by it is very imperfect, and the banks are liable to breaches
from heavy floods. These banks have given way no less than four
teen times since 1821, eight of the breaches being on the south, and
six on the north side. When these breaches occurred, several thou
sand acres of land were inundated, to the very serious loss of the
occupiers. It has been stated that the cost, during the above period,
of maintaining the banks and repairing the breaches, amounted to
upwards of £10,000.
The banks of Bourne Eau are even in a worse condition than
those of the Glen, being low and made of light and porous earth.
Doors are placed at Tongue End, pointing to the Glen, which pre
vent the water in floods from reverting up the Bourne Eau; an overfall
of about 20ft. in length is fixed in the north bank, over which the
water runs when it rises so high as to threaten a breach of the
banks. This overflow is connected with the South Forty-Foot Drain
near Gutherham Cote.
One of the most serious floods which has occurred since the
new works were completed was in April 1872, when, on an unusu
ally rapid flow coming down the Glen, the water rose 2ft. higher than
ever known before ; and a breach occurred between the lock and
Bourne Eau Sluice, at Tongue End, and Bourne Fen was flooded.
An action was brought by the Proprietors of the flooded land against
the Black Sluice Commissioners, to recover damages for the loss
sustained by negligence in permitting the water to flow over the
bank. The action was tried at the following Lincoln Spring

RIOT OF 1TBB.

THE GLEN AND
BOURNE EAU.

FLOOD OF I.T..

262

Hardwick v.
Wiles.

INEFFICIENT
CONDITION OF
THE DRAINAGE.

Report on the
Glen by J.
Kingston and
A. Harrison, 1883.

RENNIE'S
REPORT, IBIS.

Assizes. The question left to the Jury was, "Whether the Com
missioners took reasonable care that the bank in question should be
in a reasonably fit and proper condition to protect the adjacent lands
from water and floods reasonably to be contemplated." The Jury
found for the defendants. On a second proposition, as fo whether
the Commissioners " had heightened and strengthened," according
to the provisions of the Act, gth and 10th Vict., the Jury also found
in favour of the Commissioners. In 1862 the Glen had been
cleaned out, from its junction with the Welland to about 1 J miles
above where the breach occurred. About 3ft. was taken from the
bed of the river, and half the material was put on the banks on this
side. All the material, however, taken out at the immediate spot
where the breach occurred, had been placed on this bank, heightening
and strengthening it. In 1877 a large breach occurred in the North
Glen Bank, and Bourne Fen was again inundated. This breach
was supposed to have been caused by some persons cutting away
the bank, and a reward of £100 was offered for the discovery of the
offenders, but without effect.
The common effect produced on all fen lands by improved
drainage is a general subsidence of the soil. The abstraction of the
water from the land into the drains causes the spongy soil gradually
to consolidate, and this process is still further assisted by the
ploughing and working of the land. The organic matter also,
accumulated during many centuries, by being exposed to the
atmosphere, decomposes, and the general result is a lowering
of the level of the surface of the ground. Owing to this
cause and the demand for improved drainage, complaints became
general as to the imperfect condition of the drainage of the Level ;
and the Proprietors of the land urged on the Commissioners the
necessity for taking steps to obtain further powers for remedying
this. The taxes levied on the district at this time amounted to
£3,520, about one-fifth of which was derived from the tolls on
the Navigation. This was absorbed in scouring out the drains,
repairing the sluices and strengthening the banks, so that there
was no surplus which could be devoted to new works.
In 1815 the Commissioners consulted Mr. John Rennie and
directed him to report generally as to the most effectual mode of
improving the drainage of the District. In a preliminary report,
made at a meeting held at Donington, Mr. Rennie advised the Com
missioners that, in his opinion, to render the drainage perfect, it
would be advantageous that Boston Haven should be improved, or
that a new Cut should be made from the Black Sluice to Wyberton
Roads. Acting on this advice, the Commissioners applied to the
Corporation of Boston, and to the Witham Commissioners, asking if
they would concur in such a scheme as Mr. Rennie advised, for the

263
improvement of the river. These Trusts, however, declined to join in
any such scheme.
With reference to the drainage above the Black Sluice, Mr.
Rennie, after referring to the inadequacy of the then means of drain
age, by which cause a great deal of the land was frequently flooded
and seriously injured, traced the cause to the great quantity of
water which came into the fen from the high lands ; and he con
sidered that no effectual drainage could be obtained, unless the water
which came from a higher level could be prevented from mixing
with the fen water and over-riding it. For this purpose he
recommended that the Old Car Dyke should be scoured out and
converted into a catch-water drain, so as to intercept all the flood
water which comes down from the high lands lying between Bourne
and Ewerby, and that this water should be carried by Heckington
Cut and Gill Syke into the North Forty-Foot, and so by this drain
to Redstone Gote, or to a new sluice, to be built a little below the
Grand Sluice. By this means the Level would be relieved of the
high land waters, which were the principal cause of the drowned
state of the Fens. He also recommended the deepening and cleansing
of several other drains, and the strengthening of the north bank of
Bourne Eau, the total cost of the works being estimated at £66,160,
viz. : — £ s. d.
The catchwater drain from Bourne to the
Witham, near to the Grand Sluice 35.832 o o
A new Sluice for the same, of 30ft. water
way, and a tunnel under the North
Forty-foot ... ... ... ... ... 12,220 o o
Scouring out the South Forty-Foot, Ham
mond Beck, and Sundries ... ... 12,406 o o
Barrier Bank at Bourne Eau ... ... 5,702 o

o

£66,160 o o
These recomendations of Mr. Rennie were not carried into
effect, and the condition of the drainage became so bad, that the
lower lands were continually flooded and the crops destroyed,
or greatly injured. The loss throughout the level was stated, in
some seasons, to be £40,000, and the annual loss £20,000.
On a map of the Fens, dated 1830, there are shown no less
than 46 windmills in this Level which were used for lifting the water
off the low lands into the main drains.
The Proprietors of Bourne Fen, failing to obtain drainage by
natural means, after considerable litigation with the Black Sluice
Commissioners, obtained an Act enabling them to employ steam
power, and an engine was erected near Gutheram Cote. Other
parishes followed this example, and thus obtained an individual

STEAM PUMPING
ENGINES.

FURTHER F
PORTS.

264
benefit at a very much greater aggregate cost than the expense of
one general measure.
The work of improvement was hindered for some time by a
division of opinion which existed as to be the best method of effecting
the natural drainage of the Level. One party, headed by the Rev.
Kingsman Foster, a Commissioner, contended that the proper out
let of the waters of the south part of the fen was the River Welland.
His plan was to deepen and widen the River Glen and the Risegate
Eau, and to divert a portion of the waters of the Level, by means of
these two streams, into the Welland. He further complained of
what he considered a great injustice inflicted on the taxpayers
of the Black Sluice Level, owing to the fact of 30,000
acres of land, lying on the east of the Hammond Beck, and under
the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers, obtaining ' surreptitious
drainage ' by discharging their waters into the drains of the Black
Sluice Level without being taxed towards the expenses of that Trust.
He attributed the cause of this to the silting up of the outlets be
longing to the Court of Sewers, which ought to have conveyed
these waters to the Welland.
In 1843, the Commissioners directed Mr. W. Lewin to
make a report as to the best means of improving the drainage.
w. Lewin, 1843. jn tjje f0nowing year they called in Sir John Rennie, who had
j. Rennie, 1845. succeeded his father; and, having adopted his report, dated Jan. 31st,
1845, determined to go to Parliament for fresh powers to raise
money and carry out works. Both Sir John Rennie and Mr. Lewin,
and also Mr. Thomas Pears, strongly advocated the plan proposed to
the Commissioners by Mr. Rennie in 1815, for the conversion of the
Car Dyke into a catchwater or receiving drain for the water flowing
on to the Level from the high lands between Bourne and Ewerby; but
against this there appears to have been so strong a prejudice that
Sir John was obliged to abandon it, and he therefore prepared an
amended scheme, with which the Commissioners went to Parlia
ment, but considerable opposition being raised by the upper dis- •
tricts, and owing to other causes, the Bill was not carried.
cubitts After the loss of the Bill in the Session of 1845, the Commis-
report. la., doners consulted Mr. W. Cubitt, who made first a verbal report,
the substance of which was printed in a memorandum, bearing date
Donington, Nov. 14, 1845, and subsequently a written report, with
a plan of the district, dated Jan. 1, 1846. Mr. Cubitt expressed the
opinion that the main drains of the Black Sluice were in suitable
positions, and that no material alteration in the position of the
sluice was necessary ; that the main drains, generally, wanted
enlarging and deepening, and the level of the Navigation water
lowering 4ft. If this were done and the drains and sluices main
tained in good order, he considered that a perfect natural drainage
at all times would be provided, and that the fens would be as well

265
drained in times of flood as they were in fine weather ; and that
the steam engines at Bourne and Morton, and all the wind engines
would become unnecessary. The effect of the works would be to
provide for the discharge into Boston Haven of more than three
times the quantity of water the present drains were capable of
discharging within the same time. With regard to the Catchwater
system which had been recommended by Mr. Rennie and Mr.
Lewin, the necessary works would, in his opinion, cost £100,000, and,
if this system were carried out thoroughly, and the drainage improved
in all respects, the cost would amount to £300,000. With regard to
the proposed Outfall into the Welland by Risegate Eau, he reported
that this drain could be widened and deepened, so as to afford a
drainage to the upper part of the Black Sluice Level, but the Out
fall would not answer the purpose as well as that at Boston at a
commensurate expense, as, for a great part of its length, the cutting
for the drain would have to be 20ft. deep, owing to the height of the
land ; and that it would cost £50,000 to make it a fit drain. As to
the diversion of the water from Boston Haven, Mr. Cubitt was of
opinion that, were the respective Outfalls of the Witham and the
Welland as well managed as they were susceptible of being, there
would be plenty of water for both Spalding and Boston Ports.
Mr. Cubitt having been also consulted as to the principle of system of
taxation adopted in the Level, stated that it was clear that, upon
the whole, it was fair ; that the Eighteenpenny District, consisting
of lands which formerly were swamps and the lowest land in the
level, as well as being situated the furthest from the sea, required
the most works for its relief, and therefore ought to pay the high
est rate ; and that he did not see how any case could be made
against the Owners of the untaxed lands, as they did not require
artificial drainage and had to maintain the sea banks, for the support
of which the Black Sluice Level was not charged, although those
banks were the barriers against its being drowned by the sea.
The estimated cost of the works recommended was £50,000
for enlarging the drains ; £10,000 for altering bridges and
sluices ; £30,000 for the new sluice at Boston ; making a total, with
contingencies, of £100,000.
Acting on this report the Commissioners promoted a Bill in
the Session of 1846, and succeeded in obtaining an Act " for better 9 an \_ I2°7Victl
draining and improving certain low marsh and fen lands lying between
Boston and Bourn, in the County of Lincoln, and for further improv
ing the navigation through such lands." This Act recites that the
general means of draining the lands had become very defective, in con
sequence whereof considerable losses in agricultural produce were
frequently sustained, the recurrence of which might be prevented by
improvements made in the drainage; and also that, no provision having
been made in the former Acts for the discharge of the debt incurred in

TAXATION.

ACT OF 1B4S.

266
carrying out the existing works of drainage, it had for many years
operated as an obstacle to the application of sufficient means for
maintaining them in an efficient state, and that it was desirable to
make arrangements for the gradual extinction of the existing and
any future debts. The debt at this time was £55,000.
The works recommended by Mr. W. Cubitt and sanctioned by
the Act were as follows : —
1 — The lowering of the South Forty- Foot River from end to end, to
a depth of from 4ft. to 5ft. on an average, so as to bring the
bottom of the river at Gutheram Cote on a level with the
existing sill of the Black Sluice, and to give a gradual inclina
tion, or fall, at the rate of 3m. per mile throughout its
length.
2 — The erection of a new sluice on the south side of the then
existing Black Sluice, with three openings of the width of 20ft.
clear (one being constructed for use as a navigation lock). The
sills to be 6ft. below the sill of the existing sluice.
3 — The scouring out, enlarging and deepening of the Twenty- Foot
Drain, and also the old Skirth.
4 — The Hammond Beck from its junction with the Forty-Foot to
Dove Hirne to be deepened 3ft. on an average, so that its
bottom at the junction should be 6in. below the sill of the
existing Black Sluice ; and to have an inclination at the rate of
3m. per mile as far as the Twenty- Foot Drain in Gosberton
Fen, and above that point at the rate of I4in. per mile.
5 — Clay Dyke, New Cut, Heckington Head Drain, Midfodder
Drain, and Hodge Dyke were to be scoured out and deepened,
so as to correspond with the improved condition of the Forty-
Foot River.
6 — To scour out the following and any other drains in the level
which the Commissioners are liable to keep in repair ; the Car
Dyke from New Dyke to the north of Haconby Lordship ; the
Scotten Dyke, Haconby Lode, Rippingale Running Dyke;
Dowsby Lode ; the Ouze Mer between Billingborough and
Horbling ; Horbling New Drain ; Swaton Eau ; Helpringham
Eau.In consideration that the maintenance of the north bank of the
River Glen (which bank from Pinchbeck Bars to Tongue End
forms the southern boundary of the Level) is essential for securing the
Level from partial inundation from the waters of that river, and that
it would tend to the safety of this bank if the waters had a freer
passage to the sea by means of its channel being scoured out and
deepened and the sill of the Outlet Sluice lowered, the Com
missioners were authorised to subscribe a sum, not exceeding
£2,000, towards the carrying out of such work ; but if the persons
having the management of the Glen did not undertake the improve!

267
ment of the river, the Commissioners were at once to raise and
strengthen the north bank of the river Glen and also that of Bourne Eau.
Power was also gi ven to the Trust to subscribe towards any
works that might bo carried out by the Boston Harbour Trustees,
or others, for the improvement of tbe Haven ; and also towards any
works for scouring out or deeping Risegate Eau, or any other rivers
or drains, provided such works would tend to accelerate the passage
of the waters from the Black Sluice Level. Power was given to
make bye-laws ; provision was made for the exemption of the
personal liability of tho Commissioners ; for the appointment of an
Auditor by the Proprietors of lands annually, on the first Monday in
June ; and for compelling Owners of division dikes to keep the same
scoured out, or in default for the Commissioners to do the work and
recover the cost ; new regulations were laid down for the manage
ment of the Navigation and collection of tolls, and several other
matters relating to the internal administration of the Trust were
provided for. Additional taxing powers were granted to meet the
expenses of carrying the Act into execution. The extra rate for
building the sluice w.-ts 2s. 6d. per acre on all lands in the Level, for
a period not exceeding four years, and not raising a greater sum
than £30,300. Bourne and Dyke were liable to pay only is. 3d. per
acre, in addition lo the is. 6d, tc; which they were already liable.
In addition to the 2s. Cd., extra taxes for five years, for the cost of
the improvement of the Forty- Fool and other drains, were imposed
on the Level, in the following proportions, viz., the several rates of
is. 6d., gd., and 6d. respectively, were doubled for a period of five
years; at the expiration of this period the first-named District was
to pay 2s., the second is., and the third 8d. per acre extra. Power
was gr.-tnted to raise money on mortgage, not exceeding, in the
whole, a simi of £80,000, in addition to Ihe existing debt ; but after
the expiration of live years, an arrangement was to be made for the
extinction of the whole of the debt due by the Trust by the annual
repayment of a sum of £1,200.
The Occupiers of lands in the several parishes in the Black
Sluice Level were empowered to lay a rate, not exceeding half-a-
crown an acre, for any one year, for defraying the expenses of
interior drainage.
The Commissioners had become the Owners of a farm of 218
acres, in Bourne North Fen, the proceeds from which had to be
applied to the payment of £34 5s. 5#d. towards upholding and
maintaining the north bank of the Glen and Bourne Eau, any
balance being applied to the payment of the drainage taxes
charged on the lands in Pourne North Fen and Dyke Fen.
Subject to the redemption of the payments for the Glen, the
Commissioners were empowered to sell the farm, and , pay the
proceeds to the Proprietors of Bourne North Fen, to be applied to

• 59- 1849-

268-
the repayment of the money expended in erecting a steam engine
and wheel. Power was also given to sell an estate in Wigtoft
Marsh, and to apply the proceeds to the purchasing off of the
drainage taxes.
The Commissioners had become possessed of this land in
Bourne Fen under the following circumstances. Under the Bourne
Inclosure Act of 1766 (6 Geo. iii), the Commissioners were directed
to set out 340 acres, part of Bourne Fen, for roads and drove- ways,
and the remainder, after that occupied by the roads, was to vest in
the Black Sluice Commissioners, in trust, to let the same on lease,
for periods not exceeding 21 years, the rents to be applied towards
satisfying the tax laid upon the North Bank and the North Fen,
the deficiency, if any, to be made up from the tax levied on the
Fen. The quantity remaining was 218 acres, the rent from which
was not sufficient to pay the Black Sluice Taxes until about 181 1,
from which time till 1816, there was a surplus of over £83 a year.
From that period until 1839 the rent about covered the taxes. The
farm, at this time, lets for £370 a year. In 1845 the surplus amounted
to £137 and in 1895 IO £2&i IQS- I0d-
The time granted by this Act for the execution of the works,
12 and 13 vict. and the funds provided, not being sufficient, an amended Act was
obtained, by which the District liable to the rate of eighteenpence
was charged, until October, 1852, with a capital tax of 2s. 3d. ;
the Ninepenny District with is. i£d., and the Sixpenny,
with gd.
After the cessation of the capital tax in 1852, the general taxes
were to be increased respectively to fourpence half-penny, twopence
farthing, and three half-pence, making the total general taxes
payable is. iojd., njd. and 7^d. The taxes were to be paid by the
Occupiers, half-yearly, and in default, after 2 1 days arrears, their goods
and chattels to be liable to distraint, and a penalty of twopence in the
shilling added to the taxes due. Power was also taken to borrow
an additional sum of £10,000.
Under the powers of these two Acts the works enumerated were
carried out.
The new sluice was made with three openings of 20ft. each,
one being adapted for a navigation lock. The sill was laid 6ft.
below the sill of the old sluice, being 870ft. below Ordnance datum, or
about level with mean low water of spring tides in the
estuary. The amount borrowed for these and previous works was
borrowed. £152,000
sleaford In l853> the Boston and Sleaford railway was constructed,
16 andT vict running alonS the north bank of the Forty- Foot Drain, from
1853. '' Boston to Swineshead Bridge. By the Company's Act it was
provided that they should pay an annual rent of £50 for every mile

SLACK SLUICE.

MONEY

26g
in length of bank over which the railway ran ; that the centre line
of the railway should leave a clear space of 25 feet between it and
the slope of the bank, and that the Company should maintain the
bank. The right of a hauling way was also reserved.
Although the works carried out effected a great improvement in
the drainage of the Level, they were not as effectual as was anticipated,
and as they would have been, if the recommendation of the Engineers
who advised the Commission as to the conversion of the Car dyke
into a catchwater drain, and the improvement of the river below the
Black Sluice, had been carried out. The large area of high land
water which is discharged into the main, or South Forty Foot
Drain, over-rides the fen water and, owing to the obstructed con
dition of the outfall at the Black Sluice, was the source of constant
flooding of the low lands. The hope expressed in Mr. Cubitt's
report that all mechanical appliances for raising the water would be
dispensed with was not realised. All the lower districts had still
to resort to pumping, and in several cases engines have been erected
since these works were carried out. At the present time there are
six pumping stations in the Level. In winter the water never ebbed
out below 7ft. on the sill of the Black Sluice, and after heavy rains
below 10ft., rising in times of flood to 12 or 13ft. ; in exceptional
cases to 14ft. ; and during tide time to 15ft.; and in 1880 to 17ft. In
dry summers the silt accumulated to such an extent as completely
to block up the Outfall, rising to 10ft. and 12ft. above the sill. In
the dry season of 1868, the accumulation rose to 15ft. against the
sea side of the sluice doors, causing a serious block to the outfall of
the water when the rain came, and involving considerable labour
in moving the sand away from the doors.
In 1880 the Black Sluice Commissioners joined with the
Witham Commissioners and the Boston Harbour Commissioners in
promoting a Bill in Parliament for the improvement of the Outfall of
the Witham. The Commissioners also promoted a separate Act,
giving them power to raise the additional tax required. The Black
Sluice Drainage Act, 1880, recited in the Preamble, that by reason
of the defective state of the Channel of the River Witham and
of the Outfall, the discharge of water from the said river was
impeded and in time of heavy rain and flood, the lands in the Black
Sluice Level were subject to inundation and great injury was caused
thereby to such lands and the crops thereon. The Act empowered
the Commissioners to contribute_£65,ooo towards the proposed Out
fall works, and to levy a tax of one shilling per acre over the whole
Level, which is to be applied ; (1) to paying the interest on the
borrowed money ; (2) in payment of the Black Sluice share of main
tenance and management of the Outfall works ; (3) in providing a
sinking fund for repayment of the borrowed money, the balance,
after paying items one and two, being applied to this purpose. The

EFFECT OF THE
IMPROVEMENTS.

WITHAM OUTFALL,

43 and 44 Vict.

270

DEEPENING TH
DRAINS, 1966

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

lands which pay the fourpenny tax to the Welland are to be
allowed a drawback to this extent from the Outfall tax.
The tax is paid by the Occupiers, but may be deducted from the
rent. The high land in the following parishes, which adjoins the
Black Sluice and drains by means of the works in this Level, but
which is not liable to the Black Sluice taxes, is made liable for the
Outfall tax, viz., Boston West, Skirbeck, Skirbeck Quarter, Wyber
ton, Frampton, Kirton, Wigtoft, Brothertoft, Swineshead, Gibbet
Hills, Hart's Grounds, Quadring, Donington, Bicker, Gosberton,
Surfleet, Pinchbeck, South Kyme and Dogdyke.
The works executed under the Outfall Act have proved of very
great benefit to the whole of the Level. The water, which
previous to these works had never been known to ebb out below 4ft.
gin. on the sill of the Black Sluice, and generally stood at about 7ft.
in winter, has since the works were completed fallen as low as gin.
on the sill and seldom exceeds 2ft. at spring tides, except during
floods. In the exceptionally dry summers which have since ensued
there has not been the same accumulation of silt as there had been
in previous years.
In order to take full advantage of the improved outfall, the
South Forty-Foot was cleaned out in 1886 and about 3ft. of deposit,
which had accumulated in the drain since the works of 1846, was
removed, the quantity at the lower end near the sluice being upwards
of 6ft. The Hammond Beck, the Skirth and other drains were
also cleaned out and deepened.
The special taxes levied under the Act of 1846 ceased in 1888.
The taxes levied now are therefore eighteenpence on the Black
Sluice Level, ninepence on the Sixth District Level, and sixpence on
Holland Fen, and the Outfall tax of one shilling over the whole area,
except the land liable to the Welland tax, which pays eightpence.
The average income and expenditure during the two years,
1888-9 and 1889-90, since the special taxes ceased, were as follows :
Income.
Taxes Outfall Tax 
Rents and Rent Charges ...
Great Northern Railway, Rent of Bank
Navigation Tolls
Licenses for Fishing and Boating...

Expenditure.
Interest and Sinking Fund
Interest for Witham Outfall Loan
Contribution towards maintenance of Outfall
Works in Black Sluice District ...
Management 

£

s.

d.

8581

11

0

4369

H

7

117

0

1

341

5

0

97

5

4

47

0

3

^'3553

16

3

£

s.

d.

64g3

2

1

2475

H

6

itfall 1455

5

2

755

19

2

982

19

0

£12162

19

11

271

The amount of loans outstanding in 1892 was £112,500, against
which was a sum of £5,719 invested in consols.
The following is a schedule of the parishes, the fen portions of
which are comprised in the Black Sluice District, and the area of
the same. Eighteenpenny District
Aslackby 
Bicker... BillingboroughBourne Fen ...
Bourne Donington
Dowsby ... ...
Dunsby Gosberton Haconby
Helpringham ...
HorblingMorton 
Pinchbeck Spalding 
Cowbit PointonQuadring Old Enclosure
Quadring Fen
Quadring Hundred 
Rippingale 
Sempringham
Surfleet Swaton
Swineshead East
Wigtoft Marsh 
Swineshead Marsh ...

A.

R.

p.

PARISHES IN TH
SLACK SLUICE

997

0

13

LEVEL.

2560

2

18

1121

2

37

... 3780

2

29

893

0

29

... 4470
1
21
867
3
7
i32g
1
6
1170
0
12
. . 1283
3
!5
1362
0
25
••• 1344
2
39
2613
1
22
1864
3
!3
1307
0
3
282
3
35
785
2
0
65
3
39
... 1859
2
3i
400
1
7
1173
2
34
87g
2
9
760
0
32
... i3g4
1
6
620
2
13
127
1
36
300
3
7
356i7
3
18
Ninepenny District
(Sixth Witham District).
Asgarby Ewerby
Great Hale . . .
Heckington . . .
Howell
Little Hale ...
South Kyme ...
Swineshead West
a. r. p.
76 1 o
736 o o
1926 2 o
2572 2 32
2go o o
i332 l 3
2874 o 27
907 2 37
10715 2 ig
272
Sixpenny District.

(Holland Fen : Second Witham District.) a.

R. P.

Algarkirk

•• 2334

O 38

Boston...

1502

I 15

Brand End Plot 

120

O 0

Brothertoft 

756

3 37

Dogdyke

277

1 38

Fossdyke

888

° 5

Frampton

1301

3 10

Kirton

¦• 3390

3 19

Mown Rakes ..

IOO

3 30

Skirbeck Quarter

277

3 10

Sutterton

2482

° 7

Swineshead Fen

2131

3 36

Wigtoft 

g8o

3 3i

Wyberton

981

3 8

Pelham's Lands

717

0 0

Coningsby

36

0 15

Langriville

240

1 2

18520

2 21

Each of the above places is entitled to elect one Representative
to act on the Black Sluice Drainage Commission.

273

CHAPTER VIII.
The Black Sluice Districts.

The Eighteenpenny District, or Lindsey Level.
THIS district, formerly known as the Lindsey Level, includes boundary.
a low tract of fen land lying between Bourne Eau and
Helpringham Eau, and between the Hammond Beck, on the East
and the Car Dyke on the West. This fen was common to the adjacent
parishes, both in Kesteven, on the west, and in Holland, on the east ;
the main drain, called the ' Midfodder Dyke ' being the boundary
between the two divisions of the County. The fens in the parishes
in Kesteven only will be referred to in this Chapter, those in Hol
land having been dealt with in Chapter 3, On North Holland.
Separate Acts have been obtained for the Inclosure of the fen and
commonable lands in each of the parishes.
Helpringham Fen. — This fen is bounded on the north by boundary.
Helpringham Eau, on the east by the South Forty-Foot Drain, on
the south by Swaton Fen, and on the west by the Car Dyke. It
contains 1,363 acres. The surface of the land is about 6-8oft. above
Ordnance datum-, or 1 4^f t . above the sill of the Black Sluice.
The fen, with other commonable lands, amounting together
to 3,000 acres, was inclosed under the powers of an Act, obtained in J9 G^-ai>
1773, ' for Dividing and Inclosing the open Common Fields, Meadow
Grounds, Common Fen, Cow Pasture and other Commonable
Lands in the parish of Helpringham.' The Commissioners appoin
ted to carry out the inclosure were Daniel Douglas of Falkingham,
Thomas Oldknow of Nottingham ; and Richard Metheringham of
Freiston. Each Commissioner was to be paid one hundred guineas
for his services. The Commissioners were authorised to set out roads,
the public roads being 60ft. wide; and a plot of half an acre adjoin
ing the Sheep Dike, to be used as a pen or fold for sheep-
washing by the inhabitants of the parish ; and also to cause to be
erected any banks, sluices, bridges, drains and engines that they
should think convenient. Land was to be set out, 12ft. in width, for
widening Heckington Eau, one half of the cost of the widening to
be paid by Little Hale. The Award, when executed, was to be

INCLOSURE ACT.
ieo. ii
1773-

274
enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace, and be open to inspection on
payment of one shilling, and two pence for every ioo words
copied.
boundary. Horbling Fen. — This fen contains about 1,353 acres and lies
between the Ouse Mer Lode and Swaton Eau, or the Old Holland
Causeway ; extending from the Car Dyke on the west to the South
Forty- Foot on the east. The surface is about 7-3oft. above Ordnancs
datum, or 15ft. above the sill of the Black Sluice.
inclosure act. In 1 764 an Act was obtained 'for Dividing and Inclosing the
4 Ge°i764.' c' "' °Pen and Common Fields, Meadows and Common Fen in the
Parish of Horbling, and for Draining and Improving the Fens.'
The Commissioners appointed were S. Forster of Grantham,
Daniel Douglas of Falkingham, John Ward of Donington, Robert
Graves of Aslackby, William Jepson of Lincoln, Thomas Hoggard
of Deeping Gate and John Landen of Milton.
They were authorised to divide and allot the land, to set out
the public roads, 40ft. wide ; and make such banks, drains, ditches,
&c, as they thought necessary. When the Commissioners nomin
ated were reduced to five by death or resignation, public notice was
to be given in the parish church for a meeting of the Proprietors, to
elect two new Commissioners. The Commissioners are to meet on
the first Monday in October in every year, ten days' notice being
previously given, to appoint an officer for managing the drainage
engine and other works of drainage, and to collect the rates.
Billingborough Fen. — This Fen contains about 1,122 acres,
is situated between the Ouse Mer and Billingborough Lodes,
and extends from the Car Dyke to the South Forty-Foot Drain.
The surface is about 8ft. above Ordnance datum, or from 15ft. to 16ft
above the sill of the Black Sluice.
inclosure act. In 1 768 an Act was obtained ' for Dividing and Inclosing the
8 Geo. iii, c. 15. Open and Common Fields, Meadows and Common Fen, within the
1768. . f ,
Parishes of Billingborough and Birthorpe ; and for Draining and
Improving the Fen.' In the Act it is stated that the fen was fre
quently overflowed with water, and yielded but little profit, and that
if it were embanked and drained it would be of great advantage to all
concerned. John Thistlewood of Tupholm, Thomas Oldknow of Notting
ham, and Thomas Hoggard, of Spalding, were appointed Commis
sioners for dividing and alloting the land, and for making such roads,
banks, sluices, bridges, drains and engines as they should think
convenient for draining the land. Any public roads to be set out
60ft. wide. The Award, when executed, was to be enrolled with the
Clerk of the Peace of Kesteven, and be open to inspection at a fee
of one shilling, and twopence per sheet for any copy taken. After
execution of the Award all the works were to be vested in the Black
Sluice Commissioners, who were to maintain them.

COMMISSIONERS.

BOUNDARY.

275
Pointon Fen. — This fen contains 785 acres, and lies between «oundary.
Neslam and Aslackby Fens, running from the Car Dyke on the
west to the South Forty- Foot on the east. Its surface is about
8.30ft. above Ordnance datum, or 16ft. above the sill of the Black
Sluice. In 1790 an Act was passed 'for Dividing and Inclosing the inclosure act.
Common Cow Pasture, and Common Fen in the parish of Pointon, 3° G™0iiii" c'
the former being stated to contain 160 acres, and the latter 460
acres. The Commissioners were John Parkinson of Asgarby,
Edward Hare of Castor, and Joseph Newman of Boston, who were
to be paid at the rate of a guinea and a half a day for their services.
The Award, when executed, was to be kept in the parish church
of Sempringham, and be open to inspection at a fee of one shilling,
and twopence for every seventy words copied. The Commissioners
were authorised to divide and allot the Common Land and to give
directions for making such roads, bridges, drains and engines as they
might think convenient.
This fen is drained into the Black Sluice, through Pointon
Lode, which is directed, by the Black Sluice Act of 1765, to be main
tained by the Commissioners. ,
Aslackby and Dowsby. — These fens, containing about 1,883 boundary.
acres, lie between Pointon and Rippingale Fens, and extend
from the Car Dyke on the west to the South Forty- Foot on the
east. They were divided and inclosed under an Act ' for Dividing I"^"^" \ *""
and Inclosing a certain Common Fen in the Parishes of Aslackby and '7ft-
Dowsby, and for draining and improving the said Fen ; and also
certain Inclosed Low Lands adjoining to the said Fen.' The whole
tract, including the low ground between the fen and the Car Dyke,
is stated by the Act to contain 2,700 acres. The preamble also
says that the fen was frequently overflowed, and yielded very little
profit to those who had right of common, and that it would be a
great improvement if the same were embanked and drained. John
Grundy of Spalding, Thomas Measures of Pinchbeck and John
Landen of Milton were appointed Commissioners and empowered
to divide and allot the land ; to set out roads and make banks, sluices,
bridges, drains and engines, as they might think necessary for improv
ing the fen. The Award was to be made in two parts, to be
deposited in the parish chests kept in the churches at Aslackby
and Dowsby, and to be open to the inspection of any person inter
ested, on payment of one shilling, and a fee of threepence per sheet
for any extract made therefrom.
On the death or resignation of a Commissioner, the surviving commissioners
Commissioners are directed to give notice in the Parish Churches,
on some Sunday after Divine Service, of a meeting to be held on the
Friday following for the purpose of electing a new Commissioner ;

276
all Owners of five acres of land, or Tenants of fifty acres.to have votes.
The Commissioners are empowered to appoint, on the first
Thursday in October every year, one or more Officers for the man
agement of the engine and drains, and for collecting the rates.
The surface of this fen is about 8-05ft. above Ordnance datum,
or 1575ft. above the sill of the Black Sluice.
boundary. Rippingale Fen. — This fen contains about 1,174 acres, and
lies between Dowsby Lode on the north, and Rippingale Running
Dyke on the south, and extends from the Car Dyke on the west,
to the South Forty Foot Drain on the east. The surface is about
15ft. above the sill of the Black Sluice. The drainage was very
imperfect previous to the improvement of the Outfall of the Witham,
the land being liable to be covered with water in high floods.
rippingale Rippineale Running Dyke,which takes the water from the high
running dyke. *¦*¦ ° . r .
land to the South Forty Foot, is frequently referred to in the old
Inquisitions of Sewers, and orders made for it to be scoured out and
repaired. It is specially referred to in the Black Sluice Act of 1765
as one of the drains that were to be scoured out and maintained by
the Commissioners.
inclosure act. The fen was enclosed under an Act passed in 1803 with
. 43 Geo. in, 1803. severai other commonable lands, and is described in the Act as
containing 1032 acres.
Thomas Syson of Empingham, John Burcham of Coningsby,
and Leonard Bell of Stamford were the Commissioners appointed to
carry out the Act, their fees being fixed at two guineas a day each.
The Award was to be enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace of
Kesteven and deposited at the parish church.
Dunsby Fen. — This fen contains i,32g acres, and lies between
Rippingale Running Dyke on the north, and Haconby Lode on the
south and extends from the Scotten and Car Dyke on the west, to
the South Forty Foot on the east.
drainage. The drainage of this Fen had become very imperfect, and the
land subject to frequent inundation. When the water rose on the
sill of the Black Sluice to 16ft., nearly all the whole of the fen land
was under water. In 1876 the tenants of the land erected a centri
fugal pump for lifting the water off the fen into the South Forty-
Foot Drain, at a cost of £68g. The pump was worked by a hired
portable engine, and was calculated to discharge goo cubic feet per
minute, with a head of 17ft.
In 1883 a further sum of £1,710 was expended in a new fixed
16 h.p. semi-portable engine and centrifugal pump and in altering
and adapting the drains.
The amount expended by the Tenants was subsequently repaid
by the Owners of the land.
The working expenses, since the erection of the fixed engine,
have been eighteenpence an acre, in wet seasons.

277
Haconby. — This district consists of a tract of fen land, con- boundary.13 Geo 111,
taining about 1,283 acres, lying between Haconby Lode on the 1773.
north and Morton Fen on the south, and bounded on the west by
the Scotten Dyke, and running up to the South Forty-Foot on the
east. It was inclosed under an Act, passed in 1773. Daniel Douglas
of Falkingham, Thomas Hoggard of Spalding, and Thomas Mew-
burn of Stanground were appointed Commissioners to allot and
divide the land. They were to set out such land as they deemed
necessary for roads, the public roads being 60ft. wide, and to become
highways ; and to give directions for making drains, sluices and
engines. On the execution of the Award, the Black Sluice Com
missioners, appointed under the Act of 1765, were to put the Act in
execution, for the purpose of embanking and draining the fen, and
afterwards maintaining the works The Award was to be enrolled
with the Clerk of the Peace of Kesteven, and copies furnished, at
the rate of twopence for 90 words. A copy was to be deposited in
the parish church. Haconby Lode is one of the drains which are
specially mentioned in the Act of 1765, as liable to be scoured out
and maintained by the Black Sluice Trust.
Morton Fen. — This district consists of a tract of fen land in boundary.
the parish of Morton, lying to the north of Dyke Fen, extending up
to the Scotten Dyke on the west, and the South Forty-Foot Drain
on the east, and containing 2,613 acres.
This fen, together with other commonable lands, amounting inclosure act.
to 4,400 acres, was enclosed under the powers of an Act obtained in 8 Ge°;$m "' 4I'
1768, 'for Dividing and Inclosing the Open Common Fields,
Meadow Grounds and Common Fen in the parish of Morton, and
for Draining and Improving the said Fen.' The Act recites that the
fen was frequently overflowed with water and yielded but little profit,
and that if it were embanked, drained, divided and inclosed it might
be improved, to the great advantage of all parties interested therein.
Thomas Hoggard of Spalding, John Yerburgh of Frampton, and
John Dove of Bourne, were appointed Commissioners for carrying
out the work. The Commissioners were authorised to make all
necessary roads and drains, banks, bridges, and engines as they
deemed convenient. Public roads to be set out 60ft. wide. The
Award was to be enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace for the Divi
sion of Kesteven, and be open for inspection to any person interested
therein, on payment of one shilling, and a fee of twopence per sheet
for copying any part. After the execution of the Award the works
were to vest in the Black Sluice Commissioners, appointed under
the Act of 1765.
A 16 H.P. steam engine, driving a scoop wheel, has been DRAinage
erected by the Owners of the land, for lifting the water off the fen, engine.
and a new Engine Drain cut, and these works are maintained by them-

5 Geo. iii, c. 86.

278
drainage jn Igq2 the fen was formed into a Drainage District, under the
district. j
55 and 56 vict, provisions of the Land Drainage Act of 1861.
c. 207. 1892. Bourne North Fen. — This fen was inclosed under an Act
INCLOSURE ACT,
6 Geo. iii. 1776. passed in 1776, and includes, in addition to Bourne Fen, the common
able fen lands in the Hamlets of Dyke and Cawthorpe. The area
of commonable land dealt with in the Inclosure Act was 2,450
acres ; and of fen land in the North Fen, the South Fen and Dyke
Fen, 4,440 acres. Of this, the South Fen contains 870 acres, and,
with additional land found on the survey, the North and Dyke Fens
contain 3,780a. ir. 2gp.
The Commissioners appointed were John Grundy of Spalding,
Francis Lane of Somerby, John Landen of Milton, Daniel Douglas
of Falkingham and John Parker of Edenham.
By the terms of the Act the Lords of the Manor were to have
allotted to them 20 acres of the fens, in lieu of Brovage, and rights to
the waste and soil ; 340 acres of the fens were to be vested in the
Commissioners appointed under the Act, to let the same on lease,
for terms not exceeding 21 years, the rents to be applied to paying
the tax laid upon the North Bank and the North Fen, under the
Black Sluice Act of 1765. One-twelfth of the remainder of the fens,
in value, was to be allotted to the Vicar, in lieu of tithes.
The Commissioners were also to set out so much of the fens as
would provide a cow pasture for the Owners of the commonable
houses and toftsteads in Bourne, Dyke and Cawthorpe, as should be
equal to two cows for each house and toftstead, but not exceeding
three acres for each, to be used as a cow pasture from May day to
Martinmas yearly ; the same to be depastured with sheep, at the rate
of three sheep to a house, for the rest of the year. If the majority
of owners in Dyke Fen wished to have their fen allotted as a cow
pasture, they were to be allowed to do so.
The Commissioners were empowered to set out such public and
private roads over the fens as they deemed necessary, the former to
be 60ft. in width and be deemed highways.
Special provision was made for the protection of the spring
known as ' the Well Head ' which was to be allowed to continue
its course into Bourne Eau.
The expenses of obtaining this Act and of a previous application
to Parliament, and of carrying out its provisions were to be paid by
the persons to whom the lands were allotted, in proportion to their
value. The Commissioners were empowered to make such banks and
drains and to remove or alter any works or engines thereon as they
might deem necessary for draining and preserving the fens.
The land appropriated for the repairs of the South Fen Banks
had become so cut up and exhausted that materials could not be
got therefrom for the repair of the same, whereby they were in great

AMENDED ACT,

279
danger of being frequently overflowed. A clause was therefore
inserted in the Act, giving Sir Gilbert Heathcote power to take soil
from the South Fen for their repair. The cutting was not to extend
more than 60ft. distant from the bank over and above the six score
feet appropriated for the purpose under the Act.
After the Award was made all the works were to vest in
the Black Sluice Commissioners, appointed under the Act of 1765,
who were thenceforth to be the Commissioners for embanking and
preserving the fens. The Award was to be enrolled with the Clerk
of the Peace of Kesteven, copies being furnished at the rate of two
pence for 72 words.
Power was given to tax the lands for the amount required for
maintenance of the works beyond that received from the rent of the
land appropriated, not exceeding a shilling an acre in any one
year. Persons found maliciously injuring the works were to be guilty
of felony and liable to transportation.
By a subsequent Act the land in Bourne South Fen which had
been allotted as a cow pasture to the inhabitants of Dyke and Caw. " Geo' m" I772
thorpe, as provided by the previous Act, was allotted and divided
amongst the Commoners, by Commissioners appointed for the
purpose, and this became a separate District. It is dealt with in the
chapter on the parishes in South Holland.
The land in Bourne North Fen being very imperfectly drained,
the Owners were desirous of improving it by pumping the water out
of the Fen, into the South Forty-Foot Drain, by steam power,
instead of allowing it to 'flow there by gravitation. To this the
Black Sluice Commissioners strongly objected, on the ground that
the water, thus sent into the main drain by steam power, would
have a tendency to over-ride the drains from the other fens. After
a protracted struggle the Proprietors succeeded in obtaining an Act, 24 and 25 vict_
transferring the works of the interior drainage from the Black Sluice c- II3' l841-
Trust, to Trustees elected by the Owners of land in the fen, and
giving authority for the erection of steam pumping machinery.
The preamble of the Act states that " divers Engines and
Works of Drainage were made under the Powers and Provisions
of the Act of 1776, but such Engines afterwards became dilapidated
and decayed and are entirely removed, and the land is liable to be
greatly inundated and oppressed by water,and the means of Drainage
are very imperfect and insufficient ; and that the lands might be
more effectually drained, if power were granted for erecting and
building in the Fens, one or more Engines to be worked by the
power of steam, and facilitating the waters from out of the Fen into
the Forty-Foot Drain."
The Trustees for carrying out the provisions of the Act and for
managing the drainage of the fen in the future, were to be the T"U"T-

FORMATION OF
SEPARATE DIS
TRICT.

PUMPING
MACHINERY.

RESTRICTIONS AS
TO PUMPING.

DITCHES.

280.
Owners of 50 acres in Bourne North Fen and Dyke Fen. Such
owners have power to nominate Agents to represent them.
An Annual Meeting of the Trustees is directed to be held at
Bourne, on the second Wednesday in June, every year, between the
hours of ten and two o'clock ; five being a quorum. A notice of the
Annual, or any Special Meetings, to be advertised in a newspaper
circulating in Bourne, 7 days previous to the meeting. The Trustees
have to defray their own expenses, the expense of the hire of the
room being the only charge allowed on the rates. At the Annual
Meeting the account of receipts and disbursements is to be presented,
the same to be open for inspection at the office of the Clerk, and an
abstract of the accounts to be deposited annually with the Clerk of
the Peace. A penalty of £20 is provided in case of default in
making such deposit. The ratepayers may, if they think fit, appoint
an Auditor at the Annual Meeting to examine the accounts.
The Trustees were authorised to borrow money to carry out
the works to an amount not exceeding £6,000.
The works authorised were the erection of one or two engines
with machinery and water wheels, not exceeding in the whole the
power of 60 horses, and the diameter of the wheels not being more
than 15ft. ; and to make new, or enlarge the old, drains and to
maintain the same,with all the works relating thereto, in good order.
The Trustees are debarred by the Act from discharging water
into the Forty-Foot Drain, when the water therein exceeds the
height of a gauge, fixed by the Award of Engineers appointed
specially for the purpose, power being reserved to alter the height
of the gauge by agreement or by arbitration. The engine is also to
suspend working for a period not exceeding 72 hours in cases of
emergency ; a Committee of three Black Sluice Commissioners
are appointed annually, to determine such cases of emergency and
give the necessary notices to the Trustees, in case they should have
a reasonable apprehension of the main drain being so surcharged
with water as to endanger the inundation of the country below
Bourne, and from any breach of the banks or other cause. If the
man in charge of the Engines neglects to cease working after notice
given, he is liable to a penalty of £10.
By this Act it is enacted that the Occupiers of the fen shall,
when necessary, cleanse, deepen, widen and repair the roadway, and
the outring and division dykes adjoining their lands, and if they neglect
to carry out the orders of the Trustees, after 21 days notice, the
work is to be done by the Superintendent of the Trustees at the
cost of the Defaulter, who shall also be liable to a penalty of three
shillings for every rod of the dyke neglected.
The Trustees were empowered to levy rates for the execution
of the new works, and also for their maintenance and the other
expenses of the Trust, of 20s. per acre the first year ; 10s. the two

6 Vict., u. 1843.

PUMPING
MACHINERY.

281
following years ; and 2s. 6d. afterwards. The rates, if paid by the
Occupier, to be repaid to him by the Owner, except in case of any
agreement to the contrary. In default of payment, after 14 days
public notice given, a penalty of 5s. in the £ is to be paid in addi
tion. Rates may be recovered by action or distress.
In 1843 an Amending Act was obtained, by which the Black amending
Sluice Commissioners were discharged from any authority over the
works of the interior drainage, and the drains and works which
existed previous to the formation of the Bourne Fen Trust, and
which were vested in the Black Sluice Commissioners were trans
ferred to the Trustees ; who were also empowered to enlarge the
Mill Drain, and to make a new drain from it to the Forty-Foot
Drain. Facilities were also provided for the purchase of the land
required for improving the drainage.
The machinery for lifting the water off the fen is situated on
the side of the Forty-Foot Drain at Gutheram Cote, and was erected
by the Butterly Iron Company. It consists of a condensing beam
engine of 30 N.H.P., the boiler pressure being originally 61bs., but
now increased to gibs. The cylinder is 45 inches in diameter, and
the stroke 6ft. The engine works an iron scoop wheel, 15ft. in
diameter, and 4ft. 3m. wide, having 30 scoops, their length being
3ft. ioin. The dip is regulated by a vertical shuttle placed near the
wheel, the dip allowed being about 2ft. The maximum lift is 4ft.,
the head and dip being 6ft. The engines are stopped when this lift
is attained, as the water is then level with the gauge fixed under the
clause in the Act. The wheel makes 4J revolutions a minute, and
the engine ig. With a full head, q.\ tons of coal are consumed in 24
hours. This gives a coal consumption of 20-37 lbs. per horse power,
per hour, of water actually lifted, which is very extravagant, modern
engines and centrifugal pumps running with a consumption of 4^-lbs .
per hour ; whilst the maximum allowed by the Dutch authorities
is 6.6olbs.* The area of land drained is about 4,000 acres, but only 3,500
acres are liable to taxation.
The level of the Fen varies from 4ft. to 6ft. above Ordnance
datum, or from 12ft. to 13ft. above the sill of the Black Sluice, which
is 20 miles distant.
In 1 88 1 a report was obtained from Messrs. Easton and
Anderson, as to this machinery. They advised that it should be
replaced with a 40 H.P. horizontal condensing engine, driving at
6olbs. boiler pressure, a centrifugal pump of the turbine form, with
a fan, 7ft. 4m. in diameter ; the estimated cost being £2,700. It
was also advised that the drains should be improved and enlarged,
especially the Engine- Drain, considerable difficulty being found,
"The Drainage of Fens ana" Low Lands by. Gravitation and. Steam Power, (chap.
iv.) by W. H. Wheeler, Spon, London, 1888.

REPORT ON
ENGINES, 1881-

282

WIDENING DRAINS.

BREACH OF
BANKS.

Hardwick v.
Wyles. 1873.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE.

even with the existing machinery, in getting the water to the wheel
and feeding it fast enough.
The recommendation with regard to the machinery was not
carried out, but a tender was subsequently accepted by the Trustees
from Mr. Barwell for widening and cleansing the main drains for
£"i,350. In addition to the disadvantage that this fen has suffered from,
owing to the imperfect character of the drainage arrangements, it
has been always liable to inundation from the overflowing and
breach of the banks of the River Glen, which consist almost
entirely of peat. The most serious recent flood was in 1872,
when the water in the Glen rose 2ft. higher than it had ever been
known to do before and a breach occurred between the lock and the
Bourne Eau Sluice at Tongue End, and about 2,000 acres of the
fen were flooded. This breach was about 30ft. wide, and from 7ft.
to 8ft. deep. An action was subsequently brought by the Trustees,
to recover damages from the Black Sluice Commissioners, on whom
the repair and maintenance of the Glen bank devolves under the
Act of 1765. The action (Hardwick v. Wyles) was tried at the
Lincoln Spring Assizes of 1873. The question put before the Jury
was " whether the Commissioners took reasonable care that the
bank in question should be in a reasonably fit and proper condition
to protect the adjacent lands from water and floods reasonably to be
contemplated." The jury found that they had done so ; and on a
second question that was left to them, as to whether the Commis
sioners " had heightened and strengthened " according to the pro
visions of the Act, gth and 10th Vict., the Jury also found in favour
of the Black Sluice Commissioners.
In 1877 a large breach occurred lower down the Glen, near the
Decoy. This breach was supposed to have been caused by some
person cutting through the bank, and a reward of £100 was offered
for the discovery of the offender, but without effect.
The maximum rate of 2s. 6d. was collected for several years,
and until recently, to cover the expenses of the interior works. The
rate laid in 1893 was TS- 6d., and in 1894 was IS- 3°^ Per acre. In
addition to this, the Fen is subject to the Eighteenpenny rate, pay
able to the Black Sluice Commissioners, and to the Witham Outfall
Tax. From the annual return of taxation for 1892-3 the rate is
given as producing £285, other sources, £194 ; total, £479.
Maintenance of the engine and works cost £156, (in the previous
year £190), salaries and management £100, interest on 1 oan £36,
and repayment of principal £151 ; total, £437. The loans then out
standing amounted to £585.
Other Parishes. — The parishes already described are in the
Kesteven Division of Lincolnshire ; the remaining parishes in the

283
Eighteenpenny District, namely Bicker, Donington, Gosberton,
Quadring and Quadring Hundred, Surfleet, Swineshead and Wig
toft are in North Holland, and are dealt with in Chapter 3 ; Bourne
South Fen in Chapter 10, on Deeping Fen ; and Pinchbeck,
Spalding and Cowbit, in Chapter 4, on South Holland.
The Ninepenny Black Sluice, or
Sixth Witham District.
This Level lies to the west of Holland Fen and contains 11,584
acres, or, according to the Black Sluice Schedule, 10,715 acres. It
constitutes the Sixth District of the Witham Commission, formed
under the Act of 1762, pays a rate of sixpence an acre to that 2 Geo. m, c. 32.
Trust, and sends three Representatives to the Witham General
Commission. It comprises the low lands in South Kyme, Great Hale, Little boundary.
Hale, Heckington, Lady Frazer's Six Hundred Acres, Ewerby,
Howell, Asgarby, and some low lands in Swineshead West, and is
described in the Act as being bounded by Holland Fen and Dog
dyke on the north ; Helpringham and Donington Fens on the
south ; Bicker Fen, Hammond Beck and part of Holland Fen on
the east ; and the high lands of Great Hale, Little Hale, Hecking
ton, Howell and Ewerby on the west.
Each parish or place named elects one District Commissioner, election of
on the first Tuesday in April, every third year, the election being
held at the vestry room of the parish. The District Commissioners
are directed by the Act to meet on the third Tuesday in April, every
third year, at the George Inn, Sleaford, to elect three Representatives
on the Witham General Trust. The qualification of a Voter is that
he shall be a Taxpayer, being Owner of land of the value of £5
yearly, or a Farmer at a rack rent of £50 a year. South Kyme was
deemed to be a parish for the purposes of the Act, and entitled to
elect one Commissioner. If no election takes place, the District and
General Commissioners remain in office.
By the Black Sluice Act of 1765 this district was made part of
the Black Sluice Trust. The drainage of the land has its Outfall in
the South Forty-Foot, the principal drain being the Holland Dyke.
It pays the ninepenny Black Sluice tax in addition to that paid to
the Witham, and is liable to the Witham Outfall Tax.
According to the Government return the rate raised in 1892-3
produced £487, the expenditure in maintenance was £281, and in
management £103 ; total £384. There was no outstanding loan.
South Kyme Fen. — This fen contains 2,360a. or. 37p., or
2,874a. or. 27p. according to the Black Sluice Schedule. It belongs
to a single Proprietor, who has embanked and drained it at his own
expense. It was formerly drained by a scoop wheel, 24ft. in diameter,
driven by a 20 H.P. horizontal engine. The wheel was replaced

COMMISSIONERS.

RATES AND
EXPENDITURE-

PUMPING
MACHINERY.

BOUNDARY.

INCLOSURE 4 Geo. iii,
1764.

ACT.
:-5-

HOLLAND FEN
2 Geo. iii, u. 3

ANCIENT
drainage.

284
in 1874 by Messrs. Tuxford and Co., under the Author's direction,
by a centrifugal pump, having the blades placed horizontally, and
driven by a vertical shaft, geared to the existing engine. The pump
has a disc 36m. in diameter, and is calculated to discharge 2,000
cubic feet of water (56 tons) five feet high per minute. The pump
drains 3,000 acres. The engine costs about £220 a year for coal
and other expenses of working.
This fen pays ninepence per acre to the Black Sluice, the Outfall
tax, and sixpence to the Witham, and elects one Member of the
Black Sluice Trust.
Heckington Fen. — This fen lies on the east side of the Car
Dyke, and on the north side of the main road from Heckington to
Swineshead, and runs up to South Kyme Fen on the north. It
includes Star Fen and Truss Fen and contains a taxable area of
2,572a. 2r. 32p. It elects one Member of the Black Sluice Com
mission. It was inclosed under an Act obtained in 1764. The total area
of commonable land inclosed under the Act was 4,000 acres. The
' Six Hundreds,' originally part of this fen, was not included in the
Inclosure Award. The Commissioners were Edward Smith of
Sleaford, Thomas Oldknow of Nottingham, John Landen of
Walton, William Gee of Swineshead, Peter Clarke of Howell,
William Vessey of Gosberton, and Stephen Bee of Aswarby.
They were to allot and divide the lands, to set out roads, and to
take care that communication was preserved from the turnpike
road to the ' Six Hundreds ' and Five Willow Warth ; they were
to make provision that no trees should be planted near the two
ancient windmills, and that no building should be erected any further
than 20ft. eastward of the Engine Drain. The Act directs that an
Engineer, to take charge of the engines, banks and drains, and to
collect the rates, shall be appointed annually on Easter Tuesday.
In addition to the Interior taxes, this fen is subject to the Nine-
penny Black Sluice, the Witham Outfall and the One Shilling Sixth
Witham District taxes.
Black Sluice Sixpenny aNd Witham Second District.
Holland Fen.
The tract of land known as Holland Fen forms the Second
District of the Witham Drainage under the Witham Act of 1762.
Originally this fen found such drainage as it had by a sluice at
Langrick, and by Kyme Eau. Subsequently a large portion of the
drainage was diverted by the North Forty-Foot Drain to Lodowick's
Gowt at Boston. The fen was constantly drowned by the over
flowing of the water from the Witham. When the improvements
of this river were carried out under the Act of 1762, Holland Fen
was formed into the Second District, and made liable to a tax of *

ELECTION OF
COMMISSIONERS.

285
one shilling per acre, in return for the protection it received from
flooding by the construction of the banks of the Witham.
The Boundaries of the District are described in the Witham aouN"1"''
Act as Kyme Eau, the River Witham, Boston West, and Kirton
Holme on the east and north ; South Kyme, Heckington and Great
Hale on the west ; and the south bank of Old Hammond Beck and
Swineshead on the south.
Each parish, town and hamlet, the inhabitants whereof had
right of pasture within the fens, was entitled by the Act to elect
one Commissioner. The Commissioner was to be elected at the Vestry
of the parish on the second Tuesday in July, every third year, by
all Owners of ten acres, or Farmers at rack rents of £50 a year, all
the Householders of Brothertoft being entitled to vote. The Com
missioners so elected were to have the care, management and direc
tion of the private works necessary to be done in the District ; and
they were directed to meet on the third Tuesday in April, at Boston,
every three years, to elect six representatives on the Witham General
Drainage Trust. If new Commissioners are not elected the old
Commissioners are to continue in office.
Owing to the rights of common in Holland Fen having become
extinct by the Allotment Award and, generally, to the alter
ation in the tenure of the land, very few persons remained who were
legally qualified to vote under the provisions of the Act of 176 1.
Accordingly, in 1853, the Witham Drainage Second District Act was 16 and 17 vict..
obtained, which placed the election in Owners of land often acres or
Farmers at rack rents of £50, and all Householders in Brothertoft.
This District still continues to pay the Witham tax and sends six
Representatives to the Witham Drainage Commission.
Under the Black Sluice Act of 1765 Holland Fen was included 5 Geo. Hi, u. 86,
in the lands dealt with by that Act, and the whole of the drainage
made to flow to the South Forty- Foot Drain. Each parish in the
Fen was entitled to send one Representative to the Black Sluice
Trust, to be elected by Owners of land of the yearly value of £5
and Farmers at rack rents of lands of the yearly value of £30. All
householders in Brothertoft have one vote.
In 1767, an Act was obtained for enclosing and allotting the INCU>SUI,E act.
Fen, in which it is described as "a certain Fen called the Haute 7 Geo. iii, c.
1707.
Hautre, Eight Hundred or Holland Fen." This Act was amended i0Geo. iii.c. 40.
three years later. The Award, made in pursuance of the Act, bears I77°'
date May igth, i76g.
The Commissioners, appointed to enclose the fen and allot the
land, were William Bury of Linwood, Daniel Douglas of Falkingham,
Thomas Hogard of Spalding, Thomas Oldknow of Nottingham and
William Elmhurst of Stainsby.
The area of land dealt with was reputed to contain 22,000
acres.

286

SALE OF LAND.

ALLOTMENTS.

By the Act the Commissioners were empowered to sell lands to
defray expenses ; the first lands to be sold being those separated
from the fen by the new cut of the River Witham ; namely, Coppin
Syke Plot, Ferry Corner Plot and Pepper Gowt Plot, also Brand
End Plot, separated by the new cut of the South Forty- Foot ; and
after these, Gibbet Hills. Charles Anderson Pelham was directed by
the Act to have allotted to him 120 acres of land adjoining Great
Beats, in satisfaction ofhis rights, as Lord of the Manor of Earl's Hall,
and to the Brovage or Agistment of 480 head of cattle ; and to
Zachary Chambers, for his rights as Lord of the Manor of Swines
head, 120 acres in Brand End. The remainder of the fen was to be
allotted to the several parishes of Boston West, Skirbeck Quarter,
Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, Algarkirk, Fossdyke, Sutterton, Wig
toft, Swineshead, Brothertoft, and Dogdyke, all having right of
common in the fen. The land allotted was deemed to be in the
parish to which it was awarded.
The Commissioners were to set out such roads, drains and bridges
as they deemed necessary, the public roads to be 60ft. wide. They
were also to set out a plot of land in Amber Hill, not exceeding 30
acres, for the purpose of obtaining materials for the repair of the
Boston and Donington turnpike road which passed through part of
the fen and ' was very beneficial to the country,' and also for the
other public roads set out under this Act.
division The land awarded to each parish was to be divided by an
outring ditch, not less than 8ft. wide at the top and 4ft. deep, with
quick planted at the side ; this hedge and ditch to be afterwards
maintained by the parish, as set out in the Award.
The Award was to be enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace for
Holland, and a copy deposited in the church or chapel of each
respective parish or township, to be open for inspection on payment ;
of a fee of one shilling, and twopence for every 100 words extracted.
The land sold by the Commissioners was as follows, realising
the amounts given. The average is £23 10s. an acre.

DITCHES.

THE AWARD.

a.

r. P- £

VALUE OF LAND

Cbppin Syke Plot 

214

2 23 3630

SOLD.

Ferry Corner Plot 

18

2 24 375

Pepper Gowt Plot ... 

I3

0 20 380

Brand End Plot 
25
1 32 520
Jl )» jj
2
3 H 56
Gibbett Hills 
J74
0 0 4400
Hall Hills 
23
2 10 1050
Gowt Plot 
80
0 0 ig7o
Land near the old Witham Marshes
45
0 0 1300
Shuff Fen 
45
1 0 1440
642
2 3 15121
287
The land allotted was as follows : — a. r. p. a. r. p.
Sir Charles Frederick (Brothertoft)
Great Shuff Fen ... ... ... ... 756 3 27
Earl Fitzwilliam (Dogdyke) Terry
Booth ... ... ... ... ... 277 o 7
Zachary Chambers (Smeeth Hall)
Brand End Plot ... ... ... ... 120 o o
C. A. Pelham
Pelham's Lands ... ... 120 o o

»  571 o 18
Skirbeck Quarter.
Douran's Piece ... ... 3 3 33
Great Fen ... ... ... 77 3 16
,,  183 3 34
Wyberton. Bridge Piece ... ... 87 o 22
Bridge Piece and Middle Fen log 3 14
Great Fen ... ... ... 473 o 2g
Shuff Fen ... ... ... 261 1 15

6gi o ii

265 3 3

Frampton. Bridge Piece ... ... 262 3 16
Middle Fen  468 3 1
Great Fen ... ... ... 526 1 33

Kirton. Bridge Piece  ig7 2 20
Syke Mouth  308 1 17
High Fen, High Fen Bottom,
Great & Little Smeeth Hall 2g42 o 26

ggi

1258 o 10

3448 o 23

Algarkirk. Clay Hills, Little Sand Hills, Fleet
Bank, Common Rakes  2380 1 22
Fossdyke. Gowt Plot, Langret Plot  87g 2 30
Sutterton. High Fen Bottom, Amber Hill,
Amber Bottoms, Brayforth Rose
Plot, Terry Booth  2488 223
Wigtoft. Fore Fen ... ... ... 2g3 2 38
Syke Mouth, Bridge Piece,
Creasy Plot ... ... 700 2 36

Swineshead. Chapel Hill Hum  88 o 30
Great Smeeth Hall .. 215 2 4
Common Rakes, Far Cattle
Holme ... ... ... 705 2 4

994 I 34

288

Brand End Rushes
Fore Fen Rushes ...
Creasy Plot, First
Holme, Fore Fen

Cattle

a. 330
537 197

r. p.
3 6
2 25
2 25

Boston West.
Drowned Piece
Shuff' Fen ..'.'

65 30
1418

0 24
1 7
1 23

a.

2075 1 14

1513 3 H
18140 2 35
The above places, with the addition of Brothertoft containing
756a. 3r. 37p., Dogdyke 277a. ir. 38p., Mown Rakes 101a., Con
ingsby 36a. or. 15P., Langriville 240a. ir. 2p., are each entitled to
elect one Commissioner to the Black Sluice Trust.
condition The condition of this fen previous to its drainage and inclosure
drainage. has already been described. Mr. Parkinson, who was largely em
ployed as an Inclosure Commissioner, estimated the rental value of
the land, previous to the improvement works, at £3,600, or an aver
age of about three shillings and threepence per acre ; and after the
works were completed and the land allotted and fenced, at £21,700,
or an average of nineteen shillings and ninepence per acre. Taking
the improved value at £18,100 and computing this at 25 years' pur
chase the increased value would represent a capital amount equal
to £452,500, which was gained at an expenditure of £50,600.
fencing. Three years after the first Inclosure Act it was found necessary
7 GeoMii^ u. 40. (-0 obtain further powers, and an amending Act was obtained. In
the preamble it recited that the post and rail division fences, which
had been erected by the Commissioners, had been pulled down for
many miles and destroyed, and that, therefore, it was desirable to
remove the remainder and make division ditches instead, and power
was given by the Act to do this, and also for repaying to
Edward Draper, Clerk to the Commissioners, the expenses he had
incurred in prosecuting the offenders. The ditches between the
plots allotted to the several parishes and townships were not to ex
ceed 10ft. in width, and 4ft. deep; and the Second District
Commissioners were directed to scour and repair the ditches
assigned to Boston West, Skirbeck Quarter, Wyberton, Frampton,
Kirton, Algarkirk, Fossdyke, Sutterton, Wigtoft and Swineshead;
and to lay the rates necessary for raising the money for executing
the work.
the f.rish The plots of land in Holland Fen not specially allotted to any
allotments, parish, including those sold and awarded to the Lord of the Manor
and other Proprietors, remained extra-parochial places. The
allotment to the parishes also being several miles from the village

28g
and church, caused very considerable inconvenience to the inhabi
tants, not only for ordinary parochial purposes, but also especially
with reference to the carrying out of the requirements of the Sani
tary and Education Acts. To remedy this, under the Divided new parishes
Parishes Act, these places were either parochialised and formed into 2oVict"'V''ig.
new, or added to adjacent, parishes. The parish of Amber Hill was
formed in 1880, and consists of the extra-parochial place, known as
Amber Hill, containing 30 acres, Algarkirk Fen and Sutterton
Fen, and the portion of Dogdyke in Holland Fen, making
altogether 5,261 acres. The outlying portion of Swineshead at
Chapel Hill Hum was added to the tract of land near the Witham,
known as Pelham's Lands, which, with the Beats Plot, was origi
nally awarded to Mr. C. A. Pelham, as Lord of the Manor, and was in
1883 formed into a parish, called Pelham's Lands, containing 803
acres. Fossdyke Fen was added to the parish of Brothertoft, for
civil purposes, _ in 1881, and forms part of the ecclesiastical parish
of Holland Fen. The Mown Rakes, containing 100 acres, and Hall
Hills, containing 20 acres, were each made into parishes and added
to Boston Union in 1886.
Kirton Fen remains a portion of Kirton parish for Poor Law,
School Board, and other civil purposes, but for ecclesiastical pur
poses it is in the parish of Holland Fen. The ecclesiastical wants
of the fen had been partly provided for under the Act obtained in
1812, giving powers to constitute a Chapel-of-Ease to Fossdyke
in Holland Fen. In 1867 a church was erected for this
parish, in Algarkirk Fen, by the Rev. B. Beridge, at a cost of
£4>500. The ecclesiastical parish of Holland Fen was formed by order
of the Queen in Council, in 1885, and contains 10,250 acres, and
comprises the Fen Allotments of Algarkirk, Sutterton, Kirton and
Fossdyke. It will thus be seen that some portions of Holland Fen are in
one parish for civil purposes and in another for ecclesiastical
purposes. For educational purposes two School Boards have been
formed, viz., the South West Holland Fen Board, formed in 1880,
which takes the civil parish of Amber Hill and Dogdyke (detached) ;
and the North East Holland Fen Board, formed 1879, taking
Brothertoft, Fossdyke and the civil parish of Pelham's Lands, and
Ferry Corner Plot, Hart's Grounds and North Forty-Foot Bank.
Kirton Fen is provided for by the Kirton Parish School Board.
The roads in Holland Fen were formerly in a very unsatis
factory state, but after 1878 were managed by a Highway Board.
The particulars relating to this will be found in the chapter on
Roads. In i8g5 the Highway Board ceased to exist, its powers
passing to the District Council,

highways.

2go
The particulars of the allotment and inclosure of the fen
portion of the several parishes in Holland Fen will be found in
Chapter 3, on North Holland.
drainage. The drainage of the fen is effected principally by the North
Forty-Foot Drain, the Fifteen-Foot and Clay Dyke, these three
drains running parallel with each other through the fen, and dis
charging into the South Forty-Foot.
South Kyme Low Grounds, although north of Kyme Eau,
drains through this district by means of Damford Tunnel, which
passes under the Eau, and is connected with the Merry Lands
Drain, the water passing along this drain and Gill Syke to the
South Forty- Foot.
BATC, The annual rate is sixpence an acre, in addition to which there
is the Witham rate of is. an acre, the Black Sluice rate of sixpence
and the Witham Outfall Rate.

291

CHAPTER IX.
The Rivers Welland and Glen.

the ' WELLAND.

Bicker Haven and Crowland Washes.
THE River Welland borders upon the County of Northampton
. on the one side, and the Counties of Leicester, Rutland, and
Lincoln on the other. It springs at Sibbertoft fields, in the county
of Northampton, not far from the head of the Nene and the Avon,
and flows thence by Harborough and Collyweston through Stam
ford, Market Deeping, Crowland, Spalding and Fossdyke, to Boston
Deeps in the Wash.
At Great Easton it is joined by the Eyebrook, a small stream
about 10 miles in length ; about half a mile above Stamford the
Chater, another tributary, about 12 miles in length, enters the river,
and at about the same distance below Stamford, the Gwash or
Wash, a stream about 20 miles in length, joins it.
The Welland enters the Fen Country a little below Peakirk, Fig. 12. chap.
and from this place it has from time to time been embanked,
deepened and improved. Between Crowland and Spalding the
banks are set a considerable distance apart, leaving a large area of
land subject to flooding, called ' the Washes.' Below Spalding
the banks are close to the channel, which is narrow and confined.
At the Reservoir, about five miles below Spalding, the Welland
is joined by the Glen. Below Fossdyke the channel passes through
the open marshes and lands, for seven miles, to the Wash, and unites
with the Witham in Clay Hole, at the head of Boston Deeps. Part
of the water is sometimes diverted to the east and finds its way
through the South Cots Channel to the Gat, and so to Lynn Well.
For three miles below Fossdyke the channel has been trained with
fascine work. Below this the course is through shifting sands and
the channel is very tortuous.
The Welland is 72 miles long and drains 707 square miles, Fig. 4. chap. 4.
of which 120 miles (76,854 acres) are fen land. It has a tidal
course of 20 miles, spring tides flowing some distance above Spald
ing, and occasionally reaching as far as Crowland. Spring tides
rise from 4ft. to 8ft. at Spalding, according to the condition of the

2g2

DRAINAGE AREA.

Dugdale.

Fig- 4.

1216-72.

THE glen*

DRAINAGE AREA.

1324.
Dugdaie's
Embanking and
Draining.

BICKER haven.

Fig. 10. Chap.

channel. The mean inclination of the surface of the water between
Spalding and low water of spring tides in the estuary, a distance of
15 miles, is 14m. per mile. In floods this is increased to 21 inches
per mile. The inclination is not regular. Between Spalding and
Fossdyke the fall is at the rate of 2ft. per mile, in the trained portion
of the channel below Fossdyke, gin. per mile, and in the untrained
part, i8in. per mile.
The average waterway of the river at Spalding is about 40ft.,
and the area in floods 400 square feet. The drainage area discharg
ing there is 30,000 acres, giving 750 acres to one square foot.
Below Fossdyke the capacity of the channel, allowing for the
increased area draining there, is about double this.
Formerly, and up to about the 17th century, when the works
for the drainage of the Bedford Level were carried out, the Wel
land divided at Crowland, one branch flowing through Spalding,
the other joining a branch of the Nene at No Man's Land Hirne,
and discharging at Cross Keys Wash. In the reign of Henry III, a
presentment was made, ' ' setting forth that there were two courses
of water in the common river of Crowland ; the one nearer (by
Spalding) and the other more remote, and that the nearer current
was the right channel, and of sufficient depth, wherein they that
did go by barges and boats might well pass to and fro, but that the
Abbot of Crowland had, by planting willows thereon, so obstructed
and straightened (narrowed) the said course of that stream, that
boats and barges could not pass as formerly they had."
The Glen rises near Boothby Pagnel and passes near Corby,
Little Bytham and Greatford. Entering the fen country at Kate's
Bridge near Thurlby, it flows between Deeping and Bourne Fens,
and thence passing through Pinchbeck, joins the Welland, after a
course of 15-! miles from Kate's Bridge, at the Reservoir.
The area of high land drained by the Glen above Kater Bridge
is 109-! square miles. Below this point the channel is confined
within banks to the Outfall. Where it passes through the fen the
bottom is above the surface of the land.
The Glen was frequently described in the old Commissions of
Sewers as ' Brunne Ee.' Thus in the reign of Edward III the
Commissioners found that " the water called Brunne Ee (in the
margin, ' now the Glene ') which had its course through the midst of
the town of Pincebec, had its banks broken."
Below the junction of the Glen with the Welland, where the
river used to enter the open estuary, a small bay or arm of the sea
extended inland, on the west side, as far as Bicker. This bay was
embanked by the Romans, and the course of the banks may be traced
at the present day. The south-west bank, known as the Gosberton
Bank, commences a little below the reservoir and continues in a
north-westerly direction past Lampson's Clough, where the old

293

TVriChold.

furfleet

Uk Fig a-
Divma/nghtmn,. < ' Jixuv' if
, Qjaadrfnd-- *°~

J/jiftalerbn,

en Sja 2£otisson.3.

Rjrtbn, j&i.

BICKER HAYEK
1645.

Risegate Ea emptied into the Haven, this drain being now con
tinued across the site of the Haven ; thence by the Wykes to Hofleet,
thence back by Linga House and round Sutterton marsh to Foss
dyke. The length was 5^ miles, the width at the lower end, across
the mouth, 2 miles, and the upper end near Hofleet about one mile,
the total length of the banks being about 12 miles. The area be
tween the banks is 6,000 acres.
That it was of some importance in the time of the Romans, ,
may be inferred from the fact that it was deemed necessary to carry
the river bank round the Haven, instead of across the mouth.
The earliest reference to Bicker Haven is in the charter of
Crowland, in the ninth century, in which mention is made of four
salt pans in the parish of Sutterton. These salt pans are frequently
referred to subsequently and are mentioned in Domesday book.
Traces of these salt pans on the margin of the Haven are still
visible. The Haven appears to have gradually warped up and become
marshland. Between the Xlth and XlVth centuries about 340

294

THE INCLOSURE
OF THE HAVEN.
Fig. II.
State Papers.
Domestic. 1615.

COMMISSIONS OF
SEWERS.

Dugdale.

Dugdale.

acres in the parish of Gosberton had become sufficiently high to be
enclosed. In the reign of Edward III, a great dispute occurred
between the Abbots of Swineshead and Peterborough as to whose
the accreted land should be, the decision being given in favour
of the ancient custom, " that all and singular Lords possessing any
manors or lands upon the sea coast had usually the silt and sand
cast up to their lands by the tides. "
A considerable area of land lying between Bicker and Gosber
ton drained into the Haven.
In 1415 an order was made that the River of Bicker, which
flowed into this haven at its upper end, should be kept open to a
breadth of 24ft.
The time when Bicker Haven was enclosed is uncertain. It
was not embanked in 1654, as Blaeu's map of that date shows it
then open. It was probably included in a grant of ' salt marshes left
by the sea,' in Wigtoft, Moulton, Whaplode and Holbeach, made to
the Earl of Argyle by King James in 1615, which marshes were to
be ' inned and embanked ' from the sea. It was most likely embanked
in about 1660, when the marshes in South Holland were taken in.
The Welland and the Glen are frequently mentioned in the old
Commissions of Sewers. In the reign of Edward II, an order was
made that " fishermen should not prejudice the common sewer by
lepes, weels, or other obstructions, whereby the passage of the
waters of Spalding and Pinchbeck towards the sea might be
hindered," and, in another Commission in the following reign, an order
was made, finding that the banks of the Glen were broken and "that
they ought to be made higher, and that the water should thence
forth be stopped below the Weltres, and, because that could not
possibly be done by reason of the water coming from far, upon
great falls of rain against which the said town could not provide,
except there were a reasonable outlet made to the sea by the River
of Surflet, which was too narrow by 20ft., and that unless it were
widened to that proportion the town of Pinchbec would be over
flowed every year ; and that at every bridge it ought to be made
12ft. in breadth, at least, up to Dove Hime and Goderam's Cote ;
also that the Galwe Gote ought to be repaired anew by the town
of Pincebec and all the Landholders in Spalding on the north side
of Westlode ; and that the sewers thereof ought to be 1 6ft. in breadth;
also that neither flax nor hemp should be watered in that sewer
upon pain of forfeiture thereof."
In 1323 a Commission reported that the sea banks of Pinch
beck and the marshes were broken by tempestuous waves, and
should be repaired and made higher and thicker ; also that the
River Glen was too narrow in Surfleet, being only 20ft. wide, and
that unless it was widened by the town of Pinchbeck it would be
overflowed every year.

295
At another Commission, held at Thetford, it was presented that
" all the ditches and banks, from Kate Brigg in Kesteven unto the
sea in Holand, were broken on each side, and did then stand in need
of repair ; that is to say — to be raised higher by 2ft. and thicker by
12ft. ; and that the towns of Thurlby, Obthorpe, and Eyethorpe,
lying to the north side of Kate Brigge, ought at their own proper
charges, to repair, dig and cleanse the same ; and from the said
Cross to Abbottescot, on that side the town of Brunne." A little
later, another Commission decreed that the Glen was not sufficiently
wide "to admit of the proper discharge of the waters which it
brought down from the higher part of the country, so that the fens
on either side were drowned, and that it ought to be widened from
Gutheram's Gote to the sea, so that at Surfleet it. should be 20ft.
wide ; and that the work ought to be done by the persons who
owned the land abutting on the river." The same Commission also
presented that the great bridge, called ' Spalding Brigge,' was then
broken, and ought to be repaired at the charges of the whole town ;
and also that the marsh banks, being then broken in divers places,
should be repaired. The Commission further ordained that all per
sons, as well rich as poor, should be liable to all ' mene works,' as
well for the repairs of the sewers as the banks ; and that every
man, having a messuage and 10 acres of land, should find one
tumbril or cart, and those who had less, one able man of not less
than 18 years of age ; or, instead of the cart and horse, a money
payment of fourpence, and instead of the man, of twopence per
day. The widening and deepening of the Glen formed part of LovelPs
scheme for the reclamation of Deeping Fen, his undertaking being
' to make it at the least 6ft. deep and 40ft. wide, from the beginning
of Surfleet, which had always been accounted from Newbury.'
The locality of Newbury is not known.
In the 14th century, Spalding was presented by the Jurors be
fore the Justices, because the town had neglected to scour out and
repair the river Welland, where it passed through its jurisdiction,
by reason of which neglect, great damage had accrued to the King's
liege people. The inhabitants of Spalding, being summoned by the
' Shiereeve ' to answer the charge, pleaded that the river then was, and
long had been, an arm of the sea, wherein the tides did ebb and
flow twice in 24 hours, and that therefore there was no obligation
on them to repair it.
In 1 616 a Commission of Sewers ordered that the Welland
should be sufficiently "roded, hooked, haffed, scoured and cleansed "
from side to side to the old breadth and bottom, thrice every year ;
and that no person should make any " drains, wayes, gravells, wares,
stamps, stakes, flakes, herdells, cradgings, or other annoyances over
the river."

THE WELLAND.

296

SIR C. EDMONDS'
REPORT. 1618.

CONDITION OF
THE WELLAND IN
1634.
Brayley's
Historical Illus
trations.

VERMUIDEN'S
SCHEME. ,642.

In a report made to the Privy Council in the reign of James I,
by Sir Clement Edmonds ' on the state of the Fens upon a general
view, taken in August, 1618,' the following account of the Welland
is given. "The River Welande, running by Stamford, Deeping
and Spalding to the sea, was likewise viewed by the Commissioners
and found to be a very fair, open, and clean river down as far as
Croyland, but from thence to Spalding very defective, for want of
dykeing and cleansing ; and from Spalding to the meeting of this
water with the river of Glen, near unto the sea, almost silted up for
want of dykeing, and a current of fresh water to scour the channel ;
insomuch as they were forced below Spalding, at the time of this
view, and in sight of all the company, to carry their boats by cart
the space of 3 or 4 miles, to a place called Fosdyke (where great
ships lay at anchor) for want of a current at a low water, to carry
them down the Channel ; and the inhabitants of Spalding did com
plain that they had no water in the river to serve the necessary use
of the town, but such as was unwholesome by reason of the shallow
ness thereof, which was less than half-a-foot deep, two miles below
the towne, where the Committee now in the view did ride over."
After this, the Adventurers of Deeping Fen deepened the
Welland from Waldram Hall (near St. James' Deeping) to Spalding,
and thence to the Outfall.
In 1634 a traveller crossing the washes from Lynn to Spalding
gave the following account of the condition of the river. " We
feared somewhat as we entered the town, seeing the bridge pulled
down, that we could not have passed the river, but when we came
to it we found not so much water in it as would drown a mouse.
At this the town and country thereabout much murmured ; but let
them content themselves, since the fen drainers have undertaken
to make their river navigable, 40ft. broad and 6ft. deep, from
Fossdyke Slough to Deeping, which they need not be long about;
having 600 men daily at work at it. Early the next morning we
heard the drum-beat, which caused us to enquire the reason thereof
and roused us from our castle ; and it was told us it was for a
second army of water ingeniers." This refers to the works carried
out by Lovell.
Sir Cornelius Vermuiden, in his scheme for draining the Great
Level of the Fens contained in ' the discourse ' which he presented
to the King, described the fens as being often flooded, owing to
the overflowing of the rivers, especially the Glen, which frequently
drowned Deeping Fen by the breaking of the banks, which in his
opinion were set too close together ; and from two slakers or inlets,
whereby the waters, when the banks could not contain them, were let
into the fen. These slakers he describes as ' an issue in a corrupt body
where there is a neglect to take away the occassion by a known remedy.'
He advised that the Glen and the Welland should^ be diverted tp the

297

Nene at Guyhirne, and so to have one Outfall for the three rivers,
which he considered would be less costly than making- two Outfalls
and would form a more perfect Outfall. A ' Sasse,' or sluice was
to be put in the Welland at Waldram Hall, for navigation and to
provide water for the country in summer. By doing this, he
estimated that ' Elow ' (South Holland) would be worth more by
£50,000 to £60,000 than if drained the other way. He contended
that the lands in South Holland descend from Spalding towards the
Shire Drain, and therefore must have their best issue towards the
Nene by the Shire Drain ; also, that the Welland ran on a higher
bottom than the Nene, and that the latter had 3ft. better Outfall
than the Welland ; that two rivers brought into one would make a
better Outfall and serve the county better ; that if the two Outfalls
were maintained, it would cost £2,000 more to drain the fens. To
this, a reply was made in a pamphlet written by Andrewes Burrell,
Gent., in which he refers to Sir C. Vermuiden's discourse as being
' contrived in a mystical way with many impertinent objections and
answers in it of purpose to dazzle the King's apprehension of the
worke.' He considered that the diversion of the Welland and the
Glen to the Nene would cause the Outfalls of those rivers to be
silted and choaked up, and ' consequently that conceit would
occasion the drowning of the lands that lie on either side of the
Welland from Waldram Hall to Spalding ' ; that of late years,
during winter floods, a great part of the Welland floods had forsaken
their proper channel and passed through Crowland and then into
Borough and Thorney Fens, and so stole to the sea by the Wisbech
Outfall, because the Welland was filled up with silt or sand, and
was not half so deep as it was made by the late Undertakers of
Deeping Fen.
In 1650 a bank running from Peakirk to Brotherhouse along
the Washes was constructed by the Adventurers of the Bedford
Level to protect the North Level from the flood water of the
Welland. This bank was made 70ft. broad at the bottom and 8ft.
high, and the high road was made to run on the top, between
Brotherhouse and Spalding. It was probably an enlargement of
the one formerly made by the Abbot of Crowland, by order of a
decree made in the reign of King Henry III, directing him to make
a road from his abbey towards Spalding, as far as a place called
Brotherhouse, when he pleaded that it would be a very difficult
and expensive work, " because it was a fenny soil, and by reason of
the lowness of the ground, in a moorish earth, it would be a difficult
matter to make a causey fit and durable for passengers ; because it
could not be made otherwise than upon the brink of the river
Welland, where there was so much water in winter time that it
covered the ground an ell and a half in depth, and in a tempestuous
' wind two ells, at which time the ground on the side of that river

A. Burrell. 1642.

BROTHERHOUSE BANK. ,660.

2g8

Inguiph.

THE WELLAND, 1TT4-
2 Geo. iii, c, 23.

WELLAND ACT.
34 Geo, iii, c.
1794-

102.

Figs. 12 and 14.

was often broken by bargemen and mariners, and by the force of the
wind so torn away ; so that in case a causey should be made there,
it would in a short time be consumed and wasted away by the
power of those winds, except it were raised very high and broad,
and defended by some means against such dangers." The plea of
the Abbot was admitted, but the men of Kesteven and Holland
again urging on the King the necessity there was for a road, the
Abbot at last undertook the construction, on condition that he
might levy for seven years tolls sufficient to reimburse the cost and
afterwards to maintain the road in good order.
In I43g, owing to excessive rains, the banks of the Welland
being again overflowed and the country inundated, a Commission of
Sewers held at Wainfleet ordered the Abbot of Crowland to repair
the embankment of the Welland, extending from Brotherhouse to
Crowland. This bank is now maintained by the South Holland
Drainage Commissioners, and further particulars relating to it will
be found in Chapter XI.
In the Act obtained by the Adventurers of Deeping Fen, in
1774, powers were obtained to remove all wharves, buildings or
other obstructions made on the sides of the Welland within the
town of Spalding, between Hawthorne Bank and the outfall at
sea ; and it was enacted that the channel should be maintained at a
width of 65ft.
The river was widened about this time from the locks to the
High Bridge. These locks were constructed to run the water from
the Welland into the Westlode, to ease the Washes. They were
removed in 1815.
In the year 1794 an Act was obtained for improving the Outfall
of the River Welland, and for the better Drainage of the lands dis
charging their water by this river ; and also for making a New Cut
from the Reservoir to Wyberton Roads.
The Preamble of this Act states that the Outfall of the water
of the river was very defective, and the navigation much impeded ;
also that there were large tracts of fens and low grounds, including
Deeping Fen and the Commons, and land lying between Spalding
and Wyberton, which were subject to be overflowed and injured by
the downfall of rain thereon, and that this could be improved by
cleaning the present channel of the river and making a new cut for
the lower part.
To carry out the works, John Hudson of Kenwick Thorpe;
George Maxwell of Fletton, and Edward Hare of Castor, were
appointed Commissioners, their remuneration being fixed at £2/2/0
a day. They were empowered to appoint such Officers as they
deemed necessary.
The works set out in the Act are as follows, viz., to cleanse and
scour out the channel of the Welland from the Reservoir to Shep<

299
herd's Hole, and thence to make a new navigable river across the
open salt marshes in the parishes of Surfleet, Algarkirk, and the
inclosed land in Fossdyke, Kirton, Frampton and Wyberton, to
Wyberton Roads, where at that time the Witham had its course,
the termination being near ' the public Alehouse, known by the
sign of the Ship.' This new cut was to be 50ft. wide at the bottom,
and was to have at its lower end " a new sea sluice of stone and
bricks, supported by dovetailed or grooved piling, or by inverted
stone arches, with pointing doors to sea and land ; the threshold
thereof being laid one foot below low -water mark." The waterway
was to be 50ft. wide with a navigable lock 60ft. long and 18ft. wide.
The old channel of the river was to have a dam made across it at
the Reservoir, sufficient ' to stem the tides and to turn the land floods
into the new river.' For the purpose of preserving the navigation
of the river above the New Cut, another navigable lock was to be
placed across the river, having eleven openings, the middle opening
being not less than 18ft. wide ; a navigable lock was also to be made
across the Glen, with three openings, the centre one being not less
than 12ft., if the Commissioners found that this became necessary
to preserve the navigation of the Glen.
To meet the cost of carrying out this work the Commissioners
were empowered to lay the following yearly taxes, viz., in Deeping in
closed Fen, and all the fen lands and on the Commons, one shilling
per acre ; the inclosed lands in Spalding and Pinchbeck between
the Glen and the Westlode, sixpence ; lands in Pinchbeck, except
the North Fen, twopence ; lands in Surfleet, Gosberton, Sutterton
and Quadring, Algarkirk, and Fossdyke, draining by the Risegate
Eau or the Five Towns Drain, twopence. The taxes were to be
levied by the Officers of the Court of Sewers, and the proceeds paid
to the Trustees.
A new bridge, 16ft. wide, was to be built over the New Cut in
the direction of the road from Boston to Fossdyke Inn, and the road
across the marsh was to be made good from Fossdyke to Moulton.
The Commissioners were authorised to collect tolls from persons
using the bridge. They were also to set out the boundaries of the
lands adjoining the old channel, and to define the line where the
rights of the Frontagers terminated. These lands were to vest in the
Trustees and be embanked when sufficient accretion had taken place
to make them fit for the purpose.
Upon the completion of the works the Commissioners were to
vacate office, and a permanent Trust be created, composed of the Lords
of the Manors ; the Rectors and Vicars of the several parishes ; the
principal Landowners ; the Mayor of Boston and two members ap
pointed by the Town Council ; the Mayor and senior Alderman of
Stamford ; the Owners of the navigation of the Welland ; there
persons chosen by merchants resident in Spalding ; two by the

300
Owners of the salt marshes on the south side of the channel ; two each
by Holbeach, Whaplode, Moulton, Frampton and Wyberton ; nine
by the Adventurers of Deeping Fen ; three by the Landowners in
Holland and Kesteven, having rights on the commons ; the Owners
of the Postland Estate and every Owner of ioo acres paying the taxes.
jessop and In a rePort made by Messrs. Jessop, Rennie, Maxwell and
others- Report. Hare, dated August 1 1, 1800, on the Drainage of Deeping Fen, they
advised that " as a temporary improvement of the Outfall and until
means may be found to effect the whole, that part of the New Cut
provided for by the Welland .Act be executed, namely, from Shep
herd's Hole, through the Salt Marshes of Surfleet and Algarkirk, to
near Fossdyke Inn" ; that the bed of the Welland be deepened and
the soil taken out be applied to strengthening the banks ; and that
all projections from Spalding Locks downwards be removed ; but that
the locks be kept, as they would be necessary for stemming the tides
until the whole of the works, as provided for by the Act, were
carried out.
The works authorised by this Act were only partially carried
out. The river was improved from the Reservoir to Fossdyke
Bridge, a distance of about 2f miles, but the remainder of the Cut
and the erection of the two sluices was not proceeded with. The
powers relating to this part of the scheme were repealed by an Act
passed in 1824.
Bevan's Repon. Ina report made by Mr. B. Bevan in. 1812 on the improve
ment of the navigation and drainage of the River Welland, it is
stated that in Cowbit Wash the tides had deposited a shoal which
penned up the water in the Welland, which shoal would be likely
gradually to increase, if the tides continued to flow through
Spalding Locks as at that time ; that from Spalding Locks to the
Vematt's Sluice the Channel had been much improved by the flux
and reflux of the tides into Cowbit Wash ; that the channel had
been lowered by the scour 3ft ; and that, whereas at similar periods
of the tides, when in the former condition of the river there would
have been barely i8in. of water, there were then about 6ft. ; that
owing to the widening of the channel towards the lower end, a'
depth equal to that at the upper end could not be maintained.
The average sectional area of the river at the upper end was given
as 630 and of the lower end 1,215 square feet. Below Fossdyke
the bottom of the channel in the open Wash was from 3ft. to 4ft.
higher than that between the new banks ; this channel was variable
both as to position and depth, and had a circuitous course to its
junction with the Witham of f\ miles, while the direct distance
was no; more than 5^ miles, and in this distance the difference of level
was gft. He advised for the improvement of the navigation, that a lock
should be made near the outlet of Cowbit Wash ; that the channeli

1812.

30i
between Spalding Locks and the Verhatt's Sluice should be lowered
2ft. ; that a new channel should be excavated below Fossdyke,
through the marshes, communicating with deep water by a sea
sluice at Wyberton, opposite Hobhole Sluice.
In 1815 Mr. Thomas Pear, made a report to the effect that the ReT;,£ea?f1
drainage was in a very unsatisfactory condition, the water often
standing 6ft. on the sill of the old Vernatt's Sluice, which was the
outlet for the drainage of Deeping Fen, including an area of 30,000
acres, which was drained by 50 wind engines. This outlet was
over-ridden by the waters of the Welland and the Glen. The cause
of this was the defective state of the Outfall below Fossdyke bridge;
neap tides, which rose 15ft. at the junction of the rivers, never
reaching Spalding, a distance of 15 miles. He proposed as a remedy
a new cut two miles in length, commencing at a point near the
Holbeach and Whaplode Sluice, and about two miles below Foss
dyke Inn, to be made through the embanked lands and open salt
marshes, and ending with an outfall near Holbeach Middle Sluice ;
the channel to be 50ft. wide, and 5ft. above the low-water mark in
the south channel, with a rise of ift. per mile. He also proposed
the erection of a lock or new sluice, a little above the Reservoir, for
the purpose of keeping up a navigable head of water in dry seasons,
and to be so contrived as to admit the free influx of the tides, and
at the same time to be clear for the outflowing of land water ; and
a similar pen sluice for the river Glen ; the estimated cost of the
improvements being put at £50,000. Subsequently, in a report on the
drainage of Deeping Fen, this scheme for making a new cut from
Fossdyke to the Witham was approved by Mr. Rennie.
In a pamphlet, dated October 31st, 18 14, Mr. William Chap- chapman. 1814.
man made a strong protest against the proposal for carrying the
Welland to Hobhole and erecting a sluice there. He argued that
as the erection of the Grand Sluice at Boston had proved injurious
to the river Witham, and as the doors were sometimes in dry
seasons blocked up by deposit to a height of eight or ten feet, so the
same result would, in all probability, take place at the proposed
sluice at the end of the new cut for the Welland, and also that, by
the withdrawal of the water from Fossdyke Reach, it would silt up,
and so deprive the seaward channels of the benefit of the scour from
a tidal reservoir of nearly 20 square miles.
This project was ultimately abandoned.
In 1824 an amended Act for the Welland was obtained and the
~ THE WELLAND
Welland Commission reconstituted. The Trust, by this Act was trust.
made to consist of thirteen Trustees, one of whom was to be elected 5 e°i8«4. °" 9
by the Corporation of Stamford, and one by the Owners of the old
enclosed lands in Spalding and Pinchbeck. The Trustees were to
be elected every three years, and their special duty was ' the main
tenance, support and improvement of. the New Cut from the Reser^

302
voir to Fossdyke, and the drainage and navigation thereby.' They
were relieved from the liability entailed on them by the former Act
of extending the new channel lower down than Fossdyke Bridge,
and were authorised to carry out works for the removal of shoals in
the Welland from and below the staunch fixed across the river
above Spalding, and through the town, and for training the waters
through Fossdyke Marsh. They were also authorised, for naviga
tion purposes, to place draw doors across the mouth of the River
Glen at the request of the Deeping Fen Adventurers and the Dyke
reeves of Gosberton, Surfleet and Pinchbeck. To assist in paying
for these improvements, the tax of one shilling for Deeping Fen
and such parts of the late commons as had been sold by the Inclosure
Commissisoners, and sixpence per acre on the lands between the
Glen and the Westlode, was continued ; the allotments of the
commons, the lands north of the Glen, and those draining by Rise-
gate Eau and the Five Towns Sluice, being exonerated from
further payment. The Trustees were further empowered to demand
tonnage on all vessels using the new channel of the Welland, the
tolls being fixed at a maximum of 2d. per ton on coal, 4d. per last
on oats, 4d. for the half last of wheat, and 4d. per ton on general
goods, and other rates in proportion. This Act was again amended
by another obtained in 1837.
condition of No steps having been taken to carry out the recommendations
the river. 1886. ^ ^g improvement of the Outfall, it gradually became worse and
1. Walker's worse,, till in the year 1835 it was reported that at low water, in dry
eport. 1835. seasonS) there were only a few inches of water at Fossdyke. Vessels
drawing 3ft. could not float, except at the top of spring tides, and
vessels drawing 6ft. could not depend on floating at springs, and no
vessels, except barges, could reach Spalding at all. In fact, the state
of the river had become so bad, that the Commissioners were com
pelled to take active measures, or see the whole drainage of the
district ruined. Mr. Jas. Walker, C.E., was therefore consulted,
and in a report, bearing date November 7th, 1835, he set out the
works he considered desirable for the improvement of the Outfall.
He found that, owing to the defective condition of the Channel,
there was a fall in the surface of low water of 5ft. 2in., in the 2J miles
of open channel between the point of confluence of the Witham and
Welland ; of 16ft. gin. between Clayhole and Fossdyke ; andof 21ft.
4m. between Clayhole and Spalding, a distance of 14J miles, or at
the rate of i8in. per mile.
A spring tide, which then flowed 5 hours at Clayhole, flowed
only 2,\ hours at the junction of the two rivers, i\ hours at Fossdyke
Bridge, and 1 \ at the Reservoir. In dry seasons, there were only
a few inches of water in the channel. Vessels were frequently
detained for several weeks, waiting for a high spring tide to float them.
Vessels drawing more than 3ft. could not venture up to. Spalding.

3©3

PROPOSED
IMPROVEMENTS

The works recommended by Mr. Walker, for improving the con
dition of the river, were the training the channel, in the first instance,
as far as Holbeach Middle Sluice, a distance of nearly 3 miles, and
ultimately to Clayhole. The area of the uninclosed space, or
estuary, below Fossdyke Bridge, he found to be 5,000 acres, 4,000 of
which were available for reclamation. The estimated cost of the
fascine training for the 2 miles 74 chains was £13,000, and the
advantage to be gained, a very considerable lowering of the bed of
the river, and the more rapid discharge of the water. Mr. Walker
also proposed the inclosing of the marsh lands between Fossdyke
Bridge and Holbeach Outfall on the south side of the river, and
from Fossdyke Bridge to Western Point, nearly opposite Hobhole,
on the other. The length of bank required on the south side was
2\ miles, and the estimated cost £13,000 ; and on the north side, 5
miles, and the cost £28,000. The quantity of land to be inclosed
was 700 acres and 1,800 acres respectively. The total estimate for
the whole of the proposed works was £70,000.
He pointed out that the width of the channel, between Spalding
and the Reservoir, was from 60 to 70ft., and from the Reservoir to
Fossdyke Bridge, 120ft. The former, he considered, too narrow
for the quantity of water, and the latter, too large for a regular
channel. He advised that attention should first be paid to the
works below Fossdyke. When the works he advised were com
pleted, they would enable a vessel, drawing 10ft., to get to Fossdyke
Bridge, and one drawing 6ft., to Spalding.
Mr. Walker's report having been approved, an Act was obtained, 1 vict. c. 113.
giving the necessary power for carrying out the work, and for raising l837-
the money required. This Act after reciting that the river had
become deteriorated, and the dues sanctioned by former Acts were
not sufficient, gave power to raise them according to a schedule.
The principal dues authorised were 3d. per ton on all vessels, 3d.
per quarter on wheat, oh other corn ifd., and on coal 6d. per ton.
Power was given to erect quays and wharves, to embank the
channel through Fossdyke Wash for the purpose of confining the
water within a determinate channel to Clayhole, to take sods for the
training work from any part of the unenclosed wash, except lands
above high water mark, and to retain permanently a space 100
yards wide from the outer base of the bank, for the purpose of
affording a supply of material for the future repair of the banks,
without paying any compensation for the same ; the embanking of
the channel was to be done ' as occasion may require and progress
ively.' Provision was made for the regulation of vessels and power
given to make bye-laws.
It was also provided that no person should conduct or pilot any nimu.
vessel into or out of the river and wash, or seaward thereof, without
being licensed by the Hull Trinity House, under a penalty of £5.

FASCINE ING WALLS.

304'i
Power was given to hire and maintain a pilot sloop, for the use of the
pilots of the port, out of the pilot dues. Five of the Trustees were
appointed a Sub- Commission of Pilotage by the Hull Trinity House,
to manage the Pilots.
loan. The money required for the work was borrowed from the
Exchequer Loan Commissioners.
tonnage dues. In 1 837 the tonnage dues had only amounted to £452. In the
following year they had increased to £2,298, partly due to the in
creased rate allowed under the new Act and also to an increase in
the shipping.
train- The pian adopted by Mr. Walker for training the river was
first proposed to him by Mr. Beasley, and was found to be so simple
and inexpensive, as compared with other methods, and at the same
time so effective, that it has since been used in all similar works in
the estuary. It consists of training walls, or banks made of thorn
faggots about 6ft. long and 3ft. in girth, which are laid in the water,
in courses, varying in width in proportion to the depth, and as each
course, which is weighted with clay or sods, sinks, others are laid on
till the bank is raised to about half-tide level. The branches of the
thorns interlace one with another, and the silt brought up by the
tides rapidly deposits amongst and at the back of this fascine work,
and thus a solid embankment is formed, of sufficient strength and
tenacity to withstand the strongest tidal current.*
w. Cubitt. 1837 In a report made to the Commissioners of Newboro' Fen on
the River Welland, by Mr. W. Cubitt, who had been called in to
¦• advise as to the effect of certain tunnels connected with the Welland,
the Folly River and Newboro' Fen, respecting which litigation was
going on, he gave a description of the condition of the channel
through the Washes, between Deeping and Spalding, and advised a
scheme for improving the navigation. This consisted of making a
side Cut to the southward of Spalding for the purpose of taking the
superfluous land and flood water off the Washes, at the upper end
of which cut a weir was to be made, to prevent the accession of
common tides, and a sluice for the purpose of effectually draining
the Washes ; also the erection of a navigation lock for the passage
of sea-borne vessels just below Spalding, and above the point where
the new Cut would enter the main channel of the river ; so con
verting the river at Spalding into a floating dock, with from 8ft. to
10ft. of water at all times ; and to pen up to a level from 2^ft. to
3ft. of water on the sill of Deeping Lock. No action was taken to
carry out these recommendations.
From a report of Mr. Walker's, to the Exchequer Loan Com
missioners, as to their advancing money for the work, it appears
•For a full description of Fascine Training, see the Chapter On Training in
Tidal Rivers, by W. H. Wheejer, Longmans &¦ Co., and the paper on Fascine Work
at the Outfall of Fen Rivers, in the Min ; Pro ; Instit. C.E. Vol. 46, 1875.

305
that in October, 1838, the new channel had been successfully formed twining of the
• r 1 WELLAND.
with fascins wark for one and a half miles below Fossdyke bridge,
the cost of this portion being £7,026. The result had been most J- walker, Nov.
satisfactory, for vessels drawing eight feet of water could get along
the new channel to Fossdyke with greater certainty than those of
three feet could bafore, tli3 water consequsntly being lowered nine
feet. Mr. Walker concluded this report by saying that his original
design extended to carrying the channel four miles below the bridge,
but that this ou^ht not to be the limit of the work, and adds, "where
nature is at hand to do so much, the direction should be extended
quite to the Witham."
The fascine work was extended about another mile after this,
with still further advantage, for in 1845 it is reported that the effect
of the training had been to lower the river about seven feet from
Fossdyke Bridge downwards.
Spalding is part of the Port of Boston, and up to the year 1842 ,B4s.
all vessels navigating the Welland had paid tonnage and lastage transfer of
dues to the Trustees of that port ; but by an Act obtained in 1842, ¦""•¦
in consideration of the Welland Trustees paying to the Boston 5 v,Jg7a°' 55'
Harbour Trustees the sum of £5,000, being part of a debt then due
to the Exchequer Loan Commissioners on the security of the tolls
and dues, and also paying one-third of the annual expense to be in
curred by the Boston Harbour Commissioners in maintaining the
buoys, beacons, and sea marks of the port, the Trust was to give
up all claim to dues on vessels navigating the Welland, and the
Welland Trustees were authorised to collect a tonnage rate of six
pence, and a lastage rate of one penny ou wheat, and one halfpenny
on other corn. Under the same Act, and also another passed in the
, same year, the Boston Harbour Trust and the Welland Trust
were empowered severally to execute any works for the improve
ment of the navigation of their rivers up to the point of confluence ;
and below that, jointly to execute any works for the improvement of
the Outfall of the said waters into Clayhole.
The recommendation of Mr. Walker for the continuance of the
training of the river was not carried out, and the work which had
been completed, owing to a scarcity of money, was neglected, in con
sequence of which the tides gradually worked behind the fascine
work, and the whole training wall was in danger of being swept
away. After a considerable loss had been incurred, the Trustees,
and some of the Proprietors interested, met at Spalding on the 27th
of August, 1866, and, convinced of the urgency of the case by the
report of their Superintendent, Mr. J. Kingston, determined to
borrow money, on their own personal liability, to put the fascine
work in sufficient repair to prevent further damage, until they could
apply to Parliament for increased powers of taxation. And at a
further meeting held in September, when Sir John Trollope presided,

306
it was resolved that application be made to Parliament for an Act
to authorise the taxation of lands not then charged to the Welland
taxes, extending to 63,213 acres ; to obtain power to borrow money-
to raise additional taxes and to effect a reconstitution of the Trust.
The River Welland Outfall Act, 1867, was obtained in the follow
ing year.
welland out- This Act gave power to the Trustees to bring into taxation again
30 and^Tvict. the lands, which, from 1794 until the Act of 1824, had been taxed i
c. 195. 1867. an(j also 0ther lands which had hitherto used the river as the Outfall
for their waters, without contributing to the expense of its mainten
ance. The Preamble states that out of 85,000 acres of land draining
by the Welland, only 24,000 paid taxes, producing £535 per annum ;
and that the dues from vessels, which in 1846 had exceeded £6,000,
had gradually diminished to £998 in 1865. At this time there were
charges on the Trust, to the amount of £6,000 due on mortgage, and
the sum of £1,000 in addition had been borrowed of the Treasurer,
on the personal security of the Commissioners, to carry out works
of emergency. The revenues at the disposal of the Commissioners
had become most seriously diminished, owing to the decline of the
navigation, arising from the alteration in the method of transit for
all articles of produce and consumption, and chiefly of corn and coal,
by the formation of the. Great Northern Railway. The only com
munication the interior of the Fens had with other parts of the
country, previous to railways, was by means of boats, navigating the
arterial drains and the great fen rivers ; but the greater certainty
and convenience of the railway system has to a great extent super.
seded the canals, and Spalding, with all towns similarly situated,
has suffered accordingly.
By this Act the Trust was again reconstituted, the new Board
being termed ' The Welland Outfall Trustees,' and consisting of
28 members ; 4 elected by the Owners of the Adventurers' lands, and
3 by Owners of fen lands in Deeping St. Nicholas ; 2 by Owners of
lands late the Commons ; 2 by Owners of lands in Pinchbeck ; 2 by
those in Holbeach ; 1 by the Trustees of the Crowland and
Cowbit Washes ; 2 by a vestry of the Parishioners of Spalding ; 1
by Owners of land in each of the parishes of Spalding, Surfleet,
Gosberton, Quadring, Algarkirk, Fossdyke, Sutterton, Wigtoft,
Kirton, Weston, Moulton, and Whaplode. In each case, except
those elected by the vestry of Spalding, it is a necessary qualifi
cation that the lands of the members elected shall be subject to
taxation under the powers of the Welland Outfall Acts, and that
the Members be Proprietors of not less than 50 acres, or Heirs-
apparent to such Proprietors, or Occupiers of not less than 100
acres. In the case of those elected by the Spalding Vestry, they
must be rated to the poor rates of the parish to the amount of £40.
Every Owner of taxable land has one vote in the election of

WELLAND OUT'
FALL THU ST,
1B67-

307
Trustees, and an additional vote for every 20 acres, or part
thereof, beyond the first 20 acres. Every tenant has the same
right of voting as the Owner,. jf the latter be absent from the meet
ing. Electors may appoint in writing another person to act as their
Proxy. Trustees remain in office for three years, or if no successor
be appointed, until they die or resign, or become disqualified. An
annual meeting is to be held at. Spalding, in the month of April.
It is directed by the Act that a drainage map, colored to show the
different rating areas, be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace for
Holland, at the office of the Trust, and in the chest of each
parish affected.
Lands in the first class, which includes Deeping Fen and the
Commons not subject at the passing of the Act to taxation by the
Welland Trustees, are subject (except the 7th District) to a tax of
eightpence per acre ; land in the second class, including Deeping
Fen and the Commons then subject to taxation by the Welland
Trustees, to sixpence per acre ; land in the third class, including
all other lands draining by the river Welland, shown by the blue
colour on the deposited plan, to fourpence per acre. These taxes
are in addition to those leviable under the previous Outfall Acts, and
become payable on the 24th of June in each year. The tax is pay
able by the Occupiers, but recoverable from the Owners, and may be
recovered by distress.
The Trustees were authorised to borrow £4,090, in addition to borrowing
the amount then due on mortgage, to be applied in repaying the
£1,000 borrowed of the Treasurer ; and in repairing and renewing
the existing channel of the Welland and the piers and embankments
connected therewith, between the Reservoir and the termination
below Fossdyke Bridge, and in repairing and renewing the Outfall
Sluices which the Trustees are liable to repair under the Act 5 Geo.
IV, c. 96.
The powers given by the 10th section of the Act of 1837, to
inclose lands outside the embankments below Fossdyke Bridge, are
repealed. The area of land, thus brought into taxation, was as follows : —
Acres.
Lands paying Welland taxes at the time of
the Act ... ... ... ... ... 23,900
Lands on the Commons, Pinchbeck 4th dis
trict, Bourne Fen, Thurlby Fen, Cowbit
Wash, Crowland, Peakirk, Borough Fen,
Northborough, Monk's House Farm,
South Holland District ... ... ... 16393
Lands in Deeping Fen, not now charged ... 1207
Holbeach Parish  6178
Whaplode  4868
Moulton Marsh  2232
Weston...  800

POWERS.

3o8

Surfleet...Gosberton QuadringFossdyke
AlgarkirkSutterton

Acres
 2475
 3743
 3088
•¦• 1547
 2646
 27g2

Wigtoft 
Swineshead Lord's Drain District ...

 23gi
 2383
 4103

80746

TION OT GLEN
SLUICE. 16TB

reconstruc- By the Act of 1824, the Welland Trustees were authorised, for
navigation purposes, to place draw doors across the mouth of the
River Glen, at the request of the Deeping Fen Adventurers and the
Dykereeves of Gosberton, Surfleet and Pinchbeck. A sluice had
been erected at the end of the Glen, about 100 years before this,
It was removed in i87g, and had the following inscrip
tion : " This Sluice was erected and built by order of the
Honourable Adventurers of Deeping Fen, according to the model
and direction of Messrs. Smith and Grundy. — W. Sands, Bricklayer,
Samuel Rowel, Carpenter, i73g." This sluice had three openings,
together making 24ft. waterway.
The present sluice bears the following inscription : "This
sluice was erected by the Trustees of the Deeping Fen Drainage Act,
1856, assisted by contributions from other interested districts. The
first stone was laid by Lord Kesteven, on the 17th February, i87g.
The sluice was opened November, i87g." Then follow the names
of the Trustees and other Officials. The total cost of this sluice was
£15,000, of which £10,000 was provided by the Deeping Fen
Trust, £2,000 by the Black Sluice Drainage Commissioners, and
£3,000 by other contributors. The new sluice has two openings of
15ft. each, and the sill is 5ft. lower than the old one, being 3m.
below Ordnance datum.
In i87g Mr. J. Kingston was directed by the Welland Outfall
witham outfall. Trustees to report as to the proposed new channel for the Witham
and its effect on the Welland. The conclusion he arrived at after a
full consideration of the matter is given in his Report dated Sep. 12,
i87g, as follows : " That the projected scheme of cutting a new
channel for the River Witham through the Clays from Hobhole to
Clayhole will have but Httle better effect on the depression of low
water flood line in the Witham than the less costly scheme of train
ing the channel from Hobhole to the junction of the Welland, which
latter scheme would not interfere with the Welland prejudicially ;
that any divergence of the Outfall of the River Witham to a greater
distance from the Outfall of the River W^elland will have a prejudicial
effect upon the Outfalls of both rivers ; that the proposed New Cut

J. KINGSTON'S
REPORT ON THE

18T8.

HARRISON'S
REPORT ON THE
GLEN. 1882.

309
for the Witham would cost £70,000 more than the training scheme."
On the strength of this Report the Welland Commissioners opposed
the Witham Outfall Bill in Parliament, but only succeeded in "™"(!rUT'*u-
obtaining a clause that if, within 20 years after the completion of the 44 and 45 vict.,
New Cut, they found it necessary, for the Outfall of the Welland, to c' I55' l88°'
make a New Cut or improved channel from the then confluence of
the two rivers, near the place where Elbow Buoy was laid to the
mouth of the New Cut near the Ballast Beacon, the Outfall Board
shoul bear half the cost of the work.
In 1882 Mr. John Kingston, Superintendent of the Welland, Kingston^ and
and Mr. Alfred Harrison the Superintendent of Deeping Fen, were
jointly instructed by the Deeping Fen Drainage Trustees to report
" upon the present state of the River Glen, and as to the best means
of avoiding breaches of banks in future." The report is dated March
13, 1883, and states that the river below Kate's Bridge has, from
time immemorial, been a source of danger and annoyance to the fen
lands through which it passes. The water in floods, they found, had
an inclination, immediately below Kate's Bridge, of four feet in the
mile, diminishing to 7f inches at Tongue End, and along the 7 miles
above the Outfall of 2 if inches per mile. The discharge at the
sluice they calculated at 60,000 cubic feet per minute, and at Kate's
Bridge 117,500 cubic feet, so that the continuance of the floods over
any prolonged period rapidly filled up any reservoir space and caused
the water to rise above the top of the banks. With regard to the pro
posal for putting an overflow weir so as to allow the water to flow
from the Glen into the Counter Drain Wash, calculations showed that
if this were done the Wash would be flooded to a depth of 3ft. 6£in.,
and over-ride the head-water at the pumping station at Podehole.
To raise the banks in the lower part on the Deeping Fen side would
cost £17,500. The effect of the new sluice, which was erected in
i87g, was to remove the low water level from the Outfall to Surfleet
Bridge. They advised that the area of the river should be increased
by lowering the bottom 6ft. for the first seven miles above the Out
fall. From this point, the bottom to rise i8in. per mile, so as to
lower the bed 2ft. iin. at Tongue End. This would involve the
reconstruction of six bridges. The estimated cost of this work was
put at £40,000.
From an appendix attached to the report it appears that be
tween 1821 and 1822, eight breaches had occurred in the south THE <"¦*" I,ANR
bank, and six in the north bank, some of which had caused very
serious inundations and loss of property.
The following are the taxes levied under the several Welland
° WELLAND TAXES
ActS '.  AND EXPENDI-

BREACHES IN

Welland Act, ijgq.. 1824. 1867. total.
s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
Deeping Fen ... 16 10 08 32

TURE.

GLEN TAXES AND
EXPENDITURE.

THE WASHES.

310
Welland Act, iygd,. 1824. 1867. Total.
Crowland and Cow
bit Washes ...06 0610
Spalding and Pinch
beck Old Inclos
ures ... 06 06 10
Pinchbeck, North
of the Glen, Sur
fleet, Gosberton,
Quadring, Algar- Exonerated
kirk, and lands from
draining by Rise- further
gate Eau and Five payment.
Towns Drain, and
Kirton Outfall ...02 04 04
From the Return of Taxation for i8g2-3, the amount raised by
taxation was £2,137, fr°m tonnage and port dues, £398, from other
sources, £79 ; total, £2,614. *n t^le previous year the dues amounted
to £356. Maintenance of works cost £1,348; (and in the previous
year £1,508 ;) salaries and management, £416, payment to
Boston Harbour Trust, £190, interest on loan, £385 ; total, £2,339.
The amount of loan outstanding was £g,ooo, and no provision was
made for paying this off.
The banks of the Glen, not repaired by the Deeping Fen and
Black Sluice Trusts, are maintained by Trustees appointed under
the Act of 1 801. These Trustees make a call for the amount re
quired annually, on the persons liable thereto. The amount raised
according to the Taxation Returns for i8g2-93 from taxes, was
£343 ; rents and other sources, £266 ; making £609. Maintenance
of the banks cost £591 ; salaries and management, £142 ; a total of
£733. In the previous year maintenance cost £392. There was
then no outstanding loan.
Crowland and Cowbit Washes. — The right bank of the
Welland, between Crowland and Spalding, is placed at a distance
from the channel of the river varying from a quarter to half-a-mile,
leaving an area of about 2,500 acres, which is covered with water
whenever the Welland is in flood. The depth of water on this land
in high floods is as much as 5ft. Originally, no doubt, the land by
the side of the Welland was little better than a morass, and the
banks were placed on the nearest firm ground. The land has since
warped up very considerably, being now about 2ft. higher than the
fen. It affords very good pasturage, and yields heavy crops of hay.
Winter floods are of benefit to the land, but summer floods, which
occasionly occur, are very disastrous.
These ' Washes ' are considered as being, to a certain extent,
of value to the drainage, by affording a reservoir, or ' boezem ' as
it is termed in Holland, in which the excess of flood water, which
the channel below is not capable of carrying off, can spread itself.

DRAINAGE OF THE
WASHES. 1B48-

3"
Supposing the whole Wash be taken at 2,500 acres, and that this
were covered 5ft. deep, it would be equal to half an inch of rainfall
over an area of 300,000 acres, which is about the watershed of the
Glen above the Washes.
Cowbit Wash, which forms part of this area, when covered
with ice, affords the best skating ground in the country, and has
long been celebrated for the matches which have taken place there.
In 1846, a meeting of the Proprietors of lands in the Washes
was held at Crowland, when it was stated that these lands would be
rendered much more productive and valuable if protected from the
frequent and long inundations to which they were subject, by an
adequate system of drainage, a result which was likely to be success
ful, owing to the contemplated improvements in the Welland. Mr.
J. W. Hastings was accordingly directed to prepare a scheme and
estimate for carrying out the proposed drainage, and this was pre
sented at a subsequent meeting, in a report ' on the means of
draining Crowland and Cowbit Washes, and adjacent lands.' Mr. j. w. Hastings
Hastings proposed making a new sluice at Lock's Mill, having a RePort- lS4fi-
waterway of 14ft., with the sill 2ft. 6in. lower than the then existing
sill, and enlarging the old and making new drains where required.
The estimated cost of the work was £2^48.
The report was approved, and an Act of Parliament obtained, 10 and n vict.,
' for better draining of lands called Crowland Washes, and Fodder
Lots, Cowbit Wash, and Deeping Fen Wash, in the several parishes
of Crowland, Spalding and Pinchbeck, and the hamlets of Cowbit
and Peakhill, and the extra-parochial places or lands called Deeping
Fen, or Deeping Fen Welland Washes, all in the County of
Lincoln.' This Act gave power to carry out the works recom
mended, and to raise money for the purpose. The works only
provided for the better draining of the Washes, and the land is still
subject to flooding in wet seasons, and is generally covered with
water during a great part of the winter.
The rates now paid for the maintenance of the works amount
r RATES AND
to about five shillings an acre. From the Government Return for expenditure.
i8g2-3, the amount raised by taxation on the Washes was £525 ; Taxation
and from other sources, £26 ; making the total receipts, £551 ; Returns, 1892-3.
maintenance of works cost £381, salaries and management, £81,
interest on loan, £242 ; total, £704. The previous years expenses
were £586. The amount of loan outstanding was £4,800.

312

BOUNDARY.

CHAPTER X.
Deeping Fen, Bourne South Fen and
Thurlby Fen.
THE district dealt with in this chapter is a tract of fen and low
land, lying between the Welland and the Glen, and bounded
Fig. 12. on the north and west by the River Glen, on the south and east
by the River Welland, and on the south and west by the high lands
in Deeping, Langtoft and Baston ; it also includes a small tract of
fen land, lying between the Car Dyke and Bourne Eau, on the north
side of the Glen.
At one time the central part of this district, or that known as
Deeping Fen, was nothing more than a large mere, or lake, at the
bottom of which grew and accumulated the aquatic plants which
afterwards formed the peat of which the surface of the land is
composed. Round - this mere, on the north and south sides, was a
tract of low land, which was common to the several parishes adjoining.
crowland Although the boundaries given above do not include Crowland
or its Abbey, their history is so mixed up with that of Deeping
Fen that the chapter would not be complete without a short account
of the monastery, especially as the first works of reclamation were
undertaken by the Abbots of Crowland.
saint guthlac. St. Guthlac, the founder of Crowland, was a descendant of the
Iclings, a noble family of Mercia. He was born in 673. The early
part of his life was spent as a military chief, but at the age of 24 he
surrended his home and paternal wealth and entered a monastery.
After a course of study at Repton, he resolved to become an anchor
ite. Seeking for a desolate and unknown place, he met with a Fenman
called Tatwine, who conducted him in a boat to Crowland, where he
^Crowianct. . landed on St. Bartholomew's Day in 6g7. With only two attendants,
he took up his permanent residence and built for himself a house
6g7i and chapel on a spot about a quarter of a mile north-east of the
present abbey, which is now known as Anchor Church Hill. St.
Guthlac and the island of Crowland were consecrated by Bishop
Hadda, five days before the feast of St. Bartholomew, at harvest time ;
and in commemoration of this event Crowland fair is held annually,

Fold out

313
by Royal Charter, six days before and six days after the feast of St
Bartholomew. After St. Guthlac's death, Ethelbald, King of Mercia, whose Tie.
Confessor he had been, in 716 erected a monastery to his memory
and endowed it with the island of Crowland, together with the
adjacent fens lying on both sides of the River Welland.
The foundations of the present abbey were laid in the beginning crowland
of the twelfth century, and the importance which this monastery
had obtained may be gathered from the fact that two Abbots, two
Earls, 100 Knights and upwards of 5,000 people were present at the
laying of the first stone.
Crowland is also celebrated for its triangular bridge. Formerly triangular
the Welland divided into two streams, one branch leading to the
Nene and the other continuing to Spalding. A stream of water was Fig. 4.
diverted from the river through the abbey grounds past the slaughter
house and offices. Three roads crossed over these streams,
one from Peterborough, one from Peakirk and Stamford, and
one from Spalding and the Abbey. These three roads, each
by a separate arch, met on the centre of the bridge. The
channel of the Nene branch of the Welland has long been filled
in and the stream which passed to the Abbey ground is enclosed by
a culvert. The bridge is 8ft. wide and therefore only adapted for
horse or foot passengers. Mention of a ' triangular bridge ' is made
in the Charter of Eadred, in g43, but the present structure was
probably built in the fourteenth century.
The fen land adjoining the Abbey was called Goggushland and ooggushlano.
was regarded as a sanctuary of the church. This fen the monks,
having license from the King, inclosed for their own use, ' making
the ditches about it bigger than ordinary for the avoiding of discord.
The monks endeavoured to reclaim the fen by banks and drains reclamation of
but " though they had ample possessions in the fens, yet they yielded crowland.
not much profit, in regard that so great a quantity of them lay for
the most part under water." Ingulphus relates that Abbot Egelric
so improved a portion of the marshes as to be able to plough and
sow them with corn. In dry years he tilled the fens in four places, inguiph's
and for three or four years had the increase of an hundred fold of
what seed soever he sowed, the monastery being so enriched by
these plentiful crops that the whole country thereabout was supplied
therewith. In William the Conqueror's time, the occupants of the
adjacent fens consisted of the Tenants and their families, to whom
the Abbot had let a great portion of the marshes and meadows,
" no man delighting to inhabit here any longer than he was neces
sitated so to do ; insomuch as those who in time of war betook
themselves hither for security (as great numbers of rich and poor
from the neighbouring countries did) afterwards returned back to
their particular homes, for without boats there was not then any

Dugdale.

Crowland.

3H
access thereto, there being no path except up to the gate of the
monastery." Abbot Egelric also constructed a road from Crowland
to Spalding, the foundation of which was made of wood covered
with gravel, ' a most costly work, but of extraordinary necessity.'
In William the Conqueror's reign, Richard de Rulos who was
then Lord and Owner of part of Deeping Fen, " and was much
addicted to good husbandry, such as tillage and breeding of cattle,
took in a great part of the common fen adjacent and converted it into
several, for meadows and pastures. He also made an Inclosure
Dugdale. from the Chapel of St. Guthlac of- all his lands up to the Car
dyke, excluding the River Welland with a mighty bank ; because
almost every year his meadows lying near that stream were
overflowed. Upon this bank he erected tenements and cottages
and in a short time made it a large town, whereunto he assigned
gardens and arable fields. By thus embanking the river he reduced
the low grounds, which before that time were de3p lakes and im
passable fens, (hence the name Deep-ing or Deep Meadow), into
most fruitful fields and pastures ; and the most humid and moorish
parts to a garden of pleasure. Having by this good husbandry
brought the soil to that fertile condition, he converted the chapel of
St. Guthlac into a church, the place being now called Market
Deeping. By the like means of banking and draining he also made
a village dedicated to St. James in the very pan of Pudlington, and
by much labour and charge reduced it into fields, meadows and
pasture, which is now called Deeping St. James."
'""•• In the reign of Henry II the inhabitants of Holland, bordering
on Crowland, having drained their own marshes and converted
them into good and fertile arable land, whereof each town had its
proper proportion, wanting pasturage for their cattle, seized the
land of the Abbot of Crowland, carried away his hay, and pastured
their cattle on his marshes.
Dugdale. The following is the description given of Deeping Fen in the
reign of Richard II. " The marsh called Deping Fen did extend
'"'' itself from East Deping to the middle of the bridge of Crouland, and
the middle of the river of Weland, and thence to the messuage of
Wm. Atte Tounesend, of Spalding, and thence to a certain place
called Dowe Hirne, thence to Goderham's Kote, thence to Estcote,
and thence to Baston Barre, thence to Langtoft-outgonge, and thence
to East Deping in length and breadth. And that the agistments
of all cattle in the said marsh did then belong to the lord, and were
worth annually £20 ; and moreover that there was a certain profit
of turfs, yearly digged therein, worth £20 ; and likewise a profit of
poundage, to be yearly twice taken of all cattle within the said
marsh, viz., one time of horses and afterwards of cattle ; whereupon
all cattle which have right of common there are delivered with pay
ment of Greshyre, but of other cattle the lord hath Greshyre, which

Dugdale.

315
was worth £20 per annum. Also that there was within the said
marsh a certain profit of fishing, newly taken by reason of the over
flowing of the water on the north part towards Spalding, which was
yearly worth £7, and that the other profits of fishing and fowling
throughout the whole fen were worth 100s., and lastly that the fish
ing to the midst of the river of Welland to Crouland and thence to
Spalding, was yearly worth 505."
In the same reign a dispute occurred with the men residing in 1301.
Kesteven, as to the boundaries of the fens, and a Commission was
issued by the King. A perambulation having been made, ten
crosses were erected to show the division. But within two years
these were all thrown down and carried away by the Kesteven men,
for which act sundry of them were hanged, some banished, and
some fined in great sums, and command given for erecting new
crosses of stone at the charge of these men of Kesteven.
In several succeeding reigns Commissions were issued by the
Crown to view the banks, ditches, and water courses, and also the
floodgates and sluices, and to see that all necessary repairs were
executed for maintaining the same in proper order.
In the beginning of the 16th century this part of the country is
thus described by Camden, in his History of England.
" Allow me, however, to stop awhile to describe the extraordin- Camden.
ary situation and nature of this spot, so different from all others in
England, and this so famous monastery (Crowland) lying among the
deepest fens and waters stagnating off muddy lands, so shut in and
environed as to be inaccessible on all sides except the north and east,
and that only by narrow causeys. Its situation, if we may compare
small things with great, is not unlike that of Venice, consisting of
three streets, divided by canals of water, planted with willows, and
built on piles driven into the bottom of the fen, and joined by a
triangular bridge of admirable workmanship, under which, the in
habitants report, is a pit of immense depth, dug to receive the
confluence of waters. Beyond this bridge, where, as the poet says,
' the soil cements to solid ground,' antiently stood the monastery
so famous, in a much narrower space, all round which, except where
the town stands, it is so moory that you may run a pole into the
ground to the depth of 30ft., and nothing is to be seen on every side
but beds of rushes, and near the church a grove of alders. It is,
notwithstanding, full of inhabitants, who keep their cattle at a good
distance from the town, and go to milk them in little boats, called
skerries, which will hold but two persons ; but their chief profit arises
from the catching of fish and wild fowl, which they do in such
quantities that in the month of August they drive 3,000 ducks into
one net, and call their pools their fields. No corn grows within five
miles of them. Higher up that same river lies Spalding, surrounded
on all sides with rivulets and canals, an handsomer town than one

316
would expect in this tract among stagnated waters. From hence to
Deeping, a town ten miles off, the meaning of which is deep meadow,
for the plain below it, extending many miles, is the deepest of all this
fenny country, and the receptacle of many waters ; and, which is
very extraordinary, much below the bed of the river Glen, which
runs by from the west, confined within its own banks."
petition to_ in the reign of Queen Elizabeth a petition was presented to the
beth. Queen by the inhabitants of Deeping and the other towns having right
of common in the fens, viz., Deeping, Spalding, Pinchbeck, Thurlby,
Bourne and Crowland, setting out the lost condition of these fens,
owing to the decay of the banks of the Welland and the Glen
and the condition of the sewers and watercourses, and that by
properly draining the same these fens might be greatly improved ;
and praying the Queen to direct a Commission of Sewers to make
enquiry and undertake such works as they should deem necessary
Dugdale. for their recovery, and recommending a Mr. Thos. Lovell as the
Undertaker, he being " a man skilful in like works, wherein he had
been beyond the seas much used and employed, as one fit and much
desired by the inhabitants, to undertake the draining of the said
fens." In compliance with the prayers of the memorialists, a Com
mission of Sewers was issued, which sat at Bourne, and also at
Market Deeping. The Court directed that a sum of £12,000 should
be levied upon the inhabitants of certain towns in Holland and
Kesteven, and on the Commoners in the fens. This tax not being
paid, the Commissioners " well tendering the great profit that would
arise to all persons concerned, and to the commonwealth in general
if the said lands were drained, they therefore granted to Thomas
Lovell a concession of the right to drain these fens, on condition
that the same should be done solely at his own expense, within a
period of five years. As recompense, he was to have a third part of
the reclaimed land, but only on condition that he should maintain
the works in a state of efficiency, and perfect the drainage of the
fens so that they should be firm and pasturable, both in summer and
winter. Lovell at once commenced operations and expended the
whole of his fortune, about £12,000. A third part of the fens con
taining 10,036 acres was allotted to him, and also, by order of the
Court of Sewers, 5,000 acres additional as a further recompense.
This arrangement was subsequently confirmed by an Act obtained
in the reign of James I. Owing however to the ' unreasonableness
of the times and riotous letts and disturbances of lewd people
casting down his banks,' and otherwise destroying his works, the
fen again returned to its original condition.
A Petition presented to the Court of Sewers stated that both
Spalding and Pinchbeck were at that time in a miserable plight, '
three parts of the latter place being ' depopulate and forsaken |

LOVELL S
SCHEME OF
RECLAMATION 1803,

3^7
through the state of the outfall of the Glen, which Lovell had under
taken to improve and make 6ft. deep and 40ft. wide, from the
beginning of Surfleet.
Subsequently Deeping Fen, South Holland and the other low
lands in this district were included in a great scheme for draining all
the fens lying in the counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, the Isle
of Ely, Norfolk and Lincoln. Sir William Ayloff, Anthony
Thomas, with other Adventurers, made an offer to King James I, to
drain all the fens lying in these counties, and in return were to be
allowed to hold all the land belonging to the King, whether drowned
by salt or fresh water, at a rent of fourpence an acre above all rents
then paid, and to have two- thirds of the lands belonging to private
owners which were liable to be drowned all the year, and half of
those which lay drowned half the year. The Undertakers signified
that as far as the Lincolnshire Fens were concerned they intended
to commence their works by opening the Outfall of the Nene and
the Welland, and to make these rivers navigable to Wisbech and
Spalding. These proposals meeting with the King's approval, he
recommended them to the Court of Sewers, in order that they might
aid the Undertakers in expediting such contracts as they should
make. At a Sessions of Sewers, held at Peterborough, the appro
bation of the Court was given, and at a subsequent Court, held at
Huntingdon, it was decreed that in order to expedite the work, and
towards opening the ancient outfalls of the Nene and Welland, and
draining the lands, every acre should be taxed twenty shillings, to be
paid to the Undertakers when the works of draining were done, or
in default the Commissioners would award such quantities of land
as they thought fit. The tax not being paid, at a Court of Sewers,
held at Spalding, it was decreed that the Undertakers should have
" half the common lands in Deeping Fen, Spalding Fen and Pinch
beck South Fen ; Goggushland ; also two-thirds of the marsh called
Bellesmore in Spalding and Weston, two-thirds of the marsh called
Turpitts in Weston, one-fourth of the marsh ground called East Fen
in Moulton Marsh ; half of Holbech and Whaplode Marsh or Fen ;
and two-thirds of Sutton Fen, on the south side of the South Ea."
Difficulties arose in carrying out this arrangement and the
decree fell through. Subsequently the Commissioners of Sewers
decreed that they had no power to take away any man's lands with
out his assent, and that their power only extended to the rating of
the land for the work done ; that if the Undertakers would agree to
go on with the works, on condition that they should have a moiety
of the clear profit which they should bring to each owner by their
works, they would give all lawful aid in carrying out the bargain, but
that if the Undertakers were not willing to consent to this, then the
Commissioners would do the work themselves according to the
antient course and legal power of their Commission. To these terms

SCHEMES OF
AYLOFF, THOMA1
AND OTHERS.
I6IB.

3*8

VERMUIDEN. 1631.

EARL OF BED
FORD'S SCHEME.
Dugdale. 1638.
Fig, 13.

the Undertakers agreed, ' but whether it was the great distur
bance about that time, or what else, no further progress was
made.' In i62g a decree was made by the Court of Sewers, levying a
tax of six shillings an acre on " all the marsh, fenny, waste and
surrounded grounds in order to do this general draining, notwith
standing which decree, no part of the - said tax was paid, nor any
prosecution of the work." At another Sessions of Sewers held at
Lynn an offer made by Sir C. Vermuiden was accepted to carry out
the work, but " the country being not satisfied to deal with Sir
Cornelius, in regard that he was an alien, they intimated their
dislike to the Commissioners." Finally the works for reclaiming
Deeping Fen appear to have been carried out separately from
those in the Bedford Level, and " divers gentlemen became Adven
turers for the exsiccation thereof." Amongst these was Sir Phili-
bert Vernatti, a Dutchman, from whom the Vernatt's Drain and
Sluice received its name. In 1632 a decree of the Court of Sewers
was confirmed, for conferring on the Earl of Bedford, Sir William
Russell, Sir Robert Bevill and others, the concession for draining
Deeping Fen, South Fen and Crowland. The works carried out by
them in Deeping Fen included the widening and deepening of the-
Welland from Waldram Hall (near St. James Deeping) to SpaldingA
and thence to the Outfall ; the cutting of the Slaker Drain (the
Counter Drain) about 20ft. in breadth, to ease the River Glen. This
drain continued from Dovehirne, along the course of the Star Fen
Graft and joined the Vernatt's. Hill's Drain branched off from North
Drove Drain, and passed through Spalding Common to the Welland
below Lock's Mill, where was ' a great sluice.' The Vernatt's
Drain was cut from Pode Hole to the Welland, which it joined
about i^miles below Spalding, or 3 miles above its present Outfall ;
the South Drove Drain was carried from Cranmore Common to the
Welland- near Cowbit. The Adventurers also improved Exeter
Drain (the Wheat Mere Drain) from Cowbit tunnel to the sea, below
Spalding. A large sluice was erected on the Welland near Lock's
Mill. Numerous partition dykes were also made. The North and
South Droves were then more than a quarter of a mile wide, with
large drains on both sides of the droves.
The accompanying illustration taken from Blaeu's map of the
Regiones Inundates, dated 1645, will show the condition of the fen at
this time.

.3*9

%jWsn

Cuitit
BtdMU
DEEPING TEN
JB.OTT
RE GJOiNE S INUNDATE
JBLAEW I64>5.
fScal-e- oFJ/CHu
i  i  ?1_  9.  *,

In 1637 the fens were declared drained ; two years later, how- ,„T.
ever the Commissioners of the Bedford Level, sitting at Wisbech,
decreed that, although the lands in Deeping Fen were much improved, ,a*°'
yet that they were still subject to inundation in winter, and a tax of
30/- an acre was ordered to be levied and to be expended in complet
ing the drainage.
In a pamphlet written by Andrewes Burrell in 1642, it is stated a Bun-ell. 1642.
that the Earl of Bedford had expended £23,000 in draining Deeping
Fen. In commenting on the scheme recommended by Vermuiden
for diverting the Glen and the Welland to the Nene, so that the
three rivers should have one common outfall to the sea, Burrell
says " the most considerable danger is the condition of the stuff
whereof the banks of the new river must be made. In regard that
the greatest part of the Level is a light moor, which hath no solidity
in it ; for being dry, it is so spongy that it will both burn and swim,

BANK.

FIRST DEEPING
FEN ACT-

320
and is so hollow that a bank,which is this year large and firm to the
eye, in four or five years will shrink to less than half the proportions
which it had at the first making."
Dugdale. Dugdale says that by the works above enumerated the land
was so well drained that in summer the whole fen yielded great
quantities of grass and hay, and would have been made winter
ground in a short time, but that the country people, taking advant
age of the confusion throughout the whole kingdom, which ensued
soon after the convention of the long Parliament, possessed
themselves thereof; so that the banks and sewers being neglected
by the Adventurers, it became again overflowed.
brotherhouse In 1650 the C ommissioners of the Bedford Level in carrying
out the works for the drainage of that district, in order to
protect the North Level from the waters of the Welland, constructed
a bank, extending from Peakirk to Crowland, and thence to Brother-
house, where it unites with the Holland Bank. This bank was
made 70ft. broad at the bottom and 8ft. high, and a road is main
tained on its top forming a communication between Peakirk and
Spalding. In the reign of Charles II, an Act of Parliament was passed,
16 anTiTchas which, after reciting the above facts and repealing the grant made
ii. 1664. to Lovell, enacted that the Earl of Manchester, the Earl of Devon
shire, Lord Barkley, Anchatill Gray and Henry Gray should be
declared to be the Undertakers for draining the fen, then computed
as containing 10,000 acres, in trust for such persons and intents as
are mentioned in the Act. They were to accomplish the draining
in seven years, so that they should be ' firm and depasturable for
cattle at all times of the year,' except as to two or three hundred
acres, or thereabouts, in the said fen called Deeping Fen and
Goggushland and forty acres in Thurlby Fen and Bourne South
Fen, which were to be left for ' lakes and sykes for the receipt of
waters within the same.' They were for ever to maintain the works
and the banks environing the fens and the bank on the east side of
the Welland from Brotherhouse to Spalding High Bridge ; also the
bank on the north side of the Glen from Gutherham Cote to Dove-
hirne ; also to keep the rivers Glen and Welland maintained with
sufficient diking, roding, scouring and banking ; the Welland from
the Outgang at the east end of East Deeping unto the Outfall into
the sea, and to preserve and maintain the navigation thereof free of
toll ; they were to make and maintain all necessary bridges not
exceeding 12ft. in width, over all drains whereby passage may be
had into the fens. To prevent the banks being injured by cattle
and horses, it was provided that no person should at any time between
Michaelmas and the first of May drive any horses, cattle or sheep ,
upon any of the banks without paying certain tolls, and owners of j
horse boats were not to land any horsemen or horses and cattlej

321
upon the said banks, bstween the same times, except at Waldram
Hall, Baston, Spoute, Dovehirne, Cloote, or Crowland, without a
license ; no swine were to be allowed to be put on the fens between
the banks and the ditches, nor on any other part of the fens, without
being ringed, under a penalty of twopence for each hog. Any inhabit
ants that might hereafter be upon any part of the third part allotted
to the Trustees, or upon the Five Thousand Acres, and unable
to maintain themselves, were to be provided for by the
Adventurers and not allowed to be chargeable to any of the parishes ;
no water was to be taken out of the Glen or Welland, or any of the
drains, without leave of the Trustees.
The Trustees were to have one-third of the fens, amounting to •• taxable
10,036 acres, this being afterwards known as ' the taxable lands,'
and the Five Thousand Acres, originally allotted to Lovell, in recom-
pence for the money already expended, and in consideration of the
work to be done in ' inning and draining the said fen.' This area
was afterwards known as ' the Free Lands.' The Trustees were •• free lands.-
to enclose the lands granted to them. If the reclamation was not
completed within the seven years, or if the Trustees afterwards
failed to maintain the works, so that the fen was ' good and depastur
able ground for cattle at all times in the year,' the lands were to
pass over to the Court of Sewers, who were to apply the rents in
preserving the lands adjoining from being surrounded and drowned.
The Trustees were to pay £100 to the Court of Sewers, towards the
repair and maintenance of the South Dozens and Hawthorne Banks.
The Owners for the time being of a share of not less than 250 acres
of the 10,036 acres were authorised to hold meetings for the better
government and orderly management of the work of draining the
fens. Three Adventurers were to have power to act under the
Common Seal, and to make bye laws, and tax the Owners by an equal
acre tax for the purpose of carrying on the work. In default of
payment of the tax levied, the Adventurers were to have power
to sell the land taxed. A Commission was appointed to determine
the boundaries of the land to be inclosed.
This Act was amended five years later and the time for comple- 22 Car. ii, 1671.
tion was extended for a further period of three years, as, owing to
' the unseasonableness of the weather and other unavoidable
accidents,' the works had not been completed. It was also enacted
that the Adventurers should hold a public meeting annually at
Spalding, on the Thursday next after the second Sunday in April,
at which the acre tax was to be levied for payment on the
10th of October following. In default of payment a penalty not
exceeding a third part of the tax was to be imposed. If the tax and
penalty were not paid before the April following, the Adventurers
could make an order at the annual meeting for the sequestration
I and sale of so much of the land as would satisfy the tax and penalty.

CAPT. PERRY.
1728.

CONDITION OF
THE FEN IN IT3B
ii Geo. ii, c. 39

322
time for annual The time for holding the annual meeting was altered by a subse-
MEETING. ° . r> J
11 Geo. u, c. 39, quent Act, by which two meetings were directed to be held on the
1738. Thursdays next after Midsummer and Michaelmas days. The time
for laying the rates was altered by an Act, passed in the reign of
George III, by which theywere directed to be paid in two instalments,
due respectively on the 22nd of May and the nth of November.
In consequence of the wet seasons and the imperfect condition
of the drainage, many Owners of the taxable lands were unable to
pay the rates, and, being in arrear, nearly half the lands were seques
trated by the Trustees under the powers of the Act of 1664. ^n
i72g these lands were sold, for £4,000, to Capt. Perry, an Engineer
who had been engaged on embanking works on the Thames. The
proceeds were to be laid out on works in the fen.
The amending Act of 1738 recites that the lands granted to the
Adventurers " had long since been fenced and inclosed, and were
the fen in it3b. drained and kept drained for some years, yet that notwithstanding
all the endeavours that had been used to preserve and keep the said
fens drained, the same have for several years last past been, and now
are, so overflowed with waters, through the defects of their Outfalls
to the sea and other causes, that little or no profit can be made of
them to the great loss and damage of the Owners, as well of the
said free lands as of taxable lands, and to the impoverishment of the
Commoners, having right of Common in the rest of the fens, being
about 15,000 acres, and for which causes about 4,000 acres of the
taxable lands had become forfeited for non-payment of the draining
taxes charged thereon ; and may be sold by the said Adventurers, or
any three of them, so qualified as aforesaid ; and that the said
fens could never be made profitable, unless some new methods
were taken to recover the same, which, according to a scheme
and estimate made thereof by skilful and able engineers, would cost
about £15,000 ; and that it had been enacted that the Court of Sewers
could seize and appropriate all the rents of the Adventurers' lands
unless they were kept properly drained." In order to prevent this
loss an agreement had been come to with the Owners of the 5,000
acres of free lands, by which they undertook to raise one-third of the
£15,000 required, by an acre tax of 20/- ; £6,000 was to be found by
a similar rate on the 6,000 acres of taxable lands, and when this sum
was expended, then the remaining 4,000 acres, which had become
forfeited for non-payment of the drainage taxes, were to be sold
by the Adventurers, or so much thereof as was necessary to make
up the £15,000, and the money applied to the perfecting of the
draining of the level and its future preservation.
Bourne Fen and Thurlby Pastures, containing 336 acres, part
and thurlby of the 'Free Lands, were exempted from payment of this tax, on
the ground that they had been embanked and kept drained at the
sole charge of the Owner, Sir John Heathcote.

Fold out

323

ERECTION OF
SCOOP WHEELS.
1741.

WIND ENGINES.

Map. 1763,
ACT OF ITT4.
14 Geo. iii, c. 23.

Two large scoop wheels, worked by windmills, known then as
' Dutch Engines ' were erected in 1 741, at one end of the main drain,
for lifting the water off the fen into the Vernatt's Drain. The wheels
were 16ft. in diameter, with 13m. scoops. An Archimedean screw
was at first worked by one of the larger mills, but was subsequently
abandoned. The total length of the rivers and drains in this district is given
on a map, published by Jos. Featherstone, in 1763, as ggf miles ; Fig u
and of the banks, 66J miles. On the same map are shown 50 Featherstone's
windmills for lifting the water into the main drains.
In 1774, a third Act was passed for amending the previous
Acts. The Preamble of this Act recites that such part of the River
Welland as lies within the town of Spalding and between Haw
thorn bank and the Outfall, had become very much contracted and
that unless the Adventurers were empowered to cleanse the river,
the fens and low grounds could not be effectually drained and
improved. They were authorised, and afterwards erected a sluice at the vcnimtt's ano
-' ' PODEHOLE
end of the Vernatt's Drain, noft. on the south side of the Outfall sluice.
of the Glen, having a clear water-way of 30ft. ; and a new sluice
near the existing Podehole Sluice, the water-way of which was to
be 3ft. less than that of the sea sluice ; and to continue by a new
cut the Vernatt's Drain, which then joined the Welland about i£
miles below Spalding, down to the intended Outfall sluice at the
Reservoir, having a bottom width of 20ft. ; also to make and
continue the drain called Langtoft Roft, 30ft. wide ; North Drove
Dike, 20ft. wide ; Black Dike Roft, 30ft. ; South Drove Dike, 20ft. ;
the 18ft. Drain, 40ft. wide ; the bottom of all these drains to be level
with the floor of the Pode Hole Sluice. The powers given by the
Act of Charles, to the Commissioners of Sewers, to shut down the
Sluice at Pode Hole, and to stop the Vernatt's Drain for two months
in every year, in order to drain the lands in Pinchbeck and Spalding,
were to cease when the new works were completed, and they were
not to be allowed to stop the sluice for more than 28 days in a year,
nor for more than three days together, within the space of 14 days.
The powers of the Court of Sewers relating to the Vernatt's Drain
and the sluices at Pode Hole were repealed by the Welland Act of
1794 and also by the Deeping Fen Act of 1801. The Commissioners
were also authorised to rebuild Surfleet Bridge, over the Glen, and
also to enlarge Cross Gate Bridge to a width of 30ft. Gravel Drain
was to be scoured to Swine's Meadow and a dam made at the south
end, to convey the water into the Counter Wash ; the south bank
of the Counter Drain was to be repaired and enlarged and widened,
and the drain from the end of Gravel Drain to Pode Hole, to be
deepened for the purpose of conveying the upland waters along
Vernatt's Drain to the sea.

PODEHOLE SLUICE.

WELLAND ACT,
20. iii
1794

DRAIN.

324
Any Owners who had tunnels through Deeping Bank, Barston
Bank, the Counter Bank, and Gravel Drain Bank, were, before the
30th of September in every year, to stop up the same ' with dove-tail
or other piles ' and keep them stopped till the first of the following
May. In 1794, an Act was passed for improving the Welland and for
34 Geo. m, c. 102, the better drainage of the fen-land, through the same. By this Act
the management of the river was entrusted to a Commission,
consisting of the Owners ofland paying taxes, and Representatives of
Spalding, Boston, and Stamford. A new cut was to be made for
the Welland from the Reservoir to Wyberton Roads and the tide
excluded by a sluice with a navigable lock. The details of this Act
will be found more fully described in the chapter on the Welland.
It marks the time when the Welland was placed under a separate
Commission. The contemplated works were only partially carried
out, the new Cut terminating at Fossdyke Bridge and the construction
of the sluices being abandoned. There was a clause in the Act for
compelling the Adventurers of Deeping Fen to improve the Vernatt's
Drain and providing that when it was enlarged it should be
supported by the Adventurers, as also the South Dozens Bank ; and
that the powers given to the Court of Sewers, under the Act of
14 Geo. iii, as to closing the sluice doors for 28 days, and their
jurisdiction over the Pode Hole Sluice and Vernatt's Drain should
cease. This matter was also subsequently dealt with in the Deeping
Fen Act.
Stone, in his review of the survey of the Agriculture of Lincoln
shire, remarks,* with respect to the condition of Deeping Fen, at
this time : " The drainage of Deeping Fen is chiefly effected by
three wind engines, above Spalding, that lift the Deeping Fen water
into the Welland, the bed of which is . higher than the land to be
drained, assisted by a side cut called the West Load, which falls
into the Welland just below Spalding, and which district, in violent
floods, in a calm when the engines cannot work, is reduced to a
Survey"ofSLin- most deplorable condition, more especially when the banks of the
coinshire. Welland give way, or overflow, as happened in 1798."
a. Young's Arthur Young, in his survey of Lincolnshire, which was pub- .
Sarvc7insiire^in' lislled at tne end 0I the last century, speaking of Deeping Fen, says :
" Twenty years ago the land sold for about three pounds an acre ;
some was then let at seven and eight shillings an acre ; and a great
deal was in such a state that nobody would rent it . N ow it is in general
worth twenty shillings an acre, and sells at twenty pounds. Ten
thousand acres of it are taxable under Commissioners, and pay up to
twenty shillings, but as low as two shillings ; the average is about
four shillings, including poor rate, and all tithes free."
At the beginning of the present century a joint report was
obtained from Messrs. W. Jessop, J. Rennie, G. Maxwell and E.j|

CONDITION OF
THE FEN IN I79B

325
Hare, as to the means to be adopted to improve the drainage of these r"°rt of
. C r ° JESSOP, RENNII
fens. This report was submitted to a Meeting of the Proprietors of maxwell hare
lands in the fen, held at Spalding, on the 26th September, 1800.
They recommended that the Cut, authorised by the Welland Act,
from Shepherd's Hole through the Salt Marshes of Surfleet and
Algarkirk, as far as Fossdyke, should be proceeded with. The other
works recommended were mainly those which were afterwards
carried out by the General Commissioners appointed under the Act
of 1801. They further recommended that a New Drain should be made
to relieve the Glen from Baston to Pinchbeck Bars ; and that proper
engines should be erected at Pode Hole to lift the water into the
Vernatt's. A supplemental report was appended, signed by W.
Jessop and John Rennie, stating that they considered the erection of
engines at Pode Hole as absolutely necessary for relieving the internal
main drains, and advised the use of steam for this purpose, on the
ground that although wind engines could be made of better con
struction than those hitherto in use, yet in calm weather such
engines were frequently useless when most needed.
In 1801, application was made to Parliament, and an Act
obtained, for draining, dividing and allotting the tract of land now

INCLOSURE OF
DEEPING FEN.
41 Geo. iii, c.
generally known as Deeping Fen, the whole of which, with the «8, 1801.
exception of the Adventurers' lands, was Common. The following
is the area of land dealt with by the Act.

AREA OF

Market Deeping Common, Deeping St. James acres.
Common, Langtoft Common, Baston Common, inclosed land.
Cowbit Common and Heath, Spalding Common,
Pinchbeck South Fen ... ... ... 13,500
Pinchbeck North Fen ... ... ... ... 3,500
Droves and Waste Lands ... . . ... 800
Crowland Common, otherwise Goggushland, Com
monable by occupants in Crowland only ... 1,200
Deeping Fen. taxable and free lands under the
control of the Adventurers. (The powers of the
Commissioners only extended to the draining and
not the allotting of this land). Fen lands in
Bourne and Thurlby on the north of the Glen,
and inclosed lands in Spalding and Pinchbeck
lying between the Glen and the Welland ... 15,000

34,000
George Maxwell of Fletton, Edward Hare of Castor, John
Cragg of Threekingham and William Golding of Donington were
appointed General Commissioners for executing the works of Drain
age, and for dividing and allotting the Commons into Parochial or
other parts and shares. The separate share of each parish was first
to be determined. TheCommissioners were to be allowed two-and-
a-half guineas a day each for their services and travelling expenses.

the allotment.

326
The Commissioners were directed by the Act, before making
any Allotment, to set out 120ft. of land next the banks of the rivers,
for the purpose of selling such land to the Adventurers. They were
to set out such carriage roads as they deemed necessary, of the^
width of 40ft. ; and it was forbidden to erect any trees near the
fences of these roads, at a less distance than 50 yards apart. The
boundary between Holland and Kesteven along the North and
South Droves, which had long been a subject of dispute, was to
be settled by the Commissioners, and their decision was to be final
and binding. As the rate to be levied on Crowland Common and
the Washes and other lands under the Welland Act of 1794, had
not been raised and paid, the Commissioners were to sell so much
of the Common land as would raise a sum sufficient to pay the
arrears of the tax, and hand the proceeds over to the Welland
Commissioners. They were also directed to sell so much of
Pinchbeck North Fen and other lands, as would raise a sum
sufficient to discharge all taxes due to the Black Sluice Commis
sioners in respect of the North Fen. Sufficient of the Common
land was also to be sold to defray the expenses of the Drainage
Works, and of dividing and allotting the Commons.
new works. As soon as the Welland Commissioners had completed the new
Cut for the Welland to Fossdyke, the Adventurers were at their
own cost to enlarge and deepen the Vernatt's Drain, from Shotbolt's
Bridge to Pode Hole, so as to give it a 30ft. bottom, and to erect
carriage bridges over the drain, having a clear water-way of 30ft,
and other bridges in place of those then existing, with clear water
ways of 30ft. ; also to widen and deepen Blue Gowt Drain, from its
outfall in the Glen to its termination near the Turnpike Road, and
continue it by a new drain to the Dozens Bank, having a 10ft.
bottom at the lower end and 6ft. at the upper ; also to erect a sluice
of 14ft. water-way at its junction with the Glen ; they were also to
make a new drain, branching from the Blue Gowt Drain to the
Vernatt's Drain, and so much further on the south side as might
be found expedient, with a culvert under the Vernatt's, 3ft. in
diameter, for the purpose of draining the lands in Spalding and
Pinchbeck, lying between the Westlode Drain and the Glen, so as to
discharge their water into the Glen.
The Proprietors of this District were also empowered, when the
height of the water in the Vernatt's Drain prevented the water
running into the Blue Gowt Drain, or from being discharged into the
Glen, to erect an engine for discharging the water into the Glen.
This part of the Act was repealed by the Act 41 George III, when a
separate Act was obtained for the Blue Gowt District, an account
of which will be found in Chapter IV.
The Adventurers were also to deepen the Welland from Spalding j
Lock upwards and to strengthen the north bank of the river. Afterjl

VERNATT'S and
PODE HOLE
SLUICES.

DRAINAGE

NEW DRAINS*

327
the Adventurers had completed these works, they were to be main
tained by the Dykereeves of Spalding and Pinchbeck, except
Vernatt's Drain ; and the right of shutting down the doors at Pode
If ole for twenty eight days was to cease. Vernatt's Drain and Pode
hole Sluice were to vest in the Adventurers. In the event of a breach
in the banks of the Glen or Welland, the Commissioners of Sewers
were to have the power to shut the sluice doors at Pode Hole and
keep them shut ' until the breach or gool shall be stopped and
made secure.' If, at the end of two years, it appeared to the Com
missioners that the mills and engines erected by the Adventurers engines
would be found useful for drainage, they were to pay the Adventurers
for them ; but if it was found that they were not wanted, the
Adventurers were to be allowed to take them down and sell the
materials. The following works were to be carried out by the Commis
sioners. A main drain, commencing at Pode Hole and extending to
the Rampart Drain, and proceeding along that drain to the east
end of the Commons at South Drove, and along this drove to its
west end, and continuing thence to the Cross Drain, with a branch
communicating with Crowland Common at its north end. This Fig. 12.
main drain was to be 24ft. at the bottom at the lower end. A
main drain commencing at Pode Hole and continuing along the
18ft. Drain to the west end of the North Drove, and joining
the Cross Drain. The width of the bottom at the lower end to be
24ft. A new drain across the Commons, having an 18ft. bottom,
commencing at the north bank of the Welland, and extending to
the south bank of the Counter Drain. The Counter Drain to be
enlarged from Pode Hole to the Tunnel under the Glen from Thurlby
Pastures ; as also Hill's Drain for the use of the land in Deeping Fen.
Bridges were to be erected over these drains as might be found
necessary. King Street Drain was to be deepened. A Catchwater
Drain was to be made near the Western boundary of the Commons,
and the Glen was to be deepened and enlarged from the Reservoir
to Kate's Bridge. These Works were to be done at the expense of
the Owners of taxable and free lands in Deeping Fen, and the
Owners of the Commons, lying between the Welland and the Glen.
The money was to be raised by an equal acre rate.
The Commissioners were also to have a gauge stone erected flood gauges
near Pode Hole Sluice, with marks on it 7ft. 8in. above the level of
the floor of that sluice, and similar stones erected by the side
of the main drains, at intervals of a mile, up to the Cross Drain, and
having a second mark, denoting the height of iin. per mile, for every
mile up the drains. The engines draining the fen were to have
their wheels ' with the wallowers ' thereof so constructed as to
prevent their discharging water into the drains when the water rose
above the higher of the two marks.

WELLAND TRUST-

DEEPING FEN
THUST CHEATED.

3^8
The right to drain Bourne South Fen and Thurlby Fen Pastures,
by the culvert under the Glen, was confirmed.
glen banks. For the preservation of the banks of the River Glen the General
Commissioners in their Award were to nominate Trustees or Officers
to have charge of such banks, with power to levy rates for the
purpose. By the Act of 1823 the Trustees of the interior Districts
were directed to pay the Glen Trustees such sums as should be
rated on them for the repair of these banks.
After the works were completed and the Award made, a perman
ent Trust was created, consisting of 1 1 trustees, 4 elected by the
Owners of 100 acres of the taxable lands in Deeping Fen; 2
by the Owners of 100 acres of the free lands ; and 5 by the
Owners of 100 acres of the allotted lands lying between the Welland
and the Glen. An additional vote was given to every Owner for
every 300 acres owned above the 100 acres. These Commissioners
were to be elected every three years, and all the general works of
drainage, &c, were to vest in and be maintained by them. They
were to have the usual powers of appointing Officers and levying
taxes not exceeding one shilling an acre, unless the approval of the
Owners of the land were obtained for a larger sum. The taxes were
to be laid at a meeting held at Spalding or Market Deeping, on the
day after the last Thursday in April in every year. This was
altered, by the Act of 1823, to the second Wednesday in April. The
Trustees were to be allowed their reasonable expenses for attending
such meetings.
The Commissioners were to set out the lands divided into
parochial allotments, into Districts. Trustees were to be elected by
each separate District for the management of the internal drainage, j
and for this purpose were authorised to lay rates, not exceeding two
shillings an acre in one year. Six Districts were thus set out and
the maximum tax was increased by the subsequent Act of 1823 to
five shillings. By the Act of 1856 the powers relating to these
Districts, except the Fourth, were repealed and their powers trans
ferred to the General Trustees. An account of the Fourth District
is given in Chapter IV.
The Trustees were empowered to let the herbage of the banks
and forelands of the main drains, to be grazed with sheep only. The
Award of the General Commissioners was to be enrolled and copies
deposited in the parish churches of Spalding and Market Deeping,
copies to be supplied to persons requiring the same at the rate of
twopence for every 72 words. The right to inspect was to be
obtained on payment of one shilling.
The works executed under the direction of these Commissioners
did not effect a permanent improvement. The recommendation of
Mr. Rennie, in his report of 1800, as to the erection of steam engines I '
at Pode Hole was not carried out, and in a report made by Mr. J

DRAINAGE
DISTRICTS.

CONDITION OF
THE FEN IN 1818

32g

S REPORT.
1616'

Thomas Pear in 1815, it was stated that the drainage was in a very
unsatisfactory condition, the water often standing 6ft. on the sill of
the old Vernatt's Sluice, which was the outlet for the drainage of
Deeping Fen, including an area of 30,000 acres which were then
drained by means of 50 wind engines. The distance of the outfall
at Pode Hole from low water in the estuary was about 17 miles, and
the distance from the lowest land in the fen, 20 miles. The fall from
the surface of the lowest lands to low water was about 15ft. The
outlet of the Vernatt's Drain, which conveyed the water from Pode
Hole to the Welland was over-ridden by the water coming down that
river, owing to the defective condition of the channel below Fossdyke
Bridge. To remedy this he advised a new Cut two miles in length
across the embanked lands and salt marshes to a point near Hol
beach Middle Sluice ; also that a lock or sluice should be erected in
the Welland, a little above the Reservoir, for the purpose of keeping
up a navigable head of water in dry seasons, to be so contrived
as to admit the free influx of the tides, and at the same time to be
clear for the outflowing of the land water. He estimated the cost
of the proposed works at £50,000. The recommendations contained
in this report were not entertained.
In the year 1818, Mr. John Rennie made a further report to j. Rennie. 1818
the Proprietors of lands in Deeping Fen, on the improvement of the
Outfall of the Vernatt's Drain. The result of his survey of the
district was that he found the whole of Deeping Fen ' almost in a
lost state.' At that time the sluice at Pode Hole, where the Vernatt's
Drain commences, had three openings of 10ft. each, giving a water
way of 30ft. The Vernatt's Sluice, the Outlet of the drain, had two
openings with the same width of water way.
Mr. Rennie approved the scheme already proposed for making
a new Cut from Fossdyke to the Witham, but as a modification of
that plan, he proposed that a new Cut should be made from the
Vernatt's Sluice, to take the Deeping Fen waters only, passing under
the Glen by an aqueduct, and running along the north bank of the
Welland to Fossdyke ; then along the inclosed lands for half a mile,
across the sea bank, and along the open marshes to the Witham at
Hobhole, with a sluice at the end. The length of this channel
would be 8J miles, the total distance from the Cross Drove Drain in
Deeping Fen, to the Outfall, being 23!- miles, and ordinary low
water mark at that time, standing at 3ft. 3m. on Hobhole sill; which
was 17ft. below the surface of the land in the fen, allowing the
water to stand 2ft. under the surface of the land, and giving a fall
throughout the whole length of the new channel of 6in. per mile.
This Cut would also take the waters discharging from the lands
draining by the Gosberton, Five Towns and Kirton Outfalls, amount
ing together to 18,0 jp acres. The estimated cost of this work was
1*023,650.

PROPOSED CUT
TO HOBHOLC.

Bevan. 1823.

330
¦ steam: i Mr. Rennie's plan not being adopted, a report was obtained
t. Pear. from Mr. Thomas Pear, who, failing other plans, recommended the
application of steam power for the drainage of the fen. This recom
mendation was endorsed by Mr. Bevan, who, in a report dated
March ist, 1823, advised the erection of two engines at Pode Hole,
and the deepening of the drains.
a Geo. iv. c-76i Being thus advised, the Deeping Fen Trustees obtained an Act
'823. giving them further powers of carrying out works, and levying
additional taxes. The Preamble of this Act recites that the Works
of Drainage carried out under the Act of 1801, had been found
insufficient, and that for the purpose of facilitating the discharge
of the waters, it was necessary that engines worked by steam should
pode hole be erected. The Trustees were therefore authorised to erect at
Pode Hole one or more good and substantial engines to be worked by
steam, and to deepen and improve the drains. A Civil Engineer
was to be appointed to superintend the works, and he was authorised
by the Act, with the consent and approbation of the Trustees, to
contract with any persons for the execution of the works, and was
to be paid at the rate of five guineas a day for his services and
expenses. To meet the cost of the works the Trustees were authorised to
levy a rate of fifteen shillings an acre, and, with the consent of
Owners of three-fifths of the land, a further tax of five shillings.
Under the powers of this Act, two beam engines of 80 and 60
horse-power, driving scoop wheels, were erected at Podehole in 1824.
The average immersion of the scoops of these wheels was 2ft. 6in.
and the head against which they worked was 6ft. The total
quantity of land drained by these engines is 32,000 acres. Since j
their original construction the scoop wheels have been considerably ;
altered and improved ; under the direction of Mr. Alfred Harrison,
the Superintendant of Deeping Fen, the -engines have also been
improved. A full description of these engines and scoop wheels
will be found in Chapter XIII, on the Drainage System. The
result from these scoop wheels was not altogether satisfactory, and
Myine. 1830 Mr. W. S. Mylne, C.E., was called in to report on their working.
•In a report dated July 16th, 1830, he stated his opinion that the
drains were not capable of bringing the water down fast enough to
feed the wheels, and that it would have been better if the two
engines had not been erected in one place. He advised the lower
ing of the wheels, and the deepening and enlarging of the interior
drains. In carrying out works of improvement in this fen, about this
,639. time there was discovered, at about 3ft. below the surface, a Canoe
constructed of oak, hollowed out of a single tree, and 46ft. in length,
its stem was 3ft. wide and stern 5ft. 8in., and it was 4ft. deep.1
There were eight ribs across the bottom inside, and a keel ran along

ancient canoe

331
it on the outside. It was estimated that the log from which it was
excavated must have contained between 600 and 700 cubic feet.
In 1846 the lands in Deeping Fen were made into an deeping st.
ecclesiastical parish, under the name of Deeping St. Nicholas, and parisChHO"bS46.
a church built and endowed at the sole cost of Messrs. Stevenson of
Stamford. In 1856 this was made, except as to the part in
Crowland, also a civil parish under the powers of an Act, with 19 and 2° vict.,
provision for the maintenance of the poor, who hitherto had
been provided for by the Adventurers of the free and taxable
lands. For the purposes of the maintenance of the highways
the parish was divided into the north, middle, east and
south townships, each maintaining separately its own highways.
Difficulties frequently occuring in the efficient management of CONSOL1D»Tm(-
the drainage of Deeping Fen, owing to the powers possessed by the ACT-
Adventurers and the Trustees of the interior Districts, in addition to c. 65. 1856. '
those of the General Trustees, an Act was obtained in 1856 for the
purpose of consolidating these different Trusts and for other
purposes. This Act recites that the area of land lying between the
Welland and the Glen, subject to taxation, was 27,46g acres, of which
10,030 acres belong to the Adventurers who were exclusively charged
with the maintenance of certain works described in the Acts of 1665,
1774 and 1801, for the purposes of which they had power to levy
taxes. It was therefore enacted that these Adventurers of taxable
lands should be charged in perpetuity with an annual rate of
eighteenpence per acre, payable to the General Works Trustees,
and their liability to maintain works and levy taxes was to cease,
and all works and lands belonging thereto were for the future
to vest in the General Works Trustees. Power was given to the
. General Works Trustees to rebuild the sluice at the end of the
Vernatt's Drain, which had been destroyed a few years previously
and to erect temporary sluices ; to enlarge the Vernatt's Drain ; to
maintain and improve the Glen, and to contribute out of their
funds to any works deemed necessary, jointly by themselves and the
Glen Trustees. A tax of one shilling an acre was to be levied for
enlarging the Vernatt's Drain. The Adventurers had to pay
£3,648/13/4 towards the expenses of constructing the new outfall
sluice, and the Trustees were to tax the Adventurers' lands two
shillings an acre annually and the other lands a rate of one shilling
an acre. These taxes were not to continue for a longer period than
five years, unless by the consent of the majority of the Owners.
The lands in the first, second, third and fifth Districts were to be
liable to an annual tax of one shilling an acre for maintaining the
interior drainage works ; and the District Trustees' powers
were to cease and vest in the General Trustees. The power to
levy taxes imposed by previous Acts was confirmed. The
Adventurers having been exonerated from the maintenance of the

332
north bank of the Glen, from Gutherham Cote to Dovehime, in con
sideration of an annual payment of £18, this was to be continued by the
General Commissioners ; who were also to pay, to the Officers having
direction of the Glen Banks, such sums as the Adventurers' lands
were rated at. Persons were forbidden to keep rabbits or geese
on the banks or forelands.
vernatt-s The Vernatt's Sluice was destroyed in 1842, the water having:
;LUICE- 1667. . " _ °
forced its way under the foundations. It was replaced in 1857, at
a cost of £11,000 by a new structure, under the direction of Mr.
William Lewin. This Sluice has three openings of 1 ift. each, its
sill being placed lower than the old one and level with the bed of
the Welland (0.80ft. below Ordnance datum). The foundation stone was
laid by Sir John Trollope. Low water now stands from 6ft. to 7ft.
on the sill. The total area, including high land which drains through
the sluice, is about 40,000 acres.
The income and expenditure of the Deeping Fen General
Works of Drainage was about as follows (1880-3) : —
Taxes and Receipts.

General Works Tax.

The Adventurers' Tax . . .
10063
3
13 at 1/6
754
15
11
Deeping St. Nicholas ...
15412
2
0 at 3/-
2311
18
6
,, Wash Land
605
3
11 at 6d.
i-5
2
11
First District 
g88
3
1 at 2/-
98
18
0
Second ,,
1221
0
23 at 2/-
122
3
0
Third ,,
1383
0
6 at 3/-
207
9
10
Fourth ,,
H23
2
16 at 6d.
35
11
10
Fifth „ 
2407
1
30 at 2/-
240
15
0
Sixth ,,
2658
.1
8 at 3/-
398
H
10
,, above Gravel Drain
2g5
2
18 at 6d.
7
7
10
Crowland Common
1064
2
34 at 3/-
159
15
3
Monk's House Farm ...
220
0
9 at 3/-
33
0
0
Duck Hall District
231
2
18 at 3/-
34
4420
15
0
7
11
Rents
797
10
6
5217 18 5
Payments.
Cost of working engines at Pode Hole ... 1066
Roding and cleaning the Counter, Vernatt's
and other Drains ...
River Glen and Banks
River Welland...
Management and Sundries ...
During the previous ten years, in addition to the ordinary 1
working expenses, there has been paid out of income the cost ofj
640
0
0
340
0
0
580
0
0
1567
0
0
0
4*93
0
333
the New Glen Sluice, amounting to £3,000, and of the alteration of
the Pode Hole engines £5,000 ; and making good breaches in the
Glen Bank £1,500. The cost of the works of the five interior
Districts is about covered by the rents received for the herbage of
the banks, &c.
There is no outstanding loan.
The cost of working the engines at Pode Hole varies consider
ably according to the season, from about £700 to £1,700.
Bourne South Fen. This Fen lies on the west side of the
River Glen ; and is bounded on the north by Bourne Eau ; on the
south by Bourne and Thurlby Pastures ; and on the west by the
Car Dyke. It contains 850 acres. It was first reclaimed by
Thomas Lovell for the Adventurers of Deeping Fen, and drained
by a culvert under the Glen, which is maintained by the successors
of the then Owner, John Heathcote. This land was exempted from nGeo. ii, o. 39.
taxation to Deeping Fen by the Act of 1738. I73 '
By an Act passed in the reign of George III a clause was 4I Ge°ia"' c'
inserted to the effect that if the Deeping Fen Trust lowered the bed
of the Glen, they should first lower the culvert which carried the
water from Bourne South Fen, and Thurlby Fen Pastures, and the
right to drain thereby was confirmed.
By another Act passed in the same reign, for allotting and 6 Geo. iii, c. 5.
draining the Fen Lands and Commons in Bourne, which included
this Fen, power was given to Sir Gilbert Heathcote to take soil for the
repair of the South Fen Bank, to the extent of 60ft. from the bank,
beyond the six score feet originally appropriated for that purpose.
By this Act this District was reputed then to contain 870 acres,
and was allotted by the Commissioners for the purpose of a Cow
Pasture, to be used by the Owners of houses and toftsteads in Dyke
and Cawthorpe. Experience having shown that this cow pasture did not answer
the purpose intended, being incapable in its then state of supporting
the cattle depastured on it and being frequently overflowed with
water, an Act was obtained for inclosing it. John Parker of Eden- 12 Geo. iii. 1772.
ham, Thomas Hogard of Spalding, and Edward Hare of Castor,
were appointed Commissioners for dividing, allotting and draining
the fen. Four acres of the fen were allotted for getting materials for
the repair of the roads in Bourne ; and the remainder was divided
amongst the Owners of Commonable houses and toftsteads in the
parishes of Bourne, Dyke and Cawthorpe. The Commissioners
were directed to set out such roads as they considered necessary,
and also a road to the old inclosures of Sir Gilbert Heathcote,
called the South Fen Pastures ; and to make drains and erect
engines for taking the water off the land.

ROADS.

PRING WATER

^BANKING AND

334
herbage of The herbage on the four acres set apart for the roads, and also
on that for the repair of the South Fen bank, was vested in the
Surveyor of Interior Drainage, the rents to he applied in maintain
ing the works, power being reserved to the Vestry at the annual
meeting held at Bourne, on the Monday after the 5th of April, " to
give leases to such industrious inhabitants, not renting or occupying
lands or tenements to the amount of £8 per annum, to keep and
depasture upon any of the roads and ways within the parish such
number of oxen, cows and calves as the majority of the said inhabi
tants shall think most proper, but no other species of cattle what
ever." If the Owners or Occupiers neglect to scour out their drains
after 14 days' notice, given by the Surveyor of Interior Drainage,
the work is to be done by the Surveyor, and the expenses recovered
from the defaulter.
The Commissioners were directed, as far as possible, to make an
equal distribution of the water issuing from the spring in the South
Fen amongst the several allotments.
In the Award directions were given as to the imbanking and
draining. draining, and orders made as to the raising of money to pay the
Surveyor and defray the annual expenses. The Award was to be
enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace of Kesteven, copies being
supplied at the rate of twopence per 100 words.
The works, after the Award was made, were to vest in the
Black Sluice Commissioners, appointed under the Acts, 5th and 10th
George III, and the duty of maintaining the drainage was then to
devolve on that Trust.
The Commissioners were empowered to levy a tax, not exceed
ing a shilling an acre, for the maintenance of the works, recoverable
by distress on the goods and chattels found on the lands charged
with the taxes in arrear.
The right of Sir Gilbert Heathcote to drain the South Fen
Pastures and Thurlby Fen Pastures in the same manner as they
were then drained, and of the Earl of Exter to take water from the
Glen for his two Decoys in the precincts of Bourne and in Bourne
Fen Pastures were reserved.
Up to about 1 87 1 this land was imperfectly drained, partly by
the'draTnage. gravitation by the drains made by the Commissioners uuder the
powers of the Act of 1772, and partly by scoop wheels worked by
horses situated in different parts of the fen.
In 1 87 1 an order was obtained under the Land Drainage Act,
1861, constituting this a separate Drainage District, which was
isn- "' confirmed by Parliament. Under this order a Board was formed
with power to lay rates and carry out works for the drainage of the
District. j

WORKS TO VEST-
IN BLACK SLUICE
TRUST-

SOUTH FEN
PASTURES-

CONDITION OF

DRAINAGE
DISTRICT.
34 and 35 Vict

RATES AND
EXPEN DITURE.

335
A centrifugal pump, driven by an 8 H.P. portable engine, was
erected at the lower end of the fen and the water lifted over a dam
into the main drain, which carried it away through the culvert under
the Glen into the Counter Drain, and so by the Vernatt's to the
Welland. An Injunction in Chancery was applied for by the Deeping Fen
Trustees to prevent the use of this pump, on the ground that the
lifting the water by steam power was an excess of the right which
this land had to send its water to the Deeping Fen Drainage System.
The Action was not proceeded with and the Board was allowed to
continue the use of the engine.
From the annual Taxation Return for i8g2-3 the amount raised
from taxes in this district was £177 ; maintenance of works cost
£103, salaries and management £14, interest £46, repayment of
loan £30 ; total £ig3. The amount of loan then outstanding was
£910-
Thurlby Fen. Contains about 1500 acres. The first drainage
of this fen was effected by one of the Adventurers who reclaimed
Deeping Fen. A main drain was cut which carried the water of
this and Bourne South Fen by a sunken culvert under the Glen
into the Counter Drain and so by the Vernatt's to the Welland.
By the Deeping Fen Act of 1738 these lands, then computed "Geo. Hi., u,
to contain 336 acres, being part of the ' Free Lands ' which had been
awarded to the Adventurers for their recompense, were exempted
from any payment of the taxes then imposed, on the ground that
they had been embanked and preserved at the sole charge of the
Owner, Sir John Heathcote.
By the Act of 1801 these lands were not included in the area 41 Geo. hi,
ofland subject to the Deeping Fen taxes, and the right to drain by
the culvert under the Glen was confirmed.
By an Act passed in 1802 the Common Fen, stated to contain 42 Geo. m.
1,000 acres, was, with other common lands, inclosed. John
Burcham, John Trumper and Edward Hare were the Commissioners
appointed to divide and allot the land.

128. 1801.

1802.

336

T

THE WASH

Fig. 2.

LAND RECLAIMED

CHAPTER XI.
The Estuary of the Rivers Witham and Welland.
lHE Estuary of the Witham and the Welland, known as
' Boston Deeps,' constitutes the northern portion of ' the
Wash,' that large indent or bay, lying between the counties of
Lincoln and Norfolk which covers about 300 square miles. The
southern portion, or Lynn Well, receives the water from the
the rivers Nene and Ouse.
chapter xvi. The theory as to the original formation of this Estuary is dealt
with in the chapter on the Geology of the Fenland.
The general features and outline of this Estuary and the
principal sand banks have continued in their present condition for a
period long anterior to the erection of the Roman Banks, about 1700
years ago. The only alteration which has taken place since that
time, so far as can be ascertained, is due to the accretion along the
shores of the alluvial matter brought down by the four rivers,
and the inclosure of some of the accreted marshes.
During the last three centuries over 63,600 acres have been
inclosed. The growth of these marshes on the north and west side
has been at the rate of about half-a-mile in width since the
inclosures made by the Romans ; at the head of the bay, where the
four rivers discharge, the growth has been much more rapid, the
banks made by the Romans being now four miles inland. On the
east, or Norfolk side, there has been very little accretion, the
inclosures which have been made being due principally to the
direction of the channel of the Ouse, and the reclamation of the
former bed of the river.
Boston Deeps is divided from Lynn Well by a long ridge of
sand, which rises from 8 to 10ft. above low water. Through this
sand bank are several channels and swashways.
The channel runs from the North Sea, in a line parallel with
the coast, for about 15 miles, past Skegness, Wainfleet, Friskney,
Wrangle, Leake, Leverton, Benington, Butterwick, Freiston and
Fishtoft. The depth of this channel, at low water of spring tides,
decreases from about 6 fathoms to 2 fathoms at the upper end. At
the lower end there is a bar, consisting of three narrow ridges of sand
with a depth of only 12ft. on them, at low water of spring tides.

BOSTON DEEPS.

337
The width of the channel alters in nearly the same proportion, being
about i-J miles wide in the lower part, decreasing to about
a quarter of a mile at the upper end. At the bar the width between
the sand banks is only about a quarter of a mile.
In Lynn Well the bed of the Estuary, in places, is as much as
23 fathoms below the surface of low water.
The principal connection between Boston Deeps and Lynn freeman's
Well is by Freeman's Channel, which lies between the Ants and
Roger Sands. This is a straight channel, 2\ miles long, with a
depth of 2f fathoms at Lynn Well end, 5 to 7 fathoms in the middle,
and 2 fathoms over the bar at the Boston Deeps end. It was buoyed
out for navigation in i8go, and, being well lighted, is of very great
service to steamers and fishing trawlers and to all vessels which are
unable to cross the bar at the lower end of Boston Deeps, owing to
the tide being low.
Another buoyed channel, a little below Clayhole, termed the maccaroni
' Maccaroni,' and the ' Gat ' also goes to Lynn Well. The depth of
water in the Maccaroni is from about half a fathom to two fathoms.
In the Gat it increases to five fathoms. This channel, being shallow
and tortuous at the upper end, is very seidom used. It has been
gradually shoaling for some years, but more rapidly since the open
ing of the New Cut.
At the beginning of • the present century the navigable course south channel
from the Witham to Boston Deeps was by a channel, having an
easy curve across the southern end of the Herring and Black Buoy
Sands, turning in a north easterly direction and entering Boston
Deeps at the western end of the Toft Sand. This was then known
as the ' Maccaroni ' channel and the northern half of it is still known
jby the same name. The course to the Gat channel branched off
[across the northern end of the present Hook Hill Sand. The River
Welland joined this channel by a curved course, about half-a-mile
to the south of its present direction. When the training works of
the Welland were carried out, about 1838, the direction of the
current was altered and driven more northerly, and, impinging on the
water of the Witham deprived of a large portion of its tidal
volume by the stoppage of the tide at the Grand Sluice, succeeded
1 in diverting the principal portion of the ebb through the channel
known as ' the Clays,' into Clay-hole. This being found a shorter
course for the vessels and a more fixed channel, owing to its being
clay, the Harbour Authorities encouraged the ebb and flood to keep
this course by removing some hummocks of clay, which dried at
low water in Spring tides. Previous to the construction of the new former
Outfall this had become the buoyed channel. The old channel
known as ' the South Channel,' which had previously been the
regular course for vessels navigating Boston Deeps, is still open and
part of the water of the Welland occasionally finds its way by it to

clays channel.

CONDITION OF
THE NAVIGABLE
CHANNELS.

TIDALCURRENTS-

338
the Gat, the principal Outfall for this river being through the
Clays. The channels of these two rivers used constantly to be changing
their positions, varying as the sands were affected by the winds, the
tides or the land freshets. The current thus exhausted its strength
in forcing a way through these shifting sands and the water was
spread over a wide surface, instead of being concentrated in a single
channel of uniform width, the consequence being that the power,
which should have been employed in deepening and scouring, was
lost and absorbed in constantly shifting the sands. The better to
illustrate this, it may be mentioned that an ordinary tide took three
hours to reach Hobhole Sluice after it was flood in Clayhole, a
distance by the then winding course of four and a half miles ; but as
soon as it reached the confined channel of the Witham, its speed
increased and it reached the Grand Sluice, the distance being about
the same, in less than one hour. The difference of level between
Hobhole and Clayhole, in the year 1799, was 3ft. 3ms., in a course
of four miles, or nine and one-third inches per mile. In 1822 the
course had lengthened to five and a half miles, and the water was
so much held up by the filling of the river with sand that the fall .
had increased to 5ft. 2in. The rate of inclination in the surface of j
the water from Hobhole to Clayhole, previous to the improvement I
of the channel, had become 8ft., or at the rate of twenty-one and
one-third inches per mile.
The flood tide enters the Wash off Burnham Flats and takes a
S.S.W. direction, the current running up Lynn Deeps at from 4 to
5 knots at springs, and i\ knots at neaps. At half-flood the tide
strikes the head of the bay and divides, one current running N.E.
along the Norfolk coast, and the other S.W., the tide thus running
in opposite directions at the same time, causing what is known as 1
' tide and half-tide.' At the head of the Estuary, at three-quarter '
flood, the set of the tides divides off the Gat, one current drawing
S.W., towards the set-way of the Witham and Welland, and the
other S.E. towards the Nene and Ouse. The flood and ebb current
in the centre of the Wash, flowing at the rate of 2\ to 3 knots,
together make a complete circle in the course of twelve hours. The
flood tide makes into Boston Deeps very soon after it has commenced
to flow in Lynn Well. At half-flood, when the sands are covered, 1
there is a set of tide outwards, along the main from Leverton
towards Gibraltar Point and Wainfleet Haven until high water,
when it meets the flood over Wainfleet sands. There is a strong
W.N.W. set through all the lows in the Long Sand on the S.E. side
of Boston Deeps until first-quarter flood. After first-quarter flood
the main tide sets straight up the Deeps, but there is a slight set out ¦
of Lynn Well when the Long Sand is covered. The ebb sets in thej
reverse direction to the flood.

BOSTON DEEPS A
HARBOUR OF
REFUGE*

339
It is high water, full and change, at six o'clock in the Deeps. THE TIDES
Spring tides rise 22ft. in Clayhole above mean low water of Springs,
and at Neaps, 14ft. 6in., the range of the latter being 9ft. 2in. The
tide flows about 5J hours in Clayhole, and at Spring tides, about 3^
hours at Boston. The tides are greatly influenced by the wind. A
strong north-west wind will generally raise a springtide 2ft., and
a south-west one depress it to the same extent, and other tides in propor
tion, the tide generally being raised or lowered as many inches, higher
or lower, as the tide affected should rise in feet, according to the tide
table. The highest tide ever recorded rose 4ft. iiin. above the level of
an ordinary Spring tide. The particulars of the high tides which have
occurred, andof the effect of the wind on the tides, will be found in the
Appendix. The lowest tides of the year generally occur in June, Appendix 5.
and as this is the time when the sea birds are rearing their young on
the grass marshes, these tides are known locally as ' Bird Tides.'
When sailing ships were more in use, Boston Deeps was
frequently used as a harbour of refuge by the Colliers and other
vessels navigating the North Sea, in stress of weather, especially
during north east gales. It is stated by old inhabitants residing
near the coast, that they have seen from 300 to 400 ships lying
within a space of three miles, between Freiston and Wrangle.
Boston Deeps was then considered one of the safest anchorages on
the east coast, during north-east gales.
In the year 1751, Nathaniel Kinderley brought forward a scheme
for the improvement of the Great Fen Rivers discharging into the
Estuary. Adverting to the fact that the Outfall waters of the Nene,
the Ouse, the Witham, and the Welland, the four rivers which
empty into the estuary, were seriously impeded by the shifting sands
which were being continually washed about "by the tides, he says,
" But what do we propose to do with these pernicious sands ? Do
we think to remove them ? No, certainly, that would be quite an
impracticable scheme ; but though we can't remove them, we may
certainly desert them,- and if we don't we may be assured that the
sea in time will desert us." He therefore proposed to bring the Nene ofTh^Navigation
into the Ouse by a new Cut through marsh land, these rivers when &c'' 175U
united to be carried to the sea under Wooton and Wolverton
through the Marshes, and to discharge themselves into the deeps
by Snettisham. The Welland was to be taken by a new channel
inland from about Fossdyke, in the direction of Wyberton, to the
Witham, near Skirbeck Quarter, and the two rivers united were to
continue in a straight course through the country to some convenient
place over against Wrangle or Friskney. The result of this he
considered would be the entire silting up of the estuary and the
gaining of 100,000 acres, the whole of which would become good
tland in the course of 50 years. ' A new habitable country, 15 miles
Jjlong and from 8 to 10 in breadth.' Across this new formed country

RECLAMATION SCHEMES.

340
he proposed that a road should be made, connecting Lynn and
Boston. The cost was estimated at £150,000. The waters were
thus to he carried in confined channels by the nearest route, direct
into deep water. The inadequancy of the estimate for this gigantic
scheme will be realised by a reference to the fact that the improve
ment of the Witham Outfall alone has cost more than this
amount.
reclamation of In the year 1837, a meeting of Landowners, and others interested
in the drainage of lands ^which had their outfalls into the Wash, was
held in London, the principal object being the improvement of the
sir j. Rennie. River Ouse. As a result of this conference, Sir John Rennie was
directed to make a survey and report as to the best means of
effecting the improvement. Accordingly he commenced his
survey in the following year, but it was not completed tiil the
summer of 1839.
Sir John Rennie suggested that one general scheme for the
improvement of the whole of the Estuary was far preferable to
partial measures ; he therefore recommended that the channels of
the four rivers should be confined by fascine work, and be led to
one common outlet, and that the land should be embanked as it
accreted. Referring to the two rivers which are more particularly
dealt with here, he remarked that the Welland.and Witham Outfalls,
particularly the former, were then in a very defective state, and he
suggested that they might be improved by either carrying them
across the Clays into Clayhole, or by the Maccaroni or South
Channel, to join the Nene and Ouse ; the advantage of the former
plan being that the distance to deep water would be considerably
shorter, and in consequence it would be sooner effected ; and that
custom had hitherto pointed out Boston Deeps as the natural entrance
or roadstead both for the Witham and the Welland. On the other
hand, looking forward to one general grand plan, and the prospect
of maintaining the general Outfall open, he thought that there could
be httle doubt that the greater the body or mass of fresh and tidal
water that could be brought into one channel, the greater the cer
tainty of its being able to maintain itself open. In order to effect
this enlarged view of the subject, the junction of the Witham and
Welland, the Nene and the Ouse, into one common outfall, in the
centre of the great Wash, appeared the best and most certain plan ;
and he thought that if the Witham and the Welland were to be carried
separately into Clayhole Channel, the Nene into Lynn Well, and the
Ouse along the Norfolk shore, there would be a far greater quantity
of embankments to make, the channels, by being separate, would not
be able to maintain themselves open so well ; the land gained would
be divided into several separate islands, which would render
it more difficult of access, and consequently of less value ; whilst the ,
expense of acquiring it would be greater ; and lastly, thej

341
boundaries of the counties of Lincoln and Norfolk would be
disturbed. The quantity of land that he considered would be gained by
the union of the four rivers in one common Outfall was 150,000 acres.
This he estimated as being worth, in a few years, £40 per acre, or a
total of £6,000, 000, which, after deducting£i2peracreforthe expense
of obtaining the greater portion and £15 per acre for that portion
lying nearest to the open ocean, together amounting to the sum of
£2,000,000, left a clear gain of £4,000,000. This Report was
presented to a meeting held in London in July, 1839, of which Lord
George Bentinck was chairman ; and it was then resolved, after
adopting Sir John Rennie's report, and expressing the desirability of
carrying on the work, " that the execution of the same must
necessarily exceed the means of private individuals, and ought there
fore to receive grave consideration and the eventual support of Her
Majesty's Government, as a purely national object." And further,
that although it appeared that great improvements would be made
in the various rivers and drainage of land, "the Promoters of the
undertaking do not feel it necessary to call either upon the Land
owners or the parties interested in the navigation for any contribution
in the shape of tax or tonnage duty, but will rest satisfied with the
reimbursement of their expenses by the acquisition of the land they
expect to reclaim from the sea." It being found impossible to raise
the funds, no attempt was made to carry out the scheme.
The next attempt to improve the Outfall of the Witham and
Welland and their Navigation, was by a company, called the ' Lin
colnshire Estuary Company,' who obtained an Act of Parliament in ,4 an"^* vict,
1 85 1, ' for reclaiming from the sea certain lands abutting on the c'136, l851'
coast of Lincolnshire, within the parts of Holland.' The capital
was £600,000, to be raised by 24,000 shares of £25 each, and power
was given to reclaim and embank the marsh lands adjacent to the
rivers Witham, Welland, and Nene. The navigation and drainage
of the Witham and Welland were to be improved by new Cuts and
Outfalls, but the company was not to have any power or control in
the management of the Outfall. The exact line of the new banks,
which it was proposed to construct, was, first, from a point near
the sea bank at the lower end of the Nene Outfall, in Long Sutton,
and along the western bank of the Nene to Clayhole, and thence in
a south western direction up the Welland to Fossdyke Bridge ;
second, commencing at the northern end of Fossdyke Bridge, to
continue down the Welland to the west side of Clayhole, and then
curving in a western direction and continuing to the Channel of
the Witham, opposite Hobhole ; third, commencing at Hobhole
Sluice, and continuing in a south-easterly direction for one-and-a-
half miles, and then curving in an easterly direction to the west side
of Clayhole, and continuing along the channel for eight miles, and

LINCOLNSHIREESTUARY COM
PANY.

342
joining the old sea bank in the parish of Wrangle. The quantity to
be enclosed was 30,000 acres. The Owners of the marshes adjoining
the lands to be vested in the Company were to contribute towards
the expense of making the banks, and the sum agreed on, between
the principal Proprietors and the Company, was £8 15s. per acre of
marsh land. Like its predecessor, this scheme was only born to die.
So many obstacles presented themselves, from the scarcity of money
at the time the scheme was brought out, and the difficulty of determ
ining the rights and boundaries of the Frontagers, and the small
assistance that was offered by those most to be benefited, that the
Company preferred to lose all their preliminary expenses rather than
proceed with the work. The time allowed by the Act for the com
pletion of the work expired in 1858. The question as to the
practicability of the Scheme, and its chance of commercial success,
Geology. if carried out, is dealt with in the Chapter on the Geology of the
Fenland. In i87g, a Company was incorporated and obtained an Act
giving them power to reclaim the marsh lands in the parishes of

Chap. 16.

FREISTON SHORE
RECLAMATION,
42 and 43 Vict..
1879. Freiston, Butterwick and Benington, and to make an embankment
commencing at the sea bank, in the parish of Fishtoft, extending
seawards to the ' Tidal Gauge,' and terminating at the bank at the
boundary between the parishes of Benington and Leverton. The
Crown was to be paid £4,500 for the rights in the shore below high
water mark. No works were carried out under this Act and its
powers expired in 1889.
The Works of Reclamation which have been carried out have

RECLAIMED LAND

Chapters 3 & 4. been dealt with in the Chapters on North and South Holland.

343

THE PORT OF
BOSTON-

CHAPTER XII.
The Port and Harbour of Boston and the
Witham Outfall.
THE Port of Boston consists of all that portion of the Wash
and the river Witham over which the Corporation of Boston
hold control, under a Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1573.
The Preamble of the Charter recites that " there has been an charier of
ancient Port in the Borough of Boston, in the County of Lincoln, Elizabeth- '573
for a long time past, serving many countries with provisions of
victuals and divers other merchandise which has been very
profitable to us and our most serene progenitors, Kings of England,
for the increase and augmentation of the revenues of the Crown of
England, by reason of the great profits of the said Port, called
Customs, which are now greatly decreased and are likely to decrease
more and more, by reason of the great decay of trade and
merchandise of late happening there. And whereas our ships and
those of all other persons, sailing on the coasts of our County of
Lincoln, either northward or southward, have great refuge for
preserving and defending both men and ships, against any sudden
storms on the said coasts, in certain places adjoining to our said
Port of Boston, commonly called the Norman Deeps, which said
places called Norman Deeps lie so hidden and hard to be known,
and are so very dangerous that many people passing that way have
been shipwrecked and lost." To prevent further ruin and decay of
the Port it was desirable that the Mayor and Burgesses of Boston
should be better able to make and support a sufficient number of sea
marks and for that purpose the " Borough and Port of the same,
and also all and all manner of places and parts and water courses,
and the streams of the washes near and in the parts of Holland,
extending to the Haven or place called Wainfleet Haven, and to a
certain other place called Pulley Head, and to another place or sand
called the Knock, and to another place called the Dog's Head in the
Pot, and to the uttermost limits of the flowing and ebbing of the
waters aforesaid and every of them, and adjoining to the sea, and
floods and streams, of the borders and confines of our county of
Norfolk," and all places within the precincts, compass and liberties

344
0
of the said Borough and of the Port, as well on the land as on the
waters, were for ever exempted "from any control and office of
Admiral and Admiralty of England." An Admiralty Court was
established at Boston for the trial of all maritime and other suits and
all matters touching the office of Admiralty, and power give to levy
fines and appropriate profits arising out of the Court. The Corpor
ation was also to have control over all fishermen and their nets ;
and to have the anchorage, ballasting, lastage and liberty of ballasting
and taking lastage, together with the profits therefrom, of all ships
within the Port. In order to provide funds for maintaining the
beacons and sea marks, the Corporation were empowered to levy, of
all ships which should enter or leave the Port, and of the Fishermen
the following dues, " of every ship or any other marine vessel, of
every Scotchman four shillings, and of every other foreigner five
shillings ; of every other ship or marine vessel laden with wool and
sailed out of the Port three shilling and fourpence ; and of every
ship of this our realm of England twenty-pence ; and of every vessel
laden with coals, three bushels of coals ; and of every keel or lighter
coming from Hull or Lynn, or any other coasts or counties of
of our kingdom of England, eight-pence ; and for every ship moored
within the Deeps aforesaid and not unladen in the said Haven,
twelve-pence for anchorage ; and of all and singular the said Fisher- .
men such sum of money as shall seem reasonable to the said Mayor
and Burgesses in the Court aforesaid." The goods and chattels of
felons, fugitives, outlaws and suicides, and all wrecks of the sea,
"flotsam or things floating in the sea, jetsam or things cast out of
any vessel into the sea, lagan, or goods fastened to a buoy, treasure
found or to be found, deodands and derelict goods" &c. ; also "all
manner of royal fish, that is to say sturgeons, whales, porpoises, "
dolphins, riggs and grampusses, and all other fishes whatsoever ,
having in them any great fatness or thickness,  antiently belong- '
ing to us by right or custom," coming within the " Borough, Port,
Roads, Deeps, Streams, Washes and Liberties and within every place
where the said streams ebb or flow, and precincts of the same,"
were granted to the Mayor and Burgesses of Boston.
condition of In a petition presented to the Queen, Boston is described as an
ancient Sea Port, serving the neighbouring country with victuals
and merchandise, and as being profitable in Customs ; but that it
was "decaying ; that the port was the only safe harbour on the
Lincolnshire Coast, and yet was dangerous for want of sea marks in
Boston Deeps, which the town was willing to erect and maintain, if
allowed an import on all ships repairing to the said Deeps, but,
as the town was impoverished by decay of trade and great
inundations, they begged a license to export 10,000 quarters of grain
in six years, paying the usual customs ; also to hold lands in mort
main, of the value of £100 yearly, towards the charge of the sea

THE POUT
1694.

345

mark also for freedom from Admiralty Jurisdiction, as enjoyed at
Yarmouth and Goole.
It is difficult now to trace exactly the boundaries set out in this
Charter. By the ' Norman,' probably a corruption for ' Northern,'
Deeps is meant the area now known as Boston Deeps. The name
Pulley Head cannot be localised, but, from information obtained from
old Pilots, it would appear that the southern end of the Gat Sand used
to be known as the Pulleye Heads. ' The Dog's Head in the Pot ' is
now known as the Dog's Head Sand. The boundary, in the Charter,
follows the line of high water from Boston along the river to Fishtoft,
and thence along the coast to Skegness, thence eastwards to the
lower end of the Outer Knock, and Dog's Head Sands, and along the
boundary of the Counties of Lincoln and Norfolk to the west side of
the River Nene up to the line of high water at the sea bank, and
following along the coasts of Gedney, Holbeach, Fossdyke, Kirton,
Frampton and the west side of the Witham to Boston.
This, practically, is the limit of the Port over which the Cor
poration exercise jurisdiction at the present time, and in which they
are responsible for the maintenance of the buoys and the sea marks.
For Custom House purposes the limit is described as extending
from Trusthorpe Tunnel to Sutton Corner, or Lutton Leam. The
proceeds of all wreck found within this limit are paid over to the
Corporation by the Custom House Authorities.
The limits over which the Corporation had jurisdiction for the
control of the Oyster and Mussel Fishery, under the order made in
1870, is described as extending along the line of high water, from the
point where Dawesmere Creek intersects the sea bank in the parish
of Gedney, to the west bank of the River Witham opposite Hobhole
Sluice, thence to Hobhole Sluice along the line of high water, to the
Coastguard Station at Skegness ; thence eastward to the Outer
, Knock Buoy at the lower end of the Outer Knock Sand ; thence to
the lower end of the Dog's Head Sand and along the Long Sand to
the Roger Buoy at the Roger Point at the south-west end of the
| Roger Sand ; thence to the Gat Buoy at the south end of the Gat
Sand ; thence south-westerly along the north-west side of the Wisbech
¦ Channel to Bachelor's Beacon ; and thence along the northern side of
Dawesmere Creek to the point of starting.
The powers relating to the Admiralty Court and other matters
were taken from the Corporation by subsequent legislation ; and
those relating to the navigation extended, and the dues altered by
Acts of Parliament, obtained by the Corporation.
The positions of the buoys and beacons as first placed under
the charter were as follows : The first, nearest to Boston, at West
ward Hum ; the second, at South Beacon ; the third, at Scalp Hum ;
the fourth, between Scalp Hum and Elbow Beacon ; the fifth, the
Elbow Beacon, at Stone l^awe ; the sixth, South Clay Beacon;

BOUNDARIES OF
THE PORT.

Fig. 9.

CUSOTMS1
BOUNDARY.

MUSSEL FISHERY
BOUNDARY.

BUOYS AND
¦ EACONB IN 1660.

¦346
the seventh, the North Clay ; the eighth, midway between the North
and High Hurn ; the ninth at High Hurn ; the tenth on the Main
between Boston and Benington ; the eleventh and last, on the Long
Sand. These beacons were fixed for the first time in the year 1580,
and a survey of them was made by the Mayor, Aldermen and sundry
Mariners.
pilot trust. In the years 1775 and 1790, two Acts were obtained for the
16 Geo. Hi. u. 23, better regulation and government of the Pilots conducting ships into
„ ... and out of the Port of Boston. The Preamble of the first Act recites
32 Geo. 111. c, 79.
'790- that for upwards of 200 years the Corporation had exercised
Admiralty jurisdiction in the Port, and had erected Buoys and
Beacons, but that owing to the continual shifting of the sands, the
entrance to the Port had become very dangerous without the assist
ance of a skilful Pilot, and that many vessels had been lost, owing
to the ignorance of the persons who had taken upon them to conduct
them into and out of the Port, and that therefore it was desirable
that rules should be enacted for the establishment of a system of
Pilotage, and also for improving the existing accomodation for the
navigation. A Commission was therefore appointed, consisting of
' the Mayor, Recorder, Deputy Recorder, Aldermen, Town Clerk,
and Common Council of the Borough,' together with 45 Mariners
and Merchants, who were to hold an annual meeting on the first
Monday in the month of February, for settling the accounts of their
Treasurer, Collector and other Officers. Upon a vacancy occurring
the Commissioners were to appoint a successor, the same being
either a Merchant, Owner or Commander of a vessel trading to the
Port, or an inhabitant of the Borough.
The Commissioners are empowered to grant licenses to persons
found to be duly qualified after examination to become Pilots, and I
no person is to be allowed to exercise the duties of a Pilot with
out such license, under a penalty not exceeding three pounds. The
limits over which dues may be taken for pilotage extend only
to High Horn Buoy and the Toft, and the rates were fixed according
to the draught of the vessel. A provision was made for a charge
not exceeding three guineas for a pilot conducting a ship from the
Knock Buoy, or beyond, up to High Horn, at the desire of the Owner \
or Master. The Commissioners were also empowered to fix mooring '
posts, and bridges over the creeks on the marshes for the convenience
of towing or haling vessels. The Commissioners were empowered
to receive a penny a ton from every ship entering the Port, for the
purpose of defraying the costs of their expenses. The second Act
gives power to appoint a Harbour Master for the regulation of the
shipping within the Port ; and also to remove any shoals within
the Harbour, to improve the channel of the river, and to make
regulations for the better order and safety of the ships frequenting
the Port.

347

In 1793 a scheme was brought forward for diverting the river
Welland from its ancient course to Spalding set-way, to join the
Witham near Wyberton. Captain Huddart was requested by Sir
Joseph Banks to report as to whether this diversion would injure
the navigation to Boston. Referring to the Scalp Reach, he says,
" As those flat sands accumulate and grow higher they will be sub
ject to raise the bed of the river, which will have a bad effect upon
the navigation to Boston ; for by decreasing the fall the river will be
too languid to clear away the silt, and in course of time, by imper
ceptible degrees, the navigation will be lost to the Scalp, the channel
will be subject to vary, sometimes better and at other times worse,
but upon the whole it is my opinion the sands will continue to
increase." Having treated on the then state of the Outfall, he gives
his opinion decidedly that the navigation of Boston would not be
rendered worse by the intended cut for the Welland to Wyberton,
at a point nearly opposite Hobhole, as the joint effect to scour a
channel would be greater with the two rivers united than with the
Witham alone, and he further recommended that, if this were
carried out, the water of the Witham should be diverted
from its then course, to the South of the Herring and Black Buoy
Sands to the Clayhole Channel ; or otherwise that a cut should be
made across the Scalp, by the Milk-house, in a straight line extending
in a south-easterly direction from the intended junction to Clayhole,
(the preference being decidedly given to the latter plan), and that
the united waters of the Witham and the Welland should be con
veyed by this cut to the Estuary.
This is the origin of the numerous schemes which were subse
quently brought forward for ' cutting through the Clays,' but with
this merit belonging to it, which none of its successors had, that the
Welland was to be united with the Witham at a point considerably
higher up than their present course, and the two rivers were to flow
through the new Cut ; and so the waters of the united streams
would be available for keeping the channel open.
In the year 1800 Mr. John Rennie was directed by the Cor
poration to report his opinion on the best mode of improving Boston
Haven. He found that the channel was so crooked and wide in
places, ' that unless art was judiciously applied to assist nature in
her operations, no material improvement could be expected to arise.'
He attributed the condition of the river partly to the Grand Sluice
which had been erected above Boston, remarking, " If the Grand
Sluice were entirely taken away, and the tide suffered to flow up
the river, it is evident it must move with a greater velocity through
the Harbour of Boston to fill the space above ; and providing there
is a sufficient quantity of fresh water and fall to drive back the tide,
&c. during the ebb, it is equally evident the constant action of this
great body of water passing through the harbour, would grind the

SOHEMES FOR
IMPROVING THE
RIVER.
Huddart's
Report. 1793.

Fig. 9.

Rennie. 1800.

348
channel deeper; but should the contrary prove to be the fact, Boston
Harbour, instead of being made deeper, would become more shallow,
and the drainage of the country above would become proportion
ately worse." He found that the width of the channel at low water
varied from 82ft. near the church to 306ft. opposite Maud Foster ;
429ft. at Wyberton Roads and 330ft. at Hobhole, increasing in places
to 1,500ft. at high water ; that the channel above Hobhole mean
dered through extensive shifting sands and became even worse below
West Marsh Point, because the extent of flat shifting sands between
high and low water was there very great, while the fall was small.
The water coming from the Witham and the Welland shifted its
course so frequently, as the freshet or tides prevailed, that the
channel one day was in a different place to that which it occupied on
the previous day. Mr. Rennie suggested two plans for improving
the river. The one by making a straight Cut from Skirbeck church
to Clayhole ; and the other by straightening and contracting the
present channel between Skirbeck church and Hobhole, and making
thence a new Cut nearly in the direction laid down by Capt.
Huddart. The expense of the first plan was estimated at £139,700,
and of the second £113,700. He further' added : "The improve
ments I have stated are confined to the channel below Skirbeck
church ; but when this is done, I think it will be found advan
tageous to make some improvements above ; perhaps even to con
struct wet docks in some suitable situation. This, however,
will be an after consideration, but ought nevertheless to be
kept in view ; and if some mode could be devised of establishing an
accumulating fund for the purpose of repairing and improving the
harbour, these different matters might be resumed as the wants of
the trade should require."
On the strength of this Report, and in order to revise and
increase the dues to which they were entitled under the Charter of
52GeouiM(!c Elizabeth, the Corporation obtained an Act of Parliament which
repealed the old tolls, and in their place granted certain wharfage
dues (according to a schedule) on all goods landed or shipped from
any wharf or quay between the Grand Sluice and Maud Foster, the
tonnage dues on all vessels entering the Port being fixed at sixpence
for British and ninepence for foreign vessels. A lastage duty of
one penny per quarter on wheat, and one half-penny on other grain
was also imposed on all corn whatsoever, put on board or landed out
of any ship within the limits of the port.
On the security of these dues the Corporation were authorised
to raise a sum of £20,000 to build new quays and wharves, and to
improve the river by widening, deepening and contracting the same
between the Grand Sluice and Maud Foster. The new wall built
along the eastern side of the river, from the south end of the Pack
House, or Custom House, Quay to the Bridge, and thence to the j

105. 1812.

CONDITION OF
THE RIVER IN

349
Fish-market, and the large warehouse, called the' London warehouse.'
were part of the improvements effected. About this time, also, a
considerable improvement was made by straightening the upper part
of the river by a new channel cut from the Grand Sluice to the Iron
Bridge, the cost of which was £3,550, the work being contracted for
by Messrs. Willia mson and Woodward.
Notwithstanding the works carried out under this Act, the
navigation continued to be very much impeded by the state of the
river below Maud Foster Sluice. Several efforts had been made
to induce the Drainage Commissioners to join with the Corporation
in straightening and improving this portion of the river. Mr.
Rennie had advised them to contribute liberally towards the cost of
the work, and reported that a considerable saving could be effected
in the drainage of the East and West Fens by bringing the whole
of the waters to Maud Foster, int o the channel, instead of making a
new Cut, where the Hobhole Drain now is ; but that to enable this to
be done the river must first be improved.
The Harbour Commissioners were prepared to contribute one-
half the cost of the work; and at a meeting held at Boston,
December gth, 1800, at which were present several Merchants,
Shipowners and Traders, it was "resolved that to promote the
improvement of Boston Haven there shall be levied on all vessels
entering inward and clearing outward at the port of Boston a duty
of fourpence per ton ; which duty there is reason to believe will be
equal to the interest of about one half the capital sum which the
said improvement will requ ire, according to the estimate of Mr.
Rennie." The Drainage Commissioners declining to join with the
Corporation, on the ground that their scheme did not go far enough,
inasmuch as it did not include the improvement of the Outfall below
Hobhole, the river was allowed to remain, for several years, in its
imperfect condition.
In 1822, Sir John Rennie, by direction of a general meeting of
all the Trusts interested in the drainage and navigation, made an scheme.
examination of the river ; and a chart and survey, accompanied by
levels and soundings, was prepared by Mr. Giles. In this report,
full particulars are given of the then state of the river and its Outfall,
the causes of the impediments to the navigation and drainage, and
the remedies necessary to be applied for their removal. Sir J.
Rennie recommended that the river, from the Black Sluice to Maud
Foster, should be confined by jetties, and that from Maud Foster
a straight Cut should be made to Hobhole, adapting the old river
course, where available, by training it by fascine work. This Cut
was to have a bottom of 80ft. at its commencement, increasing 25ft.
in width for every mile, and to be excavated to a depth at Maud
Foster of 4ft. below Hobhole sill, and increasing to 5ft. at Hobhole.
The estimated cost was £ii7,igo. He further recommended a

SIR J. RENNIE'S

Report. 1822.

35o

CLAYS CUT

THE

continuation of this Cut in the same proportion to Clayhole, and
following nearly the same direction, as recommended by Captain
Huddart and Mr. Rennie.
The form of the Cut varied from that shown on Capt. Huddart's
plan, being curved instead of straight and bending round the corner
where the Milk House Farm stands, the site of the house being
about the centre of the New Cut, and then across the salt marshes
and sands to Clayhole. The estimated cost of this part of the
scheme was £118,467, the estimate for the complete plan being
£235,658. The advantages to arise from this outlay were, that the
course of the river would be shortened one-third, and an increased
declination of nearly I2in. per mile thereby effected between the
Black Sluice and Hobhole. In his report he views other plans
which have suggested themselves, but gives this the preference, as
being economical and interfering less with existing works, and states
that " if at any future time a dock should be required, a cut for the
river could be made across to St. John's Sluice, and the old circuit
ous channel, converted into a spacious basin of 30 acres, with
proper locks," &c. This would have involved the removal of
the Black Sluice a quarter of a mile below Maud Foster, the cost
of which would be £120,000. As to the question of the necessity of
carrying out the whole of the works at once, he further remarked.
" The scheme, however, may with propriety terminate at Hobhole,
and if found insufficient, it may be continued to Clayhole at any
future period ; by that time I hope that the parties connected with
the River Welland, animated by a like just regard for their own
interest as the parties connected with the Witham, will come forward
and join them in completing this useful and important enterprise by
carrying the united waters of the two rivers into Clayhole."
Referring to the channels below Hobhole he describes the Scalp
as a solid and compact bank, composed of sand, gravel and clayr
averaging from 1 oft. to 13ft. above Hobhole Sill. Owing to this
high bank, the tide from Boston Deeps could not get into the
Witham Channel until about two-thirds of the flood had made, and
then its force became comparatively deficient as regards the Witham
by the great indraught into Fossdyke Wash. The ebb current com
ing down the Witham, being met at right angles by the Welland,
was diverted from its course to a south-easterly direction, the waters
dividing themselves into the Clayhole and a channel running
channels. south of the Herring Sand to the Maccaroni, until the last quarter
ebb, after which they were confined wholly to the latter and proceeded
westerly to Boston Deeps, part of the water however passing off by
the Hook Hill Bar to Lynn Well. These channels are described as
being so uncertain as never to continue in the same course for more
than a few days together, the Outfall of the Welland occasionally
altering as much as half-a-mile. Communication between the

THE SCALP.

Fig. 9-

35i
Witham and- Clayhole at that time was principally maintained by
the Maccaroni or South Channel (that is the channel running south
of the Black Buoy Sand) which, although circuitous, had been
tolerably certain for 40 years previous to the date of the Report.
There was also a channel by the ' Elbow ' across the Clays, which
however was only suited for vessels of light draught. The flood tide
at that time ran about 4 hours at the Scalp, having first made up
the South Channel until about one-third flood, when it was met by
that coming through Clayhole across the Elbow. The velocity of
the current was from 3 to 3J miles an hour. He considered the
Clayhole Channel as a more preferable course from the Witham to
Boston Deeps, than by the South Channel and through the
Maccaroni and Gat Channels to Lynn Well. He found that vessels
bound for Boston invariably preferred passing the Bar at the Knock,
where was never known to be less than 1 -J fathoms, and, at that
time 2 fathoms, at low water of spring tides, and proceeding by the
Deeps to Boston Haven, as once arrived in the Deeps they were
secure as it were in a large river, protected from all winds, in a good
anchorage and plenty of depth of water ; whereas by running up
Lynn Well they were exposed to many dangers from the immense
tracts of shifting sands, the great variety of currents setting up to
Lynn, Wisbech, Spalding and Boston, and from the Hook Hill or
Boston Toft Bar, where there was seldom above 2ft. at low water,
and sometimes it was even dry.
In the following year Sir John Rennie was again called in, and
at the same time Mr. Telford was also consulted. Mr. Telford, in BEPORT- ""S3-
a report dated March 22nd, 1823, addressed to the several Trusts
interested in the drainage and navigation, prefaces his remarks by
saying that " the state of the haven is so apparent that it is quite
superfluous to enter upon any detailed description of it." He traces
the existing defects to the following causes : first, and chiefly, to
the obstruction caused by the Grand Sluice in preventing the tidal
waters from flowing further up than the town of Boston ; secondly,
to carrying the drainage water of the fen lands on the eastern side of
the river down towards Hobhole ; thirdly, to suffering the river to
form a crooked and wide channel by cutting away the marsh land, and
to its consequently becoming encumbered with mud and sand banks.
By removing the first, and, in his view, the chief cause of the
evil, namely, the Grand Sluice, and admitting the tidal water to
flow up the river, a natural power would be made to operate upon
the whole Channel to the Outfall ; which would not only restore
the Harbour of Boston, but maintain a deep Channel for the whole
drainage of the adjacent districts. To admit of this being done with
safety, he advised that all that would be necessary would be that
the banks above the Sluice should previously be made sufficiently
high above the level of the highest tides, which, he was informed,

TELFORD'S

352
could be done at a moderate expense. To remedy the third cause
he proposed a new Cut from the Black Sluice across Bell's Reach to
Hobhole, the expense of which he estimated at £106,846, and
stated that he proposed " this scheme with more confidence, because
if the outfall even after this new channel has been made should fall
into decay, still a new channel may then be extended from Hobhole
to Clayhole." He concluded his report with the words, " I con
sider the above only a portion of the general improvement which
may be executed for the drainage and navigation."
With reference to a proposal which had been made to drain
some of the lands discharging their waters by the Black Sluice by
other means than into the river Witham, he gave it as his opinion
that such a diversion by diminishing the power of the Witham to
keep its channel open, would tend to its silting up, check the flux
and reflux of the tide and lead to the decay of the Outfall and upper
part of the bay.
Sir John Rennie's report bears the same date. He refers to his
former one, and confirms the opinion therein expressed ; he gives
his sanction to the plan proposed by Mr. Telford, provided that
Maud Foster Sluice is removed, involving a further expense, beyond
Mr. Telford's estimate, of £18,564. He entirely concurs in Mr.
Telford's remarks about the Grand Sluice, and concludes by
" anxiously impressing upon all parties interested the necessity of
making and maintaining a perfect Outfall, without which all interior
works would be useless.
improvements In 1827 an Act was obtained, by which the limits over which
" T dVGANNiv" *^e Corporation could make quays,wharves and jetties was extended
c. 79. 1827. from Maud Foster to Hobhole, and they were empowered to borrow
a further sum of £20,000, and to carry out the works recommended
by their Engineer. These consisted of the straightening of the river
by means oi a new Cut, 800 yards in length, through Burton's
Marsh, thus cutting oft the great bend at Wyberton Roads, and
shortening the distance to deep water one mile and a half.
The contract for this work was undertaken by Messrs. Joliffe
and Banks for the sum of £24,000, and finally completed in the
year 1833, at a total cost for land and works of £27,262.
The remainder of Sir John Rennie's plan, embracing the
"i.«" ° ' straightening of the river from Skirbeck Church to join this new
Cut, was not commenced till the year 1841, when Capt. Beasley
undertook to train the channel, which was continually shifting
between these two points, by fascine work, and to excavate, where
necessary, so as to make the river as nearly straight as possible.
This work he successfully accomplished at a cost (including land)
of £11,627. In the following year Mr. Beasley completed a fascine
barrier on the west side of the river, from nearly opposite Maud
Foster Sluice to the end of Slippery Gowt Marsh, the length of the

WYBERTON
ROADS CUT'
1631-

BEASLEY B CUT.

353
same being about one mile, at a cost of £2,775 i and the water
being thus confined in one channel, the land on either side gradually
accreted, till it became level with the top of the fascine work, and
rose to such a height as only to be covered with water at the top of
spring tides. The land gained by these two new channels was em
banked, about twenty-five years after the training works were com
pleted, by Mr. Black and the Corporation.
Another considerable piece of training was the diversion of the
waters from their circular course round Blue Anchor Bight Marsh - - -¦ •
to a straight line, by the fascine work carried out by the late Mr.
Robt. Reynolds, who was then the Surveyor to the Trust, and the
same result has followed on the inside of this work, as already
mentioned as taking place higher up the river. This marsh was
embanked in 1866.
The ancient course of the Witham was exceedingly circuitous, ancient course
and, in fact, the present channel is almost entirely artificial. The
only part of the course which has retained its original direction is
that between Boston Church and the outfall of the Old
Hammond Beck, at the commencement of Skirbeck Quarter.
Previous to the erection of the Grand Sluice, and the subsequent
new Cuts and training works, the channel made a long curve to the
west, about a quarter of a mile above the site of the Grand Sluice ;
it then doubled back to the church, continuing nearly along its
present course to Skirbeck Quarter, where, on the east side, was a
large marsh, now covered, by the Bath Gardens. Through this
marsh, it was confined by a new bank on the east side, and below
the Black Sluice, by fascine work on both sides ; below this, the
channel doubled round a projecting point, which was removed in
making the entrance to the dock, and then went close under
Skirbeck Church, thence bending westerly for a short distance, then
returned and came close to the bank on the Fishtoft road. It then
turned in a westerly direction, for about a quarter of a mile, along
the bank to where the old Slippery Gowt still passes through the ' •
Roman Bank, and then bent easterly for nearly half a mile, up
to the road in Fishtoft leading to the Scalp, this part being known
as Blue Anchor Bight ; from here it again turned westerly for about
three quarters of a mile to Wyberton Roads, and after running for
about a quarter of a mile in a south-easterly direction, turned
-sharply eastward to Hobhole, whence it con tinued in a southerly
direction along the high bank known as the Scalp, bending again,
when it left this, to the east, and after joining the Welland, about
half a mile to the east of its present position, the two rivers
continued in a north-easterly direction at the back of the Herring
Sand through the Maccaroni Channel into Boston Deeps. The,-
length of the- channel, from Boston Bridge to Clayhole, by this
winding course, was 13^ miles, as compared with 9 miles to the

354

COST of
IMPROVEMENTS.

same point by the present more direct course. The width of the
water between the banks at high water was, a little below Skirbeck
Church, nearly half a mile. The ancient course of the river may
be traced by the Roman Banks, which are still maintained.
Vessels of too large a draught to get up the river, or when
waiting for the tide, used to lie at the Scalp, and frequently
delivered their cargoes there.
The amount expended by the Corporation in straightening and
improving the channel of the river has been as follows : —

POWERS TO
IMPROVE THE
OUTFALL.
4 and 5 WflL iv,
c. 87. 1834.

TRANSFER OF
DUES TO THE
WELLAND.
5 Vkt..c. 4. 1S42

5 Vict-, Sess. 2,
c. 6a. 1842.

1825. — Cutting new channel for the river
from the Grand Sluice to the Iron Bridge...
1828 to 1833. — Cutting a new channel
through Burton's Marsh, diverting the old
channel 1 84 1. — Cutting a channel through Corpo
ration Marsh, and making a fascine barrier
on the eastern side of the river, from Maud
Foster to Corporation Point
1842. — Fascine barrier on the west side
of the river, from Rush Point to the south
end of Slippery Gowt Marsh
1823 to 1859. — Sundry small contracts
for the extension of fascine work ...
Expenditure (to 1868) in repairing and
heightening the fascine work, and general
maintenance of the river

£ s. d.

3550

27262 o o

11627

o o

5250 o o

£"58019 o o
This sum is in addition to the amount 'spent in building quays,
&c, on both sides of the river, and in straightening and improving
the channel by the inclosure of a marsh on the east side, opposite
the Black Sluice. The amount spent on these works between 1825
and 1840 was £"33,354.
In 1834 an Act was obtained giving the Corporation power
to execute works for improving the Witham from the Grand Sluice,
and the Welland from Fossdyke to Clayhole. This Act was
repealed by an Act obtained by the Welland Commissioners, by
which in consideration of their paying to the Corporation of Boston
£5,000, being part of a debt due to the Exchequer Loan Commis
sioners, on the security of the tolls and dues, and also under
taking to pay one-third of the annual expenses incurred by the
Corporation, in maintaining the buoys, beacons and sea-marks, the
Corporation gave up the dues on vessels navigating the Welland.
Also under the powers of this Act, and another obtained by the
Corporation in the same session, the Corporation was anthorised
to execute works between the Grand Sluice and the confluence of
itheWitham and the Welland, by training, leading and directing the

355
water of the Witham in a confined channel to the sea, and con
jointly with the Trustees of the Welland, to execute works for the
improvement of the Outfall of the two rivers, from the point of their
confluence to Clayhole. For the purpose of carrying out this work
the Corporation were authorised to borrow £20,000.
After the opening of the- Great Northern Railway in 1848, the
shipping trading to the Port fell off more than one-half, or from g4,ooo
tons to about 40,000 tons. Subsequently there was a revival and
the tonnage again increased. Before the construction of the railway
a considerable trade was carried on by means of the Witham and
other navigable canals with the interior of the country. The river
was the only means of conveyance for the export of the corn brought
to Boston from the large agricultural district by which it is sur
rounded, and for the import of coal and produce, for consumption by
the inhabitants of the fens, which were brought by sea to Boston
and carried thence by boat and barge up the canals and drains to
the Fens. On the opening of the railway a fresh means of communi
cation was provided, and a considerable amount of traffic diverted
to it from the river. A very large trade in inland coal was also carried
on by the Witham, the quantity which passed down through the
Grand Sluice gradually increasing since the beginning of this century
from about 12,000 chaldrons, to upwards of 30,000 in 1830. The
duty being taken off sea coal in this year caused the amount to
diminish to about 13,000 chaldrons. From the opening of the rail
way in 1848 a steady decrease again took place, and the quantity
passing down the Witham became very small.
Several schemes have been promulgated from time to time for
providing the Port of Boston with better accommodation for its
shipping. The most noticeable was a plan brought out by Mr.
Staniland in the year 1845, at the time the Great Northern Railway
was in progress. The Company was organised under the name of
The Boston Dock Company, with a capital of £200,000, its professed
object being the ' further improvement of the H aven and Outfall,
and the construction of wet docks.' The scheme was very strongly
supported, the Mayor of Boston and two-thirds of the Corporation
being on the Provisional Committee, also seven Magistrates of the
Borough, and several Commissioners of the Witham and Black
Sluice, and a long array of Landowners and Merchants. The pro
spectus stated that " The Port of Boston has for ages been the
natural point of access to the ocean for a very extensive and exceed
ingly fertile tract of country. In early ages Boston ranked amongst
the principal seaports of the Island ; in late years, however, partly
owing to neglect and partly to other causes, the Outfall has become
bad and the navigation difficult." This state of affairs the Company
proposed to remedy by their scheme, and they considered the time
a particularly opportune one, as the construction of the various

TONNAGE OP
VESSELS. 1848.

BOSTON DOCK
COMPANY. 1040.

IMPROVEMENT
OF THE OUTFALL,

356
railways then in progress would bring the Port into connection with
the whole of the Midland Counties. This scheme, so promising in
appearance, proceeded no further than the formation of the Company.
The scarcity of money at the time, and other difficulties, caused the
promoters to abandon it.
The season of i860, having been unusually wet, caused a great
quantity of the low lands to be flooded, considera bly injuring the
crops throughout the Fens. The attention of the parties interested
was once more aroused to the defective state of the Outfall, and
the necessity of taking active steps for its improvement. The
Proprietors of lands in the East Fen being the greatest sufferers,
w. Lewin. i860 ^he Witham Commissioners directed their Engineer, Mr.W. Lewin,
• to make a report on the state of the Outfalls of the rivers Witham
and Welland. Mr. Lewin reported that he found the Outfalls of
both rivers deteriorated to such an extent that when there was 7ft.
ioin. of water on the sill of Hobhole sluice, there was not more
¦than gin. at low water, over the shifting sands at Spalding set-
way. The sands at the lower end of the rivers Witham and Wel
land, were being continually shifted during land floods, forming
meandering streams, alternately to the eastward and westward, but
never of sufficient capacity or area, to allow the proper utterance of
the flood waters. He considered that if the channel of the Witham
had been confined below Hobhole Sluice, and that of the Welland,
from the fascine work already put in, to Clay hole, these accumulations
of sand would not have taken place. After referring to the plans which
had been suggested for improving the Outfall, either by dredging and
confining the channel, between Hobhole and Clayhole by fascine work
and for training the river Welland ; or by taking the Witham water
• 'by a direct Cut from Hobhole to Clayhole, as already strongly
recommended by Mr. Rennie, Mr. Cubitt and Sir John Rennie;
he expressed his opinion in favour of the latter course. He
advised that the bottom of the Cut should be laid out, 4ft. below
• the Sill of Hobhole Sluice ; with an average width of 130ft. and
length of if miles. The cost he estimated at £60,622. The bene
fit to be gained would be a depression of the water in floods at
Hobhole Sluice, of 5ft., and from 2ft. to 3ft. at the Grand Sluice and
the Black Sluice. He also advised the deepening and improve
ment of the river above the Grand Sluice. Mr. Lewin considered
that if the works be recommended were carried out, in addition to
the new Outfall, " all the engine power (used for pumping) would
become useless in the several fens along-side the river Witham from
Boston to Lincoln."
CFrow. 1861. In the vear l86i, Mr. Charles Frow, of Holbeach, addressed
letters to the public press, and subsequently in a communication
made to the Boston Harbour Trustees, dated May 1864, called
-attention to the South Channel, as the proper Outfall for the waters

357
of the Witham and Welland, and he proposed that the two rivers
should be trained by fascine work across the numerous beds of sand
into Lynn Well, in preference to the diversion of the waters across
the Scalp by the proposed Cut to Clayhole, and also pointed out
what he considered the defects of the latter scheme.
In the same year Sir John Hawkshaw was requested by the J- Hawkshaw.
Witham Drainage Commissioners to advise, chiefly as to the improve
ments of the drainage of the Fourth District, but also as to a
scheme that would be of more general improvement. In dealing
with the general scheme, Sir John Hawkshaw, gave it as his opinion
that the project which had been recommended so frequently and for
so long a period of time, viz., of forming a new Cut to Clayhole,
was the best general plan, as it would not only assist the drain
age of the Fourth District, but would also improve the Outfall of all
the great drains which empty themselves into the Witham, and that
it would benefit the navigation to and from the Port of Boston ;
but the construction of this new channel for the Witham into
Clayhole would involve the necessity of extending the Welland to a
junction with it at the same point. The report further continued,
" In estimating the cost of the work I see no reason at present for
departing from the dimensions that have been fixed by previous
investigation and enquiry. They seem from such enquiry as I have
been able to bestow upon them to have been judiciously determined
and they appear on former occasions to have received the sanction
of the Representatives of the different interests concerned. I have
therefore assumed that the bottom of the Cut opposite to Hobhole
Sluice will be 3ft. below the sill of that sluice, and that the width of
bottom at that point will be 100ft. ; the bottom to have a regular
fall of ift. per mile from its commencement to its termination at
Clayhole, the slopes of the sides of the Cut to be 4^ft. horizontal to
ift. perpendicular, to a height of 20ft. above the sill of Hobhole
Sluice ; the foreland to be 70ft. in width. The extension of the
River Welland should start at the end of the fascine work now
completed, and should fall uniformly to its junction with the Witham
at Clayhole. I estimate the cost of the work as under : — The
Boston Outfall, £80,000 ; The Welland Outfall, £20,000 ; Parlia
mentary and Engineering, say £15,000; Total, £115,000. It
has been estimated by Engineers who have preceded me
that the extension to Clayhole would depress the low water
flood level about 3ft. at Hobhole. It is possible that this
will be the result. I am of opinion that a depression of that level to
the extent of 2ft. can very safely be reckoned upon as a minimum
at all the before- mentioned sluices. Were the depression of the
flood level not to exceed that dimension, it would effect a general
improvement of all the Districts drained through those sluices ; but
as regards the navigation of Boston I am of opinion that a still

358
greater amount of benefit would be derived, inasmuch as the low
water of the river in dry weather would be depressed to a greater
extent than the low water of the river in time of floods, and the
channel would be scoured to an equivalent depth: while it is
mainly on the depression of the low water level in the time of floods
that drainage depends, the navigation will have the advantage of
the former. This plan would also improve the navigation of, and
the drainage into, the River Welland  From all that I have read
and thought on the subject it seems probable that the sands in the
upper part of the estuary are steadily though slowly accumulating
and encroaching on the sea. The evil effects of this can be counter
acted only by training and straightening the rivers that empty
themselves into the estuary, and by pushing them forward as the
sea retires. The extension of the channels of the main Outfall is
therefore a step in the right direction, and would be a permanent
step as far as it goes. Should the Landowners generally not join you
in the more comprehensive and general measure, I see nothing for
it but to advise you to expend your money on the minor and internal
scheme ; but looking to the future, such a step would have to be
regretted. Funds that otherwise might have helped to carry out
the general measure will be lost to it when the time shall arrive
when all who are interested in keeping open the Outfall, upon which
so large a tract of rich land and so much valuable property have
been made to depend, will be driven to act vigorously to secure its
existence." With regard to the scheme which had been advocated of carry
ing the channels of the Witham and Welland across the sands, and
making a junction at the Maccaroni or South Channel, he considered
that the estimate given by Mr. Frow had been greatly underrated,
and all the enquiries he had made led him to the conclusion that
Clayhole was the best point for the Outfall.
At a meeting of the General Commissioners of Drainage for
the river Witham, resolutions were passed adopting the principles
laid down in Sir John Hawkshaw's report, and the Fourth District
agreed to contribute towards a general scheme such a sum, esti
mated at one shilling per acre, as it would cost them to carry out
the alternative scheme for the internal improvement of their own
District, provided the other Trusts would at once join them in
carrying out the Outfall works proposed by Sir John Hawkshaw.
Very strenuous efforts were made to induce all the interested parties
to join in one general scheme, and a large meeting was held at the
Guildhall, Boston, of Representatives from the several Drainage
Trusts and the Boston Harbour Commissioners ; but while the
necessity of an improved Outfall, and the desirability of at once
attempting the necessary works for ensuring it, was freely admitted,
there seemed to be insuperable difficulties in reconciling the interests

359
of the several Trusts, and the rate at which they should contribute
towards the expense, and nothing was finally determined.
Forseeing this difficulty, and relying on the very strong feeling improvement
existing at the time in favour of an improved drainage and
navigation, a Bill was promoted by persons interested in the
navigation and drainage, and the necessary Parliamentary notices
were given for the Session of 1861, but the matter was postponed
till the following year, when an amended Bill was drawn up,
intituled ' a Bill to authorize the making of new Outfalls for the
rivers Witham and Welland, for improving the drainage by those
rivers, and for other purposes.' The object of the Promoters, and
the scope of the Bill, cannot be better explained than by the follow
ing quotation from a circular issued at the time.
" The necessity for improving the drainage of the districts
bordering on the rivers Witham and Welland has been demonstra
ted for years past, and the evil effects of procrastination are experienced
in the great and serious losses occasioned to the Agriculturists on
every visitation of those heavy rains which periodically fall in this
locality. Throughout the country great efforts are now being made
to secure practical measures for perfecting on an extensive scale an
improved system of Outfall drainage. With this object the Middle
Level, the Nene, and the Hatfield Chase Drainage Districts are all
seeking enlarged Parliamentary powers. The abundance and
cheapness of capital, coupled with an increased disposition on the
part of capitalists to advance large sums at a moderate rate of
interest, on the security of drainage rates, particularly marks the
present as the proper time for making strenuous efforts to utilize the
resources and capabilities of the Districts and to turn to useful
purposes the practical experience and suggestions of those whose
valuable time has been directed to an improved measure of drainage.
With this view it appears desirable to prescribe and carry out a
drainage scheme adapted to the requirements of the district, with
such useful modification as may be suggested, and so defined as to
insure the greatest amount of benefit consistent with the least
possible expense. This is proposed to >be done by a Bill to be
submitted to Parliament in the ensuing Session, embracing powers
for carrying put a plan similar to the general plan suggested by
Mr. Hawkshaw, with such alterations as may be deemed expedient,
and for reclaiming about 15,000 acres of marsh lands by cutting
through the Clays on Boston Scalp and conveying the Witham and
Welland waters direct to the sea, thus shortening the distance three
and a half miles, increasing the fall about six feet, and giving to
the fens and uplands of Lincolnshire a most perfect and complete
drainage. The entire cost of the works, including every expense, is
estimated at £100,000. This charge is intended to be met by a rate,
or assessment, upon the Commissioners and Trusts, in the proportions

PIER AT CLAY
HOLE.

360
followingy or as near thereto as may seem just and equitable : the
Fourth District of Drainage by the river Witham, 62,276 acres, at
u-Jd. per acre, £3,000; the First, Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth
Districts, 65,381 acres, at 2d. per acre, £500 ; the Welland, 34,416
acres, at 4d. per acre, £500 ; the Black Sluice, 46,215 acres, at 3d.
per acre £500 ; the Harbour of Boston on the dues of the port,
£500 ; total £5,000. The above charge is to remain for thirty years,
when if the reclaimed land is in a condition to sell, and the Com
missioners effect a sale at a price reasonably estimated at £20 per'
acre, the sum produced from that source would, on the whole 15,000
acres, be very considerable. (The Harbour Commissioners of Boston
have lately sold reclaimed land of the same character after 30 years
accretion at £30 per acre.) It is proposed to appropriate the sum
produced as follows : first, in payment of the monies borrowed ;
secondly, dividing the residue into three parts, two thereof to be
handed over to the contributing Commissioners, and the other to
be divided between the Harbour Trustees of Boston and the
Trustees of the Welland. Should Parliament require provision to
be made for a sinking fund, this can be done on the basis of repaying
the borrowed monies in a period of thirty-five or forty years, but
this would be unnecessary in the case of the reclaimed lands being
realised as suggested. The Act is intended to be carried out by
Commissioners to be appointed as follows : by the Witham
District, 14; Black Sluice, 2 ; Welland, 2; Boston Harbour, 2;
total 20. The Fourth District Commissioners of the river Witham
having called in the services of Mr. Hawkshaw, whose very
able and explanatory Report, with certain suggestions, they have
adopted, it has been considered desirable to follow up as far as
practicable the recommendations therein contained, and for that
purpose to ask the co-operation of the landed proprietors and others
interested in the drainage, and to seek for such aid and information
as may enable the parties interested to perfect a measure calculated
to carry out this great and necessary work, which has never for so
many years past been attempted, and the want of which annually
entails such grievous losses on the district."
The Promoters of this measure, after spending a considerable
sum of money in preparing the necessary Parliamentary notices, and
paying the other expenses incidental to obtaining an Act of
Parliament, finding that they were not likely to receive that support
from the Landowners and others who would derive the benefit of
their exertions, were obliged to withdraw their Bill.
After this, several of the Merchants, Shipowners, and Traders of
Boston, despairing of any improvement being ever effected in the
river, and suffering from the continual lightening of the ships of
their cargoes by barges, in order to enable them to reach the town,
conceived {he idea of carrying a railway from the Great Northern)

REPORT' 1864*

361
Railway, in Skirbeck Quarter, to Clayhole, opposite Freiston Shore,
and there constructing a pier and breakwater, by the side of which
vessels of large size might lie afloat at all states of the tide.
The Bill for obtaining the necessary powers for this, having
passed through the preliminary stages in the House of Com
mons, was withdrawn, owing to its not being adequately sup
ported. The dry summer of 1864, having silted up the river to such an »«*«»h«w8
extent that its bed was raised from 10ft. to 11ft. at the town ; and
great inconvenience and loss being experienced by those engaged in
the trade of the Port, at a Quarterly Meeting of the Harbour
Commissioners, held on the 27th of October, 1864, a memorial was
presented, " signed by the bankers, merchants, tradesmen, and ship
owners of Boston, requesting that the Trust would immediately
take steps to improve the Outfall and state of the Haven," and in
accordance with the prayer of the memorial, the Commissioners
resolved that Sir John Hawkshaw should be consulted and requested
to frame a report upon the state of the Haven, and to recommend
the best means for its improvement.
Sir John Hawkshaw made his report on the 23rd of December
following, in which he stated that the condition of the Haven on his
examination was worse than he had before seen it ; " that outside
the doors of the Grand Sluice there was an accumulation of mud
and sand 1 oft. to 11ft. in height above the sill; the water in the
drain then standing about 7ft. 6in. above the sill, so that the mud
outside was about 3ft. higher than the surface of the water inside,
and that the condition of the river at the other sluices was equally
bad in proportion." This being the state of the Haven, he recom
mended that " there are two works which, if both were executed,
would effect the greatest amount of improvement in Boston Harbour,
viz., first, to cut a new channel from Hobhole to Clayhole ; second,
to remove the Grand Sluice and allow the tide to ebb and flow in the
Upper Witham."
Sir John Hawkshaw's observations with regard to the first part
of this plan have already been given. With reference to the second,
he remarked, " The removal of the Grand Sluice would still further
improve the Harbour by allowing a large quantity of water to flow
into the channel, the reflux of which would increase the scouring
power. This measure would require the sanction of the Com
missioners for Drainage by the River Witham, and of the Great
Northern Railway Company, and the raising and strengthening of the
banks above the Sluice. It is not improbable that due consideration
and enquiry, which would, however, require time, might lead these
bodies to see nothing incompatible with their interests in that
measure." Beyond obtaining this report, no further action was at
this time taken in the matter.

362

OUTFALL TRAIN
ING SCHEME.

State of the Out
fall of the
Witham.
Wheeler.

1867

Wheeler's
Report. 1870.

In the autumn of 1866, the attention of those interested in the
Outfall was once more aroused by the Fourth District Commis
sioners, despairing of any general measure being carried out, taking
active steps to adopt the alternative plan, recommended by Sir John
Hawkshaw, for the erection of pumping engines to lift the water off
the low lands in the East Fen. A strenous effort was made to
prevent, if possible, the diversion of funds to this purpose, which,
otherwise, might be available for Outfall Works.
There being no prospect of carrying out the large scheme
which had been brought forward, owing to the difficulty of raising
the capital, a modified plan was suggested by the Author of
this work, which was described in a pamphlet, published in 1867, in
which statistics were given in an Appendix, as to the silting up of the
bed of the river at different times, owing to the effect of the Grand
Sluice. It was pointed out, that the scouring action of the freshets,
being dependent on the rain that falls, occurs only at certain periods
and cannot be augmented ; whereas the action of the tides is
regular and constant, and their tendency is to increase the back
water, by means of which the sea channels are kept open. The
question of the necessity of raising the banks of the river above the
Grand Sluice, if the tide were allowed to run up above it, was dealt
with ; and to meet this, the plan, suggested by Mr. Chapman, of
regulating the tidal doors, so that while, during all ordinary seasons,
these would remain open for the free passage of the tides, they
would be closed against such tides as might rise high enough to be
dangerous to the banks ; or on occasions when heavy freshets were
running down the river. For the improvement of the Outfall, it was
suggested that this could be best obtained by continuing the
training walls below Hobhole, and thus straightening and confining
the channel of the river along its natural course ; and that, if this
trained channel were also deepened by dredging, low water
mark could be depressed as low as by the scheme of cutting
through the Clays, and as deep a navigable channel be obtained at
one-fifth of the cost.
This subject was dealt with more fully in a Report made to the
Harbour Commissioners by the Author, dated October nth, 1870.
In this report it is admitted that the cutting a of new channel through
the Clays would provide the shortest and most direct course to deep !
water, but that, as the expense of carrying it out appeared to stand
forth as a bar to all improvement, the Commissioners were advised
to carry out the less costly plan of training and dredging the river
along its natural course to the junction of the Welland. It was
pointed out in this report that by training and fixing the channel, j
the tidal and fresh water would be confined to one course, and the
shifting sands at the mouth of the river be fixed and prevented from
impeding the course of the water and shoaling the channel. By '

363
dredging out the clay in the trained channel, and in Clayhole, a
better Outfall would be provided for the drainage water, and the fall
in the surface of the water would be reduced, and consequently the
level depressed at Hobhole and the other sluices, and at the same
time a deeper channel would be secured for the navigation.
The estimated cost of thus improving the Outfall was £17,350,
or, with the purchase of the Crown rights over the land which
was capable of being reclaimed, between the channel and the shore,
£21,000. This work could have been carried out under the powers of the 5 and 6 vict.,
Act of 1842, and would have had the advantage of uniting the
Witham and the Welland in one course.
The report was approved by the Harbour Commissioners, and
also by Mr. James Abernethy, C.E., who had been instructed to
report on its feasibility and on the advantage to be derived from the
plan. Subsequently, in evidence given before a Committee of the
House of Lords, the latter gave it his thorough sanction and
support. The Harbour Commissioners, however, considered that the
surplus income at their disposal did not warrant their carrying
out the scheme without the assistance of the Drainage Trusts.
When the matter of the Outfall was again revived, this scheme
was dealt with in a Report made by the River Committee, in which M^^e-^^"'
it was stated that, on investigation, it was found that the Trust had May i, 1876.
expended, since 1825, a sum of £61,000 in the improvement of the
river, towards which nothing had been contributed by the Drainage
Authorities, although they depended on the river for the discharge
of the water from the Witham and the large main drains. That,
failing to obtain the necessary funds for carrying out the larger
scheme for cutting an entirely new outfall, they considered it
desirable to proceed with the scheme submitted in the report of
their Engineer, Mr. Wheeler, provided the Witham and Black Sluice
Drainage Trusts would be willing to join with them and contribute
annually a share of the expense, until the work was completed.
The Drainage Trusts, however, declined to give any assistance.
In 1878, Mr. T. E. Williams, who had been appointed
' ' J ' -*-¦¦¦ WILLIAMS
Surveyor to the Witham Commissioners, made a Report on the con- report, ibtb.
dition of the drainage of his district, and more especially as to the
Outfall. He advised that the loop of the river below the town of
Boston, should be cut off, by the construction of a new straight
channel, commencing at the ferry, in South End, and entering the
river again near Maud Foster, and suggesting that the portion thus
cut off might be made into a dock — as suggested by Sir J. Rennie in
1822 — by constructing gates above the outfall of the Black Sluice.
He expressed the opinion that the most effectual remedy for the
defective condition of the Outfall was the proposed cutting through

WITHAM OUTFALL
ACT. 1870.

3^4
the Clays, but that, failing the carrying out of this, he considered
that the object desired could be effected by the alternative scheme
which had been suggested, for training the natural channel, below
Hobhole, to the junction of the Witham with the Welland. He
pointed out that by this course the effect of the combined scour of
the two rivers would be highly beneficial to the common Outfall.
He showed that, by an expenditure of £28,500, the level of the low
water could be depressed sufficiently to give an inclination in the
bed of the river, from a point ift. below the sill of the Grand Sluice
to low water of spring tides in the Estuary, of ift. per mile, and
that a line drawn from these points would clear the sills of Maud
Foster and Hobhole Sluices. He also proposed the removal of the
Grand Sluice to Chapel Hill.
A series of nine wet years extending from 1875 to 1883, causing
continuous and serious floods, with heavy losses, and in many cases
Appendix 5. ruin, to the agricultural interest, at last brought about a general
conviction as to the imperative necessity of the Drainage Interests
taking steps to obtain an improved Outfall for their main drains.
Mainly through the influence and exertions of Mr. Thomas Garfit,
M.P., a joint meeting of committees appointed respectively by the
Commissioners of the Witham Drainage, the Black Sluice Drain
age and the Boston Harbour, was held in Boston, on the 29th
August, 1879, to consider the improvement of the river Witham
below the Grand Sluice. At this meeting the two schemes for
improving the Outfall, the one by cutting a new channel through
the Clays, and the other by training and dredging the natural
channel of the river, were submitted by Mr. Banks Stanhope, the
chairman, and it was unanimously resolved to adopt the scheme
for cutting through the Clays. The basis of calculation adopted for
raising the money for the proposed work, estimated at £100,000,
was that all lands comprised in the six Witham Drainage Districts
and the Black Sluice District should contribute a uniform Acre
Tax. The contribution of the Harbour Trust was fixed at £10,000,
and they were to give up to the new Trust any right they
possessed as to land that might be reclaimed. The cost of improv
ing the river between Hobhole and the Grand Sluice was to be
apportioned amongst the Trusts deriving benefit from each portion
of the river. Steps were directed to be taken for preparing a Bill
in the next session of Parliament, the Witham Commissioners, as
the largest contributing Trust, undertaking the immediate charge of
the Bill, and guaranteeing the expenses. A representative Com
mittee of the Trusts interested was appointed to settle the drafting
of the Bill, and the care of it through Parliament.
. Kingston's Before the Outfall Bill came before Parliament, the Welland
Outfall Trustees instructed their Surveyor, Mr. John Kingston, to
report as to the effect likely to be produced on the Welland, by the

REPORT ON THE
OUTFALL SCHEME,
1878.

3°5
diversion of the Witham by the new Cut. In his report, dated
September 12th, i87g, after reviewing the opinion of all the
Engineers who had reported on the subject, he advised that the
gain to the Witham Drainage, by cutting through the Clays, would
not give such an advantage over that by training and dredging the
natural channel as would be equivalent to the £70,000 difference of
cost ; that the divergence of the Outfall of the Witham, by the former
scheme, to a greater distance from the Welland Outfall, would have
a prejudicial effect on both rivers ; and that the cutting through
the Clays, would have but little better effect on the depression of
low water flood line in the Witham, than the less costly scheme.
The Welland Trustees therefore determined to oppose the Bill.
The Witham Outfall Bill came before a Committee of the „«„ w1t„»m
House of Lords in the session of 1880. The petition of the Welland OUTF"-L »"•
43 and 44 Vict-,
Outfall Trustees against the Bill stated that the diversion of the c- '53- 1880
water of the Witham, by the proposed new Cut, would diminish
the scour, through what was then the common Outfall, so as to
cause the shifting sands of the Wash to accumulate at the mouth of
the Welland, to the injury of the drainage and navigation of that
river. After hearing evidence on both sides, the Engineers called in
support of the Bill being Sir John Hawkshaw, Mr. J. E. Williams,
Mr. W. H. Wheeler and Mr. Lancaster, and for the Welland
Trustees, Sir John Coode and Mr. J. Kingston, the Committee
passed the Bill, subject to a clause that if, within 20 years after the
completion and opening of the new Cut, the Welland Outfall Trustees
should give notice that they intended to form an improved channel
from the then point of confluence of the two rivers to the termination
of the proposed new Cut, the Witham Outfall Board should pay
half the cost of making such new channel and of maintaining it when
made. A second Act was subsequently obtained, extending the time 8 and „ vioti
for the completion of the works. c- w 1885.
Under this Outfall Act, the Witham Outfall Board were
empowered to make a new Cut for the Outfall of the river, com
mencing a little below Hobhole Sluice and terminating at Clayhole ;
to dredge and deepen the channel from the commencement of the
new Cut to the Grand Sluice ; and subsequently to maintain the
new Cut, and the fascine walls of the old channel, which were
transferred from the Harbour Trust to the New Board. Provision
was made for the extension of the Welland Outfall, as already
mentioned. The control of the river and of the foreshores and unen
closed lands seaward of the Grand Sluice was vested in the Board.
All rights were reserved to the Corporation, and also their powers
under the Harbour Acts, in relation to the channel, and of making
or erecting sea walls, jetties, wharves, lights, beacons, hauling paths
and moorings. The Board were authorised to make bye-laws for

CONSTRUCTION
OF THE NEW CUT.
18 BO -84.

366
preventing the discharge of sewage or refuse into the river, or the
damaging of the banks ; and for preventing the netting and snaring of
fish. The Board was to consist of seven Members chosen by the
Witham Commissioners ; five, by the Black Sluice Commissioners ;
the Mayor of Boston, and two members chosen by the Corporation.
The Board were authorised to raise £161,000, apportioned as follows,
The Witham General Commissioners, £37,000 ; the Fourth
District, £4g,ooo ; the Black Sluice, £65,000 ; and the Corporation
of Boston, £10,000.
The contract for making the new Cut was let to Mr. Thomas
Monk, for the sum of £g6,o52. The works were commenced in
December, 1880, and the Cut was opened for seafaring vessels in
April, 1884. The length of the new Cut is 2 J miles, and there is a
saving of distance over the old course of i£ miles. The bottom, at
the upper end, is three feet below the sill of Hobhole Sluice, or 11.20
feet below Ordnance datum, and inclines at the rate of one foot per
mile. The bottom was set out 100ft. wide at Hobhole, in creasing to
130ft. at the lower end ; the slopes are \\ to 1, a foreshore being
left, making the total width, at high water in the centre of the Cut,
400ft. The depth of water at high water of ordinary Spring tides is
27fft., and at Neap tides, 2o£ft. at the lower end, decreasing one
foot per mile up to Boston. The excavation amounted to two
million cubic yards. The embankment closing the old channel is
half-a-mile in length. It is 15ft. wide at the top, and has slopes of
5 to 1, its maximum height being 35ft. ; and its top, 8ft. above
ordinary spring tides.
The total cost of the works was as follows —
Works A.
£ s. d.
Work in forming the New Cut and
closing the old course of the river and
deepening and training the river to Hob
hole  107,668 4 4
Land and Compensation ... ... ig,358 n o
Parliamentary, Engineering, Legal and
other expenses ... ... ... ... 12,237 ° 1

£"i39>2°3 *5 5
Works B. £ s. d.
Dredging, deepening and training the
river from Hobhole to the Black Sluice,
(Portion by Outfall Board) ... 4,887 13 o
Engineering and Legal charges  21610 8
£5>1°4 3 8

#7
Works C. £ s. d.
Dredging, deepening and training the
river from the Black Sluice to the Grand Sluice g,775 15 4
Engineering, Legal and other charges ... go2 n 5
Land and Compensation  i,g3i 15 o

making a total of £155,978 os. iod.. £12,610 1 9

NEW CUT.

Following the opening of the Cut, the river was deepened by
dredging from Hobhole to Boston, the work being done partially by
the Outfall Board and completed by the Harbour Commissioners, so
as to give a depth of 25ft. up to the Dock at ordinary Spring Tides.
The available depth in the navigable channel has been increased effect of the
8ft. and the depression acquired at low water at the Sea Sluices, is
as follows : — ft. ins.
Hobhole Sluice ... 5 6
Maud Foster Sluice ... 4 3
Black Sluice ... ... 4 o
Grand Sluice ... ... 4 o
The water on the Black Sluice has run down within gins, of
the sill at low wafer and at the Grand Sluice it has run out 3ft.
below the Level of the old sill.
Although since the work was completed there have been some
exceptionally dry seasons and consequently the water passing down
the river has been below its normal quantity, there has been scarcely
any accumulation of sand and silt in the channel, which, under
similar conditions had, before the improvement of the Outfall,
amounted to as much as r i-J-ft. above the bed of the channel at its
upper end.
The accounts for works of construction were closed in 1886. maintenance of
Since that time up to March, 1894, there has been expended out of
revenue in maintenance for the lower division (Works A) £8,083 I3S-
3d. in works, and £3,361 15s. 8d. on management, &c, making an
average annual cost for the 8£ years since completion, of
£951 for works and £407 on management ; on the division between
Hobhole and the Black Sluice (Works B) the amount spent during
the 8 J years has been £1,073 I0S- 2d- on works and £851 12s. od.
on management ; and on the division between the Black Sluice and
Grand Sluice (Works C) £956 10s. 6d. on works, and £71 6s. id. on
management. Since 1889 nothing has been expended in maintain
ing the middle section of the river (Works B).
Very shortly after the Outfall Act was obtained and the prospect
of a good navigable channel rendered the construction of a dock at
Boston feasible, a Memorial was presented to the Corporation,
signed by all the principal bankers, merchants and tradesmen in the
town, asking them to take the necessary steps for securing to the

1AORK8.

boston dock

368

Wheeler's
Report. Nov.,
1880.

BOSTON DOCK
ACT.
44 and 45 Vict,
c. 112. 1881.

Port floating accommodation for ships. After a careful considera
tion of the matter instructions were given to their Engineer, Mr.
W. H. Wheeler, to report as to the best site for the construction of
a dock, and as to the cost.
Two schemes were submitted for consideration — the one, by
making a new Cut from South End to Maud Foster Sluice, and
converting the loop of the river between South End and the Black
Sluice into a dock ; and the other, for making the dock on the site
known as the Dock Pasture, which had been suggested by Mr. Rennie
for the purpose, 80 years previously. The only advantage in favour
of the first plan was that which it would afford to the Outfall of
the drainage of the Witham, but as the Commissioners, on being
approached, declined to contribute towards the cost, and the Black
Sluice Commissioners expressed their intention of strongly opposing
the scheme, if proceeded with, it was given up.
At a meeting of the Corporation, held on the 10th of November,
1880, it was unanimously decided to apply to Parliament for powers
to construct a dock on the present site, with an entrance near Maud
Foster Sluice. The Bill was opposed in Committee by the
Promoters of a scheme for making, what was termed, an " Ocean
Dock." This Ocean Dock was to be constructed with an entrance
into the lower end of the New Cut near Clayhole. The two Bills
were taken together, and after hearing evidence on both sides, the
Ocean Dock Scheme was thrown out. The Act for the Boston
Dock received the Royal Assent on the 18th July, 1881.
By this Act, the Corporation of Boston were empowered to
construct a dock, and to connect the same with the Great Northern
Railway in Skirbeck Quarter, and, for this purpose, to borrow an
amount not exceeding £180,000. The amount raised was to be
repaid within a period of 70 years from the passing of the Act. If
the revenue from the Harbour and Dock in any year is not sufficient
to meet the interest and sinking fund, the deficiency has to be made
good by a Borough Rate, levied on that portion of the Borough, 1
which, at the time of the passing of the Act, paid the Urban
Sanitary Rates.
The works for the construction of the Dock were commenced
in 1882, the first sod being cut on the 15th of June. The con
tract was taken by Mr. W. Rigby, for £80,200, and that for the
Hydraulic Machinery by Messrs. Abbot and Co., for £10,215. The
plans for the work were prepared by Mr. W. H. Wheeler, the
Engineer to the Harbour Trust, and were carried out under his
direction, Mr. James Abernethy being the consulting Engineer.
The first ship entered the dock on December 15th, 1884. The Dock
is 6f acres in extent, and 825ft. in length. The lock is 300ft. long and
50ft. wide and has 25ft. of water on the sill at Spring tides. The
railway crosses the river Witham by a swing-bridge, 126ft. in length,

369

which turns on a cylinder in the centre of the river and has two
openings of 55ft. each, giving a clear waterway of noft. The dock
was fitted with hydraulic coal hoist and cranes. In addition to
sheds on the quay, two grain warehouses, capable of holding 45,000
quarters of grain, were subsequently built and provided with
machinery for conveying the grain from the dock side, through
tunnels placed under the quay, and elevating it to any of the floors.
A fish pontoon and ice warehouses were also constructed.
The cost of the dock has been has follows :—
Cost of obtaining the Act, Legal, Parlia
mentary and Engineering expenses
Land, including Legal and other expenses
Contract for the Dock 
Contract for the Machinery 
Fish Quay, Ice Warehouse, Sheds,
Roads and Railway ...
Witham Outfall Board, dredging the river
Two Grain Warehouses and Machinery
Sheds and Extension of Fish Quay,
Cranes and Sundries  2,159 2 9

£

s.

d.

COST OF THE
DOCK.

12,096

0

4

".571

5

0

88,909

0

0

10,215

17

7

11,990
2
4
1.335
0
0
2i,8g2
12
9
£160,169 o 9
Soon after the opening of the dock, a Company was formed for
the purpose of developing the Fishing Trade. Shops and offices
were erected at the Dock by the Company and a fish-quay and ice
warehouse by the Corporation. A second Company was formed in
1890, who erected a factory for the supply of the ice required. More
than thirty steam trawlers are employed, besides several belonging
to private firms.
A regular line of steamers runs between Boston and Hamburg.
The trade at the Dock has steadily developed, the chief imports
being timber, pit-props for mining purposes, grain, linseed, iron ore,
and granite for road repairs ; the exports being coal and machinery.
In 1800 the tonnage of shipping at the Port of Boston, on
which dues were paid was 52,698 tons ; in 1810 it had risen to
86,256 tons, and in that year lastage was paid on 356,040 quarters of
grain. From then till 1850 the annual tonnage varied from 73,000
to 56,000 tons. After that it gradually declined to about 40,000 tons,
the export of grain amounting to 120,000 quarters. In 1881 the
number of vessels which entered the Port, as given in the return of
the Board of Trade, was 396, having a registered tonnage of 27,137
tons. For 1894 the returns were 605 vessels, having a tonnage of
124,696 tons. These returns do not include the fishing trawlers
or smacks. The Exports and Imports at the dock were : —
tons.
1892  219,107
1893  220,882
1894  273,190
FISHINQ COM
PANY.
RECLAMATION OF
MARSH LAND.

370
tonnage of Vessels of considerable tonnage can now navigate the river.
vessels. ° °
The largest which has entered the dock was 325ft. long, 40^ft, beam.
The largest vessel which has entered with a full cargo on board,
was 276ft. long, 36$ beam, 20ft. draught, having 13,1.20 quarters of
barley, weighing 2,624 tons.
The bed of the river, as finished by the Outfall Board, being
from two to three feet above the sill of the Dock, the Corporation
expended about £1,300 in removing the higher places, and reduced
the bed to within one foot of the sill. It was also contemplated to
remove the projecting" corner on the west side, but objections being
raised to the proposed plan by the Outfall Board, the work was not
proceeded with. Subsequently the Corporation further deepened
the channel by dredging for over a width of Soft, to a level of 2ft.
below the Dock sill, giving a depth of 27ft. up to the Dock, at high
water of spring tides.
Reference has already been made to the lands that were gained
by the improvements which were made in the river, in the years 1S33
and 1S41. The largest tract, containing about three hundred acres)
was sold by the Harbour Trustees to the late Mr. Black, in the
year 1S63, for the sum 'of £10,000, which enabled them to pay off
the money then remaining due on mortgage, which had been bor.
rowed to effect the improvements in the river. In 1804, two other
marshes were reclaimed, containing together about 160 acres.
These marshes were enclosed from the tidal water, under the direc
tion of the Author, the contract being carried out by Mr. George
Hackford, by two embankments, a mile and a half in length, the
water from the parish of Wyberton and the adjoining land being
discharged through a sluice, built for that purpose, in the Slippery
Gowt Embankment. A house and farmstead have also been erected
on each of the enclosures.
buoys, »«aoon« The Corpora tion , in their capacity as Harbour Commissioners,
maintain the buoys and beacons, from the Outer Knock and Dog's
Head,at the entrance of Boston Deeps from the North Sea, oll'Skegness,
and from the Outer Gat and Roger Buoys, at the entrance to Lynn
Well, up to Boston. In all, there are 66 buoys, and the Toft, Gat and
Freeman's Beacons, and the Tidal Guage Beacon on Freiston Main,
A Pilot vessel is also moored off Freiston Main, on which a light is !
exhibited at night. Two light towers were erected on Benington
Main in 1892. These towers show two white lights, leading directly j
through Freeman's Channel, the towers themselves forming con- !
spicuous objects, the back tower being 50ft. high. A light-ship is
also moored about the middle of the Channel. A light lower and
two leading lights are placed at the entrance of the New Cut, and
there are 23 other lights between that point and the town.
The Pilot Trust remains the same as originally constituted, the
limits of the Boston Pilots' jurisdiction being High Horn Buoy

AND LIGHTS.

37i
and the Toft Beacon. Below this, the North Sea Pilots take charge
of ships. The principal anchorage is East Countryman's Berth at the
lower end of Clayhole, where there is good holding ground in a safe
roadstead, with 4^ fathoms at low water of spring tides.
The average income and expenditure of the Harbour Com
missioners, for the three years 1882-4, previous to the opening of the
dock, and for the three years 1893-5, nas been as follows : —
Receipts. 1882-4 1893-5
£ £
Tonnage and Wharfage dues ... ... g62 '2,og3
Rents of Land and Buildings ... ... 242 255
Sundries ... ... ... ... ... — 26
Welland Contribution  157 217
Pilot Trust „  50 414

HARBOUR
INCOME AND
EXPENDITURE.

£l411 £3005

Expenditure.
Buoys and Beacons, Lights and Light
Vessels
River, repair of banks, dredging &c.
Warehouses, Quays, and Buildings
Witham Outfall Precepts 
Salaries Interest 
Sundries

The expenses during the years 1882-4, were greater than usual
at that time, owing to some heavy repairs which had to be done to
the banks enclosing the farms. In addition to the ordinary expendi
ture during the years i8g3-5, as given above, there was paid out of
revenue £316 for the new light towers at Benington, and £463,
the balance of cost in removing the wreck Ethel.
Income. The Dock. — Year i8g5- £ s. d.
Rates and dues on shipping ... ... 6003 16 0
Warehouse and other rents  I4g5 16 g
Sundry profits  1216 10 4

£

£

435

1,066

62

434

186

239

44

141

221

253

¦ —

458

484

126

£h&

^2717

rT87i6 3

1

xpenditure.

£ s.

d.

Wages, repairs &c.

2186 6

1

Rates, Taxes and Insurance

605 17

8

Establishment charges

159 5

9

Salaries

370 0

0

Dredging 

565 H

0

Sundries 

205 g

1

4og2 12 7

372
Interest on Capital and repayment of loan ... 6224 ii 2
£10317 3 9

The excess of expenditure'over income is provided from the
Borough rates. «

Boston Admiralty Seal.

373

CHAPTER XIII.
The Drainage System.
THE whole of the Fenland lies below the level of high tides,
and therefore depends upon the banks which have been
erected for its protection. The main drains, which discharge the
surplus rainfall into the tidal rivers, are protected from the tides by
sluices with self-acting doors, which automatically close when the
tidal water reaches higher than that coming down them, and which
open again directly the tidal water falls below that which has
accumulated during tide time.
The River Witham has practically been converted into a main
drain, and is not tidal above Boston. It is protected by the Grand
Sluice, which has four openings, including the navigation lock,
having each a pair of self-acting doors which open during floods,
the total waterway being 71ft. The Black Sluice District
discharges into Boston Haven, and is protected by a sluice having
three openings of 20ft., each having a pair of doors, giving a total
waterway of 60ft. The high land water brought from the catch
water drains of the East and West Fens, is discharged at Maud
Foster Sluice, which has three sets of doors, having a total water
way of 40ft. The East and West Fens discharge at Hobhole,
which has four openings, each with one pair of doors, having a
waterway of 60ft. The Steeping River discharges into Wainfleet
Haven, the Outfall Sluices having a waterway of 30ft. The tidal
conditions of the River Welland have not been interfered with, and
the tide has a free course up this river. The Vernatt's Drain, which
takes the water from Deeping Fen, and the River Glen, into which
the Blue Gowt Drain discharges, are both protected by sluices, the
former having a waterway of 33ft., and the latter, two openings of
15ft. each. The South Holland Drain discharges into the tidal
River Nene by a sluice having three openings, with a total water
way of 31ft. There are, in addition to these principal drains,
several smaller drains and sewers, which discharge either into the
tidal rivers, or into creeks on the coast, which, in like manner, are
protected by sluices with self-acting doors.
These sluices are also provided with draw doors, or slackers,
which are either kept down, or partially or wholly raised or lowered

DESCRIPTION OF
THE OUTFALL.

OUTFALL SLUICES

THE DRAINS.

STEAM POWER.

374
according to the quantity of water coming down the drains. The
water in the drains is thus regulated, and not allowed to run down
below a certain level, in order to provide for the navigation, or to
maintain the water in the ditches at a sufficient depth for fencing
purposes, or to keep the sock at the level desired for feeding the
crops or for water supply.
water level in In summer, the loss by evaporation and absorption in the fen
drains, is made up by ' live water,' or that obtained from the high
land rivers and drains, which is let into the fens from sluices
provided for the purpose.
The main drains in the peat districts are so regulated, that the
water in the division and field drains shall always stand at a level
of about 2 to 2$ft. below the surface.
gravitation and There are two methods of drainage in operation, one by
gravitation, where the land is sufficiently above low water in the
sea, and the other, for the lower lands, from which the water is
raised by steam power from the district drains, into the rivers or
arterial drains, the former being protected by sluices at their Outfalls.
In no case in the fen districts, where a system of drainage has
been carried out for the reclamation of the low land, has the
attempt to obtain what is called a ' natural drainage ' — that is,
drainage by gravitation — been completely successful. Where this
has been attempted, the higher land has been well drained, but the
lower fens, which often lie at the greatest distance from the Outfall,
are constantly subject to flooding, the Outfall from these drains
being over-ridden by the water from the higher land. Main drains
also, which, at the time when they were made, afforded a sufficient
Outfall, afterwards became insufficient, owing to the depression of
the surface of the land, due to the shrinkage of the peat. To meet
this, the drains have been increased in size, and their Outfalls
deepened. But for the peat land, in no case has this been sufficient,
and it has been found necessary to lift the water out of the drains
by mechanical agency. Such, for example, has been the case in the
East Fen, which formerly drained by gravitation, but is now only
kept free from flooding, in wet seasons, by the pumps at Lade Bank.
In the Black Sluice District the main drain, 21 miles in length, was
enlarged and deepened, and a complete system of internal drainage
carried out, with the expectation that the fen land would, by this
means, be effectually drained. One district after another has, how
ever, resorted to pumping as the only means of giving complete
relief in times of flood. On the River Witham, over 36,000 acres
still have to resort to steam drainage, although a very large amount
has been spent in widening and deepening the river and improving
the outfall. The whole of Deeping Fen, and a large tract of land to
the east of Spalding, covering an area of 37,600 acres, depends
entirely on steam power for its drainage.

375

In fact, it may be said that approximately, while the alluvial
part of the Fenland can be drained by gravitation, the fen portion
requires to have the water lifted from it by by mechanical agency.
The total area drained by steam power is given by Mr. Gibbs, as
124,600 acres, divided as follows . — Scoop Centrifugal
Wheels. Pumps.
The Witham above the Grand Sluice .. 33100 47°°
The East Fen ... ... ... ...  35000
The Black Sluice ... ... ... 6150 3700
The Welland and Deeping Fen ... 38950 
In addition to this there are between 3,000 to 4,000 acres which,
to some extent, are drained by wind mills.
By the improvement of the main drains and the outfalls, the
lift of the water, and consequently the cost of pumping, may be
considerably reduced, but, with land lying at a low level, from
which an adequate fall cannot at all times be obtained, the interest
on the first outlay for machinery, and subsequent expense in con
nection with the pumping, will, as a rule, be found less than the
interest on the money expended in attempting to drain these lands
by simple gravitation.
The question of raising water off fen land, as compared with
drainage by gravitation, was very carefully considered by the
Author, when reporting on a gravitation scheme proposed for the
South Level of the Bedford Level, and the facts and figures
obtained in that enquiry satisfied him that, under certain conditions,
pumping may be an economical means of draining low land.
The great improvements which have been made in the steam
engines and water raising machines, together with the greater
facilities for obtaining, and the lower price of, coal, have consider
ably reduced the cost of lifting water compared to what it was when
many of the improvements for the drainage of the Fens were
originally carried out.
The choice as between gravitation and steam power resolves
itself into a question of cost. If the annual charge for interest and
outlay for a gravitation scheme, with a proportionate sum for re
payment of the principal, exceeds the average annual cost of a pump
ing installation, including the interest and outlay, then the steam
power is decidedly preferable, not only as being more economical,
but as rendering the district more thoroughly independent of outside
circumstances. The annual cost of a gravitation scheme is constant,
be the seasons wet or dry ; whereas a pumping station adapts itself
more readily to the varying work to be done.
An effective Outfall is, however, in any case a necessity.
Where pumping is used, if the water in the main drain is held
up above a certain height, there is increased pressure on the
protecting banks and danger of their breaking, and where the bank

land drained by
steam power.

Gibbs'
Pumping Machi
nery tn the
Fenland.
Min. Pro. I.CE.
Vol. 94.

RELATIVE
ADVANTAGE OF
PUMPING AND
GRAVITATION.

Report on the
Rivet Ouse.
W. H. Wheeler,
1884.

376

RAINFALL-

Appendix V.

QUANTITY OF
WATER TO BE
DISCHARGED
FROM THE LAND.

Appendix V.

GRAVITATION.

CATCH WATER
DRAINS.

Discourse on
Drainage. 1642.

are porous as is frequently the case, an increased quantity of water
has to be raised, due to the soakage through the banks.
In providing for a system of drainage, whether by gravitation
or steam power, the quantity of water which has to be discharged
is one of the first questions for consideration. The average annual
rainfall cannot be taken as a guide. The drainage system, to be
effective, must be equal to carrying off the floods of wet years.
The annual rainfall of the recent wet years in the Fenland may
be taken as 32-3gins., of which i7-52ins. were due to the six winter
months September to February, which gives an average daily amount
of "097ms. Taking the periods of excessive rain which occurred
during the same time, extending over 6 to 30 successive days, the
gratest average fall per day was o-4iins. for 14 days in October,
1883 and November, 1885, the next highest being o-2gins. for 6
days in February, 1883. The average mean rainfall during the 21
floods since 1852 was 0-26 for 17 days.
The quantity provided for by the old fen Engineers was that
due to the water arising from a continuous rainfall of a quarter of
an inch in 24 hours, making no deductions for soakage or evaporation.
This calculation was adopted by Sir John Hawkshaw, when de
signing the pumping installation for the East Fen. From the statistics
of rainfall given in the Appendix for wet seasons, it would appear
that this may be taken as a reliable quantity.
The system adopted by the Roman Engineers for the drainage
of the Fens was that of first cutting a drain skirting the high land,
for the purpose of intercepting all the streams and brooks and dis
charging their water into the rivers, thus freeing the fen from all
water, except the rainfall which fell on it. To clear this off, main
drains were cut, discharging into the rivers and protected by sluices.
Many of these drains, although enlarged and improved, remain in
use at the present time.
This system of cutting off the highland water from the Fens, by
catchwater water drains and discharging their contents at Outfalls,
separate from those of the fen drains, was also recommended by
Vermuiden, the Dutch Engineer, who was largely engaged in
reclaiming lands in the Isle of Axholme, and in the Bedford Level,
in the 17th century.
In a ' Discourse touching the Draining of the Great Fens,' pub
lished in 1642, Vermuiden says, " There is in use a general rule of
draining and gaining of drowned lands, by embanking all the rivers,
and leading away the downfall by drains and sluices, but in the case of
the Great Fens, such a course would not apply, for it would require
a vast length of bank, in level and moorish ground, and far distant
from the falls. The head drains would require in many cases to be
carried through higher ground than the drowned lands." He there
fore advised that the rivers should be carried on the highest grounds ;

377
that the drains should be laid in the lowest grounds ; that there
should be receptacles for the waters to bed in, in times of extremity ;
and that the river water and the downfall be kept separate and
brought to the Outfall severally.
Vermuiden's ' Discourse ' and his schemes for the drainage of the Exe^ptum'to the
Great Fens, were attacked by Andrews Burrell, Gent. , in his ' 'Except- Discourse. 1642.
ions against Sir Cornelius Vermuiden's discourse, for the draining
of the Great Fennes, which he had presented to the King for his
design, wherein His Majesty was misinformed and abused in regard
that it wanteth all the essential parts of a designe ; and the great
and advantageous workes made by the late Earl of Bedford, slighted,
and the whole adventure disparaged." In this pamphlet he states
that the discourse is contrived "in a mystical way, with many
impertinent objections and answers in it, of purpose to dazzle the
King's apprehension of the worke." He calls in question the works
which Vermuiden had already carried out and says that he had been
told by Sir Philoberto Vernatti, who was deeply interested in the
level, that the banks he had made in Yorkshire had cost £g an acre ;
that he " had found the art of Sluice making so hard to attaine that
he cannot leame it, myself having seen four sluices made by him,
near the banks of Sutton Marsh which had cost £11,000. Every
one of them sunk and lost ; the last which was made for the King
having cost £3,000." In another part of the pamphlet he goes on to
say that " when Sir Cornelius Vermuiden found that the King was
sufficiently encouraged to undertake the work, it was so plotted that
Secretary Windebancks and others did persuade His Majesty, that
there was not a man in His dominions, that knew how to drain the
Fens, but Sir Cornelius only, in which passage the King was extremely
abused. For being desirous to effect the work, by this plot His
Majesty was inforced to approve of his senseless discourse (instead
of a designe) and to intreat him to accept of a salary exceeding his
deserts (namely, £1 ,000 a year). For in disposing of £23,500 he hath
mis-spent at the least £1,600 of the money, and willfully wasted many
hundreds of acres of land, skimming the top thereof, to make counter
feit banks, without giving the owners thereof any satisfaction for them."
The principle of catchwater drains was adopted by Mr. Rennie
in the drainage of the East and West Fens. He also bore valuable
testimony, and in this he was supported by other Engineers, to the
skill and wisdom of the old Roman Engineers, by advising that the
Catchwater Drain made by them, where it skirts the Black Sluice
Level, should be opened out again, and the water from the several
becks and streams which now pour their water into the Black Sluice
drain should be kept away by this means from the fen drains; but
his opinion was over-ruled, and the highland water now finds its
way to the sea, along the same course as the fen water, and fre
quently over rides it;

378
neglect of the jn laying out their different systems of drainage, the early
Adventurers confined their schemes to their own particular districts
and neglected the rivers and the main Outfalls. The consequence was
that their m ain drains,having onlyan imperfect communication between
the Outfall Sluices and low water in the Estuary, afforded a very
partial relief to the lower lands. Had the lower part of the rivers been
improved in the manner that has recently been effected in the
Witham, and as has to a limited extent been done in the Welland,
the drainage could have been executed at considerably less cost than
has been expended on it, and would have been far more efficient.
The reason of the neglect of the Outfall was, no doubt, due to the
fact that this would have required a combination of all the interested
Adventurers and public bodies concerned in the drainage. The
difficulty of accomplishing such an undertaking is illustrated by the
fact that the Witham Outfall Improvement was only accomplished
after repeated attempts to carry it out, and nearly ioo years after it
was first proposed, during which tims each Trust went on wasting
money in attempts to improve its own separate district, in its own
way.
The Washes. Considerable controversy existed amongst the old Adventurers
as to Vermuiden's proposal to leave ' washes,' or receptacles at the
sides of the river channels for the flood water to bed in. This plan,
however, was adopted both on the Nene, the Welland, and the
Witham. On the Witham the wash land was afterwards enclosed,
but on the Welland the washes still cover an area of 2,500 acres.
In order to obtain further advice as to the disputed question of
the advantage of these washes, the Earl of Bedford, the Undertaker
of the Great Bedford Level, called in another Dutch Engineer,
Westerdyke, who condemned this plan, and contended that if the
banks of the river were set out at a convenient distance, one from
the other, and one fair cut made for the water to pass in, much
money might be saved and the work be far better. He contended that
experience showed that waters kept in a body pass swiftly and mend
their channel, but, divided and dispersed, pass away very slowly
and in time lose their channel. Dodson and Scotton, who were
both employed under Vermuiden, agreed with Westerdyke, their
opinions also being that ' washes encourage violent waves which
whinder the banks to pieces.' Washes can only afford a very
temporary alleviation of flooding. In times of flood, a few hours'
rainfall suffices to fill the receptacle, and, once filled, it is of no further
value. It is true that the washes grow valuable crops of grass in
summer, but they are constantly liable to be flooded and the crops
spoiled.
pumping. Owing both to the defective condition of the Outfall, and also
to the low level at which some of the Fenland lies, the practice of
raising the water by mechanical agency was from a very early

379
period resorted to. At first this was accomplished by windmills,
working scoop wheels, which lifted the water from the fen drains into
the rivers. The origin of the introduction of windmills, as applied to
drainage, is said to have arisen from the necessity that the Engineers
of the Bedford Level ¦ Commission found, from to time, of em
ploying some mechanical means for emptying the drains when
requiring to be cleaned out. For this purpose, in the first instance,
large scoops, so constructed as to be handled by a number of men,
were used ; but in 1687, the Corporation of the Bedford Level
provided mills, consisting of a wheel with floats, very similar to the
old breast wheel, to which motion was given by horses. In the year
1699, a person of the name of Green erected one of these mills, at
Slade, to drain his land ; and in 1703 another was erected by Silas
Tytus. Both these were considered nuisances and ordered to be
pulled down. The Owners resorted for relief to a Court of Equity,
but the termination of the suit was favourable to the Corporation. In
1693, a drainage mill was erected at Tydd St. Giles, at a cost of £450.
Although, from this, it would appear that these mills were
opposed to popular opinion, they made such advancement that they
soon took their place as absolute necessities in the economy of
drainage. The Level had become so inundated by the choking up
of the interior drains, the defective state of the rivers themselves,
and the neglect to improve the Outfalls to the sea, that the Corpor
ation found it impossible to resist the importunity of the country to
resort to an artificial system of interior drainage. In the year 1726, wells'
an Act was obtained for the effectual drainage of Haddenham Fen, Bedford Level.
by the use of mills, and after this their use became general.
In 1729, Capt. Perry erected a number of windmills for working
scoop-wheels for lifting the water out of Deeping Fen. Arthur Young
gives the following description of a windmill, which he found in use
on the estate of Mr. Chaplin, at Blankney, in his Survey of Lincoln
shire, made in 1799. " The sails go 70 rounds, and it raises 60 tons
of water every minute, when in full work. The bucket-wheels, which
' in the mills of Cambridgeshire are perpendicular, without the mill ;
this, which is called dritch, has in a sloping direction in an angle
of about 40 degrees, and within the mill. It raises 4ft. Two men
are necessary in winter, working night and day, at 10/6 a week,
with coals for a fire ; add the expense of repairs, grease, and all to
gether will amount to £2 per cent, with £1,000, first cost. It drains
1900 acres."
Windmills were first superseded by steam in this country in
1820, when Mr. Rennie applied one of Watts' engines to the
working of a scoop wheel for draining Bottisham Fen, near Ely.
In 1824, steam was applied to the drainage of Deeping Fen, and
afterwards became general. There are still a few windmills to be
found in the Lincolnshire Fens.

BCOOP WHEELS.

380
The Scoop or Float Wheel has been in use for lifting water,
from very ancient times. There is no doubt that the Romans made
use of it for lifting water, but there is no record that it was so used
in the drainage of the Fens. It was introduced into Holland for
drainage purposes by W. Wheler, in 1649. The Scoop Wheel
as now used, resembles a breast water wheel with reverse action.
In its simplest form it consists of an axle, upon which are fastened
discs, to which are attached radial arms, terminating in a rim, upon
which are fastened arms with boards, called scoops, floats or paddles.
The wheel revolves in a trough, connected with the drain on one side
and the river or place of discharge on the other. The scoops beat,
or lift the water from the lower to the upper side, the waterway on
the river or outlet side being provided with a self-acting door which
closes when the wheel stops. These wheels vary in size, up to 50ft.
in diameter. The largest in this district are those at Podehole, for
the drainage of Deeping Fen, which are 31ft. in diameter.
Scoop wheels have done exceedingly good service in the drain
age of the Fens, when well constructed ; and for situations where the
height to wliich the water has to be raised is not great, and where
there is not much variation in the lift, they are effective and useful
machines. The slow speed at which they travel fitted them for
being driven by windmills, or the slow speed beam engines by which
they were succeeded. They are simple in construction and easily
repaired by the aid of such mechanical skill as is readily obtainable
in the fen districts. They are not liable to get out of order when
laid by, or easily damaged by floating substances, brought to them in
the water. To the minds of those living by the side of the rivers and
drains of low flat countries and accustomed to the slow practices of
an agricultural life, there is a sense of power and solidity about a
massive beam engine, with its slowly revolving fly wheel and heavy
beam, rising and falling, driving a ponderous water-wheel, lifting a
large mass of water ; in place of which the small parts of a centri
fugal pump, with its rapid movements, seem but a poor substitute.
Scoop wheels are, however, exceedingly cumbrous, the wheel weigh
ing as much as, or more than, the total body of the water lifted at
each revolution. The larger wheels, of say 30ft. in diameter, weigh
from 30 to 40 tons, and therefore require very heavy foundations
and expensive masonry for the wheel race. The slow speed engines
used for driving these wheels are themselves as ponderous as the
wheels, and also require heavy foundations and a large area of
buildings. They were very extravagant with fuel,the steam generated
being used at a pressure of from 4lbs. to 5lbs.
As generally constructed, scoop wheels are very wasteful of
power, and badly adapted to meet the alterations in the level of the
water due to the falling of the level on the inside, as the water is
pumped out of the drains ; or on the outside, due to the rise and fall

PUMPS.

381
of the tide ; or of flood waters in non-tidal rivers. The machinery,
however, is in many cases capable of improvement, and may be
altered so as to lift a much larger volume of water and to use very
much less coal. The details of these improvements are fully
described and illustrated in the Author's book on ' The Drainage
of Fens and Lowlands.' *
Archimedean screw pumps, which are frequently met with in
the drainage of the Polders in Holland, were tried in Deeping Fen
and abandoned, and have never been used for the permanent drain
age of land in the Fens.
Wherever it has become necessary to replace the old, or to erect centrifugal
new, machinery for pumping, the centrifugal pump has superseded the
scoop wheel. When these pumps are constructed with direct acting
high pressure engines, they are very efficient and, being compact,
occupy only a small space, saving cost both in foundations and
buildings. The weight of the machinery is about one-twentieth of
that of a scoop wheel.
The average difference of cost of the pumping stations erected
in Holland during recent years is £20 per actual horse power in
favour of the pumps.
The centrifugal pump readily adapts itself to the varying lift
which must be encountered in most drainage stations and auto
matically adjusts the work thrown on the engine as the lift varies.
Where proper precautions are taken no practical difficulty has
arisen from weeds and other substances which find their way into
the pump well.
Pumps were first introduced for the drainage of the Fens, after
the Exhibition of 1851, where one was exhibited at work ; and there
are several instances where they have been running for upwards of
30 years without trouble, and doing their work efficiently and
economically. There are two kinds of centrifugal pumps used for draining
land, the one known as the turbine pump,having a vertical shaft, and
placed below the water, at the bottom of a well, made either of brick
or iron. The pumps at Lade Bank are of this type. The other
kind have horizontal shafts, and the pumps are generally placed
above the surface of the water in the engine house, the suction pipe
going down to the engine drain on the inner side, and the discharge
pipe over the top of the bank into the river. When the pump is
once charged, the pipes act as a syphon, the lift being then only
equal to the difference of level of the inner and outer water. This
arrangement saves all necessity for sluices and leaves the pump
accessible at all times. A valve on the bottom of the discharge
pipe prevents any back flow of the water when pumping ceases.
•Tht Drainage of Fens and Lowlands, by W. H. Wheeler, M. Instit, C.E.,
1888. E. G*F. N. Span, London.

382
This form of pump has been generally adopted in Holland, and,
when driven by direct action from the engine, occupies very little
space and a small amount of foundation.
The smaller pumps in the Fenland are driven by portable
engines, by belting.
Management of Drainage Engines. — Although the saving
of coal, as between one type of engine and another, may not be of
such consequence as in engines used for commercial purposes, yet
the total consumption is a matter which ought to engage the most
serious attention on the part of the Managers, as on this, princi
pally, will depend the annual cost of the pumping station, and the
amount of taxes required to meet the expenses. The fuel should
bear a direct proportion to the amount of water lifted. If more than
is necessary is used, it is due to the fault of either the engine-man, the
engine, or the pump. The excess has to be paid for. As regards the
first, the engine-man, too great caution cannot be exercised in selecting
a steady, careful and economical man. The best men can only be
secured by paying good and sufficient wages. A good engine-man
may save his wages many times over by careful stoking, an incom
petent man may not only run up the coal bill, but do irreparable
damage to the machinery by ignorant management.
The men who have charge of some of the smaller pumping
stations in the Fens, are only labourers, who are employed during the
summer in cleaning out the drains, and in winter in driving the
engine. These men have had no training as engine-men, and no
mechanical knowledge to assist them in the management of
machinery. As a rule, however, they are very intelligent, and,
considering their antecedents, it is surprising how well they manage
to keep the machinery running, often by night and day, for long
periods.
co«L The difference of the consumption of coal, due to good and bad
stoking, is strikingly shown by the trials of engine-men at the Agri
cultural shows. It may be assumed that the men who enter for
these competitions consider themselves as superior to the ordinary
men, or they would not enter for them. Selecting two of
these competitions as samples, with an interval of ten years between,
it will be seen that there was a marked improvement on the part of the
men in the work done. Some portion of the quantity may be due
to the difference in the engines, but this would not amount to much;
and it is fair to presume that the Managers would take care that the
engine provided for the trials should be a competent machine.
At the trials at the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show at Spalding,
in 1872, with an 8 h.p. portable engine, fifteen competitors entered
the list. The best used coal at the rate of 7-86 lb. per horse-power
per hour, the worst 20-2 lb., the average of the whole being nf lb.,
there being a difference of 61 per cent, between the best and the worst.

consumption

COST OF
PUMPING-

383
At Gainsborough, in 1883, there were nineteen competitors.
The best man ran the engine with a consumption of coal at the rate
of 677 lb. per horse-power per hour. The worst used 8-95 lb.
The average of the whole was 7*69. There was thus a difference of
2* 1 8 lb. of coal per hour in the driving of this engine by picked men.
Taking the ordinary type of drivers of agricultural engines, it may
safely be taken that there would be a difference of at least iolb. of coal
per horse-power per hour between good and bad stoking. With an
engine running at 10 horse-power, this would amount to over a ton
in twenty-four hours. Beyond this, would be further waste in oil,
and damage to machinery by want of skill, or carelessness.
With regard to the quantity of coal consumed, the Dutch
Engineers in their contracts generally stipulate that this shall not
exceed 6.6olb. of coal per horse-power per hour of water actually
raised. Allowing an efficiency of 55 for the machinery, this is equal
to 3.63lbs. per I. H.P. Some of the best pumping engines for land
drainage purposes in this country consume from 41b. to 4^1b. of
coal per indicated horse-power per hour, which is above the Dutch
standard. The cost of raising water by steam power varies with the price
of coal, the efficiency of the machinery, the height the water has to
be lifted, and the skill and care of the engine-man. From returns
obtained by the Author from 1 1 pumping stations in the Bedford
Level, draining 120,000 acres, he ascertained that the average cost
for the 3 years, 1881-3, which were very wet, and during which
several floods occured, was 16.25 pence, or 1.86 pence per acre per
foot of lift, of which 1.47 pence was for coal. With the best
managed engines the cost fell as low as a penny per acre per foot of
lift. The lifts varied from 6ft. to 14ft., the cost of coal being about R ( gn the
16/- per ton, delivered. During the same period the cost of working wP!Vfr0use-l.
the Deeping Fen engines and scoop wheels, at Podehole, was 10.58
pence per acre, of which 7.56 pence was for coal. Taking the
average lift at 5ft., this gives 1.51 pence per acre per foot of lift.
The average working expenses of the engines and pumps at Lade
Bank, for draining the East Fen, during the same period, were 7.46
pence per acre. Taking the average lift at 4ft., this is equal to
1.86 pence per acre per foot of lift.
The following description of the scoop wheels at Pode Hole, and Drainage of Fens
of the centrifugal pump at Lade Bank, is taken from the Author's bva^alieam°n
book on Drainage already referred to, where will be found illustrations Wheder"""i888
of this machinery.
The water from Deeping Fen is pumped into the Vernatt's
Drain, which discharges into the tidal river Welland, about six and ing station.
a half miles distant. The machinery was erected in 1824, and
consisted of two scoop wheels, worked by two low pressure
condensing beam engines, of 80 and 60 nominal horse power, respect-

384
ively, working at a maximum pressure of steam in the boiler of 41b.
This pressure has since been raised and other improvements made.
The crank shaft from the engine passes through the wall of the
engine house, and carries a pinion gearing into a spur wheel on the
shaft of the scoop wheels. The ratio of the velocity of the engines
to the wheels is 16 to 5, and 22 to 4J respectively. The larger
engine— called the Holland — has a steam jacketed cylinder, 44m.
in diameter, with 8ft. stroke. The fly wheel is 24ft. in diameter.
The smaller engine — called the Kesteven — has a steam jacketed
cylinder, 45m. in diameter, and 6ft. 6in. stroke. The fly wheel is
24ft. in diameter, making 22 revolutions a minute. The framing of
the scoop wheels is of cast iron. The larger wheel was originally
28ft. in diameter, and fitted with 40 scoops, but the diameter was
increased, about 10 years ago, to 31ft. The scoops are 6ft. 6in. long
— radially — by 5ft. wide, giving an area, when wholly immersed, of
32.5 square feet. The mean diameter is 24ft. 6in., the number of
revolutions a minute, 5 ; giving a gross discharge, after deducting the
space occupied by the scoops, of 11, 215 cubic feet per minute, or
313 tons. These wheels, as altered, are very accurately fitted in
their places, and run very true, so that there is a clearance of barely
half an inch between the floats and the masonry at the bottom and
sides. The smaller wheel is 31ft. in diameter, with the same number
of scoops, each being 5ft. 6in. long by 5ft. wide, giving an area of
27-5 square feet. The mean diameter is 25ft. 6in.; number of
revolutions a minute, 4^ ; equal to a discharge, after deducting
scoops, &c, of 8,959 cubic feet per minute, or 250 tons. The scoops
dip from the radial line at an angle of 250, being tangents to a
circle 7ft. 6in. in diameter. This angle being found too small to
give the best results, the end of each scoop, for a length of i8in.,
was altered so as to dip further back, 6in. The straight part of the
scoops enters the water at average flood level at an angle of 29°,
and leaves it at 360. The average dip in floods is 5ft., and the
average head 5ft., rising to 7ft. in extreme floods. Steam is
supplied to the engines by five double-flued Lancashire boilers,
having water pockets above the furnaces ; they are 7ft. in diameter by
26ft. long. The total discharge of the two wheels is 563 tons per
minute. This is equal to about the fourth of an inch of rain over
the whole area of 32,000 acres, when the wheels are working to
their full capacity for 24 hours a day.
The efficiency of these wheels has been greatly increased by
alterations carried out a few years ago. On the inlet side a shuttle
has been added, by which the amount of water coming to the wheel
can be adjusted and the supply regulated to the quantity best
adapted for keeping the wheel fully charged without its being
drowned by it. This shuttle is of the same width as the wheel, and
eonsists of a wooden door fixed across the inlet, close up to the

385
wheel, and working on friction wheels in a frame placed in the
masonry. The door is fixed close to the wheel, at an angle of 45
degrees to the bottom of the raceway. It is provided with a balance
weight, hung by a chain, working over a pulley. The shuttle is
lifted or lowered by a toothed rack, gearing into a spur wheel and
pinion attached to a shaft, which is carried up into the inside of the
building. The floor drops away from the bottom of the shuttle on
the inlet side in a circular form, so as to give a larger space for the
admission of the water, and allow it to come up and pass freely
under the shuttle. The water passing under the shuttle does not
catch the scoops until they come towards the bottom of the trough
and then impinges on them in the same direction in which they are
travelling, and with a velocity due to the head of water at the back
of the door, and thus aiding in the forward motion of the wheel.
The scoops become fully charged as they assume a vertical position.
The apparent increase in the lift from the lower level from which
the water has to be raised is more than compensated by the avoid
ance of the mass of dead water which a wheel generally has to
encounter on first entering the water, and by the wheel being just
sufficiently fed with water, having a velocity and direction which
assist in sending it round. A much greater quantity of water is
thus raised with the same amount of steam than could be done if
the shuttle were not there. With the surface of the water in the
inlet drain, during floods, standing 6ft. ioin. above the bottom of
the scoops, the shuttle is lifted sufficiently to allow ift. 3111. of water
to pass under it, and this keeps the wheel well supplied. A move
able breast has also been fixed on the outlet side. It is made of iron
plates, and works into a recess cut in the masonry of the breast, so
that its face is flush with it. The plates are bent so as to have the
same radius as the wheel; the upper part of the segmental plate is
hinged at the top into another flat wooden platform, fixed to an iron
frame, which, when down, lies in a recess in the floor of the outlet,
and rises with the breast. To enable this platform to adjust itself
to the space in which it has to lie, it is so formed that one end slides
in and out of the iron frame. The lower end of the frame is hinged
to the floor ; thus, when the breast is raised the floor is also raised
for some distance, forming an inclined plane from the top of the
moveable breast to the floor of the outlet channel. The breast is
raised or lowered, to adapt it to the height of the water in the outlet
drain, by a segmental toothed rack, gearing into a spur-wheel attached
to a windlass fixed on the wall of the raceway. By raising this breast
to a sufficient height to allow of the free egress of the water over it, the
back current at the bottom of the outlet, which always exists with the
old arrrangement, is entirely avoided. These improvements to the
wheel have been carried out under the direction of Mr. Alfred Harri
son, the Superintendent of the Deeping Fen Drainage District.

386
During the five years, 1876-80, the average work of the two
engines amounted to 219^ days of twenty-four hours each for one
engine, and the consumption of coal averaged 5 tons 9 cwt. per day.
These engines were thoroughly overhauled by Messrs. Watt & Co.,
in 1883, and new boilers provided, the working pressure of the steam
being raised to 2olb. on the inch. The coal consumption has been
reduced to 3-28 tons per day, the amount of work done by the engines
being at the same time very largely increased. It was reported that,
owing to these improvements, 60 per cent, more water was raised
with 42 per cent, less fuel. The annual saving was estimated at
450/. in wet seasons.
The average annual cost of this pumping station for the three
years 1880-83, when the rainfall was considerably above the average,
was 1,412/., of which 1,009/. was Ior coal, which cost about 15s. a
ton. The average quantity consumed during the three years was
1,356 tons per year. Taking the area drained at 32,000 acres, this
gives 23-61 acres for each ton of coal. The cost per acre is io.58d.,
or taking coal only, 7'56d. Taking the average lift at 5ft., this gives
i"5id. per acre per foot of lift for coal only. The following is the
time the engines worked during the above period : —
80-H.P. Engine, 60-H.P. Engine, Coal consumed, Rainfall,
hours- hours. tons. inches.
1880-81 ... 5112 3912 2104 37'12
l88l-82 ... 26l6 1680 718 26-12
1882-83 ••¦ 2664 3756 I317 3287
Taking the latter period as a fair sample of a wet season, and
allowing the average dip of the wheels, throughout the whole period
the wheels were running, to be 2ft. 6in., and the head 4ft. 6in., the
average work done, in water lifted, would be 83-63. h.p. ; the average
consumption of coal, 4421b. per hour, equal to 5"281b. of coal per
hour per horse-power of water lifted and discharged.
Lade Bank Pumps.— These pumps discharge into Hobhole
Drain, about 9 miles above the Outfall sluice. The area of land
which is pumped is 35,000 acres. The average lift is about 4ft.,
the extreme being 5ft. ; and it was assumed by Sir John Hawkshaw
that pumping power should be provided, equivalent to lifting a con
tinuous rainfall of a Jin. in 24 hours, over the whole district. The
machinery consists of two pairs of high-pressure condensing vertical
and direct-acting steam engines, of 240 aggregate nominal H.P., of
the A frame type. Two massive A frame span over either side of
the pump well, and carry the crank-shaft, on which is fitted a large
mortice bevel fly-wheel. The cylinders, which are 30m. diameter
by 3oin. stroke, are placed outside of either A frame, being carried on
a heavy base plate. Two small A frames, fixed on the cylinder
covers, carry the parallel motion of a wrought iron grasshopper
beam, one end of which is attached to the crosshead of the
piston-rod, the other end being carried on a vibrating column.

387
From this beam the air-pump and feed-pump are worked. The
slide valves are worked by means of eccentrics on the crank shaft,
situate just inside the A frames. The bevel mortice fly-wheel gears
directly into a pinion on the pump spindle, which is suspended from
a bracket, spanning the engines, by means of an onion bolt
bearing. By this arrangement, not only can the fan be readily
withdrawn, but the bolt allows of any necessary adjustment in the
level of the fan.
Steam is supplied by 6 Lancashire boilers, 23ft. by 6Jft., the fur.
naces being 5ft. long by 2|ft., the working pressure being 5olb. to the
inch, and steam being cut off in the cylinder at quarter stroke. The
base-plates of the engine are partly supported by the brickwork, and
rest on and are bolted to the cast iron cylinder, which forms the
lining of the pump well. There is one pump well to each pair of
engines. The pumps are of the turbine type, the cases consisting of
cast iron cylinders, 12ft. in diameter, gft. 6in. deep, open through
out their whole depth on the delivery side, and furnished with self-
acting gates, 12ft. wide. In each well is a double-inlet Appold
centrifugal pump. The fan is placed horizontally, and is 7ft. in
diameter and 2ft. 4^in. wide, the mouth of the lower suction pipe
being 3ft. 6in. above the floor of the well, and 4ft. 6in, below the
surface of the water at the ordinary drainage level. The upper
suction pipe curves over, the mouth being about ift. 6in. above the
other. Each pair of engines and pumps works independently, and is
capable of lifting 350 tons of water a minute, 5ft. high, being the
largest amount in volume for one pump which had been raised at
the time. The engines are placed in a brick building 34ft. by 46 ft.
and 18ft. high. The boiler house is 69ft. by 38ft. The chimney
shaft is square, 90ft. high, and 4ft. 9m. inside, at the bottom. The
foundations rest on a bed of Portland cement concrete. Across the
main drain are two sluices, each 12ft. wide, having doors to shut
against the water on the lower side, and a lock, 70ft. long by 12ft.
wide, for the barges which navigate the main drain. The surface
area of the "main drains between the pumping station and the
Outfall sluice is about 100 acres. The machinery, buildings, and
lock were erected by Messrs. Eastons, Amos and Anderson, under
the direction of Sir John Hawkshaw, and cost £17,000. The
engines commenced working for the first time in Sept. 1867.
Talcing the work done as 700 tons, lifted 4ft. 6in. high per
minute, this gives £80-37 as ^le cost Per H.P. of water lifted.
The following account of the working of these pumps, a few
years after their erection, was given by Mr. E. Welsh, the Engineer Min. Pro. i.c.E.,
to the Commissioners : — Years ending March 31st,
1871 1S72.
Weight of water discharged in tons 13,564,190 18,296,130
Average lift in inches  4477 45'°°

36-02

38-20

794"25

980-5

328-00

397'25

2575

20-25

i8i.oo

135-00

135-00

85-00

12 0 ;

£158 12 0

12 0

18 14 0

WIGHT TO LIFT
WATER INTO THE
MAIN DRAINS.

388 Year ending March 31st,
1871 1872
Average revolutions made by engines
per minute
Sum of hours worked by both pumps
Coal consumed during working
hours in tons
Engine oil used, gallons ...
Tallow used, lbs. ...
Waste used, lbs. ...
Wages paid to first & second drivers
yearly  £158
Boy, yearly .. . ... ... ... 15
Firemen, 2085 \ hours at 3^d., and
2033 at 3^d. ... ... ... 30 80 29 13 o
Taking the above account of work done and coal consumed, the
H.P. of water lifted for both engines is equal to 72-52 H.P. for 1871
and 7g-i7 for 1872, the coal used equal to ii-37lbs. per H.P. of
water lifted for the former year, and n -461b. for the latter. This
seems a very large consumption of coal for machinery of this class
but the correctness of the result is borne out by the quantity used by
the engines and pumps for the North Sea Canal in Holland, which
are similar to these, and which are reported as using nib. per
H.P. of water lifted.
In 1875 there occurred a heavy flood in this district. The total
quantity of rain registered for October and November was 9-49^1.
To cope with this, both pumps were running continuously from
November 14th to the 20th, after which one pump only was used.
The two pumps were running 177 hours, and one pump for 562
hours, during which time 300 tons of coal were used.
In the flood of 1876-77 the engines were running from
December 27th to January nth ; the highest lift being 5ft. 2in., the
lowest 3ft. 3m., and the average during that period 4-2oft.
The cost of working the engines varies very considerably with
the amount of rainfall. Thus in the two wet years of 1881-1883,
when the amount of rain which fell between the 1st of September
and the 31st of the following August was over 34m., in each year, the
working charges of the Lade Bank Stations averaged £1,261, whereas
in the three dry years, i888-i8go, when the average rainfall was only
about 2oin., the cost was £305. The average cost, taking wet and
dry years, is about £674, which is equal to about ^"28 for every inch
of rainfall, or, taking the quantity of land drained by the engines as
35,000 acres, about the fifth of a penny per inch of rainfall per acre.
The right to lift the water from the interior drains into the
main water ways by pumping, has been contested. When the
Nocton Trustees superseded the windmills in their district, by steam
power, the Witham Commissioners applied for an injunction to
restrain them from doing this, on the ground that the steam engine

3«9
would, by throwing an increased quantity of water into the river,
damage the banks. The application was refused, Lord Brougham
holding that the injury was problematical, and that it did not follow _.
that the steam engine would be so used as to cause the injury Hobart.
which was apprehended.
The fen land in Bourne North Fen being very imperfectly
drained, the landowners made arrangements for raising the water
by steam power. This was opposed by the Black Sluice Commis
sioners, on the ground that the water thus sent into the main drain
would have a tendency to over-ride the drains from the other Fens.
After a protracted struggle the matter was settled by the Proprietors
of the fen obtaining a special Act of Parliament in 1841, giving
them power to use steam.
When the Bourne South Fen Commissioners erected an engine
for pumping the water into the Counter Drain, the Deeping Fen
Trustees applied for an injunction to stop this, but the action was
not proceeded with.

390

ANCIENT
AGRICULTURE.

CHAPTER XIV.
Agriculture.
SUCH parts of the Fenland as were inhabited by the Ancient
Britons were tenanted by persons who pursued a pastoral
life. The British name, Cor Iceni or Coritani, applied to this district
of England was a compound of the two words, Cor, sheep, and Icem,
oxen, and designated the occupation of the inhabitants.
After the Fenland was protected from the inundation of the sea,
by the embankments made during the Roman occupation, and the
land secured by the Car Dyke and the Witham from the high land
¦floods, it became practicable to grow crops of corn on the alluvial
soils. The Romans had to send large quantities of food for the use
of their troops and colonists in Germany and Gaul ; and the corn
grown on the rich soil of the Fenland, by their settlers here, was
exported from Wainfleet, Boston and Spalding, for the colonists,
as in more modern times corn has been exported from the settle
ments in the rich embanked lands of the Mississipi Valley, for use in
this country. At the close of the Roman occupation the Saxons began to
settle in the Fenland. Selecting a raised place, secure from winter
floods, it was first surrounded by a mound or low bank, within
which were built the dwellings for the chief and for his followers and
servants. After a time other settlers attached themselves to this
little colony, and built dwellings. Under the Saxon law, any man
was at liberty to build himself a dwelling on his lord's land, and to
hunt fowl and fish and provide for himself until such time as he
could earn a ' bocland.' The land around this settlement afforded
excellent grazing ground for sheep and cows. At night the cattle
were brought up within the enclosure of the ' ton ' and were made
secure from thieves and other dangers ; also when floods occured
the stock were driven off the low land and folded on the higher
pastures. This constant folding of the stock on the high ground
may account, to some extent, for the richness of some of the pasture
fields which are to be found scattered about the fenland.
origin of com- All the pure fen and low lying land, which afforded pasture in
summer, remained common land and was stocked by the settlers,
who had taken up their residence on the surrounding high lands.

SAXON
SETTLEMENTS.

MON RIGHTS.

391

CORN GROWING

THE MONKS
FARMERS.

EARLY
ENCLOSURES.

Inguiph.

Hence the origin of the common rights of the numerous parishes
which had to be dealt with at the time of the Enclosure.
A certain portion of the land near the homestead was tilled,
and corn was grown both for use and barter. Early documents of
the Anglo Saxons show that considerable quantities of wheat were Saxons in Eng-
raised for bread corn ; and a very copious supply of cereals would
be required for malting, large quanties of ale and beer being
consumed by our Saxon forefathers.
The spread of Christianity in this country and the settlement of
religious houses at Crowland in the eighth century, and subsequently
at Bardney, Boston, Swineshead, Kirkstead, Kyme, and other places,
led to a considerable development of agriculture in the Fens. The
Monks were generally good farmers and took great pains to improve
the value of the land round their monasteries, The large popula
tion of residents and visitors which had to be fed, daily, required the
production of meat, corn and vegetables to supply their wants.
In the eleventh century, some of the Landowners in South
Holland agreed to divide amongst them the Marshes, which were
then common, so as to be able to till the land, and cut the
grass for hay. The land thus broken up for tillage was found to be
rich and fruitful. Abbot Egelric is stated to have so improved a
portion of the marshes belonging to the monastery of Crowland, as
to be able to plough and sow them with corn. "In dry years he
tilled the Fens in four places, and for three or four years, had the
increase of a hundred-fold of what seed so-ever he sowed," the
Monastery being so enriched by these crops, that the whole country
thereabout was supplied therewith. In William the Conqueror's
reign, Richard de Rulos, Chamberlain to the King, ' being a man
much given to good husbandry, such as tillage and breeding cattle,'
took in a great part of the Common of Deeping Fen, and converted
it into meadows and pasture.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, wool was the staple com
modity of the country. Large quantities of sheep were kept, and a con
siderable amount of wool and sheep skins were exported in vessels
sailing from the Wash to Flanders, in exchange for manufactured
goods, which were brought back. The quantity of wool which was
allowed to be exported, was limited by public enactment to 30,000
sacks for the whole kingdom, each parish being allotted a definite
quantity. Thus the parish of Fishtoft was allowed to export ist.
8£lbs. ; Butterwick, 1 sack, 6st. 2^1bs. ; Benington, 2 sacks, 23st.
lib.; Leverton, 7 sacks, igst. 71b., which was the largest of any
parish in North Holland, except Boston.
Eight to twelve bushels of wheat per acre was reckoned a fair
yield, in the reign of Edward I, and the farmer considered himself
unable to pay his rent with a less yield than six bushels. Rent was
then about 6d. per acre for arable land and double this for grass land.

Thompson.

AGRICULTURE IN
THE I3TH AND
14TH CENTURIES

CONDITION AT
THE END OF THE
LAST CENTURY'

39?
Thompson. Some insight into the method of cultivation of those times may
be gained from the account of an Inquisition taken by a Jury at
Freiston, in 1343, as to certain lands belonging to William de Ros,
containing about 200 acres. It was found that they were worth
twelve-pence per acre ; that 100 acres were sown with winter seeds ;
30 acres with oats and 30 with beans and peas ; 4 score acres were
in fallow and unsown, every acre whereof was worth to let in pasture,
because in severalty, twopence and not more, because it is often
diverted by the plough ; also 4 score acres of meadow, worth only
twelvepence per acre, because the soil was dry and gravelly ; also
30 acres of pasture, worth fourpence per acre annually, because
between Michaelmas and Lady Day they were in common.
It is unnecessary further to follow the history of agriculture in
olden times, as it would vary little from that generally pursued
throughout the kingdom. The land free from floods, and such as
could be drained by the natural drains of the country and the works
carried out under the direction of the Commissioners of Sewers, was
enclosed and cultivated in the same way as the rest of the country.
The low lands and fens continued to be unenclosed Commons, up
to the begining of the present century, when they were drained,
enclosed and divided. They afforded a scanty subsistence to the
Fenmen, a hardy, rough and uncultivated set of inhabitants, who
gained their living by fishing, fowling and the raising of geese, and
attending to stock sent by the surrouuding farmers to g^raze on the
Fens in summer.
Cox, in his description of Lincolnshire, speaking of the division
of Holland, says, " The soil produces very little corn, but much
gmss, and is well stocked with fish and sea fowl. It is so soft that
they work their horses unshod. There is a great want of fresh
water in places, they having no other supply than rain water, pre
served in pits, which, if deep, soon turn the water brackish, and, if
shallow, grow presently dry. Here are also many quicksands,
which, the shepherds find to their cost, have a notable faculty to
suck in anything that comes upon them, their sheep being often
devoured by them."
In a petition to King Charles I., respecting the condition of the
East Fen, it was stated that the land,which before the draining was
not worth fourpence an acre, had become so fertile that they had
abundant crops of all sorts of corn and grain and seed for oil. In
state Papers, the middle of the 17th century, the price paid for ' hassocking,' »'.«.,
burning the hassocks and planting and sowing the reclaimed land with
coleseed, was stated to be £1 per acre ; that every acre of seed,
wheat, barley or oats cost 8/- ; reaping, threshing and carriage of
coleseed, to be fit to put on the boats, £3 per last.
Some idea of the condition of the common fen land may be
gathered from the fact that the yalue of the common rights, in the

Cox,
Magna
Britannia. 1719.

393
East and West Fens, at the end of the last century, was put at only V,LUI "'
<* ' * J COMMON RIGHTS-
2/10 per acre, and that land in the Witham Fens was let at the rate
of 1/6 an acre ; the best land in Deeping Fen, previous to its reclam
ation in 1779, was let for 7/- or 8/- an acre, and a great deal was in
such a state that nobody would rent it. Some of the land was sold
for £3 an acre.
The Fens were rendered less profitable than they otherwise survey of Lin-
would have been, owing to their being overstocked. Arthur Young re- colnsh,re 'rap-
marks," Some stock so largely as to injure themselves and oppress the
common ; others, in the line of jobbing, put in great quantities of
stock to sell again, which are altogether injurious to the fair Com
moner, who only stocks with what his farm produces." He gives
instances of a cottager, whose rental was £5 per year, having 1,500
to 2,000 breeding geese in the fen : of another cottager, living at
Brothertoft, who paid twenty shillings for his cottage and croft, his
stock in Holland Fen being 400 sheep, 500 geese, 7 milch cows, 10
or 12 young horses, and 10 young beast. After the Inclosure, this
same cottager rented 50 acres of the inclosed land at 25/- an acre,
and ' he greatly preferred his new situation, not only for comfort,
but for profit also.'
The difficulties of farming the uninclosed land may be realised
from the fact that, in the Witham Fens near Chapel Hill, the sheep
had frequently to be carried to their pastures in boats, and the cows
swam from island to island. Large tracts of these fens were covered
with thistles and water, four feet high. The sheep were constantly
subject to the rot, 40,000 having perished from this disease, in the o,*^,".*..,.
three fens, in one year. The cattle plague also made great devasta
tion amongst the beast grazing on the fens. In 1746, this distemper
broke out in the East and West Fens, and in a presentment made to
the Grand Jury at Lincoln, it is recorded, " That the cattle then
depasturing on the said fens were beginning to die very fast, and, no
persons being appointed to bury them, they became a great nuisance."
Inspectors were therefore appointed with authority to pay tenpence
for every beast that was buried, the amount being raised by a
special rate. The number of beast which died or were killed,
between May, 1747 and January, 1748, in the Wapentake of Kirton,
was 6,628,of which 2,784 were buried in the three fens, and only 2,346
remained alive. In the Wapentake of Skirbeck, 1,401 beast died, out
of a total of 4,201.
In Holland Fen, the ' respe ' was a fatal malady among the
sheep fed on cole, the loss often amounting to 15 per cent. The cole
was supposed to have a narcotic effect, which prevented the sheep
from making water. The remedy was for the shepherd to go into the
field at night and disturb them, and drive them along the roads in
the day time. Sheep also suffered from sore noses, owing to the
enormous number of thistles. These sore noses ran matter,

394

THE FENMEN.

FEN STOCK.

A. Young.

AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

Lincolnshire
Notes & Queries.

which prevented the sheep from feeding, and ultimately killed
them. In addition to the plague of disease, and constant quarrels as to
the stock, immense numbers of sheep and cattle were stolen, and
frequent outrages were committed on cattle ' by laming, killing,
cutting off tails, and wounding a variety of cattle, hogs, and
sheep.' So wild a country naturally reared up a people as wild as the fen,
and many of the Fenmen were as destitute of all the comforts and
amenities of civilised life as their isolated huts could make them.
Their occupation consisted in dairying and haymaking, looking after
the beast and sheep which grazed in the fen in summer ; and in
winter, gaining a living by fishing and fowling.
The sheep and cattle were large in limb, and covered with the
coarsest and shaggiest covering that was able to preserve life.
Those sent into the Fens from the high lands, for the summer graz
ing, were of a different class, being the progenitors of the Lincoln
sheep and beast of the present day. Many Scotch beast were sum
mered in the West Fen and then sent on to Norfolk to be fed on
turnips. Great numbers of a small breed of hardy horses, called
' Wildmore Tits,' were bred in the Fens, and remained there all the
winter. Many of these were lost from getting upon the frozen pools,
when, their legs spreading outwards, they becamed 'screeved ' or split,
and thus perished.
Even before the reclamation and drainage of the Fens, and the
introduction of the improved system of agriculture, there appears to
have been periodical times of depression, and agriculture in Lin
colnshire was in as bad, or even a worse, condition than has recently
befallen the county, in common with the rest of the country. In
a letter preserved in the Record Office, written by Sir William
Pelham of Brocklesby, in 1623, he says, " I am now heare with my
sonn to settle some countrie affairs, and my own private, which
were never soe burdensome unto mee as now, for manie insufficient
tenants have given upp theyr farmes and scheep walks, soe
as I am forced to take them into my owne hands, and borrow
munnie uppon use to stocke them. . . Our cuntry was never in
that wante that now itt is, and more of munnie than corn, for there
are many thousands in thease parts who have soulde all they have,
even to theyr bedd straw, and cann not gett worke to earne any
munny. Dogg's flesh is a dainty disch, and found upon search in
many houses ; and also such horse flesch as hath laine long in a
dike for hounds ; and the other day one stole a scheepe who for
meere hunger tore a legg out and did eatte it raw. All that is most
certaine true, and yete the great time of scarcity not yett come."
In the following century the country was again suffering from
bad times, due to wet seasons and low prices,

CONDITION
OF THE FENS
PREVIOUS TO
INCLOSURE.

395
In 1735, a petition was presented to the Court of Sewers, from Bofton°Court ot
Landowners and holders of land in the parishes lying between Boston Sewers- !735-
and Wainfleet, representing the great damage the petitioners were
suffering from want of drainage ; and the Court, having viewed the
district, found it " in a grievous and deplorable condition, by reason
of the violent and excessive inundation of fresh water, which in the
late extroardinary wet season has descended upon them from the
high country." In consequence, certain works were ordered to be
done, and a tax laid to raise the necessary money ; but, owing, " to
the general poverty of the kingdom and universal want of trade, or
reasonable profit for the sale of any commodities produced, and the
particular distress in East Holland," it was found very difficult to
collect the tax, and time was given for payment.
Arthur Young, in his General View of the Agriculture of the
County of Lincoln, drawn up for the Board of Agriculture, in i7gg,
has given a very full description of the condition and farming of the
Fens previous to their enclosure, from which the following particulars ' oang' *799'
axe taken. He describes the Fenland thus. " Contiguous to the
sea, in the southern part of Lincolnshire, there spreads a great extent
of low land, much of which was once marsh and fen ; but is now
become, by the gradual exertions of above 150 years, one of the
richest tracts in the kingdom ; these'great works are yet not finished,
but, from the noble spirit which has animated this country, promise
speedily to be effected. It is a region of fertility without beauty, in
a climate not salubrious to the human constitution." He describes
the country from Long Sutton to Freiston, with some variations of
peat near Spalding, as one of the finest tracts he has seen: "a rich
brown, dark loam of admirable texture. The land near Boston is a
rich loam, upon clay first, to some depth ; and then the silt, which
is a porous sea sand, which has been deposited ages ago, becomes
firm with rain, but is not fertile. Near the sea there is an infertile,
very stiff blue clay upon the surface ; grass almost always mown ;
the very richest pastures are a black mould, or mass of vegetable parti
cles. The fen lands consist of a heavy deep sandy loam, which makes
very rich breeding pastures for sheep, but not for feeding ; another
part of rich soapy blue clay, and another of black peat, consisting of
decayed vegetables, and, when drained, is deemed by the inhabitants
to be, of all others, proportioned to rent, the best for arable." With
respect to the size and character of the holdings, he says that "a fifth
part of South Holland is in small freeholds, and in the fen parishes
half is so." In Holland, the largest farms ran from 100 to 400
acres, but many were very small. " In the Hundred of Skirbeck,
property is very much divided and freeholds numerous, (very few
farms exceeding a rental of £100 a year). In the parish of Freiston,
containing about 3,000 acres, there is not one plot of more than 48
acres together, belonging to one person." Several farms he found

396

COURSE OF
CROPPING.

Clarke .
R. A. Society's
Journal.

occupied by the Wold farmers for the purpose of maintaining their
stock. Of the farm buildings he says little, but remarks that large
numbers of cottages had been built in the newly inclosed Fens, many
of which were made of ' mud and straw ' and thatched, and cost £30
each, or £40 a pair ; brick and tile cottages cost £60 a pair ; each
cottage containing a room below and one above, with entrance
through a small room used for washing, and a small dairy.
Speaking generally of this district he considered that the farm
ing was carried out under great advantages, from the richness of
the soil, which he reckoned amongst the first in the kingdom ; from
the freedom from tithes of the greater part of the land ; and the
low burden of poor rates, as compared with other counties.
The plough used in the Fenland, he considered "a most excellent
tool ; the mould board of a good sweep, the throat a segment of an
ellipsis, and the form of the share, of great merit, well steeled and
sharpened with files ; the coulter a sharpened steel wheel." Two
horses were used to draw this implement, and in this business many of
the men were very clever, making their furrows as straight as a line.
The method of cultivation pursued on the land in the newly
inclosed Fens, was to pare and burn the surface, the ashes being
spread over the land. The land was then cropped with oats and
cole, till the first luxuriance of the soil was somewhat abated. When
the land began to acquire consistence from mixing, by tillage, wheat
was sown. In Holland Fen the course of cropping generally
followed was 1 , fallow for cole to be eaten by sheep ; 2, oats ; 3, beans ;
4, wheat ; 5, clover, mown once and then fed ; or 1, oats ; 2, wheat ;
3, cole ; 4, oats ; 5, white clover for 3 years.
On the old arable land the course was cole, oats, wheat, clover.
Fallowing was not uncommon and was called ' bobbing.' The land
was ploughed over in the winter, cross ploughed in the spring, and
harrowed and ploughed again in May or June, when the roots of
weeds, &c, were collected together by a long-tined wooden harrow,
and an instrument called a bob, and burnt, and the land afterwards
sown with cole seed. A little barley was grown and also a few beans.
About fifty years later Mr. Clarke gives the course of cultiva
tion in the Peat Fens, as generally commencing with paring and
burning, then coleseed ; two crops of oats ; seeds and rye grass,
lasting 3 years ; then the surface pared and burnt again for cole,
followed by wheat ; then seeds and wheat again. The drainage was
entirely on the surface, the clay land being ploughed into eight-feet
lands. He says that pastures of rye grass, if sown on the newly
broken up peat lands, after being left 6 or 7 years, reverted to the
natural fen grass, which then required to be again pared and burnt.
Many of the rich alluvial lands formerly became much impov
erished by continual cropping, as many as ten corn crops having
been taken in succession.

397
A great improvement ha s in recent years taken place in the Clarke.
farming of this district, the land on the whole being well cultivated,
kept clean from weeds and highly m anured. The ordinary system
pursued is the ' five field ' ; two-fifths of the arable land being sown
with white corn ; one-fifth, clover seeds ; one-fifth, fallow and sown
with green crop ; one-fifth, beans or peas, the wheat following
either seeds, beans or peas. The course of cropping is, however,
exceedingly various, owing to the many special crops that are grown,
and the freedom allowed the tenants.
The crops principally grown on the newly enclosed Fens were cropping.
oats, rape ar.d coleseed. The crops most generally cultivated in the
Fenland at the present time, are wheat, potatoes and mustard ;
oats are largely grown, also peas and beans and, in a less degree,
barley. A great deal of the land is also cultivated with special
crops, as celery, woad, and vegetables for human food. The follow.
ing description covers all the principal crops now, or formerly,
grown in the Fenland.
Rape was cultivated in Deeping and Holland Fens, the seed • rape.
being sown after paring and burning the old grass land. The crop A'Youns- 'rap-
was worth from £2 to £3 an acre for feeding sheep. An acre would
carry 10 sheep for 10 weeks, and be worth sixpence per head per
week. Sheep were frequently sent from the high country into the
Fens to eat the rape. It was sometimes left for seed. Two acres of
seed, in Holland Fen, soon after the enclosure, produced a last of
seed, worth 50 guineas, and the price realised was seldom less than
30 guineas. Coleseed was a staple crop for the newly broken up lands. As cole seed.
early as the middle of the 17th century, the Adventurers grew cole
seed on their newly reclaimed land in the Bedford Level. It was
sown between March and August, and grew from 3ft. to 4ft. high.
A crop would carry 20 sheep to the acre for 20 weeks, the value being
from 30/- to 60/- an acre, a very good crop fetching as much as
80/-. Sheep fattened on it with great rapidity. When allowed to
stand for seed, the yield varied from 2^ to 4 or 5 quarters to the
acre. The newly reclaimed land along the Witham yielded
about 3 quarters.
Both coleseed and rape were largely used for making soap and
oil. In a petition sent to King Charles I, it is stated that since
the draining of the Fens in the Bedford Level, they had abundant
crops of all sorts of grain and ' seed for oyl.'
Oats were very largely grown on the newly enclosed fen land, oats.
generally following coleseed. In some cases they were taken for
three years in succession, followed by cole and then oats again. The
yield in Deeping Fen was from 8 to 10 quarters. In Holland Fen
the crop is given as producing, at the end of the last century, 7
quarters ; and along the Witham 8 to g quarters was an average

398

Marat's
Lincolnshire

Appendix V.

crop. Marat gives the average yield in East Holland as 6 quarters.
The grain of the crops first grown was generally light, but
improved as the land became more cultivated. The quantity of
oats sent away from Boston, after the inclosure of the Fens, much
exceeded that of all other grain. The quantity of corn shipped from
Boston for the 5 years (1805 to 1809) was as follows : —
Wheat ... ... ... ... ... 3,983 quarters

 25,5g5i
 75i
 1.363
increased to 6o,5gi qrs. and oats to

Oats 
BarleyBeans and peas ...
In 1 813 the wheat had
273*993 qrs-
Wheat was not generally grown on the new lands, until after
several crops of oats and cole. In Holland Fen, a great deal of the
wheat grown was of inferior quality, owing to the luxuriance of the
straw, the yield being about four quarters to the acre. On the
newly broken up marsh lands the yield averaged about five quarters.
The yield on the old arable land, in the Hundred of Skirbeck, is
given as three-and-a-half quarters.
At the present time the Fenland is one of the largest wheat
producing districts in England, the soil being admirably adapted
for its cultivation, and the quality of the corn grown being very good.
The average yield of a fairly good season may be taken as being
about four-and-a-half quarters to the acre, on the good lands, but
crops of seven and even eight quarters have been obtained. The
average price of wheat, which varied from 55/g to 44/4 between
1870-80, fell to 2g/g in 1889 and 26/4 in 1893. In 1894, the price
of good fen wheat fell as low as 16/6 per quarter, which is the lowest
price recorded during the present century. After the harvest of 1896,
the price was about 23/- a quarter. In the Appendix will be found
particulars as to the time of harvest, and other matters relating to
this crop for the past 60 years.
The average time, forthe past 25 years, when the first new
corn has been sold in Boston Market, which may be taken as about
ten days from the commencement of harvest, is the" 20th of August.
The best crops in the Fens, since 1841, were in 1844, 1847, 1849,
1851, 1852, 1854, 1855, 1857, 1863, 1864, 1868, 1870, 1874, 1885,
1887, and 1896, and the worst in 1845, 1850, 1855, 1859, i860, 1861,
1869, 1872, and 1880.
Beans are grown on all the strong lands, intervening between the
cereal crops. The yield may be taken as about five quarters to the
acre, large crops, in good seasons, yielding six to seven quarters.
Blue peas are grown, following on oats and succeeded by wheat.
The yield is from three to five quarters to the acre. The price,
during recent years, has varied from 50/-, about 20 years ago, to 35/-
in 1887, and, since then, from 60/-, to about 44/- at the present time.

399
The land requires to be in clean condition for the cultivation of this
crop, otherwise it becomes smothered with the weeds.
Potatoes were largely cultivated at the begining of the present
century about Spalding. Also at Tattershall, Coningsby and
Brothertoft, the crop there being 480 bushels per acre, at 8olb. per
bushel. The cost of raising the crop is given by Young as £9 8s. 8d.
and the return £6 us. 4d. The Potatoes were valued at 8d. per
bushel, and used for feeding bullocks, and young cattle. One farmer
at Spalding is reported as having grown 200 acres, for feeding
bullocks, &c, but ' was ruined though the crops were very great.'
At Freiston they were grown by Mr. Linton, but " though they
were a valuable crop, yet the uncertainty of sale, and the extra
ordinary attention they demanded, induced him to give up the
cultivation. At Leake and Wrangle there were some wastes which
the cottagers took in, and on -which they cultivated potatoes ; they
had, however, no right, and being rather a lawless set, the practice
was found productive of some evils." About Tattershall and Con
ingsby they were grown for human food. The cost of production
is given as £9 19s. 6d., and the yield £12 13s. 4d. leaving a profit
of £2 13s. iod. per acre. The yield was put at 1,400 pecks and the
price obtained, 2d. per peck, or 2/- a sack. The kind grown were
' Ox Nobles.' The best eating potatoes at that time are given by
Young as Spotted Lemons, Old Rough Reds, Red Rose Kidneys,
Early Reds, Early Manlys and Captain Harts. The return from
these be estimated at 1,000 pecks of marketable potatoes per acre,
worth threepence per peck.
Potatoes are still extensively grown in this district, and a large
area of the best pasture land has been broken up for potato growing,
the course of cropping being alternately potatoes and wheat. These
lands have been generally purchased or occupied by small Owners
and Occupiers and very high prices paid for them. Old pasture land
let by auction for a term of five years, to break up, fetched as much
rental as £10 to £12 per acre, a few years ago. In the neighbour
hood of Wainfleet, the rent of some of the Toft land, which is
admirably adapted for growing early potatoes, reached £5 per acre.
The sort then principally grown were Flukes, followed by
Champions. These have since gone out of favour, and been succeeded
by Early Roses, Magnum Bonums and Imperators. Other description
grown in less quantities, are Beauties of Hebon, White Elephants,
Schoolmaster, and for the early sort, Myatt's Prolifics ; Snowdrops,
Sutton's Abundance, and Reading Giants are the favourites at the
present time.
The early seed potatoes are generally placed in shallow wooden
trays, about 2ft. 6in. long, ift 8in. wide and 2 Jin. deep, in February ;
and kept in a warm outhouse, where they are allowed to sprout
before being placed in the ground.

A. Young. 1799

400

Report to Royal
Commission on
Agriculture. Wilson Fox.
1895.

A. Young.

The yield varies according to the season. On good land the
early crops produce from 6 to 10 tons per acre. The later crops
yield from 7 to 10 tons and up to 13 or 14 under favourable conditions.
The method of cultivation for potatoes is generally as follows :
the land is ploughed up in the autumn ; in the spring it is harrowed
and worked to a fine tilth. It is then ridged in 30m. ridges. From
10 to 15 loads of fold yard manure to the acre is spread in the
furrows, and from 4 to 7 cwt. of superphosphate of lime is also
sown over the land. The sets are put in the furrows by women at
from 10 to 15m. apart, taking about seven sacks of seed potatoes to
the acre. The ridges are then split with the plough. When the
potatoes are taken up, if they are not sent off at once to market, they
are deposited in long mounds or ' graves,' and covered over first
with straw and then with earth of sufficient thickness to keep out
the frost, tufts of straw being carried through the top of the grave
for ventilation. If wheat succeeds the potatoes, the seed is drilled in without
any further working of the land.
Woad. (Isatis Tinctoria). Derived from the Saxon, ' Wad,'
the word now commonly used by fen men to describe this plant.
There is no record as to the early cultivation of this plant in the
Fens, but that it was cultivated in this country from very early times
may be gathered from the following description given by Julius
Caesar : — " AJ1 the Britons die themselves with woad, which makes
them a sky blue colour and thereby more terrible to their enemies."
It was also used for giving its colour to the famous Lincoln green
cloth. The use of woad as a dye has been superseded by indigo,
and it is now chiefly used by woollen dyers for mixing with indigo
to excite fermentation and to -fix the colour. The first authentic
description of its growth is given by Arthur Young, who says that
at the end of the last century it was grown on an extensive scale by
Mr. Cartwright, at Brothertoft.
Being a tap-rooted plant, penetrating 8in. or gin., it requires a
deep soil, and can only be grown on new, rich land. The plant
was found to thrive best on fresh grass land. Grass land was
frequently hired for 3 or 4 years, with permission to break it up and
grow woad. The rent paid was from £4 to £5 an acre. The seed
was sown from March to May, in rows, 8in. or gin. asunder,
requiring 88 bushels of seed in husk. Old grass land required
harrowing as many as 12 or 15 times to get all the clods and roots
off. The crop required twice weeding. When the plant was about
8in high the leaves were gathered, two crops being obtained in a
year, the weeding and plucking being done by men, women and
children on their knees.
The leaves as gathered were taken to a mill to be crushed.
These mills consisted of 3 wheels, about 7ft. in diameter on one side,

401
and 6 on the other, and 3ft. wide, formed of wood with projecting
iron bars on their circumference, 4m. apart. The path on which the
wheels revolved was about 30ft. in diameter. It required 8 horses
to drive the mill. The leaves, after being crushed in the mill, were
made into balls, which were laid upon trays and placed under a
shed, covered only at the top, and left to dry. In winter the dry
balls were taken from the store, broken up, turned over several
times and ground to powder by the same mills as previously used,
spread on the floor, and after being moistened with water, allowed
to ferment, the process being termed ' couching.' This fermenting
process required considerable care in order to make the material
' beaver ' well, a term descriptive of the fineness of the capillary
filaments into which it draws out when broken between the finger
and thumb. When the fermenting process was completed, the
woad was cooled and brought to a proper condition for packing in
casks, and sent to the manufacturers in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
After being packed in the casks it can be kept for several years.
The growing of woad is confined to very few districts. At the time
of Young's inspection, the only places were at Brothertoft, 300 acres
on Moulton Common on the inclosure, and at 3 other places, whose
names are not given. Beyond this there were not 50 tons grown in
the rest of the kingdom.
The crop requires the richest loam soil with a clay bottom, and
is considered as exhaustive to the land, but this is partly compen
sated for by the thorough cleaning it gives. The yield is given by
Mr. Clarke as from 2 to 3 tons to an acre. In bad seasons the yield Agriculture of
falls to about half a ton. Where oats were grown after woad, very Ltncy™h%re.
large crops were obtained, and the wheat that followed yielded 6
quarters to the acre.
The supply of woad is still almost entirely obtained from the
Fen districts. The process of growing and manufacture is the same
as that already described, except that the horses for driving the mill
have been superseded by a steam engine. The quantity required
being very limited, an arrangement is generally entered into by the
growers not to have more than a certain number of acres under
cultivation in any one year. The only growers of woad in England
at the present time are Messrs. Nussey at Algarkirk, Mr. Graves of
Skirbeck, Mr. Short of Wyberton and Mr. Howard at Parson Drove.
Each of these grow about ten acres, but Mr. Graves in some
seasons has had as much as fifty acres and has given as much as £10
an acre rent, and from £150 to £200 for the purchase of the best
pasture land on which to grow it. The price has declined from
£20 to £25 per ton, which it formerly made, to about £g per
ton. Chickory was also formerly grown in the same districts as
J 1 ,.i • , CHIOKORY.
woad, the leaves being used for the stock, and the roots, which

402

HEMP AND FLAX.

PARSLEY.

A. Young.

CABBAGES.

A. Young.

were taken up about Michaelmas, being sent away for grinding and
mixing with coffee.
Hemp and flax have been cultivated in this county from very
early times, spinning and weaving being practised by the Britons.
It was much grown in the last century, in the neighbourhood of
Swineshead. The cultivation of the crop was very similar to that
of hemp, the process being to sow the seed in May, at the rate of
3 bushels to the acre. The crop was pulled up at old Lammas,
and after being bound in sheaves was soaked in water or ' retted ' ;
it was then laid on an eddish field where it remained for two or
three weeks, then tied in bundles, taken to the barn, broken and
swingled and sent to market. The value varied from 2/6 to 7/6 a
stone, 5/- being about the average. An average crop was about 45
stones, and the cost of growing, including rent of land &c, was from
£8 to £g. There used to be flax mills at Surfleet and in the East
Fen. There was also a fair for hemp and flax at Spalding, held on
the 27th April. Neither of these crops have been grown in the Fen
land for several years.
Parsley was also grown in Holland Fen. It was formerly
cultivated as an artificial grass, mixed with white clover. It lasted
three years and supported from 6 to 10 sheep to the acre. The
quantity of seed was about 2lbs. of parsley, mixed with I4lbs. of
white clover. The experience gained in the use of this plant led to
the observation that "it seemed to merit more attention than it
has received and would probably be found a valuable article upon
any sheep farm." The practice of mixing parsley with grass seeds .
is still pursued to a limited extent. J
Cabbages were grown at the beginning of the present century,!
both in Holland Fen and at Freiston, and were used for feeding!'
sheep and bullocks. As an example of their use it may be stated j
that Mr. Linton of Freiston, " in the winter of 1795, fed 8 bullocks !
with cabbages and a small quantity of hay, given in cribs in a
well littered yard ; they were, at putting to cabbages, worth £16
each, on the 16th December, and about the end of February were
sold in Smithfield for £25 each. Their consumption of hay was not
one third of their food. They ate three acres, which yielded
£48." Cabbages are still grown to a large extent, but principally for
human food, and are sent away by railway to Sheffield, Manchester,
Sunderland, Newcastle and other large towns in the midland and
northern counties. The cost of carriage varies according to distance, ,
from 10/- to 20/- per ton. A good crop yields from 18,000 to 20,000 _
scores of cabbages, or about 15 tons to the acre. They are some- '
times sent loose in the trucks, but generally packed in crates, con- j:
taining 8 dozen, weighing 1 J cwt. The price realised is about 6d. ^
per dozen i

4<>3

Cauliflowers and cauliflower broccoli are also now much culti
vated, the former for autumn and the latter for spring use. Except
where these crops follow potatoes, which the former generally do,
the land is manured very highly. A good crop of these vegetables
yields from 6,000 to 7,000 score per acre, equal in weight to about
12 tons. They are packed in crates, containing about 5 dozen and
weighing 2 cwt., each crate.
Celery is another special crop that is grown by the smaller
holders on the rich alluvial soils. The principal market for this
crop is in the large towns in the midland and northern counties and
in London. A fair crop yields 1,500 dozen heads to the acre, equal
in weight to about 30 tons. A bundle containing 12 heads weighs
about 42lbs., although, occasionally, picked heads will weigh as much
as double this. The price realised a few years ago by the grower
was eighteen-pence per dozen, a good crop realising at this price
over £100 per acre. It has now fallen to sixpence per bundle. The
celery is frequently planted in rows, 6ft. apart, with two rows of
potatoes between, the plants being set 4m. apart. When potatoes
and celery are thus planted together, as much as 50 tons of stable
manure to the acre is placed on the land. If the celery is planted
alone about half this quantity is used.
Mangolds are very extensively grown all over the Fenland. The
best crops are obtained in the peat district in the East Fen and in
Deeping Fen. They are frequently exported and sent away for the
use of cow-keepers in the large towns. An ordinary crop of
mangolds yields 20 tons to the acre, a good crop 40 tons, and even
up to 60 tons have been grown. The price obtained varies from
14/- to 20/- per ton. Sugar beet has been tried in the East Fen,
but it grew too coarse and its cultivation was given up. Mangolds
are occasionally grown for seed, the method of treatment being the
same as for turnips. In 1893 a croP fr°m 26 acres realised £2,000,
equal to £80 an acre.
Carrots are grown to a considerable extent on the peat and silty
lands. An average crop yields about 15 tons to the acre, and crops
of 20 tons are occasionally gathered. The price obtained is about
20/- a ton.
The supply of mustard comes almost entirely from the fen
districts of England and from Holland. A mustard market is held
at Wisbech during the months of October and November, which
the agents of the principal manufacturers attend. A large portion
of the cropping is however sold privately, the agents visiting the
crops during their growth. Mustard is grown largely on the peat
land in the East Fen, in Deeping Fen, and also on the alluvial
lands. Two sorts are grown, the brown and the white. The former
is considered to be of the better quality, produces most, and fetches
the highest price, but it requires the best land. The white will

CAULIFLOWERS
AND BROCCOLI.

MANGOLDS.

4°4
stand bad weather better than the brown, does not shake out so
readily, and will remain out until September, whereas the brown
should be harvested a month earlier.
The growth of mustard was first commenced in the Bedford
Level, about the begining of the present century, and gradually
extended to Lincolnshire. Very high prices were then obtained for
the produce of this crop. It is narrated that a waggon load of
mustard taken to Wisbech market by a Lincolnshire farmer, and sold
at the rate of 50/- a bushel, realized £500. Arthur Young makes no
mention of the growth of this crop in Lincolnshire in his report (1799.)
Mustard is sown in March or April, following potatoes or wheat
and is succeeded by wheat or oats, although this rotation is varied
by the mustard following fallows. An average crop yields from
2\ to 4 quarters to the acre. Five quarters is sometimes obtained
on new land highly manured.
The price has gradually declined from 20/- a bushel, which it
fetched about 20 years ago, to 15/-, 10 years ago; 10/- in 1887,
and about 12/- in recent years.
turnip seed. Turnips are not very extensively grown for sheep feeding
in the Fenland, but the crop is frequently allowed to stand
for seed. The yield is from 3 to 4 quarters per acre, \\ quarters
being considered a very good crop. The price realized used to be
about £1 is. od. a bushel, but in 1894 it had fallen to about
12/- a bushel. The seed is sown in July. The turnips are taken
up and re-planted in November, and the seed is ready for harvesting
in July. The best method of planting is by dibbling the turnips in, at
intervals of i8in. apart, a man and a boy doing about the third of an
acre in a day. They are sometimes put in with a spade, and occasion
ally by merely planting in a furrow made by the plough and then
covered in by splitting the ridge.
In the neighbourhood of Holbeach, where the soil is
some of the most productive of any in the Fenland, poppies
were formally frequently grown, the yield being from 20,000 to
30,000 large heads to the acre. The small heads were crushed
for laudanum.
onions. Onions have also been largely grown in South Holland. In
suitable seasons the quality of the crop is very good, but in wet
weather the onions grow coarse. The cost of growing this crop is
very great, seed sometimes costing as much as 10/- per lb., 301b.
being required for sowing an acre. Weeding costs from £5 to £6.
A good yield of pickling onions is about 7 to 8 tons, and of large
onions 10 to 12 tons, an acre.
peppermint. Peppermint was at one time grown, the soil being well suited
to produce bulk, but the quality was not so fine as that grown at
Mitcham. Mr. Wilson pox states that a farmer in the neighbour
hood of Deeping St. James still grows a considerable acreage.

Cox,

405
The Fenland does not possess any special reputation for the
growth of any particular kind of fruit. Formerly " there was
one sort of pippin apple peculiar to Lincolnshire which grew Magna
at Kirton and thereabouts and from thence was called the Kirton
Pippin, which is a most wholesome and delicious apple."
The cultivation of fruit trees and bush fruit has, however, with
in the last few years very largely increased amongst the small
holders. The fruit is grown on the system of mixed cropping, the
apple, pear or plum trees being planted in rows, one chain apart,
the trees being about 7 yards apart in the rows, and having four goose
berry or three currant trees between them. The land between the
rows is cultivated for vegetables, an occassional crop of oats or
wheat being taken. Bush trees are used, as the drip from these
does not interfere with the cropping as much as from the standards.
The apples principally grown are, Keswick Codling, Norman-
ton Wonder, Blenheim Orange, King of the Pippins, Lord Grosvenor
Warner's King, Ecklinville Seedling, and, for the newer sorts,
Domino, and Bramley's Seedling. The average produce from trees
after ten years growth may betake at about 15 pecks from each
tree, 25 pecks being a large crop.
The rich alluvial land of the Fens suits the Bush fruits
exceedingly well and occassionally very large crops are obtained,
" instances being given where black currants have yielded as much
as £80 an acre. An average crop of these currants may be taken
at 7lbs. for each tree, and of gooseberries, after about five years
growth, 81bs. The gooseberries principally grown are Crown Bob,
Aston Red and Winham's Industry.
The cost of planting an acre of land in the way above described
may be estimated at about £3, the number of standard trees
required being 25, which cost eighteenpence each, and of hushes 150,
costing 15/- per hundred.
Raspberries are the best paying crop of any of the small fruits,
being sent away in large quantities for making preserves, to
Rotherham, Hull, and other towns. The price realised is about £20
per ton. The canes cost 5/- per hundred, and are set in rows, 4^ft.
apart and 3ft. in the rows. They are either tied to wire run on posts
along the rows, or two canes arched over and tied together.
The weight of a peck of fruit as fixed by the authorities in
Boston Market is as follows: apples iolbs. ; cherries and currants
i4lbs. ; gooseberries i61bs. ; pears and plums i81bs.
Scattered about in different parts of the Fenland, especially in
the neighbourhood of Spalding, Gosberton, Holbeach, Whaplode,
Surfleet, Swineshead and Wyberton will be found small plots of
snowdrop, crocus and other bulbs, which are grown for sale.
Snowdrops appear to flourish better in this neighbourhood than
in Holland and command a better market than other bulbs. They

WEIGHT OFFRUIT.

FLOWER BULBS,

406
are a crop well adapted for cultivation by the Cottager and yield a
large return, a perch of snowdrops, three years after being set, yield
ing about 2,000 marketable bulbs, worth at the present timeabout 10/-
a thousand. A few years ago an acre of land in the East Fen yielded
300,000 marketable bulbs, and nearly as many small ones for replant
ing, the former selling for £140. The bulbs are planted in October,
in rows, gin. to i2in. apart, and are spaced 3m. apart. They are
taken up and sold in July, after being planted 3 years.
The crocus bulb does not meet with such a ready sale or com
mand half the price of snowdrops, those from Holland being
considered by the gardeners of better quality. They yield about
2,000 marketable bulbs to the perch.
During the last few years other bulbs, such as daffodils and
Narcissus have also been grown, both for the bulbs and flowers, the
latter being sent up to Covent Garden. In a garden at Pinchbeck
the first year's growth of Narcissus yielded a profit of £5 an acre, the
second year £15, and the third £20. They cost from £10 to £15 to
plant.
«5or?°?oFco«- Violets and other flowers are also grown for market. Mr. Fox
"culture0" fiat mentions one case where an acre of violets was being grown, and
another where a gardener, who was growing half an acre, lost £50,
in 1894, from red spider.
pasture. Arthur Young, in describing the grazing lands of the Fenland
as ' the glory of Lincolnshire,' says, that "the soil is of rich loamy
clay, some very stiff, but of uncommon fertility. Generally
these lands in summer will carry a bullock to an acre and
a half, besides 4 sheep to the acre, and 2 sheep an acre in winter.
Some of the lands in Long Sutton that were once Common, will
carry 5 or 6 sheep to the acre, and 4 bullocks on 10 acres. On the
grass land in Deeping Fen, 5 sheep are kept on an acre from Lady Day
to Michaelmas, and if in winter.... Near Boston, a field of 21 acres
kept from Lady Day to Michaelmas 19 heavy beast and 100 sheep,
and wintered 50 sheep ; another field of 8 acres, 10 oxen and 40
sheep in summer and 30 sheep in winter.... Forty acres at Algarkirk,
300 sheep, 16 fatting bullocks, 3 cows and 4 horses ; and 3 sheep to
the acre in winter.... In the grazing lands at Swineshead a beast an
acre of from 40 to 70 stones and 2 or 3 sheep, with 2 sheep to the
acre in winter.... At Gosberton, (marsh land,) 7 sheep to the acre
and a bullock also ; and 300 tod of wool have been clipped from 90
acres. In the parishes of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick,
Benington, Leverton, Leake and Wrangle, about two-thirds were
pasture, part mown, and one-third tillage.... The best kind of
pasture was stocked with shearling wethers bought at the spring
markets at Boston, and by beasts, the medium lands by young
beasts and hogs, and the poorer grass land mown. The best
lands carried 3 sheep per acre, winter and summer, 10 acres

1851.

SALT MARSHES.

407
carrying 10 beasts, weighing from 54 to 100 stones ; the medium
land winters about 5 sheep to 2 acres, with 4 per acre in summer,
with a few cows and young beasts.... The hay crop was estimated at
35/- an acre, the eddish being eaten by cattle or lamb hogs."
The measurement of some of these pasture lands was considerably
above a statute acre, and contained about 4J roods.
Mr. Clarke, writing in 1847, describes the soil of the Fenland as Clarke's
. 1 1 . . r Agriculture of
being ot a rich dark loam, of admirable texture, containing some of Lincolnshire.
the richest grazing land in the kingdom.
The salt marshes outside the sea banks, at the present time
afford very useful sheep pasture, especially to stock brought from the
high country. The herbage has frequently a scouring effect on sheep
when first turned on, but this soon passes off, and the saline matter
contained in the soil and herbage is considered beneficial to the feet
of the sheep. The grazing on the marshes is in the best order after
rain, which washes the grit off the grass left by the tides, and
freshens the growth. The rental of these marshes varies from 6/-
to 10/- an acre.
The land of the Fenland is very highly cultivated, the Occupiers
having long since realized the fact that it is more economical to
obtain a large crop off a small area of land than the same quantity
offa larger area. Artificial manures have, therefore, been largely
resorted to, to supplement that made by feeding in the yards.
The use of oil cake, for feeding cattle and enriching the farm
yard manure, appears to have been in vogue since the last century,
and very large quantities of linseed and cotton cake are now used
throughout the Fenland. There is a large mill for crushing the seed
at Boston, and there are mills at Lincoln. The rest of the supply
required is obtained from Hull and other places. Crushed bones
were very largely used at one time, but have been superseded by
superphosphate of lime. Fish is frequently used as a manure, when
it can be obtained. In winter, very large quantities of sprats are
brought to Boston by the fishing boats, and sold for manure, at the
rate of about 20/- per ton. Mussels have also been used, but the
protective laws regulating the fishery now prevent the small mus
sels being carried off the beds for this purpose. Before the inclosure
of the East Fen, large quantities of sticklebacks used to find their
way into the pits, and were collected and sold for manure. The
peat lands, after their first inclosure, were very considerably bene
fited by sinking trenches, at intervals of from 7 to 12 yards, three feet
wide and two feet deep, digging up the clay and spreading it over
the peat. This process cost from one shilling and eightpence to two
shillings a chain.
Lime is seldom used as a manure. No doubt this is the result
of experience as to its benefit, but it would appear as if it were a
manure well adapted to neutralise the acid formed in the peat,

Clarke.

408
and to warm and improve the mechanical texture of the clay
soils. The cattle originally bred and fattened in the Lincolnshire
marshes and fens were large boned and rather coarse animals, of a
hardy nature. They fattened rapidly on the rich marsh land near
Burgh and the sea coast, and. on the pastures in the Fenland,
weighing, when fat, about 70 to 80 stones.
In the beginning of the present century Mr. Cartwright of
Brothertoft obtained a short-horned bull from Mr. Collins of Dur
ham ; others followed his example. By mixing the fine short -horn
with the old Lincolnshire breed, great size with constitution and
quality were united in such a degree as to retain the merit of each.
The old Lincolnshire ox maintained his majestic porportions, with
out his clumsiness, and a large proportion of lean flesh was secured.
The beast which have been grazed during the summer are put
into the crewyards about October. Those intended for the butcher
during the winter, have turnips and hay, and iolbs. of linseed cake
per day ; the store cattle getting 4lbs. The cattle are turned out of
the yards into the pastures in May. The best grazing lands will
carry a bullock and a sheep to the acre, and will make them ready
for the butcher by the autumn, weighing about 60 stones of I4lbs.
The best cattle shown at the Fat Stock Markets of Spalding and
Boston in December, will weigh as much as 100 stones.
The old Lincolnshire sheep are described as being ungainly
animals, with carcasses long and thin, razor backs, legs thick and
rough, bones large, pelts thick, and, though attaining great weight,
were a long time arrriving at maturity. Their chief merit was their
wool, which was from loin, to i8in. long and weighed 81b. to i61b.
per fleece. This heavy skin made the breed profitable to the fen
graziers. Very large quantities of these sheep were sent from the
high country to graze on the Fens in summer. In the Wildmore
and West Fens and those parts where the grass grew, there would
be as many as 5 sheep to the acre, besides horses, young cattle and
geese. The Fens are said to have been perfectly white with sheep
in dry seasons.
At the end of the last century an attempt was made to improve
the old long- wool Lincoln sheep by a mixture with the fine Leicester,
which, although more delicate in constitution, was of a finer charac
ter both as regards the quality of the wool and meat. This cross
resulted in a sheep which came to maturity in one-fourth less time
than the old Lincolnshire breed, and fetched more money, when sold
fat, than that breed did. This breed is exceedingly well adapted
for the rich pastures of the marshes and fens, as it fattens rapidly
and yields heavy fleeces of wool. A wether kept till 2\ years old
will weigh 281bs. per quarter and have yielded 2 clips of wool of
,from 2olbs. to 25lbs. It used not to be unusual for the fat sheep

4°9

prepared for the Christmas markets to weigh from 5olbs. to folbs
per quarter, but during recent years the practice of fattening sheep up
to this extent has been abandoned. A cross between the Lincolshire
and South Down has come very much into favour during the last
few years, the size of the joints and the quality of the meat being
more useful to the butcher than those of the pure bred Lincoln.
Large numbers of sheep bred in the high country, bordering on
the Fenland, are sold for grazing, at the fairs held in the spring at
Lincoln, Boston and Spalding. The number penned at Lincoln
and Boston fairs in former times has reached as high as 30,000,
Owing to the improved means of communication the numbers have
greatly fallen off, the quantity now shown at Lincoln being from 8,000
to 12,000, and at Boston from 6,000 to 8,000. A greater quantity
than formerly are however brought to the weekly markets.
At the beginning of the present century the average price for
shearling wethers was from 36/- to 42/-, although at times they
reached as high as 60/-. Hogs were worth in i7g6 from 25/- to 30/-.
The highest average prices obtained at Lincoln Fair for sheep since
1874 was 7°/" a nea<i rn :878, and the lowest 45/7, in 1893 i tne
average for the 18 years being 57/6.
Breeding ewes are kept on all farms which have grass land,
and great care is exercised in selecting rams of good quality. The
fall of lambs is rather late, not taking place generally till March.
In good seasons the ewes will average a lamb and a half each.
Some of the most noted Ram breeders in the kingdom have
lived in Lincolnshire, on the borders of the Fenland.
In 1796 a new Tup Society was established at Lincoln for the
purpose of improving the breed by a union with the Leicesters.
The Club consisted of 10 members originally. The rules provided
that the Leicester breeders should show their rams two days previous
to the letting day ; that no rams should be let by members of the
Society to a wether breeder in the County of Lincoln, under 30
guineas ; that preference should be given in letting rams in Lincoln
shire to the members of the Society ; and in return that no ram in
Lincolnshire should be taken to market, or let under 5 guineas, and
no ewes were to be sold except to the Butchers.
Nearly too years ago Mr. Skipwith of Alesby gave as much as
200 guineas for his rams. The average price for letting being from
5 to 50 guineas. In one year he realised from 1,000 to 1,200 guineas.
Among the best known ram breeders of the present century,
the following names may be mentioned : Mr. Kirkham of Bisca-
thorpe, Mr. Clarke of Scopwick, Mr. Vessey of Halton, Mr.
Mayfield of Dogdyke, Mr. Casswell of Pointon, Messrs. Dudding
and Mr. Swain of Wrangle in the East Fen.
The rams are let by auction. Very high prices were reached
when agriculture was flourishing, as much as £50 being given for

Wilson Fox's
Report. 1895.

A. Young.

A. Young.

410

A. Young.

Bradford Observer
Wool Tables.
1894.

Royal Commis
sion on Agricul
ture. 1894

AUCTION STOCK
SALES*

Wilson Fox's
Report. 1895.

BUTTER AND
CHEESE-

the hire of a ram for one season, and £80 to £go for the purchase
of shearling rams, the average price of hire for a ram of good
quality being from £10 to £15, and for purchase from £50 to £60,
The sheep bred and reared in the fens yield very heavy fleeces
of good quality. Arthur Young, after a careful survey of the
county made at the end of the last century, found that the general
opinion amongst sheep owners was that the yield of wool was less
from the new cross-bred Leicester sheep than from the old long-
wool Lincolns, by fib to. 2lb. per fleece.
The price of Lincolnshire wool during the last century varied
from about 27/- per tod of 281bs., the highest price in 1792, to 11/-
the lowest in 1782 ; the average for the 37 years between 1758 and
i7g4 being 17/- per tod, equal to 7'28d. per lb. At the time
when wool was fetching 27/-, mutton was about 6d. per lb. The
yield of wool from a flock of sheep was from nf to i2lbs. per fleece,
During the present century the price of Lincoln Half Hog
Wool has varied from 37fd. per lb. which it fetched in 1864, to
8fd. in i8g2 ; the average of 80 years, 1814-93, b^ing i5jd. ; for
the 10 years, 1864-73, 22-g4d. ; 1874-83, 15-ogd., and for 1884-93,
io-07d. In the evidence given by Mr. Epton of Wainfleet before the
Royal Commission on the depression of Agriculture in 1894, he
stated that the average price he had realised for wool from 1860-76
was 44/6 per tod. Since 1876 it had averaged only 24/- The
average price for 34 years for full mouthed ewes had been 49/6 each,
but in 1894 only 36/-each.
During the past few years a custom has grown up of selling the
stock by auction, and stock sales are held weekly at Sleaford, Burgh,
Wainfleet, Donington, Holbeach and Long Sutton.
The price of cattle has dropped considerably during recent
years. The prices obtained at Lincoln fair, have been as follows :
1882-83. 1893-4.
v r £ £
Yearlings ... 9 to 13 J 6 to 8
Two-year olds  15 to 20" 11 to 14$
Three-year  24 to 30 17J to 2i|
Drapes  .. 16 to 24$ nf to 14I
Formerly very few cows were kept for the purpose of making
butter and cheese, but owing to the increasing number of small
holders, the quantity of butter sent to market has largely increased.
Cheese is not made in any quantity, and little milk h exported to
the large towns.
The butter is not considered of good quality, partly from a
want of properly making up, but principally from the fact that the
pastures on the east coast are not so well adapted for the purposes
of dairying as those on the west. The instruction given under the

4ii
direction of the Agricultural Society has had a beneficial effect,
and the quality is reported to be better now than it was formerly,
Before the common fens were inclosed, a great many rough
hardy horses were bred and reared, especially in Wildmore Fen,
These horses were known by the name of Wildmore Tits.
The cart horses now generally in use in the Fenland are strong
well made animals, and from the mares many of the large London
dray horses are procured. Great encouragement has been given in
recent years to the breeding of good horses by the foal fairs which
are held annually at Boston, Donington, Holbeach and Long Sutton.
Large prices are realised for good foals at these fairs, as much as
£100 having been given for a colt foal, 4 to 5 months old. The
average price for a sound foal is £20 to £25.
There is always a good show of entire horses at the markets
in the spring.
A few nag horses are bred, but little attention is given to the
breeding of hunters or blood horses.
The ordinary breed of pigs in the fen district is a large framed,
long haired, lop eared, coarse animal. They feed well and will
weigh when fattened as much as 60 stones. The usual weight is
from 25 to 30 stones when twelve months old.
Berkshire pigs have been introduced in many farms, and these,
crossed with the Lincolnshire, improve the quality of the meat, and
produce an animal that fattens readily and produces joints of a
smaller and more marketable size.
The district has suffered very much in recent years from swine
fever, and it has been found necessary an several occasions to close
all the pig markets.
Large quantities of poultry are kept. The kind most in use is a
mixture of the Dorking and Cochin China, large ungainly birds, but
which grow rapidly and sell well. Flocks of turkeys are also kept
on some farms.
The number of small holdings is conducive to the rearing of
poultry, the sums realized by the sale of the eggs and birds, when
ready for market, forming an important item in the income of the
small holder. In many cases the wives clothe themselves and Report.
the children, and help to keep the house going by the poultry. On
the large farms it is customary for the foreman's wife to rear poultry
for the farm, receiving in exchange for her services a share of the
produce, or a sum of 6d. for each chicken, the farmer finding all the
food. Poultry farming on a large scale was tried at Woodhall, but
was not found successful.
The Fens in their uninclosed state were well adapted for the
rearing of geese, and very large flocks were kept. Some cottagers,
whose rental did not exceed £5, are said to have kept as many as "coinshire. 1799.'
1,500 breeding geese. Arthur Young gives the details of a flock

Wilson Fox's

Survey of Lin-

IMPLEMENTS.

412
kept by a man in the East Fen. His stock consisted of 160 geese,
from these he reared from 500 to 700 birds in a year, an average brood
being 8. The price realized was from 1/- to 2/- each, the feathers
from pluckings making 1/8. The average produce he put at
2/6 for each bird, about half of which was spent in corn ; leaving a
net profit of about £40 a year. The labour in attendance was
provided by the wife and children.
During the breeding season these birds were frequently kept in
the cottages, and even in the bedrooms. The nests were made in
wicker pens, placed in tiers, one above the other, in hut s erected for
the purpose. Twice in a day the Gooseherd or Gozzard, lifted the
birds off the nests, attended them to water, and fed and replaced
them. So skilled were these men in their occupation that they knew
every bird and the nest to which it belonged.
The geese were plucked four, and sometimes five, times a year.
The first plucking was at Lady Day for quills and feathers, and the
other pluckings, for feathers only, between then and Michaelmas.
The goslings were also plucked with the object of increasing their
succeeding feathers. In cold seasons numbers of the birds perished
after the early plucking.
In days when feather beds were more used than they are now,
there was a great demand for these feathers, and a Lincolnshire
' goose-cote ' feather bed was handed down as a family heir-loom.
Lincolnshire feathers still retain their reputation, and two of the
largest factories in England, for purifying and preparing goose
feathers, are at Boston.
The implements used in the Fenland do not vary sufficiently
from those used in other parts of the country to require any special
description. The fen farmer has always been ready to avail him
self of the most improved form of implement, and the large number
of makers of agricultural machinery and implements, who have their
works at Lincoln, Grantham or Gainsborough, all in the County
of Lincoln, adjacent to the Fenland, testify to the ready sale
of machinery. The first portable engine was made at Howden's Foundry,
Boston ; and Tuxford and Sons, of Boston, were for many years
noted for supplying the best portable engine in the market. The
portable engines and thrashing machines made by Clayton and
Shuttleworth, of Lincoln, are known all over the world. In busy
seasons this firm is reported to turn out more than an engine a day.
Large numbers of thrashing machines and engines are exported to
the Continent from Boston Dock.
The old fen plough was a very simple implement, the mould
board was attached to the frame by a vertical share, and was shaped
something like a shield ; the coulter was a steel wheel with a sharp
edge. The plough, used for fallowing the peat land, had a wooden

4i3

pin to connect the heel tree with the plough stock, and directly the
share caught a tree, the pin broke and let the team go on without
breaking the plough.
Although a great many one-horse carts are in use, the farmers
still use waggons of a very heavy and clumsy character. The
wheels of all the carts and waggons, throughout the Fenland, are
placed the same width apart. This practice arose at the time when
the roads were allowed to have deep ruts in them, and the wheels
were all made to the same gauge, so as ' to run in the ruts.' This
practice has become so fixed in the minds of the carters, that, now,
even on good level roads, all the carts follow in the same track,
making it very difficult, in wet weather, for the roadmen to main
tain a level surface.
Owing to the large number of small Occupiers, a great number
of steam threshing machines are kept for hire, and are taken about
from one farm to the other, by the horses of those requiring the
machine. Jack Straws for raising the straw on to the stack now
almost universally accompany the threshing machines. The price
charged for wheat or beans is is. od. per quarter, and for oats iod.,
the farmer providing coal and labour.
Steam cultivating and ploughing has been largely practised in
this district. Some of the largest farmers have machinery of their
own, but the steam cultivating is generally done by hire, the cost
for ploughing being ios. od. and for cultivating gs. od. per acre.
It is the opinion of many agriculturists that land in some cases has
been injured by steam cultivation, especially were the soil below the
ordinary depth of cultivation has been brought to the surface.
On strong lands in wet seasons there is a prejudice with some
farmers in favour of the ridge and furrow system, because
by this means the surface water is prevented from standing
on the land and starving the corn, even when it has been
under drained. Ridges and furrows cannot be used with steam
ploughing. Reaping machines are in very general use, but only a few self-
binding reapers have as yet found their way on to the Fenland farms.
The cost of this implement is too great to make it of service to the
small holders.
The farm buildings are generally good, but do not differ in any
essential particular from those found in other parts of the country.
The stock or crew yards are not covered in, but are provided with
open sheds. Mr. Wilson Fox, in his report, says that he found the
buildings excellent, both as regards convenience and the state of
repair, and that Lincolnshire compared very favourably with other
counties in this respect.
The old fen cottages were built of 'stud and mud' and thatched
with the reeds which grew in the meres, the ' studs ' being the frame

THRASHINGMACHINES.

STEAM CULTIVA
TING MACHINERY.

REAPING
MACHINES.

BUILDINGS-

Agriculture
Commission. 1895.

COTTAGES-

WAGES-

414
work of timber, which was filled in between with well punned clay,
mixed with chopped straw. They were very low and frequently
consisted of only one storey, with two rooms, and sometimes in
addition a small room in the roof. They were very warm in winter,
They cost about £30 to build. The rent of these cottages with
a garden, was from 7d. to is. 2d. a week. Many of these cottages
are still to be found throughout the Fens.
The modern cottages are generally good, well built, brick and
tiled or slated structures, containing 2 living rooms and 3 bedrooms.
A great number have been erected during the last half century, and,
except in some of the remoter fens, the men have not far to go to
their work. The cost of a double cottage with outbuildings is from
£250 to £300. The rent of such cottages, with about a rood ofland,
is from is. gd. to 2s. 3d. a week. The cottages built for the fore
men on the larger farms have more accommodation, as frequently
the labourers hired by the year are boarded with them.
labour and The rate of wages for agricultural labourers in the Fenland,
has always ranged higher than in other parts of England, conse
quently the labourers, being well fed, are strong and healthy. They
are as a rule intelligent, sober and hard working. The better class
of work as thatching, hedging, and ditching, is frequently done by
piece work by men occupying small holdings, who fill up their time by
assisting the neighbouring farmers at harvest, and in doing work
that requires skill. These small Occupiers are exceedingly thrifty
and hard working and of very great service in the neighbourhood '
where they live. Horsemen, shepherds and labourers engaged by
the year, if unmarried, are housed and fed by the farmer or boarded
with the foreman, at from 8s. od. to ios. od. a week for their board.
They are called ' confined men.'
The confined men are hired by the year. The hiring takes place
at the principal market towns in May, the married men being
usually engaged in February and entering their new situations at
May-day. The single men and also the dairy maids and women servants
were formerly hired for the year at May-day. The practice
is, however, now gradually dying out, the hiring taking place through
register offices, and the term of engagement being subject to one
month's notice. The hiring used to take place in the open market
place. At Boston and other towns a public hall is now engaged
for the purpose by the authorities.
Women are not much employed on the land. In the last
century they were reported to be better off in the Fenland than in
any other part of the country. When working in the fields they
then earned 6d. per day. A great deal of their time was also oc
cupied in spinning flax. They now generally assist at harvest, and
in planting and getting in the potatoes, also occasionally in weeding

4i5
and gathering twitch. They are also employed amongst the woad.
Their wages have varied from gd. a day at the beginning of the
century, to is. and is. 3d. at the present time.
In harvest time, the women and children are generally em
ployed in gleaning in the corn fields, and collect about 6 bushels of
wheat, and even up to 12 bushels.
Foremen's wives also add to their income by rearing poultry
for the farmer, the food being found from the farm, and the woman
being allowed so much a head for all she rears.
From an order of the Commissioners of Sewers made for the
repair of the banks, in the reign of Edward III, (1324,) it appears
that the rate of wages for labourers was about 2d. per day, the
price of wheat being then under is. a bushel. This order was to
the effect that each owner of land was to find a tumbril and man,
not less than 18 years of age, or pay 4d. per day for the tumbril
and 2d. for the man.
In the sixteenth century, labourers' wages were about 8d. per
day. In the year 1500, in the contract made with May Hake for
the erection of the sluice across the Witham, masons were paid 5s.
a week. In Elizabeth's reign, wages were from 6d. to 8d. per day.
The rate fixed for the labourers employed in repairing Skirbeck Gowt
was 8d. per day. The price of wheat was then about 4s. a bushel.
In the reign of Charles II, the wages for this district were fixed,
as was then customary, at Quarter Sessions, for a farm labourer at
6d. per day ; a bailiff was to have £4 a year and his living ;
a hind £2 and his living ; a dairy maid £2 a year and her living ;
ordinary women servants £1 ios. od. ; hedgers and ditchers iod. per
day ; common labourers 8d., finding their own food ; carpenters
and masons is. a day. Wheat at that time was about 36s. a
quarter. In the middle, and up to nearly the end of the seventeeth
century, ordinary farm labourers were paid from is. to is. 2d. per
day in summer, and iod. in winter. In the Dykereeves' account of
the Parish of Moulton, the wages of the men employed in cleaning
out the sewers and similar work were is. a day in i6go, and is. 3d.
m I737- Later on, is. 6d. a day was paid. During the earlier
period wheat averaged 45s., varying from 32s. to 60s During the
last 20 years of the eighteenth century the price of wheat increased
to 50s., and afterwards to £5 and £6 a quarter. Wages in con
sequence increased to ios. and 12s. a week. Foremen then had
£16 16s. with their food and lodging ; confined labourers, £14
14s. ; dairymaids, £5 5s. ; carpenters, 2s. 6d. to 2s. 8d. a day ;
masons and bricklayers, 3s. Meat was about 6d. per lb., butter gd. to
is. per lb., coal, 27s. to 30s. per ton.

416

Wilson Fox's
Report. 1895.

Wilson Fox's
Report.

Willson Fox's
Report.

Boston Cham
ber of Agricul
ture Report.

Head waggoners
Horsemen ...
Plough boys

1893 £

1894 £

18 to

20

18

12 to

H

12 to

H

6 to

12

6 to

12

From 1837-40 the average weekly rate of wages was 14s.,
wheat averaging 63s. 8d. a quarter. From 1840-60 the average was
12s. a week, and ios. in winter, wheat averaging 53s. a quarter.
The lowest price reached was in 1850-51, when the rate was 2s. a day,
wheat being 40s. a quarter, and flour selling at 2s. a stone. In
1855-56, when wheat averaged 72s. 4d. a quarter and flour was sold
at 3s. 2d. a stone, wages rose to 2s. 6d. a day. From 1867 to 1872
wages varied from 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. a day, wheat averaging 56s. a
quarter. From 1873-78 the rate was 2s. 6d. to 2s. gd., wheat
averaging 51s. 4d. During part of this period, owing to an agitation
got up by a labourer's union, as much as 3s. a day was paid for
a short time. Frpm i87g-86 the rate fell to 2s. and 2s. 3d., and
during part of this time, in some places, only is. 8d. was paid,
wheat averaging only 32s. a quarter. From i88g-g5 the rate has
been about 2s. a day, the better men getting 2s. 3d.
The following is the rate of wages paid at the May hirings at
Boston, for single men : — 1892. £
18 to 21
12 tO 15
6 to 13
Ordinary labourers, including piecework, earn from £30 to £40
a year. A man with a family can earn about £10 for the month's
work at harvest time, or £6, if he has no family.
Confined and married horsemen, and shepherds hired by the
year, and not boarded, earn from £43 to £48 a year. They have
also many perquisites, such as free house and garden, potatoes,
milk, &c.
Foremen get from 16s. to 20s. a week, with free house and
garden, and frequently firing, milk and other perquisites, making
their earnings worth about £52 a year.
Wheat has been exceptionally low in price during this period,
falling to 1 6s. a quarter in 1894, ana- averaging about 20s. The
price of food, clothing, and all requisites has also been very low, shop
goods costing only about half what they did 25 years ago. A
tradesman who has had considerable experience in a village shop
states as his opinion, that 25 years ago, "the labouring classes did
not live anything like as well as they do now. If they had to live
as they used to, they would think they were not living at all."
The average cost of labour for cultivating an acre of wheat has
only decreased about g£ per cent., as compared between 1873 and
i8g4, whereas the price of wheat has fallen during the same period
64^ per cent.
In a report made in i8g4 it was stated that from 1860-74 labour
cost 35s. an acre, the value of the produce being £8 5s. od. In io94

417
labour cost 30s., as against the value of the produce,
£4 8s. 6d.
From enquiries made by the Commissioner as to whether the wiison Fox's
labour was as efficient as it used to be, the replies he received were ep°r'
to the effect that go employers out of 100 were of opinion that the
men did less work, and that, owing to the scarcity of able men,
farmers had been driven to use machinery more, which was found
to be less economical than good labour. The conclusion he arrived
at, however, generally, was that labour in Lincolnshire was of very
good quality, and that the farmers concurred in saying that it com
pared favourably with other counties. Some farmers expressed the
opinion that they would rather employ a Lincolnshire labourer at
2s. 6d. a day, than a Norfolk or Suffolk man at is. And at another
meeting he was told that ' our men are very good, compared with
other counties,' and that they had some of the best men in the
world. He was further informed by a Contractor that the men he
obtained from Lincolnshire were the best he ever came across.
The tenure of land in the early days of the Fens, during the rent and
Saxon period, was so different to that which afterwards prevailed VALUE OF
that it is not possible to define with any accuracy the services that
were paid for its use either in money or kind.
As some guide to its value, there is a record that 20 hides of Freeman's
land were leased at Sempringham, on which the following rents were
reserved for the monastery : 2 oxen fit for slaughter, 2 measures of
welsh ale and 600 loaves ; for the Abbot's private estate 1 horse,
30 shillings of silver or half a pound, one night's pasture, 15 mittan
of bright ale, 5 of welsh ale, and 15 sesters of mild ale.
In the beginning of the 13th century the rent of ordinary land in
the Fenland was about 6d. per acre, and the better class of land about
Frampton and Boston was rented at a shilling an acre. The value
of a sheep was then about a shilling ; an ox and a horse, 8s. each,
wheat, iod. a bushel. In the early part of the 14th century corn,
was very scarce in the Fenland, owing to great floods, and wheat
rose to 24s. a quarter, or about three times its ordinary value. In
1324 an abundant harvest reduced the price to 6s. 8d,
The value of the Fens before the attempts made to inclose
them, in the middle of the 17th century, was estimated at about 4d.
per acre. After the works were completed, as stated in a petition
made to the House of Lords, the value of the land in the East Fen
was increased to about 12s. an acre, and in the West and Wildmore
Fens to 15s.
About a century later the uninclosed fen land in Deeping Fen
was worth from 7s. to 8s. an acre, and some of it was in such a
state that it could not be let. The value of the common rights on
the East and West Fens was estimated at 2s. iod. an acre. After
the West Fen was inclosed, land let by auction realised 34s. an

418

Parkinson.

Marat 's
Lincolnshire. 1814.

Clarke,
Royal Ag. Soc.
Journal. 1851.

acre. In Holland Fen, soon after inclosure, the average annual value
was put by Mr. Parkinson, one of the Inclosure Commission, at 23s.
an acre over 22,000 acres, the previous value being about 3s. an acre.
After the embankment of the peat land on the Witham the
average rental of 21,407 acres was 13s., the old value of these lands
averaging 2s. 3d. an acre.
In 1814 the average rental of land is given by Marat as follows:
in Brothertoft, Leverton and Freiston, 45s. ; Butterwick, Frampton,
Fossdyke, Whaplode and Moulton, 40s. ; Swineshead, 30s. to 60s. ;
Fleet, 30s. to 40s. ; Quadring, Surfleet, Leake and Benington, 35s.;
Weston, 28s.
In i84g Mr. Clarke estimated the average value of the land in
the Fenland at 40s. an acre.
The gross estimated rental, as taken from the poor rate assess
ment for the year 1878, for the three Unions of Boston, Spalding,
and Holbeach, containing about 331,807 acres, averaged 40s. an acre,
After this, land rose very considerably, but, owing to the continuous
wet seasons and low prices, rents fell from 25 to 30 per cent., and, in
some cases, are not half now what they were 15 years ago. In the
evidence given before the Commission on the Depression in Agri
culture, the average reduction in rent, in the neighbourhood of
Wainfleet, was given at 30 per cent. Mr. Druce, who reported on
the Fen District for the Royal Commission on Agriculture, in 1880,
estimated the average value of good arable land, near Boston, at
50s. an acre, and in the East Holland Parishes, at 45s. This was
for arable land of good quality and adapted for the growth of celery
and potatoes. As a test of value, the rents, at which some of the land belong
ing to Charities has been let, may be given. Thus, the land
belonging to Porrell and Cowell's Charity, at Benington, containing
about 50 acres of grass and arable land and four cottages, was let in
1818, at £142 ; in 1830, at £144 ; in 1850, £141 ; i860, at £145 ;
1870, £153 ios.; 1880, £174; i8go, £i7g. The higher rent,
obtained in 1890, was due to the land being let by auction. Con-
ington's Charity, at Leake, containing about 43$ acres, half pasture
and half arable, let in 1837 for £97 ; in 1857 the rental was £104 ;
1887, £112 ios. ; 1877, £114; i887,£ng 12s. The Decoy Farm,
in Leake, belonging to Hunston's Charity, let for £50 in 1655 ; in
1854, wu"h the fen allotments and five acres which had been pur
chased, making together 3g7a. 2r. 28p. and a farmstead, the rental
was £600. The rent was subsequently raised to £7g3- A farm in
the East Fen, containing about 365 acres of peat soil, the site of
which, at the beginning of the present century, was covered with
water and reeds, was rented 50 years ago for 30s. an
acre ; from 1856 to 1876, the rent was 34s. gd. an acre; from 1876
to 1886, the rent had increased to 60s. an acre; during the next three

419

Boston Cham
ber of Agricul
ture-

Agriculture. 1895.

years it fell to about 40s., and in i88g had fallen to the old rent of
30s. ; and is now let at 25s. an acre. Pinchbeck's Charity Lands
in Butterwick, Freiston and Leverton, containing 122a. ir. 3op., let
for £248 in 1837.
A farm in Bourne Fen, let in 1872 for £770, was re-let in 1886
for £250. In 1893, the assessment in the Kirton Hundred for the In
come Tax, under Schedule A, including villages and residences,
was £2 3s. gd. an acre, and in the Skirbeck Hundred, leaving out the
parish of Boston, £3 os. 2d. per acre.
From a report, made by the Boston Branch of the Chamber of
Agriculture, in January, 1895, it is stated that rents varied in that
district, from 15s. to 30s. an acre, the average being 24s. or 25s.
Since 1880, there has been a reduction of from 30 to 50 per cent.
A large farm of mixed soil, rented at £1,600 in 1880, was now let at
£800. The letting value of land had fallen one-third for best lands,
and more than one-half for heavy soils. As regards profits made by
the tenants, in 1880 they averaged about £1 an acre, whereas, at the
time of the report, there were no profits, except in exceptional cases.
Mr. Wilson Fox gives the rents as averaging, in the Wainfleet Commission on
District, 30s. to 50s. for marsh land, 25s. to 45s. for fen land, and
60s, to 100s. for toft, or early potato land ; near Boston, for the very
best land in smallholdings, 60s. to 100s. ; farms of about 60 acres,
40s. ; Spalding District, 30s. to 40s. Some heavy clay land was let
as low as 5s. an acre.
There is a great demand for land suited for growing early
potatoes, and from £4 to £5 an acre is given for this.
Taking an average, in the neighbourhood of Spalding, the
reduction in rents on small farms, of from 20 to 70 acres of good land,
is estimated to be from 30 to 50 per cent, during the past 20 years;
on farms of 70 to 250 acres of good land, 30 per cent. ; on farms
of 250 acres and upwards, 30 to 40 per cent.; and where the land is
bad, 70 per cent. ; in the neighbourhood of Grantham, 50 per cent.;
and round Sleaford, 33 per cent, on good land, and 60 per cent, on
land of bad quality.
The Lincolnshire Chamber of Agriculture put the reduction
at from 25 to 40 per cent, for good land.
The following examples, taken from Mr. Wilson Fox's report,
will show what the freehold value of land was when times were
good, as compared to what it is now, in the depressed condition of
Agriculture. An arable farm of 300 acres at Spalding, of fair
quality, having mixed peat and clay soil, was purchased in 1876 for
£19,000, or about £63 an acre ; and in 1894 could not find a pur
chaser at £23 an acre. Another peat farm, in the same locality, of
100 acres, bought 18 years ago for £65 an acre, was sold in 1894 ^or
£23 an acre. A farm of 461 acres, bought in 1885 for £65 an acre

Wilson Fox's
Report, 1896.

freehold VALUE.

Wilson Fox's
Report. 1895.

420

CAUSES OF
DEPRESSION.

Mr. R. Roberts
of Horncastle.

Fieldsend.
Wilson Fox.

RATES AND
TAXES.

A. Young.

Wilson Fox's
Report.

DRAINAGE RATES.

was sold in 1892 at the rate of £13 an acre. A farm of iio acres of
good alluvial soil, at Kirton, bought in 1870 for about £74 an acre,
could not be sold for £40 an acre in 1891. A farm of 118 acres, in
Blankney Dales, bought in 1877 at tbe rate of £65 an acre, was
sold for half tbis in 1894 i and a farm of 92 acres, at Whaplode Drove,
the original price of which was about £85 an acre, could not be sold
for £40 an acre.
The fall in the rental and freehold value of land is due to the un
favourable seasons and the low prices of produce. During the series
of wet seasons, 1874- 1882, the condition of the land became seriously
affected, the pastures were deteriorated and the manure washed out
of the arable land and there was no opportunity of properly cleaning
it. This resulted in a decreased yield and in rot in the sheep.
On farms where 10 quarters of oats were grown to the acre, the
yield fell to 7, and where 7 or 8 quarters of barley were grown, only
5 or 6 could be harvested. Following on the bad seasons, began
a decline in prices, which has since continued. Between 1874 an<^
1894 the average price of wheat has fallen 60 per cent. ; of barley, 53
per cent. ; and of oats, 50 per cent. ; the average price of wheat for
1874-1884 being 44s. gd. ; for 1894, 19s. 2d. ; barley for the same
period fell from 35s. to 20s. and oats from 22s. 4d. to 14s. 6d-
Wool also has steadily decreased, the average for 1873-1877 being
40s. 2d. a tod ; 1883-1887, 21s. 3d. and 1893-1894, 21s. 4d., a decrease
of 46 per cent. Cattle have fallen in price during the 12 years, 1882-
i8g4, from 28I to 34 per cent.
Arthur Young estimated the parochial rates, at the end of the
last century, at 2s. in the £, calculated on the real rent. In the
Hundred of Skirbeck he gives ' all sorts of charges ' at 3s. 3d. in the
£ ; poor rate only, 2s.
Taking an average of the rates spread over the three Unions
of Boston, Spalding and Holbeach, for the year 1878, the amount
averaged 2-733. per acre for poor, sanitary, education and county
rate, and i-6is. for highways ; together, 4s. 4d. per acre.
In 1888, the poor and highway rates in the £, in the Spalding
Union, came to 25^. ; in 1893 they were 30-gd. ; in the Boston
Union, 39'5d. and 39-god., respectively; in the Holbeach Union
34-id and 30-gd.
The drainage rates vary very considerably throughout the Fens.
In the fens in the Witham district the general taxes vary from is.
to 7s. 6d. an acre, to which have to be added those levied on the
several separate enclosures or Districts, varying from 2S. to 12s.
per acre. In the Black Sluice level, the general taxes vary in the different
Districts from 6d. to is. 6d., and in the interior Districts from is. to
2s. 6d. per acre. The whole of these districts pay the Outfall tax,
which amounts to about is. 4d. an acre.

4^
In Deeping Fen the general taxes vary from 6d. to 3s. an
acre, in addition to the Welland tax of 3s. 2d. an acre.
In the districts under the Court of Sewers, the Dykereeve rates
vary from 3d. to 6d. an acre for ordinary purposes, and, when
special works have been carried out, reach as high as 2s. 6d.
The Fenland is free from tithes." This is owing to the allot
ments made in lieu of tithes at the time of the Inclosure of the Fens.
The Fens were originally commons in which every parish had
rights. When the several Acts were obtained for dividing and
allotting the fens, allotments were given to the Owners of both the
great and small tithes, not only for their interests in the inclosed
fens but also in lieu of those on the old lands. The income of the
Rectors and Vicars is therefore now derived from the rents of these
allotted lands.
The Fenland, owing to the circumstances by which it is sur
rounded, has always had a large number of Freeholders. In the
early days the district was a sort of no man's land, and little notice
was taken of a Fenman who built himself a mud hut and inclosed
a small island. After the Norman Conquest, grants were made to
the King's followers of this part of Lincolnshire, in common with
the rest of the country, but it was only in the higher part of the Fens
that the grantees ever had any real possession of the land granted
them. The monasteries, by meansT of grants made to them from
time to time, and by land reclaimed and gradually annexed, became
possessed of a considerable tract. These lands were afterwards
alienated and distributed. Thus, the Fenland has never been domin
ated by any large territorial Owners. The distribution of land was
also increased by sales made by the Adventurers who reclaimed the
Fens in the 17th century; and, subsequently, when the last reclam
ations were carried out, land was sold in small lots by the
Commissioners, to pay for the expenses of inclosure. There are few
attractions in the Fenlands to induce a Landowner to live in the
district, and, consequently, there are scarcely any resident Owners.
It may be said that, throughout the whole of the South Lincolnshire
Fenland, there are not, at the present time, any large estates held by
single Owners. The high price that land in this district made a few
years ago, induced some of the larger Owners to sell the land they
held, by auction, in small parcels, the lots frequently consisting of
only a single field. This land was either purchased by the tenants
or by farmers in the neighbourhood. Times being prosperous,
there was also great inducement to invest savings in the purchase of
land, and the competition for these small plots was very great.
Land accumulated by purchase during the life of a farmer
almost invariably comes into the market again at his death. There
is thus constant opportunity for men of small means to become the
owners of the land they cultivate. During the prosperous times,

422
between i860 and 1875, a very large number of small freeholds were
thus created, the area of the holdings varying from as little as five
acres, up to ten or twenty. On these the purchasers built cottages
costing from £150 to £200, and buildings for cows and poultry. At
that time, any industrious foreman or labourer of good character,
who had saved sufficient money to pay the deposit of 10 percent, on
the purchase money, could obtain the remainder from a lawyer, at
4 per cent, interest. On these small holdings, by dint of work as
hard and fare as scanty as that of any colonist, the holder and his
family obtained a living. The crops grown were principally wheat
and potatoes, which then realised good prices. Cabbages, celery,
and bush fruits were also grown, and by the profits from these crops
and from butter and poultry, sufficient was made, not only to pay
the way, but gradually to clear off the mortgage, or to buy additional
land. During the bad times, which occurred during the wet seasons of
1875-80, and owing to the low prices which have since prevailed,
although a very great number of holders of larger farms failed and had
to give up their holdings,these little Freeholders held on, and very few
of them went under. One of the witnesses who gave evidence before
the Small Holdings Committee came from Long Sutton. He was
the owner of f\ acres, which cost him £52/10/- an acre in 1855. He
•stated that he made a profit off this, although half was cropped with
wheat from which he obtained an average of 48 bushels, which sold
for only 30/- per quarter. The clear annual profit to the occupying
owner was about £40 a year. The same witness stated that within
a mile from his house there were 23 Occupiers, not one holding 50
acres. From this land 30 cows yielded 6,ooolbs. of butter ; 400
hens produced 16,000 eggs, and chickens to the value of £300. All
these Occupiers, except two, had sprung up within the last 20 years.
The demand for these small holdings is certainly increasing,
and considering the care and attention that is bestowed on the
cultivation of the land, the most being made of everything, the
quantity of poultry reared, and the large amount of labour employed,
the increase of these holdings appears to be a national gain. The
children of these small occupiers are sturdy and robust, well fed,
well housed and well clothed ; they are intelligent and, being brought
up to careful and thrifty habits, these families form as fine a
population as can be found anywhere in the world.
a. Young. The remarks made ninety years ago as to the inhabitants of
the Isle of Axholme applies almost as forcibly to the Fenmen.
" Almost every house you see is inhabited by a farmer, the pro
prietor of his farm, of some four or five, to twenty, forty or more
acres, cultivated with all the minutiae of care and anxiety by the
hands of the family which are found abroad in some of the rich parts
of France and Flanders. They are very poor respecting money,

Report. 1895.

423
but very happy respecting their mode of existence. Contrivance,
mutual assistance by barter and hire, enable them to manage their
little farms, though they break all the rules of rural proportion. A
man will keep a pair of horses, that has but 3 or 4 acres, by means
of vast commons (the unenclosed fens), and working for hire. Their
cultivated land being of uncommon fertilty, a farm of 20 acres sup
ports a family very well, as they have generally speaking no fallows,
but a endless succession of corn, potatoes, hemp, flax, beans, &c.
They do nearly all the work themselves, and are passionately fond
of buying a bit of land. Though I have said they are happy, yet I
should note that it was remarked to me that these little Pro
prietors work like negroes, and do not live so well as the inhabi
tants of the poor house ; but all is made amends for by possessing
land." The returns made to the Agricultural Department in 1886 of the
Holdings in Great Britian, are grouped in counties, and give there
fore no guide as to the number of acres held by each Occupier in
the Fens, the circumstances of the rest of the county of Lincoln
being entirely different from those of the Fenland.
Mr. Wilson Fox in his report, speaking of the small Freeholders wiison Fox's
and the effect which the bad seasons and the depression in prices has
had on them, says, " They work marvellously hard and for far longer
hours than the labourers, while many of them say that they are not
in such a good pecuniary position as labourers, and that they do not
live as well, seldom eating fresh meat. The sons and daughters of
many of them are working simply for their food and clothes " The
small men work like slaves ; sometimes, in the summer, from 3 a.m.
to 9 p.m. As to the size of holdings, some of the early potato men
live on 3 acres. Near the towns and on soils suitable for vegetables
and fruit, a man can live on a holding of from 5 to 10 acres ; but
where the ordinary course of farming is followed the least average
on which a living can be made is from 30 to 50 acres. The follow
ing description of a small holder in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet
may be taken as typical of many of the class. " He began life as a
labourer and, having saved money out of his wages, he hired 6 acres
of land at 66/- an acre. About twenty years ago he bought 12 acres
at £106 an acre. He put up all the sheds, built a good, stable and
made all the fences, which are well kept. He grows early potatoes,
bulbs of all sorts, tree and bush fruit, mustard, wheat, mangolds,
flowers ; also keeps pigs, poultry and bees. His land is kept as
clean and neat as it is possible to be. He sells everything to buyers
who come round, and only goes to market once a year. His profits
for 1893 and J8g4 were respectively £86 and £111, besides which
bacon, poultry, eggs and vegetables were consumed in the house.
The largest items of profit in 1894 were mustard £45 ; early
potatoes £55 ; potatoes £32 ; bulbs £27 ; and pigs £20.

424

J- Russell
Jackson.

TENANCIES

Dmce's Report. -pne f0nowing figures will give some idea of the number of
small Occupiers in the Fenland. In the parish of Leake, containing
nearly 10,000 acres, there are only seven Occupiers whose holdings
in the parish exceed 100 acres. The total number of Occupiers
in the parish is 3go, giving an average holding of 25 acres
each. In Friskney, which contains 6,500 acres, there are i2g persons
who own their own land. There are g4 persons who own and
occupy plots of 20 acres and under, and only 35 who own and occupy
farms of over 20 acres ; there are 88 tenants of 20 acres and under,
against 57 of farms above this size.
In Moulton, containing 11,391 acres, there are 231 owners of
land, of whom 208 do not own over 100 acres ; and of these 181 do
not own over 50 acres. Of the 231 Owners, 71 cultivate their own
land. There are 169 Occupiers not exceeding 50 acres, of whom
59 occupy under 5 acres.
Land in the Fenland, except in the case of that leased by public
bodies, is as a rule let on yearly tenancies. Where leases are given,
they generally run for 7 or 10 years. The covenants as to cropping
are very easy and seldom enforced, and are only inserted in order to
secure protection against bad tenants. A reasonable view is always
taken by all parties of breaches of agreement as to selling off and
the course of cropping. As a matter of practice the covenants as to
cropping are put on one side and if a tenant farms fairly, he may do
as he likes. Tenancies almost invariably run from Lady Day.
Commission on The tenants as a rule consider that they have all the fixity of tenure
they require and on the whole a very friendly relationship exists
between all classes on the land.
A sound system of tenant-right existed in Lincolnshire long
previous to the passing of the Agricultural Holdings Act, and the
farmers prefer to hold under this, as they consider it more fair. Both
Mr. Druce and Mr. Wilson Fox in their reports bear testimony to
the fact that the farmers in this district almost universally prefer to
hold under the Custom of the Country than under the Act. It is the
invariable practice, when tenants are entering or quitting farms, for
each to appoint a valuer to settle the amount to be paid by the
incoming or outgoing tenant. A general scale of allowances for
tenant-right has been agreed to by the Lincolnshire Valuers
Association. Briefly these allowances are as follows :
The tenant is allowed on quitting :
(a) Cost of all permanent buildings and other substantial repairs
put up with the sanction of the landlord on a 20 years' principle, and
10 years when the tenant has only found labour.
(b) Under draining with pipes at proper depth, 1 o years for labour
only, 15 when tenant has found tiles. The accounts have to be
presented at the audit following the completion of the work.

Agriculture. 1895.

TENANT RIGHT.

Commission on
Agriculture.

425

(c) Linseed, cotton or rape cake one-third ; corn cake, malt or
other manufactured feeding stuffs, a sixth, if consumed during the
last year of tenancy ; or one-sixth and one-twelfth for two years.
(d) Bones, if dry, used with green crops consumed on the farm,
the whole cost, if used the last year, and half for the preceding year.
If used on pasture, if dry, 10 years ; dissolved 5 years.
(e) Artificial manures, used with green crops consumed on the
farm on the last year of tenancy, the whole cost.
(/) The claim for bones and manure is not to exceed the average
cost of the two preceding years.
(g) Lime, 7 years' allowance; claying, marling or chalking, 12
years. (h) Grass seeds, the last year's bill and sowing, if not stocked
after October 11.
(i) Dead fallows all labour, but not rents, rates or taxes, unless
these were paid on entrance.
(j) Wheat and other seed, cost of seed and sowing.
The out-going tenant generally prepares and sows the land
coming for wheat ; he also ploughs the land coming for fallows, and
prepares and sows the land coming for spring corn, being paid in
each case for seed and labour. On fallows manure is allowed for;
and the herbage, if the land was ploughed in October.
The valuations generally amount, under ordinary conditions,
from 25s. to 40s. an acre. Say, a farm having one-sixth in pasture
where a fair quantity of cake has been used, 35s. to 45s.
Allowances for cross cropping, and dilapidations are generally
taken as only extending over the last year.
The charges for valuing tenant-right run from 3^ per cent, on
an inventory of £100 to 2\ per cent, on £300, and on large farms
about \\ per cent., exclusive of stamp.
The system of small holdings has been in existence in the Fen
land for more than a century. In i79g the allotment system in the
parish of Freiston is thus described, " Mr. Linton's grandfather, and
father before him, continued Allotments of so much land to cottagers
as will enable the labourer living in them to keep a cow, a pig and a
very few sheep, chiefly raised from cade lambs, (the fens were unen
closed commons at that time), which Mr. Linton himself also contin
ued and formed others... In general they have from 2 to 7 acres at the
rent of the country, paying about 40/- for the cottage, exclusive of
the value of the land . . . Fencing and digging the garden, he does
himself in mornings and evenings ; all other attentions by his wife
and family. He fattens the calf and sells to the butcher. He sells
some butter, except when the lambs are rearing. Mr. Linton has
not observed that having land in this manner has an effect in taking
them from their work, whilst the system tends to -bring up their
families in habits of industry ; and he scarcely knows an instance

A^NTS*

A. Young's
Survey of
Lincolnshire.

SMALL HOLDINGS
ACT.

MARKETS AND
FAIRS.

426
of families thus provided applying to the parish for assistance ; and
he is well convinced that he loses nothing by this application ofland
-Wherever this system is found poor rates are low."
At Crowland, for over 50 years, there have been about 150 half-
acre allotments and there are about 100 occupiers of from 2 to 7
acres.' Near Spalding, Lord Carrington has 177 holdings and allot
ments, under and including 5 acres. Those of an acre are let at
32s. and 33s., and those of a rood in the fen at 30s., the landlord
paying all the rates, and allowing each tenant who pays his rent on
the rent day, a bonus of is.
Mr. Charles Sharpe of Sleaford has about 120 acres of allot
ments, of an acre each, near Heckington and Hale. The system
was commenced with half acre plots, about 10 or 12 years ago, but
owing to the representation of the men, that \ an acre was an incon
venient size to work, the plots were increased to an acre. The
number of plots has since been increased by the Benefit Societies,
and the Rural Authority to 230, in addition to Mr. Sharpe's. The
chief crops grown on these allotments are barley and potatoes ; but
enough vegetables are also grown for home consumption.
Under the recent Allotment Act, the Corporation of Boston has
provided 33 acres of allotment ground in the neighbourhood of the
town,- which is let out in plots of about a rood each, at rentals
varying from £4 ios. to £6, free of all taxes. The Holland County
Council has also purchased land and provided allotments in the
parishes of Skirbeck, Kirton and Brothertoft, Wigtoft and Chapel
Hill, Holbeach Hurn, and St. Marks, Pinchbeck West and East,
Gosberton, Moulton Eaugate, Whaplode and Whaplode Drove,
the total area purchased being 184^ acres. The takes vary from
half an acre to one acre ; and the rent averages £2 16s. an acre.
Under the powers of the Small Holdings Act, the County
Council has purchased 47J acres of land at Freiston, at £55 ios. an
acre, and 88 acres at Spalding, at £42 1 is. an acre, which is let out in
plots of from 1 to 4 acres, at an average rent of about 44/- an acre.
Altogether applications have been made to the Council for small
holdings to the extent of goo acres. The money for the purchase of
this land was raised by a loan from the Public Works Loan Com
missioners, repayable over 50 years, at 3! per cent, interest.
The Fenland is well provided with markets, especially in the
southern part, a very great advantage to the small occupiers, for the
disposal of their butter, eggs, fruit and other produce. In the
northern part, Boston has a market on two days in the week for
corn and general produce, and on one of these days for cattle, sheep ^
and pigs. Lincoln, Sleaford, Spilsby and Horncastle, although not in '
the Fens, are sufficiently near to afford markets for the northern and
western part of the district. At Sleaford, a weekly auction is held.

427
t
for cattle, sheep and pigs, to which'a great deal of stock is sent from
the Fens. In the south-west, Bourne has a.market, and Donington
also, on Thursday ; and in the south-east, there is a market at
Crowland, for pigs on one day of the week, and for meat and vege
tables on another day. Spalding has its market on Tuesday,
Holbeach on Thursday, and Long Sutton on Friday, at which
there is also a weekly auction sale for stock.
The principal fairs are, at Boston, in May for sheep and cattle ;
in August for fat stock ; in September for mares and foals ; in
November for horses, and in December, the Christmas show of fat
stock. At Spalding, at the end of April, in June, August, September
and December. At Long Sutton, in May, for cattle and sheep, and
in September for horses. At Donington, in May for cattle, Septem
ber for beast, and October for cattle and horses. Holbeach, May
and September for cattle, sheep and horses. A fair for the sale of
cheese used to be held at Swineshead, in October ; the fair still
continues, but the sale of cheese has ceased.
The Lincolnshire Agricultural Society holds its meetings at agricultural
Boston and Spalding, in rotation with the other towns in the county.
The first Society was established in i8ig, and was subsequently
merged into the North Lincolnshire Society, and in 1868 extended
to the whole county. In addition to the encouragement given by
this Society, by its exhibition and prizes, to improvement in the
quality of stock, and in bringing before the small Holders novelties
in implements, it has endeavoured to practically educate the men in
charge of machinery, by giving prizes for the management of steam
engines and the economical consumption of coal. There is also an
annual show of horses, cattle and poultry at Long Sutton by a
Society established in 1836.
For several years a Society for the Encouragement of Good
Ploughing, was held at Benington, at which prizes were given away;
but this ceased to exist a few years ago.

SOCIETY.

428

TRANSPORT-

CHAPTER XV.
Waterways, Roads, Bridges and Railways.
means of jj HE Fenland has from the earliest times been well provided
j[ with the means of transporting the produce from the land
to market and of obtaining supplies for the use of the farm. The
Romans not only caused good main roads to be made, leading from
the coast to the interior, and traversing the district from
north to south ; but also provided navigable waterways which
extended throughout the whole length of the Fenland. The three
main rivers, the Witham, the Welland and the Glen, and also
Wainfleet Haven, afforded a means of communication from the sea
to the different parts of the district. In modern times, to the facili
ties of transport already existing have been added the railway
system provided by the Great Northern, Great Eastern and
Midland Companies. Waterways.
In North Holland and Lindsey the River Witham has from
very early times been the chief waterway. As far as can be ascer
tained with any reasonable approach to historical accuracy, the
Romans made this a navigable river, and connected it with the
Trent by means of the Fossdyke, and with the sea by means of the
tidal creek which extended to Dogdyke. For some time after their
first settlement at Lincoln, the port to which their vessels made
was in Wainfleet Haven. This involved several miles of land
carriage, and to avoid this the Witham channel was opened out,
if not of sufficient size to allow of the vessels which came across
the sea to get up to Lincoln, yet so as to allow these to reach Dog
dyke on the tide, and there to discharge into smaller boats wliich
were adapted for the navigation above this point. By this course
and also by the Fossdyke into the Trent, the large quantities of
grain which were grown in the Fenland were exported for the use
of the troops in Germany and Gaul. The Car Dyke on the west
side of the Witham Fens was also used as a canal reaching from
Lincoln to the Nene, and supplied a waterway for all the western
side of the Fens from Boston to Bourne, while the centre of this
district was supplied by the Hammond Beck, connected with wliich
was the Risegate Eau, which also joined Bicker Haven.

429
In South Holland the Welland extended through the Fenland
from the Wash (Metaris Estuarium) to Crowland, and the Glen afforded
a waterway for the district between the Welland and the Car Dyke.
The Westlode, another work of the Romans, also afforded an outlet
for land lying south of Spalding. The Old Shire Drain was a
natural water course running from Crowland to the coast, while
other parts of the South Holland district were provided for by the
tidal creeks now known as Lutton Leam, Fleet Haven, Lawyer's
Creek and Holbeach River. From this it will be seen that during
the Roman occupation the Fenland was well provided with means
of transit by water. All these means of communication remained
in existence up to the time of the reclamation of the Fens.
Previous to the reclamation there may also be added Kyme
Eau, Billinghay Skerth, and Holland Dyke, the North Forty-Foot
Drain, Mid-Fen Dyke, the Sibsey River and Hilldyke River which
communicated with the Witham at Anton's Gowt. Several of
the more important sewers, too, were available for small boats. In the
orders made by Commissions of Sewers, frequent reference is made
to the fact that sewers ought to be maintained of sufficient capacity
for boats to pass along. Thus, in the 16th century, in an order
directing that new bridges shall be built over the Risegate Eau in
Quadring Fen and Bicker, it is directed that they shall be ' of such
height that boats might pass under.' So also with regard to the
bridges over the sewers in Kirton Fen, Frampton Fen, and at Lich
field End, it is directed that they shall be 12ft. wide and of sufficient
height for boats.
When the works for the improvement of the Witham were
carried out in the middle of the last century, and the Grand Sluice
erected across the river, provision was made for its navigation by the
construction of locks. Subsequently the navigation was handed
over to a Company of Proprietors. Until the establishment of the
Great Northern Railway, the Witham navigation with its branches,
the Horncastle and Sleaford Canals, formed the most important
means of transport for corn and coal in North Holland. The
Witham was also extensively used as a means of locomotion, steam
packet-boats running regularly between Lincoln and Boston, and
taking passengers to and from the market towns. The large main
drains were also provided with locks and in other ways made suitable
for navigation. Hobhole and Maud Foster Drains, with several of
their branches, were extensively used for the conveyance of coal, corn
and road material to the farms in the East and West Fens ; and the
Black Sluice afforded a connection between Boston, Swineshead and
Donington, and the villages adjacent to it. In the south, the Wel
land afforded navigation for coasting vessels up to Spalding, whence
barges could get to Crowland, and by the Glen and Bourne Eau to
Bourne, and also by the Vernatt's to Pode Hole, and by the canalised

430
portion of the river to Stamford. After the construction of railways,
the traffic on the rivers and drains fell off considerably. At the
present time, the amount of produce, road material, manure and
similar heavy traffic conveyed, is very limited. From those parts of
the Fenland not provided with railway accommodation, packet boats
drawn by horses, still bring passengers, with their baskets of butter
and other produce, to market.
The history of these navigations has already been dealt with, to
a certain extent, in the Chapters on the Witham, the Welland and
Boston Harbour. Fossdyke Navigation.
This navigation was originally made by the Romans, but sub
sequently allowed to go to decay. It was opened out again by King
Henry I, in 1121, 'for the purpose of bringing navigable vessels
22 and 23 car. from the Trent to the city of Lincoln.' In the reign of Charles II,
an Act was passed empowering any person to open the communi
cation through the Fossdyke to Torksey. Under the powers of this
Act, the channel was again cleaned out. In 1846 the Great
Northern Railway Company leased the navigation from Mr. Ellison,
who was then the owner of it, for 894 years, at a yearly rent of £9,570
42 and 43 vict. ,js. 3d. In 1 879 the navigation became vested in the Joint Com
mittee of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Railway Companies.
The length is 10 miles 60 chains. There is one lock at Torksey
into the Trent, 80ft. long, i6£ft. wide, with 5ft. on the sill. The
traffic in 1888 from the Board of Trade Returns amounted to 25,096
tons. The Revenue was £i,6gg, and the expenses of maintenance
£1,010 leaving a net revenue of £689.
Witham Navigation.
The early history of this navigation has been already given
with that of the river. In 1846 it was leased to the Great Northern
Railway Company for ggg years, at an annual rent of £10,545.
Since the Railway Company became the owners, the traffic has very
much fallen off. The chief articles of transport are manure, corn,
gravel and coal. Boats carrying from 50 to 60 tons can navigate
to and from the Trent, the Ouse and the Humber, and the canals
connected with those rivers. The tolls between Boston and Lincoln
or Torksey are 2/- per ton. For shorter distances, id. per mile.
The rate for manure is less. The length of the navigation from
Boston to Lincoln is 31 miles 60 chains. There are 3 sets of locks.
The lock at the Grand Sluice is 5gft. long, 30ft. wide, with 10ft.
of water ; at Horsley Deeps, 84ft. long, 17ft. 6in. wide, with 6Jft.
on the sill ; at Stamp End, near Lincoln, 82ft. long, 17ft. ioin. wide,
with 6£ft. on the sill. The rise at Horsley Deeps is 8ft. and at
Stamp End, 5ft. Barges, 78ft. long, 14ft. ioin. beam, and 5ft. deep,
can navigate from Boston to the Trent. The traffic is given in the
Board of Trade Returns of 1888, as 20,567 tons ; the revenue, as

43i
£1,546; expenses of maintenance, £2,301 ; leaving a deficiency of
^755- Horncastle Navigation.
At the end of the last century, a canal was constructed from
the Witham near Tattershall Ferry to the town of Tattershall, by
John Gibson of Tattershall and John Dyson of Bawtry. An Act & f£°\j£,\ u-
was obtained in I7g2 for purchasing this canal for the sum of £840,
and for enlarging and extending it along the course of the river
Bane to Horncastle. The capital authorised to be raised was
£25,000. The tolls were fixed at 2/- per ton for the whole distance
and in proportion for portions of the same. The canal was 1 1 miles
in length. There were to be 7 locks, and the excavation was not to
exceed 5ft. below the surface of the land. If in any one year the
revenue allowed of a dividend of more than 8 per cent., the tolls
were to be reduced. This clause was repealed in the subsequent Act.
In 1800 a second Act was obtained, giving power to raise a further 39; "J^J0,^-
sum of £20,000, and authorising a further maximum toll of 1/3 per
ton. The canal was opened in 1802.
At the present time the canal is practically derelict, the locks
are decayed and out of order, and it is no longer used for navigation.
Kyme Eau and the Sleaford Navigation.
This waterway is fed by a natural stream, which rises on
Willoughby and Sudbrooke Heaths, and, flowing past Wilsford, is
fed by a number of springs at Bully Wells a short distance west of
Sleaford, whence, under the name of the river Slea, it flows past
Haverholme Priory and Anwick, and thence, under the name of
Kyme Eau, through the fens of Ewerby, Anwick and South
Kyme, to the Witham at Chapel Hill. The lower part of this
river appears to have been navigable from very early times.
In the i6thyear of the reign of Edward III, the Earl of Angus ex
hibited a petition to the King, representing that " there was a certain
water called the Ee of Kyme, betwixt Docdyke, on the east, and Brent
Fen, on the south, which did run through the lands of the said Earl
for the space of 6 miles in length ; but was so obstructed and stopped,
by reason of mud and filth, that ships laden with wine, wool and
other merchandise could neither pass through the same in summer
nor winter as they used to do, except it were scoured and cleansed,
and the banks so raised, that the tops of them might appear to
mariners passing that way, whensoever the marshes there should be
overflowed," and he stated that he was willing to do the work at his
own expense, provided the King would grant him certain dues
on the merchandise passing in ships though the same. Reference
is again made to this river in a Presentment made in the 50th year
of the same reign, in which complaint is made of the dues enacted
by the Earl on boats going from Boston to Kesteven by this
navigation.

432
32 Geo. iii. c. In 1794 an Act was obtained for making a canal from the
Io6- '794- j Witham near Chapel Hill, along the course of the Kyme Eau and
the river Slea, to Sleaford. This canal is about 13J miles long.
Two locks were constructed, one at Lower Kyme and the other at
Flax Dyke in Ewerby. The capital authorised to be raised was
£19,500. The dividend was limited to eight per cent, and the
maximum tolls fixed at 2/- per ton.
41 vict., c. 88. The amount of navigation along this canal having become very
l878- small the Company, in 1878, obtained power to abandon it. By the
Act, power was obtained to close the canal for navigation and
dissolve the Company, and to dispose of any property belonging to
it. After the ist of December, 1878, all rights in reference to the
navigation, created by the first Act, ceased ; the Landowners were to
be compensated by the Company for any culverts, banks, or other
works, constructed for the purposes of the canal or for the conven
ience of the Landowners, which it was necessary should be maintain
ed after the navigation was closed, if a claim were sent in within six
months after the notice of abandonment ; the company were to fill
up the locks at the Corn Mill, the site of Dyer's Mill and the Coggle-
ford Mill to a level corresponding with the height of the adjacent
banks ; for the protection of the Haverholme Estate, through which
the canal extended for five miles, the Anwick Lock, the Haverholme
Lock and the Paper Mill Lock were to be placed in repair; and the
navigation between these locks was to be vested in the owner of the
Estate. Power is reserved to the Owner to substitute at any time for
the upper gates of the three locks a pair of draw doors and to
remove the lower gates ; or he may fill up the lock pits ; the right of
using the towing path on the north bank of the navigation, between
Haverholme Lock and Anwick Lock, is reserved to the owner of
the Haverholme Estate, so long as he shall think fit to use it, and
he is liable during such period to repair and make good any injury
to the bank ; the company were also bound to put Kyme Lower
Lock, the first lock from the River Witham on the Kyme Eau, in
repair, and this lock was vested in the Witham Commissioners, the
cost of maintaining the lock to be repaid by the riparian proprietors
on the stream above the lock, in the proportion in which the same is
used by such Owners ; the Commissioners may at any time, if they
deem it desirable, remove the gates, and fill up the lock pit. The
Company were to scour out the navigation and put any public
banks or bridges in repair, before being relieved of their responsibility
with respect to the same ; the duty of scouring out and roding
Kyme Eau and maintaining the banks was to revert to the parties
who were liable before the canal Act was passed.
The Welland (Stamford and Spalding) Navigation.
'""' In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a petition of the Corporation
of Stamford complained that " the pitiful sight of the ruins, decays

433
and remains as well of the ancient buildings of many parish
churches, as of other large and strong houses and beautiful monu
ments, sometime erected and built within the said town ; that the
same hath not only been environed and walled with a wall of good
strength for that time, but also very populous and well inhabited by
a number of wealthy and notable merchants, whose wealth and
riches began, grew and increased, by reason of an ancient river,
named the Welland, which passed from and through that town to
the sea, and to the ports of Boston and Lynn and other low
countries in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, to the great
enriching of the said counties, but that to have and enjoy again the
benefit of the said river and to make the same navigable (as before
time it hath been) is, by the judgement of wise and expert men,
feasible and manifestly to be proved how it may be done, although
the accomplishing thereof be chiefly hindered by the division of the
ancient course thereof into divers streams for the erection of 6 or 7
water mills now standing between Stamford and Deeping, which
nulls not being of that account as to be preferred to the advantage
which would follow the making the said river again navigable,"
they asked for power to be given to make a river or new
cut for the passage of boats, ' bellingers,' lighters and other vessels.
An Act of Parliament was passed, granting the powers asked for,
which were further extended in the reign of King James.
At a General Session of Sewers, held at Stamford, in the reign
of King James I, it was decreed that it should be lawful for the
Corporation of Stamford to make a river, of such breadth and depth
as they should think fit, for the passage of boats and barges, from
the north side of the River Welland, from the east end of the town
of Stamford and Hudd's Mill, across the river called Newstead
River or the Wash, and thence through Affington, Tallington,West
Deeping, Market Deeping, and past Market Deeping corn mill, to
rejoin the ancient course of the river, and thence in the course before
stated, unto the Outfall to the sea at Boston Deeps. The Corporation
were enabled to make such locks, sluices and other works as were
necessary for the navigation, the expense of which undertaking was
then estimated at £2,000. The Commissioners of Sewers also
ordained, as this work was undertaken at the expense of the Corpora
tion and their friends, that the Aldermen and Burgesses, and then-
successors, should receive, for all boats passing through each lock,
such a competent consideration as should be fit and convenient.
This order was confirmed by King James I, who fixed the tonnage
at the sum of 3d. ; and also granted to the Corporation the fishery
of the new river.
The work of constructing the new river was undertaken by
Daniel Wigmore, and the tolls arising from the navigation were
leased to him by the Corporation of Stamford at a very nominal rent

434
for 80 years, and afterwards the lease was renewed every 40 years,
on payment of a fine of £100.
The length of the Cut from Hudd's Mill below Stamford to
the lock, at East Deeping, was gj miles, and on this length 12 locks
were erected, which were made of a capacity to receive vessels of
7ft. beam. Vessels of greater burden than 15 tons could not navi
gate the Cut. Before the construction of railways, the goods, con
sisting chiefly of coal and timber, were usually taken up to Stamford
in gangs of four lighters, of from 7 to 14 tons burden. The voyage
from the Scalp, at the mouth of the River Witham, where the ships
lay to discharge their cargoes, through Spalding to Stamford was
about 50 miles, and was performed in 3 or 4 days. •
Te\F°d°CJ' *n I8°9i a Meeting of Landowners, Merchants and Traders,
held at Stamford, directed Mr. Thomas Telford to report to them as
to the best means of improving the inland communication between
the neighbourhood of Stamford and the sea. In a report dated
January 8th, 1810, Mr. Telford, after describing the more inland
portion of the proposed canal from Oakham to Stamford, stated
that it would be necessary to improve the navigation of the Welland
to the second lock, a distance of three miles, but that, as it would have
cost much more to render the old navigation perfect, he advised that
a new canal should be made to near Kate's Bridge, and thence pas
sing along the Car Dyke to Horbling, should there join ' that excellent
drain,' the South Forty-Foot, by which means access would be
obtained to the Witham at Boston. The South Forty-Foot was to
be deepened two feet, and the lock at the Black Sluice enlarged.
This scheme was never carried out.
Another scheme was submitted by Mr. Brown, by which the
Welland was to be the means of communication between Stamford
and the sea, the difficulty in this case being the condition of the
Welland, which was reported to have been growing worse and worse
for some years from neglect and mismanagement, in consequence of
which the channel required deepening, and the locks and other works
extensive repairs. It was contended, on behalf of the Promoters,
that, as the Lessee had neglected to maintain the canal in proper
order, the Corporation of Stamford ought to take it out of his hands.
The tolls, liberties and profits arising from the navigation were
let by the Corporation from time to time to various lessees, but the
traffic from the navigation decreased so much, after the opening of
the railways, that the amount received from the tolls did not cover
the working expenses. There being no probability of an increase,
and the locks and other works having become ruinous through the
neglect of the Lessees to perform the covenants entered into by them,
in 1864, by agreement with the Corporation, the existing lease was
surrendered and the navigation became disused. In 1870 the Cor
poration, with the consent of the Treasury, sold their rights in the

ABANDONMENT
OF THE NAVIGA
TION. 1804.

435
canal to the adjoining Landowners, and the channel in many places
is now filled up. Bourne Eau.
This river runs between Bourne North and South Fens, from
Bourne to the River Glen at Tongue End, a. distance of 3J miles.
It is fed by a strong spring, which rises on the west side of the
town. This rivulet drives three mills before it reaches Bourne Eau.
There is no record existing as to when this natural stream was
first embanked, but reference is made to it under the name of
' Bourne Aid Ea,' or ' Brunne Ea,' as far back as the 13th century,
when an Order of Sewers was made that " Brunne Ea ought to be
raised and scoured by the towne of Brunne to Goderam's Cote,
on the north side, and on the south to Merehirne." In 1376 an
order was made by a Commission of Sewers that Brunne Aid Ea
ought to be repaired, raised and cleansed, and maintained by the
town of Brunne and the Abbot of Brunne, from Brunne unto
Goderam's Cote ; and subsequently another order was made, to the
effect that the banks ought to be enlarged to 12ft. thick, and made
2ft. higher. By the Black Sluice Act of 1 765 provision was made for the
heightening and strengthening of the bank of Bourne Eau, by the
Black Sluice Commissioners,
The bed of Bourne Eau is above the level of the adjacent fens,
and the banks, being made of peat, are very porous, and a constant
source of danger to the fen land. For the protection of the fens
the Black Sluice Commissioners, who are liable for the maintenance
of the north bank, have placed self-acting doors across the Eau at
Tongue End, pointing towards the Glen, to prevent the flood water
from that river backing up ; and an overfall of 20ft. in length has been
fixed in the bank, so that when the water rises to a height equal to
23ft. above the sill of the Black Sluice, or 14-306:. above Ordnance
datum, it flows over into the Wear Dyke, which is connected with
the South Forty-Foot at Gutheram Cote.
In 1 78 1 an Act was obtained for improving the navigation of
the River called Bourne Eau, from the town of Bourne to its ACT.
junction with the river Glen, at a place called Tongue End. The 1781
Preamble of this Act recites that the river had become choked with
mud and the navigation nearly lost ; that if it were scoured out and
cleansed, and a staunch erected, it would be of great local advantage.
The Act gave power to appoint Trustees to carry the works out,
The Trustees were to be the Lord of the Manor of Bourne, and the
Members for the time being ; the owner of the old inclosure called
Bourne South Fen and Thurlby Fen pastures, the Lord of the
Manor of Bourne Abbots, and nine other persons appointed by these
Trustees, together with all holders of £100 stock in the company.
The tolls were limited to 2s. 6d. per ton of goods carried. The

NAVIGATION

43&

STOPPAGE OF
THE NAVIGATION. I860.

Galen.

ROMAN ROADS*

Stukeiy.

owner of Bourne South Fen and Thurlby Fen pastures, who was
then liable for the maintenance of the South Bank, adjoining Bourne
South Fen, was to be exonerated from future liability on payment
to the Trustees of £60 a year, the bank in future to be maintained
by the Trustees. The depth of water was to be 5ft., and the width
30ft. The navigation ceased to be of any importance after the opening
of the Railway to Spalding in i860. In 1866 all navigation on
the river ceased.
The particulars of a serious breach which occured in the North
Bank, flooding the fens, has already been described.
Roads.
Although previous to the Roman occupation there must have
been means of communication between the different parts of the
country, it is very doubtful whether any defined or constructed roads
existed. Of the main roads made by the Romans there exist not
only historical accounts, but traces of them remain to the present
day. The direction of some of the branch roads rests more upon
conjecture. The Romans commenced the construction of roads when
Agricola was the Propraetor, and they were continued, and those
that had been allowed to get out of order repaired, by Trajan.
" Such as were rough and over-grown with thorns he cleared and
ridded ; and where rivers were not fordable he made bridges ; if a
way lay too much about he made it more direct and straight, and if
the way was rugged he took care to smooth and level it."
The main line passing through the Fenland was a loop of the
great road leading from south to north, said to be a British road or
track, called Ermyn Street, afterwards adopted by the Romans,
(Via Herminia). It is now known as the High Dyke. This road,
after crossing the river Nene,went by Lolham Bridges, a construct
ion made by the Romans to carry the road over the fenny ground
adjacent to the Welland, pursued a north easterly course across the
Glen at Kate's Bridge, through Thurlby, Bourne, Cawthorpe, and
Ancaster {Causennm), thence passing about a quarter of a mile east
of Sleaford, through Ruskington, Dorrington, Blankney and Mether-
ingham, to Lincoln,where at the bottom of Canwick Hill it joined the
Foss Road from Newark, and passing along the lower part of the
City, ascended the hill and passing. through Newport gate, finally
joined the main road to the Humber. Another road stated to be of
Roman origin is the one coming from the high country by Boling
broke, Stickford, Sibsey, crossing the Witham by a ferry, the site of
which was a little above the present ferry at St. John's Lane, then
along the west side of the Haven and across the Hammond Beck,
by another ferry, through Kirton to Gosberton, at the top end of
Bicker Haven, and thence to Donington and by the Bridge End

437
Causeway through Horbling, to join the main road to Lincoln.
From Gosberton another branch went eastward, through Surfleet
and Pinchbeck to Spalding, and thence across the Welland and
through Holbeach to Wisbech. Along part of this course, at
Bridge End, remains of the foundations of the original road, consist
ing of stone and gravel have been found, and along the road through
Lincoln distinct traces of the old Roman causeway have been GuMetoL^ain.
discovered, from 8ft. to gft. below the level of High Street, buried
by a mass of rubbish and earth.
Another road which must undoubtedly have been in existence
in the time of the Romans is the one from Wainfleet,passing through
Irby, Steeping,Spilsby, Winceby,and Horncastle — whichwas aRoman
station — and thence by Baumber, Wragby, Sudbrooke, Holme and
Langworth, to Lincoln. This road formed the means of communi
cation between the Port of Wainfleet and the camps at Horncastle
and Lincoln, a branch going off also to another camp at Burgh.
The main road from Wainfleet, through all the villages in East
Holland, to Boston ; and the road from Heckmgton,through Swines
head and Wigtoft to join the Spalding road at Gosberton, if not
made by the Romans, must both have existed from very early times.
The Roman Bank, made by the Romans, afforded a road from the
Welland at Cowbit to the Nene at Tydd St. Mary.
Later on, a road was made by the monks along the east side of
the Welland, connecting Crowland and Spalding. This was
afterwards superseded, and probably buried, by the Barrier Bank.
The road from Sutterton through Fossdyke, crossing the sands fossdyke wash.
called the Welland Wash, and thence to Holbeach, has attracted
some attention, as this is supposed to be the route taken by King
John after his stay at Swineshead Abbey, when his luggage was
lost in the sea. The crossing of the Wash was always a dangerous
proceeding, and guides obtained a living by piloting passengers
across the sands and marshes. In an old Map of Lincolnshire, by
Ewan Brown, published in the middle of the last century, is given a
perpetual tide table for Fossdyke and Cross Keys Washes. Tbe
first column contains the age and and appearance of the moon, then
follows the time at which it is ' full sea,' and then the time at which
the Wash begins and ends, the interval between being that when it
would be safe to pass over. There is no date attached to the map,
but there is reason to fix the time of its publication about the year
1730. A bridge was built across the Welland at Fossdyke in I7g4,
which will be described in a subsequent part of this Chapter.
There is very httle information obtainable as to the
condition of the roads previous to the reclamation of the Fens.
Occasional references are to be found as to orders made on the
Abbots and other owners of lands to repair certain roads, on the

438

NORDYKE
CAUSEWAY.

BROTHERHOUSE AND SPALDING
ROAD.

Dugdale. 1324.

HOLLAND
CAUSE1AAY. 1263.

Dugdale-

ground that land had at one time been specially grantea to them for
this purpose Thus, with respect to the road leading from Spilsby to
Boston, which was designated as " The King's Highway from
Boston to the Humber," the part lying between Stickney and Sibsey
was frequently flooded and always dangerous, especially near Nor
dyke Causeway, and when the floods were out it was unsafe for
a horsemen to cross without a guide. In the 13th century a present
ment was made before the Justices itinerant, that two men carrying
a corpse from Stickney to Sibsey, to be buried in the Churchyard there,
' drowned ' it on Nordyke Causeway ; and that, in consequence of
the neglect of the Abbot of Revesby to repair the road, divers
persons were drowned every year ; and the Sheriff was ordered to
seize the goods of the monastery if the Abbot continued to neglect
the repairs. This road, as also that leading from Wainfleet to Boston, and
also other roads in the Fenland which are higher than the surround
ing land, are frequently spoken of as ' the Ramper ' probably from
their having formerly acted as ramparts against the spread of the
floods. In the eleventh century Abbot Egelric made a ' causey 'or road
way, called Elrick Road, of faggots with gravel over them, from
Deeping to Spalding, a distance of 12 miles, for the advantage of
passengers, ' a most costly work but of extraordinary necessity.'
In 1 3 24 the Commissioners appointed by the King to view the banks
in Holland presented this road, which is described as the
common road betwixt Pichale and Brotherhouse and thence to the
Clote and to Croyland, as having been damaged by trenches cut
across it ; and they ordered that from henceforth no trenches should
be made to the hindrance of the King's Highway ; and that where
the trenches had been made bridges should be provided so that carts
and ordinary droves could pass over.
In the reign of Henry III, the Jurors for the Wapentakes of
' Kirketone, Ellow, and Aveland,' chosen to enquire concerning a
certain causey called Holand Causey, and of the bridge called
Peccebrigge or Briggdyke (Bridge End Causeway), found that certain
lands had been given to the Prior of St. Saviour's, at the head of
the said causey, near the site of the Priory, for the repair and main
tenance of this road from the head thereof to the Innome of Don
ington. Also, that the Canons of that Priory had obtained a Bull
from the Pope to exhort the people of the country to contribute
towards the repair of that causey, by means whereof they collected
much money, with which, and the rents of the land, they used to
repair the same, till 20 years last past, when they were hindered by
a flood and could not do it, since when they had appropriated the
money to other purposes. The Jury found that this causey ought
to be repaired by the Prior of St. Saviour's and by the town of

FERRY. 1378.

439
Donington, unto the head of the same towards Holland, in respect
of their lands lying on each side of the ground called the Innome, given
for that purpose ; and as to the bridge, that this had been built by
the Prior of Spalding, and had since been repaired by him, and that
he took toll of persons passing over it ; and they found that the
Prior of Spalding was liable for the maintenance, and that the
causey ought to be so broad that carts and carriages might meet
thereon ; and the bridge of Peccebrigge to be so made as that men
riding on horseback might also meet thereon. In 1280 the Prior of
Spalding was summoned and ordered to repair Peccebrigge.
Again in the reign of Edward I, at an Inquisition held at
Gosberton, an order was made as to the repair of ' Holand Causey,'
with the little bridges, by the Landowners in Donington, as
to the east end, and by the Prior of St. Saviour's, as to the west
end. In 1376, a Jury found that the Prior of Haverholme "ought to kyme eau
provide a boat at the Bothe near Wath Mouth, at its junction with
Kyme Eau, to transport foot folks over the water, as well by night
as by day, so often as any man should have occasion to pass that
way, and that he had not done it, to the great damage of passengers
travelling that way ; also that the town of Great Hale, with the
commons, ought to repair and maintain the Causey of Gerwick into
Pingelhyrne, both for horse men and foot folk."
On the inclosure of the Fens, the various Acts which were
passed for the allotment of the lands belonging to each separate roads.
parish directed that the Commissioners should set out in their
Awards both public and private roads, and also directed that a
certain number of acres of land should be set apart for the repair of
these roads. Thus, nearly all the parishes which had right of
Common in Holland Fen were awarded the right to obtain material
from a plot of land at Amber Hill, which contained gravel. When
the Donington Turnpike Act was obtained, the Proprietors of these
roads were also empowered to obtain material from this land. When
the Act determined and the tolls were abolished, this land was sold, and
the proceeds, with other assets, were divided amongst the parishes
through which the turnpike road passed.
The public roads, in the newly inclosed lands, were directed by
the Inclosure Acts to be of a width varying from 40ft. to 60ft., which
accounts for the large grass margins which, at the present time,
exist at the sides of many of the Fen roads. In some of the Awards
it was ordered that these roads should become public highways, but
in many, no provision appears to have been made for forming the
roads or covering them with hard material, and, consequently, several
of them soon became in a deplorable condition. Although, within
the last few years, most of the roads have been metalled, some
by the voluntary act of the parishioners, and others by order of the

INCLOSURE

EAST AND WEST
FEN ROADS.

16 and 17 Vict.,

44°
Trustees, yet there are still several in existence that are only
grass droves, or the centre of which has had only a covering of
silt. The allotted roads, in the East, West and Wildmore Fens, were
at first maintained and repaired by the several townships through
which they passed, but, subsequently, disputes having arisen, some
of the new parishes refused to maintain and repair them, and conse
quently the roads became utterly neglected and almost impassable.
In winter time, the ruts were so deep that no light conveyance
could safely pass over the roads, and it was not an uncommon
occurrence for vehicles to become so embedded in the mud that the
driver had to seek the assistance of some neighbnuring farmer to
extricate his waggon with the aid of several horses. It was
attempted, by an indictment against one of the parishes through
which the roads passed, to compel the parishes to repair them. The
case being carried to the Court of Queen's Bench, a decision was
given in favour of the parish. Several influential owners and
occupiers of land in the neighbourhood then met together and
determined to put an end to this state of affairs, and in 1853, an ^
was obtained ' for the better maintenance and repair of the highways
115/1833. ' in Wildmore and the East and West Fens,' by which it was enacted
that the whole of the roads set out under the Inclosure Awards, as
public ways, should be deemed highways, and be made subject to the
same laws and regulations as govern the highways throughout the
country. The Barrier Bank Road, extending from Spalding to Cowbit,
and thence along the Welland, through the Bedford Level, was the
first turnpike road in the Fenland. It was constructed by the
Adventurers of Deeping Fen, under an Act passed in the reign of
Charles II. On the formation of the South Holland Drainage Trust,
12 Geo. iii. 1772. this road from Spalding to Cowbit was vested in the Trustees, and
they were allowed to take the tolls.
1 and 2 vict. In 1 838 it was declared to be a Turnpike road, and leave was
1 3 ' given to take tolls for 31 years. On the expiry of this term in 1869,
iao9 the tolls ceased, and the road was taken charge of by the Surveyors
of Highways of Spalding and Cowbit, and, on the passing of the
Highways Act of 1878, became a main road.
The road from Brotherhouse Bar to Crowland was, until
crowland recently, subject to tolls payable to the owner of the estate. In
i8g2, the parish having obtained the abolition of the tolls by a
payment to the owner of them, the road also became a main road
under the charge of the County Council.
The next Turnpike Trust which obtained Parliamentary powers
roads. was the one between Spalding and Tydd, which was formed in
1764 ; the next was the Spalding and Deeping, in 1820 ; the Boston
and Donington, and the Spalding and Bourne, in 1822 ; and the

BARRIER BANK.

16 & 17 Car. ii.

BROTHERHOUSE
AND CROWROAD.

TURNPIKE

441
Spalding and Donington, the Swineshead and Holbeach, and the
Boston and Spilsby, in 1826.
The following is a list of the Turnpike Roads, with their mile
age and the date when their first Acts were obtained. Date of Length of
Act. road in the
HoUand
Division.
M. F. C.
Boston and Alford road, as far as Cowbridge 1826 150
„ „ „ to Hilldyke „ 222
The Donington road, from Boston through
Kirton and Sutterton, to the eighth mile
stone ; and from Boston through Kirton
Fen, Swineshead and Donington, up to the
Hammond Beck ; and from Kirton Holme
to Langrick ... ... 1822 26 o 2
The Swineshead and Fossdyke road, passing
through Hofleet and Sutterton ... 1826 12 6 3
The Spalding and Donington road, from Doning
ton through Quadring, Gosberton, and
Pinchbeck to Spalding, and from Gosberton
on the Boston road to join the Donington
Turnpike ... ... ... 1826 n 3 3
The Spalding and Tydd road, passing through
Weston, Holbeach and Sutton St. Mary to
Tydd and Sutton Bridge ... ... 1764 19 1 1
The Barrier Bank from Spalding through Cow
bit to the Turnpike at Brotherhouse Bar... 1665 600
The road from Brotherhouse Bar to Crowland
and to the boundary of Northamptonshire  476
The Spalding and Market Deeping road from
Spalding to the county boundary in the
parish of Deeping St. Nicholas ... 1820 605
The Spalding and Bourne road, passing through
Pode Hole and Dovehirne to the county
boundary at Gutheram ... ... 1822 578

96

Mais Roads. The above were all constituted Main Roads,
under the Highway Act of 1878, except the road from Brotherhouse
Bar to Crowland, together with other highways, making a total mile
age of main roads in Holland, under that Act, of 117m. 4L ich. In
1889, these main roads were transferred to the County Council, and
in 1892 further main roads were adopted, making a total of
177m. of. 8ch.
The only Highway Board that was constituted in the Fenland
was that for the management of the roads in Holland Fen. The
Fen allotments in this district being situated a long way from the
mother parishes made the management of the highways difficult.
There were three principal roads which ran the whole length of the

HOLLAND FEN
HIGHWAY BOARD.

REPAIR OF
ROAOS.

44?
Fen, from 7 to 8 miles in length, without any cross road at the
northern end, thus making communication from one part of the Fen
to another very inconvenient. The parish of North Forty-Foot Bank
consisted of a narrow slip of land, about one chain wide and 6J miles
long, on which a church and school, a brewery and 40 houses had
been erected. The road, never having been metalled, was in a
disgraceful state, and at times access to the houses on the bank was
almost impossible. This land was extra parochial, and after it
was formed into a parish, the rateable value was so small
that it was not possible to raise the money necessary to put the
road in proper repair, or to maintain it. Under these circumstances
the Author was directed by the Court of Quarter Sessions for the
parts of Holland, in 1878, to prepare a report on the condition of the
roads and to advise as to a scheme for forming a Highway District.
The Court adopted the scheme proposed in the Report, made the
necessary order for the formation of the District, and a Highway
Board, consisting of 13 members, was constituted. The District
included the parishes and parish allotments in Holland Fen, with
the exception of Boston West, Skirbeck Quarter, Wyberton,
Frampton, Wigtoft and the land near Swineshead, west of the Skirth. '
The area of the District was 16,000 acres, and included the whole, i
or portions of, 16 parishes. The rateable value at the time of the
formation was £14,585. The length of the roads placed under the E
management of the new Board was 42m. 3! gch., of which 5m. if.
icb. were main roads. The average cost of maintenance of these
roads by the Highway Board for the three years 1885-1888, was
£20 15s. This included the interest on the money borrowed for
improvements. The Board, during its existence, metalled the North
Forty-Foot Bank at a cost of £2,04g ; opened out a cross road at the
north end of the district, from Cheetham Bridge to Reed's Point, a
distance of 3f. 2ch. ; and built a bridge over Claydyke, making a
communication with the road to South Kyme ; also a road
im. 2f. gch. long to Langrick Ferry, at a cost of £230. A bridge
was also erected over Clay Dyke, giving connection between Algar
kirk and Sutterton Fen, south of Amber Hill, at a cost of £242.
The total cost of these improvements was £2,367, for which £2,000
was borrowed, and the remainder paid out of the rates. The money
borrowed is being repaid by annual instalments.
The Highway Board was superseded when the District Council
was formed, and took over the management of all the Highways.
The only material available in the Fenland itself for the con
struction and repair of roads is silt, and many of the highways have
been formed by a covering of this material, dug from pits in the !
neighbourhood, or from ground allotted by the Commissioners for the
purpose. A ton of silt was reckoned to cover 1 yard in a length of
a road, i8in. thick, and 10ft. wide, the silt costing about 8d. to iod. (

443
per ton for digging and spreading. In some cases a road was
formed by being ' turned over,' the top soil being being removed to a
depth of 2ft. or 3ft. A pit was sunk in the middle of the road, 12ft.
wide, till the silt was reached. This was dug out and placed on the
surface, the top soil of the next length being thrown into the bottom
of the pit, and this process continued until the whole road was
covered with a layer of silt. The cost of thus silting a road, with a
pit from 5ft. to 6ft deep, was 15/- per chain.
Sea shingle brought from the beach, on the opposite coast of
Norfolk, has been largely used for covering and repairing the high
ways. This is delivered by barges at Boston or Fossdyke, or on
the main for the parishes adjoining the coast, and costs about 4/-
per ton. Gravel obtained from land near Horncastle, in the neigh
bourhood of New York and from pits near the Witham, and
also from Norfolk, used to be largely used, costing from 5/- to 6/-
a ton. The quantity of gravel put on a road, which had not pre
viously been metalled, was at the rate of 7 tons to a chain, 12ft. in
width. For ordinary repairs one ton was considered sufficient for
1 J chains. The use of granite for the repair of the roads in the Fenland
was first introduced by the Author, about 25 years ago. At first its
adoption was confined to the turnpike and urban roads. Its use
gradually spread until now it is put on all the principal highways
in this part of the county. The granite is obtained by railway from
the quarries in Leicestershire, or by sea from Belgium, and costs
from 8/- to 12/- per ton. On the principal highways, about 40 tons
of granite per mile, a year, is considered sufficient for ordinary repairs.
Almost without exception, both the main roads and highways
are without any proper foundation and have only a very thin coating
of material, which makes it very difficult to maintain the surface
level and in good order, especially in wet and frosty weather. The
practice which also prevails in this part of the county, of making the
width apart of the wheels of all the carts and waggons exactly to
the same gauge, leads the carters to follow in the same track along
the road, enhancing the difficulty of keeping the surface level
and free from ruts.
Within this last few years, the County Council have greatly
improved the main roads, by coating them thickly with granite or
slag and rolling the material in with a steam road roller.
From a Report made to the Court of Quarter Sessions, by the cost of main-
Author in i87g, it appears that 32 parishes round Boston had 511
miles of road. The highway rates in the different parishes varied
from 2/6 to 6d. in the £, the average being 1/5. The number of
acres to each mile of road was 221. The average cost per mile was : —

TENANCE.

444

£

Manual labour 

 6-05

Carting 

 2-55

Materials 

 I5H5

Sundries

 I-55

Management

 i'45

£27-05
This included the main roads.
From the Reports made annually to the Quarter Sessions, the
average cost of the 117^ miles of main roads in the division of
Holland, which is nearly conterminous with the Fenland, was for
the six years, 1884-9, £41-65 per mile, (including the cost of the
urban roads,) which was divided as follows : —
£
Labour ... 12-12
Materials ... 26-06
Carting ... 3-12
Sundries ... 0-35

41-65

In a Return made to the Holland County Council, of the mile
age and cost of the roads, other than main roads, of the forty-four
parishes in the division of Holland, the total mileage is given as
1116m. 7f. ich. The average cost, for the three years, i886-7-8,was
£18,165/13/6. and the average cost per mile £16-26.
From a Return prepared by Mr. H. Snaith, in 1895, for the
Rural District Council of the Boston Union, comprising all the
parishes in the Union, and covering an area of 78,015 acres, the
mileage of roads is given as 375 miles. The cost was shown as
varying from £36 to £12 a mile, the average of the whole being
£20-6, exclusive of the main roads, which are given as costing, in
1888, £43-04 per mile. The mileage per £1,000 of rateable value
is given as 3 miles 1 furlong.
The average cost of the main roads for the Division of Holland
for the 6 years, 1884-89, when they were maintained by the parishes
and received grants from the county rate, was £41-65 per mile.
For the 3 years, 1889-92, when they were maintained by the
County Council, the average cost, for 92 miles of rural main roads,
was £5,182, or at the rate of £56-33 per mile. In 1892 the system
of management was altered. A steam roller was purchased and the
principal roads received a substantial coating of material, which was
rolled down, and the roads were very greatly improved. Addi
tional main roads were also created, making the total length of the
rural main roads, 145m. 7f. 4ch , and of the urban roads, 39m. 7c.
The average cost per mile for the 146 miles of rural main roads for

445
the four years, 1892-6, including the purchase of the steam roller,
was £11,158, or at the rate of £764.2 per mile. The grants to the
urban main roads came to about £4,000 a year.
The total length of the highways, including main roads, in the mileage op
Holland Division is about 1,294 mnes- The area which these roads
serve is 244,317 acres, giving an average of 189 acres to 1 mile of
road. From Mr. Snaith's Return for the Boston Union, the area
averages 178 acres to a mile of road.
Bridges and Ferries.
The bridges which span the rivers in the Fenland are all of
comparatively modern construction, and have been erected in most
cases as adjuncts to the drainage works. All the bridges which
cross the drains belonging to the various Trusts are maintained by
the Drainage Commissioners.
There does not appear to be any reliable record as to when a boston bridge.
bridge was first erected across the Witham at Boston. Anciently
the means of crossing the river was by a ferry, the site of which is
supposed to have been a little above the present St. John's Ferry.
There is mention of ' pontage ' granted to the Earl of Richmond
and others in the 14th century, for repairing a bridge at St. Botolph's
across the river, between the lands of the Earl and those of William
de Ros ; and on subsequent occasions the bridge was described as
being ' ruinous and broken up,' and a grant made for its repair.
In 1500 a sluice was built across the river, a few yards above
the present iron bridge, for the purpose of stemming the tides. It
consisted of a stone pier, 13ft. wide, in the middle of the river, and
43fft. long. To each side of this pier doors were hung, which closed
against piers erected at the sides of the river. These piers were con
nected together at the top by wooden beams, which formed a road
way. The openings between the piers were respectively 44ft. and
2i£ft. Although this structure failed to answer the purpose for
which it was originally built, it continued as a bridge up to the
beginning of the present century. Frequent notices are con
tained in the Corporation records as to sums spent in repairing
it. Leland describes this as ' a bridge of wood over Lindis
and a pile of stones in the middle of the river.' About 50
years after this bridge was built, it became in a ruinous and danger
ous condition and finally in 1556 the superstructure fell down. A
new bridge was built by the Corporation of Boston and opened in
the following year. The old brick pier in the middle of the river
was allowed to remain and made use for the new bridge. During b05Ton ferry.
its construction communication was kept up by a ferry, for the use
of which the Corporation took toll.
It was during this time that the right to this toll was tried in
the Duchy Court of Lancaster. The action being brought by
Nicholas Worlicke of Spalding, against Thomas Sowthen, the

€4&
"caster. °piead°' Mayor of Boston, and Richard Kelsage, for the detention of a mare,
Ph andSMary because the plaintiff had refused to pay the toll of one penny
vol. viii. demanded for crossing the ferry. In the proceedings the river is
described as part of the " Porte or Haven of salt water called
Boston Haven, which issueth and hath his course through the
towne of Boston to the mayne seas, there nigh adjoining, and is, and
of long time hath been, a very dangerous and swift water and
stream and would in short time, if it were not defended and
kept by continual maintenance and repair of the banks and
and piers there adjoining, surround and destroy not only the town,
but also annoy and put in peril the whole country." It is further
stated that, "for the convenience of the inhabitants living on the east
and west side of the river, the Dukes of Richmond, who owned the
manor of Boston, of their mean benevolence, only for the ease and
relief of their servants, residents and inhabitants of Boston, did find,
maintain and keep to their great charges and expenses, within the
said manor, upon the soil and ground belonging to the same manor,
one ferry or passage over the said port, and water, and certain
watermen, boats and great bottoms or keals, called horse-boats and
wayne boats, only for the conveyance and transporting over the said
water and port of their tenants and inhabitants and their beasts, goods,
chatties, wares and merchandise." For the use of the ferry and the
boats were paid such sums of money, sometimes more and sometimes
less, having regard to the labour and travail of the watermen ; it
was further pleaded that this ferry was not a public highway, but a
passage on sufferance at the will of the Lord of the Manor ; that any
foreign persons, who, not being inhabitants of Boston, attempted
to cross by this ferry were withstanded and resisted as trespassers ;
that at sundry times of the year, when the banks of the said haven
had been impared and worn away by the rage of the water, the
ferry was stopped until the banks were again repaired ; and that
about 50 years last past, the Aldermen and Brethren of the late
Guild and Fraternity of our Lady, founded in the Parish Church
of Boston, by the license of the then Duke of Richmond, Lord of
the Manor, did build upon the soil belonging to the manor a bridge
over the said haven ; which bridge was always afterwards kept and
used and occupied as a private way and passage, at the will of the
Lord of the Manor, for the use of the inhabitants ; that the yearly
charges of the repair and maintenance amounted to £30 ; that sub
sequently to the building of this bridge the rights of the Lord of the
Manor therein had been transferred to the Mayor and Burgesses
of Boston ; that by the extreme rage and influence of the
seas the bridge about one year since, was suddenly 'braste
and overthrown,' and that in consequence the ferry had again
to be used, and that in the meantime, the Mayor and
Burgesses, did ' extend their uttermost power . for, and

447
towards the building and re-edifying ' of the same, and " after long
study and travail and good advise taken therein, did condescend
and agree amongst themselves, to set on work a great number of
masons, carpenters, wrights and other artificers, about the making
and erection of the same bridge, and the said workmen and artificers
being so set on work, at the only charges and expenses of the Mayor
and Burgesses, a great number of well-disposed persons travelling
into the Borough, perceiving the charge of the making of the said
bridge to extend far above the ability and power of the said Mayor
and Burgesses, did give and devise sums of money and other things
necessary towards the making of the said bridge."
A grant of lands and houses in Boston was made to the
Corporation by Philip and Mary, the Charter stating that this grant
was "in consideration of the great charges and expenses, which the
Mayor and Burgesses daily and continually sustain, in and about the
reparation of the bridge and the port, and to the end that the said
Mayor and Burgesses may be better enabled to support the charges
and expenses of the repairs and maintenance of the said bridge and
port." This wooden bridge continued to be a constant source of
expense. In 1626 the Chamberlain was ordered to repair it " but
not to touch the sluice, because such repairs 'belong to the Land
owners in Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland. In 1631, and again in
1741, the superstructure of the bridge was taken down and replaced,
the ferry being again brought into use while the works were going on.
In 1642 this bridge is referred to, and it is stated that the doors
of the sluice were not then in existence, and that the tide flowed
above the town.
In 1807 the present bridge was erected, about 20 yards south of boston iron
the old one. This bridge is one of the earliest examples of cast-iron BRIDOe-
as applied to bridge building, and was erected from the design of
Mr. John Rennie, at a cost, including land and approaches, of
£22,000. In the Preamble of the Act empowering the Corporation to erect Ge0 ..._ i8m
this bridge, it is stated that ' the existing bridge over the Witham,
was very ancient and out of repair, and was very narrow, incon
venient and dangerous for the passing of carriages and cattle.'
The Act reserved the right of the Corporation to take the same tolls
or pontage for the horses, cattle, carriages, waggons and carts
passing over the new bridge, as they had immemorially demanded
and taken. The toll over the bridge was abolished in 1830. The Th|™P0s°n's
bridge is stated in the Act to be of one arch, with not less than 72ft.
clear water-way, and 36ft. roadway. The actual width of water
way between the piers is 86ft.
The Grand Sluice at Boston has a roadway across it, connecting
the two sides of the Witham. This structure is maintained by the

448
grand sluice Witham Commissioners. The roadway is repaired by the Town
BRIDGE. j x J
authorities.
ferries. There are two ferries for foot passengers across the tidal portion
of the river, one at the end of the Skirbeck Road and the other at
the end of High Street, in Skirbeck Quarter. The men who own
the boats pay an acknowledgement of is. a year to the Harbour
Commissioners, who keep the steps and approaches in repair.
Until within the last few years the only means of passing across
the Witham between Boston and Lincoln, except at Tattershall,
where a bridge had been erected, was by ferry boats. The Act of
1762 authorised the Drainage Commissioners to construct a bridge
between Anton's Gote and Boston, for the purpose of preserving
communication between the severed parts of Holland Fen ; but this
work was not carried out.
The existing ferries are at Langrick, Dogdyke, Stixwould and
Washingborough and, until the erection of the bridges, at Kirkstead
and Bardney. The ferry boats are large enough to take a waggon
and horses, and are moved backwards and forwards by a chain
lying on the bed of the river and passing round a drum on the boat,
motion being given by a windlass worked by the man in charge.
kirkstead In 1 8g 1 , the Great Northern Railway Company constructed a
swing-bridge across the river at Kirkstead, for the convenience of
passengers and goods going to their station there, and this has
superseded the ferry.
bardney In 1893, a bridge was erected across the river at Bardney by
the County Councils of Lindsey and Kesteven. The estimated cost
of this bridge was £7,250, towards which the Great Northern
Railway contributed £3,000. The bridge was built under the
direction of Mr. Thropp, C.E., the County Surveyor of Lindsey,
the Contractor for the abutments and approaches being Mr. S.
Sherwin, and for the ironwork Messrs. Pitts and Matthews. The
amount of the Contract of the former was £3,437, and of the latter
£2,392. The rights of the ferry which was established in 1714,
were bought up for £777, including the land for the approaches to
the bridge. It is estimated that this bridge gives accomodation
to an area of about 2,500 acres in Branston, Potterhanworth and
Nocton Fens.
The Welland has only two bridges across it, one at Spalding
and the other at Fossdyke.
A bridge at Spalding has existed for a very long period. It is
bridge. stated that the Romans built a bridge here to carry their main road
across the Welland.
In the reign of Richard I, in an order made as to disafforesting
the marshes, they are described as extending to the 'great bridge of
Spalding.' In a Commission sent by the king to make enquiry and
to view the banks and sewers in Holland, it was presented ' that the

BRIDGE.

BRIDGE.

WELLAND BRIDGES.

SPALDING

FOOT BRIDGES*

449
great bridge, called Spalding brigge, was then broken and ought to i»"-
be repaired at the charges of the whole town.' At the Survey of the
Fens made by order of King James, the bridge over the Welland at
Spalding is mentioned. In 1642, the bridge is described as being of
great antiquity, and as ' twelve foote in the waterway and five foote
deepe,' and ' the stone pillar or pier in the midst thereof which vermuiden-s
supported the two arches,' as having been ' lately removed by the Discomse- l642.
drainers of Deeping Fen, when they widened the river.' In the
Deeping Fen Act of 1661, the Adventurers are required forthwith to
build ' the great bridge over Spalding River, commonly called the
High Bridge, of lime and stone.' The present stone bridge was
erected by the Trustees of Deeping Fen, in 1836.
There are two foot bridges across the river at Spalding; the
Victoria Bridge, the present iron structure of which was built in
1868 to replace a former wooden one ; and the Albert Bridge, below
the High Bridge, erected in 1844, which took the place of an
old chain bridge and was made to open for the navigation.
Fossdyke Bridge.
In the Welland Improvement Act of 1794, power was given to 34 Geo- iii, c.
erect a bridge at Fossdyke, over the intended new Cut, and to I0^.i794.
" amend and render safe for passengers and cattle, at all times of
the tide, the public way over the Wash, from the south bank in
Moulton, to the north bank in Fossdyke." These powers were
repealed by a subsequent Act, in which fresh powers were granted
for building a bridge over the Welland. Under the powers of this 5' e0i8ii.' °' '
Act the present opening bridge and the embankment across the
open salt marsh and sands, about half-a-mile in length, were con
structed by a Company. The original capital of the Company was
£14,000, raised by shares of £100 each, the amount of capital being
subsequently increased to £17,000. The bridge was built from the
designs of Mr. John Rennie. The works were commenced in 1812,
and finished in 1815. The bridge is described as having 'a very
grand effect,' and that its appearance is ' extremely light, and the Sanders'
design reflects the highest credit an the taste and judgment of the Hlst°7oin. Lm'
Engineer.' It was built of oak, the roadway resting on a series of
oak piles, driven into the bed of the river. These piles are about
i8in. in diameter, and some of them 42ft. in length. The bridge
has three openings of 30ft., two of 29ft., and three of 27ft., leaving
a total waterway of 202ft. The central part of the bridge opens for
the passage of vessels, the two leaves being raised vertically by
means of a rack and pinion.
After the opening of the Great Northern Railway, the tolls
diminished so much, as not to pay the cost of collection and repairs.
The bridge consequently fell into decay and became dangerous. In
1868 it was closed against road traffic, and the drawbridge was left
permanently open for the passage of vessels, a temporary arrange-

FOSSDYKE
BRIDGE TRANS
FER ACT.
33 and 34 Vict,

GLEN BRIDGES.

450
ment for the passage of foot passengers being provided. In the
following year the Proprietors applied at Lincoln Assizes, with the
view of getting relieved of their responsibility, but did not succeed.
In 1870 the bridge was made a County bridge by an Act of Parlia
ment obtained for the purpose. The County repaired the bridge,
and it was re-opened for traffic in 1871. The repairs cost £2,325.
The tolls were let by auction, realizing about £180 a year, the Lessee
34. "'''1870. ' undertaking the duty of opening and closing the bridge.
The management of the Bridge passed from the County Justices
to the Holland County Council, on its establishment in 1889, and in
1890 it was thrown open to the public free from toll.
There does not appear to be any record as to the date when, or
by whom, the bridges over the Glen were first constructed. The
Deeping Fen Act of 1664, directs that the Adventurers shall pull up
any bridges over the rivers Glen and Welland, or over the Vernatt's,
that hinder the passage of the water, and re-build and for ever after
maintain the same, and that all ancient bridges over any of the
rivers and drains shall be repaired and maintained by the
Adventurers. There are seven bridges over the river Glen : Kate's Bridge, at
the extreme limit of the Fen country ; Dovehirne, or Pinchbeck Bars
Bridge, which is maintained by the County ; the present iron bridge,
a single span of 49ft. 4m., which was re-built at the expense of the
County, under the direction of Mr. Kingston, Mr. Dixon of London
being the Contractor. The rest are Boarden Bridge, an old wooden
structure, about a quarter of a mile lower down ; Money Bridge,
about a mile below Dovehirne ; Herring Bridge, i\ miles further
down, built in 1775 by the Deeping Fen Adventurers, and since
maintained by that Trust ; and Cross Gate or New Bridge, \ mile
further, enlarged by the Adventurers of Deeping Fen, to a waterway
of 30ft., under the Act of 1774. The latter bridges are not main
tained by the County.
Surfleet Bridge has been in existence from very ancient times.
14 Geo. iii, c. 23. It is referred to in a Commission of Sewers, in the reign of Edward
II, as ' Surflete Brigge.' By the Deeping Fen Act of 1774, the
Adventurers were directed to replace the then existing bridge by
another ' good and sufficient Bridge, of not less capacity and
dimensions than Money Bridge.' The present iron bridge was
erected at the expense of the County, under the direction of Mr.
John Kingston, about 1844, Messrs. Handyside & Co., of Derby,
being the Contractors. A sum of £3,000 was borrowed to cover
the expense. Tydd Gote Bridge, over the Shire Drain, is maintained by the
County, and Tretton Bridge, jointly with the County of the Isle of
Ely. Crowland Bridge has been already described in Chapter X.

surfleet Bridge-

TYDD GOTE
TRETTOr
BRIDGES

45i
Eleven Towns Bridges.
The Bridges over the principal watercourses and drains in the
eleven parishes of the Kirton Wapentake have from ancient times
been known as the ' Eleven Towns Bridges.' From about the
time of the formation of the Black Sluice Drainage Trust in 1765,
up to 1892, when the Holland County Council was constituted, they
were under the management of a separate body of Commissioners,
consisting of one Representative from each of the parishes. The
money required- for maintaining the bridges was provided by a
Precept directed to the several Highway Surveyors. The origin of
this Commission is not known. A clause in the Black Sluice Act 5 Geo. Hi, o. 86.
of 1765 gave the Drainage Commissioners power to authorise the
inhabitants of the eleven parishes, having right of common in
Holland Fen, to erect bridges over the new drain at the expense of
such inhabitants, and this probably resulted in the formation of the
Commission. Before the formation of the Black Sluice Trust, these bridges
were under the charge of the Court of Sewers, and they were repaired P°™ ' °f6Se™ers:
previous to 1744 by the Dikereeves, in accordance with the Redstone al_° July 26 and
Gote Law. Subsequently they were repaired by the ' General
Surveyor,' at the cost of the Eleven Towns, as appears by a Law
of Sewers made in 1744.
The Eleven Towns were defined in the reign of Henry III, when
" a precept was directed to the Shirereeve touching the partition of Dugdale, chap.
Haut Huntre Fen, by the consent of those that had right therein,
whereby the King gave special command that each town might
have their due proportion thereof assigned to them." By the Law
of Sewers of 1744, it was ordered that in future the works relating
to certain drains should be presented by the General Surveyor of
Sewers, together with the bridges over the same, namely, Swines
head High Bridge, Kirton Holme Bridge, Kirton Bridge, Frampton
Bridge with a gate to the same, Wyberton Bridge, the Bridge into
Dawson's Piece with two horse gates to the same, two bridges
over the new Cut from the North Forty-Foot to the South Forty-
Foot, the Forty-Foot bridges in the West Causeway, Hubbert's
Bridge, Wyberton Bridge, and Litchfield Bridge over the South
Forty- Foot. Three of these bridges are referred to in a Commis
sion of Sewers, as far back as 1571, which directed "that one
bridge over the sewer (Hammond Beck) in Kirton Fen, another at Dugdale.
Frampton Fen, and another at Litchfield End, should be re-formed
by the townships or persons who of right ought to do the same ;
and be of 12ft. in breadth, and of height sufficient for boats to
pass under, upon pain of £3 6s. 8d. for every bridge unfinished at
Michaelmas following."
In 1802, an indictment was preferred at the Quarter Sessions
at Boston by certain inhabitants, against the Eleven Towns Com-

452
missioners, for not maintaining Hubbert's Bridge in a safe condition.
This indictment was quashed, but was laid again, at a subsequent
Sessions, against the parishes, certain inhabitants being selected for
the purpose, and an order made for the repair of the bridge ; the
fine imposed being subsequently remitted.
After the formation of the County Council, objections were
raised by some of the parishes to the payment of the call made by
the Eleven Towns Commissioners, it being contended that these
bridges ought to be repaired by that body. The Commissioners being
advised that they had no power to enforce payment of the Precept,
resigned in a body, and, no fresh Commissioners having been elected,
the Trust has ceased to exist.
The following are the bridges which were maintained by the
Commission, in addition to Hubbert's Bridge, which was
taken over by the County : the two wooden ' White ' foot bridges
over the Redstone Gowt and the South Forty-Foot in Skirbeck
Quarter ; the main road brick bridges over the South Forty- Foot in
Wyberton Fen and the ' High Bridge ' at Swineshead ; the main
road brick bridge over the North Forty-Foot in Skirbeck Quarter
Fen, known as the Cut Bridge ; and the bridge at Brothertoft
known as Toft Tunnel ; the highway bridge over the North Forty-
Foot, in Wyberton Fen, called Shuff Fen Bridge ; the main road
bridges over the New Hammond Beck in Wyberton Fen, at Kirton
Holme and Swineshead ; and the highway bridge, in Frampton
Fen, known as Baker's Bridge ; the highway bridge over the Old
Hammond Beck, in Wyberton Fen, known as the Chain Bridge ;
one at Kirton Holme ; and one in Frampton West under the
road to Kirton ; and the main road bridge at Kirton Holme.
The rate levied used to amount to about one penny per acre.
The eleven parishes which contributed and elected Com
missioners, were Boston West, Brothertoft, Skirbeck Quarter,
Frampton, Kirton, Sutterton, Algarkirk, Fosdyke, Wyberton,
Wigtoft and Swineshead.
The Black Sluice Act refers to two bridges to be erected, one
being described as being near Syke mouth. This does not appear
ever to have been erected, the other was, no doubt, Hubbert's
hubbert's Bridge, This was a wooden structure, carried on piles driven into
the drain. This bridge, having becomg unsafe, was taken over by
the County Justices for the Parts of Holland in 1888, and was
replaced, at the expense of the County funds, by the present brick
structure, having a single span of 56ft., which was erected from the
designs of Mr. John Kingston, the County Surveyor, at a cost of
£2,000. Railways.
The Companies which own the railways in the Fenland are the
Great Northern ; the joint Committee of the Great Northern and

BRIDGE

COMPANIES.

PRODUCE.

453
Great Eastern; and the joint Committee of the Great Northern and
Midland. The Great Northern has a complete monoply of North
Holland and the Witham Fens, by its loop line from Lincoln to
Peterborough, the East Lincoln line from Grimsby to Boston, and the
Grantham line through Holland Fen and Swineshead. In South
Holland, radiating from Spalding, are the Great Northern and Great
Eastern joint lines, running northward through Pinchbeck,
Gosberton and Donington, and southward through Cowbit and
Postland ; the Great Northern, through Deeping Fen to Peakirk ;
and the Great Northern and Midland joint lines, through Deeping
Fen to Bourne on the west, and eastward, through Moulton, Hol
beach and Sutton St. Mary to Sutton Bridge and Lynn.
At the present time there are about 123 miles of railway, serving BllEAO[.
an area of 519 square miles, giving one mile of railway to about
2,700 acres of land. The greatest distance of any part from a
railway station may be taken at about 6 miles.
Owing to the large quantities of potatoes, roots and vegetables "*""*.!"
grown, the traffic from some of the stations is very heavy. The
quantity of agricultural produce of all kinds sent from the three
stations, Kirton, Algarkirk and Surfleet, in a year, is about 23,000
tons, of which Kirton despatches about 11,000 tons and the other
two, 6,000 tons each. The area of land which these three stations
serve may be taken at 32,500 acres, including grass land, of which
there is a large area, roads, villages, &c. This gives 0-71 tons to
an acre exported from the district.
The rate of carriage varies with the class of goods carried-
For vegetables in truck loads it is i-J-d. per ton per mile, making the
cost to Sheffield, Manchester and other manufacturing towns to vary
from ios. to 20s. a ton.
An effort was made in 1877 to establish a steam tramway by
the side of the main road from Boston to Wainfleet, similar to that
which runs from Wisbech to Upwell and Outwell. An Act was
applied for, but owing to the prejudice which prevailed at the time
as to the use of steam on highways, and the harassing restrictions
imposed by the Board of Trade, the Promoters withdrew the Bill
and the project was allowed to drop. The convenience of a steam
tramway in carrying coal, road material, manure, oilcake and other
goods, and in taking back produce from such a highly cultivated
district, and to the inhabitants of the several villages through which
it passed, would have been very great.
The district through which this tramway would have passed
is 9 miles long, and the Promoters calculated that a section of country,
3 miles wide, would use the line, equal to an area of 17,280 acres.
It was taken that about 12,000 acres of this was arable, and that the
carriage of roots, corn and other produce outwards, and manure,
coal, &c, inwards, would average a ton per acre over every acre,

RATE of car
riage.

STEAM
TRAMWAY.

454
whether grass or arable, and that the average rate for goods would
be 4s. per ton. It was intended to run the line at the side of the
road so as not to interfere with the ordinary traffic. The standard
gauge was to be used so that trucks would be brought off the rail
way without transferring their contents. The engine was to be
covered in and similar in construction to those used on steam tram
ways in towns. There were to be stopping places at the villages
and principal cross roads, and sidings into some of the larger farm
yards. The scheme was promoted by some of the principal farmers
of the district and traders of Boston, and it was warmly supported by
Mr. W. Ingram, the Member for the Borough. The Solicitors en
gaged in promoting the Bill were Messrs. Staniland and Wigelsworth
and the Engineers Mr. W. Shelford, M. Instit. C.E., of London,
and the Author.

<?*'

f

4- J*'

y- <*" ./ ^

.££.

A

&

f

¦/

&

Fig; 15.

t-.£„J.

*

DIAGRAM. SHOWING THE STRATA OF THE FEM-LANO.
DATUM 100. FeCT BELOW ORDNANCE OATUM.

455

CHAPTER XVI.

Geology and Water Supply.

THE Geology of the Fenland has been so fully dealt with by
Mr. Skertchley in the memoir of the Government survey
that it is only necessary to describe generally the character of the
strata of this district.
The surface soil of about three fourths of the South Lincolnshire
Fenland consists of alluvial deposit, the remaining fourth being peat-
The total area is divided as follows : — Acres.
Alluvial soil ... ... ... ... ... 277,795
Peat  85,248

363.043

The relative positions and levels of the different strata are
shown on the diagram, Fig. 15.
Scattered over the district are a few elevated spots, consisting of
Glacial Drift, on which many of the villages are built. On the
margin of the Fens are patches of gravel and sand, the remains of
the beach of the ancient estuary.
The base or substratum of nearly the whole of the Fenland
consists of Oxford and Kimmeridge clay, the latter being a very
dark coloured, tenacious substance, termed locally ' clunch clay,' and
found chiefly to the east of a curved line, extending from Lincoln by
Boston to March. The Oxford clay lies to the west of this line,
and is a tenacious dark blue substance, sometimes turning brown on
exposure to the air, and containing numerous Ammonites, some
being of a large size, Belemnites and Septaria, or turtle stones.
iron pyrites and Selenite are also found in this soil. The thickness
of this formation probably exceeds 500ft. At Boston, a boring was
made in search of water in 1828, the strata passed through being
Fen beds, 24ft., Boulder clay, 166ft, Kimmeridge or Oxford clay,
382ft.; total depth, 572ft. At Fossdyke, a boring made in 1875
passed through Fen beds, sand and gravel, 78ft., sandy clay, 37ft.,
Boulder clay, 51 Jft., Kimmeridge clay, 159ft., total, 326ft. The
details of other borings made in this district will be found in the
Appendix.

Skertchley's Memoir.

PEAT AND
ALLUVIUM-

Fig. 13.

GLACIAL DRIFT.

Fig. 15.

SUBSTRATUM*

Appendix.

456

BOULDER clay*

Overlying this clay, throughout a considerable area, is a deposit
known as the ' Chalky Boulder clay.' This is an unstratified mass
of lead coloured clay, interspered with fragments of chalk and
limestone and also with basalt, granite, sandstone and other form
ations quite foreign to this part of the country. Many of these
pieces of rock are polished and scratched, or striated, in a manner
peculiar to stones which have been subject to glacial action. The
following specimens of rocks were found by the Author amongst the
clay excavated for the New Outfall of the River Witham and for the
Boston Dock : red granite with large quartz crystals, grey granite,
volcanic ash, amygdaloid, felstone, felspar and quartz, porphyry,
five different kinds of quartz rock, jasper, several different flints,
ferruginous and argillaceous sandstones, mountain limestone, dark
blue silicious limestone with quartz veins, silicious, argillaceous and
carboniferous limestones, great oolite, iron ore, greensand, chalk; also
Ammonites of large size, some having a diameter of more than a foot.
In the excavation for deepening the upper Witham, some boulders
of Lias limestone and sandstone were found, the largest of which was
about 6ft. by 4ft. and 2ft. 6in. deep, containing about 57 cubic feet.
Many of the fragments of rock found in the Boulder clay must
have travelled very long distances, some from the North of England
and Scotland ; whilst some have been recognised as belonging to
Norway ; the rocks being thus pioneers of the Scandinavians who
followed and settled here. The surface of the underlying strata,
on which the Boulder clay rests, is very uneven, and gives evidence
of valleys, river-beds and other depressions having been filled up by
it. Large pot holes, filled with gravel and sand, are frequently met
with, and in many places this Boulder clay rises up above the
general level in the shape of mounds or hills, as at Sibsey, and at
Beacon Hill near Sleaford.
The clay is exceedingly tough, tenacious and compact, giving
the idea that it has been subjected to enormous pressure. Of all
soils it is the most difficult to excavate. It is so hard that the
power of the foot is utterly inadequate to drive the tool into it, and
so unstratified that the pickaxe only loosens the small area with
which it immediately comes in contact. It is composed chiefly of
the debris of the Oxford and Kimmeridge clays of the neighbour
hood, interspersed with fragments of chalk derived from the stratum
of this material, with which, it is supposed, it was originally
covered, before it was denuded by glacial action. If burnt, it forms
exceedingly hard ballast, of a white or light yellow colour. It has
been estimated that this deposit was formed upwards of 200,000
years ago, when all this country was buried beneath a thick crust of
Geike's ice and snow and when large confluent glaciers came sliding down
from the north, pushing before them and grinding up under their
enormous weights, the rocks and soils over which they passed.

Great Ice Age

457

On the top of the Boulder clay is generally found a covering of
sand, the thickness varying from 6in. to a foot. In places also are
large holes, filled with the same material, which was probably
deposited by the action of the water flowing from the melting
glaciers. The quality and colour of this sand varies from fine,
white silver sand to green, yellow, black and red, the latter being
composed of large coarse grains and small pebbles.
As the climate became milder, the glaciers disappeared ; great
floods descended from the melting ice and scoured out valleys and
water courses, leaving the surface of the country in much the same
condition as it is now. With a milder temperature, vegetation
soon sprang up, and the Fenland became covered with trees, which,
in the course of years, grew to a very large size.
After the lapse of a long interval, a mild, damp period must peat.
have followed, which was favourable to the rapid growth of vegeta
tion andthe formation of peat.
This peat consists of the remains of mosses, water grasses,
reeds, flags, and other fresh water plants, common to ditches and
ponds, the most abundant being the Hypnum fluitans and the
Arundo Phragmites. In excavating in the peat, there is frequently
met with a substance which appears to be a mixture of decayed
vegetation, clay and compressed rushes. It is very tough, has
an extremly fetid smell, and is locally known as ' Bear's muck.'
As the peat increased, it gradually destroyed the trees, which
fell and became embedded in it.
A substratum of peat extends throughout the whole of the
Fenland, which is covered over with a thick deposit of alluvial
matter, and on this, in some places, are beds of surface peat. The
upper peat beads were formerly the sites of large meres or lakes.
One of these now forms the district known as Deeping Fen. Another
large mere extended on the western side of the Fenland, from
Washingborough to Helpringham Eau on the west, and to Dogdyke
on the east ; in length this mere was about 17 miles, and in width 3
miles. A portion of the peat of this mere is now covered with
alluvial deposit. The East Fen was the site of another large mere.
A third mere began about Helpringham Fen and continued, with a
gradually extending width, to Bourne and Deeping Fens, its length Appendixvi.
being 16 miles and its width from i£ to 4 miles.
The area of the surface of the upper peat is about 85,248 acres.
It is the lowest land in the district, its level varying from ift. to 7ft.
above Ordnance datum, or from i2^ft. to 6£ft. below high water of
spring tides in the estuary, the average being about 6ft. above
Ordnance datum.
The peat land is remarkable for the absence of trees and
hedges; and, being almost entirely arable, few sheep or
cattle are to be seen feeding in the fields. The houses are few and

Fig 15-

458
scattered. In winter the appearance of the peat district, with its
dark coloured soil and long straight drains is rather desolate and
cheerless, but in summer the scene is entirely altered and the
vast expanse of corn, when moved by the breeze, looks like a sea
with golden waves.
The surface peat varies in thickness from ift. to ioft. In
Deeping Fen, now, it is not more than about ift. in thickness and
about the same in the East Fen, although there may be small areas
where the thickness is much greater than this. In the West and
Wildmore Fens there is a large admixture of sand with the peat,
making the soil ' moory ' and very poor. In Thurlby Fen the peat
varies from 3ft. to 5ft. From Bourne to Heckington it is seldom
more than 3ft. and more frequently less than ift., and is here
generally ' skirty ' or mixed with silt and clay. Along the Witham
it varies from i8in. to 2ft., thinning off to 6in. as it approaches
Lincoln, although there are some places where it attains a thickness
of from 6ft. to 8ft.
Where the peat is thin it is gradually disappearing, owing to the
shrinkage of decomposition of the vegetable matter of which it consists, by ex
posure to the air, by cultivation, and by the shrinkage due to the
draining away of the water with which it was formerly saturated.
On some land nothing but peat was met with, when first brought
into cultivation, but, after some years' working, the clay from the sub
stratum was turned up and brought to the surface by the plough ;
which accounts for the general impression amongst the Fenmen, that
the clay grows. Large trees are also encountered by the plough
where formerly there was no obstruction.
In the East Fen, in the places where the peat was the thickest, it
has shrunk since the reclamation from 6ft. to 2ft., or 4ft. in 80 years,
being at the rate of rather more than £in. in a year. No doubt the
rate was much more rapid during the first few years. In other parts
the shrinkage has been 2ft. in 60 years. In the Witham Fens, the
surface has been lowered from 4ft. to 6ft. since 1743, owing to the im
provement of the drainage, or at a mean rate of about o'36in. a
year. In Deeping Fen the peat sank 24ms. in 25 years, or at a rate
of iin. a year.
The same rate has been found to prevail in the peat in the
Bedford Level. In Hilgay Fen it settled 52 inches in 26
years, or at the rate of 2in. a year. In Wood Fen, near Ely,
37m. in 20 years, or i-gin. a year. In Whittlesea Mere the peat at
Skertchiey- first sank 3ft. 6in. in nine years, or at the rate of 4-66 in. a year,
the rate spread over the subsequent 22 years was 92m., or 4-i8in. a
year ; after this the shrinkage was only at the rate of o.2in. a year.
In Wilbraham Fen, inclosed in 1804, the peat sank 6ft. in 60 years,
or at the rate of i-2oin. a year.

TREES IN
MAT.

459
From borings and observations made by Mr. R. Atkinson of
Outwell, along the districts bordering on the Nene and the Ouse, he
arrived at the conclusion that the peat had settled over the whole
level, from 5ft. to 8ft., from 1605, when the first reclamations were
commenced, to 1852, when his observations were taken. This
would give a mean annual shrinkage at the rate of -24m. to -38m.
a year, spread over 247 years. Comparing the general level of the
surface of the peat in the South Level of the Bedford Level, as given ^wheekr^"
in Mr. Rennie's Report of i8og, with what it is at the present time
an average subsidence of 4ft. 6in. is shown, being a mean
depression of o-68in. a year.
The trees found embedded in the peat consist of oak, birch,
beech, fir, yews, alder, hazel and willow. Oaks are the most
abundant. Some of these are of very large size, measuring as much
goft. in length, and 16ft. in girth. The colour of the wood varies
from a rich red brown to jet black. Much of it, when excavated
from the lower peat, is soft and spongy when first exposed to the air,
but hardens as it dries. After some time has elapsed, it becomes
very hard and as black as ebony, and takes a beautiful natural
polish. Many pieces taken out of the peat, during the excavations
for the Boston Dock, at 20ft. below the surface, were made into
articles of ornament, or furniture.* The bark of the beech found in
the same stratum, was as white and silvery as if newly cut down.
The same was the case with some found at Billinghay, the
wood found here being principally oak, birch, alder and fir, the pro
portionate quantity being in the order given. In Digby Fen, in the
upper peat, oak, elm, birch and hazel have been found, and the
Author has picked up, from the newly excavated peat, hazel nuts
with the shells quite perfect. In Thurlby Fen, Mr. Bettinson states
that the timber found has been principally oak, yew and beech,
lying from 3 to 4ft. below the surface. Near Sutton, Sir Joseph
Banks found birch, fir and oak, and in the soft clay overlying the roots,
were found perfect leaves of the common holly, also remains of the
willow and A rundo Phragmites.
Mr. Skertchley states that he found the direction in which the
trees lay was, almost, invariably, N.E. and S.W. This being the
direction of the prevailing winds and also the direction in which
many existing trees in the Fenland incline at the present time. The
trees have the appearance of having been broken and not cut.
He supposes that this is due to the action of the peat, causing the
trees to decay, as it gradually increased and buried the bottom of the
stems, which thus becoming weakened, were blown over by the wind
and became embedded in the peat where they fell.
* A paper knife made from this wood will be found in the library of the
Gentlemen's Society at Spalding.

460

alluvial soil.

Fig- 15-

Appendix vi,

SILT LAND.

ACCRETION
OF ALLUVIAL
MATTER.

RATE OF
ACCRETION.

It has been estimated that the peat formation must be at least
7,000 years old, but it is probably much older than this.
From the level at which the peat now lies, with reference to
the water in the Estuary, it is evident that, subsequent to its form
ation, a general depression of this part of the coast must have taken
place. At its present level it would be constantly covered with salt
water, and under these circumstances, neither the trees nor vegeta
tion of which the peat is composed could have grown.
The lower layer of peat subsequently became covered with
alluvial matter.
The alluvium, or silt, covers an area of about 277, 7g5 acres, and
varies from a light silty soil to stiff clay. Its surface is from 8ft. to
12ft. above Ordnance datum, the average being about 10ft. or 3^ft.
below the level of spring tides. On this soil is found some of
the richest corn and pasture land in England. There is a fair
sprinkling of trees, and the hedges in many places on the old pasture
are of very vigorous growth, and, when allowed to grow unchecked,
attain heights of from 10ft. to 15ft.
This alluvial soil varies from a mixture of argillaceous sand,
called silt, to soft buttery clay of a blue or brown colour. On the
richer lands the surface, for a depth of ift. or more, consists of a
rich loam, containing a mixture of clay, silt and decayed vegetable
matter. Such are the rich grazing lands lying between Boston,
Kirton, Sutterton, Wigtoft, Fossdyke, and along a great part of
East Holland, and in South Holland.
The marsh land between Holbeach and the coast, inclosed
since the Roman Banks were made, is much of this character, but
the pastures, being newer, are not so rich.
The silt-lands, though easy to work, are not so productive as
the richer loams. In some parts are large patches of poor and
hungry soils, while in others, as the proportion of argillaceous matter
increases, they become good land for market gardens, especially
when there is, as frequently, a substratum of clay.
The greatest deposit has taken place nearest the sea coast, and
along the sides of the Outfalls of the tidal rivers. The depth at
Boston is as much as 16ft. to 18ft. It thins off gradually from the
coast and the rivers, to nothing where its joins the peat, or the gravel
beaches of the high land. The action to which this is due may be
seen in operation at the present time on the salt marshes, where on
the margin of every creek, and for a short distance away, the ground
is higher than over the rest of the marsh.
Some idea of the rate at which alluvial deposits have taken
place in past ages may be gathered from what is now going on, and
from the area of the land which has been recovered from the sea,
during the last six centuries. The greatest accretion, naturally, has
taken place at the head of the bay, off the coast of Holbeach.

461
Here successive enclosures have taken place, until the bank,
made by the Romans for the protection of the land from the sea, is
left from 3 to 4 miles inland. Allowing that these banks were made
1,500 or 1,600 years ago, it will be found that the rate of growth
has been about gft. to 10ft. a year. Allowing the same rate of
accretion in past ages, it would take 13,000 to 15,000 years for the
formation of the alluvial deposits of the present Fenland.
The inclosures which have been made at different times vary
considerably in level, the most inland being lower than those more
recently inclosed. Thus, the average level of the land lying to the
north of the Roman Bank in South Holland is 3ft. to 4ft. higher
than that on the inside ; and the modern inclosures along the east Appendix vi.
coast are about 4ft. higher than those on the inner side of the
Roman Bank.
The following description of the growth of salt marshes on this Fascinc Work at
coast, is extracted from a paper read by the Author before the ^^mverf
Institution of Civil Engineers in 1876. " If not assisted by artificial ^eeier^ Min.
means the process of accretion is stationary after a certain distance Vo1- 46.
from the shore. The oldest salt marshes are about half to three
quarters of a mile in depth, beyond which there is nothing but bare,
sands. Directly the marsh is inclosed by a bank, and the water
shut off, the accretion at once becomes rapid, and, in the course of a
few months, the sand is covered with warp, then a growth of sampire
follows, succeeded by grass, and in a few years a marsh is formed
outside the recent inclosure, which rapidly rises by the accession of
warp, through which the grass grows, until, for a foot or more in
depth, the soil is a mass of the finest warp, mixed with roots of grass
and decayed vegetation. This process, repeated during several
years, makes some of the most valuable and fertile soil in the
country. The cause of the accretion not extending beyond a certain
point is easily explained. The tidal water, carrying matter in suspen
sion, spreads over the foreshore up to the banks, and for the short
time when there is a period of quiet, the matter in suspension is
deposited. The silicious particles of silt and sand, having the
heaviest specific gravity, are deposited first, the warp or loamy
particles being carried back with the ebbing current. Gradually, as
the marsh rises, the silt is deposited before the water reaches the
banks, the warp alone being carried to the upper part and there
deposited. As samphire and grass respectively grow, this process
is hastened, the vegetation holding the warp and filtering it from the
water as it recedes. For the deposit of this light flocculent material,
constituting the argillaceous portion of the suspended matter, a state
of rest in the water is necessary, agitation keeping it in a state of sus
pension. After a certain breadth of marsh has been formed,
—generally, on this coast, about one third of a mile, — the body of water
flowing off the marsh on the recession of the tide becomes so great,

46a
as to form a current sufficiently strong to carry with it both the
silicious and argillaceous particles held in suspension. After a time,
from the action of the forward and retrograde motion of the wavelets
of the ebbing tide, a marked and broken line, or steep, from ift. to
2ft. in height, appears at the edge of the newly formed marsh, up to
which the neap tides reach, and beyond which the marsh ceases to
grow. The existing marsh is then covered by ordinary spring
tides, but continues to rise slowly until at last it is only covered by
the few spring tides, which rise above the average height.
" Warp begins to take place at i jft. above low water. Mean
low water in the estuary is 732ft. below the Ordnance datum.
Samphire commences to grow when the surface is just covered at
neap tides, or from 14ft. to 15ft. above low water, and disappears
when the level of the soil is about iMt. above low water, or aft.
above an ordinary neap tide ; the samphire being gradually re
placed by grass.
" Newer and more recently formed salt marshes are about
1 8ft. above low water, and the old marshes 2oJft.
"The following are the approximate levels at which the process
, of accretion takes place, compared with the Ordnance datum. —
Mean low water ... ... ... 7-3.: below
Warp first deposited ... ... 5-50 above
Samphire ... ... ... ... troS ,,
Grass hrst appears  S-6S „
New Marsh  io-6S „
Old high Marsh  I3'I5 ».
Ordinary neap tides ... ... 6*69 ,,
Ordinary spring tides  I3'34 »
Mean high water ... ... ... 10-21 ,,
" The period of time, during which the process is maturing,
varies according to the situation of the marsh and to the artificial
means taken to assist the warping process. Silt foreshores, outside
a newly-erected inclosure, become grass marsh in about ten years ;
but after this a period of from twenty to twenty five years ought to
elapse before any inclosure takes place, during which time the
marine vegetation and grass filter the finer particles of warp from
the water, and the roots and decayed vegetation fill the soil with
organic matter."
Kirton and Frampton Marsh, inclosed in 1870, was on an aver
age about 45 chains deep. This marsh extends out from the Koman
Bank and had therefore been growing ever since its construction.
growth or salt In i$37, when the training works of the Welland were
commenced, a large area of the foreshore on the Moulton and
Frampton shores was bare sand; in 1851 it was all grassed over,
the Moulton marsh extending over Soo acres, and the Frampton
over 300 acres. The latter was inclosed in 1864.

MARSHES.

463

Moulton Marsh, when inclosed in 1875, was 35 chains deep
and had been growing for 38 years.
Gedney Marsh, which had been growing since the last century,
had an average width, when inclosed, of 35 chains.
The alluvial matter of which the upper surface of these marshes
is composed is derived from the warp brought down in suspension
by the rivers which discharge into the head "of the Wash, princi
pally from that derived from the Witham and the Welland, partly
also from that from the Nene, and in a less degree from that of the
Ouse. The warp transported by these rivers in heavy floods is
carried in suspension, for some distance beyond the mouth of the
rivers, into the estuary, and oscillates backwards and forwards with
the ebbing and flowing of the tides, until it is finally carried on to
the marshes and deposited. The largest amount of accretion has
taken place between the Nene and the Welland, a large amount
between the Nene and the Ouse, a less quantity between the
Welland and the Witham and along the Lincolnshire coast, and
only a very small area on the Norfolk coast.
Several schemes have been brought forward for reclaiming
land in the Wash, and this idea is from time to time revived, with
the view of providing work for the unemployed. In the first edition
of this work the Author expressed an opinion favourable to such
schemes. In doing so, he relied on the reports of Sir John Rennie
and others, but the time that has since elapsed has given him the
opportunity of more thoroughly investigating the subject, and he
has been forced reluctantly to the conclusion that, beyond small and
gradual reclamations, as the marshes grow up and become ripe for
inclosure, no general attempt at reclamation on a large scale can be
successful. With regard to the conditions favourable to accretion on which
the promoters of the inclosure of land in the Wash relied, it was
contended by Sir John Rennie that the Wash was gradually silting
up, due to the deposit brought down by the rivers, but principally
to material brought in by the tides. Mr. Skertchley, of the
Geological Survey, endorsed this view, and stated that it is to the
sea that is due ' the ceaseless supplies of sand and silt which daily
encroach on the waters of the Wash,' and with regard to the pro
posed reclamation scheme, that ' by inclosing and warping this
150,000 acres, it would be entirely converted into good land in 50
years.' The fact, however, appears to have been lost sight of that any
alluvium brought into the Wash from the sea must come from the
north, as that is the direction from which the flood tides come.
The coast lying north of the Wash is low, flat and sandy, and there
are no cliffs from which a supply of alluvium could be derived

SOURCE OF ALLU
VIAL MATTER*

RECLAMATION SCHEMES.

SOURCE OF
ALLUVIUM.

Geological
Memoir. 1877,

464
south of the Humber, or for a distance of 50 miles. The velocity
of the current, due to the flood tide, is not more than 2\ to 3 knots,
and, as it only runs southward for 6 hours and the current is then
reversed, it is obvious that any alluvial matter in suspension would
not be carried a greater distance from the source of supply than 15
or 20 miles, when it would be carried again northwards, or
settle on the bottom of the sea during slack water. The depth of
water in the sea, along the coast north of the Wash, is from 7 to 8
fathoms, and, considering the enormous volume of tidal water due
to such a depth, with which the comparatively small amount of
alluvium derived from the erosion of the cliffs is mixed in suspension,
it is impossible that any of it could ever find its way into the Wash,
Repeated examinations of the water at the lower end of the Estuary,
both on the flood and ebb tides, and of samples taken at various
depths, show the water to be bright and clear, and free from all
alluvial matter. The samples generally give on filtration a few
grains of clear silica, derived from sand disturbed from the bottom
by the action of the tides, but this sand simply oscillates back
wards and forwards with the flood and ebb. Occasionally, after
very heavy north-east gales and on-shore winds, when the surface
of the coast is disturbed, the water is turbid, and at such times
a small amount of detritus is no doubt carried into the Estuary ;
but to set against this is the material carried away to sea on the
ebb during very heavy freshets. Within the Wash the erosion of
the cliffs at Hunstanton affords a small supply, but the few acres
washed away from this cliff would go a very little way towards
raising the large area contemplated by the promoters of the re
clamation scheme.
The sand forming the coasts of the Wash is utterly unfit for
inclosure as it lacks the qualities necessary to sustain vegetation.
Neither is the silty foreshore, if inclosed, adapted to grow either
grass or corn. Where the accreted land has been inclosed, before
it has risen to a certain height, although capable of growing marine
grass, it has proved worthless for cultivation and has not been worth
the cost of inclosure. Unless the accreted land consists of a
sufficient depth of alluvial matter, incorporated with the accumulation
of organic matter derived from the decay of the marine vegetation
of a long period, it is poor and hungry ; unless raised to a sufficient
height above the tides, the salt does not get sufficiently washed out,
but remains in too great excess to suit crops of corn or grass ; when
also the surface is too low, every high tide drives the underground
salt water upwards to the roots of the crops and stunts their growth.
As already pointed out, the only source from which a supply of
ALLUVIUM ,. . . r r 1 '
brought down alluvial matter, fit for warping up the Estuary, can be derived is
that brought down in suspension by the five rivers — the Ouse, the
Nene, the Welland, the Witham, and Steeping river. Alluvium

LAND FIT FOR
INCLOSURE.

RIVERS.

465
brought down in times of flood by these rivers has been deposited in
the Delta formed at their mouths, to a lesser extent along the coast
on the west side, and to a very small extent on the east, or Norfolk,
coast. The area of land drained by these rivers is 3,724,800 acres (5,820
square miles). Of the rain which falls on this drainage basin, it
was estimated by the Author that only 4jin. is, on an average,
discharged by the rivers in floods, and this calculation was accepted
by Mr. Skertchley in the Government Geological Memoir. The
remainder is taken up by evaporation, absorption by the vegetation
and soakage into the chalk and Oolite strata. A number of samples
of water, taken by the Author from the Ouse, the Welland and the
Witham, in different conditions of the rivers, gave an average result
of 100 grains of alluvial matter and sand in suspension in a cubic
foot of water. This would yield a total quantity of matter brought
down in suspension of 385,560 tons annually. Owing to the small
inclination in the bed of the rivers, and the low velocity of their
currents, the quantity rolled along the bed of the channels is so small
that it need not be taken into account. Allowing 1 J tons to a cubic
yard when deposited, and supposing that it were all deposited on an
area of one acre, to a depth of 5ft., this would make 32 acres in a
year. Allowing a period of 1,700 years to have elapsed since the «r=» of
Roman Banks were made, there would have accreted, according to
this calculation, 54,400 acres, up to the present time. The depth of
5ft. is taken as giving the space between the average surface of the
marshes which have been inclosed, and the level at which warp first
begins to deposit on the sands, and samphire to grow, in accordance
with the data given previously. If, however, the inclosures were
made on any large scale, the depth to be accreted would be con
siderably more than this, the average level of the sands between low
water and the shore being about 12ft. below the level of the salt
marshes, and this would represent the average height to which these
sands must be raised before they would be fit for inclosure.
The quantity of land actually reclaimed, outside the Roman
Banks, is as follows : — Acres.
West Side or East Holland ... ... ... 6,336
Head of the Wash including South Holland, outside
the Roman Bank ... ... ... 35>r63
Bicker Haven and the Welland Marshes ... ... 10,464
Nene Marshes ... ... ... ... 9,536
Norfolk Coast, by Estuary Company ... -.. 1,800
63,299

ACCRETED LAND*

This is equal to an average growth of 37*23 acres a year. The
calculated quantity of deposit available, as gjven above, approximates

ESTUARY IN
CLOSURES.

466
sufficiently close to the quantity of marsh that has formed and that
has actually been inclosed, or rendered fit for reclamation, since the
Roman Banks were made, to show that the alluvial matter available
for making land suitable for cultivation is limited. If the average
height, that the 150,000 acres proposed to be reclaimed would
require to be raised by accretion, be taken at 12ft., the quantity of
material required would be 290,400,000 cubic yards, and, allowing
the quantity brought down by the rivers to be as given above, it
would require 11,102 years before the land was fit for inclosure.
Norfolk As a further proof of the impracticability of any such scheme,
the results obtained by the Norfolk Estuary Company may be quoted.
On the east side of the Wash, the Norfolk Estuary Company
obtained Parliamentary powers in 1846, to reclaim 30,000 acres of
sands and marshes, submerged at high tides, lying at the mouth of
the Ouse and the Nene. Accord to the Preamble of a Bill, promoted
in 1876 for amending the previous Act, a sum of £325,000 had then
been expended by the Company, in diverting the river Ouse, as part
of their scheme of reclamation and in other works. Since then, further
expenditure has been incurred, and up to the present time only
about 1,800 acres have been reclaimed, of which about 1,000 acres
is the property of the frontagers, and which was grass before the
Company came into existence. There is at the present time, a
small area nearly ready for inclosure, but the greater part of the re
mainder of the 30,000 acres, which it was proposed to reclaim, is
still little more than bare sands.
From this statement of facts, it is evident that the gigantic
of inclosure scheme of reclamation, as proposed by Sir John Rennie, is utterly
impracticable, and, even if practicable, judging from the results
which have been obtained from attempts to inclose lands in the
Wash on a large scale, would be financially disastrous.
The subject of the transporting power of water, the quantity of
Wheeler. 1893. material brought down by the rivers, and the action of the tides in
moving solid matter, is fully dealt in Chapters IV, On the transporting
power of water, and VI, On the physical conditions of tidal rivers,
of the Author's book on Tidal Rivers.*
annual outward The following table will further illustrate the slow rate at which
the accreted land, along the coasts of the Wash, has increased. It
gives the average annual extension outwards from the Roman
banks, since their construction, including the land reclaimed and
that now nearly ready for inclosure. Feet Miles
On the East Holland Coast 1-12 along a distance of 16
Along the Welland ... 2-00 ,, ,, 4
In South Holland ... 13-00 ,, ,, 11
*Tidal Rivers, their Hydraulics, Improvement and Navigation, by W. H. Wheeler,
M. Instit. CE. Longmans &¦ Co., London and New York, 1893.

LARGE SCHEMES
OF INCLOSURE
IMPRACTICABLE

Tidal Rivers.

GROWTH OF THE
MARSHES

467

Feet. Miles.
The Nene reclamation ... 5-50 ,, ,, 7
On the Norfolk Coast ... 1-55 „ ,, 4
Water Supply.
The water for use in the Fenland is derived almost entirely
from rivers, drains, ponds or shallow wells. The wells seldom
exceed from 12ft. to 15ft. in depth. If carried too low the water
becomes impregnated with salt, or brackish, and unfit for use ; the
same remark applies to ponds ; great care has therefore to be exer
cised in sinking these, as a slight extra depth may spoil the quality
of the water.
In silty soils there is a continuous underground flow of water,
which rises and falls throughout the whole district, coincidently with
the rise and fall of the water in the rivers or main drains, due to
floods or droughts. This variation in the level of the water is
locally termed the ' sock ' or ' soak.' The underground level of the
water is also affected by the tides. At high tides the drain
age and spring water flowing underground towards the estuary
is driven back by the head of water in the sea, and the level
of the water in the wells for a considerable distance inland
is stated to vary with the condition of the tide. It is
asserted by well sinkers that if shallow wells are sunk anywhere
near the coast when the ' sock ' is high, due to spring tides, the
water in them will be permanently ' brack,' or so much impregnated
with salt as to be unfit for use, but that if the sinking takes place
during neap tides, fresh water will be secured. The Author has not
had an opportunity of personally verifying these statements, but
there is no doubt that at a certain distance below the surface the
water contains sufficient salt in solution to make it unfit for use.
Attempts to obtain water by sinking deep wells have been only
partially successful. At Boston, after boring to the depth of 572ft.,
the attempt was abandoned. At Fossdyke a boring to the depth of
326ft. was equally unsuccessful. In Deeping Fen a good supply was
obtained at a depth of 200ft., and at Donington, at a depth of 286ft.
On the east side of the Witham, on the margin of the Fenland,
at Woodhall, a valuable spring of mineral water was discovered in
1828, by Mr. J. Parkinson, when sinking a shaft, with the hope of
finding coal. The spring was discovered at a depth of 530ft. in the
inferior Oolite. The water stands naturally at 50ft. from the sur
face. The proportion of iodine and bromine in this water is greater
than in any other known spring, and it is very efficacious for all
rheumatic complaints.
There is also a chalybeate spring at Monks' Abbey, near Lin
coln, the water from which has a temperature of about 10 degrees
more than that of the neighbouring wells, and another at Catley
Abbey, the water from which is designated as 'natural seltzer water.'

SOURCES OF
SUPPLY-

THE BOCK-

DEEP WELLS>

MINERAL
6 PR I NOB.

468

URBAN SUPPLIES.

ANALYSIS OF
FEN WATER.

¦ Bourne is supplied by very excellent water derived from springs
which break out between the Oxford clay and the Oolite stone.
The town of Boston has an artificial water supply, derived from
a reservoir at Miningsby, on the northern edge of the Fenland,
about 12 miles from the town, at an elevation of 164ft. above it.
This reservoir covers an area of 34 acres, and contains, when full,
75-J million gallons. The gathering ground extends nearly to the
village of Asgarby and covers 3 square miles. The water is con
veyed to the reservoir by a natural brook, the quantity flowing off
the gathering ground during the winter months being sufficient to
fill the reservoir.
Spalding was formerly supplied from a neighbouring water
course, the water from which was derived from springs, 20 miles
away, rising between the Oxford clay and the Oolite. The water
is now derived from wells at Bourne, and brought in pipes for a
distance of 10 miles. When boring for the supply, water impreg
nated with iron was met with, and at 12ft. below this, the main
spring was tapped ; at 100ft. the overflow was at the rate of
1,872,000 gallons a day.
The following analysis of different Fen waters, is given in the
Sixth Report of the Rivers' Pollution Commission, 1868.
RESULTS EXPRESSED IN PARTS PER 100,000.

dissolved matters.

HARDNESS.

3* tn u
« ft
S-a

a0
-aO rj
"3 ritot->
O

0 d
d M
a 0
V-i ti

'a 0S 0
<

" a .
a, to 22
2 2*

T3
|s R ho
°Sop 0
H

a>
Sf 0
rt 0
i as
<u g d
".5 0
to e-—
1?!

aia
'u 0
30

Li
rt L.
0p.a0
H

C
1

0
H

Boston,
Miningsby.
Spalding Pode Hole,
Fen water.
Do. Rain do.
Bourne, Well Head.

19-88
28-48
1 10*40 5-28
42-92

•152•179
I-327 •142 '104

'°33•°43¦159•029•020

¦080

•031

¦033
•043•225¦060¦020

•34°

2-l5
2-70
12-75 ¦go
3-10

io-6 8-o
25-223H

3-8
9-7
42-1 3-8
n-8

14-4
17-7
67'3 3'8
35-2

The analysis of the Spalding water was taken in 1873, from
the former source of supply. The water analysed at Pode Hole was
from that pumped for the use of the hamlet, and may be taken as a
favourable representation of the water supply of Deeping Fen. The
Commissioners remarked that they considered it to be utterly unfit for
domestic use ; and that a sample of rain water, taken from the tank
belonging to the Pode Hole engines, was very much purer, more
palatable and more wholesome. The contents of this tank fairly
represented the water which can be obtained in the Fens, wherever
a clean roof, and a sufficiently capacious tank is provided.

469
The principal fen drains are replenished in summer by water L""Na wat"-
admitted into them from the high land streams, which restores the
loss by evaporation and absorption, and also affords a fresh supply
for the cattle. The water thus introduced is termed ' living ' water
to distinguish it from the stagnant water in the drains. Thus,
Deeping Fen is supplied with fresh water in summer time from the
river Glen.
On the western margin of the Fenland, at Bourne, Horbling
and Sleaford, very strong springs of water of excellent quality
break out from the Oolite rocks, and feed the numerous Becks
which discharge into the Black Sluice Drain, and also the River
Slea which discharges into the Witham. There are also several
small becks or streams, from the higher land between the Slea and
Lincoln, which discharge into the drains of the fens along the
Witham. The Witham is replenished by several tributaries which afford
a perennial supply of clear spring water to the river in summer time.
The East and West Fens are supplied from the Steeping River and
the Catchwater Drain.
Rain water is made use of for domestic purposes to a large rain water
extent, many of the houses and cottages being supplied with under
ground brick tanks for storing it. Considering the difficulty of
obtaining a supply of pure water, however, this source is not made as
much use of as it ought to be. The Author has brought this matter
forward on several occasions in the Stamford Mercury, in the
Fenland Circular for October, i8g5, and also in a paper read at the wheeler, 1879,
request of the Lincolnshire Chamber of Agriculture at Lincoln, in supply's- pmin-
1879, from which the following is an extract :— as' !£*"co'""
" On this side of the country, where the quantity of rain is
small, there is yet a sufficient fall on every house in the course of the
year, if properly husbanded, to yield a supply to the inmates. A
cottage covers about 500 square feet of ground : the rain falling on
the slated roof, supposing it to amount to 22in. a year, the average
for Lincolnshire, would yield about 5,700 gallons, or a daily supply
01 15$ gallons. The tank to contain this must be so proportioned
as to be large enough to take the winter supply, supplemented by
thunderstorms and ordinary showers during the rest of the year.
The roofs of the house and buildings on a farm of about 100 acres
may be taken to cover about 4,500 square feet of ground, and would
yield 51,384 gallons, equal to a daily supply of 140 gallons, sufficient
for the requirements of the farm and homestead. As a guide, in
providing tanks for rain water in the district, it may be taken that
they should hold 2 gallons for every square foot of roof, where they
are slated. Thatch and tiled roofs are more absorbent than slates,
and soak up many a shower which would find its way into the tank
from off slates. The loss on a tile roof has been proved to amount

47°
to as much as one inch of rain during the summer months, or 602
gallons on a cottage roof. Churches and schools afford a valuable
source of supply for villages, which is almost entirely neglected. An
ordinary village church covers about 7,000 square feet, and the
schools 1,000 more. These together would yield over 90,000 gallons
in the course of the year, equal to a daily supply of 250 gallons."
Stamford Mer- To this may be further added the following extract from a
Oct. 21, 1870. letter of the author in the Stamford Mercury of October 21st, 1870.
" An examination of the rainfall during a dry summer shows that
storage room should be provided for 76 days' supply, equal to about
22 hogsheads for a cottage. A tank to hold this quantity requires
to be 6|ft. in diameter and 6ft. deep below the dome. The cost of
such a tank, made with two rims of brick-work in mortar and covered
inside with cement, domed over and provided with a manhole and
stone slab with iron lid, is about 7s. a hogshead, or £7 14s."
The average amount of rainfall is rather under-stated in the
above calculation.

47-i

CHAPTER XVII.
Natural History, Physical Products, Climatology
and Health.

Natural History.
IN the following Chapter it is not intended to enter into any
technical or lengthened descriptions of the natural Flora or
Fauna of the Fenland. These subjects have been treated with ^fier'and
much detail in The Fenland Past and Present, in which is given skertchley.
a list of all the wild birds, fishes and plants, that either formerly
existed, or still remain.
A history of the Fenland would however not be complete with
out some general account of its natural products.
A very complete collection of fen-birds, and of the water-fowl
which are to be found in the estuary, has been placed in the museum
at Wisbech, where are also many interesting fen relics, antiquities
and specimens of Fenland geology. Birds.
The Fens, in their natural condition, formed a congenial breed
ing ground for water-fowl of nearly every description, the taking and
sale of which was the chief means of subsistence of the Fen S lodger.
Camden, whose description of England was written before the
inclosure of the Fens, gives the following quaint account of the
feathered tribes frequenting these parts. " At certain seasons of
the year, not to mention fish, amazing flights of fowl are found all
over this part of the country, not the common ones which are in
great esteem in other places, such as teal, quails, woodcocks,
pheasants, partridges, &c, but such as have no Latin names, the
delicacies of the tables and the food of heroes, fit for the palates of
the great — puittes, godwittes, knots, which I take to mean Canute's
birds, for they are supposed to come hither from Denmark ; dotterell,
so called from their extravagant dotishness, which occasions these
imitative birds to be caught by candle light ; if the fowler only puts
out his arm they put out a wing, and if his leg they do the same ;
m short, whatever the fowler does, the bird does the same, till the
net is drawn over it."

472

Drayton's Polyolbion.

Camden's
Britannia.

Drayton's
Polyolbion.

Magna Brit-
tanma. Cox,

Drayton also thus describes this bird : —
For as you creep or lower, or, He, or stoop, or go ;
So marking you with care, the apish bird doth do ;
And acting everything doth never mark the net.
Till he is in the snare which men for him have set.
Again Camden says, "The fen, called the West Fen is the place
where the ruffs and reeves resort in greatest numbers ; and many
other sorts of water fowl, which do not require the shelter of reeds
and rushes, migrate hither to breed ; for this fen is bare, having
been imperfectly drained by narrow canals, which intersect it for
many miles.. The multitude of starlings that roost in the reeds in
the East Fen, in winter, break down many by perching on them ..
The birds which inhabit the different fens are very numerous.
Besides the common wild duck, wild geese, garganies, pochards,
shovellers, and teals breed here. Pewits, gulls and black tern
abound, and a few of the great terns or tickets are seen among them ;
the great crested grebes, called gaunts, are found in the East Fen,
the lesser crested, the black and dusky and the little grebe, cootes,
water hens, spotted water hens, water rails, ruffs, redshanks, lap
wings or wipes, red-breasted godwits and whimbrels are inhabitants
of these fens. The godwits breed near Washingborough. The
whimbrels only appear for about a fortnight in May, near Spalding,
and then quit the country. Opposite to Fosdyke Wash, during
summer, are vast numbers of avosettas, called there yelpers, from their
cry as they hover over the sportsman's head, like lapwings. Knots are
taken in nets along the shores near Fosdyke in great numbers, during
winter, but disappear in spring. The short-eared owl visits the
neighbourhood of Washingborough with the woodcocks, and pro
bably performs its migration with those birds, quitting the country
at the same time. It does not perch on trees, but conceals itself in
old long grass."
Michael Drayton enumerates the following birds inhabiting
the fens. The duck and mallard, the teal, the goosander, the
widgeon, the golden eye, the smeath, the coote, the water hen, the
water ouzel, the dab chick, the puffin, the wild swan, the ilke, the
heron, the crane, the snipe, the bidcock, the redshank, the bittern
and the wild goose. Among such as feed flying, the seamew, the
sea pie, gull, curlew, cormorant and osprey.
Cox, in his description of Lincolnshire, referring to the fen
country, says, " The rivers, together with the adjoining sea, afford
plenty of all sorts of fish and fowl, most of them common to other
countries of the same situation, but some few peculiar, or partic
ularly excellent. As to the fowl, this shire, as Dr. Fuller says,
may be termed the aviary of England, for the wild fowl thereof
being remarkable for their (i) plenty, which is so great that some
times in the month of August, 3,000 mallards and other birds of
that kind have been caught at one draught (as 'tis here said) ; (2)

473
variety, there being scarce names enough for the several kinds ;
(3) deliciousness, wild fowl being more dainty than some, because
of their continual motion. But particularly, this shire affords two
sorts of birds, most admirable meat, viz., knutes and dotterells.
The knute is a delicious bird, brought here out of Denmark, at the
charge and for the use of King Knut or Kanutus, when he was
received King of England. As it has a royal name, so it is
esteemed royal dainties, and no country almost hath them but
this. ... To these we may add, not only such as are of great value
in other countries, as teal, quail, woodcocks, pheasants, partridges,
&c, but such as are of so delicate and agreeable flesh, that the
nicest palates always covet them, as puits and godwits."
In Percy's Household Book of 1512, the value of these birds
is thus given : lapwings, knots and dotterells, id. each ; sea gulls,
plovers, woodcocks and redshanks, 1 £d. ; pigeons, terns and snipes,
3 for id.; stints, 6 for id. ; ruffs, reeves and partridges, 2d. each ;
bitterns and curlews, i£d. each.
As further showing the esteem in which the wild fowl of the
Fens were held, there is an entry in the Lincoln Corporation Records
of a present sent to the Lord Treasurer, consisting of ' 1 doz. god
wits, 5 doz. knots, and 1 doz. pewitts.' Even as recently as the last
century, knots used to be netted, fattened and sent in large
numbers to the London market.
To these accounts may be added the beautiful, but imaginary,
description of Charles Kingsley : " But grand enough it was . . . prme%y%.
while dark green alders and pale green reeds stretched for miles
round the broad lagoon, where the coot clanked, and the bittern
boomed, and the sedge bird, not content with its own sweet song,
mocked the notes of all the birds around ; while high overhead
hung, motionless, hawk upon hawk, buzzard beyond buzzard, kite
beyond kite, as far as the eye could see. Far off upon the silver
mere, would rise a puff of smoke from a punt, invisible from its flat
ness and its white paint. Then down the wind came the boom of
the great stanchion gun, and after that sound, another sound,
louder as it neared, a cry as of all the bells of Cambridge, and all
the hounds of Cottesmore, and overhead rushed and whirled the
skein of terrified wild fowl, screaming, piping, clacking, croaking,
filling the air with the coarse rattle of their wings, while clear above
all, sounded the wild whistle of the curlew, and the trumpet note of
the great wild swan. They are all gone now."
The Fenmen long resisted the enclosure of the Fens, as being
destructive of the birds and fishes, from the catching of which they
obtained their living, the sympathising poet expressing their feel
ings in the following lines : —
Come, brethren of the water,
And let us all assemble,

474

Camden's
Britannia,

Thompson's Boston.

To treat this matter, which
Doth make us quake and tremble ;
For we shall rue, if it be true,
That fens be undertaken,
And where we feed, in fen and reed,
They'll feed both beef and bacon.
Of the many fen birds which have disappeared since the
inclosure, one of the most beautiful was the bittern, with his
frill of feathers. This bird used to be called the butter-bump, and
his melancholy booming was heard for long distances over the Fens.
The ruffs and reeves were also very beautiful birds, having a frill of
feathers round the neck, hardly two birds being marked alike.
Bustards were also to be found in the Fens, although they were more
plentiful on the Wolds. These birds fed in large flocks ; owing to
their weight, some weighing as much as 141b., they could not rise
quickly, but had to run a short distance first. They were hunted by
dogs trained for the purpose, which was said to give as much sport
as coursing hares.
Snipe are occassionally met with. Barn and tree owls used to be
very common along the coast, between Wainfleet and Freiston, and
a few are now occasionally caught, and sent with other birds to
Boston market.
Herons were once very common. Camden says that in his
time there was " a vast heronry at Cressy Hall. The herons resort
hither in February to repair their nests, settle there in spring to
breed, and quit the place during the winter. They are as numerous
as rooks, and their nests so crowded together that Mr. Pennant ,
counted 80 in one tree... They have been considerably reduced on
account of the mischief which they do the land." There were
heronries until recently at Cawood Hall, at the Wykes Farm,
Donington, and also at Leverton.
Cranes were very common ; there are a few still left in the
neighbourhood of Bicker Fen, and they are occasionally to be seen
on the marshes, and on the shore at the mouth of the Witham.
Rooks are very common, considering the scarcity of trees.
In the reign of Henry VIII, the swans in the Witham were
considered of sufficient importance to warrant an ordinance being
passed by the Justices of the Peace for their preservation. A copy
of this ordinance is given in Thompson's Boston.
Large numbers of decoys existed in the Fens for the capture of
wild fowl ; and from these the London markets were principally
supplied. A decoy consisted of pools surrounded by trees and
plantations, and branching off from them were small channels or
ditches called ' pipes.' At the time of catching the birds, these
pipes were covered with nets, which rested on hoops, and were
terminated by a drawing net. Into these the wild fowl were enticed
by various devices ; but the usual mode was by means of a decoy
duck, trained for the purpose. This bird was taught to obey the

475
whistle of the decoy man, who tempted it to swim up to the trapping
tunnel when he saw a number of wild fowl ; these, following the tame
one and being led into the channel, were then enclosed and ultimate
ly taken by the net. These decoy birds would fly away to sea in
the morning, where meeting and consorting with strange birds
during the day-time, at night they would lead them away inland to the
decoy ponds. . Dogs were also kept, which by their sagacity and
training were of the greatest assistance to the keeper, in drawing the
birds into the nets. Of such importance were decoys deemed, that
special Acts of the Legislature were passed for their regulation
and protection. By an Act passed in Queen Anne's reign, the
clauses of which were re-enacted in the ioth year of George II, it
was made an offence against the law to take birds at unseasonable
times, under a penalty of five shillings for every bird. The time
allowed was from the end of October to February.
At the time of the original drainage of the Bedford Level, under
the ' Lynn law,' the pools of the decoys, or ' meeres,' were specially
excepted from the grants made to the Undertakers, and they were
restricted from draining them. The wild fowl has since had to yield
to the drainer, and the site of these inland lakes is now only indicated
by their names — the 'meeres ' having become dry land.
Friskney was noted for its decoys, and one of these was con. oidfieid's
tinued in use and worked until recently. Immense quantities of Wai A"*-
birds were caught in these decoys. In one season, a few winters
previous to the inclosure of the East Fen, ten decoys, five of which
were in Friskney, furnished 31,200 birds for the London market. It
was not considered a- good season unless the decoys yielded 5,000
birds. The birds usually taken in the decoy were the Mallard
(Anas boschas), the Teal (Anas craca) and the Pochard (Anas ferina) .
Beside the decoys the open fens and marshes yielded large the
numbers of birds to the Fen Slodger and the ' Gunner.' At certain
seasons the Fen Slodgers used to assemble in great numbers to
have an annual drive of the young ducks, before they took wing.
A large track of marsh was beaten and the birds driven into a net.
Sometimes as many as 2,000 birds have thus been taken at one time.
The marshes on the coast are still the resort of large numbers
of wild fowl, including geese, duck, widgeon, golden plover, curlews,
godwits and redshanks. The knots, birds about the size of a
small pigeon and delicious eating, come over from the northern
latitudes in winter, in large flocks. The little dunlins, or stints, as
they are more commonly called, flit along the shore and sometimes up
the river in large flocks.
During the winter months, commencing about October,
large nets, about 6ft. high and from 100yds. to 200yds. long,
called ' flight nets,' are suspended between poles on the marshes
¦ and sands adjoining, the intervals between each line of net

FEN SLODGERS.

MARSH BIROS.

FLIGHT NETS'

476

State Papers,
Domestic.

1623.

Chap. i.

Sometimes being as little as 100yds. The nets are made of fine
twine, with meshes 5m. square. Great numbers of birds get
entangled in these nets at night. Rough nights and rough weather
fill the nets the most. As soon as the tide ebbs, the fowler visits his
nets and removes the birds, before the hooded crows or gulls have
time to make a meal of them. The birds taken consist of curlews,
knots, stints, widgeons, plovers and larks. They fetch from 6d. to
6s. a dozen, according to their size, the price obtained for some of
the larger birds being 2s. each. Sometimes a flock of ge.ese or ducks
will fly through the nets and break them down.
The smaller birds are known as ' half-birds,' four of these
being reckoned by the dealers who buy them as a couple.
Along the shores of the estuary and amongst the sandbanks
are still to be found Fenmen or ' Gunners ' who gain their living by
shooting the duck, mallard and other wildfowl. For this purpose
they use a small open boat or punt called a ' shout,' a word which
has its origin from the same source as the modern Dutch word for
a boat, Schuyt. These boats vary in size but may be taken
generally as about 15ft. long, 3-Jft. wide, and draw about 4m. of
water. They are worked by a double bladed paddle, or, if going in
close to the shore, by a pole or poy. A heavy duck gun, about 8ft.
long, weighing from -£ to i£ cwt., is carried, resting on the stem.
An average size gun fires fib. of shot, requiring f oz. of powder. A
fortunate shot will occasionally bring down from 20 to 30 ' whole
birds ' at a shot, at a distance of 80 to 100 yards.
Partridges appear to have been always abundant. In 1623,
Sir Edward Peyton asked the King for a warrant to take 100 part
ridges annually in the Isle of Ely, Marshland and Holland ' where
gentlemen cannot hawk,' on condition of ' planting them at his own
charge in the champaign country about Isleham.' And again in
1628 there is a record of a warrant granted to Christopher Walton,
to take partridges or any other fowl with nets, trammels, or any other
engine, within the compass of Marshland and Lincoln, Holland, for
the better storing of His Majesty's game near Royston and Newmarket.
Partridges are still abundant in the Fenland, and afford a con
siderable amount of sport over the cultivated land.
Owing to the absence of cover, there are no pheasants, and for
the same reason there are no foxes.
Hares and Rabbits.
Rabbits are not very plentiful in the Fenland, but there are
a great many scattered about. They are considered to be so
dangerous to the sea banks that it is forbidden by the laws of the
Court of Sewers to keep them anywhere near, and in an Act passed
for their preservation, in the reign of George III, the sea banks of
Lincolnshire were especially exempted from the provisions of the Act.
Further particulars as to this subject are given in the first chapter.

ANCIENT
FISHERIES.

4*7
Hares at one time were very plentiful and gave good sport at
the coursing meetings, which were frequently held. Cox, writing
nearly 200 ago, says that the greyhounds " of this county are said
to excel those of other countries as the first hunting hounds . . .
and that the hares give the gentlemen a great deal of sport."
Fish.
The inland fisheries in the Fens have had a recognised value
from very early times. No less than 77 fisheries are mentioned in
Domesday Book as paying rents in the Lincolnshire Fenland ; the
rents varying from 8d. and upwards a year. Rents were frequently
paid in fish; thus a fishery at Bourne paid 2,500 eels a year. A
farm at Pinchbeck paid 1,500 eels a year. Turner thus refers to
the value of fisheries : " The Saxons eat various kinds of fish, but History of the
of this description of food the species that is most profusely noticed "e " axons'
is the eel. They used eels as abundantly as swine. Two grants
are mentioned, each yielding 1,000 eels, and by another 2,000 were
received as an annual rent ; 4,000 eels were an annual present from
the monks of Ramsey to those of Peterboro'. We read of two
places, purchased for £21, wherein 16,000 of these fish were caught
every year ; and in one charter 20 fishermen are stated to have
furnished during the same period 60,000 eels to the monastery."
In the dialogues composed by Elfric to instruct the Anglo-Saxon
youths, when giving an account of the fisheries, the following are
mentioned as forming the food of the people ; eels, haddocks, skate,
lampreys, and whatever swims in the river ; and as the products of
the sea, herrings, salmon, porpoises, sturgeons, oysters, crabs,
mussels, cockles and such like.
Camden says that the Witham was famous for its pike, whence
the old saying, ' Witham pike, England hath none the like.'
Oliver informs us that, owing to the abundance and quality of Religious
fish found in the fen rivers, the monks and holy men were led to witham.
choose situations near their banks for the erection of their religious
houses. Right of fishery in the Witham was granted by William
de Gaunt, in the year 11 15, to the Abbey of Bardney ; and in the
year 1162 a fishery, near Dogdyke, was given to the monks of
Kirkstead by William de Kyme. The Abbots of Bardney had
11 fisheries altogether, and the other monasteries, one or more each ;
besides the stew ponds attached to the houses. Thus it has been
remarked, " The rivers abounding in excellent fish, supplied the
Abbots' stew ponds plentifully ; shell and sea fish were furnished Oliver.
by the fishermen of Boston ; so that the Lents and fast days of the
Abbeys had more the appearance of festivals than days of mortifica
tion, and every kind of fish in its season was placed on the well-
stocked board."
The town of Crowland used to pay £300 yearly to the Abbot
of the Monastery for the liberty of fishing. Large quantities of

478

Camden.

FISHERY AT '
PRESENT TIN

FISHERY BYE
LAWS.

inland fish were sent from Crowland and eight other places in the
Fens to London by road.
From a journal kept by Sir Joseph Banks of his annual fishing
parties held in the Witham, at the end of the last century, which
generally lasted 4 days, we find that the quantity taken in some years
amounted to over a ton in weight, the average for 9 years being
about i,6oolbs. The largest fishes recorded as taken are a pike of
3ilbs., carp 5jlbs., burbot 3^1bs., perch 2lb., tench 2jlbs., salmon iolb.
Both in the Witham and in the East and West Fens, immense
shoals of sticklebacks used at intervals to make their appearance
and came in such quantities that they were taken for manure.
Attemps were also made to extract oil from them. The men em
ployed in taking them could get 100 bushels a day, which realised
a halfpenny a bushel.
Since the inclosure of the Fens the rivers and drains have
remained stocked with fish, and yield a large quantity of food, and
also sport, to anglers who come in considerable numbers during
the summer months from Sheffield and other towns, to fish in these
waters, which are considered the best in England for the kind of
fish they produce ; consisting of pike, roach, perch, rudd, tench,
bream and eels. A few trout are occasionally found in the upper
part of the Witham, whence they have found their way from the
Langworth, Bane or Slea rivers. Salmon, which at one time
were to be found in the Witham, are never found now, the
Grand Sluice being an obstacle to their ascending the river.
The pike are very large, an ordinary weight being from iolbs.
to 15 lbs., and occasionally reaching 25lbs.
Eels are very abundant, and frequently weigh from 4 to 5 lbs.
They pass down the rivers and drains, on their way to sea in the
autumn, in immense quantities, ascending to the fresh water streams
again in the spring. At the time of the annual migration, as much
as half a ton of eels has been taken at one time in nets, in the
river immediately below the Grand Sluice. They are obtained in
the drains by spearing or stangmg, the fisherman using a flat bot
tomed boat, called a shout, for the purpose.
The fishery in the Witham and Hobhole and Maud Foster
and other drains adjacent thereto is free, but is regulated by Bye-
laws, made by the Witham Commissioners, under the power of
their Acts, by which fishing by any other means than by rod and
line, and all trailing or dragging for pike, is forbidden. The close
season for fishing is fixed between the 15th March and 15th of June,
during which all fishing is stopped.
In the Black Sluice District fishing is only permitted by license
obtained from the Commissioners, for which a charge of 2/6 is made,
and the fishing is subject to the same regulations as in the
Witham.

479

The salt water fishery in Boston Deeps, extending along the
coast of the Fenland, has from time immemorial been of great value.
The Romans are reported to have sent oysters from Metaris
Estuarium (Boston Deeps) to Rome. In 1613 a present of oysters
and other fish was made by the Corporation of Boston to ' my
Lord of Rutland.' In 1732 the Corporation directed that 'no
person, not being a Freeman should take oysters upon the scalps or
any fishery belonging to the Corporation without a license.'
In the Corporation records of 1777, it is stated that mussels
were much sought after, as an article of trade, and the Marshall of
the Admiralty used to receive between £3 and £4, for collecting the
duties due to the Corporation, from mussel vessels coming into the
port. The mussel scalps have always been much in demand, for
obtaining bait for the line fishery in the North, and at the beginning
of the present century the mussels were carried by water to Brid
lington, Scarborough and other northern ports. Frequently, 50 vessels
would come in one season and carry away more than a 1,000 tons.
After the opening of the Great Northern Railway, this trade was
transferred to the Railway, and was further extended, the mussels
being exported to Eyemouth, and other Scotch ports. They were
also largely used as food in the manufacturing districts, as much as
£50 a week being paid by one smack owner, for carriage to Leeds,
Manchester, Birmingham, &c. The price was then a 1/- per bushel
at Boston, realizing about 2/6 at their destination. About 50 sail
of boats were then employed. In 1853, 100 tons a week were
exported. In 1863 the Royal Commissioners, appointed to report on the
state of the Fisheries of the Kingdom, held a sitting at Boston,
when evidence was produced before them, showing that owing to
the want of supervision, and the reckless way in which the mussels
had been taken — large quantities being sold for manure — the beds
had been almost exhausted.
Under the charter granted to the Corporation by Queen
Elizabeth, control was given over the Fishery, but with the abolition
of the Local Admiralty Court, by the operation of the Municipal
Reform Act, the means of enforcing the penalties was lost. The
powers of the Corporation therefore became useless.
In 1870 the Corporation obtained an order under the Sea
Fisheries Act, giving them power to regulate the oyster and mussel
Fishery in Boston Deeps. A Bailiff was appointed to see that the
regulations were carried out. The mussel scalps were partially
closed for a time, and became once more profitable. A few years
after the order was obtained 4,500 tons of fish were obtained in one
season, worth at Boston £1 per ton. The quantity sent away from
Boston by railway, during the months of November and December

SALT WATER
FISHERY.

MUSSEL FIBHERy.

Thompson's Boston.

OYSTER AND
MUSSEL FISHERY.
33 Vict', c. 6,
1870.

4;86
amounted to 1,134 tons. Other scalps subsequently yielded at the
same rate.
The mussels are principally taken during the winter months,
but th'e season extends from the ist of September to the end of
May. During June, July and August, the beds are closed and
fishing is prohibited. The mussels are collected on the beds by
small hand rakes, and are packed in bags containing 2 bushels,
weighing 2 cwt. When sent for bait they are not sorted or packed,
but put loose into the railway trucks. Under the bye-laws of the
Corporation it is not permitted to take mussels of a less length than
2in., or oysters of a less diameter than 2 Jin. The area of the beds
on which mussels were found in Boston Deeps when the order was
obtained was estimated at 3,400 acres. It is, however, considerably
less-at the present time.
As regards the yield, the mussels on the Old South Middle
Bed, covering 240 acres, brooded in 1869. In the winter of 1871
4,500 tons were removed, giving i8f tons to the acre. The greater
part of these were sent away for bait to the north of England and
Scotland, and realised at Boston £1 a ton, the carriage amounting
to nearly the same amount. The Gat Sand Bed, covering 158 acres,
was covered with brood mussels in 1869 and in the winter of 1872
2,139 t°ns of mussels were taken, equal to 13 J tons to the acre.
From 670 acres on the Tofts 4,000 tons were taken in 1876, equal
to 6 tons to the acre. At this time 58 boats belonging to Boston,
employing 115 men and boys, were engaged in this fishery. About
the same number of Lynn fishermen were employed, many of
whom came to the Boston Scalps. Owing to the falling off of the
supply and the competition offish sent from Holland, the trade is
much less profitable, and the number of men employed is much less.
The quantity of mussels sent from Boston by railway in 1893 was
only 610 tons. The largest broods of mussels are obtained when
the spring and early summer are warm. Strong north-easf gales
are very destructive, frequently causing the water to be so rough
that the beds of young brood are broken up and destroyed. Con
siderable damage is done to the matured fish by a kind of star fish
called ' five fingers,' which sucks out the fish from the inside of the
shell ; they are so abundant at times as to make it worth while for
the fishermen to collect and sell them for manure. The mussels
fatten most and are in best condition when there is a good
run of fresh water coming down the rivers.
The gathering of cockles off the sands in Boston Deeps gives
employment to a great number of men and boys. The cockles were
formerly sent away in their shells, but now the fish is removed from
the shell, the process being aided by putting them in hot water.
They are then sprinkled with salt, packed and sent by railway to the
large towns. Nearly 100 men and boys were at one time employed

48 1

in cockle gathering. The quantity of cockles landed at Boston
during the last few years and their value was as follows :

cwts.

£

1889

54.630

2,277

1890

46,420

2,667

1891

6g,7oo

5,622

i8g2

7°.79°

4.964

i8g3

82,860

5.671

i8g4

6g,2io

4.562

i8g5

75,000

5,000

The above quantities are the weights of the cockles in their
shells. When sent away by railway the fish only is sent, consider
ably reducing the weight.
Periwinkles, or, as they are locally called, ' pinpaunches,' are
also obtained in great quantities.
Whelks are found on the bed of the Deeps, and are taken by
means of baskets, baited with flesh, lowered to the bottom of the
water from the smacks. There are only one or two Boston boats
engaged in this fishing, a greater number coming from Lynn. The
quantity landed at Boston in i8g5 was 400 cwts., of the value of
£80; and from Lynn 8,000 cwt., of the value of £1,400.
There were formerly some good beds of oysters in Boston
Deeps, but these have disappeared. Oysters, are, however, still ob
tained at the lower end of Lynn Well. These oysters were of a
very large size, the shells sometimes measuring as much as 5 inches
in diameter. The flavour of the fish is very good, but not so
delicate as the natives grown at Colchester. The quantity of
oysters landed at Boston is very small, varying from 62,000 in 1885
and i88g, to 4,000 in i8g5.
The quantity of shell fish landed at places along the north
side of the Wash, other than Boston, was in i8g5, as follows : —
Crabs. Shrimps. Cockles. Mussels.

Number.

Cwts.

Skegness  220,000
Wainfleet  —

225 —
500 —

Friskney  —

600 10,00
^_  A 

Wrangle  —
Leake ... ... —

400 200

Leverton ... ... —

30O

Benington ... —
Fossdyke and Kir
ton Skeldyke ... —

80
l60 860

2,000

200

PERIWINKLES.

H. Donnison,
Report on
Eastern Sea
Fisheries. 1896.

Gedney Drove End —
Sutton Bridge ... — no 370
Boston shrimps are noted for their good quality and these with
prawns still constitute one of the chief sources of livelihood to the
fishermen. They are taken nearly all the year round, the exception
being during the frosts and cold weather of winter. The shrimp

SHRIMPS AND
PRAWNS

HERRINGS.

482
fishery may be said to extend over 9 months of the year. The
smacks employed are about 5 to 6 tons in size and are worked by a
man and a boy. They have a copper on board and boil the shrimps
after they have done fishing, as they come up the river. The
trawl net used, has a beam, 12ft. wide and 22ft. long, the meshes
being fin. Shrimps are also taken by men using a cart and horse
along the shore, which drags the net along the water as the tide
ebbs out. About twenty-eight carts and horses along the Lincoln
shire coast are thus employed.
The quantity of shrimps and prawns sent from Boston during
the last few years has been as follows : —
Cwts. £
i8g2 1423 of the value of 1423
i8g3 1577 >. *396
i8g4 nn „ 1017
i8g5 800 „ 800
The quantity of prawns and shrimps landed at Lynn, in 1894,
was 6,494 cwts., of the value of £2,478.
The soles caught in Boston Deeps are noted for their excellent
quality. They are considered by the fishermen as a distinct species
from those in the North Sea, being of less size and finer quality.
They have become very scarce, and realize, to the fishermen, as
much as 1/- per lb. The season for soles is considered to extend
from May to November. The quantity of soles taken locally, and
landed at Boston in 1894, was 93 cwt., of the value of £490.
The herrings are also considered by the fishermen as belong
ing to Boston Deeps and different to those in the North Sea, which
occasionally come into the Deeps in large shoals. They are smaller
and finer than those caught off Yarmouth, seldom attaining a greater
length than from 8in. to gin. The herring nets have £in. meshes.
Large numbers of these fish are taken by nets spread on the main.
These nets are each 20yds. long, and 5ft. high, and 12 of them
are put in a row, making a length of 240ft. They have 13 knots
to a foot. In one set of nets as many as 5,000 of these fish have
been taken. The take varies generally from 200 to 2,000 fish.
Sprats frequent the Deeps in winter shoals, and are taken in
large quantities for manure, the price obtained being from 20/- to
25/- a ton.
The quantity and value of the sprats landed at Boston, during
the last ten years, has been as follows : —
Cwt. £
1886 . i3,g4g 830
n,g72 6g2
7,oog 521
4.78i 350
I4,2g8 1,256
22,561 1,827

18871888 i88gi8go
i8gi

4§3 Cwt. £
i8g2 ... 4,855 504
i8g3 - 5.135 558
i8g4 ... 4,662 412
i8g5 ... 21,000 1,400
Butts, or, as they are called in other parts of the coast, flounders,
are a small flat fish, from 6in. to 7m. long, which is plentifully
found along the coast, and in the tidal portion of the rivers. When
the tide is out these fish bury themselves in the silt and mud. They
are caught in the rivers by spearing or ' pricking,' and, along the
coasts, in the nets. They have a brown back and white belly. There
is also another fish called a fluke, or ' in-shore ' plaice, which is very
like a butt, but has a blueish white belly, and is sometimes spotted.
It is a different fish from the plaice caught in the open sea. Sandlings
are also much like butts, but have a rough skin, more like a sole.
A dab, or ' sal dab,' is a kind of plaice that is of very little value for
food, being very watery when cooked. The spawn from the butts
and ' in-shore ' plaice is deposited in the silt foreshore, about April.
Smelts of fine quality are taken in the lower part of the river
and in Boston dock.
The following are the quantities and value of fish, not including
sprats or shell fish, landed at Boston, and the value for the last ten
years. This includes the fish caught in the North Sea, by the steam
trawlers. The quantity landed at Lynn in i8g4, was i,42g cwt., of
the value of £1,057.

Cwt.

£

1886

28,086

14,462

1887

56,933

24,873

1888

59.476

28,165

i88g

68,007

32,851

i8go

77,i8g

43,382

1891

102,440

52,117

1892

I2g,8g6

68,867

1893

147,644

84,546

1894

138,245

82,5og

1895

153.900

84,650

BUTTS & PLAICE.

QUANTITY OF
FISM LANDED AT
BOSTON.

The total value of the wet fish landed at Boston and the various H Donnison-s

places on the north side of the Wash, in i8g5, was £86,5g4. This
was principally due to the fish caught in the North Sea by the steam
trawlers, and delivered at Boston. The value of the shrimps and
shell fish, almost the whole of which was caught in Boston Deeps,
was £11,175.The fish in the Wash are caught in light trawl nets, about
12yds. long, having a beam 14ft. long. The meshes for soles are
ijin. wide, from knot to knot. The herring nets have f-in.
meshes and the shrimping nets fin.
The smacks engaged in the fishery in Boston Deeps are
generally half-decked, cutter rigged boats, from 5 to 10 tons, the

Report. 1896.

FISHING SMACKS-

484

Skertchley, Fenland.

PORPOISES.

The Fenland.
Miller and
Skertchlej .

Chapter xiv.

SAMPHIRE.

crew consisting of one man and a boy, or two men. The boats
engaged in the oyster and sprat fishing are wholly decked, reaching
up to 20 and 30 tons. The fishermen engaged in these smacks have
been truly described as " a hardy skilful race, whose seamanship is
often beyond all praise, and whose knowledge of the intricate tides
and currents is simply astonishing. Looking at the falling water on a
sand bank, the smack master will say, ' I think, Sir, we can just run
the tail of the sand, if the little 'un steers. We'll have to rush forward
as she grazes, and cant her over, but we are just in time to save a
mile or two,' and so you run, the sea hissing and seething as the
boat dips ; then comes a slight shock ; all run forward, she dips her
nose and rises with a shake. 'There, Sir, I know'd she do it,' is the
quiet remark, and three minutes afterwards the spot shows dark
above the foam."
On the sands off Wainfleet, and also on the Roger and Ant Sands
there are large flocks of seals, which have had their habitation there
for many generations. Many of these seals are white and of very
large size. Porpoises also are found in the Deeps, and occasionally a
whale has strayed up the channel and got stranded on the sands.
Some years since, a whale was stranded on the coast, and its
skeleton was for many years exhibited at ' the Skeleton of the
Whale,' in Boston. A whale or grampus was also stranded in the
river, nearly as far up as Skirbeck marsh ; and recently a grampus, or
bottle-nosed whale, was left by the tide in a creek, at Freiston Shore-.
It measured i6Jft. in length, 7ft. 2ins. in girth. and was estimated
to weigh 2\ tons. Vegetable Productions.
The botany of the Fenland, has been fully dealt with, in an
article by the late Mr. Marshall of Ely, in his Fenland Past and
Present, where also will be found a list of the plants, with their
botanical names. It will be unnecessary to deal in any detail with
this subject. There are, however, a few vegetable products, which,
whether growing naturally, or specially cultivated, are peculiar to
the South Lincolnshire Fenland, which deserve a short description.
The cultivation of woad, a crop solely grown in this district, is
described in the chapter on Agriculture.
Mercury (Chenopodium bonus Henricus) is a vegetable resembling
spinach, but is perennial and less watery. It is to be found in
nearly all the farm and cottage gardens in the South Lincolnshire
Fenland, and makes a very useful vegetable in the spring and early
summer. A bed, once made, lasts a very long time without any
other care than weeding, and occasionally manuring, and. being
considered as tenant right, is paid for by an incoming tenant.
Although the growth of the marine plant called Samphire
(Salicornia herbacea), is not confined to the Lincolnshire coast, it is
perhaps made more use of in this neighbourhood than in other parts

REEDS 4. SEDGE.

4«5
of the country, being largely gathered for making pickle. Samphire
is the first vegetation which springs up on the foreshore, except a
species of seaweed called ' cot.' It does not appear until the surface
is raised about 14ft. above low water (6-68ft. above Ordnance datum),
this being the level at which the alluvial matter, or ' warp,' first
begins to desposit. When the surface attains to 16ft. above low
water, the samphire gradually disappears, the ground then becoming
covered with marine grass.
Reeds grew naturally in all the uninclosed fens, and before the
introduction of tiles and slates, were used very generally for
thatching house roofs. They are still occasionally used for this
purpose. Camden says that a stack of reeds well harvested was
worth from £200 to £300. Sedge (Cladium Mariscus) was also used
for thatching. The sedge was tied in bundles, and carried from
the fen, on a litter, made of two poles, to barges. The time and
manner of cutting reeds and sedge was regulated by the Fen
Code. Cranberries grew to a considerable extent on the borders of cranberries.
the East Fen, before the common land was inclosed. The area of
the Mossberry, or Cranberry, Fen, near Friskney, was estimated by
Arthur Young at 300 acres. The soil in which these bushes grew oidfieid's
was a deep peat moss. In favourable seasons as many as 4,000 Wainfleet.
pecks of the berries were collected, the average being about 2,000.
The price paid to those who picked them was 5/- a peck.
From the numerous remains of trees which are found buried trees.
at a considerable depth below the present surface of the Fenland, it
is evident that in prehistoric times this must have • been a well-
wooded country. Below the peat, growing in the Boulder clay,
from 15ft. to 18ft. under the surface, are to be found the remains of
oak, alder, birch, yew and other trees, some of which are of very
large size.
The richness of the land of the Fenland, and its value for cul
tivation is not conducive to the presence of woods, or even of trees in
the fields. In the fen portion of Holland trees are conspicuous by
their absence, but on the alluvial lands, in the hedgerows, and
round the' houses of some of the larger occupiers, especially in the
neighbourhood of Wyberton, Algarkirk, Frampton, Sibsey, Pinch
beck, Spalding and Holbeach, very fine trees are to be found. The
tree of the Fenland and the one which attains to a very large growth
is the elm. Poplars are not so common as would be expected in a
fen county. Sycamores are common, oaks, beeches, chestnuts,
ashes and fir trees are only occasionally met with. The whitethorn
hedges found by the side of the old pastures grow to a great height
and size.
Before the production of salt from rock salt, this was obtained aALT.
by evaporating the salt water obtained from the sea, and large

486
quantities of ' bay salt ' were thus manufactured, on the coasts of
the Fenland and on the margin of Bicker Haven, there being no
less than 20 salt pans in that parish. The shallow pits by the side
of the main road between Sutterton and Boston, are generally
supposed to be the remains of salt pits, which were supplied with
water from Bicker Haven.
In Domesday Book there is mention of over 100 salt pans as
existing in the Fenland parishes, the value of a salt pan being from
8d. to is.
The method of procuring salt was by allowing the water brought
up by the tides to run into shallow ponds, in the sa me manner as is
still practised on the coast of Spain. The salt water was run through
three pits. In the first it was allowed to remain until the mud and
sand had settled, it was then allowed to flow into the second until it
became brine, and was then run into the third pit where it remained
exposed to the sun until the water was evaporated and the crystals
of salt were formed. The salt was carried inland on horses, one of
the roads from the coast being known as the Salters' Road.
Buiiein. 1562. In an old book called ' The Bulwarke of defence against all
sickness ' it is stated that " much salt is made in England as of
sand and salt water in pits, in Hollande, in Lincolnshire ; and only
by a marvellous humor of water at the witch far from the sea."
Climatology and Health.
The climate of the Fenland may be described as moderate, and
not subject to any great extremes. Violent thunderstorms, equally
with heavy falls of snow, are rare. When other parts of England
are suffering from floods and tempests, the rivers in the Fenland are
frequently only in their normal condition, the efficiency of the drain
age arrangements having placed the discharge of the water under
thorough control.
In the Polyolbion, written in the 17th century, South Lincoln
shire is thus described : —
Drayton. Thus of her foggy fennes, to hear rude Holland prate ;
That with her fish and fowle, here keepth such a coyle,
As her unwholesome ayre, and more unwholesome soyle.
In another work, written at a much later period, the writer says,
" The air upon the east and south part of Lincolnshire is both thick
and foggy, by reason of the fens and unsolute ground, but there
withal very moderate and pleasing, and the winds that are sent off
her still working sea do disperse those vapours from all power of
hurt."
THC Whether or not these descriptions were true at the time they
were written, they do not apply now. The Fenland is particularly
free from fogs, and the atmosphere is remarkable for its brightness
and clearness. On a clear day, objects can be seen over the Fenland
for very long distances, especially when the wind is from the north
east. When the wind is from this quarter, that peculiar optical

ATMOSPHERE-

487
illusion, the mirage, is very apparent, Looking shore wards, when on
a boat in Boston Deeps, the water will appear to extend far inland
beyond the banks, and the trees and corn stacks seem to the observer
as if standing in the water, and objects several miles distant, stand
out with remarkable clearness. A complete delineation of the
masts and rigging of vessels will also show distinctly in the water
vertically beneath the hulls within range of the observer.
The splendid sunrises and sunsets and magnificent cloudscapes,
frequently to be witnessed, are acknowledged by all who know the
Fenland to be unrivalled in any other part of England. At sunset
the clouds frequently form a canopy of purple and gold, and give
effects peculiar to this district, which are nowhere matched for
beauty. A modern writer, who, though not an inhabitant, knew
the Fenland well, has remarked, " A day's fog is rare. The air is
beautifully clear and transparent. The inhabitants enjoy as sunny
skies, as beautiful starlit nights, and as magnificent cloudscapes, as
any people in England... and the sunsets are of surpassing
grandeur." It must, however, be admitted that this part of the country
also has an unenviable notoriety for the keenness with which the
north-east winds prevail during the spring, generally up to the
beginning of May, but frequently lasting till June. The prevailing
wind during the rest of the year comes from the south-west.
The rainfall is small, being about half that on the west coast.
The average of the 60 years, i830-8g, is 23-4g inches. The greatest
fall recorded in one year was 35-53 inches in 1880 and the least, i2-g4
inches in 1887. The average number of days on which rain fell
during the last 20 years is 160 ; the greatest number 214, in 1872 ;
and the least 117, in 1887. The wettest period recorded was during
the g years, 1875-83, when the average annual rainfall was 2g-o6
inches. From i884-g2 was a dry period, with an average of 20-23
inches. The mean temperature of the whole year is 48-70 degrees ; for
July, the warmest month, 62-80, and for January, the coldest, 36-50.
The highest recorded temperature in the shade is g5, and the lowest,
4ft. from the ground, zero.
Full statistics as to the barometer, temperature, wind, and Appendix v.
rain as recorded at Boston, as also the effect of the weather on
the wheat crop and the time of harvest, will be found in the Appen
dix.
Health and Disease.
The general effect of the climatic conditions on the health of
the inhabitants may be described as decidedly favourable. The
people who reside in the Fenland enjoy, as a rule, excellent health,
and live to a good old age. It is not uncommon to meet with
persons of more than four score years, of active habits and in full

TEMPERAT U RE -

LENGTH OF LIFE"

488
possession of all their faculties. An examination of the tombstones
in the churchyards, or of the Registers of deaths, will show that
the number of inhabitants who have lived above the prescribed three
score years and ten is very large, and that there are a few who have
attained the century. From statistics which have been furnished me
by Mr. W. Clegg, the former Medical Officer of Health for Boston
and the Rural District round it, it appears that out of a total of
1,545 deaths in Boston, during the five years, i88g-g3, 313 of the
persons who died were over 70 years of age ; i4g over 80 ; and 24
over go ; thus 38 per cent, of the whole number were over 70 years.
In the Rural District, out of the total number of deaths in the five
years, 564, or 32 per cent., were of persons over 70 ; of whom 313
were between 70 and 8d ; 214 between 80 and go ; and 37 over 90.
The atmosphere is neither enervating nor depressing, but, whether
from the flatness of the land, or its peculiar climatic conditions,
resembling that of Holland, there is a general feeling of content
ment among jt the inhabitants, and an absence of that restlessness and
love of change which is to be found in the more stimulating air of
districts situated at a higher level.
There are no special diseases peculiar to the district. Formerly,
the Fens were noted for the prevalence of rheumatism and ague,
the latter disease is now unknown, and the former is no more preval
ent than in other parts. The persons suffering from ague were
attacked intermittently with severe shiverings, which shook the whole
body and even the chair or bed on which the sufferer was resting,
accompanied by intense pains in the limbs. At one time, they
were burning hot, and at another equally cold, and fever and thirst
ensued. The fits came on at varying intervals, the disease being
distinguished as ' tertian' or ' quotidian,' the latter being the most
prevalent form.
The prevalence of ague in the Fens, before they were reclaimed,
was due to the malaria which arose from the sun acting on the
decomposing vegetation, when alternately covered and uncovered
by the water. Large areas of stagnant water alone do not produce
malaria. This is evidenced by the condition of the Fens at the
present time, which are intersected in all directions by large drains,
the water in which is practically stagnant all the summer. The
poisonous germs floating in the air, which caused the malaria from
which ague arose, were developed from decaying vegetation, some
times covered with water and at other times left dry and exposed to
the sun. The peat itself was not productive of poisonous germs.
At the present day the milder form now known as intermittent
fever, which is occasionally met with, but in no greater degree than
in other parts of the country, is more prevalent in dry than in wet
seasons ; as in the former the water is evaporated from the smaller
drains and ditches, and becomes lowered in the larger ones, leaving

48g
exposed to the sun's rays decaying vegetation, which remains alive
and healthy when covered with water. The quality of the water in
the wells and cisterns is also more impure in dry than in wet seasons.
Shortly after the Fens were inclosed and drained, ague was very
prevalent owing to the exsicction of soil which hitherto had been
covered with water, and to a greater surface being exposed by its
being ploughed and broken up. As, however, this decaying organic
matter disappeared in the process of cultivation, the miasmatic
exhalations and poisonous germs gradually disappeared, and with
their disappearance ague ceased to be a fen product.
Quinine not being in general use in the last century, the remedy
invariably resorted to was opium. The use of this drug once
resorted to,, it became a habit which was seldom abandoned, and
this habit has continued to a large extent up to the present time,
although the original cause of its use has long since departed. It
is said that more opium used to be sold by the chemists, at the
shops in the towns in the Fenland of Lincolnshire, Cambridge and
Norfolk, as a stimulant used by the labouring classes, than in all
the rest of England put together.
The quantity of this drug which a confirmed opium taker will
consume is very large, averaging as much as a dram a day, and a
labouring man Or his wife will spend from a shilling to eighteen-
pence a week in obtaining it. The habit, however, is now gradually
dying out, not one-third of the quantity being sold now that used to
be. The opium is obtained from the juice of the poppy and is made
up into a thick tenacious paste, a dram representing a piece about
the size of a small walnut, and the quantity taken at one time being
about the size of a pea.
The effect on the taker, however, is not that which has been
described by persons who have formed their opinions from exagger
ated reports of isolated cases. Its effect, both, on the taker and on
those about him, is far less deleterious than excessive beer or dram
drinking. The man or woman who takes opium is never riotous
or disorderly, and gives no trouble to the police as an effect of its use.
It tends however to make the taker silent and morose. The amount
of work done is not less, nor is the life shorter than of those who do
not take it, many of the confirmed opium takers living to 80 and 90
years of age. It is not pretended to defend its use, but it would
seem that when the habit has once been contracted, the system
requires its stimulating effect to be kept up to its normal working
capacity.

USE OF OPIUM.

APPENDIX I.
Names and Index of Places in the South Lincolnshire Fenland, their
Situations, Area, Rateable Value, Derivation and other Particulars.

Abbreviations. D. B., Domesday Book. Dug., Dugdaie's Embanking and Draining
(Ed. 1772.) A , Area in Acres. R. V., Rateable Value on Assessment for Sche
dule A . of the Income Tax as given in the County Council Memoranda for 1893-4.
This relates only to land and buildings in the parishes, and does not include
the valuation of Railway or other public undertakings. A. S., Anglo-Saxon. D.,
Danish. S., Scandinavian.
The numbers after the names of places refer to the corresponding pages in
the preceding chapters.

Abbotesford. On the Glen, between Kate's Bridge and Gutheram Cote.
Abbey Hills. The site of an ancient monastery in the parish of Friskney, half a
mile west of the church, to which it is connected by a causeway.
Abbot's Premises. In Wrangle parish .
Acreland Clough. On the Three Towns' Drain, near Fishmore End, at the junction
of the parishes of Wigtoft and Sutterton. 86.
Alderlound. Near Crowland
Algarkirk. Alderchurch, Dug. Algarekirk, D.B. A village and parish, 7 miles S.S.W.
from Boston. Contains 2,624 acres, R. V. £6,698 ; named from Algar, a Saxon
King, who opposed the invasion of the Danes. In 1840 the allotment in Holland
Fen was transferred to the new parish of Amber Hill. 86.
Almond's Farm Bridge. Over South Holland Drain. 110.
Alvelode. A drain near Surfleet. Dug.
Amber Hill. A plot of land of 30 acres, allotted under the Holland Fen Inclosure
Award, for the purpose of providing materials for repairs of the roads of several
parishes having right of Common in Holland Fen. Under the Parish Awards,
the Donington Turnpike Trustees were allowed to let this land, subject to the
parish rights, but no buildings were to be erected thereon. This field was sold
when theTurnpike Trust expired. Amber Hill was extra parochial. 91. 287.
Amber Hill. A Fen Parish in Holland Fen, formed in 1880 by uniting the Fen
Allotments of Algarkirk and Sutterton and the extra parochial place Amber Hill.
It comprises 5,261 acres rated at £8,265. 289.
Amytoft. A raised piece of land with traces of a moat round it, in the parish of Hol
beach. Remains of foundations of buildings and Roman urns and curiosities have
been found here. (Camden.)
Ancarig. Another name for Thorney. Dug.
Anchor Church Hill, or Anchorite. J mile N.E. of Crowland Abbey. St. Guthlac
built himself a cell on this land in 697. In 948 a chapel was built here by Abbot
Turketul, the foundations of which were removed in 1866.
Anderson's Sluice. In South Holland. 101, 129, 130.

Appendix I. 2
Andrew's Common. In the parish of Swineshead.
Anwick Fen. Haniuuic, Amuinc D. B. In the Fifth Witham District, between
Billinghay Skirth and Kyme Eau, inclosed in 1791. 240.
Angot. A gutter or small drain in Quadring. 60.
Anton's Gote. Anthony's Gote or Gowt. A sluice on the east side of the River
Witham, about two miles above Boston. It has a lock for passing boats from the
Witham to the West Fen Drains and Hobhole. The original sluice was used
for draining the water from the East and West Fens into the Witham. A new
sluice was built for this purpose about the time of Charles I, and this was super
seded when the New Cut was made for the Witham. 145, 146, 148, 154, 161, 205,
217.
Apenholt, otherwise Wode Lode. Near Crowland. Dug.
Apple Tree Ness. On Kyme Eau, at the north corner of Ewerby Fen.
Armtree Fen. Armtre. A river passage or ferry, is mentioned in Domesday Book and
is supposed to be the same place as Langrick. 206.
Armtree Gote. On the Witham, below Dogdyke. 199.
Armitage Causey. In Wildmore Fen.
Aswick Grange. A high piece of land with traces of a moat round it, near Whaplode
Drove. Several Roman coins and urns have been dug up here.
Asewicklode. A drain near Fleet Bridge.
Aswardhurn Wapentake. One of the divisions of the county, in which the Lindsey
Level is situated. Aswardetierne D.B. ; Asewarhirne, Asewardthyrne, Hundred Rolls,
Asaph or Aspath. The entrance to the Island of Crowland, Dug. Aspath Dike is on
the Holland Boundary near the Welland.
Asendik. A Sewer emptying into the Welland and forming the ancient boundary of
Crowland on the north.
Asgarby Fen. In the Sixth Witham District and Ninepenny Black Sluice District,
on the west side of Midfodder Drain, contains 76a. Ir. Op.
Aslackby Fen. In the Black Sluice Level, contains 997a., enclosed, 1765. 275.
Asperton Common. In the parish of Wigtoft, allotted under the Enclosure Act of
1772. 90.
Assendyke. See Austendyke.
Aswiktoft or Asewygtoft Hirne. Near Crowland.
Ausinesgote. A sewer of Spalding.
Austendyke or Assendyke. A hamlet in Moulton Parish, 1J miles south of the
village.
Awbtrop Fen. In the Lindsey Level joining Ewerby Fen.
Austerby. In the Parish of Bourne. Formerly a Manor-house of the Abbots of
Bourne.
Ax Head. A piece of Common Land, in the parish of Kirton, enclosed under the Act
of 1772. 85.
Balberdebothe. In Swineshead. 247.
Baker's Bridge. Over the New Hammond Beck, in Frampton Fen. 82, 452.
Baker's Sluice. In South Holland. 116, 120.
Bane, or Bain, River. A tributary of the Witham, which joins it near Dogdyke. Has
been canalised as far as Horncastle. The name, according to Mr. Streatfeild, is of
Celtic origin. 135.

2 Appendix I.
Banovallum. Horncastle. 5.
Barkesmere. A watercourse running from the north end of Bicker Fen to Kyme Eau.
(Holland Dyke).
Bardney. Bardenai, D.B. A village and parish on the east side of the Witham, 10
miles south of Lincoln. The word is of British origin with a Saxon termination,
signifying Bard's Island. Dr. Oliver supposes -that this was a place of sacred cele
bration of the Druids. An Abbey was founded here in the 7th century by the
Saxons. It was plundered and burnt by the Danes in 870. Restored by Gilbert
de Gaunt, Earl of Lincoln, 200 years afterwards. The present church was
erected in the 15th Century. The fen land is in the Third Witham District, and
was enclosed by an Actpassed in 1843. 196.
Bardney Beck. A tributary of the Witham. 155.
Bardyke Sluice. In Boston Haven. 150.
Bardney Bridge. 448.
Bargate Drain. A name given to that part of Maud Foster Drain which runs through
Skirbeck and Boston.
Bargate Drain. Near Lincoln. 165.
Barkesmere. In the Black Sluice Level. 245.
Barlings. Berlings, D.B. A village on the river Langworthy. Contains the ruins of
an Abbey founded in 1154. The fen is in the Third Witham District. 192.
Barling's Lock. 161, 162, 164, 173.
Barling's Eau. A tributary of the Witham. 155, 174.
Barlieu Bridge. 110.
Barlode. Barloade. A drain in the East Fen, running between the Catchwater and
Hobhole. 199, 204, 225, 226.
Barrier Bank; Between Spalding and Brotherhouse. 107,440. See also Brotherhouse
Bank.
Barthorpe. In the parish of Swineshead, 2 miles N.N.W. of the village
Baston Ee. A sewer described in the time of Edward I. as running from Katesbridge
to Escote, by Pynsebec and Escote to Surflete, and which ought to be repaired
by the towns of Baston, Thurleby, Obstorpe, and Wywelstorpe. The only
water course which answers to this description is the the River Glen.
Batemannebrigg. A bridge over the Westlode, near Spalding.
Baxter's Sluice. In South Holland. 102, 103, 129, 130.
Bay Hall. An ancient brick mansion in the parish of Benington.
Beats, Great and Little. Part ot the bed of the old river Witham, 10 miles north
of Boston, formerly extra parochial; added to the parish of Pelham's Lands in
1883.
Beche. A sewer running through Gosberton, Pinchbeck and Surfleet and maintained
by these parishes. It is described in the time of Edward III, as being 3ft. wide at
the head, and 16ft. towards the sea, and as discharging into the river of Surfleet
(the Glen). 59, 245, 247, 250, 254.
Bell's Reach. In the Witham near Fishtoft. 352.
Belney, or Belnie, Bridge. Across the Risegate Eau in Gosberton. 91.
Bellwater. The name of one of the pits or deeps in the East Fen. Now a drain run
ning from near the Steeping River to Hobhole Drain, through the site of the pits.
Bender Slough Drain. 110.

Appendix I. 4
Bendike Field. A piece of Common Land in the parish of Kirton, inclosed under the
Act of 1772. 85.
Benington. Beningtont, Benincton. Derived from the name of the Danish Chief,
Bening. A village on the Wainfleet Road, 5 miles N.E. of Boston. The
parish contains 2,306 acres and is rated at £6,129. The fen allotment contains
602a. 3r. 31p. 73.
Benton's Bridge. Over the North Forty-Foot Drain between Wyberton Fen and
Shuff Fen. 81,452.
Bergeei. See Ewerby.
Bsrholm Pooles. In Rippingale. 250.
Bicker. Bvkfr, Bikere, Bichcrc. A village 9 miles S.W. of Boston. The parish
contains 8,571 acres. R.V. £7,636. The fen allotments amount to 2,000
acres. According to Domesday Book there were formerly 20 salt pans in Bicker.
98.
Bicker Ea. 60.
Bicker Haven. Described in the Hundred Rolls as Aqua de Swin . An estuary extending
from the River Welland to Bicker. This was inclosed about the middle of the
17th century. The banks of the haven can still be traced. 93, 292.
Bicker or Byker, river of. A sewer running from Bicker Gauntlet through the village
and formerly discharging into Bicker Haven. 25, 59, 96, 247.
Bicker Beaumont, A manor in Bicker.
Billingborough. Billingeburg, Billinglvrg, Bolingburg. Named after the Danish Chief,
Billing. The parish contains 2,020 acres, including a tract of fen land in the Black
Sluice district, lying between the Ouse Mer and Billingborough Lodes. The fen
was inclosed in 1768. 274.
Billingborough Lode. A drain passing through the fen. 258.
Billinghay. Beiingei. Named after the Danish family Billing or Billingas. The
village is situated on the Car Dyke, 10 miles N.E. of Sleaford. The parish
contains 8,680 acres, including the fen and dales. 189, 190.
Billinghay Dales. A traft of fen land on the west of the River Witham and south
of Billinghay Skirth. 190.
Billinghay Skirth or Skirt. A drain running from the Car Dyke, through Billing
hay, to the Witham, which it joins near Tattershall Bridge. The west bank of
this drain gave way during a flood in 1877 and flooded 2,390 acres of fen land,
causing damage estimated at £20,000. 146, 154, 155, 165, 173. 191, 429.
Billinghay South Fen. In the First Witham Distria, inclosed 1777 189, 191.
Black Arke. In South Holland. 103.
Black Fleet. Near Gutheram Cote.
Black Dyke Roft. In Deeping Fen. 323.
Black Dyke. In the East Fen. 202, 213.
Black Gote. A drain in the East Fen. 202, 905.
Black Sluice DRAtNAGE District. 244. Set South Forty-Foot. First Act obtained, 254.
Black Sluice. The outlet of the main drain of the Black Sluice District. The first
sluice was built by the Adventurers in the 17th century. 252. It was rebuilt
under the Act of 1765. 256. The present sluice was erected under the Act of 1846
and has 3 openings of a total waterway of 60ft. 266, 268.
Black Syke. A drain between Westhouse and Medlam in the West Fen. 204.
Blake Kyrk. 246.

5 Appendix I.
Balberdeboche, or Balderdebothe. North of Gibbet Hills and 3 miles N'.
W. of Swineshead. 247.
Blankney Fen. On the west of the Witham in the First District, enclosed in 1787.
The village of Blankney (Blachene) is 3 miles west of the fen. An establishment of
Bards existed here in the time of the Druids. 187.
Blue Anchor Bight and Marsh. In Fishtoft, inclosed by the Boston Corporation.
71.
Blue Gote Drain, or Blue Coat. Burley Gote, Dug. A drain between the
Welland and the Glen, running from Dozens Bank, in Pinchbeck, to the Glen,
near its outfall in Surfleet. In the Act of 1664, described as Blewgate, in that of
1801 as Blue Goat, and in the Act of 1832, as Blue Gowt. 117, 326
Boarden Bridge. Across the River Glen. 450.
Boatmere Creek. In South Holland. 101, 115.
Bodines Brigge. A bridge over the Holbeach Sewer.
Bollersgate. A common sewer in the parish of Moulton.
Bolingbroke, New. Bulinbroke, Bollinbroc. In the West Fen, 9 miles north of Boston.
It was founded in 1823 by John Parkinson, the lessee of the Crown lands. The church
was erected in 1853, under the Fen Chapel Act, at a cost of £2,400. Formed into
an ecclesiastical parish in 1858 from parts of the civil parishes of Carrington,
Revesby and the West Fen. Contains 750 acres. The Tuesday market, which was
established here in 1821, is obsolete, but a pleasure fair is still held on July 10th.
The name is taken from the old parish of Bolingbroke, which was formerly a
market town and had a castle. It is 4 miles west of Spilsby, and had allotments
of 306 acres in Wildmore Fen. The name is derived from the Saxon Bolingas.
Chapel erected by Inclosure Commissioners. 228.
Bondsistake. Bondstake. Near Bicker. 60, 96.
Boston.' Called Botolph's town, or Bolulfstun, until about the 16th century , also the
Port of St. Boutoul. The name is derived from St. Botulf, or Botolph, who founded
a monastery here in 654. In 1204, King John granted a charter, and subsequent
charters were granted by Henry VIII, confirmed by Edward VI, and by Philip
and Mary. Queen Elizabeth granted a charter, conferring Admiralty jurisdiction
on the port, and other privileges in connection with the navigation. The area of
the parish was considerably diminished in 1880, by the transfer, under the Divided
Parishes Act, of the outlying Fen Allotments in the East and West Fens, and also of
the part known as Boston East, to other parishes. The parish now includes only
the town area and the land in Boston West and that lying between the town and
Frith Bank. The reduced area is 2,128 acres, of which the rateable value is
£65,023. The area, formerly, including the allotments, was 4,678 acres. 68.
Boston. Port and Harbour. Charter granted, 343. Condition of, in Kith century, 344.
Customs and Fishery Boundary, 345. Buoys and Beacons, 345.
Boston Deeps. The northern side of the Wash. 33ft.
Boston Bridge. 447.
Bothamley's Sluice, In South Holland. 129, 130.
Bothe. Near the Wathe mouth in Kyme Eau.
Bourne. Bourn, Burne, Brunne, D.B. Brune. Name derived from the Anglo-Saxon
Burne, a stream rising from a spring. A town on the west side of the Car Dyke,
9J miles west of Spalding. The area of the parish is 9,352 acres, including the
hamlets of Dyke and Cawthorpe and the fens, the area of which is about 5,000
acres, and was inclosed under an Act, 6 George III. An A<ft for the better drain
age of the North Fen and Dyke Fen, containing 4,000 acres, was obtained in 1846,
under the powers of which the pumping station was erected. Bourne South Fen,
containing 900 acres, was created a Drainage District under the Land Drainage Aft
in 1871. The town of Bourne has held an important place in the history of the
Fens. The castle of Brunn was held by Hereward the Sa*on. An Abbey was

Appendix I. 6
founded here in 1138. Robert of Brunne, or Robert Manning, is credited with
being the 'patriarch of the new English,' or, the first great writer in
modern classic English. He went to Cambridge in 1300 and wrote the poem
Handlyng Synne. Leland in his Itinerary states that ' Bourne is a bubbling stream,
Bourn is a running stream.' On this ground it is claimed that the practice adopted
in modern times of spelling the name without the final e is wrong, and further that it
is desirable to retain the e, in order to distinguish this place from Bourn in Cam
bridgeshire, which has only a running stream. Bourne derives its name from the
bubbling sources of Bourne Eau, in St. Peter's Pool, in Hereward's Castle Meadow.
Bourne Eau Burne Old Ee. A stream running from Bourne to the Glen at Tongue
Eud, converted into a navigation in 1781, but now disused for this purpose. Banks,
260, 267. Navigation, 435.
Bourne South Fen. Separated from North Fen, 279. Right to drain under Glen,
328. District formed, 333.
Bourne North Fen. Farm allotted to Black Sluice, 268. Inclosed in 1776, 278.
Divided from South Fen, 279. Erection of steam pumping engine, 263, 279.
Breach of banks, 282. Rates and expenditure, 282. Exemption from taxation
in Deeping Fen, 322.
Branston Fen. On the west side of the river Witham in the First District. It was
inclosed under an Act passed in 1765. The fen was divided by a new cut, called
the South Delph, made for the river Witham in 1812. The severed portion on the
east side of the river is called Branston Island. The village of Branston is situated
about 3 miles from the fen. 170, 171, 173, 184, 185.
Brand End. (Little Brand End Plot ; Great Brand End Plot.) In Holland Fen, 1J miles
north-west of Swineshead Church, allotted to Swineshead under the Act of 1767.
Brand End Plot contains 25 acres. Amalgamated with Swineshead, by order of
Council, April 23, 1890. 88, 89, 90.
Brand Dyke. A drain running through Hale Fen, made in 1633. 252.
Brandsford Bridge. Over the Three Towns' Drain, under the main road.
Brayford Mere. Near Lincoln. 136, 138, 159, 100, 168.
Brayforth Rose Plot. In Sutterton Fen. Part of the land awarded to Sutterton
parish, under the Holland Fen Inclosure Award.
Breach Ea. A common sewer in South Holland.
Bridge Piece. An Allotment in Holland Fen to Frampton Parish. Formerly extra
parochial. 82.
Bridge End, Brig End or Holland Causeway. A hamlet in the fen of the parish of
Horbling, on the east side of the Car Dyke, 1J miles N.E. of the village. Here
was formerly the Priory of Holland Bridge (de Ponte Aslacki) or St. Saviour's,
founded by Godwin, Earl of Lincoln. 96, 248.
Brigdyke, the Cross of. Near Neslam.
Brigefleet. Biggeslecter . A sewer in Heckington. 246.
Broadgate. See Gedney.
Brotherhouse. On the road between Crowland and Spalding. An ancient cross of
St. Guthlac, originally fixed to show the boundary of the Crowland Abbey lands,
still remains here.
Brotherhouse Bank. See also Barrier Bank, between Spalding and Peakirk. 297,
438, 440.
Brothertoft. Goosetoft. Name derived from the Saxon word Broder. In
Holland Fen, about 4 miles W.N.W. of Boston. Was formerly a town
ship of Kirton parish, but has been formed into an Ecclesiastical Parish. Fossdyke
Fen was added for civil purposes in 1880. The area is now 1,786 acres. R. V.
£3,350. The inhabitants of this township formerly claimed unrestrained rights of
pasturage, fowling and fishing in Holland Fen.

*7 Appendix I.
Broadgate. In the parish of Sutton St. Edmunds.
Brunne, River of. Brunne Hee, Burne Aide Ee. In Dugdale the Brunne Ee is de
scribed in the margin as ' now the Glene.' . . 'Which had its course through the midst
of the town of Pinchebec' The ' Ware ' Dyke is described as extendiug along
' the river of Burne Ee to Goodramscote,' in a Commission of Sewers held at
Helpringham in Queen Elizabeth's time. 246, 247.
Bucifen Gote. Near Pinchbeck.
Bucklegate. At the S.W. extremity of the parish of Kirton.
Bucklegate Field. A piece of common land in the parish of Kirton, enclosed under
the Act of 1772. 85.
Bucknall Fen. In the Third Witham District. 193.
Burlieu Bridge. Over the South Holland Drain.
Bull Dog Bank and Sluice. The sea bank near Gedney. So named from the fact
that the navvies, when engaged in making the bank, killed and buried a bull dog
belonging to a bailiff, who was sent to arrest one of them.
Bullington Beck. A tributary of the Witham. 155.
Bunker's Hill. A part of the parish of Thornton-le-Fen, in Wildmore Fen.
Burton Brigg. The King's Highway, Dug.
Burton's Marsh. New Cut for the Witham made through, 1827. 352.
Burton Marsh. In Fishtoft. 71.
Burne or Brune. See Bourne.
Burgh-in-the-Marsh. From A. S. Burg, meaning rising ground, and used
for a camp. This was the site of an old Roman camp.
Burtoft. A hamlet in the parish of Wigtoft.
Burtoft Common. In Wigtoft. Allotted under the Act of 1773.
Butterwick. Botwyke, Butruic, Boterwich. The name is derived from the Scandi
navian Botnegard or Butsecarlas, a shipmaster, and wick, a haven. The village
is about 4 miles east of Boston. The area of the parish is 1,416 acres, R. V.
£4,307. In Domesday Book there is mention of two churches in Butterwick, one
of these probably being Freiston, which at that time was a hamlet of Butterwick, 72.
Butt's Marsh. In Wrangle.
Byker, River of. See Bicker.
Byrkholm. On the Witham.
Cadenham Toft. Mentioned by Dug.
Calscroft. On the Witham. 139.
Candleby Hill. In Swineshead. Dug. 60.
Capelode. See Whaplode.
Capel Brigge. 103.
Capron Brigg. A sluice ordered to be built here, Dug.
C ardyke. Carr, a low place or fen. D. Ker, a marsh. The drain made by the
Romans from Lincoln to the Nene, 10, 25. Proposal to open for drainage of Black
Sluice Level, 263, 264. Part in Black Sluice Level deepened under the Act of
1846. 266. r
Carr Dyke. ' A certain stream which was called the South Ee, and extended to
Byker Fen.' Dug.

AppENdix I. 8
Carrington. In the West Fen, 8 miles north of Boston. From A.S. Cerringas(Kemble).
Was formed into a township in 1812, (52, Geo. III). Area at that time 2,416 acres.
The church was built by the Fen Chapel Trustees in 1816. In 1880 the fen por
tions of the parishes of Boston, Miningsby, and Asgarby, and detached portions of
Revesby and Bolingbroke were added to this parish. The area including New
Bolingbroke is 3,418 acres. R. V. £3.418. Township formed, 229, Chapel
erected by Inclosure Commissioners. 228.
Castledyke Drain. In the West Fen. 225.
Catebridge Water. The Glen.
Catley Abbey. In the hamlet of Walcot, on the west side of the Witham. The
Abbey was founded in the reign of Stephen. There is a spring of mineral water
here. 467.
Catch Colt Corner or Cat Cove. Near Whaplode Drove. The remains of a Roman
Castellum, have been discovered here. Cxmden.
Cattle Holme, the Far and the First. Part of Holland Fen, allotted to the parish
of Swineshead under the Act of 1767. 88, 89.
Cat Water. In South Holland. 104,
Causton House. A vacherie, or cow pasture, originally belonging to Kirkstead
Abbey on the Witham.
Cawood Hall. In Gosberton Parish. There was a heronry here at one time, but the
herons deserted the place, and went to the Wykes Farm in Donington.
Cawthorpe Fen. Hamlet, in the parish of Bourne. 254, 255, 256.
Caythorpe Cross. In the parish of Freiston, near the church.
Caxton Houses. On the Witham. Kept up by the Abbot of Kirkstead.
Chain Bridge. On the Wyberton West End Road, over the Hammond Beck. Before
inclosure this was the entrance to the fen. 452.
Challans Bridge. In Gosberton. Dug. 61, 92.
Chapel Gate. Near Spalding. Dug.
Chapel Hill, or Chapel Hill Hurn. A hamlet on the west side of the Witham in
Holland Fen, 5 miles above Langrick Ferry, alloted to Swineshead parish, under
the Act of 1773. 88,287. Transferred to the Parish of Pelham's Lands, in 1883, 289.
The name is derived from an ancient chapel now used as a farm house. The
surface is from 2ft, to 3ft. above the adjacent land in Holland Fen. The area is
about 1,000 acres. 88, 90, 148, 151, 154, 178.
Cheal. A Hamlet in the parish of Gosberton.
Cherry Willingham. The low land is in the Third Witham District. 192.
Cherry Corner. At the junction of Mill Drain and Stone Bridge Drain, in Sibsey
Northlands. 77, 210.
Chilebeche, Cheylbeche, or Earths Lode. In the Lindsey Level. The boundary
between Holland and Kesteven.
Chellegote. Near Pinchbeck. Dug.
Chime. See Kyme.
Chepdic A sewer, running from ' Fletebrigge to Asewick Lode.' Dug.
Chirchetone. See Kirton.
Christhurn, or Gristham. One of the places mentioned in the boundary line between
Kesteven and Holland.
Church Leedes. In the parish pf Leake.

9 Appendix I.
Cibecy. See Sibsey.
Clapps. In Ewerby.
Clark's Hill. A hamlet in the parish of Gedney, 2 miles S.W. of the village.
Clays, The, A high bank of clay, otherwise known as the Scalp, at the mouth of the
Witham, 350. Huddart's scheme for cutting a new channel for the Witham, 340.
Rennie, 348 ; Sir J. Rennie, 349 ; Lewin, 356 ; Hawkshaw, 357, 361 ; Wheeler,
361.
Clays Channel. The course for the Witham and Welland, along the south side of
the Clays. 357.
Clayhole. The upper end of Boston Deeps, which, with East Countryman's BSrth, is
the roadstead for vessels. 171, 177, 337, 338. Proposed pier, 360.
Claydike. A drain in Holland Fen, made in 1633. 252. Deepened 1846. 266.
Clay Hills. Part of Holland Fen, awarded to Algarkirk Fen. 171, 177, 337, 338.
Cloote or Clote. In Deeping Fen, on the south bank of the Welland, about 1 mile
above Brotherhouse Bar. One of the authorised approaches to Deeping Fen,
mentioned in the Act of Charles II. 103, 321.
Clows Cross. On the Nene. 104.
Cockle Bridge. In Holbeach Fen, where the rivers unite. 124.
Coldale, or Coldalegote Gote. Near Spalding, on the east side of the Welland.
Cold Harbour. In Wrangle,
Colehouse. Near Bourne. 242, 250.
Collins' Bridge. Over Maud Foster Drain. 215.
Colder Bridge. Over the Five Towns' Drain.
Coln Drain. In Bicker. 25.
Coney Garth or Koning Garth. In Butterwick.
Coninger. Near Spalding. Dug.
Coningsby. Cuninesbi, Coninghesbi. (Line. Survey, Temp. Hen. I.) From Koning, D.
King, and By, a settlement. The fen in the Fourth Witham District. 197.
Consnergate. In Weston. Dug.
Cooking Green. In Wrangle.
Copping Syke. From A. S. Coppingas, the name of a Chief, and Syke, a low place
where water stands. 8 miles N.W. of Boston, formerly extra parochial, now
parochialised. Contains 238 acres. R. V. £1,572. 148.
Coppledyke. A manor in Freiston.
Count Wade Bridge. Over the Five Towns' Drain.
Counter Drain. In Deeping Fen. 120, 326.
Counter Drain Washes. District, 120, 323.
Covenham Gote. An ancient gutter, near Spalding. Dug.
Cowbit. Cubbet, Cubyt. From S. Kyr, a cow and Beit, pasturage ; cow pasturage ; or
from, A. S. Cubingas. 3 miles south of Spalding on east side of the Welland.
Cowbit Wash, on the west side of the village, is 4 miles long by I mile wide, and is
the place where the Fen skating matches take place. Cowbit had anciently a
Court of Swan Mark. In this parish, near Brotherhouse Toll Bar, is St. Guthlac's

Appendix I. 10
Cross, which formerly marked the boundary of the lands of Crowland Abbey. Has
been erected 1,100 years. Contains 1,863 acres. R. V. £4,485. Washes, 310.
Drainage Act, 34.
Cowhirne, or Cowhurn. On the east side of the River Welland, about 3 miles below
Spalding. There was a ferry here formerly, for the road leading from Weston and
Moulton to Surfleet and Gosberton. A guide was established here, who charged
sixpence for his services. In old parish records there is mention of a Sessions
being held at Cowhurn.
Cowbridge. Cubrigge. At the junction of the Frith Bank and the West Fen Drain,
3 miles north of Boston. Mr. Basant says, " The name is derived from a small
town in Glamorganshire, from which the Cromwell family came, a branch of
which settled near Earlscroft, and the present Cow Bridge Drain runs past part
of their estate. In the 13th Century a jury presented that the Earl of Lincoln had
established a new Court at Cubrigge." 202.
Crabhole. The Outfall of the River Nene, where the training ends. 110.
Crayle Eau. The division sewer between Frampton and Kirton.
Cragmere. In Wrangle.
Cranmore Common. On the south side of Deeping Fen, near St. James' Deeping.
Creasy Plot. In Holland Fen, near Syke Mouth. Part awarded to Wigtoft and
part to Swineshead, under the Act of 1767. 88.
Cressy Hall. In the parish of Surfleet. The ancient seat of the Heron family. A
heronry existed here until the birds were disturbed by the cutting down of the
trees, and they then went to Cawood.
Croft. 2 miles north of Wainfleet. Drains by the East Fen System. Land
mostly rich marsh. 229.
Cross Drain. In Deeping Fen. 327.
Cross Gate. A hamlet in Crowland, half-a-mile north of the village. 103.
Cross Gate Bridge. Over the Glen. 323, 450.
Crowland. D.B., Croyland, Croulande. Gogisland, Dug. 205. Crulande, Charter of
Ethelbald. 10 miles south of Spalding. The place where St. Guthlac, the patron
saint of the Fens, settled in 697. An Abbey was founded here by Ethelbald, King
of Mercia, in 716. The present abbey was built in 1143. There is a stone triangular
bridge in the village, originally built in 860, formed of 3 semi-arches. The 3 streams
which formerly passed under this bridge are now covered over. In the original
charter, the lands belonging to the Abbey comprehended the ' whole island of
Crolande formed by the 4 waters of the Shepishee on the east, Nene on the west,
Southee on the south, and Assendyke on the north.' The northern part of the fen
was called Goggisland. The cell of St. Guthlac was situated on the site now
known as Anchorite, or Anchor Church Hill, about \ mile N.E. of the Abbey.
A chapel was subsequently built here by Abbot Turketul, the foundations of which
were removed in 1866. Area 13,048 acres. R.V., £30,931. 15,312. St. Guthlac,
312. Abbey, 313. Bridge, 313. Reclamation of fen, 313. Crowland Washes,
310. Crowland Bridge, 450.
Cuckhold's Hyrne. On the north side of the old River Witham, above Langrick Ferry.
Cuckoo Bridge. A hamlet in Pinchbeck, 5 miles south of the village.
Cut Bridge. Over the North Forty Foot, on the Boston and Swineshead Road. 452.
Dales, The. On the Witham. 183.
Dales Head Dyke. West of the Witham. 169.
Dales Bank. In South Holland. 102.
Dales Gote. In the East Fen. 201.
Dalproon. See Dolproon.

ii Appendix I.
Dampford Tunnel and Engine. On Kyme Eau, at the end of Clay Dyke. 148, 155,
240, 260.
Danebooth. On the Witham. 141.
Dawsmere. An outlying part of the parish of Gedney, 4J miles N.E. of the
village.
Dawsdyke. In Moulton. 122.
Dawsmere Creek and Sluice. A sewer discharging through the sea bank, about
3 miles north-west of the Nene Outfall. 116, 126.
Deancote Hall. Formerly D'Eyncourt. A manor in Kirton Parish.
Dedman's Lake. Alias Oggot. Near Crowland. Dn»
Deepdales. An ancient drain, running eastwards from Cherry Corner near Stickney
to Valentine's Drain.
Deeping Fen. Depinge, Depyng. From D. Djupr, a deep hollow, and Ing, a meadow.
31, 314. see Index.
Deeping Fen Washes Drainage District. 120.
Deeping St. Nicholas, or Littleworth. In Deeping Fen. The village is 5 miles
S,W. from Spalding. Formerly extra parochial, but formed into a civil
parish in 1856 by the Act 19 & 20 Vict. c. 65. It had been formed into an ecclesias
tical parish in 1846. A. 8,637 acres. R. V., £20,410. 331.
Deeping St. James. A village on the borders of Deeping Fen, on the west side of the
Welland. 325.
Deeping West, A village 2 'miles west of Market Deeping. At the inclosure of
Deeping Fen in 1813, 360 acres of the fen, lying 5 miles E. N.E, of the village
were added to the parish.
Delph Bank. In Holland Fen. 102.
Dereham Drain. In South Holland. 101, 106.
Deynbooth. Near Frampton. Dug, 00.
Digby Fen. About 1J miles east of the village of Digby. Contains 1440 acres ofland.
In the Fifth Witham District, Formed into a Drainage District in 1861. 242
Dipple Gowt. The Outfall of the Bar Ditch into the Witham, on the east side, near
the Grand Sluice. 67.
Distrithe. In Swineshead. 248.
Dog's Head Sand. In the Charter, Dog's Head in the Pot. At the outer end of Boston
Deeps. 343, 345.
Dogdyke. Docdyke Hume, Doc-dic, Doccdik, Dockedigg. D. B., Dvvedic, from D.
Dokk and Dyke, a bank. An enclosed pool, or harbour, where boats can lie safely,
Vessels going up to Lincoln used formerly to lie here, and there is a record in the
Hundred Rolls of tolls being paid for vessels. It is a township, on the River
Witham, in the parish of Billinghay. By a Local Government order, Dec. 24th,
1880, a detached portion of the township, containing 291 acres, was transferred to
Amber Hill parish. A steam engine for draining the land was erected in 1841.
A. 727 acres. 139, 141, 204.
Dolproon or Dolprun. A village or cluster of houses in Long Sutton, which is
recorded to have existed near the South Holland Sluice on the Nene, and which
was washed away in a storm in 1236. 128.
Donington. A. S. Doningas, Dunnas-ton, Donynton, Dunington, Donnedyk. D. B.
Duninctune. 11 miles S.W, of Boston. The ings and low lands in the parish were
formed into a district under the Land Drainage Act in 1884. A. 6,180 acres. A

Appendix I. 12
market was held here in ancient times, on Saturday, but the day has now been
changed to Thursday. It has three fairs : Sept. 4th for beast, May 26th and Oct.
17th for horses, beast and sheep. 96.
Donington Northorpe. A hamlet of Donington.
Double Twelves Drain. Formerly ran from Swineshead to Gutherham Cote.
252.
Dormandike. On the Witham.
Dorrington Fen. In the Fifth Witham District. 240.
Dodnce Chiurne. On the north side of the Glen, near Pinchbeck. Dug.
Dovedale Clote. Near Crowland, near the division between Whap'.ode and Moulton.
Dug.
Drodyke. In South Holland, mentioned in an Inquisition of the Court of Sewers held
in 1571.
Dovehirne. Dovehurne, Dug. Hyrne, an angle, or corner. On the Glen, where
the main road crosses, near Pinchbeck Bars. 117, 250, 257, 321.
Dovehirne Bridge. Over the Glen. 450.
Dowdyke. Part of the parish of Sutterton, 1J miles S.W. of the village. Dowdyke
Hall, a manor in Swineshead.
Dowsdale. In the parish of Whaplode, 2J miles S.W. of Whaplode Drove.
Dowsby Fen. An allotment to Dowsby parish, in the Black Sluice District. Inclosed
in 1765. 275.
Dowsby Lode. A drain in Dowsby Fen; 258. Deepened, 266.
Dozen's Bank. A bank on the north side of Deeping Fen, running from Hawthorne
Bank, Spalding, past Pode Hole to the Glen, on which is now the main road to
Bourne. 117, 821, 324, 326.
Drainage Marsh, or Fen. A small parish, formerly extra parochial, near the Roman
Bank, on the west of the main road leading from Sutterton to Gosberton
Formerly part of Bicker Haven. A., 45 acres. R. V., £100.
Drayton. D. B. Draitone. ' Soke of the Manor of Drayton, afterwards called
Kirton.'
Drury Dyke. A drain in the south of Billinghay Fen. 189.
Dunsby Fen. An allotment to Dunsby parish, in the Black Sluice District, contain
ing 1,183 acres. 247,276.
Dunsdyke. A beck running through the low grounds in the parish of Metheringham,
and discharging into the Witham. 151, 155.
Dunston Fen. On the west side of the Witham, 8 miles from Lincoln. Inclosed in
1762. 186.
Dyke Fen. In the Black Sluice District, near Bourne. 250.
Earle's Croft and Earle's Stock. Part of the parish of Sibsey, at Frith Bank, on the
north side of Cowbridge Drain, now known as Sibsey Willows.
Earl's Hall. A manor in Frampton.
Earl's or Erlis Fen. Adjoining Wildmore Fen. A division was set out between the
two fens, in 17 Edward III. 205.
Earth Lode. Near Dowsby Fen. One of the places mentioned in the boundary be
tween Holland and Kesteven.
Eastcote or Estcote. In Deeping Fen, on the west side of the River Glen, at
Tongue End. Deeping Fen Act, Chas. II. Dug.

13 Appendix I.
Easthorpe Common, In Wigtoft. Inclosed 1772. 90.
Easter Evening. A manor in Swineshead.
East Holland Towns. The villages on the coast between Wainfleet and the Witham,
namely Boston East, Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Lever
ton and Leake. See East Fen Inclosure Act of 1801.
East Fen. On the N.E. of the Fenland. Formerly consisted of low undrained
peat, and a number of pools or meres, covering 12,664 acres, over which all the
adjoining parishes had rights of common. 31, 197. It was inclosed, divided and
allotted about 1801. 197. The engines and pumps at Lade Bank, for draining
the fen were erected in 1867. 235.
East Fen. In Moulton.
Eas. A sewer in the East Fen. 200.
Ee Dyke. A bank extending from Pinchbeck by Eastcote to Dovehirne. Dug.
Ee Dyke Bridge. Over a sewer in Dyke Fen,, Dug.
Eastville. Formerly an extra parochial "allotment. 12 miles N. E. of Boston in
the East Fen, Created a township in 1812. (52 Geo. iii., c. 144.) New Leake is
included in this parish for ecclesiastical purposes. A. 2,657 acres. Township
formed. 229.
Eau Bridge Field. Common land in Kirton. Enclosed 1772. 85.
Eau Dyke. In the parish of Friskney.
Echintune. See Heckington.
Edlington Fen. In the Third Witham District. 193.
Edykes. In Wyberton and Frampton. Dug. 60.
EeL Pool Lane. In Wrangle,
Eight Hundreds. See Holland Fen. 247.
Elbow Buoy, Formerly the point of junction of the Witham and the Welland. 351.
Elloe. D. B. Elloho, Hund. Rolls Hellowe and Helloe, Ellowarp. A hundred in South
Holland. Includes Cowbit, Crowland, Deeping St. Nicholas, Fleet, Gedney,
Gedney Hill, Holbeach, Lutton, Moulton, Pinchbeck, Spalding, Sutton St.
Edmunds, Sutton St. James, Sutton St. Mary, Tydd St. Mary, Weston, Whaplode
and Central Wingland. A. 142,683 acres. 105.
Elloe Stone. The site of an old stone, between the parishes of Moulton and Whap
lode, where the Great Court for the Hundred of Elloe was held. The stone was
3ft. in circumference, and 2ft. above ground. It has been moved from its original
place, Stukeley says, " Between Moulton and Whaplode is a green lane. North
wards stands a little stone, called the Ellostone, whence the name of the Hundred
is derived."
Ellwood Elmes. Near Quadring and Donington. Dug. 30, 92.
Encluse. Enclouse. A sewer, near Boston, on the west side of the river, 3ft. wide,
temp. 23 Edw. I. Dug. 246.
Engine. A hamlet in Crowland paris'h.
Ewerby Fen. An allotment to the parish, in the Black Sluice District.
Eythorpe. On the Glen. 247.
Fenbrigg. A sewer in Haconby. Dug. 247.
Fendyke. The drain which used to run from Firsby Clough to White Cross Bridge
and thence to Wainfleet Haven. 199.

Appendix I.

H

Fendyke Bank. The southern boundary of the East Fen, before its inclosure.
Dug. 202.
Fenne. A hamlet in Fishtoft, now known as Willoughby Hills and Long Hedges. A
part of this district was known as Chapel Green, on which the Ball House now
stands, but where formerly the chapel of the hamlet stood. Fenne, or Rochford,
Manor belonged to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.
Fen Ends and Long Fen. Formerly part of tbe parish of Boston, adjoining Wil
loughby Hills.
Fen Side Drain. In the East Fen. 225,
Fenthorpe. A hamlet of Leake.
Ferry Corner Plot. 5 miles N.W. from Boston, on the west of the Witham
Formerly part of the old river and extra parochial ; now a parish. A. 49 acres
R. V. £205.
Ferrers' Bridge. In South Holland. Inquis. Court of Sewers, 1571.
Fifteen Foot Drain. In the Black Sluice District. 260.
Fildward, or Philworth Mere. Near Frith Bank.
Finkle Street, from D. Vinhel. A corner or angle near Leake.
Fishtoft. D. B., Toft. D. Fisker, O. Norse Fiskr. 2£ miles S. E. of Boston. In 1880
Boston East, 770 acres, was transferred to this parish, and the allotments in the
West Fen, 526 acres, to Frithville. The hamlet of Fenne is in this parish. The
church is dedicated to St. Guthlac, the Patron Saint of the Fens, and there is a
statue of the saint in a niche over the west porch. There used to be an old tradi-
tion-to the effect that so long as the whip, the emblem of the saint, remained in
his hand the parish would not be infested with rats or mice. The hand and the
whip have long since been broken away. A, 4,719 acres. R. V. £8,410. 70.
Fishtoft Graft. The principal sewer in the parish. The lower part, from the village
to the river, was formerly an open tidal creek. 25, 69, 70.
Fishtoft Gote. In Boston Haven, on the east side of the river, a short distance
above Hobhole. This was formerly the Outfall of the Graft Sewer, but is now
abandoned. 70, 217.
Fishmore End. In the parish of Sutterton, 1 mile N. W. of the village.
Fish Meer. In the parish of Wrangle.
Fiskerton. A portion of the low land of this parish is in the Third District of the
River Witham. 194.
Five Bells Bridge. 93.
Five Mile House. A station on the S. E. side of the River Witham, in Washing
borough Fen.
Five Willow Warth. South of Heckington Fen. 260.
Firsby Clough. 199.
Five Towns' Drain. A public sewer, draining the five parishes of Swineshead
Wigtoft, Sutterton, Algarkirk and Fossdyke, and discharging into the River
Welland. 25, 86.
Five Thousand Acre District. Part of the Fourth Witham District. 197. Report
as to Drainage, and added to Fourth Witham District. 229. Steeping River Act,
237.
Fleet D. B., Fleet and Flee. From Fleot, a salt water creek. A market was granted to
Thomas de Multon, in Fleet, by King John, in 1205. This had ceased to be held
before Leland's time. A. 6,560 acres. R. V. £16,510. 107, 127

15 Appendix I.
Fleet Haven. A tidal creek, running across the foreshore up to the sea bank
in the parish of Holbeach, where is a sluice. The creek extends through the
inclosed lands to the N. E. corner of Fleet parish. At an Inquisition taken in the
time of Edward I. reference is made to the right of ' wrecks of the sea from the
said port of Flet, as far as Holbeche.' 26, 115, 127.
Fleet Nook. In Algarkirk Fen. Part of the land awarded under the Holland Fen
Inclosure Award.
Fleet Hurn. 100.
Floors. In Leake.
Fodder Dyke. A drain in the East Fen, running from Stickney Bridge to Hobhole
Drain.
Folinge Worth. Little and Great. Mentioned in the boundary of Holland and
Kesteven in 1501 .
Font Bridge. Over a public drain in Leake.
Fore Fen. In Wigtoft, lying W. of the Five Towns' Drain, and S. of the main road
from Boston to Swineshead, allotted to the parish under the Holland Fen Award.
69.
Fore Fen Reaches. Allotted to the parish of Swineshead under the Holland Fen
award, and inclosed in 1773. 89.
Forty Pence Sand. A fishery in the parish of Wrangle.
Forty Foot, South. The main drain in the Black Sluice District, extending from
Gutheram Cote to Boston.
Forty Foot, North. Also called Lodowick's Drain. A drain in Holland Fen, run
ning parallel with the Witham, and extending from Chapel Hill to the South
Forty Foot at Boston. Formerly emptied into Witham at Lodowick's or Trinity
Gowt. It now empties into the Black Sluice at Cook's Lock. 144, 253.
Fossdyke. On the Welland, 6 miles N.W. of Holbeach. D.B., Stith. Fosse and Foss
dyke, Dug. The allotment to this parish in Holland Fen was transferred
to Brothertoft in 1880. The name is derived from the Latin Fossa, an embanked
ditch, and the S. Dyke, which has the same meaning, A. 1,859 acres. R. V.,
£4,384. 85.
Fossdyke Wash. 437.
Fossdyke Bridge. The Roman Fossway crossed the Welland at this place. An Act
was obtained for making the present bridge in 1811, and it was opened for
traffic in 1815. It was taken over by the County in 1870, under the Act, 33 & 34
Vict., c. 34. In 1890 it was freed from toll by the County Council. 449.
Fossdyke. A canal extending from Lincoln to the Trent at Torksey. Originally
made by the Romans. Now belongs to the Great Northern and Great Eastern
Railways. 10, 138, 159, 430.
Four Towns' Drain. A sewer draining the parishes of Sutterton, Algarkirk and
Fossdyke. 86, 87.
Foulflete. A creek in Holbeach. Dug.
Foulwardstaking. Near Crowland. Dug.
Frampton. D.B., Franeton. Fraunkton, Dng. From Frem, strange. The strangers'
settlement. 3 miles south of Boston. A. 5,187 acres. R.V. £12,179. 82.
Frampton Town Drain. The public sewer. 25, 260.
Frere Barre Hurne. Near Bourne. 250.
Freeman's Channel. A navigable way between Lynn and Boston Deeps. 337.

Appendix I. I0.
Freiston. D.B., Fristune. 3 miles S E. of Boston. The name probably derived from
Freyer, the god of fertility. At the time of the Domesday Book, Freiston was
only a hamlet of Butterwick. The fen allotment was transferred to the parish of
West Fen in 1880. A. 4,250 acres. R.V. £10,876. 72.
Freiston Shore. A hamlet of Freiston, adjoining the coast.
Friest Field. A common in Bicker, inclosed under the Act, 6 Geo. Ill, 1766. 98.
Frith Bank. D., Frithiof. A hamlet of Sibsey. The name given to a large tract of
land of undefined area, forming the southern portion of the West and Wildmore
Feus. Frith Bank was the higher portion of the Frith, containing 1,200 acres. It
is in the parish of Sibsey. The land formerly belonged to Kirkstead Abbey. By
an Act passed in 1216 (10 Henry III) the land was conveyed to the Earl of Chester
and Lincoln, and it was ordered that it should be protected and inclosed with
ditches, and that a raised road should be made. In 1322 it became the property
of Edward II. In 1512 it was mentioned as a Royal Farm, and is described as
* the Fryth in Sibsey Manor and Wildmore Waste.' From 1784 Frith Bank and
Earl's Croft was recognised as part of the parish of Sibsey. A., 1,204 acres.
Frith Bank Drain. Extends from Cowbridge to the Witham at Anton's Gowt. 161.
Friths, The. Part of Holland Fen, on the north side of the old Hammond Beck
about | mile from Wyberton Chain Bridge. Formerly extra parochial now a
parish. A., 166 acres. R. V, £258.
Frithville. In West Fen. Made into a township in 1812, under 52 Geo. III. c 3
A. then 2,717 acres. In 1880 a detached portion of this parish was transferred to
Sibsey and outlying portions of Boston, Sibsey and Fishtoft were added to the
parish. A., 3,856 acres. Township formed. 229.
Friskney, or Friskney Bullington. D.B., Frischenei. Holinshed, Friscon. On
the East Coast, 14 miles N.E, of Boston. The fen land was inclosed and allotted
under an Act in 1809, at which time also an inclosure was made outside the
Roman Bank. Before the inclosure it was noted for its decoys, and for the large
quantities of cranberries which were gathered off the uninclosed land. Several
antiquities, both of British and Roman origin, have been discovered in the parish ¦
also the remains of salt pans. Contains 6,867 acres. 76, 214.
Frist. A hamlet in the parish of Bicker.
Frog Hall in Wildmore. A church erected herein 1816, out of the revenues of the
Fen Chapel Trustees. Now in the parish of Wildmore.
Froghall. A hamlet in the parish of Deeping St. James.
Fulney. A hamlet on the east side of Spalding.
Fulney Drove. In Spalding. 103.
Fulney Gote. A sewer near Spalding, 20ft. wide in the time of Edward II.
Fynsett. Near Crowland.
Galne, or Galwe Gote. A sewer in Pinchbeck, on the north side of the Westlode,
16ft. wide. Dug. 294.
Gamock Stake. In the East Fen. 205.
Gannock Stake. Near Medlam. Dug.
Garland's Sluice. In South Holland. 126.
Garner Dyke. In Moulton. The bank running north of the fen.
Garnsgate. About one mile west of Sutton St. Mary village.
Garwick. Gerwyck, Gerdwike, Gerwyke. A hamlet in the parish of Heckington, 2J
miles east of the village. Channel of Gerwyck. Dug. Causey of, 247, 248.

17 Appendix I.
Gat Channel and Sand. In Boston Deeps. From D. Gata, a thoroughfare, or
passage from one place to another, thus the Cattegat in Djnmirk. Trie word is
frequently in use along the shores of the North Sea.
Gauntlet. A hamlet in the parish of Bicker.
Gedney. D. B. Gadenai. Geddenay, Gedeneye. In South Holland, 3 miles east of
Holbeach. The surface of the land, where the village stands, is higher than the
surrounding land, and the termination of tbe name denotes that this was land sur
rounded by water. A market was granted by King John to Falco de Oyre in
1332, but is now abolished. A., 10,562 acres. R. V., £21,540, (including Gedney
Dyke and Gedney Drove.) 126.
Gedney Broadgate. About 1 mile S. E. from the village.
Gedney Hill, or Fen End Chapelry. A township of Gedney and ecclesiastical
parish, near the Old South Eau. 10 miles S. S. W. of the village. Contains 2,040
acres. R. V., £5,188.
Gedney Dyke. A hamlet in Gedney, 1J miles N. E. of the village. 100.
Gedney Drove End. A hamlet of Gedney, near the coast. 5 miles N. E. of the
village. Made, with Dawesmere, into a parish in 1855. A., 5,573 acres.
Gerwick. See Garwick.
Gibbet Bar. Toll bar, on the road from Spalding to Peakirk, belonging to the Bed
ford Level.
Gibbet Hills. Part of Holland Fen, about 3 miles N. W. of Swineshead Church,
formerly extra parochial, now in Swineshead parish. This land was sold by the
Commissioners to pay the expense of inclosure. A., 174 acres. R. V., £615.
90, 248.
Gibraltar Point. A tongue of land in the parish of Wainfleet AU Saints.
projecting out from the coast, and which affords shelter to Wainfleet Haven. 338.
Gilsyke. Near Langrick. A drain which formerly emptied into Bicker Haven. Dug,
And afterwards through the gote at Langrick. 252, 253.
Gipsy Bridge. Part of the parish of Thornton-le-Fen.
Glen, River. Called also Brunne River. Catebridge Water and Brunne Ee.
Runs through the Fenland from Kate's Bridge to the Welland. The name is
derived from the British word Glyn or Glean, a valley. 247, 251. Banks, 260. The
Black Sluice Commissioners were authorised to contribute towards a new sluice.
266. Length and drainage area, 292. New sluice erected 1879, 308. Report on,
309. Breaches in banks, 309. Taxes and expenditure, 310. Trustees appointed,
328. Payment for maintenance by Deeping Fen Trust, 332.
Gobbald Park. A tract ofland lying west of Dyke Fen.
Gobion Bothe, or Goben Bothe, or Moleboth. Near Helpringham and Bicker,
below Wragmere Stake. Mentioned in the boundary line of Kesteven and Holland.
248.
Goderam Cote. See Gutheram.
Goggisland, Goukeslound, Gokesland, Marsh of. Part of the lands belonging to the
Monastery of Crowland. 313.
Good Dyke. A drain on the north of the East Fen, running from Bellwater to
Waiufleet. 25, 199, 200, 201, 203, 208, 213. Enlarged, 226.
Goole Fen Dyke. In the East Fen.
Goosetoft. See Brothertoft.
Gosberton. D.B Gozeberdecherea also Gosebetechirche. Dug. Gosberkyrk. Gosber
chirche. 6 miles nDrth of Spalding. The original termination seems to

Appendix I. t8
imply that this was originally a British village, the later word, ton, denoting that it
was afterwards taken possession of by the Saxons. A., 7,714 acres. RV £21518
59, 60, 90.
Gosberton Clough. At the junction of the Risegate Eau with the Black Sluice
257, 260.
Gowt Drain, Little and Great. Near Lincoln. 165.
Gowt Plot. In Holland Fen. Part of this was allotted to Fossdyke, under the
Holland Fen Inclosure Act, and the remainder sold.
Graft Drain. See Fishtoft.
Grand Sluice. Across the River Witham in Boston. Erected 1766. It has 3 openings
of 17ft. 2in. each, and a lock 30ft. wide. 151, 154, 156, 160, 166, 167 171 178
179, 351.
Graft Bull Hurn. A common in Bicker, inclosed in 1766.
Graves Field. Common land in Kirton, inclosed in 1772. 85.
Gravel Drain. In Deeping Fen. 323.
Great Fen. Part of Holland Fen, between the North and South Forty ."Foot Drains
It was awarded to Kirton, Frampton and Wyberton, under the Holland Fen
Inclosure Award. 81, 82.
Great Sluice. ' In the.Witham, where the Hundreds of Kirton and Skirbeck divide.'
Built by Alan de Croun. 26.
Green Row. A common in Wigtoft, inclosed 1772. 90.
Greetwell. In the Witham Third District. 192,
Gride Bridge. Over a public sewer in Leake, about J mile N.W. of the Church.
Grist. A sewer near Moulton. Dug,
Grist Hurn, or Christhurn. Mentioned in the boundary of Holland and Kesteven.
Groynes. Dug. Near Crowland. Mentioned in the Charter of Bertulph.
Grubb Hill. Near Horsley Deeps, on the Witham. 161, 193.
Guannock Gate. In the parish of Sutton St. Edmunds.
Guide House. In South Holland. 101, 121.
Gutheram Cote. Dug. Goderamescote, Godramscote, Gotherhamscote. A hamlet of
Pinchbeck 4 miles S.W. of the village, on the river Glen, where Bourne North
Fen engine is situated ; named from Guthrum, a Danish Chief, who settled the
treaty with King Alfred. 245, 246, 247, 249, 250, 257.
Guthrum. . In Wrangle.
Gyrwas. The Fenland occupied by the Gyrwys, or Fenmen, in Saxon times.
Haconby Lode. Hachelode. A common sewer from the marshes to the river of
Surfleet. Dug. Deepened under the Act of 1846. 236.
Haconby Fen. A tract of fen land in the Black Sluice Level, belonging to the parish
of Haconby. Inclosed in 1773. 247, 277.
Haggebothe. 248.
Hagnaby. In the Fourth Witham District. 197.
Hagnaby Beck. In the East Fen. 199.
Hainnick. See Anwick.

19

Appendix I.

Hale Fen. Two fens, lying in the Sixpenny District of the Black Sluice, on the west
side of the Forty Foot. Great Hale Fen contains 1.926J acres, and Little Hale
Fen, 1.332J; acres. Inclosed in 1700.
Hale Causey. Near Sibsey.
Hale Bridge. 214.
Hall Gate. In the parish of Sutton St. Edmunds.
Hall Hills. 1 mile north of Boston. East of the Witham. Formerly part of the
bed of the old River Witham. For many years extra parochial, now a parish in
Boston Union. A., 20 acres. R.V, £237.
Halltoft End, or Ultra End. Parish of Freiston. 1 mile west of church.
Hallstock. Formerly common land in the parish of Kirton. Inclosed in 1772. 85.
Halmergate. On the east side of the Welland at Spalding. 103.
Halunleen-dee. One of the common sewers of the fen between Deeping and Spald
ing. Dug.
Hammond Beck. Hammonde Bek, Hamund Bek, Holand Fen Dyke. Dug. 204. From
Hamund, a Danish chief, who fought the Saxon chief Algar. and Beck, a stream.
Either a natural stream improved and straightened, or an artificial cut made by
the Romans. It extends from Pinchbeck to Boston, 17 miles, and forms the
drain for a large area of land on its east side. Is under the control of the
Black Sluice Commissioners. It was at one time navigable for small boats. 10,
25, 58, 59, 67, 246. Enlarged, 257. Deepened 1846, 266.
Hammond Beck, The New. Formerly called the Redstone Gowt or Adventurers'
Drain. A drain, 3J miles long, extending from Kirton Holme to the Black Sluice
near Boston. Made in 1601. 251, 257.
Handkerchief Hall. On the Brotherhouse Bank, 2 miles south of Spalding.
Hanendi. See Potterhanworth.
Handtoft. Formerly a piece of common land in Kirton. Inclosed in 1772. 85.
Happeltrenesse. See Apple Tree Ness.
Harinholt. Near Crowland. Dug.
Hareby. The allotment in this parish, in the West Fen, transferred to West Fen
parish, 1880.
Hareshead Drain. On the south side of the Witham, in Nocton Fen. 150, 151.
Harrison's Four Acres* The site on which the Grand Sluice at Boston was erected.
151, 154.
Hart's Grounds. On the west side of the Witham, near Dogdyke, formerly part of
the old river, and extra parochial. Now parochialised. A., 444 acres. R. V,
£1,234.
Haut Huntre Fen. See Holland Fen.
Haven Bank. On the east side of the Witham, formerly part of the old river Witham
and extra parochial. Included in Wildmore parish in 1884. A., 66a. Or. 37p.
Hawewell. A sewer in Dyke, Haconby and Dunsby Fens. Dug. 242.
Hawthorne. Near the Witham. Dug. 420.
Hawthorne Bank. A bank on the Welland, in the parish of Spalding, at the SrE.
boundary of Deeping Fen, mentioned in the Act 16 and 17 Chas. II. 105, 106, 321
Heckington Fen. In the Ninepenny District of the Black Sluice Level, containing
2.572J acres. Inclosed in 1764. 284.

Appendix I. 20
Heckington Head Drain, 258. Deepened 1846, 266.
Heckington Eau. A stream emptying into the North Forty Foot. 155, 173.
Heighington Fen. Near Lincoln. 184.
Hekendale Wathe and Hills. In Bicker. 61, 92, 250.
Helpringham Fen. In the Eighteenpenny Black Sluice District, contains 1,362 acres
Inclosed in 1773. 273.
Helpringham Eau. A brook running through the village to the Black Sluice Drain.
Placed in Black Sluice District, 258. Deepened, 266.
Herring Bbidge. Over the Glen. 450.
Hergate. Near Spalding. 103.
Hermitage. In the Fourth Witham District. 197.
High Dales. In Gedney, 2 miles north of the South Ea Bank. A square, double
moated, where ancient foundations have been discovered, and some Roman coins.
(Camden )
High Fen Dykes. In Holland Fen. 104.
High Fen and High Fen Bottom. Part of Holland Fen, near Hubbert's Bridge.
Awarded to Kirton and Sutterton parishes under the Inclosure Act.
High Hills. In Skirbeck. 69.
High Horn Buoy or High Hurn. The limit of the Boston Pilot jurisdiction
345, 346.
Hill Dyke. A drain running from the S. W. corner of the East Fen, to the Frith
Bank Drain. Formerly navigable for boats. See Sibsey River. 25 77 199
202, 214.
Hill Dyke Causeway. 34.
Hill's Drain. In Deeping Fen, near Spalding. 327.
Hill's Sluice. In South Holland. 104.
Hill Six Acres. In the parish of Algarkirk, containing extensive traces of
foundations of old buildings.
Hobhole. Tne main drain of the East Fen, running from Toynton to the River
Witham at Hobhole. First proposed for drainage of East Fen, 219. Sluice
and drain constructed in 1801, 225, 256. Enlarged, 237.
Hochelade, Hotchlode. A common sewer, repaired by the town of Pinchbeck.
23 Edward I. Dug.
Hodge Dyke. In Ewerby Fen. 258. Deepened in 1846. 266.
Hoff. A water-course in the parish of Swineshead, formerly emptying into Bicker
Haven.
Hoflet Stow. Hof-fleet. From Fleot, a tidal water creek. A hamlet in the parish
of Wigtoft, 1 mile west of the village, on the margin of the old Bicker Haven.
Haggesbothe. Near Heckington. Dug.
Holbeach. Charter of Witlaf, Holebecke and Holbech. D.B. Holebech, Holben, Holeben
and Holobech. Dug. Holbeche, Holbysche, Holeben. Leland, Old Beache, Old Bek.
Parish Registers, Holbek, Holbecke, Holbyche, Holbeache, Holbeach, 1641. From
Hohl, hollow, and Bech, a stream. One of the largest parishes in England, being
15$ miles in length and containing 21,133 acres. R.V., £50,064. The parish was
increased to nearly three times its original size by inclosures made from the sea

21 Appendix I.
outside the Roman Bank, the present inclosed land extending from 4 to 5 miles
beyond the Roman Bank, 101, 124. The following have been made ecclesiastical
parishes ; the fen portion in the South Holland Drainage District, containing
6,182 acres, known as Holbeach St. John's, in 1867 ; Holbeach Hurn, on the north
east, near Fleet Haven, 3,250 acres, in 1870 ; Holbeach St. Mark's and St. Mat
thew's in the marsh on the north of the town, containing 9,240 acres, in 1869.
The right to hold an annual fair on the eve of St. Michael was granted by Henry
III to Thomas de Multon, and a weekly market on Thursday. 123.
Holbeach Clough. A hamlet near where the Holbeach river, or sewer, crosses the
Roman Bank, formerly the extent of the inclosed land. 100, 124.
Holbeach St. John's. A hamlet, 4A miles south of the town. Made into a parish in
1867.
Holbeach Drove. A hamlet in the extreme south of the parish, in St. John's parish
Holbeach Hurn. Near the Roman Bank where it enters Fleet. 100.
Holbeach River and Creek. 26, 115.
Holbeach Sluice. 115.
Holedale. Near Wainfleet. Dug.
Holland. The southern division of the County of Lincoln, comprising the Hundreds
of Skirbeck, Kirton and Elloe, containing 244,317 acres. Assessed for the County
Rate at £732,779, and for the Poor Rate in 1893, at £484,253. The name is
derived from A.S. Hohl, hollow, or low, German Holig. Thus, hollow or low
land. See also North Holland and South Holland.
Holland Causeway, Holand, or Hoyland, Brigge of. Dug. Holand Causey.
Holand Fen Dyke. A causeway between Holland and Kesteven. ' The King's
Highway.' See also Bridge End. 96, 246, 438.
Holland Dyke. A drain lying between South Kyme Fen and Algarkirk Fen, the
boundary of Holland and Kesteven. Called also Old Ea. 245.
Holland Fen. Eight Hundreds, Haut Huntre. ', Dug. In an Inquisition in reign of
Edward II described as Mariscus Octo Hundredorum. Formerly comprised parts oi
eleven parishes which had rights of common over the fen. It was inclosed in 1767.
Contains 22,000 acres. The separate parishes have now been either formed into
new parishes or amalgamated with others. 245. First reclamation, 251. In
closure, 260. Ancient Drainage and Boundary, 285, 288. Inclosure Act, 1767,
284. Land sold, 287. Parish Allotments, 288. New Parishes, 289. Drainage,
290, Rates, 290. Highway Board, 441.
Holland Fen. An ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1868, containing Algarkirk,
Sutterton, Kirton and Fossdyke Fens. Subsequently Algarkirk and Sutterton Fens,
with Amber Hill and the part of Dogdyke in the fen, were formed into the civil
parish of Amber Hill, making 5,261 acres, in 1880. Kirton Fen, for civil purposes,
remains a part of the mother parish. Fossdyke Fen, for civil purposes, became a
portion of Brothertoft in 1881. Ferry Corner and Wyberton Fen adjacent, were
added to Langriville in 1883. Pelham's Lands, including Chapel Hill, and the Beats
Plots, having an area of 803 acres, was made a Darish in 1883. The Mown Rakes,
containing 100 acres, and Hall Hills, containing 20 acres, were parochialised in 1886
and added to Boston Union. Brand End Plot, 25 acres, Copping Syke, 233 acres,
the Friths, 166 acres, North Forty Foot Bank, Ferry Corner Plot, Pepper Gowt
Plot, 102 acres, are . all separate parishes in Boston Union. Gibbet Hills was
added to Swineshead in 1890.
Holland East, and East Holland Towns. The villages along the coast from
Wrangle to Boston.
Holt Hills. In Swineshead. On the west side of Swineshead Low Grounds, 2J miles
west of the village.
Horbling Fen. In the Eighteenpenny Black Sluice District. Contains 1.344J acres.
Inclosed in 1764. 274.

Appendix I. 22
Horbling Drain. Placed in the Black Sluice District, 258. Deepened, 266.
Horn-castle. The castle at the Hyrn, or Corner. The Roman Bano Vallum, or fort,
on the Bane. This is a Roman station overlooking the Fens, and through which the
road, from the Roman Port of Wainfleet to Lincoln, passed. Remains of the
ancient Roman walls are in existence,- and several Roman coins of the Emperor
Vespasian and others have been found.
Horsley Deeps. On the Witham. 161, 164.]
Horsington Fen. The Third Wuham District. 193.
Horn-castle Navigation. 160, 431.
Howbridge Drain. Runs through Wildmore Fen, from opposite Chapel Hill, to join
the West Fen Drain at Stephenson's Bridge. 225.
Howbridge, or Howbriggs. In Wildmore Fen. Dug. 155, 204.
Howell Fen. In the Ninepenny Black Sluice District. Contains 290 acres,
Howdyke Drain. 72.
Hubbert's Bridge. The name is derived from Hubba, a Danish king, who invaded
Lincolnshire, a.d. 865. It was formerly a wooden bridge over the South Forty-Foot
Drain, being the road from the old parishes into the fen. The bridge was made a
county bridge and replaced by the present structure in 1888. 82, 452.
Hcxgate. A hamlet of Leake.
Huxtingfield Hall. A manor mentioned in the Bicker Fen Act, 1766.
Huxdle House. Dug. In South Witham District. 197, 204.
Hurdle Tree Bane. A bank in Whaplode and Moulton, part of the boundary of the
South Holland Drainage District. 105.
Hurn Field. Common land in Kirton. Inclosed in 1772. 85.
Hyxsbeck. Dug.
Hyrn. Near Langrick. Dug.
Igeram Brigge. A bridge near Moulton. Dug.
Inkersox Fen. In South Holland. 131.
Inxome. Near Donington. Dug.
Irelode Drain. In Rippingale Fen. Dug. 250.
Ives Cross. On the Roman Bank, half a mile west of the village of Sutton St. James.
Ivory. In Wrangle.
Jay's Bank. In Fleet Fen. 102.
Jiggin's or Jen-ken's Bask. In Holbeach Fen. 102.
Jingle Hirxe. In Gedney, f mile south of Raven's Clough.
Jobson's Pound. Formerly the boundary between Boston and Fishtoft, on the road
leading to Wainfleet. Vestry Book of Boston. 1768.
Jocesaculantd. In Holbeach. Dug.
Kate's Bridge. Catebrigge. Over the Glen, above Thurlby Fen. 450.
Ketel A monastic cell in the parish of Long Sutton, on the east side of the village
near Little London
Kenulph's Stone. Kenulphston. A boundary stone near Crowland.

23 Appendix I.
Kelfield. Near Bicker Dug.
King's Hill. A mound in Wrangle, near Wrangle Bank, Supposed to have been put
up by the Romans for a beacon station.
King Street Drain. In Deeping Fen. 327.
Kirton. D. B. Chirchetune. Chirchetone, Kirketon, Kyrkton. From British Cot, a circle
Supposed to have been of Druidical origin, this beinga place where Druidical rites
were performed. A village, 4 miles S. W. of Boston. Once a market town, the
market being held on Saturday, near the Market-stead house, about £ mile south of
the village. Two fairs were also held here annually. The Earl of Exeter was
formerly Lord Paramount of the Soke of Kirton, and had here a Session Hall, in
which was held the Quarter Sessions, and the Great Goose Court, which had
jurisdiction over the whole of the Kirton Wapentake ; but it ceased to act after the
inclosure of the Fens. In 1772 the Sessions were permanently removed. In 1771
an Act was obtained for establishing a Court of Requests, for the recovery of
debts not exceeding 40s., within the Soke of Kirton. This was superseded by the
County Court. From official returns made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
Kirton was the third town of any size in the county, and at that time had only 143
fewer households than Boston, 231 less than Lincoln, 74 more than
Spalding, 81 more than Holbeach, 96 more than Grantham, 54 more than Bourne,
and 14 more than Stamford. Stukeley says that the place was famous for its
apples, and the' Kirton Pippin,' which grew in the parish, was described by an
old writer as a ' most wholesome and delicious apple.' The fen and common land
were inclosed under an Act passed in 1772 (12 Geo. III.) 83. In 1657 ' the Sea
Bank Estate ' was purchased and vested in trust, for the maintenance of the banks
in the parish. The estate now only contains 2a. 2r. 19p., the remainder having
been used for the repair of the banks. In 1873 an inclosure of salt marsh, con
taining 676 acres, was added to the parish. The area of the parish is 8,966 acres.
R.V., £21,775. 60, 83.
Kirton Hundred. Kirton Warp, or Wapentake. Includes the parishes of Algarkirk,
Bicker, Brothertoft, Donington, Fossdyke, Frampton, Gosberton, Hart's
Grounds, Kirton, Quadring, Skirbeck Quarter, Sutterton, Swineshead, Surfleet,
Wigtoft, Wyberton, Amber Hill, Great and Little Beats, Copping Syke, Drainage
Marsh, Ferry Corner Plot, the Friths, Hall Hills, North Forty-Foot Bank, Pel
ham's Lands, Pepper Gowt Plot, Seven Acres, Shuff Fen, Simon Weir, South of
the Witham. It contains an area of 70,422 acres, and an assessable value to the
County Rate of £188,895. Part of the Borough of Boston is also in the Kirton
Hundred. 57.
Kirton Town's Drain. The public sewer. 25, 83, 260,
Kirton End. A hamlet, 1J miles N. W. of the village.
Kirton Mere, or Meare. A hamlet, 1 mile west of the village.
Kirton Holme. D., Holm, an island. A hamlet, 3J miles N. W. of the village, ad
joining the fen. The cattle from the fen used to be collected here to be marked
once a year.
Kirton Ings. Common land. Inclosed 1772. 85.
Kirton Sea Dyke, or Skeldyke. 2 miles, S. E. of the village.
Kirkstead. On the Witham. A Cistercian monastery was founded here by Hugh
Brito, Lord of Tattershall. The fen is in the Third Witham District, 196.
Kirkstead Lock. On the Witbam. 161, 162, 164.
Kirkstead Bridge. Over the Witham. 448.
Knedyke. 'A common sewer of the whole fen, betwixt Deping and Spalding.' A
sluice was ordered to be built here in the reign of Edw. II. Dug.
Knock. D , Knok, a mound. A sand at the lower end of Boston Deeps. 343.
Knoll. Brit., Cnol, a hillock. A sand at the lower end of Boston Deeps.

Appendix I.

24

Kyme. D.B.. Chime. North and South Kyme Fens and Kyme Low Grounds. A
large tract of fen land, lying between Billinghay Skerth and Kyme Eau, and ex
tending up to the Car Dyke in the First and Fifth Witham Districts. 190, 241.
Kyme South Fen. In the Sixth Witham District. 283.
Kyme Eau, Ee of Kyme, or Kyme Ea. First mentioned in a Commission of Sewers, 15
Edward III, 1342. ' So obstructed that ships could not pass." The Outfall of the
River Slea into the Witham, near Chapel Hill, navigable in ancient times.
Canalised in 1794. forming a waterway to Sleaford, 431. Power was obtained by
an Act, passed in 1S7S, to abandon the navigation. 25, 154, 155, 247. 252, 429.
431.
Kyme Ferry 439.
Kyme Vacherie. A cow pasture, in North Kyme Fen, formerly attached to the
monastery at Kyme.
Kyme Tower, The remains of a castle, situated in S 3uth Kyme, formerly belonging
to the Umfraville family. The castle was pulled down about 1720.
Lade Bank Drain, and Engines. In the East Fen. The drain discharges into
Hobhole, and runs parallel with the bank. 226. There is a bridge over Hobhole
Drain. The pumping engines for draining the East Fen are situated here, on the
west side of Hobhole Drain, about 7 miles N.E. of Boston. -205. 226. Erected in
1867. 235.
Lafex Latham, Lode. A public sewer in the parishes of Surfleet and Gosberton
25, 94.
Lampson's Clough. On the Risegate Eau. 93.
Langrick. Lar.greti Dug. Langrake. D.B. Trie. D. E;kja, a reach, literally.
Long Reach. At one time the ferry, which crosses the river here was
called Armtree. In tbe Fourth Witham District, 197. Township formed and
chapel erected by the Inclosure Commissioners, 228.
Langrick Gote. An ancient sluice, on the west side of the Witham, removed in the
latter half of the 18th century. It was situated near the present railwav station,
and had 3 openings, giving a total waterway of 24ft. 142, 155. Controversy as to
erection of sluice 1602. 249.
Langrick Ville, or Laxgriville. Township formed in 1812, under an Act passed in
52 George III, 228. Area at that time 1,912 acres. 5 miles N. W. of Boston. It
contains the hamlets of Copping Syke. Silt Pits and South of the Witham. Is
included in the consolidated chapelry of Wildmore, formed in 1SS1. It ccctists of
the southern portion of Wildmore Fen, which, at the inclosure, was allotted to the
Earl of Stamford , in lieu of his manorial rights over Armtree and Wildmore Fens.
The church was built under the Fen lEc'osure Act, in 1829, 228. By a Local
Government order, datea Dec. 24th, 18*0, detached parts of Fishtoft, Coningsby,
Kirkstead, Scrivelsby, Woodhall, Dalderby and Martin Fen allotments were
transferred to Langrick Ville. 228.
Laxgdyke Drain. In Wildmore Fen. 199.
Langtoft Roft. A drain in Deeping Fen. 323.
Langworth Drain. In Wildmore Fen. 199.
Laxgwathe, or Langworth. On the Witham. In the Fourth District. 140, 197,
201.
Langworth River. Tributary of the Witham. 135.
Lap-water Hall. In South Holland. 101.
Lauxdersthorpe Hall. In the parish of Fishtoft, on the read leading from the
village to Hobhole Bank.
Law Fen. Near Holland Dyke. Dug.
Lawrence Bridge. Over the Three Towns' Drain

25 Appendix I.
Leaden Hall. In South Holland. 101.
Leake. A village 8 miles N. E. of Boston. D.B. Leche. Stukeley considers that the
name denotes a watery or marshy place. Another derivation is from S. Leekr, a
brook. A, 5,767 acres. R. V., £20,221. By an order of the Local Government
Board, dated Dec. 24th, 1880, detached portions of Benington, Butterwick, Lever
ton, Revesby and Boston East Fen, were transferred to New Leake. Tradition
says that at a place called ' The Floors ' a light house once stood, outside the
Roman Bank. 73.
Leake, New. A hamlet of Leake, 5 miles N. N. W. of the church. It is included
in the ecclesiastical parish of Eastville.
Leeds Gate. On the South Holland Drain, at the north end of Gedney Fen.
Le Flegge. Formerly Oggott, where was a broken cross of St. Guthlac, being one of
the boundary marks between Kesteven and Holland.
Levebrigge. In ' Brunne, near the river of Brunne.' Dug. 202, 247.
Level Towns. The villages on the north of the East Fen. 202.
Leverton. D. B. Levertune, Lavinlone. In the parish records, about 1562, the name
is written Lenton and Levrton. Stukeley derives the name from Leofric, Seneschal
of Earl Algar. Another derivation is from the A. S. Chief Lceferingas. A., 2,894
acres. R. V., £6,111. The allotment to this parish, in the West Fen, was trans
ferred to the new parish of West Fen, by 24 Vict., c. 17. Also in 1881 a detached
part of the parish was transferred to Leake. In 1801, 395 acres of marsh land was
inclosed. In 1810 an Act was obtained for inclosing the commons. 73.
Leverton Outgate. A hamlet, about 1J mile east of Leverton church.
Luke's Corner. Near Sibsey. 224.
Limb or Lymm. An old name for part of the Steeping River. 213,230.
Lincoln. An early British town, called Lincoit. Afterwards one of "the principal
Roman settlements and called Lindum Colonia. The name is from the British Llyn,
a pool. (Brayford Mere.) Freeman states that at one time it was called Caer-
lindcoit, meaning the hill fort by the pool. After the Roman time the word was
spelt Lindisii or Lindisey, the island of Lindis. Lindecollinum, Lindecollina (Bede)
Lindocollyne, Lincoll. In old Norman charters, and in records kept by the Earls of
Lincoln, it is described as Nichol and the County as Nicholshire (Marat.) Robert of
Brunne, in his poem of ' Handlyng Synne ' calls it Linkolne. It is rather remark
able that Christian missionaries came from Lindisfarne, in Northumberland, to
convert the Saxons in Lindisey. 4, 5, 11.
Lindsey, or Lyndsey, Level. In the southern part of the Eighteenpenny District
of the Black Sluice District. 31, 245. Parishes in, 273.
Linwood Fen. In the First Witham District. 187.
Litchfield, or Lichfield End. Near Kirton and Frampton. 61, 250.
Litchfield Bridge. Formerly over the Hammond Beck, near the Redstone Gowt
Drain. 250.
Little Hurn and Ings. A plot of common land in Kirton. Inclosed in 1772. 85.
Little London. A hamlet in the parish of Long Sutton.
Lock's Mill. On the Welland, near Spalding. 311.
Lode Dyke. A bank near Crowland. Dug.
Lodowick's, or Lodovick's, Gowt. The Outfall of the North Forty-Foot Drain,
situated on the west side of the old channel of the Witham, about \ mile above
Boston Church. It had a waterway of 15ft. Was also called Trinity Gowt. 144,
145, 147, 244, 253.
Long Drove. A sewer in Pinchbeck.

Appendix I. 26
Long Sutton. See Sutton.
Long Dyke Drain. In the West Fen. 225.
Lord's Drain. Runs from the east side of Spalding to the Welland near Wrag
Marsh. 101, 106, 121.
Lost Bridge. In Pinchbeck. Dug.
Low Gate's End. In South Holland. 103.
Lunn's Bridge. A bridge over Hobhole Drain, between Fishtoft and the sluice.
Lurtlake. Near Crowland. Dug.
Lusdyke. An ancient drain in the East Fen, emptying into Wainfleet Haven. Part of
Steeping River. 199, 200.
Lutton. See Sutton.
Lutton Corner. 101.
Lutton Gate. In Sutton St. Edmunds. 100.
Lutton Gote. The original Outfall of Lutton Leam. 130.
Lutton Leam. An ancient water course, or sewer, running from the north of Long
Sutton to the Nene, the Outfall sluice being about half a mile below the lighthouse
tower. 26, 101, 110, 127, 130.
Lutton Marshes. 101.
Lyme. A sewer in the north of the East Fen. 200.
Lyndsey Level. See Lindsey. 245.
Maccaroni. A channel between Boston and Lynn Deeps. 337, 351.
Mandyke Gate Bridge, Over the Five Towns' Drain.
Mantle Cerncroft, Great and Little. Common land in Kirton. Inclosed in
1772. 85.
Man War Ings. Remains of a Danish encampment in Swineshead,
Maple Bush. One of the boundaries of the Witham Bank, which had to be maintained
by the Abbot of Kirkstead.
Mareham Fen. Allotment in Wildmore Fen. Added to the new parish of Wildmore
in 1881. 197.
Marisbeck. A sewer in the Lindsey Level, near Pinchbeck. Dug.
Martin Fen. On the west side of the Witham, in the First District. Inclosed
in 1789. 187.
Market Lands. In Wrangle.
Matehirne. On the south side of the Glen, near Pinchbeck. Dug.
Maud Foster Drain. First made in 1568, being a new Cut from Cow Bridge to
Boston Haven. In the Verdict of Sewers of 1735, it is referred to as ' otherwise
Moll Foster.' 202, 207, 209, 224.
Maud Foster Gote, or Sluice. 205, 206, 208, 209, 214, 217. New Sluice built,
1801. 224, 226.
Maumgate, or Mornsgate. Common land in Kirton. Enclosed 1772. 85.
Mariscus Octo Hundredorum. See Holland Fen.

27 Appendix I.
Mavis Enderby. An allotment to this parish, in the West Fen, transferred to West
Fen parish, 1880.
Medlam. A hamlet in the West Fen, formerly in the parish of Revesby, transferred
to Carrington in 1880.
Medlam Drain. In the West Fen, running from the West Fen Drain at Mount
Pleasant to Revesby. 225.
Medehamstead. Peterborough.
Mears, or Meers. In Kirton, on the west side of Kirton Drain, 1J miles N.W. of
the village, formerly common land. Enclosed 1772. 85.
Mengarlake. Near Crowland.
Mere Booth. On the north side of the old River Witham, above Anton's Gowt.
Meredyke. On the Witham. 140.
Merlode, or Ouse Mer Lode. A sewer running from the Hammond Beck to
Risegate Eau, between the parishes of Quadring and Donington, and maintained
by the former. 25. 60, 92. Placed in Black Sluice District, 258. Deepened in
1846, 266.
Merewix Corner, Uerehim. Near Gutheram Cote. 246.
Merrylands. In Sutterton Fen. 240.
Metheringham Fex. Extends 6 miles east of the village to the Witham. In the
Second Witham District. 186.
Mid Fodder Dyke. In the Black Sluice Level. 266.
Mid Fen Dyke. The ancient boundary between Holland and Kesteven from the Welland
to the Witham. Dug. Now superseded by the South Forty Foot. 245, 254.
Middle Fen. Part of Holland Fen, between the Hammond Beck and the South Forty
Foot, allotted to Skirbeck Quarter under the Inclosure Ac!.
Middleham. In the Fourth Witham District. 197.
Middleton. A hamlet of Leake.
Midville. A parochial township in the East Fen, 10 miles north of Boston. Formed
into a township in 1812 (52 Geo. Ill, c. 44). Contains 2,501 acres. In 1885, this
was formed into a consolidated chapelry with Eastville, 228, which includes
portions of Benington, Boston, Butterwick, Leake, Leverton, Revesby, Spilsby and
West Keal. Township formed, 229. Chapel erected by Inclosure Commissioners,
228.
Milk House Harsh. In Fishtoft. The Witham Outfall cut through this. 71.
Meeking Hill Field. Common land in Bicker. Inclosed 1766. 98.
Mill Bank. In South Holland. 102.
Mill Drain. In the East Fen, near Sibsey. 199, 211, 217.
Miller's Stile. On the old sea bank in Boston, at the boundary with Skirbeck
Now absorbed in the dock.
Mill Green. A hamlet in Pinchbeck, 2 miles S.W. of the village.
Milthorpe, or MVlthorpe. A hamlet in the parish of Asgarby, lying 2 miles east
of the village. Entitled to send a member to the Black Sluice Trust. 254.
Moll Foster. See Maud Foster.
Money Bridge. A hamlet in Pinchbeck and Bridge over the Glen, If miles west of
the village. 450.
Monk's Hall. A manor in Gosberton and Quadring.

Appendix I. 28
Monk's Ground. On the Witham. 147.
Moore's Cote, or Coote. On the west side of the River Glen, between Gutherham
and Tongue End.
Moorhouse. Hamlet in West Fen, 3$ miles south of Revesby. Formerly the Dairy
Farm of the Abbey of Revesby. In the Fourth Witham District, 197, 204.
Moredyke. A bank near Crowland, ' reaching from Shepee to Asendyke.'
Morton Fen. Extends 4 miles east of the village of Morton on the east side of the
Cardyke. In the Black Sluice District. 277.
Moulton. A village, 6 miles east of Spalding, containing 11,391 acres. R.V., £22,792.
D.B., Multune. Dug., Multon. The moot for the Wapentake of Elloe was held here
in the time of the Saxons. There is a stone still existing which marked the place
where the courts are supposed to have been held, called the' Elloe Stone, 'in a green
lane, called Spalding Gate, which was formerly the main road from Spalding to
King's Lynn. The portion of (he parish lying south of the Austendyke Road,
containing 3,800 acres, was made into a separate parish for ecclesiastical purposes
by an order in council, dated May 17th, 1890. Several Roman coins were found
in this parish, near Raven Bank, in 1721. About 2,237 acres of marsh land were
enclosed in 1660, 1081 acres in 1793, and 400 acres in 1875, 101. A large area of
common land was inclosed and divided in 1793, 121. See also Elloe Stone,
Moulton Austendyke. A hamlet 1J miles south of the village,
Moulton Eaugate. A hamlet in Moulton Fen, 5 miles south of the village,
Moulton Sea's End. A hamlet on the Roman Bank, 2J miles north of the
village. 100.
Moulton Chapel. A chapelry in the fen, 4 miles south of the village.
Moulton River, or Mere Drain. 26, 121.
Mount Pleasant. In the West Fen, formerly a hamlet of Boston, to which parish it
was allotted on the Inclosure. Now in the parish of Frithville. Contains 3,856
acres. Chapel erected by Inclosure Commissioners. 228.
Mown Rakes. In Holland Fen, allotted to Swineshead at the Inclosure. 1J miles
N.W. of the station. Formerly extra parochial. Added to Swineshead by order
in Council, April 23rd, 1890. Contains 100 acres. R.V., £194. 88,90.
Narwehee. A drain running from ' Brunne to Godramsoote.' Dug. (The Wear
Dyke.) 247.
Neslam Fen. In the Black Sluice District, If miles east of Sempringham.
Neverale. On the Witham.
Nevil's Dam. A bridge in Swineshead, over the Five Towns' Drain.
New Bolingbroke. A village in the West Fen, originally established by J. Parkin
son. A market commenced in 1821 is obsolete. See Bolingbroke.
New Bridge. See Cross Gates.
New Cut. The Outfall for the Witham, constructed 1884. See Witham Outfall.
Newbury. On the River Glen, near Surfleet.
New Ee. In Surfleet. 61.
New F.e Dyke or Newdyke. In Dyke Fen, running from Eedyke Bridge to Holland
Fendyke. 257.
Newdyke. One of the boundary stations, between Holland and Kesteven.
New Gote. A sluice on the east side of the old River Witham, for the drainage of the
West and Wildmore Fens. 145, 199, 205, 208, 212.

29 Appendix I.
New New Gote. A sluice on the east side of the old River Witham, for the
drainage of the West and Wildmore Fens. 145, 199, 205, 208, 212.
Newgate. Near Spalding. 103.
Newham Drain. In the West and Wildmore Fens, ruining from Anton's Gowt, past
Moor Houses, nearly up to the Catchwater. 225.
Newholme' In the Fourth Witham District. 197.
Newland Inclosure. In Long Sutton. 128.
New York. A village in Wildmore Fen, 8 miles N.W. of Boston, in the parish of
Wildmore.
Nocton Fen. On the west side of the Witham, in the First District. Inclosed in
1831. Contains 2,315 acres. 184.
Nocton Dyke. 151.
Noman's Land Hirne. Near Crowland.
Noman's Friend. In Wildmore Fen, south of Moor Houses. 218.
Northdyke, or Nordyke Causeway and Bridge. A part of the main road lying
between Stickney and Sibsey. Before the inclosure of the Fens this road passed
over a very swampy tract of land lying between the East and West Fens, which
was frequently flooded. There were 4 arches under the road, for the escape of the
water out of the East Fen. This causeway was originally maintained by the
Abbot of Revesby. 34, 77, 208, 225, 438.
North Graft. An ancient sewer near Haconby, belonging to this parish, Dunsby
and Pinchbeck. Dug. 250.
North Drove Dyke. In Deeping Fen. 323.
Northolme. Near Wainfleet Haven.
North Forty Foot Bank. In Holland Fen. Formerly extra parochial, now a
parish and village, consisting of a long strip of land running by the side of the
drain. R.V., £215. 253, 442.
North Forty Foot Drain. See Forty Foot.
North Holland. The northern part of the division of Holland, containing the
Hundreds of Skirbeck and Kirton and the Boston Union. A., 101,634 acres. 57.
Northorpe. A hamlet in Donington Parish.
Norman Deeps. Spelt Normandeepe, in a deed of the time of Elizabeth ; also Norman
Depe. The northern part of the Wash. From Djupr, O.N. for deep. 201, 343.
Nunham Drain. In the West and Wildmore Fens. 199, 207.
Nun's Bridge. Over Hobhole Drain, about 1 mile above the sluice.
Obthorpe. On the Glen. 247.
Oggot, or Deadman's Land. Near Crowland. Dug.
Old Ea, or Old Hee. One of the ancient boundaries of Kesteven and Holland.
' A ditch between the marsh of Holand and the marshes of Hekyngton and
Kyme.' Dug.
Old Fen Dyke. In Spalding. Dug.
Onsthorpe, the Town of. Had to repair the sewer from Apple Tree Ness to Kyme.
Dug.
Orbelinge. Horbling.
Osgodyke Bank. In Holland Fen. 102.

Appendix I. 30
Ouse Mer Lode. See Mer Lode.
Out Weare Bank. In Leake. Dug.
Partye Bridge. Near Quadring. Dug. 60, 92.
Peakhill. A hamlet in the. parish of Cowbit.
Peachy. Pecht, or Pekke Hall. Near Scrane End, Freiston.
Peckebrigge, or Briggdyke. A bridge built on the Holland Causeway by the Prior
of Spalding, and directed to be sufficiently wide for horsemen to pass over. It
was near the site of the present bridge over the Hammond Beck. 97, 103, 246.
Pedder's Bridge. Formerly across the Scire Beck, near where Bargate Bridge now
stands. Displaced when the Maud Foster Drain was cut. 67, 69.
Pelham's Lands. In Holland Fen, formerly extra parochial. Formed into a parish
with Chapel Hill and the Beats Plot in 1883. A., 803 acres. R.V., £2,231- 90.
Penny Hill. A hamlet in the parish of Holbeach, 1J miles north of the town.
Pepper Gowt. An ancient Outfall for a natural creek, called Pepper Syke, draining
Shuff Fen, on the west bank of the old River Witham, opposite New Gote.
Taken up, 1767.
Pepper Gowt Plot, or Rowland's Marsh. Formerly extra parochial, now a
parish 2J miles north of Boston, on the west bank of the Witham. Formerly part
of the bed of the old River Witham. A., 102 acres. R.V., £430.
Pepper Syke. See Pepper Gowt.
Peseholme Gote. A sewer in Spalding. Dug. 103.
Peseholme Hirne. In Spalding. Dug.
Peter's Point. On the west side of the Nene, near Sutton Bridge. 106.
Pichale. At the South End of Spalding, near the commencement of the Barrier
Bank. Dug. 103.
Pinchbeck. D. B., Picebech. Dug. Pynsebek, Pynchebec. The village is on the Glen, 2
miles north of Spalding. The parish is 12 miles long and 7 miles wide, and con
tains 13,710 acres. R. V., £30,892. There was formerly a Market Cross in Mill
Green, called the Fish Cross, where fish and wild fowl were brought from the sea
marshes and fens, to be sold. A cross also formerly stood near the Red Lion Inn.
The stock were brought to this cross before being turned into the Common Fen,
and marked. In October they were brought back to the cross and claimed by
the owners, who then paid Hoven Dues. 120, 121, 246, 316.
Pinchbeck West. Formerly part of Pinchbeck, 4J miles N. W. from Spalding. Was
made into an ecclesiastical parish in 1815. It includes the Fen and Pinchbeck
Bars, where the church is situated.
Pinchbeck North Fen. In the Black Sluice District, north of the Glen. 121, 255.
Pinchbeck South Fen. In Deeping Fen, south of the Glen. 120.
Pinchbeck Bars. 2J miles west of the village.
Pinchbeck Bars Bridge. Over the Glen at Dovehirne. 450.
Pippin Hall Bridge. Over Five Towns' Drain, in Swineshead South.
Philworth, or Philward Mere. Near Frith Bank.
Pinegate. Near Spalding. Dug.
Pode Hole. A hamlet in Pinchbeck, 4 miles S. W. of the village. The name is derived
from A. S. Padde, a toad. The engines and wheels for draining Deeping Fen are
situated here. 323. Sluice vested in Adventurers, 327. Engine erected, 330
Description of, 383.

oi Appendix I.
Pointon Lode. A drain in Pointon Fen. 258.
Pointon Fen. In the Black Sluice District. Inclosed 1790. 275.
Postlaxd. A hamlet in Crowland.
Potterhanworth Fen. In the First Witham Drainage District. 184.
Poynton Hall. In Freiston, adjoining Butterwick.
Pringle. In North Kyme Fen. 241.
Pry Closes. In Digby Drainage District. 242.
Pulvergote. A sewer in Holbeach. Dug.
Pulleye Head. The limit of the Port of Boston, at the outer end of the Gat Channel.
343, 345.
Purceynt. A marsh near Crowland. Dug.
Pyngel Hyrne. On the Sleaford Road, in the parish of Swineshead. Dug.
Quadring. D.B., Qiiedhaveringe and Quadheureringe. Dug., Quadryng, Quadavering.
Derived from A . S. Chief Cwaedringas. Village 8 miles N. W. of Spalding. A.,
3,950 acres. R. V„ £8,654. 90.
Quadring Eaudyke. A hamlet in Quadring, X\ miles east of the village.
Quadring Ee. A sewer, 16ft. wide, maintained by Quadring. 23 Edw. I. 59.
Quapelode See Whaplode.
Quapelodedyke. A bank near Crowland. Dug.
Quarles. In the parish of Leake.
Queen's Gote. Otherwise Wainfleet Clough. 214. See Wainfleet.
Queen's Bank. In South Holland. 121.
Raithby Allotment. In the West Fen. Transferred to the West Fen parish in
1881.
Rakes. The Common Rakes in Holland Fen, allotted partly to the parish of Swines
head under the Inclosure Act of 1767, and partly to Algarkirk. 88.
Rakes, The Mown. See Mown Rakes.
Rampart Drain. In Deeping Fen. 327.
Ratun Row. A roadway, on the west of the Welland, leading to Spalding. Dug.
Raven Bank. Extends from the Welland, near Cowbit, in an easterly direction
towards the Nene. and joins the Roman Bank at Tydd. Made by the Romans to
inclose the higher land from the Fens south of this bank, which were at that time
liable to flooding from the Nene and the Welland. 100, 121.
Raven's Clough. On the Raven Bank, 2£ miles south of the village of Fleet. Roman
coins and a Roman urn have been found here.
Raydyke. In Wildmore Fen. Dug.
Reaches March. Part of the old river Witham, 1J miles N. W. of Langrick Ferry.
In the parishes of Wyberton and Frampton. Inclosed under the Acts of 1784 and
1789. 81, 83.
Red Cow District. In Moulton. 121.
Red House Bridge. On the South Holland Drain, 5 miles from the Outfall. 112.

Appendix I. 32
Redstone Gowt. Was erected by order of the Court of Sewers in 1601, and a new
Cut made to take the water from the Hammond Beck, which it joined at Litch
field Bridge. In 1677 it was reported to be in a ruinous condition, and was re
built at a cost of £1,200. It is now disused. 250,258,263.
Revesby. The village is 12 miles north of Boston. The parish includes the hamlets of
Medlam and Moor Houses in the West Fen. The allotment to this parish, in the
West Fen, was transferred to Carrington in 1882, and the Sibsey allotment added
to Revesby in 1881 . Wydale, formerly belonging to this parish, was added to
Leake in 1881. An Abbey for Cistercian Monks was founded here in 1142. The
remains of a supposed British camp are to be found near the village. Sir Joseph
Banks, the chief promoter of the inclosure of the East, West and Wildmore Fens,
resided at Revesby.
Richmond Tower. See Rochford.
Rigbolt or Wrightbolt. A hamlet in the parish of Gosberton.
Rigbolt Clough. On the Beche, at the S. E. corner of Gosberton Fen. 250
Ringle Hurn. Formerly on the old Sea Bank, at the junction of the parishes of
Boston and Skirbeck
Ringstone. In the parish of Rippingale. One of the places entitled to send a mem
ber to the Black Sluice Trust. 254.
Rippingale Fen. In the Black Sluice District. Allotted to the parish in 1803. 276.
Rippingale Running Dyke. A stream which brings the high land water from beyond
the village, and empties into the Forty-Foot. 250, 258. Deepened, 266, 276.
Risegate. A hamlet in the parish of Gosberton.
Risegate'Eau. D. B., Riche. Dug., : Risgate Ees ; Risgate, Sewer of '; Reesgate Ee . Aa
ancient stream coming from Gosberton and empying into Bicker Haven. Now
the main sewer of thedistrict, which runs along the old bed of the Haven, and
discharges into the Welland, 1 mile above Fossdyke Bridge. 25, 61, 91. 247.
Rochford Tower. Near the supposed site of the ancient Richmond Tower, 1J miles
east of Boston.
Roos Hall, A manor in the parish of Freiston.
Rotten Row. In the parish of Benington and Freiston. From A. S. Rotteren, the
mustering place.
Rowland's Marsh. See Pepper Gowt Plot.
Royalty Farm. In Swineshead, 7J miles from Boston, formally extra parochial.
Parochialised in 1886 and added to Swineshead, by order in Council, April 23rd,
1890. A„ 120 acres. ' R.V., £228. 90.
Rushes, The. Formerly Common Land in Swineshead. Enclosed under Act of
1773. 88.
Russian Ings. Formerly a piece of Common Land in Kirton, enclosed under Act
of 1772. 85.
Ruskington Fen, In the Fifth Witham District. 241.
Sainecote. In the Fourth Witham District. 197.
Salem, or Sale Ham. Salem Bridge. Near Wainfleet. 213, 230, 237.
Salten Ee. Formerly a tidal creek in Surfleet. Dug.
Salteney. In 1593 the precincts of Boston Deeps and the jurisdiction of the Mayor
were described as extending to Salteney Gates. John of Brittany claimed to have
all waifs and wrecks from Salteney to Wrangle by the sea shore.
Sand Hills. In Algarkirk Fen.

33 Appendix I.
Saxgote. Formerly a gote in Gosberton. Dug. 60.
Scalp, Boston. A high clay bank at the mouth of the Witham. 350.
Scathergr.aft. A se.ver in Donington, 16ft. wide, in the time of Edward I. Dug.
96.
Scobdyke. In Pinchbeck. Dug.
Scoft. Near Tydd. 102.
Scotten Dyke. In the Black Sluice District, near Bourne. 253. Deepened under
the Act of 1846. 266.
Scirebeck. The ancient watercourse of Skirbeck, forming the boundary between this
parish and Boston, now a sewer. Commences near Hall Hills and flows along
Robin Hood's Walk, crosses Norfolk street to the Cowbridge Road, which it crosses
near the Catholic Chapel, whence it went in a winding course nearly in the direction
of the present Maud Foster Drain, which has now taken its place. Leaving this
drain near Mount Bridge, it crossed the Skirbeck Road and entered the river near
the site of the old Gallows Mill. The portion between Hall Hills and Maud Foster
and between the Skirbeck Road and the Sailor's Houses is still used as a sewer.
25, 69.
Schust. Near Frampton. Dug. 60.
Scotia Creek. Formerly the Outfall of the Graft Drain in Fishtoft into Boston
Haven. The name is derived from the Scotia steamer, which at one time traded
between Boston and London, making this her berth. 70.
Scraxe End, or Crane End. D., Skrayne, or Skreyng. A hamlet in the parish of
Freiston, 1J miles S.E. of village.
Scrubb Hill, In the parish of Wildmore, near Dogdyke Station.
Scull Ridge. AS., Skola, to be covered with water. A sand in Boston Deeps.
Seas End. A hamlet in the parish of Moulton.
Sea Lathes. A district in Moulton, containing 1,200 acres, on which the great tithes
were apportioned.
Sempringham Fen. In the Black Sluice District, 3 miles east of the Abbey Church.
Shepherd's Hole. On the Welland, below Spalding. 325.
Sheding Flete. One of the places mentioned in the Inquisition to enquire into the
boundaries of Holland and Kesteven.
Sheepwash Grange. On the Witham. 139.
Shephaystow. Part of Whaplode, 1 mile south of Whaplode Drove.
Shep's Ee. Shepishee, Shepey. A watercourse, which bounded Crowland on the east.
Dug.
Shire Drain, or Old South Holland Drain. Formerly a branch of the Welland,
also called the South Ea. It forms the boundary of the County. 101, 104,
Shoff. In Quadring Fen. 95.
SH° Duals' °F" Neai the boundary of the Counties of Lincoln and Cambridge.
SH° WifhanT' ? mlIe3 6aSt °f Lincoln" at the inaction of the Langworthy with the

Shotbolt's Bridge. Carries the main road from Pinchbeck to Spalding over
Vernatt s Dram. 326 r °

the

Shottles. Near Sibsey. Dug. And jn Skirbeck Quarter. 79, 205.

Appendix I. 34
Shuff Fen. In Holland Fen, on the north bank of the North Forty-FOot Drain, ad
joining Brothertoft. Allotted by the Inclosure Act, 1794, to Wyberton. Formerly
extra parochial, now added to Boston Union. A,, 93 acres. R. V., £186. 81.
Shuff, or Benton's. Bridge. Over the North Forty-Foot, in Shuff Fen. 452.
Shearcrofts. Inclosure in South Holland. 129, 130.
Sibsey. D. B., Sibolci. Dug,, Sibolsey, Cibecey. From A. S. Sib, a brother, and Ey,
an island. The meaning being Sib's, or brother's, island. The village is 4J miles
north of Boston. The fen allotments in this parish, in the West Fen, were added
to Frithville in 1881, and those in Skirbeck, with an outlying part of Frithville,
added to the parish. The parish includes the hamlet of Frith Bank. 77.
Sibsey River. An ancient watercourse, running from Nordyke to Hilldyke, and
thence to the Witham, now absorbed by Stone Bridge Drain. 25, 77, 199.
Sidecroft Common. In the parish of Swineshead. Inclosed under the Act of 1767.
89.
Silver Pit Drain. The drain which ran from the Silver Pit, one of the deeps in the
East Fen. 199.
Silt Pits. A hamlet in Langrick Ville.
Simon Gote, In the East Fen. 202.
Simon House. Near Lade Bank, in the East Fen. 226.
Simon Weir. 3 miles S. W. of Kirton church, formerly extra parochial, now a parish
in the Boston Union. A., 2$ acres. R. V., £27.
Sincyl Dyke. A drain on the south of Lincoln. 156, 159, 161, 165, 167.
Six Hundreds. A hamlet in the parish of Heckington, containing 615 acres. 4 miles
east of the village. In the Sixth Witham District. 283.
Skate's Corner. On the Nene. 129.
Skeldyke. A hamlet in the parish of Kirton, 2 miles S. E. of the village. From Skjel,
a division.
Skeldyke Field. Common land in Kirton. Inclosed 1772. 85.
Skreyng. A manor in Freiston, purchased in the time of Henry VII, for the endow
ment ot the Abbey of Westminster.
Skirbeck. D. B., Schirebec. Dug. Skirbek, Skirbeche, Skyrbeck, Schirebeck. Hollin-
shed Sherbike, from D. Skjorbeck, meaning dividing stream. See also Scirebeck. A.,
2,479 acres. R. V,, £18,285. The fen allotment of this parish in the West Fen
was transferred to Sibsey parish in 1881. 69.
Skirbeck Hundred. D. B., Ulmerstig. Includes the parishes of Boston, Butterwick,
Benington, Fishtoft, Freiston, Leverton, Leake, Skirbeck, Wrangle, and contains
29,064 acres. 57, 65.
Skirbeck Gote. The Outfall of the Hammond Beck into Boston Haven, in Skirbeck
Quarter. Dug. 176, 370, 204.
Skirbeck Quarter. A hamlet of Skirbeck, on the west side of Boston Haven, in the
Kirton Hundred, containing 934 acres. R. V., £7,215. 78.
Skirth, or Skerth, Drain. In the Black Sluice Level. On the south-west side of
Algarkirk Fen. 257, 266,
Skitishirne. Near Peccebrigge. Dug.
Slea River. A tributary of the Witham. 135.
Sleaford Canal, 160, 431.

35

Appendix I.

Smeeth Hall. In Holland Fen, at the north end of Kirton Fen. Allotted to the
parishes of Kirton and Swineshead in 1767. 88.
Sond, or Soud. A sewer in Donington. Dug. 247.
South Channel. Once the course of the Witham, from the Scalp to Clayhole. 337.
South Ea, or Eau. A branch of the Welland, known as the Shire or Old South
Holland Drain. 103, 105.
South Delph. A new Cut on the River Witham, 167, 170, 173, 185, 186.
South of Witham. A hamlet in the parish of Langrick Ville, formerly extra parochial,
now a parish in the Boston Union. A., 19 acres. R. V., £249.
South Drove Dyke. In Deeping Fen. 323.
South Hee, A bank in Fleet. Dug.
South Forty-Foot Drain. The main drain, in the Black Sluice District, extending
from Boston Haven to Gutherham Cote. This drain was first cut by the Adven
turers who drained the Lindsey Level in the middle of the 17th century. 252. It
was afterwards opened out and improved under the Black Sluice Act of 1765, 257-
Again deepened and improved under the Act of 1846. 244, 266.
South Holland. The southern division of the parts of Holland, containing the Hun
dred of Elloe, and the Unions of Spalding and Holbeach. A., 142,683- 31, 98.
South Holland Drain, Old. See Shire Drain.
South Holland Drain, New. A drain, 14 miles IoDg, extending from Peak Hill in
Crowland, across the South Holland Fens, to the Nene, at Peter's Point, where it
discharges through a sluice, about f of a mile south of Sutton Bridge. Originally
constructed under the South Holland Drainage Act of 1793. 107.
South Holland Drainage District. Embraces the fen portion of South Holland.
105.
South Holland Sluice. The Outfall of the New South Holland Drain, above
described. The first sluice was erected in 1795. The existing sluice was erected
in 1852, and has two openings of 8ft. each, and one of 15ft., making a total water
way of 31ft. 106, 112.
South Holland Embankment. The bank, inclosing a large area of marsh land, in
South Holland. Construfled 1793. 114.
South Kyme Fen. See Kyme.
Southedic. A bank of Gedney and Fleet. Dug.
Southrey Fen. On the east side of the Witham, in the Bardney District and in the
Third Witham District. 193.
Southrey Eau. 151, 155.
Spalding. A market town in South Holland, on the River Welland. D.B., Spallinge.
Dug., Spaldyng, Spaldeling. King Ethelbald's Charter, Spaeltelyng and Spaldetyng.
A.S., Spaldingas, a Saxon tribe. Spalda was one of the Saxon divisions of the
county adjoining the Welland (Saxons in England). Spalding was in existence
before the establishment of Crowland Abbey, the boundary in King Ethelbald's
charter being described as extending usque ad Mdificia Spaldeling. A cell was
founded here in 952, in connection with Crowland, by Thorold de Bokenhale.
One of the principal Roman roads passed through Spalding across the Welland
and it is said that the Romans built a bridge across -the river. At an inspection
of the Fens, made by order of King James in 1605, the bridge over the Welland is
mentioned. The present bridge was erected by the Adventurers of Deeping Fen,
in 1836. 448. A., 10,259 acres. R.V., £54,153. The ecclesiastical parish of St.
John the Baptist was formed in 1874, and consists of part of Spalding and
Pinchbeck ; and of St. Paul, at Fulney, in 1877. 121, 316

Appendix I. 36..
Spalding Common. Inclosed under Act, 1.801. 121, 325.
Spalding North Fen. On the east side of the Hammond Beck, and on the north of
the Glen, about 1 mile west of Dovehirne. In the Black Sluice District. 254.
Spalding South Fen. In Deeping Fen, between the Glen on the north and the-
Counter Drain on the south, and extends up to Dozens Bank. Contains 1,425
acres. 117.
Spittle Lake A road in Fleet. Dug.
Spittal Hill. On the east side of the parish of Freiston.
Spoute Hirne. On the Glen Bank, in Thurlby Fen. Act of Charles II. 321.
Saint Saviour. See Bridge End.
Stainfield Beck. A tributary of the Witham. 155.
Staker. A drain near Spalding.
Stakes Graft. A sewer in Donington.
Stamp End Lock. On the Witham at Lincoln. 156, 159, 161, 164.
Stamford Canal. 31, 432.
Star Fen, or Truss Fen. On the west side of the Cardyke in Heckington, one
mile N.E. of the village.
Steeping River. Runs along the north of the East Fen and discharges into
Wainfleet Haven. Length, 18 miles. Drainage area, 101 square miles. 199, 213, 226
Enlarged, 229. Improvement Act, 237.
Stelegote, The Gutter of. Near Spalding. Dug.
Stephenson's Bri ige Over the West Fen Drain, at its j unction with Newham Drain.
Stevenson's Cross. In Sutterton.
Stickford. A parish on the borders of the East and West Fens, 8J miles from Boston.
Here was formerly a ford across the swamp or low land, lying between the East
and West Fen, through which ran the main road.
Stickney. D B., Stickenhai. Dug., SUckeney. A village, 8J miles north of
Boston. 197.
Stickwith Gowt. Outfall of Blue Gowt Drain. 118, 119.
Stith. See Fossdyke.
Stixwould Fen. On the east side of the Witham, in the Third Witham District.
193, 173.
Stixwould Beck. A tributary of the Witham. 151, 155.
Stonebridge Drain. A highland drain in the West Fen, running from near Stickney
to Cowbridge, formerly known as the Sibsey River. Deepened and straightened
as part of the works done under the Act of 1801, for draining the East and West
Fens. 77, 199, 217.
Stone Hall. A manor in Frampton.
Strip's Lane Bridge. Over the Three Towds' Drain.
Stung Gleane. Mentioned on the Holland and Kesteven boundary line in 1501.
Strugg's Hill. In Sutterton, 1 mile north of the village. There is a bridge here on
the main road, over the Three Towns' Drain.
Surfleet. Di B., Surfleet. Dug., Surflete, Surflet. The village is on the Glen, 4 miles
north of Spalding. The termination of the name, fleet, denotes that this was once on.
a tidal creek or stream. The marsh was inclosed in 1777. A., 3,926 acres. R. V.,

57 Appendix I.
£9,683. The bridge over the Glen was referred to by the Sewers' Commissioners, in
1320 as ' Surflete Brigge.' Dug. And the Glen was described as ' The River of
Surflete.' 60, 90, 246. Bridge re-built, 450.
Sutton Long. Includes the four hamlets of Sutton St. Mary, Sutton St.
Nicholas, otherwise Lutton, Sutton St. James, and Sutton St. Edmunds. Each of
these is rated separately for poor and other purposes. 128.
Sutton Bridge. An ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1874. Part of Sutton St. Mary.
The bridge across the Nene was erected in 1831 ; the passage across the Wash pre
vious to this, being by fording, or boats, across 2 miles of sands. The original oak
bridge was replaced by the present swing bridge in 1850, and taken by the Railway
Company in 1866. 129.
Sutton St Edmunds. A hamlet in Long Sutton Fen. It is intersected by four
straight droves or gates, called Lutton Gate, Hall Gate, Broad Gate, and Guanoc
Gate It extends 7 to 9 miles S. W. of Long Sutton, down to the border of Cam
bridgeshire. A., 5,468 acres. R. V., £11,026. 129, 131.
Sutton St.James. A hamlet and village, 4£ miles S. W. of Long Sutton. A., 2,847
acres. R. V„ £5,942.
Sutton St Mary The town of Long Sutton in this hamlet is 5 miles east of Holbeach.
A., 9,322 acres. R. V., £32,027. 129.
Sutton St. Nicholas, or Lutton. Sometimes called Lutton Bourne. Name
derived from the Lode or Leam which runs through the parish. A hamlet of
Long Sutton. The village is 1J miles north of Long Sutton A., 3,807 acres.
R. V., £8,607. 129.
Sutton Marshes. In South Holland. 101, 129.
Sutterton. Dug., Sotterton, Soutterby. Not mentioned in Domesday Book. From S.
Sutter, south ; Southerton. The village is 6 miles south of Boston. A., 2,959 acres.
R V , £7,475. The allotment to this parish, in Holland Fen, transferred to the
parish of Amber Hill in 1880. 60, 86.
Surwood Hyrne. On the old River Witham.
Swanelode. A sewer in Donington, ordered to be 16ft. wide in the time of Edw. I.
• 96, 247.
Swanston. Near Donington.
Swaton. Swaneton. ' Inundation of the fens betwixt Swaneton and Donington.'
Dug; 220. Swaton Fen is in the Black Sluice District.
Swaton Eau. A drain in Swaton Fen. 258. Deepened, 266.
Swineshead. Not mentioned in Domesday Book. Dug., v Swynesheved, Swynehevd.
A.S., Swinesheafod. Temp. Chas. I., Swineshed. A name derived from Swin achannel,
Dutch Szin, a creek. Bicker Haven was described in the Hundred Rolls as Aqua
de Swin. Dugdale mentions the River of Swynesheved. The tides from Bicker
Haven formerly came up to Swineshead by the Hoff Fleet or creek, and there was
a haven formerly near the market place, crossed by a bridge, which was
removed about 1796. A market of some importance was formerly held here, but
was discontinued in the middle of the 17th century. A fair is still held on Ocl. 2.
In 1134 an abbey of Cistercian monks was founded on a spot about 1 mile east of
the town, on the site of the Swineshead Abbey Farm. In 1216 King John, march
ing from Lynn, forded the Wash at Cross Keys and, being overtaken by the tide,
lost all his baggage. Afterwards he crossed the Wash at Fossdyke and stayed at
Swineshead Abbey, where he was taken ill and. moving on, died at Newark. About
J mile west of the village there are the remains of a supposed Danish encampment,
known as the Man War Ings, forming a circle 60 yards in diameter. By an order
in Council, dated April 23, 1890, the parochialised places of Gibbet Hills, Royalty
Farm, Mown Rakes, Little Brand End Plot and Great Brand End Plot were amalga
mated with this parish. The outling portion of the parish in Holland Fen, at
Chapel Hill, was added to Pelham's Lands parish in 1883. 60, 247. Drainage anp
Inclosure Act, 86. Land awarded under Holland Fen Act, 88. Alteration of
parish, 90.

Appendix I. 38
Swineshead High Bridge. Over the South Forty-Foot. 452.
Swineshead Ee. 59.
Swineshead De La Mere. A manor in Swineshead.
Swinesbooth. On the north side of the old River Witham, nearly opposite the
junction of Kyme Eau.
Swyfleet, or Swythut Hyrne. On the old River Witham. 140.
Swyneman Dam. A sewer in Donington, ordered to be 16ft. wide in the time of Edw
I. Dug. 96, 247.
Swynecotes. Near Mount Pleasant. 225.
Symon Gote. A drain in the East Fen, called in Dugdale ' an old drain.' 205.
Sykemouth. In Holland Fen, between the Hammond Beck and the South Forty
Foot, north of Kirton Holme. 88.
Tamworth Green. On the south of the parish of Butterwick.
Tammocks. In Wrangle.
Tattershall Fen. In the Third Witham District. 196.
Tattershall Bridge. Across the Witham, about 1 mile above Dogdyke. 166.
Ted Warthar. A fen near Crowland. Dug.
Terry Booth. In Sutterton Fen, being part of the land allotted to Sutterton under
the Holland Fen Inclosure Award.
Thieves' Creek or Thevis Crick. A sewer in the East Fen. 200, 203.
Thimbleby Fen. In the Third Witham District. 193.
Thorndale. Near Whaplode. Dug.
Thornton Le Fen. In Wildmore Fen, 6 miles, N.W. of Boston. A township created
in 1802 under an Act, 52 Geo. Ill, c. 144. Area at that time, 1,425 acres. A detached
portion of Coningsby and Toynton St. Peter was added in 1880 and a detached
part of Thornton transferred to Wildmore. The name was derived from the largest
Proprietor in the neighbourhood at the time of the inclosure of the Fens. Town
ship formed, 229.
Thorpe Dales. In the East Fen. Dug.
Three Towns' Drain. A public sewer, draining Swineshead South, Wigtoft and
Sutterton, running from Acre Land Clough to Nevil Dam. 86, 87.
Thurgate. A gutter in Gosberton. Dug.
Thurlby Fen and Pastures. On the west side of the Glen. Drains by a culvert under
the river into the Counter Drain. Exempted from taxation to Deeping Fen, 322.
Right to drain under the Glen, 328. Inclosure Act, 335.
Tile House Lock. On the Witham at Bardney. 151.
Till River. A tributary of the Witham. 161.
Timberland and Timberland Thorpe Fens. In the First Witham District.
Inclosed 1785, 188.
Titton Hall. A manor in Frampton.
Toft. See Fishtoft. (Also used for Wigtoft.)
Toft Sand, and Buoy. In Boston Deeps. The Boston Pilots' limit. 346.
Toft Tunnel Bridge. Over North Forty-Foot, in Brothertoft. 452.
Tollon, Tollum or Tolhan. On the river of Brunne. Dug. 246, 247.

39 Appendix I.
Toot Hill. In Skirbeck. There used to be a mound here which was used as a signal
beacon hill. 'A Tote Hill is an eminence from which there is a good look out.'
(Taylor.) A.S., Toeten, to blow a horn.
Tongue End. On the River Glen, at the junction of Bourne Eau. 257, 260.
Torksey Lock. At the junction of the Fossdyke with the Trent. 160, 161, 162.
Torre Booth, Sluice of. Near tbe Old Ea, mentioned on the boundaries of Holland
and Kesteven in 1501.
Tottibridge. 60.
Tretton Bridge. 450.
Tric See Langrick.
Trinity Gowt. See Lodowick's Gowt.
Trokenhouse. Near the boundary of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Dug.
Trundle Gowt. On the Boston East Sewer Drain, on the west side of Bargate
Bridge, near where Peddar's Cross Bridge used to be. (Appendix VIII, p. 1.)
Truss Fen. See Star Fen.
Tupham Dyke. A stream emptying into the Witham. 151, 155.
Tupholm Fen. In the Third Witham District. 193.
Turpitts. In Weston. Dug.
Two Towns' Drain. A sewer draining Wigtoft and Sutterton. 87.
Twenty Foot Drain. In the Black Sluice. 266.
Tydd St. Mary. D. B., Tite. Dug., Tyd and Tydd. Hundred Rolls, Tid. Monument
in Church, 14th century, Tidde. From D., Tita, small. A., 4,771 acres. R. V,
£10,403. On the borders of the Counties of Lincoln, Norfolk, and the Isle of Ely.
3 miles from Sutton Bridge. 101, 132.
Tydd Gote. A hamlet of Tydd St. Mary. J mile S. E. from the church. The
earliest recorded gote or sluice here was in 1293, the second in 1551, and the third
and present sluice, called ' Hill's Sluice,' or Tyd Gote Bridge in 1(>32. 103, 133.
Tydd Bridge. 450.
Ulmerstig. See Skirbeck Hundred.
Vachery of Revesby. A cow pasture, called More House.
Vainona. See Wainfleet,
Valentine Dyke. An ancient drain, on the west side of the East Fen, near Sticknev.
Dug. 199, 205, 212. '
Vernatt's Drain. The Outfall of the Deeping Fen drainage, running from Pode
Hole to the Welland, at the Reservoir. The drain was first cut by the Adven
turers in 1642, and joined the Welland 1J miles below Spalding. 323, 324. It was
extended to the Reservoir, when the works, under the Act of 1774, were carried
out. Deepened in 1801, 326. Vested in Adventurers, 327. Water on sill, 329.
Enlarged and new sluice erected 1867, 331, 332. The drain was named after
Vernatti, one of the Dutch Adventurers, who found the money for carrying out the
works promoted by Vermuiden, 318, J18, 301. Drain first cut, 313. Drainage
engine erected, 1741, 312. Extended, 323. To be maintained by the Adventurers,
and regulation as to water, 324, 327. Size of, in 1815, 329.
Vernatt's Sluice. Erected in 1857, in the place of the old sluice erected in 1774.
332. Has 3 openings, lift. each. First erected, 323.
Wainfleet. D. B., Wemflet. Dug., Waynflete. Holinshed, Wenfleet. Line,
Survey, 1101, Weinflet, From A. S., Fleot or Fleet, a tidal creek and Wayn, a

Appendix I. 40
marsh. This was a Roman station and landing place, called Vainona. Several
Roman ruins and remains of pottery and pavement have been found from time to
time. The town is in the parish of Wainfleet All Siints, and is generally known
as High Wainfleet, to distinguish it from Low Wainfleet, or Wainfleet St. Mary. It
is situated 2J miles from the coast, on the River Steepir.g, the sluice across
which, below the the town, is called, Queen's Gowt, 214, and Wainfleet Clough.
5, 76.
Wainfleet Haven. In the Port of Boston. 343 The Outfall of the Steeping River,
which discharges at Gibraltar Point, 2J miles from Queen's Gowt. The
Outfall of this river was at one time larger than it is no*, having been 30ft.
wide for a mile above the town of Wainfleet. At one time a large number of
vessels used to trade to Wainfleet, the harbour being well sheltered by
the protection of Gibraltar Point. It is now only occasionally frequented by
small craft and barges. In 1886, the river was straightened and improved from
Salem Bridge to the sea, a staunch erected at Croft Bank, and a new sea sluice by
the side of the old one at Queen's Gowt. An Act was passed in 1818 for improving
the drainage of the parish. 50 acres of common land were inclosed in 1870. 201,
213. Report on Drainage, 229. Grundy's scheme for improving drainage by,
213. New Sluice erected, 238.
Wainfleet Clough. 208, 214.
Waithe Common. On the south side of Kyme Eau, 1J miles west of South Kyme.
Walcot Fen and Dales. In the First Witham District. 190, 191.
Walcot Common. In the Digby Drainage District. 242.
Waldram Hall. On the south side of the Welland, near Peakirk. Mentioned in the
Deeping Fen Act of Chas. II. There was a ferry here for passengers going to
and from Crowland. In 1330 the toll was fixed |by the Abbot at one penny for
inhabitants and double to strangers. A treble charge was allowed in stormy and
tempestuous weather. 297, 321.
Wanton's Clough. In Tydd St. Mary. 132.
Wardyke Drain. In the Five Thousand Acre District. 229.
Wargate Bridge. Over the Risegate Eau, between Surfleet and Gosberton.
Wash, The. The large bay on the East Coast, between Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
Probably from O.N., Oss, an estuary or inlet of the sea. 336.
Washingborough Fen. On the west side of the Witham, in the First Witham
District. 184.
Washingborough Beck. A tributaty of the Witham. 155.
Wathe. Dug. See Waithe.
Weardyke, Wardick and Waredyke. ' Extending along Bourne Ea to Goderam
Cote and. Dovehirne.' Dug. 250.
Welland, River. Dug., Weland. Also called Wiland. 'Wasch and Wiland shall
drown all Holand.' 72J miles long and drains 707 square miles, including the Glen.
Rises near Market Harborough, not far from the source of the Nene. For further
particulars see Index.
Welland Navigation and Stamford Canal. 432.
West Banke. In Holland Fen, near Langrick. Dug.
West Coote. On the west of the River Glen, near Thurlby.
West Fen. In the Fourth District of the Witham Commission. Drained and
inclosed, 1801-18. 31, 197, 210, 222, 227. Commissioners for, 231.
West Fen. A parish, 9 miles north of Boston, formed in 1880, under the Act, 44 Vict.
cap. 17. Consists of detached portions of, or Fen Allotments o f Mavis
Enderby, Hareby, Hundleby, West Keal, Raithby, Freiston and Leverton.

.41 Appendix I.
West Fen Drain. In West Fen. 225.
West Houses. Near Sibsey, 3 miles N.W. of the village. In the Fourth Witham
District. 197.
West Lode, or Westload. An ancient sewer in Spalding, supposed to have been
made by the Romans, for draining Deeping Fen. It ran from Podehole, by
Dozens Bank and Hawthorn Bank, and along the west side of the town along the
street which now bears this name, to the Welland. It is mentioned in the Deep
ing Fen Act, 16 & 17 Car. II, as being navigable, and was, until it was superseded,
used by boats, bringing corn, &c. to Spalding. At one time there were locks in the
Welland for running the water out of the river into the West Lode, so as to ease
the'washes. They were removed in 1815. The fishery in the West Lode was
granted to the monastry of Spalding by Ivo Taillebois, and was a considerable
source of profit. 25, 103, 106, 117, 118, 294, 298.
West Mere Creek. 101.
Westhorpe, or Westrop. A hamlet in Gosberton. 61, 92.
Weston St. Mary. A village, 3J miles east of Spalding. D.B., Westune. Dug.,
Weston and Westone. The parish contains 5,391 acres. R.V., £12,043. 121.
Weston Hills. In the parish of Weston, 2J miles south of the village,
West Ville. In the West Fen, 7£ miles N.W. of Boston. Created a township in
1812, under the Act, 52 Geo. Ill, u. 144. A., 1,950$ acres. Township formed, 229.
Weydike. In South Holland. 102.
Whaplode. D.B., Copelade. Dug., Quaplode, Quappelode. A village, 2 miles west of
Holbeach. Parish contains, with Whaplode Drove, 10,224 acres. R.V., £24,135
102, 123.
Whaplode Drove. A hamlet or Fen Chapelry attached to Whaplode, 7 miles south of
the village.
Whaplode River. Runs from Whaplode Drove to the Holbeach Outfall. 26, 124.
Wheat Mere Drain. Extends from Cowbit to the Lord's Drain, near Weston. 106.
White Cross. In South Holland. Mentioned in an Inquisition of the Court of
Sewers. 1571.
White Cross Drain. In the East Feu. 208, 230.
White Cross Bridge. In the East Fen. 199.
White Bridges. Over the Forty-Foot and Redstone Gowt Drains. 452.
Wickham or Wykeham. A hamlet in Spalding, 3 miles N.E. of the town.
Wikedic Bridge. In Whaplode. Dug.
Winsover. A hamlet in Spalding, 1 mile south of the town.
Wigtoft. D.B., Toft. Dug. Wyktoft, Wiketoft. From Scan., Vik, a bay or creek.
Formerly Bicker Haven came nearly up to the village. The parish contains 3,386.
acres. R. V, £7,999. 60,86.
Wigtoft Gote. 60.
Wigtoft Marsh. Formerly part of Bicker Haven. Inclosed under Swineshead
Inclosure Act, 1773.
Wildmore Fen. In the Fourth Witham District. Inclosed. 197, 222, 228, 231.
Willows, Sibsey. Formerly part of the Revesby Abbey Estate, 2 miles S.S.W. of
the village.
Wildmore. A parish in Wildmore Fen, formed in 1880, comprising fen allotments in
West Ashby, Bolingbroke, Coningsby, Haltham, Horncastle, Mareham-on-the-Hill,

Appendix I.

42

Moorby, Roughton, Thimbleby, Toynton All Saints, High and Low Toynton,
Wilksby, Wood Enderby, Tattershall and Thornton-le-Fen. The ecclesiastical
parish includes the civil parishes of Langriville, Thornton-le-Fen and detached
parts of Coningsby, Mareham-le-Fen, Revesby and Tumby, Area 4,066 acres. 206,
Wilgripe. A place on the coast, mentioned by Leland as being 4 miles from Skegness.
Wilson Dyke Field. A common in Bicker, inclosed 1766.
Wingfield. Central. A new parish, of which 1,649 acres is in the Holland Division,
having a R.V., of £3,326. Land inclosed in 1831, 1848 and 1869.
Winkhill. A manor, 1 mile N.E. of Heckington.
Witham, River. Dug., Withum, Withom, Withome, from Wyeom, a river plain, or
O.N., Wyme, to linger. Another derivation is Withe, a willow, and Ham, a village.
Leland, Lindis. Length 89 miles, Drainage area, 1,050 square miles. 134.
For further particulars see Index.
Wolmersley The name of part of the parish of Wrangle.
Wodelope. In Deeping Fen. Dug.
Wodload or Wodelake. The site of one of the crosses mentioned on the boundary
between Kesteven and Holland, near Crowland. Also referred to as Wadload
Grayns, or Cross in the Flags.
Wrag Stake, or Black Stake. On the west side of the South Forty-Foot, near
Gibbet Hills. Dug. 249.
Wrag, or Rag, Marsh. East of the Welland, 1 mile south of Fossdyke. 101, 115,
121.
Wrangle. D. B. Weranghe. Dug., Wrangel. In the 15th century, Wranghill. A village,
9 miles N.E. of Boston. A., 6,233 acres. R. V., £12,267. It is stated that a tidal
creek ran within a quarter of a mile of the Church, which boats could navi
gate. Stukeley, derives the name from Hangel, a reedy lake. Evidently a con
siderable fishing industry was at one time carried on here, from the names which
are still extant, as Butts Marsh, Fish Meer, and Eel Pool Lane. A Market was held
here in the 13th century, from which ' Market Lands ' derives its name.
Wrangle Common, formerly called ' The Meer,' containing 1;250 acres, was with
other common lands inclosed in 1807. 74.
Wrightbolt. See Rigbolt.
Wyberton Town Drain. 260.
Wyberton. D B., Wibertune. Dag., Wyberton. From Wibert, who had a settlement
here, and was in 865 a Knight, or Seneschal, of King Algar. The village is 2 miles
S. of Boston. A., 3,465 acres. R. V., £8,659. The remains of an old castle, with its
moat, is to be found in a field, 1J miles east of the village. About 300 acres were
added to the parish in 1864-6, by the inclosure of marsh land. An Allot
ment of 891$ acres was awarded to this parish under the Holland Fen Inclosure
Act, in 1794. The common lands were inclosed in 1789, under the Act, 29 Geo.
III. 60, 80.
Wyberton West End. 1 mile N. of the village.
Wyberton Chain Bridge. Over the Hammond Beck, at Wyberton West, 80. This
was formerly the entrance into the Fens. 451, 452.
Wydale. On the main road, If- miles south of Stickney. A farm, formerly in the
parish of Revesby. Transferred to Leake in 1880. There was a bridge which the
Abbot of Revesby had to maintain in consideration of the grant of this land.
Referred to in Court of Sewers in the time of Chas. I, as Stickney Wydalls.
Wykes, Donington. A manor. Formerly there was a heronry on the Wykes Farm.
The birds migrated from here to Cressy Hall.

43

Appendix I.

Wykes. A manor in the parish of Frampton. Also in Quadring.
Wyke. A sewer or gutter in Weston. Dug.
Yeale Fen, Between Heckington Fen and the Six Hundreds.
Yoledale, or Yowl Dyke. ' A fossat,' on the old river Witham, at the junction of
the Bane. 140.

APPENDIX II.
Books relating to the History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire.
THE FENS.
A discourse touching the drayning of the Great Fennes lying within the several
Counties of Lincoln, Northampton, Huntingdon, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge and the
Isle of Ely, as it was presented to His Majesty by Sir Cornelius Vermuiden, Knight.
London: published by Thomas Fawcett, dwelling in Grub street, neere the Lower
Pumpe. Vermuiden, 1642.
Exceptions against Sir Cornelius Vermuiden's discourse for the draining of the
Great Fennes, &c, which in January, 1638, he presented to the King for his Designe,
wherein His Majesty was misinformed and abused, in regard it wanted all the essential
parts of a Designe, and tbe great and advantageous works, made by the late Earl of
Bedford, slighted ; and the whole adventure disparaged. Published by Andrewes
Burrell, Gent. Printed at London, by T. H., and to be sold by Robert Constable, at
his shop in Westminster Hall. A. Burrell, 1642.
A Brief Relation discovering plainely the true causes why the great Level of
the Fenns, in the several Counties of Norfolk, Lincoln, &c, being 307,000 acres
of low lands, have been drowned and made unfruitful for many years past, and
briefly how they must be drained and preserved from inundation in time to come,
Humbly presented to the Honourable House of Commons, assembled in Parliament,
by Andrewes Burrell, Gent. London, printed for Francis Constable. A. Burrell, 1642.
The Present state of the Navigation of the Towns <fof Lyn, Wisbeach and Spalding.
N. Kinderley, 1721.
The Ancient and Present state of the Navigation of the Towns of Lyn, Wisbeach,
Spalding and Boston. N. Kinderley, 1751.
The History of Imbanking and Draining of divers Fens and Marshes &c, &c.
Second Edition, revised by C. N. Cole. (*t*The first Edition was published at the
request of Lord Gorges, the Surveyor General of the Bedford Level, in 1652.) W. Dugdale,
1772. An Historical Account of the Great Level of the Fens, called the Bedford Level,
and other Fens, Marshes and low lands. W. Elstob, 1793.
A True Report of certain wonderful Overflowings of Waters. 1607.
The Statute of Sewers. Callis, 1647.
A Letter «on the proposed Change in the Outfall of the Welland, with observations
on the river Witham and the Boston Harbour Act. 1814.
History of the Drainage of the Great Level of the Fens, with Constitutions
and Laws of the Bedford Level Corporation, 2 vols. S. Wells, 1830.
Fens and Floods of Mid-Lincolnshire, with a description of the River Witham
J. S. Padley, 1882.
History of Wisbech and the Fens. Walker and Craddock, 1849.
Fin Skstehas, a Dasaription of tha Great Laval of tha Feasi f> A, Gtorht, 13S2,

2 Appendix II.
THE FENS— Continued.
An Account of Religious Houses on the Eastern Side of the Witham. G. Oliver, 1853
History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire. W.H. Wheeler, 1868. (Out of print.)
Reminiscences of Fen and Mere. J. M. Heathcote, 1876.
On an Ancient Canoe found Embedded in the Fen Peat, in the River Ouse.
Paper read at the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. W. Marshall, 1878.
The Fens. A paper read at the Incorporated Law Society's Meeting at Cambridge,
W. Marshall, 1879.
The Fens of South Lincolnshire. Their Early History and Reclamation. Line.
Arch. Society. W. H. Wheeler.
The Fenland, Past and Present. Miller and Skertchley, 1878.
Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the Fenland. Skertchley, 1877.
Rainfall, Water Supply and Drainage of Lincolnshire. Paper read at Lincoln,
at the Meeting of the Chamber of Agriculture. W. H. Wheeler, 1879.
Report on the River Ouse, for the South Level Drainage Commissioners. W. H .
Wheeler, 1884.
Pumping Machinery in the Fenland. Min. Pro. Institution Civil Engineers,
vol. 94. Gibbs, 1887.
The Drainage of Fens and Low Lands by Gravitation and Steam Power. Wheeler,
1888. AGRICULTURE.
General View of the Agriculture of the County of Lincoln. A . Young, 1799
A Review of A. Young's Agricultural Survey of Lincolnshire. T. Stone, 1800.
The Great Level of the Fens, including South Lincolnshire (Royal Agr.
Soc. Journal). J. A. Clarke, 1847.
Farming of Lincolnshire. (Royal Agr. Soc. Journal.) J. A. Clarke, 1851.
Report to the Royal Commission on Agriculture in the County of Lincoln.
Wilson Fox, 1895. '
EARLY HISTORY.
Existing Remains of the Ancient Britons, within a Small District, lying between
Lincoln and Sleaford. G. Oliver, 1846.
Ermine Street Old Roman Road (Lines. Arch. Society.) E. Trollope,
1868. The Danes in Lincolnshire. (Lines. Arch. Soc.) E. Trollope, 1859.
Horncastle under the Romans (Line. Arch. Socy.) E. Trollope, 1858.-
Lincolnshire and the Danes. G. S. Streatfeild, 1884.
Translation of that part of Domesday Book relating to Lincolnshire and
Rutlandshire. C. G. Smith, 1870.
HISTORY AND LITERATURE.
Magna Britannia. Part relating to Lincolnshire. Cox, 1778.
History of Lincoln. No Author's name given, 1810.

Appendix II. 3
HISTORY AND LITERATURE— Continued.
History of Lincolnshire. Marat, 1814.
Historical and Descriptive Sketches of Boston and of the Villages around,
and of the towns and places in South Holland. 1813.
History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire, (*,.*contains papers onAncient
History, Agriculture, Botany, Geology of the County, and the Drainage of the Fens.)
W. While, 1893.
Directory of Lincolnshire, (%*contains a paper on the Geology of the County.)
Kelly, 1889.
The Lincoln Pocket Guide. C. H. J. Anderson, 1881.
Handbook of Lincolnshire. Murray, 1890.
Handbook of the Fenland. Miller, 1889.
Provincial Words and Expressions Current in Lincolnshire. J. E. Brogden, 1866.
Bygone Lincolnshire. W . Andrewes, 1891.
Fenland Notes and Queries, Published quarterly, from April, 1889.
PARISH HISTORIES.
The History and Antiquities of Boston and the neighbouring Villages. Pishey.
Thompson, 1856.
Chronicle of the Abbey of Crowland. Bohn's Edition, edited by Riley, 1854. Inguiph.
A Topographical and Historical account of Wainfleet and the Wapentake of
Candleshoe. Oldfield, 1829.
Crowland Abbey : Historical Sketch. Perry, no date.
Visitors' Guide to Crowland. No Author's name, 1839.
Crowland, the Abbey, Bridge, and St. Guthlac. E. M. Sanderson, no date.
The Anglo-Saxon Version of the life of St. Guthlac, originally written in Latin by
Felix of Crowland. C. W. Goodwyn, 1848.
Memorials of St Guthlac. Birch, 1881.
Topographical account of Tattershall, published by Weir and Son, Horncastle.
No Author's name, 1813.
The Church of St. Mary, Whaplode. W. E. Foster, 1889.
All Saints' Church, Moulton. W. E. Foster, 1891.
A History of Spilsby. H. C. Smith, 1892.
Historical Notices of the Parish of Holbeach. G. W. Macdonald, 1890.
Holbeach Parish Register. G. W. Macdonald, 1892.
Kyme and its Tower, (Line. Arch. Society). C. Kirk, 1881.
MISCELLANEOUS AND FICTION.
Boston in the Olden Time. Traditions of Lincolnshire. Tales and Legends illus
trative of the History and Antiquities of Boston, by Roger Quaint. 1841.
The Camp of Refuge. A tale of the Conquest of the Isle of Ely. New Edition,
edited by J. H. Miller. 1880.
Sketches of Lincolnshire. 1813.

4 Appendix II.
MISCELLANEOUS AND FICTION— Continued.
Tales and Rhymes in the Lindsey Folk Speech. M. Peacock, 1886.
Lincolnshire Tales. M. Peacock, 1889
Hereward the Wake. C. Kingsley.
A Desolate Shore. (***A Tale of Freiston Shore.) M. E. Shipley, no date.
Dick o' the Fens. G. Manville Fenn, 1888,
RIVER WITHAM.
The present bad state of the River Witham, between the City of Lincoln and the
Borough of Boston, humbly represented to the consideration of the Mayor and
Aldermen of the said city, and to the Gentlemen of the adjacent towns, with proposals
for restoring and preserving the navigation, and for the more effectual drainage of the
Fens, Commons and Low Marshes. James Scribo, 1733. VThis report is printed in
extenso in Mr. Padiey's Fens and Floods.
Observations on the River Witham, from Boston to Lincoln. N. Kinderley, 1736.
A Scheme for Restoring and Making Perfect the Navigation of the River Witham,
from Boston to Lincoln, and also for Draining the Low Lands and Fens contiguous
thereto. John Grundy, sen., John Grundy, jun., 1744.
Proposals for the more effectual Draining all the Levels contiguous to the River
Witham, from the City of Lincoln to Chappie Hill, &c. Daniel Coppin, 1745.
Plan and proposition for improving the river Witham. J. Grundy, 1753.
Report upon the Scheme proposed by Mr. Grundy, for restoring the Drainage and
Navigation through the River Witham, in pursuance of an order for referring the said
scheme to the examination of Mr. Edwards. Langley Edwards, 1760.
Report concerning the ruinous condition of the River Witham, &c, &c, with a
scheme for its improvement. J. Grundy, Langley Edwards, J. Smeaton, 1761.
Report of John Smeaton and John Grundy, Engineers, concerning the practicability
of improving the Fossdyke Navigation, and draining the land laying thereupon, from a
view and levels taken August, 1762. J. Smeaton, J. Grundy, 1762.
Report on the present state of the drainage of the low lands, on both sides of the
River Witham, from the City of Lincoln through Boston to the sea. And also how far
a complete Drainage is or can be performed by the powers given in the present Act of
Parliament, together with my observations on the plan and estimate drawn by Mr.
Creassy, for effecting the purposes of a General Drainage of this Extensive Country.
Likewise such improvements and additions as, I apprehend, will be necessary for effecting
all the purposes above mentioned. John Smith, 1776.
Report concerning a plan of improvement of the navigation of the River Fossdyke,
and for improving the Drainage of the lands on each side of the said river. J. Smeaton,
September 2nd, 1782.
Report upon the improvement of the Navigation of the Fossdyke, and for improving
the drainage of the low lands on each side of the said river. J. Smeaton, Dec. 31st., 1782
Report on the Navigation of the Fosdyke. W . Jessop, 1792.
Facts and Remarks relative to the Witham and the Welland, their past and
present state and means of Improving the channel of the Witham and the Port
of Boston, with remarks on the Grand Sluice at Boston, and on Wainfleet Haven. W.
Chapman, 1800.
Report on the Drainage of the River Witham. J. Rennie, 1802.
Report on the Drainage of the River Witham. J. Rennie, 1803.
Report on, and estimate of, the probable expense in executing the drainage and
navigation of the river Witham from Boston to Lincoln. A . Bower, 1806.

Appendix II. 5
RIVER WITHAM— Continued.
Report as to the effect of the enlargement of the tunnel at the head of the Great
Gowts Drain. J. Rennie, 1806.
Report on the improvement of the navigation of the Fossdyke and the Witham.
J. Rennie, 1807.
Report to the Commissioners for Drainage and the Commissioners for Navigation
by the river Witham. J. Rennie, 1807.
Report to the Proprietors of Lands in the First District of the Witham, as to Mr.
Rennie's Scheme. W. Chapman, 1808.
Report to the Commissioners of the river Witham Drainage and Navigation. J.
Rennie, 1811.
Report to the General Commissioners for the Drainage of the Witham (as to the
effect of the proposed new works on the low lands as between Kirkstead and Chapel
Hill.) J. Rennie, 1813.
Report to the Committee of the Proprietors of the river Witham (as to the progress
and cost of tbe Improvement Works.) J. Rennie, 1816.
Report to the General Commissioners for the Drainage and Navigation by the
river Witham (as to the Enlargement of the Grand Sluice.) J. Rennie, 1818.
Report concerning the Improvement of Boston Haven, addressed to the Mayor and
Corporation of Boston, Commissioners of the River Witham, Commissioners of the
Black Sluice. J. Rennie, afterwards Sir J. Rennie, 1822.
Report for the improvement of the drainage of the lands lying on the South Side
of the River Witham. Sir J. Rennie, Aug. 9, 1830.
Ditto, ditto. Sir J. Rennie, Sep. 17, 1830.
Report to the Commissioners on Hobhole Jetty. W. Cubitt, 1853.
Report upon the Outfalls of the Rivers Witham and Welland, and Clay Hole, and
the improvements of the River Witham above the Grand Sluice. W. Lewin, 1860.
Report upon the state of the Drainage of the River Witham above the Grand
Sluice. J. Hawkshaw, 1862.
River Witham Drainage. Statement (as to Districts, Banks, Engines, &c.) F. T.
White, 1864.
Description of the River Witham and its Estuary. Min. Pro. Instit. C.E., Vol.
28. Wheeler. 1868.
The Conservancy of Rivers in the Eastern Midland District of England. (%*The
Witham, The Welland, The Nene and The Ouse.) Min. Pro. Instit. C.E., Vol. 67,
1882 Remarks on the State of the Outfall of the River Witham, with Suggestions for its
Improvement. W. H. Wheeler, 1867.
Reports to the Commissioners on the River Witham. E. Welsh, 1875, 1876, 1877.
Statement of the Surveyor as to the Accumulation of Silt on the Sea Side of the
Grand Sluice. E. Welsh, 1874.
Report on the Witham Drainage. J. Hawkshaw, 1877.
Report on the Witham Drainage. J. E. Williams, 1878.
The Witham New Outfall Channel and Improvement Works. Min. Pro. Instit.
C.E., Vol. 9. J. E. Williams, 1888.

6 Appendix II.
EAST FEN, &c.
Observations resulting from Surveys, Levels and Views made on the East Fen, the
Low Grounds and Fens adjoining thereto belonging to the Soke of Bolingbroke, East
Holland and the Level Towns, with report of the causes of their present drowned state
and condition, also Schemes for the Drainage thereof, and Estimate of the expense of
executing those schemes, by John Grundy of Spalding, Lincolnshire, Engineer. J.
Grundy, Nov. 14, 1774.
A Scheme for Draining the East and West Fens and the low lands in the Soke of
Bolingbroke by Boston Haven. (% 'There is no name or date to this, but it is supposed
to be by J. Robertson, circa 1775.)
A Practicable Plan for the relief of the country at a moderate ex pense, and an
estimate of the expense of deepening and widening the lots in Wainfleet Haven, and for
repairing the Clough and rebuilding the Sluice. J. Hudson, 1775.
Report concerning the Drainage of Wildmore Fen, and of the East and West Fens.
J. Rennie, April 7, 1800.
Second Report concerning the Drainage of Wildmore Fen, and of the East and
West Fens. J. Rennie, Sept. 1, 1800.
Report and Estimate respecting the Drainage of the East, West and Wildmore
Fens and the East Holland Towns. W. Pocklington, 1800.
Observations on the Improvement of Boston Haven, by William Chapman,
(•^'principally relating to the West and Wildmore Fens). W. Chapman, 1800.
Ditto, Part II. 1801.
A letter on the Drainage of the East, West and Wildmore Fens. T. Stone, 1800.
A Remonstrance against the Postscript to the report of Mr. John Rennie, addressed
to the Proprietors of the East Fen and of East Holland. No A uthor's name, 1800.
A Remonstrance against the Postscript to the Report of Mr. John Rennie.concerning
the Drainage of the East, West and Wildmore Fens. A Holland Watchman, 1800.
A Letter to the Proprietors of Estates and Owners of Commons, Houses and
Toftsteads having right of common in the East and West Fens. J. Cope, 1801.
A Letter to the Commoners on the Drainage Expenditure and Accounts relating
to the East, West and Wildmore Fens. A Commoner, 1804.
Report on the state of the Works of Drainage of the East, West and Wildmore
Fens. J. Rennie, 1805.
An Address to the Ninety Commoners having Rights in the East, West and
Wildmore Fens, who signed an ineffectual requisition to Mr. Joseph Banks, Chairman,
to call a general Meeting of Commoners in the Soke of Bolingbroke. E. Walls, 1807.
Statement as to the Drainage and Levels of the Fens north of Boston, and com
parison with the Levels and Drainage of the Low Lands of South Holland and the
Bedford Level, directed to the Governors, Bailiffs and Conservators of the Bedford.
Level Corporation. A . Bower, 1814.
Report to the proprietors and occupiers of Low Grounds in Wainfleet All Saints
Thorpe Croft, Irby, Firsby, &c, draining through Wainfleet Haven. W.Walker, 1814.
Report on the drainage of the Low Grounds in the Parishes of Great Steeping,
Thorpe, Wainfleet All Saints, Irby, Firsby, Bratoft and Croft into Hobhole Drain. J
Rennie, 1818.
Report— River Witham Drainage. (%*On the Improvement of the Drainage of
the Fourth District). J. Hawkshaw, 1861.
Remarks and Suggestions as to the Best Mode of Draining and Supplying
Living Water to the Fourth District. D. Martin, 1867.

Appendix II. 7
EAST FEN, &c— Continued.
Report on the application of Steam power to the draining of the Pourth District.
E. Welsh, 1865.
Report on the Fourth District Drainage. E. Welsh, 1875.
Do. Do., 1876.
Do. Do., 1877.
River Witham Drainage. The Pumping Machinery and Works at Lade Bank,
Min. Pro. Instit. C.E., Vol. 34. E. Welsh, 1872.
BLACK SLUICE LEVEL.
Report on the Drainage, with Scheme for its Improvement. Langley Edwards, 1764
Report as to any Improvement that might be made in the Drainage of the Black
Sluice by the removal of obstructions between the Haven and Wyberton Roads. Jarvis,
Golding, Hare, 1799.
Report on the Most Effectual Mode of Improving the Drainage of the Low Marsh
and Fen Land lying between Boston Haven and Bourne. J. Rennie, 1815.
Report on the Black Sluice Drainage. W. Lewin, 1843.
Report on the Black Sluice Drainage. Sir J. Rennie, 1845.
Report on the Black Sluice Drainage. W. Cubitt, 1846.
RIVERS WELLAND AND GLEN, AND CROWLAND WASHES.
Report on the Drainage of Crowland and Cowbit Washes, with Estimate of
expenses. J. W. Hastings, 1846.
Navigation ofthe River Welland. B. Bevan, 1810.
The History of the Navigation of the River Welland, from Stamford to the
Sea (*„*An excerpt from Harod's History of Stamford). S. Edwards, 1810.
A Letter to the Subscribers to the Intended Stamford Junction Navigation. W.
Thompson, 1810.
A Letter to the Rev. J. Monkhouse and Rev. Dr. Maurice Johnson, on the
Wanton Misrepresentation contained in the resolutions passed at Deeping, on the
31st December, 1810, and at Spalding, on the 1st January, 1811. An Inhabitant of
Stamford, 1811.
A Letter on the Projected change of The Outfall of the River Welland. W. Chapman,
1814. On the Improvement of the Outfall of the River Welland. T. Pear, 1815.
Report to the Trustees of the Outfall ofthe River Welland, on the improvement
thereof. James Walker, 1835.
Newboro' Fen and River Welland. W. Cubitt, 1837.
Report to the Secretary to the Commissioners for the Loan of Exchequer Bills in
the Improvement of the Navigation of the River Welland. James Walker, 1837.
Report on the state of the river Welland Outfall Works. J. Kingston, 1866.
Report on the Outfalls of the Rivers Witham and Welland, and the projected
Schemes of improvement therewith connected. J. Kingston, 1879.
River Glen ; Report. J. Kingston, A. Harrison, 1883.

8 Appendix II.
DEEPING FEN.
Report on the Drainage of Deeping, Langtoft, Baston, Crowland, Cow bit, Spalding
and Pinchbeck Commons. Maxwell and Hare, Feb. 24th, 1800.
Report on the drainage of Deeping Enclosed Fens and The Commons. Jessop
Rennie, Maxwell and Hare, Aug., 1800.
Report on the Drainage of Deeping Fen. T. Pear, 1815.
' Report on the Improvement of the Outfall of the Vernatt's Drain. J. Rennie, 1818.
Report on the Improvement of the Drainage of Deeping Fen and adjoining Com
mons, by Steam power. T. Pear, 1820.
Report on the Improvement of the Drainage of Deeping Fen by Steam power. B.
Bevan, March 1st, 1823.
Report on the Steam Engine Drainage. W. S. Mylne, July 16th, 1830.
Deeping Fen ; Adventurers' Joint Works. W. Cubitt, 1842.
SOUTH HOLLAND DRAINAGE.
Report on a Scheme for completely Draining South Holland. J. Rennie, 1813.
Report on the South Holland Drainage. E. Millington, 1848.
BOSTON HARBOUR.
Report on the Improvement of the Port and Harbour of Boston. Hudart, 1793.
Report on ditto, ditto. J. Rennie, 1793.
Report concerning the Improvement of Boston Haven. J. Rennie, 1800.
Report on the Improvement of Boston Haven. Sir J. Rennie, 1822.
Ditto, ditto. Sir J. Rennie, 1823.
Ditto, ditto. T. Telford, 1823.
Report upon the Outfalls of the Rivers Witham and Welland and Clay Hole, and
the Improvement of the River Witham above the Grand Sluice. W. Lewin, 1860.
Report with reference to the Improvement of Boston Harbour and Outfall. J.
Hawkshaw, 1864.
Report on the Scheme for improving the Outfall of the River Witham by Fascine
Training Works. W. H. Wheeler, 1870. SEA BANKS.
Report on the Sea Banks from Friskney to the River Glen, after the Great Tide of
1810, with an estimate of the cost of repairing the same. J. Rennie, Feb. 4th, 1812.

APPENDIX III.
Titles of Acts of Parliament relating to the
Fenland.
RIVER WITHAM.
22 & 23 Car. ii, 1671. An Act for Improving the Navigation between the Town of
Boston and the River of Trent.
2 Geo. m, c. 32, 1762. An Act for Draimng and Preserving certain Low Lands called
the Fens lying on both sides of the River Witham in the County
of Lincoln, and for Restoring and Maintaining the Navigation ofthe
said River, from the High Bridge in the City of Lincoln, through
the Borough of Boston to the Sea.
48 ?to* m'«0°8' An Act for Rendering more Effectual an Act of His present
Majesty for draining certain low lands lying on both sides of the
River Witharn in the County of Lincoln and for restoring the Navi
gation of the said river from the High Bridge in the City of
Lincoln to the Sea.
52 Geo. iii, c. 108, 1812. ' An Act for Rendering more Effectual an Act of His present
Majesty, for Draining lands lying on both sides of the River
Witham, in the County of Lincoln, and restoring the Navigation
of the River, and for repealing another Act of His present Majesty,
in relation to the said Drainage and Navigation.
10 Geo. iv, c. 123, 1829. An Act to Authorize the raising a further Sum of Money for
completing the Drainage and Navigation by the River Witham and
for amending the Act relating thereto.
28 & 29 Vict., 1. 124, An Act for the further Improvement of the Drainage by the
l865- River Witham, in the County of Lincoln, and for amending the
Acts relating thereto, and for other Purposes.
44 & 45 Vict., c 90, 1881. An Act for further Improving the Drainage in the River
Witham, in the County of Lincoln, and for amending the Acts
relating thereto, and for other Purposes.
WITHAM OUTFALL.
43 and 45 Vict., c 153 1880 An Act to Authorise the Construction of a new Cut and other
Works for improving the Outfall of the River Witham, in the
County of Lincoln and the Constitution of a Joint Board, for
effecting such Works and for other Purposes.
48 and 4g Vict., c. 155, 1885. An Act for extending the time for completing the works for
improving the Outfall ofthe River Witham, in the County of
Lincoln, authorised by the River Witham Outfall Improvement
Act, 1880. WITHAM DISTRICTS. First District-
... An Act to Embank and Drain the open and unembanked land'
Dates"HeldDykl1' and grounds lying between the Dales Head Dyke and the Rive'

Appendix III.

7 and 8 Geo. iv., c. 49, 1827.
Washingborough.

10 Geo. iv., c. 94, 1830.
Washingborough.
14 Geo. iii, c. 51, 1774.
Potterhanworth.

29 Geo. iii., u. 32, 1789.
Nocton, Potterhanworth and
Branston.

2 and 3 Will, iv., c. 96, 1832.
Nocton and Potterhanworth.

29 Geo. iii., c. 70, 1789
Dunston, Metheringham.

27 Geo. iii, u. 66, 1783.
Martin, Blankney, Timberland.

2 and 3 Will. iv.. c. 94, 1835.
Blankney Fen.

Geo. 5. iii, c. 74, 1765.
Branston Fen.

25 Geo. iii, c. 14, 1761.
Timberland.
2 and 3 Vict, c. 10, 1839.
Timberland Fen and Dales.

17 Geo. iii,. c 70, 1777.
Billinghay.

3 and 4 Vict., c. go, 1840.
Billinghay Fen and Dales.
Walcot Fen and Dales.

WITHAM DISTRICTS. First District. (Continued.)
Witham, in the several townships or Hamlets and Parishes of
Walcot, Timberland Thorpe, Timberland. Martin, Linwood and
Blankney, all in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing, Inclosing and Exonerating from Tithes the
Open and Common Fields, Meadows, Pastures, Fens, Ings and
Waste Lands, in the parish of Washingborough, in the County of
Lincoln and Township of Heighington in the same Parish ; and
also for embanking, draining and improving certain lands within
the same Parish and Township.
An Act for Amending and Enlarging the Act for Dividing, En
closing &c, in the Parish of Washingborough, &c, &c.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open and Common
Fields, Meadows, Pastures, Fens, Heath and Waste Lands within
the Parish of Potterhanworth, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Embanking and Draining certain Fens and low
lands, in the Parishes of Nocton and Potterhanworth in the County
of Lincoln ; and in the parish of Branston in the County and City
of Lincoln. An Act for Repealing Parts of and Amending and Enlarging the
Powers of Other Parts of an Act, for Embanking and Draining
certain Fens and Low Lands in the Parishes of Nocton and Potter
hanworth in the County of Lincoln, and in the the Parish of Brans
ton in the County of the City of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the open Common, Fen and
Ings in the Parish of Dunston in the County of Lincoln, and for
Draining and Improving certain parts thereof ; and also certain
inclosed low lands in the said Parish and in the Parish of Mether
ingham in the said County.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing "the low lands and Common
Fens within the Hamlet of Martin in the Parish of Timberland,
find within the Parish of Blankney in the County of Lincoln, and
for Draining and Preserving the low lands and Fens within the said
Hamlet of Martin and Parish of Blankney.
An Act for the more effectual Drainage of the lands in
Blankney Fen, Blankney Dales, Linwood Fen, Linwood Dales, and
Martin Fen and Martin Dales, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Fen Grounds, Moors,
Sheep Walks, Wood Ings, Sike Closes, Open and Common Fields,
and other Commonable Lands and Grounds in the Parish of
Branston in the County of the City of Lincoln.
An Act for Draining and Preserving Certain Low Lands within
the Parish of Timberland in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for the more effectual Drainage of Certain Lands
called the Fen and Dales of Timberland, and Timberland Thorpe
in the Parish of Timberland in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open Common Fields,
Meadows, Dales and Common Fen within the Parish of Billinghay
in the County of Lincoln, and for Draining and Preserving the said
Dales and Common Fen, and also certain inclosed Low Lands
thereto adjoining in the said Parish.
An Act for the more effectual Drainage of Certain Lands
called Billinghay Fen, Billinghay Dales and Walcot Fen, Walcot
Dales and North Kyme East Fen and Ings, in the Parishes or
Places of Billinghay, Walcot, Dogdike, Harts Grounds, Coningsby,
Swineshead, North Kyme and South Kyme in the County of
Lincoln. Second District, (see Black Sluice).

Appendix III.

25 Vict., c. 149, 1861.
Greetwell.
6 and 7 Vict., c. 76, 1843.
Bardney.

19 and 20 Vict., 1856.
Bardney Drainage.

36 Geo. iii, 1796-
Tattershall.

41 Geo. iii, c. 135, 1801.
East and West Fens Drainage^

41 Geo. iii, c. 141, 1801.
Wildmore Fen.
41 Geo. iii, c. 142, r8oi.
East and West Fens Allotments.
42 Geo. iii, i> 108, 1802-
Wtldmore Fen,

43 Geo. iii, c. 118, 1803.
Wildmore and East and West
Fens.

50 Geo. iii, c. 129.
East and West Fens.
1810.

52 Geo. iii, c. 144, 1812.
Extra Parochial Place.
East, West and Wildmore Fen.

58 Geo. iii, c. 60, 1818.
East Fen.
{.Adding Lands in Steeping,
Thorpe, Irby, &c.)

WITHAM DISTRICTS. Third District.
An Act for the Better Drainage of theGreetwell District, in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act for Draining, Embanking and Improving the Fen lands
and low grounds within the Parishes. Hamlets, Townships or Places
of Bardney, Southrow otherwise Southry, Tupholme, Bucknall,
Horsington, Stixwould, Edlington and Thimbleby, in the County
of Lincoln. An Act to Amend "An Act for Draining, Embanking and
Improving the Fen lands and low grounds within the Parishes,
Hamlets, Townships orFlaces of Bardney, Southrow otherwise
Southry, Tupholme, Bucknall, Horsington, Stixwould, Edlington
and Thimbleby. in the County of Lincoln," and to confer further
Powers on theCommissioners under suchAct and for other Purposes.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open and Common
fields, Marsh, Meadow and Moor grounds and other commonable
and waste lands in the Parish of Tattershall and Townships of
Tattershall Thorpe and Kirkby-super-Bain, in the County of
Lincoln, and for more effectually Embanking and Draining the said
Marsh and Meadow Grounds and certain other low lands and
grounds in the said Parish of Tattershall and township of Tatter
shall Thorpe, abutting on the river Witham and river Bane in the
said County of Lincoln. Fourth District.
An Act for the Better and more Effectually Draining certain
tracts of land called Wildmore Fen, and the West and East Fens,
in the County of Lincoln, and also the Low Lands and Grounds in
the several Parishes, Townships and Places having right of
Common on the said Fens, and other Low Lands and Grounds
lying contiguous or adjoining thereto.
An Act for Dividing and Allotting certain Fens called the East
and West Fens, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Allotting a certain Fen called Wild-
more Fen, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for altering, amending and rendering more effectual an
Act passed in the last Session of Parliament, intiluled An Act for
Dividing and Allotting a certain Fen called Wildmore Fen ; and for
Dividing, Allotting in severalty and Inclosing the parochial or
general Allotments set out or to be set out in pursuance of the said
Act, for compensating for the Tythes of such allotments and for
declaring and determining to what Parish or Parishes the several
Allotments of the said Fen shall belong.
An Act for amending an Act passed in the forty-first year of
the Reign of His present Majesty, for more Effectually Draining
certain Tracts of Land called Wildmore Fen, and the West and
East Fens, in the County of Lincoln, and other Low Lands and
Grounds lying continuous or adjoining thereto.
An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act of
His present Majesty, for Dividing and Allotting certain Fens called
the East and West Fens in the County of Lincoln, and for dividing
and inclosing the Parochial Allotment Lands andGrounds belonging
to, and in certain parishes having rights of common on the said
fens, and for declaring to what Parishes such allotments shall
belong. An Act for forming into Townships certain extra parochial lands
in Wildmore Fen, and the West and East Fens, in the County of
Lincoln. An Act for rendering more effectual several Acts of His present
Maiesty for draining certain Low Lands on both sides of the River
Witham and in Wildmore Fen, and in the West and East Fens,
and other Low Lands, adjoining or contiguous thereto, in the
County of Lincoln.

Appendix III.

30 and 31 Vict., 1867.
Lade Bank Engines.
48 and 4g Vict., o. 98, 1885.
Steeping River.

50 and 51 Vict., c. 104, 1887.
Hobhole Sluice.

WITHAM DISTRICTS. Fourth District. (Continued.)
An Act to provide additional means for draining the Fourth
District of the Witham Drainage in the County of Lincoln, and for
other purposes relating to the Witham Drainage.
An Act to provide further means for protecting and draining
the Fourth District of the Witham Drainage, and other lands in
the County of Lincoln, by improving Steeping River, and for other
purposes relating to the Witham Drainage.
An Act to authorise the General Commissioners for Drainage
by the River Witham to widen and improve Hobhole Sluice, and
to confer further Powers upon those Commissioners and upon the
District Commissioners under the Witham Drainage Acts, and
for other purposes.

31 Geo. iii, c. 95, 1791.
A nwick and North Kyme.

28 Geo. iii, c. 14, 1788.
NorthJiyme.
41 Geo. iii, 1801.
N. Kyme Amendment Act.

Ruskington. I/7S-

2 and 3 Will, iv., c. 70, 1832.
Ruskington and Dorrington,
N. Kyme.

34 and 35 Vict., g, 1871.
Digby Fen.

Fifth District.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the open Common fields,
Meadow Ground, Half-year Land, Common Fens and Waste Lands
in the Parish of Anwick, in the County of Lincoln, and for em
banking and draining the said Common Fens, and certain enclosed
low lands called the Praie Grounds in the township of North
Kyme in the said County.
An Act for more effectually Draining and Preserving certain
Fen Lands, and low grounds, in the manor of, or township of
North Kyme in the County of Lincoln.
An Act to alter, amend and render more effectual an Act
passed in the 28th year of the reign of His present Majesty, King
George III, intituled an Act for more effectually draining and pre
serving certain Fen lands, and low grounds in the Manor of North
Kyme in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the open Common Fields,
Meadow Grounds, Common Fen, Cow Pasture and other Com
monable Lands, in the parish of Ruskington, in the County of
Lincoln. An Act for Inclosing, Draining, and Embanking Lands, within
the parishes of Ruskington and Dorrington, and the Township or
Hamlet of North Kyme, in the parish of South Kyme, all in the
County of Lincoln.

An Act to confirm certain Provisional Orders under
Land Drainage Act, 1861."

The

5 Geo. iii, c. 86, 1765.
10 Geo. iii, u. 41, 1770.
g and 10 Vict., c. 2g7, 1846.
12 and 13 Vict., 1;. fg, i84g.

BLACK SLUICE.
An Act for Draining and Improving certain low Marsh and
Fen lands lying oetween Boston Haven and Bourn in the Parts of
Kesteven and Holland in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for amending and rendering more effectual the Act 5
Geo. iii, c. 86.
An Act for better Draining and Improving certain low marsh
and Fen lands lying between Boston Haven and Bourn in the
County of Lincoln, and for further improving the Navigation
through such lands.
An Act to alter and amend the provisions of the several Acts
relating to the Black Sluice drainage, to extend the time by the
Black Sluice Drainage Act, 1846, limited for tbe completion of the
works, to authorise the levying and raising of further rates and
monies, to alter existing rates and tolls and for other purposes.

Appendix III. 5
BLACK SLUICE. (Continued.) •
43 and 44 Vict., 1880. An Act for subjecting lands within the Black Sluice Level to
further taxation for Outfall Improvements and for increasing the
area of taxation, and for other purposes.
7 Geo. iii, 1767. An Act for dividing a certain Fen called the Haute Huntre,
Holland Fen. Eight Hundred or Holland Fen, and certain other Commonable
places adjoining thereto in the Parts of Holland in the County of
Lincoln.

10 Geo. iii, c. 40, 1770.
Holland Fen.

16 and 17 Vict., c. 3, 1853.
The Witham Second District
Act.

An Act amending and rendering more effectual an Act made in
the seventh year of His present Majesty's reign intituled, an Act (or
dividing a certain Fen called the Haute Huntre, Eight Hundred,
or Holland Fen and certain other Commonable Places adjoining
thereto, in the Parts of Holland, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for amending the provisions with respect to the
Commissioners of the Second District for Drainage by the River
Witham, contained in the Witham Drainage Act of the second year
of George III, Chapter thirty two, and for other purposes, and of
which the short title is " The Witham Drainage Second District
Act, 1853."

4 Geo. iii, c- 5, 1764.
Heckington.
19 Geo. iii, 1779.
Helpringham.
45 Geo. iii, 1805.
Swaton.
4 Geo. iii, u. 2, 1764.
Horbling.
8 Geo. iii, u. 15, 1768.
Billingborough.

30 Geo. iii, 1790.
Pointon.
5 Geo. iii, c. 73, 1765.
Aslackby, Dowsby.

43 Geo iii, 1803.
Rippingale.

13 Geo. iii, 1773.
Hackonby.
I Geo, iii, c. 41, 1768.
Morton.

55 and 56 Vict., c. 207, 1892.

An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the open Common fields,
Common Meadows and other Commonable lands in the parish of
Heckington in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the open Common fields,
'Meadow grounds, Common Fen, Cow pasture, and other common
able lands in the parish of Helpringham, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Inclosing lands in the parish of Swaton, in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open and Common Fields,
Meadows and Common Fen in the parish of Horbling, in the
County of Lincoln, and for draining and improving the said Fen.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open and Common
Fields, Meadows, and Common Fen, within the Parishes of Billing
borough and Birthorpe, in the County of Lincoln, and for draining
and improving the said Fen.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Cow Pasture
and Common Fen, in the parish of Pointon in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing a certain Common Fen, in
the Parishes of Aslackby and Dowsby in the County of Lincoln ;
and draining and improving the said Fen; and also certain inclosed
Low Grounds adjoining the said Fen.
An Act for Dividing, Allotting and Inclosing the open Common
Fields, Meadows, Fen Washes, and other Commonable Lands
within the Parishes of Rippingale and Kirkby Underwood in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open Common Fields,
Meadow Grounds and Common Fen in the Parish of Hackonby in
the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open Common Fields,
Meadows, Grounds, and Common Fen, in the Parish of Morton, in
the County of Lincoln, and for draining and improving the said
Fen. An Act to confirm a Provisional order under the Land Drain
age Act of 1861 relating to Morton Fen in the Parish of Morton in
the County of Lincoln.

Appendix III.

6 Geo. iii, 1766.
Bourne Fen.

4 and 5 Vict., c. 113, i&
Bourne North Fen.

6 and 7 Vict., c. 37, 1843.
Bourne North Fen.

13 Eliz.,c. 1, 1570.
34 Geo. iii, c. 102, 1794.

5 Geo. iv„ c. g6, 1824.

1 Vict., c. 113, 1837.

5 and 6 Vict., c. 55, 1842.

30 and 31 Vict., c. igs, 181

33 Geo. iii, c. 109, 1793.

35 Geo. iii, u. 166, 1795.
Barrier Bank.

BLACK SLUICE. (Continued.)
An Act for Allotting, Dividing, Inclosing and Draining several
open and Common fields, Meadows, Waste and Fen Grounds within
the Manor and Parish of Bourn in the County of Lincoln,
An Act for the better draining of Lands in Bourn North Fen
and Dyke Fen in the Manor and Parish of Bourn, in the County
of Lincoln. An Act for altering, amending and enlarging the powers and
provisions of an Act passed in Her present Majesty's reign, for the
better drainage of lands in Bourn North Fen and Dyke Fen in
the Manor and Parish of Bourn, in the County of Lincoln.
Bourne South Fen Act (See Deeping Fen) .
RIVER WELLAND.
An Act for making the River of Welland in the County of
Lincoln navigable.
An Act for Improving the Outfall of the River Welland in the
County of Lincoln, and forthe better Drainage of the Fen Lands.low
grounds and marshes, discharging their waters through the same
into the sea ; and for altering and improving the navigation ofthe
said River Welland by means of a New Cut to commence below a
certain place called the Reservoir, and to be carried from thence
through the enclosed marshes and open salt marshes into Wyber
ton Roads, between the Port of Boston and a place called the Scalp
and for disposing of the bare or white sands adjoining to the said
river, and for building a bridge over the said cut.
An Act for explaining, amending and rendering more effectual
an Act for Improving the Outfall of the River Welland in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act to increase the Tonnage Rates and Duties granted by
an Act passed in the Fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King
George IV, for Improving the Outfall of the River Welland in the
county of Lincoln, and to alter and enlarge the powers of the said
Act. An Act for transferring to the Trustees of the River Welland
in the County of Lincoln certain Dues payable in respect of Vessels
using the said River, Part of the Port and Harbour of Boston, and
their Cargoes, for better effecting Improvements authorized by a
former Act, and for amending several Acts relating to the same.
An Act tor subjecting to further Taxation Lands Draining by
the River Welland, and for increasing the Area of such Taxation.
SOUTH HOLLAND DRAINAGE.
An Act for Draining, Preserving and Improving certain lands
lying in the several Parishes of Spalding (including the Hamlets
o'f Cowbit and Peakill), Weston, Moulton, Whaplode, Holbech,
Fleet, Gedney, Sutton St. Mary and Sutton St. Nicholas, otherwise
Lutton. all in South Holland in the County of Lincoln.
An Act to Enable the Commissioners and Trustees for execut
ing an Act passed in the thirty-third year of the reign of His present
Majesty, intituled an Act for Draining, Preserving and Improving
certain lands lying in the several Parishes of Spalding (including
the Hamlets of Cowbit and Peakill), Weston, Moulton, Whap
lode, Holbeach, Fleet, Gedney, Sutton St. Mary and Sutton St.
Nicholas, otherwise Lutton, all in South Holland in the County of
Lincoln, to support and repair a certain bank extending from
Spalding High Bridge to Brother House in the said County ; and
to amend and repair the bank thereupon ; and for compounding

Appendix III. 7
SOUTH HOLLAND DRAINAGE. (Continued.)
with the Creditors under an Act passed in the twelfth year of His
present Majesty's reign, for making and keeping in repair the said
road.
57 Geo. iii, c. 69, 1817. An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act of
His present Majesty for Draining lands in South Holland ; and for
continuing and amending another Act of His present Majesty for
maintaining and repairing a certain bank, and the Road thereon
from Spalding High Bridge to Brother House, all in the County of
Lincoln.
1 and 2 Vict., c 78, 1838. An Act for amending an Act of King George III, for Draining
lands in South Holland, and for repairing and maintaining the
Road from Spalding High Bridge to Brother House, all in the
County of Lincoln.
14 and 15 Vict, 1851. An Act to Enable the Trustees of the South Holland Drainage
in the County of Lincoln to raise further monies.
SOUTH HOLLAND EMBANKMENT.
33 Geo. iii, 1793. An Act for Embanking and Draining certain Salt Marshes and
Low Lands within the Several Parishes of Spalding, Moulton,
Whaplode, Holbech and Gedney, in the County of Lincoln ; and
for preventing the same Marshes and Lands from being overflowed
by the sea ; and for altering an Act passed in the thirty-first year
of the reign of His present Majesty, intituled an Act for dividing
and inclosing the Common Marshes, Droves, Waste Lands and
Grounds in the Parish of Gedney and Hamlet thereof, called
Gedney Fen, in the County of Lincoln.
52 Geo. iii. c, 17, 1812. An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act of
the thirty-third year of His present Majesty for embanking and
draining certain Salt Marshes in the Parishes of Spalding, Moulton,
Whaplode, Holbech and Gedney, in the County of Lincoln, and
also for repealing so much of an Act of the thirth-fourth year
of His present Majesty, as affects the Marshes and Sands on the
outside of the Sea Bank, lately made by virtue of the first men
tioned Act.
DEEPING FEN, BOURNE SOUTH FEN, THURLBY FEN
AND COUNTER DRAIN WASHES.
16 and 17 Car. ii, „. 2, 1666. An Act for Draining of the Fen called Deeping Fen, and other
Fens therein mentioned.
,, r„ H ,. ,. tfi,T An Act for Settling the Draining of the Fens in Lincolnshire
called Deeping Fens.
An Act to enable the Adventurers, Owners and Proprietors of
11 Geo. 11, c. 39, 1738. the taxable iands, and the Owners and Proprietors of the Free Lands
in Deeping Fens, and in other Fens in the County of Lincoln there
in mentioned, to raise a competent sum of money for the effectual
Draining and future Preservation of all the said Fens, according to
their Agreement in that behalf, and to carry the said Agreement
into Execution, and for other Purposes therein mentioned.
... An Act for amending and rendering more effectual Several Acts
14 Geo. ..., c. 23, 1774. Qf parliament of the 16th, 17th and 22nd years of King Charles II,
and of the 11th year of His late Majesty, for draining and pre
serving certain lands called Deeping Fens in the County of
Lincoln.
41 Geo. iii, c. 128, 1801. An Act for Draining, Dividing and Inclosing Deeping, Langtoft,
Baston Spalding, Pinchbeck and Cowbit Commons, within the
parts of Kesteven and Holland, in the County of Lincoln ; and
also for Draining Crowland Common or Goggushland, certain
Lands and Grounds in the Parishes of Bourn and Thurlby, adT

Appendix III.

19 and 20 Vict., c. 65, 1856-

41 Geo. iii, 1S01.
Crowland Common.

4 Geo. IV, c. 76, 1823.

ro and 11 Vict-, t. 267, 1847
Crowland Washes.

12 Geo. iii, 1772.
Bourne Fen. South Fen.

34 and 35 Vict., 1871.
South Fen Drainage District.
42 Geo. iii, 1802.
Thurlby.

36 and 37 Vict., c. 24. 1873.

58 Geo. hi. 1817.
Skirbeck.

51 Geo. iii, c. 50, 1810.
Boston East.

48 Geo. iii, 1808.
Freiston and Butterwick.

50 Geo. iii, c. 53, 1810.
Fishtoft.

DEEPING FEN, BOURNE SOUTH FEN, THURLBY FEN,
AND COUNTER DRAIN WASHES. (Continued.)
joining or lying contiguous to the North Bank of the River Glen
and certain inclosed lands in Deeping Fen, and in the Parishes of
Spalding and Pinchbeck adjoining to the said Commons, and lying
between the Rivers Glen and Welland ; and also for rendering more
effectual several Acts of Parliament heretofore passed for draining
and preserving the several Lands, Grounds and Commons herein
before mentioned or certain parts thereof.
An Act to consolidate the Drainage Trusts in Deeping Fen, in
the County of Lincoln, and for other purposes relating to the said
Fen. An Act for Draining, Dividing and Inclosing a Common called
Crowland Common or Goggushland, and certain open half year
Meadow, Commonable and Waste. Grounds called The Washes and
Fodder Lots, in, adjoining, or near to the Township of Crowland,
in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for explaining, amending and rendering more effectual
an Act of His late Majesty, for draining certain Commons and Fens
lying becween the Rivers Glen and Welland, in the County of
Lincoln and for increasing the Rates thereby authorized and im
posing additional Rates for more effectually draining the said
Lands. An Act for the better Drainage of lands called Crowland
Washes and Fodder Lots, Cowbit Wash and Deeping Fen Wash, in
the Several Parishes of Crowland, Spalding and Pinchbeck, the
Hamlets of Cowbit and Peakhill and the Extra Parochial place or
lands called Deeping Fen or Deeping Fen Welland Washes, all in
the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing, Inclosing and Draining a certain parcel of
land called or known by the name of the Cow Pasture lying in the
South Fen in the Parish of Bourn in the County of Lincoln ; and
for amending and rendering more effectual an Act made in the
sixth year of His present Majesty's reign, entitled An Act for
Allotting. Dividing.Inclosing and Draining several open and Common
Fields, Meadows, Waste and Fen Grounds within the manor and
Parish of Bourn in the County of Lincoln.
An Act to confirm certain Provisional Orders under "The Land
Drainage Act, 1861."
An Act for, Dividing, Allotting and Inclosing the open Common
fields, Meadows, Pastures, Fen Washes and other Commonable lands
within the Parish of Thurlby in the County of Lincoln.
COUNTER DRAIN WASHES.
An Act to confirm a Provisional Order under the Land Drain
age Act, 1861, relating to Deeping Fen.
PARISH ENCLOSURE AND RECLAMATION ACTS.
An Act for Inclosing lands in the Parish of Skirbeck in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in that Part of the Parish of
Boston, in the County of Lincoln, called Boston East.
An Act for Embanking the Salt Marshes in the Parishes of
Freiston and Butterwick, in the County of Lincoln, and for Inclos
ing the same and other lands within the said Parishes.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parish of Fishtoft, in the
County of Lincoln.

Appendix III.

¦ 55 Geo. iii, c, 86, 1815.
Benington.
50 Geo. iii, c. 126, 1810.
. Leverton.
50 Geo. iii, c. 127, 1810.
Leake.
47 Geo. iii, c. 2g, 1807.
Wrangle.
49 Geo. iii, u. 120, i8og.
Friskney.
53 Geo. iii, u. 201, 1813.
Wainfleet St. Mary.
6Geo.iv, c. 188, 1825.
Wainfleet.
.50 Geo. iii, c. 60, 1810.
Sibsey.
2 Geo. iii, 3. no, 1771.
Boston West.
2 Geo- iii, u. in, 1771.
Skirbeck Quarter.
2g Geo. iii, I78g,
Wyberton.

24 Geo. iii, c. 26, 1784.
Frampton.

12 Geo. iii, c. ur, 1772.
Kirton,
12 Geo iii, c. 113. 1772.
Sutterton.
2 Geo. iii, c. 6y, lyyi.
Algarkirk.
12 Geo. iii, c. 112, 1772.
Wigtoft.
13 Geo. iii, c. 106, 1773.
Wigtoft Marsh and Swineshead,

PARISH ENCLOSURE AND RECLAMATION ACTS.
(Continued.)
An Act for Embanking and Inclosing Lands in the Parish of
Benington in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parish of Leverton, in the
County of Lincoln, and for providing for the repair of a certain sea
bank within the said Parish.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parish of Leake in the
County of Lincoln ; and for providing for the repair of the new sea
bank within the said Parish.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parish of Wrangle in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act for Embanking, Inclosing and Draining Lands within
the Parish of Friskney in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Embanking, Inclosing and Draining Lands in the
Parish of Wainfleet Saint Mary's.
An Act to amend an Act of the fifty-third year of His late
Majesty for Embanking, Inclosing and Draining Lands in the
Parish of Wainfleet Saint Mary, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parish of Sibsey, in the
County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fen belonging
to Boston West in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fen belonging
to Skirbeck Quarter, in the Parish of Skirbeck, in the County of
Lincoln. An Act for Dividing, Allotting and Inclosing the several Parcels
of Common Fen and other Commonable Lands and Waste Grounds
within or belonging to the Parish of Wyberton, in the Parts of
Holland, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the several Open Fields,
Parcels of Common Fen and other Commonable Lands and Waste
Grounds within the Parish of Frampton, in the Parts of Holland, in
the County of Lincoln ; and also certain Plots of Land called The
Reaches, Marsh and Holmes's, in and near to the said Parish of
Frampton. An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fen and
certain other Commonable Places and Open Fields within the
Parish of Kirton, in the Parts of Holland, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fen, Common
Marsh and other Commonable Places within the Parish of Sutterton
in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing several Parcels of Fen Land
within the Parish of Algarkirke cum Fosdyke, in the Parts of
Holland, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fen, Open
Fields and certain other Commonable Places belonging to and in
the Parish of Wigtoft, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the several Parcels of Fen
and other Commonable Lands within the Parish of Swineshead, in
the County of Lincoln, and also a certain Plot of Land called Wig
toft Marsh, in and near to the said Parish oi Swineshead.

IO

Appendix III.

6 Geo. ntfc. 82, 1766.
Bicker.

7 Geo. iii, c. 62, 1767.
Donington.

47 and 48 Vict., c. 41, 1884.
Donington.
17 Geo. iii, c. 140, 1777.
Surfleet.
3g Geo. iii, c.g6, 1798.
Gosberton.
15 Geo iii, u. 70, 1775.
Quadring.
2 and 3 William iv, c. 95, 1832.
Spalding & Pinchbeck Common.
33 Geo. iii, c. 73, 17g3.
Moulton Marsh.
36 and 37 Vic, c.:i7o, 1873.
Moulton Marsh.
52 and 53 Geo. iii, c. 163, 1812.
Holbeach and Whaplode.
4 and 5 William iv, c. 64, 1825.
Holbeach and Gedney.

34 Geo. iii.c. 94, 1794.
Fleet and AmendingiSouth
Holland Drainage.

31 Geo. iii, c. 49, 1793.
Gedney.
36 and 37 Vict., c. 213, 1873.
Gedney Enclosure.
28 Geo., iii, 1788.
Long Sutton.
13 Geo. iii, u. 60, 1773.
Tydd St. Giles & Tydd St. Mary.

PARISH ENCLOSURE AND RECLAMATION ACTS.
(Continued).
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open and Common
Fields, Meadows, Common Fen and other Commonable Places,. in
the Parish of Bicker, in the County of Lincoln, and for Draining
and Improving the same.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing several Open Fields,
Meadows, Common Fens, and other Commonable Places within the
Parish of Donington, in the County of Lincoln, and for Draining
and Improving the same.
An Act to confirm Certain Provisional Orders under the Land
Drainage Act, 1861.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fen, Common
Marsh, Common Fields and Waste Grounds in the Parish of Sur
fleet, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing, Allotting and Inclosing the Common, Fen
Droves and Waste Lands in the Parish of Gosberton, in the County
of Lincoln. An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Fens, Common
Meadows, Common Fields and Waste Grounds in the Parish of
Quadring and in Quadring Hundred, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for the better Drainage of Certain Lands in the
Parishes ot Spalding and Pinchbeck, in the County of Lincoln, the
waters from which are discharged by the Blue Gowt Drain.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Commonable Salt
Marshes, Droves, Commons, and Waste Lands within the Parish of
Moulton, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for the Reclamation of Open Salt Marshes in the
Parish of Moulton and elsewhere in Lincolnshire.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parishes of Holbeach and
Whaplode, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Embanking, Draining, and otherwise Improving
Lands in the Parishes of Holbeach and Gedney, in the County of
Lincoln. An Act for Dividing, Allotting and Inclosing the Common
Droves and Waste Lands, in the Parish of Fleet, in the County of
Lincoln ; and for Altering an Act of Parliament, passed in the
thirty-third year of the reign of His present Majesty, " for Draining
Preserving, and Improving Lands lying in the several Parishes of
Spalding (including the Hamlets of Cowbit and Peakhill), Weston,
Moulton, Whapload, Holbeach, Fleet, Gedney, Sutton St. Mary
and Sutton St. Nicholas.otherwise Lutton, all in South Holland;, in
the County of Lincoln. ,; j
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Marshes,
Droves, Waste Lands and Grounds, in the Parish of Gedney and
Hamlet thereof called Gedney Fen, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Embanking, and for Dividing, Allotting and
Inclosing Lands in the Parish of Gedney.in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Marsh,
Common Fen, and other Waste Grounds in the Parish of Long
Sutton, otherwise Sutton in Holland, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Draining and Preserving certain Lands and Grounds
in the Parishes of Tydd St. Giles and Newton in the Isle of Ely, in
the County of Cambridge, and in Tydd St. Mary, in the County of
Lincoln.

Appendix III

n

48 Geo. iii, c. 23, 1S08.
Tydd St. Giles and Tydd St.
Mary (Amendment.)

32 Geo. iii, c. 25, 1792.
Tydd St. Mary Enclosure.
49 Geo. iii, c. 119, 1809.
Sutton St. Edmunds.

46 Geo. iii, c. 73, 1806.
Market Deeping and Deeping St.
James.

14 and 15 Vict., c. 136, 1851.
Lincolnshire Estuary,
42 and 43 Vict, c. 195, 1879.
Freiston Shore Reclamation.
33 and 34 Vict, c. 6, 1870.
Mussel Fishery.

5 Geo. iii, c. 14, 1765.
Fish in Ponds and Rabbits in
Sea Banks.

24 and 25 Vict, c. 96, 1861.
6 Henry vi, 0.5, 1427.
23 Henry viii.c. 5, 1531.
7 Anne, c. 10, 1708.
3 and 4 Will. iv. c. 22, 1833.
4 and 5 Vict, c. 45, 1841.
t2 and 13 Vict., c. 50, 1849.
24 and 25 Vict. c. '133, 1861.

PARISH ENCLOSURE AND RECLAMATION ACTS.
(Continued.)
An Act for Amending and Rendering more Effectual an Act
passed in the thirteenth year of His present Majesty, for Draining
and Preserving Certain Lands and Grounds, in the Parishes of Tyd
St. Giles and Newton, in the Isle of Ely in the County of Cambridge,
and in Tyd St. Mary's in the County of Lincoln, and for adding
thereto certain other Lands in Tyd St. Mary's aforesaid, lying
contiguous to the Land described in the said Act.
An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Common Marsh, and
other waste grounds in the Parish of Tydd St. Mary in the County
of Lincoln. An Act for effecting the Draining and Improvement of the
Lands and Grounds lying in the late Great Common of Sutton St.
Edmunds, within the Parish of Sutton St. Mary, otherwise Long
Sutton in the County of Lincoln ; and for authorising the Drainage
and Improvement of the Lands and Grounds lying in the late Little
Common in Sutton St. Edmund's aforesaid.
An Act for Inclosing Lands in the Parishes of Market Deeping
and Deeping St. James in the County of Lincoln, and for Altering
and Repealing an Act passed in the forty-first year of His present
Majesty for Draining &c. Deeping, Langtoft, Baston; Spalding, &c.
And for other purposes in the said Act mentioned, so far as the
same relates to the division of the said Common.
ESTUARY RECLAMATION AND FISHERY.
An Act for Reclaiming from the Sea Certain Lands abutting on
the Coast of Lincolnshire, within the Parts of Holland.
An Act for Incorporating of the Freiston Shore Reclamation
Company, and for Authorising them to Reclaim Certain Lands in
the Estuary of the Wash , and for other purposes.
An Act to Confirm Certain Orders made by the Board of
Trade under the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868, relating to Boston Deeps
and Emsworth. SEA BANKS.
An Act for the more effectual Preservation of Fish in Fish
Ponds and other Waters ; and Conies in Warrens ; and for pre
venting the Damage done to Sea Banks, within the County of
Lincoln, by the breeding conies therein.
This Act repealed by 7 & 8 Geo. IV., c. 27, but the clause re
lating to the Sea Banks re-enacted in the 24 and 25 Vict., c. 96.
COURT OF SEWERS.
Several Commissions of Sewers shall be granted. The form
of the Commission.
The Bill of Sewers with a new proviso, &c.
An Act for rendering more effectual the Laws concerning
Commissions of Sewers.
An Act to Amend the Laws relating to Sewers.
An Act to Amend an Act passed in the third and fourth years
of the Reign of His late Majesty King William IV, entitled, An
Act to Amend the Laws relating to Sewers.
An Act for further Amending the Laws relating to Sewers.
An Act to Amend the Law relating to the Drainage of Land for
Agricultural Purposes.

12

Appendix III.

52 Geo. iii, c. 105, 1812,
7 and 8 Geo, iv, c. 7g, 1827.
4 and 5 Will, iv., c. 87, 1834.
¦ 5-and 6 Vict., c. 60, 1842.
5 Vict., c 55, 1842,

43 and 44 Vict, c, 153, 1880.
Witham Outfall Improvement.

48 and 49 Vict, c. 155, 1885.
{Extension of Time.)
44 and 45 Vict,, c. 112, 1881.
Boston Dock Act.

16 Geo. iii, c. 23, 1775.

.32 Geo,, iii, c. 7g, i7go.

BOSTON HARBOUR AND PILOT ACTS.
An Act for Improving the Port add Harbour of Boston, in the
County of Lincoln, and for fixing the Wharfage of Goods landed
within the said Port and Harbour; and for better maintaining
Buoys, Beacons, and Sea Marks belonging thereto.
An Act to Extend and Enlarge the powers of an Act passed in
the fifty-second year of His late Majesty, for Improving the Port
and Harbour of Boston, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act to Extend the powers of several Acts now in force for
Improving the Port and Harbour of Boston, in the County of
Lincoln. An Act for Amending the several Acts relating to the Port and
Harbour of Boston, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for transferring to the Trustees of the River Welland,
in the County of Lincoln, certain dues payable in respect of Vessels
using the said River, part of the Port and Harbour of Boston, and
their Cargoes, for better effecting Improvements authorised by a
former Act and for Amending several Acts relating to the same.
An Act to Authorise the Construction of a New Cut and
other works for improving the Outfall of the River Witham
in the County of Lincoln and the Constitution of a Joint Board
for effecting such works and for other purposes.
An Act for Extending the time for completing the Works for
Improving the Outfall of the River Witham, in the County of
Lincoln, authorised by the River Witham Outfall Improvement
Act, 1880,
An Act to Authorize the construction of a New Dock and other
Works at Boston, in the County of Lincoln, and for conferring
further powers on the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the
Borough of Boston, in relation to the Fort and Harbour of Boston.
An Act for the better Regulation and Government of the Pilots
conducting Ships and Vessels into and out of the Port of Boston, in
the County of Lincoln, and for affixing and setting- down Mooring
Posts upon the Banks or High Marshes, within or adjoining to the
Haven and Harbour of the said Port ; and for affixing and laying
down Bridges over the Creeks upon the High Marshes, within or
adjoining the said Haven or Harbour, and for preventing mis
chiefs by fire in the said Haven and Harbour.
An Act for Amending an Act of the sixteenth year of His present
Majesty, relating to to the Haven and Harbour of Boston, in the
County of Lincoln, and for regulating the mooring and removing of
Ships and other Vessels, within the said Haven and Harbour, and
for removing obstructions therein.

52 Geo. iii, c. 108, 1812.
River Witham Navigation.

7 Geo. iv., c. 2, 1827,

9 and 10 Vict., c. 71, 1846.

NAVIGATION, ROADS AND BRIDGES.
An Act for rendering more effectual an Act of Parliament of
His Present Majesty for draining lands lying on both sides of the
River Witham, in the County of Lincoln, and restoring the Navi
gation of the said river, and for repealing another Act of His
present Majesty in relation to the said brainage and Navigation.
An Act for enabling the Company of the Proprietors of the
Witham Navigation to complete the Drainage and Navigation by
the River Witham, and to raise a further sum of money for that
purpose.

Transfer of Witham Navigation An Act for making a railway from Londo'nto York, with
to Great Northern Railway. branches therefrom, providing for the Counties of Hertford,

Appendix III.

13

32 Geo. iii, c. 106, 1792.
Sleaford Navigation.

41 Vict, c. 88; 1878.
Sleaford Canal {Abandonment.)

32 Geo. iii, c. 107, 1792.
Horncastle Navigation.

39 and. 40 Geo. iii, c. 109, 1780.

13 Eliz. c. 1, 1570. .
River Welland and Stamford
Navigation.
21 Geo. iii, c. 22, 1781
Bourne Eau.
• 42 Geo. iii, c. 96, 1802.
Boston Bridge.

34 Geo. iii, c. 102, 1794.
{Welland Act.)
Fossdyke Bridge.

51 Geo. iii, c 71, 1811.
Fossdyke Bridge.

33 and 34 Vict, c. 34, 1870
Making Fossdyke Bridge a
County Bridge.

NAVIGATION, ROADS AND BRIDGES. (Continued.)
Bedford, Huntingdon, Northampton, Rutland, Nottingham and
the three Divisions of the County of Lincoln, a railway communica
tion with London and York, to be called " The Great Northern
Railway." An Act for making and maintaining a Navigation from
Sleaford Castle Causeway, through the town of Sleaford, in the
County of Lincoln, along the course of Sleaford Mill Stream and
Kyme Eau, to the River Witham at or near Chappel Hill, in the
same County, and for making necessary Cuts for better effecting
the said Navigation.
An Act to provide for the closing of the undertaking of the
Company of Proprietors of the Navigation from Sleaford
Castle Causeway to the River Witham, in the County of Lincoln,
and for the dissolution of the Company, and for other purposes.
An Act for Enlarging and Improving the Canal called Tatter
shall Canal, from the River Witham to the Town of Tattershall,
and extending the same into the River Bain, and for making the
said River Bain navigable thence to or into the Town of Horncastle,
all in the County of Lincoln ; and also for amending and rendering
complete the Navigable Communication between the said River
Witham and the Fosdike Canal, through the High Bridge, in the
City of Lincoln.
An Act to enable the Horncastle Navigation to raise a further
sum of moDey to complete the said Navigation, and for amending
an Act passed in the 32nd year of the reign of His Majesty for
making and maintaining the said Navigation.
An Act for making the River Welland in the County of Lin
coln navigable.
An Act for Improving the Navigation of the River called
Bourn Eau from the river of Bourn to its junction with the River
Glen, at a place called Tongue End, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act to Empower the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common
Councilmen of the Borough of Boston, in the County of Lincoln,
to take down the bridge over the River Witham, in the said
Borough, and to erect a bridge over some other part of the said
River within the said Borough, and to open and make proper
avenues, ways, and passages thereto ; and to enlarge and improve
the Goal and House of Correction within the said Borough, and to
purchase, and take down several houses for the purpose aforesaid.
An Act for Improving the Outfall of the River Welland, in the
County of Lincoln, and for the better Drainage of the Fen Lands,
Low Grounds, and Marshes, discharging their waters through the
same into the Sea ; and for Altering and Improving the Navigation
of the said River Welland, by means of a New Cut, to commence
below a certain place called the Reservoir, and to be carried from
thence through the Inclosed Marshes, and open Flat Marshes, into
Wyberton Roads, between the Port of Boston and a place called
the Scalp ; and for disposing of the bare or white sands, adjoining
to the said River ; and for building a Bridge over the said Cut,
An Act for repealing so much of an Act of His present Majesty
as relates to making a Public Way over Fosdyke Wash, in the
County of Lincoln, and for granting further powers for building a
Bridge over the said Wash.
An Act to Vest Fosdyke Bridge and certain Property con
nected therewith in the Inhabitants of the Parts of Holland in Lin
colnshire, as a County Bridge and County Property.

14

Appendix III.

i6and 17 Vict., c. 115, 853.
Wildmore and East and West
Fens Highway Act.
16 and 17 Car. ii.
{Deeping Fen Act.)
Barrier Bank Road.
12 Geo. iii, 1772-
Barrier Bank Turnpike.
x795- 35 Geo. iii, c. 166.
1817. 57 Geo." iii, c. 69.
1838. 1 & 2 Vict., c. 78.
4 Geo. iii, 1764.
Spalding and Tydd Turnpike.
1785. 25 Geo. iiii c. 123.
1806. 46 Geo. iii, c. 31.
1827. 8 Geo. iv, c. 56.
1 and 2 Geo. iv, u. 34, 1821.
Spalding and Deeping Turnpike.

3 Geo. iv, c. 9, 1822.
Boston and Donington Turnpike.
7 Geo. iv, c. 85, 1826.
Spalding and Donington
Turnpikes.

7 Geo. iv, 1826.
Swineshead and Fossdyke
Turnpike.
5 Geo. iii, c. 96, 1765.
Alford and Boston Turnpike.
24 Geo. iii, c. 62, 1784.
46 Geo. iii,, 1S06

8 Geo. iv. 1827.

3 Geo. iv, c. 66, 1822.
Spalding and Bourne.

NAVIGATION, ROADS AND BRIDGES. (Continued.)
An Act for the Better Maintenance and Repair of the High
ways in Wildmore Fen, and the East and West Fens, in the County
of Lincoln, and for other purposes.
An Act for Draining of the Fen called Deeping Fen and other
Fens therein mentioned.
An Act for the Better Preservation of the Great Bank of the
River Welland, from Spalding High Bridge through Cowbit, Peali-
hill, Crowland and Peakirk, and for making and keeping in repair
a road thereon, and from thence to the Village of Glenton,
in the Counties of Lincoln and Northampton.
An Act for Repairing and Widening the Roads from the High
Bridge in Spalding, to a certain place called Tydd Goat in the
County of Lincoln ; and from Sutton St. Mary's to Sutton Wash
in the said County.
An Act for Repairing and Maintaining the Roads leading from
Spalding High Bridge, through Littlewortb and by Frognall to
James Deeping Stone Bridge, in the County of Lincoln, and thence
to Maxey Outgang in the County of Norfolk, adjoining the high
land there.
An Act for Repairing and Amending the Roads from Donington
High Bridge to Hale Drove, and to the Eighth Mile Stone in the
Parish of Wigtoft, and to Langret Ferry in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Widening the Roads from Spalding High Bridge to
the Market Place in Donington, and from the Tenth Mile Stone in
the Parish of Gosbertowh to the Eighth Mile Stone in tbe Parish of
Wigtoft, in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for making into a Turnpike Road a road leading from
the Cross Gates in the Parish of Swineshead to the Southern
extremity of the Parish of Fosdyke, in the County of Lincoln, and
Repairing and Maintaining the same.
An Act for Repairing and Widening the Road from Alford to
Boston, and from thence to Cowbridge in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for enlarging the Term and Powers of an Act, made in
the fifth year of His present Majesty, intituled an Act, &c.
An Act to Continue the Term and Enlarge the Powers of two
Acts passed in the fifth and twenty-fourth years of His present
Majesty, for Repairing and Widening the Road from Alford to
Boston, and from thence to Cowbridge in the County of Lincoln.
An Act for Repairing the Road from Alford to Boston, and from
thence to Cowbridge, in the township of Frithville in the County of
Lincoln. An Act for more Effectually Improving the Roads leading from
the East of Lincoln Heath, to the City of Peterborough, and several
of the Roads therein mentioned in the Counties of Northampton and
Lincoln, and for making a new Branch Road to communicate with
the Roads from Bourn to Spalding in the said County of Lincoln.

APPENDIX IV.
Vocabulary of words used in the Lincolnshire Fens and in old
documents relating thereto.
Acre. A Saxon acre was 40 perches of 20ft. in length by 40ft. in width, equal to
about 1469 Imperial acres.
Acre Silver. A method of taxation for works of drainage &c, under order of the
Court of Sewers.
Addle. To earn by wages " She mun be a governess, lad, and addle her bread "
(Tennyson.) A. S. Adlean.
Addled. Rotten. An egg that has lost its vitality.
Addle-pated. Stupid, thoughtless.
Adventurers and Undertakers. The name applied to the persons who originally
undertook to drain the Fens. Thus, King James " was pleased to declare himself the
sole Adventurer for the drainage of Deeping Fen." The word Undertaker had also the
same meaning, both words being used sometimes in the same document. Sir Anthony
Thomas was described as the Undertaker for the drainage of the East Fen. The word
" Undertakers " is used in the statute, 20 Elizabeth.
Aeger or Bore. The first wave of the tide coming up a river. Probably derived
from JEgir the name of the Norse ocean god, or from Egor, the Saxon word for ocean.
Agait. An expression for setting about doing something. " To get agait o'
coughing." An all. Also. " The Measter were there, an all."
Anew. Enough.
Awm. To loll about or move in a listless lazy way.
Ax'd out. Asked out. When the banns of marriage have been asked for the
third time.
Ayse or Aise. To ease or lift. A man is said to aise the water out of a ditch
which has been held up by a dam for the purpose of cleaning it out.
Badging. Marking the garments given to the poor by the Overseers. In the
parish books of Moulton a charge appears from time to time for " badging the poor."
Banker or Navvy. A labourer who works at banks and drains.
Back End. The Autumn, from Danish bagende, back part.
Back an Edge. Completely, thoroughly. " He stuck by the lad, back an edge."
Band. String, from Danish band, cord.
Barm. Yeast.
gATTLErTWiG. An earwig.

2 Appendix IV.
Bank. An artificial mound of earth, made of the same material as that of the
ground on which it stands, thrown up on the sea coast, or on the sides of rivers, to
prevent the water from overflowing the land. The jurisdiction over the banks on the
sea coast and in the tidal rivers is with the Court of Sewers, but the freehold of the bank
and the right of grazing, except in a few cases where they are vested in the parish, belong
to the Frontager, who as a rule is liable for the repairs. The use of a bank as a highway
is common to all. The height of the sea bank %vas fixed by the Court of Sewers at a
level 20ft. above Ordnance datum.
Bashed. Knocked about, torn or broken.
Baulk or Balker. A large wooden beam, formerly the sill of a workman's shop,
half in and half out of the street, which acted as a counter. Also, formerly used to
denote the line of green sward which separated ploughed lands in common fields ; in
some places called a Eynchet. Icel.^ Balks, a beam.
Beel. To call out, from the old Norse Bella, to bellow.
Belly Wark. The Colic.
Beck. A Stream of high-land water as distinguished from a fen drain, Dan. Beck.
Belking. Lazy. " A great, idle, belking fellow."
Berewick. A manor within a manor ; generally only a vill or hamlet, severed
from and yet appendant to, a manor.
Bear's Muck. A substance resembling peat, consisting of a mixture of decaying
vegetable matter and clay, having a fetid smell, found in some parts of the Fens.
Generally the decaying roots and stalks of the Arundo Phragmites, originally growing
in the clay and afterwards covered with alluvial deposit.
Beche. A boundary.
Bird Tides. The tides in the middle of the summer are generally lower than at
any other time of the year and are called Bird Tides, because the sea birds are then
hatching their young on the marshes.
Binge. The stopping the leaks in a tub or other wooden vessel which have been
caused by the wood shrinking, by filling it with water. Also applied to a man who has
been drinking a great deal.
Beastlings or Beslings. The first milk from a cow after calving. A. S. Bystings.
Bents. Dry stalks of grass, left after sheep have been feeding in a field.
Blash or Blather. Idle talk. " Folks talk o' draaning fen and sic like blather ;
can't be done." (Dick o' the Fens.)
Blamed. A mild way of swearing. " I'm blamed if I do."
Bleb. A blister.
Blow Up. A term applied to the bursting of the water through a sluice or
bank. Bobbing. A terra formerly used for fallowing, from the use of the bob, an instru
ment for collecting the weeds loosened by the harrows,
Bottle. A bundle or bunch. A bundle of hay or straw is called a bottle.
Bone Idle. Naturally and thoroughly idle.
Born Days. The term of one's life. " I never 'eard the like in all my born
days." Bout. " He's just had a bad bout." A bad time of illness.
Boon. A term applied to the repair of the roads by putting gravel or other
materials on to them. The highway surveyor is sometimes called the Boonmaster.

Appendix IV. 3
Blaring. Bellowing or crying for food. "A great blaring fellow," i.e., norsy.
Blether. Noisy talk. Also applied to the lowing of a calf. Icel,, Bladra, to bleat.
Boykin. A small boy.
Bovate or Oxgang. The quantity of land that a pair of oxen could keep in hus
bandry. In Lincolnshire about 15 acres, but the quantity varied according to the
condition of the land, j 8 Bovates made one Carucate.
V Brovage. The surplus herbage after the cattle of those who had common rights.
in the fens were served. Claimed by the Lord of the Manor.
Bordars. The holder of a small plot of land with a cottage on it. From Bord, a
cottage. Brash. Rubbish. Nonsense.
Bright. The term applied to the appearance of fens when flooded and the
surface first glistens with the water.
Bust. Burst. A term used for a breach in a sea bank. " The bank's busted."
Brussen. To burst " He's like to brussen himself." A.S., Borsten.
Brusting Saturday. The Saturday before Shrove Tuesday, on which frying pan
puddings are made.
Breedlings. A term sometimes applied to the dwellers in the Fens.
Branglement. Confusion. Dispute. Norse, Branga, a tumult.
Bumbles. Reeds used for making the seats of chairs.
Busicking. Birds dusting themselves.
Bug. Proud, fussy. Dan., Bugue, to bulge or distend.
Butty. A mate or companion. The term is generally used by the bankers or
navvies. Butterbump. The bittern, a bird once common in the fens, before they were
enclosed. It made a loud booming noise. (Botaurus Stellaris).
Buzzard Clock. A cockchafer. "And 'eard 'um a bummin' awaay, loike a buzzard
clock over my 'ead." (Tennyson.)
Caffle, To cavil or prevaricate.
Car. Term used in the North of Lincolnshire for low, swampy, unenclosed land.
Ker, Norse for marsh.
Carucate, Carve, or Plough land, Hide. A measure of land, varying according to
quality, equal to 8 oxgangs or about 120 acres. As much land as may be tilled and
laboured with one plough and the beasts belonging to it in one year, including the pass
land. Caruca, a plough. According to some authorities, as much as was suflScient for one
family. Calcies, Calcey, Causey, Causeway. A word frequently used in the old Inquisitions
of the Court of Sewers, to denote raised causeways through the fens. Calcius, a boot.
Caselty or Cazzelty Meat. The flesh of a sheep or beast which has died by
accident. Caulk. Chalk.
Call. To abuse. To call a person opprobrious names. " He called me shameful,"
Carve. See Carucate.
Cauve, Cauf, Calve. To bulge out. Often applied to the slipping away of earth
from a bank. " The dyke side all calved in across the silt hill."

4 Appendix IV.
Cess. Margin or foreland, the space between the foot of a be.nk and the channel.
Causeway. See Calcies.
Caving. See Kaving.
Chit. A term applied to the sprouting of potatoes when prepared for ear'y
planting. Chitter To talk in a foolish or useless way. " What are you chittering about
like that." Cletch. A brood of chickens. Icel., Kleuja, to hatch.
Clag. Clatty. To make muddy as when dirt sticks to clothes. Roads are
described as being very clatty after a frost.
Clags. Locks of dirty wool clipped from a sheep.
Clatting. Fidgeting. " What are you clatting about now."
Clam. To choke with thirst. Clam is also used to denote hunger, also to take
hold, " he clammed hold of me." Dan., Clamma, to cling.
Cloot. A door or dam for stopping the water from backing up a drain.
Clough. Clow. A sluice with doors which, when open, allow the interior water
to run out and when closed, prevent the river or sea water from entering the drain.
Clunch. A hard chalk, brought for the repair of the sea banks, from
the Humber ; a hard clay soil with chalk mixed with it ; also applied to a reserved,
morose man. "A clunch fellow."
Clung. Heavy, sticky.
Coggles. Large round pebbles used for paving. Dan. , Kugle, a ball.
Coil or Coyle. To make a noise or disturbance. " That with her fish and fowle
her keepeth such a coyle ; as her unwholesome ayre and more unwholesome soyle."
(Drayton's Polyobion)
Confined Labourer. A man hired by the year, who sleeps and is boarded in thet
farmhouse, or with the foreman.
Coomb. A sack of oats, or 4 bushels. This term is seldom used in Lincolnshire bn
commonly in Norfolk.
Cots. Refuse or clotted wool.
Cot. A weed that grows very abundantly in the fen drains, resembling thick moss
also the mossy weed which appears on the sea shore before the samphire begins to grow-
Cote. A settlement, or house, built in a meadow.
Cob. A small, round corn stack.
Counter Drain. A drain running parallel with, or counter to, another drain.
Cradge. A small temporary bank. Throwing up earth on the top of a bank to fill
np the low places and raise it temporarily to prevent the water flowing over.
Cree. To boil gently over the fire. Creed wheat, grain made soft for making
frumenty. Crew or Crewyard. A fold yard or enclosure, bedded with straw, where cattle
are kept in winter. Scand., Kro, a pen or fold.
Croft. Enclosed land on the borders of a stream.
Crooming. Clearing away weeds and deposit from a sluice or waterway, a
• crooming pole ' being used for the purpose.

Al'PJSNDIX IV. 5
Crike, A creek on a sea marsh,
Cubh Cow. The dairy-maid'g call to the cows.
Dabchick. A moor hen. (Padicepi Minor.)
Dacker. To waver, slacken speed, or to weary of what one is doing.
Dankgbi.t, A land tax of 2s. on every Carucate of land, levied to raise money to
defend the Country of East Anglia against the Danes.
Deeps, The deep part of a mere or of the Kstuary. Norhe, Djupa, the deep
water off the shore,
Delph. Saxon for aditch, frequently applied to a drain running parallel with and
at the foot of a bank.
Dither. To shake with cold, or with the ague, Icel,, Titra, to shake.
Dilly Cart, A closed cart for removing night soil.
Dyling. A low place in a field or furrow, where water stands in wet weather
Dotterell, Eudromias Morinettue. A little fool.
Dowk, on Douck. To drench with water ; also applied to a stooping gait, to
droop. T>Mi.,duhlie, to dive
Drape, A dry cow intended for fattening.
Drivt Road. A wide road with grass sides, suitable for driving cattle.
Dunnakin. A privy,
Dykis. T1i« ancient English term for a bank protecting land from the inundation
of water from the sea, or a water course, Jn I-Jolland banks are still call Diiks.
Gradually tbe term came to be applied to the hollow made by digging out the soil to
make the bank, and then generally to all small drains and ditcher.. In Dugdale the
term is applied lo both bames and drains. Thus, in an ;igreement made in the reign of
Henry II,, by Ihe Monks of Crowland, concerning the repairs of ' certain banks ' called
'Winter Dyke,' ' Quapelode Dyke,' &c, It is equivalent to tbe Latin word, Fossa,
a combination of ditch and bank, and is derived from the Danish Dige,
Dyki'.-Rekvi!, An Officer appointed by the Court of Sewers, for every Parish in
the Fens, to look after the banks, sewers, and water-courses, and collect the Sewers,
or " Dyke-reeve " rate. The word Reive means a bailiff or officer, Dugdale, quoting
from Bertius, say, with reference to Holland, "To which end and that their defense
walls may be butler preserved, they do constitute peculiar magistrates whose charge
and office is to look lo them ; whom they call Diickgraven, that by them both the inner
and outer banks may upon all occasions be repaired and made good, in case of any
break or weakening in them," In the laws of Romney Marsh, ordained in the reign of
Edward I, the officer corresponding to tho Dyke-Reeve was called a Bailiff.
I'robably Dykereeve first came into use after the Dutch Adventurers came into the
Fens, Kddisii. The crop of grass in a meadow after the hay is cut. Generally applies
to the period from July to May,
Enough. An expression used to convey the idea of food beinR sufficiently cooked.
"These potatoes are not enough," tho word cooked being omitted.
Ea. The Saxon, for an island or kind surrounded by water,
Eau, A drain, from the Scandinavian Aa, water. An old Fenman always
pronounces the word Ea, which no doubt is correct.
Fbmule, Probably Wool or Flax There ate entries in the Parish books of
Moulton for money spent on tho purchase of Femble for the use of poor, the price being
4/- a stone, The Overseers allowed Id. per lb. for heckling this, and 6d. per lb. for
spinning it.

6 Appendix IV.
Fennifers. Officers appointed to see that fish were not taken from certain meres
and rivers in the Bedford Level, at improper seasons.
Fasten Penny. Money paid by an employer, on engaging a servant, to fasten the
bargain. Dan., Faste Penge, earnest money.
Far-weltered. Applied to a sheep lying on its back, and unable to get up, or
'cast,' " Worse nor a far- weltered yow." (Tennyson).
Fat Hen. A Weed. (Chenopodium Album),
Fen Tigers. Supposed to be derived from the Celtic Tiak, a plow man.
Fend. To provide. " To fend for oneself."
Fen. A tract of low, peaty land with pools of water, or meres, in which grow
reeds on the lower part, and grass on the higher parts. The whole generally
covered with water in the winter, except on a few high places or islands. The Fens
were generally common land to the surrounding parishes and afforded pasturage for
cattle and sheep in the summer. Mr. Miller gives the derivation of the word from the
Saxon verb, fynegan, to become musty or decayed ; fen being being the past participle of
the verb, and meaning decayed. This seems a reasonable derivation, as the peat of which
the fen is composed, consists of decayed vegetation. W. Gilpin in ' Forest Scenery'
written in the last century, says " the fen is a plashy inundation formed on a flat,
without depth, without lineal boundary, of ambiguous texture — half water and half
land, a sort of vegetable fluid."
Fen Nightingale. A Frog,
Fezzon. To fasten. Pezzon Stakes are used for fastening sedge or reed on the top
of a bank.Fit. Ready.
Fittes. The outmarsh or land lying between the sea bank and the sea. Norse, fit,
a marsh. Fishgarth. A contrivance for taking fisb, or places fenced off in tbe sides of a
river, frequently mentioned in old records of the Court of Sewers, as an obstruction in
a sewer or water course.
Flash. A sheet of shallow water.
Fleet. A tidal creek or bay ; thus, Wainfleet, Surfleet, Fleet Haven.
Floor of Earth. A measure of earth used in making banks or drains being 400
square feet one foot in depth, equal to about 15 cubic yards.
Flood. The first of the tide. Dan., Flod.
Flood oh ! An exclamation used on noticing the tide coming up a river.
Flow. The time of high water ; thus, " the tide flowed at 4 o'clock."
Flood-fanged. The condition of a sea bank in course of construction, when it is
raised just above the level of the tide, so as to exclude the water from the land being
enclosed. Footy. Poor, mean, " a footy little thing." Sax., Futtig, mean, paltry.
Foal Foot. The weed, Colt's foot. (Tussilago Farfara.)
Fond. Foolish, half-witted. Dan., Fante, idiotic.
Foreland. The space between the foot of an enbankment and the channel, also
called a Cess.

Fore-end. The beginning of the week or of the year.

Appexdh IV. 7
Fsntmr. Frumenty. Fermity Creed wheat in milk, with raisins and spice in
it, a favourite dish' at steep-shearing suppers.
Fooiard. A polecat.
Gad. A measuring pole, generally 10ft. in length : an eel spear, also called a
stang gad. Sax., Gad, a goad.
Garth. A yard or small enclosure near a homestead. A stack-yard (Djmisk)
Gault or Galt. Hard blue clay. Gtalttus is covering the peat land with a
layer of clay, cast oat of (Hts dog in the clay substratum.
Gain. Near. " This is the gainest road."
Gaix-hand. Ready, close to hand, Icel., G;;j.
Gallocs- Mischievous. " He's a gallons yotrag rascal."
Gaixx-balk. The iron bar across a kitchen fire place, from which a pot is
suspended. Gat. Gate. A road or way ; an opening or entrance, thus Bargate, "Wormgate ;
also applied to channels leading from an estuary to a river or harbour : thus Boston
Gat ia tbe Wash ; also used as an expression "whats the good o" going on i' that gate,"
Das.. g.*ii, Scas., gj:j.
Gaol To stare vacantly, from old Norse Gjm«t, heed or observation.
Gawk. A fool.
Geld or Gelt. A tax, propaMy land tax.
Gex. To give. " I gen him a clout o" the 'ead."
Gear. Harness.
Give Away. To speak disparagingly of, or abuse, a person in his absence. " He
gate him away shameful."
Gore. A war. An expression frequently found in old records of the Court of
Severs as an obstruction in watercourses.
Gote, Goct or Gowt. Occasionally mis-spelt Gcat. The Saxon term fbr a sluice.
Callis describes them as " engines erected with portcullises and doors of timber, stone
or brick. Invented first in Low Germany. They let cat the fresh water and also the
sea when it overflows; they sometimes serve as bridges." Sax . &&•**, to pour out.
Scant., Gala. Tbe word Gote was superseded by Gowt which, continued in use up to
about tbe beginning of the present century, since which it has been superseded by
Slake. Good and Att •• He has left the town for good and all." For ever.
Goole. A hole or breach in a river bank. MetKteced in Deeping Fen Act of
Charles n, and in the South Holland Act, 55 George III.
Goqard. Goose-herd. The man who had charge of a Sock of geese. In the
Stmm^rpi ilmwry of 1819. an account is given of an Inquest held on the body of John
Crawford, "an eminent gorzard' of Frith Bank.
Graft or Graff. A small sewer or drain setters!! r a parish division. Das., Grav,
a. ditch. Grave. A heap or store of roots, snch as potatoes or mangold wnrzds, covered
with earth to protect them from the frost.
Grip. A shallow surface drain for carrying off the water.

8 Appendix IV.
Gutter. A drain belonging to a private owner, as distinguished from a sewer,
which is public. A term frequently ussd in records of the Court of Sewers.
Grundgote. A hole or ' gull' made by the water on breaching a bank (Dugdale).
Gyrvii. The inhabitants of the fens ; from Gyr, low swampy ground.
Hales. Handles of a plough or wheel-barrow.
Haffs. Tufts of coarse grass. " That the river be roaded, hooked, haffed; scoured
and cleaned." Order of Court of Sewers, 1616.
Hag. A boggy place. ' Peat moor hags.' Deep holes in ruts in a road-way. " It
was such a rough, baggy road there was no getting along."
Half Birds, the smaller kind of wild-fowl, four birds being reckoned by the
dealers as a couple.
Hap. To cover up; thus a man is directed "to hap up a potato grave."
Happen on. To meet with, " I happened on him at market."
Hassocks. Tufts of coarse grass. The Gozzards used to get across the fen " by
jumping from hassock to hassock." Owners of land in the Bedford Level were
entitled to have their land ' ' hassocked by the Scotch prisoners at six shillings an
acre." Hards. Hard places in a river, generally a deposit of gravel.
Har, or Hoar. A sea mist. Danish, Har.
Hawm. To lounge or idle about. From Old Norse Hyma, to waver as one who is
sleepy. Hebling Weirs. Weirs laid at low water, for the purpose of catching fish.
Heck. A kind of fishing net.
Heder. A male sheep.
Herdells. Obstructions in a water course. See Slamp.
Heppen. Handy.
Hide. The allotment of land to a free household. See Carucate.
Hinder Ends. The small corn, or tailings, left after dressing the grain.
Higgler. A man who does carting for hire.
Holme. Land surrounded by water.
Hodding Spade. A tool used by Dykers in the Fens, so shaped as to take up a
large square of turf.
Hooking. Cutting the weeds at the side of a drain.
Holler. " He beat me holler," that is, thoroughly.
Hogs or Hoggets. Young sheep which have not been shorn. Described as he
or she hogs, or heders and sheders.
Hoven. A fee paid for marking stock when they were turned into the commons.
Hovers. The grass growing on and cut from the top of a ditch ; ' dykings and
hovers.' Hug. To carry.
Hundred. A division of the County. In Saxon times the Country was divided
into companies of hundred families under a chief.

Appendix IV. g
Hyrne or Hurn. A nook or angle. A corner of land bounded by water courses.
(Saxon). A corner of a parish, as Guyhirn, Holbeach Hurn.
Intak. Land enclosed from the sea. Dan., intag.
Ings. Open meadows. Icel. for outlying pasture.
Jannick. Fair, just. Dan., Janka, level.
Jack Straw. A machine for conveying straw as thrashed, on to the straw stack.
Jiffling. Fidgetting.
Jyst or Joist. To agist, or take cattle in to feed.
Kaving or Caving. Sorting the straw from the thrashed wheat with a kaving rake
Keb. To sob, or pant for breath.
Ketlock. The weed charlock, or wild mustard. (Sinapis Arvensis.)
Kedel. A dam or weir in a water course with a narrow opening for catching
fish, a term frequently used as one of the obstructions ordered to be removed by the
Commissioners of Sewers. Now sometimes called kelltes or kettle nets. The word
kedel is still in use amongst the fishermen on the Essex coast.
Kid. A faggot. Dan., Skid., firewood.
Kid-work or Bush-work. Fascine work, made with thorn faggots used in the
training of the fen rivers. The faggots are made 6ft. long and 3ft. in girth, all the thick
ends of the branches being put the same way.
Kist. A chest, A.S.
Kindling. Sticks for lighting the fire. Icel., Kynda, to light a fire.
Knight's Fee. Five hides, generally about 600 acres.
Knot. A sea bird formerly very common on the salt marshes, named after the
Danish King, Canute, or Knut. Tradition says they were first imported specially for
his eating. (Tringa Canutus.)
Kye. Que. A heifer calf.
Lam. To beat or hit with a stick. Old Norse, Lama, to break or bruise.
Landed up. The filling up of a drain with weeds and warp, or a river with warp,
" The drain is cleaned landed up."
Lapwing or Peewit. (Vanellus Cristatus.)
Last. A measure of corn. 10 quarters, or 80 bushels, of wheat, 84 of oats.
Lead. To carry in a cart. ' Leading the corn.'
Leek. To drain by throwing the water out with a wooden shovel or leek-scoop.
Lesk. The groin or flank of an animal.
Lid. A coarse grass growing on the Wash lands, called also White Leed. (Poa
Aquatica). Lief. As soon, or as willingly. " I'd as lief he were dead as go on that how."
Lig. To lie down. Icel., Liggja. " And mealiggin' erealoan." (Tennyson).
Lode. A fen drain. * A cut of water.'
Living Water. Fresh water running into the fens from the higher land. Running
water, as distinguished from the water in the fen drains which is often stagnant for
several months in the year.

10 Appendix IV.
Lope. To leap. Swedish, Lopa.
Loping Pole. A pole used for jumping over the fen dykes.
'Lowance. Allowance of beer to workmen.
Louk. Coarse grass on sea banks or fen lands. Norse, Louker.
Lugs. The ears.
Lunging. Lounging, idle.
Management. A term sometimes used to express the good cultivation of land,
especially by the application of manure.
Maram Grass, A coarse grass growing in the blown sand hills on the sea coast.
(Psamma Arenaria). Norse, Mar Almr, sea grass.
MardIk. Sea drain ; from Old Norse, Mar, the sea.
Mawkin or Maukin. A term of reproach. ¦ A great clumsy Maukin.1
Meals or Meols. Sand hills on the coast, covered with grass and scrub. The
Meals near Gibraltar Point are described in a report of 1773 as 'alight blowing sand.'
Men Work or Mene Work. A duty incident on the holders of lands liable for the
repairs of the banks or sewers, to find men or horses. In the reign of Edwd. II an
order of the Commission of Sewers was made " that all persons should be obedient to
all MeneWorks to be made in the repairs ofthe banks and sewers." " The bridges are
to be repaired by the inhabitants by common men work." Finding of Seweis Jury, 1571
Mercury. A vegetable resembling Spinach, and to be found in most gardens in
the Fens. (Chenopodium Bonus Henricus) .
Mere or Meer. A Fen Lake.
Midden. A manure heap, where the house refuse is thrown. Dan., Modding.
Ming. Land undivided, belonging to two or more different Owners, is said to be
'in ming,' or mixed.
Moiled. Overworked. " But e' tued an' 'e moiled 'issen dead." (Tennyson.)
Moor. This term is often used in the Fens to denote peat ; though moor is generally
understood to mean sandy peat covered with heather.
Mould Warpe. The Mole. In a petition respecting the fens in the 17th century, it
states that they are so drowned that the Mould Warpe cannot live there.
Mow Fens. A portion of the fens specially set apart for mowing the grass for
hay. Nowt. Nothing. " He's addled nowt sin' the back end of last week."
Nobbut. Nothing but.
Nowt o' Sort. Nothing of the kind.
On End. Upright. Sitting up, as distinguished from lying in bed. ' She was
setten up on end.'
Ordnance datum. The mean level of the Sea at Liverpool, as determined for the
datum of the Ordnance Survey of the Kingdom.
Outgang. The road or drove going out from a village to the Fen.
Owery. Damp, cold, generally applied to the weather. Icel., Or, a drizzling
rain. Owt. Anything. " Have you got owt ?"
Oxgang. See Bovate.
Pash. " As rotton as pash." Quite decayed,

Appendix IV. n
Paddle. Cow Paddle. Grazing ground for Cows.
Paddle. The Boards or Scoops of a Pumping Wheel ; also the doors of a sluice
which can be drawn up to let the water out of a drain.
Pag-Rag Day. May 14th The day when the Servants pack up their clothes,
and leave their places. It used to be the custom for all servants in the Fens, to leave
their places on this day. Probably derived irompag,' to carry on the back.
The fourteenth of May
Is Pag-pag day,
When you pag your rags away.
Peart. Lively, impudent.
Peck Skep. A measure made of basket work, used for feeding horses,
Pewitt, or Pye-wipe. The Lapwing (Vanellus cristatus). Swedish, Wipa. Dan.,
Vibe. Perch. 20ft, In old Saxon records, the Perch varied from 16ft. to 20ft. In the Book
of Orders made in 1226 relating to Wildmore Marshes, it is described thus, " a certain
way of the breadth of 16 Perches of 20ft."
Plough Land. See Carucate,
Poke. A sack or bag.
Poy. A pole used in propelling a gunning boat or shout.
Pull-over, An inclined plane forming a roadway over a sea bank.
Purve. The Stint.
Pyes or Pies. A heap of potatoes or roots covered with earth and stored for
winter use.
Pye Wipe. See Pewitt.
Quarantene. Forty perches of land
Quarter. A term used to denote the taking of a fresh track on a road so as to
avoid the ruts.
Que or Kye. A heifer calf.
Radike. The Outfall Drain, protected by a bank, where a pumping wheel is fixed.
From Rad, a wheel.
Raff Yard. A yard where timber is stored for sale. Scan., Raff, a roof.
Rave. To rout out. A housekeeper is said to ' make a regular rave ' at house
cleaning time.
Rammel. Hard rubbish, such as broken bricks or stones from a fallen building.
Dan., Ramie, to tumble down.
Ramper. A road running on the high ground near the fen, raised above it, forming
a rampart from the floods. Frequently now called ' the high road,' as distinguished
from the ' the low road ' which was impassable in floods.
Remble. To remove or change the place of any thing " 'A niver rembles the
stoanes." (Tennyson). Scan., Ryma ; Swed., Rimma, to make room for.
Reach. A straight length of river after a bend. Scan., Rack, to stretch out.
Rightle. To put in order. Icel., Retta, to put straight.
Rit. To set out the edge of a road or path, or line of a new drain with a spade or
ritting knife.
Roading or Roding. The cutting and clearing away of the weeds in a drain. It
is necessary to do this two or three times a year. See Rook.
Rook. "The Welland to be roaded, rooked, hooked, haffed, scowered and
eleansed," Order of Sewers, 1616.

12 Appendix IV.
Roil. To stir up and make thick. " He's roiled my temper." Made me angry.
Rood or Rod. A measure or length equal to 20ft., the same as a perch. Grundy's
Report on the Witham gives a rod as equal to 20ft.
Rowan Tree. The Mountain Ash.
Ruff (male), Reeve (female). Machetes pugnax. Fen birds with ruffs round
their necks. Now nearly extinct in the Fens.
Rung of a Ladder. The steps, or staves. ,
Samphire. A salt water plant, which grows on alluvial deposits on the shores of
the Estuary ; used for making pickle, (Salicornea herbacea) . A samphire marsh is that
part of the shore where accretion is going on and samphire is the first vegetation which
appears. It begins to grows when the surface is 860ft above Ordnance datum.
Sasse. A sluice with doors for keeping out the tide. This word is frequently used
in the early proceedings of the Bedford Level.
Scalp, Scaup. A mud bank uncovered at low water, where shell fish are found.
Thus the beds where mussels are found in the Estuary are called Scalps.
Scar or Scare. To frighten. " What are you scarred on ?"
Scran. Poor food. Scan., Scran, rubbish.
Screed. A narrow strip of land.
Screeved. A term used to describe an accident which occasionally happened to
horses in the fens when, running over the ice in winter, their legs became parted and
torn off at the joint.
Seam of Wheat. Eight bushels.
Selion. A narrow strip of land between two furrows.
Sedge. A coarse grass or rush, which grew abundantly on the unenclosed Fens,
used for thatching. (Cladium Mariscum) . •
Sewer The ancient drains in the Fenland are termed Sewers. In Tomlin's Law
Dictionary, published in 1820, a Sewer is described as a fresh water trench, or little
river, encompassed with banks on both sides to carry the water into the sea, and thereby
preserve the land from inundation. Callis gives the derivation from Sucre (?) to issue,
and the meaning as ' the diminutive of a river.'
Shut of. To get shut of, i.e., to get rid of.
Shout. A small boat worked by a pole or paddle, used for shooting Wildfowl or
for fishing, Scan., Schugt. The word owns its derivation to the same source as the
Dutch word for a boat, Schuyt.
Shards. Coarse grass used for thatching.
Sheder. A female sheep.
Sib. Related. Companionable.
Sid. The fine mud which accumulates in the bottom of a drain.
Sike, see Syke.
Skep or Skiff. A wooden shovel used to bale water out of shallow pool. Dan.,
Skuffe, a shovel. A wicker basket holding a peck, used for feeding horses.
Skerry. A small boat used on the fen drains.
Skelp. To upset, or throw down a load, to tip up a cart. Norse.
Skuttle. A wicker basket without a handle. These are now generally made of
iron. ¦

Appendix IV.

13

Sluice. A structure placed in a sea or river bank, for the purpose of letting out
the fresh water, and excluding the tidal water. From Ex, out, and Claudo, to shut. The
doors are sometimes so hung as to act automatically. The old Saxon word was Gote.
In an Inquisition ofthe Court of Sewers held in the reign of Edwd. II , 1316, referring
to the Sluice in the Witham, it is described as " Exclusam, sive catteractam," and
ina subsequent document it is referred to as " Slusa, sivele pyle in alveo aquae." Dan.,
Sluse; German, Schleuse; Dutch, Sluis; French, Ecluse.
Slaker. The draw door on the inside of a tidal sluice, used for regulating the
height of the water in the drain.
Slake. " Ordered that no one should make any dams, wayes, gravels, wares,
slamps, slakes, flakes, herdells, cradgings or other annoyances over the river." Com
mission of Sewers, 1616.
Slarey. Sticky or dirty ; thus, to slare a window when cleaning means to smear
it ; a slarey day, wet drizzly weather : spoken also of a man who is not to be depended
on. To slare a person is to say things about them which are not true.
Slipe. A narrow strip of land lying between two drains.
Slape. Slippery; also applied to people, as " he's a slape fellow," cunning. Icel.,
Sleipr. Slattery. Rainy, especially applied to showery weather.
Sleck. To put out, or damp down, a fire with water. To quench thirst. To put
water to lime.
Smuice. The run of a hare through a hedge.
Sock Dyke, or Soak dyke, a ditch or drain running parallel with an embankment,
for the purpose of taking any water that soaks through from the river or drain.
Sock. The level at which the underground water stands in the peat or silt. This
varies as the water in the Drain rises or falls, or in accordance with the wetness or
dryness of the season. A.S.
Sod Bank. An expression used by Fishermen for the dark bank of clouds often
seen on the water in the Estuary, during North-east winds, which owingalso to the
peculiar clearness of the atmosphere causes trees, stacks, or other objects on the land,
to be reflected in the water, in a reverse position and magnified. The latter effect
being generally described as a mirage.
Soke. Land held under a tenure giving a right to hold a Court of Enquiry, the
old English meaning of the word being 'enquiring into.' An estate described as soke
of a manor, meant that the tenants had to go to that place to have their complaints
heard. Soule or Sule. A term used to set dogs on animals, to drive them away.
" Sule 'em ! "
Squad. Mud on a road.
Stang or Stang Gad. A long pole with a spear at the end, used for spearing
eels in the fen drains. Old Norse, Stong, a stake or pole.
Stang. Stong. A rood of land.
Starnel. The Starling.
Stint. An allotment of work, or limit to the number of cattle to be turned on a
common, or open fen. To give a short supply.
Stint or Stynte. A marsh bird (Trmga minuta).
Stook. Several sheaves of corn, set up on end in the field to dry.
Stower. A pole with an iron shoe, used for pushing barges through the water.
Stud. A post. A. S., Studa. The old fen cottages were built with a frame work
of wood, filled in with clay mixed with chopped straw, the erection being called mud
and stud.

14 Appendix IV.
Strike. Half a bushel.
Steer. Steep.
Staver. The step of a ladder. The length being reckoned by the number of
stavers. Surrounded. Land covered with water, drowned or flooded. In 1607 a bill was
promoted " for the draining of 6,000 acres of surrounded land at Waldersea," this being
the first local Act for improving the Fens. In this case, three persons Undertook to
drain certain lands in Waldersea, for which Undertaking the Adventurers agreed to receive
two-thirds of the land drained.
Swatch. A low place where water stands.
Swatchway. A depression in the sands, where water stands sufficiently deep to
allow small boats to pass through.
Syke otSike. A place for water to lie in. " Lands in the East Fen, except the
deeps, creeks and sykes." Holland Watchman, 1800. A drain. Thus, Gill Syke, Syke
mouth. Tar Marlin. Thin cord, soaked in tar, used for tying faggots and similar purposes.
Teem. To pour out or empty. Icel., tema, to empty.
Tit. Wildmore Tits, small horses bred in Wildmore Fen.
Ton. Originally a fenced enclosure, afterwards used for a collection of houses.
Sax., Ton. The Villages along the East Coast were called the " Holland Towns."
Tharms. The small entrails of a pig, used for making sausages.
Thorpe. A village. Danish.
Throng. Busy. Icel., Prongr, crowded.
Thruf. Through.
Tray. A Hurdle.
Tofts. High places in the Fens, from the same origin as Tuft.
Toftstead. A plot of land in the unenclosed Fens, on which a building was erected
carrying with it a right of common.
Toot. Looking, peeping. Toot Hills, places of observation.
Tod. A measure of wool, 281bs. Icel.
Tumbrel. An open box on legs in a crew yard, in which fodder is placed for the
cattle ; a Cart. In old records of the Court of Sewers of the reign of Edward II,
Owners of land were ordered^to find a Tumbril for ' men work ' for repair of the banks.
Tun. The openings of a sluice were formerly described as tuns.
Turf. Peat.
Tew or Tue. To fuss about, " 'E tued an' 'e moiled 'issen dead " (Tennyson.)
Two Shear, Three Shear. A sheep which has been shorn twice or three times.
Ungain. Ungainly, inconvenient, awkward,
Unheppen. Not handy, clumsy.
Uphand. To maintain or back up.
Undertakers. See Adventurers and " Surrounded."

Appendix IV. 15
Vacherie or Vachary. An allotment of land in the unenclosed fens, where cows
could be grazed. Thus, in a settlement of the dispute between Ralph Rhodes and the
Abbot of Kirkstead, temp. Henry III, Ralph is declared the owner of " the Vachary of
Revesby, called Morehouse."
Virgate or Yard Land. The fourth part of a CaruGate (about 30 acres.)
Wapentake. The Scandinavian term for a Hundred or division of the County,
meaning Weapon-touch ; land held under a Lord whose tenure was so recognized.
Dan,, Vaabentag. Sax., Weapen, weapon, tac touch.
Wall. A sea bank. In old documents of the Court of Sewers latinised into
Wallia. Callis describes Wallia as an artificial edifice made of materials brought to the
place where it is erected, in distinction from a bank made of material found on the site.
The ownership of a wall, he says, belongs to the person who built it, and he is bound
to repair it. The word, however, is frequently applied to the sea banks.
Wall-eyed. Having eyes of two different colours, or looking different ways.
Many of the sheep dogs in the fens are wall-eyed.
Warp. Alluvial deposit left by the tide. Icel., Verpa, to throw up.
Ware. To spend. Icel., Vevja, to invest.
Wash Land. Land left unenclosed by the side of a river ' for the floods to bed
in.' Whaup. The Curlew. (Numenius Arquatus).
Whemble. To turn over.
Wire Into. To proceed with great energy. " He wired into it like all that."
Wick. Lively. Swed., Vig, nimble.
Wrack or Wreck. Weeds and floating rubbish carried about by the tides and
deposited on the banks,
Woad. (IsatisTinctoria). From the Saxon Wad, a plant cultivated in the Fens and
used by dyers for fixing the blue colour obtained from Indigo.
Wong. Low land.
Yelper. The Avocet. 'So called from their cry.' (Camden). (Recurvirostra
Avocetta). Now extinct as a Fenland bird.

Fold out

Appendix V. 2
the average. In June, 1887, no rain fell from the Und ofthe month until the 4th of the
following month, a period of thirty one days. In 1868 the dry weather lasted over
three months. Only 1J inch fell during the months of May, June, and July in that
year, and there were twenty-two continuous days in June without any rain. The drought
commenced at the end of April and lasted till the beginning of August, a period of over
three months. In 1870 there were thirty-five days in May and June during which only
the third of an inch fell, and twenty-six days without any rain. Iu May, 1884, there
were eighteen days ; in July, 1885, fifteen days ; and in June, 1876, seventeen days with
out rain. In June, 1887, no rain fell from the 2nd of June till the 4th of July, one of the
longest periods recorded absolutely without rain ; the rainfall of every month from Jan.
1887 to Feb. 1888 inclusive, was below the average, the total quantity which fell during
that time being 15-14 inches which is only half an inch more than half the average
quantity for that period. Occasionally in winter during frosts long spells of dry
weather occur. Thus in December, 1873, there were fifteen days without rain or snow ;
and in Jan., 1879, seventeen days.
Thefollowing Table gives the Rainfall for the six months March to August, of the dry seasons for
the past 63 years.
Quantity of Rainfall, in inches, during Spring and Summer of dry years. —

Month.

Aver age.

1826

1834

1803

1864

1868

1870

1874

1887

1890

1893

March

1-44

119

036

0-83

1-79

1-B8

110

0-70

117

1-40

0-34

April . .

1-86

101

0-64

1-30

1-51

2-41

0-69

0 46

0-85

0-50

015

May

1-87

0-44

081

0-71

1-54

0-43

0-65

0-85

1-60

204

1-22

June

214

0-21

1-36

1-75

1-20

0-45

1-57

0-72

018

1-40

119

July

2-52

2-35

3-84

0-60

0-30

0-37

0-98

1-86

111

1-60

3-65

August ..

2-36

0-49

1-39

2-75

0-51

3-43

1-48

1-97

0-96

1-15

1 35

Total . .

1219

5-69

8-40

7-94

6-85

8-77

6-47

6-56

587

809

790

Total for

the year
25-90
15-43
14'66
18-38
14-94
52-61
18-66
18-22
12.94
17 63
23-58
The smallest rainfall in any one year was 12:94 inches in 1887 ; the next, 13-79 in
1854; 14-94, in 1864; 1466, in 1834; 1543, in 1826; 1717, in 1884; 1568 in 1890.
In 1854 the deficiency was chiefly in the first four months of the year during which
time only 2-37in. fell against an average, at that time, of 5-36in.
1890.— The deficiency commenced in the previous autumn and continued all through
the winter of 1889-90. The deficiency at the end of February being 4-llin. At the
end of August the deficiency had increased to 8-llin. The winter of 1890-91 showed a
still further deficiency up to the end of February of 7-08 inches, making altogether
since Sept. of 1889 1519 inches. The scarcity of water was very much felt, all the
ditches and sewers having been dry. The water in the reservoir at Miningsby fell to
3ft. 2in. on the gauge, the lowest since 1879. For three days the supply was supple
mented by pumping from the Witham
In 1892-3 the deficiency commenced in November and lasted up till the end of June •
the quantity falling during that period of 8 months being 646in. below the average.
July was above the average, but August and September were both deficient, making a
total deficiency of 8-48in.
Wet Seasons. — The longest continuous period of wet weather since 1826 was during
the years 1880-3, when the average annual rainfall for the three years was 3159in. The
Drainage of the Fens is principally affected by the rain which falls during the six
months, September to February. The following tables give the rainfall for the six
months, September to February, of the wet winters of the last 63 years.
3 Appendix V.
Quantity of Rainfall in inches during the Winters of Wet Years. — 1826-86.

Month

Average 1867-86

1836-7

1841-2

1848-9

1852-3

1866-7

1868-9

September .

2-83

2-38

3-43

4-61

4-32

3-55

2-29

October

2-63

2-73

2-97

5-33

2 41

1-73

335

November . .

2-25

3-46

211

102

4-32

215

1-39

December . .

2-42

1-22

1-67

1-33

1-45

203

5-87

January

1-85

3-2B

2-40

1-51

1-41

3-67

2-79

February . .

1-76

1-47

1-48

0-22

1-61

1-36

1-82

Total

13-74

14-52

1406

14-02

15-52

14-49

17-51

For the

whole year
25-69
21-38
2726
32-64
25-30
25-58
25-61
Month
1872-3
1875-6
1876-7
1880-1
1882-3
1883-4
1885-6
September . .
210
• 2-24
5-24
4-91
3-34
6-75
311
October
3-17
3-50
117
714
4-78
2-43
4-89
November . .
2-94
4-90
2-55
1-94
2-79
2-82
308
December . .
3-28
1-20
4-26
2-23
3-74
106
0-93
January
1-90
1-82
3-08
0-81
2-C4
1-90
2-49
February . .
1-68
213
2-09
3.70
3-20
0-72
011

^___
¦
'
¦
 —
'
Total
1507
15-79
18-39
20-73
19-89
15-68
14-61
For the
whole year
32-69
25-55
3105
35-53
39-82
31-76
23-42
Up to 1884 the wet seasons were more frequent and the quantity of rain greater
than during the previous thirty years. The winter rainfall only exceeded 14in. on four
occasions from 1826 to 1856, and since then there have been nine winters in which this
quantity was exceeded. The mean falls for tbe six months of the wet periods being
14-53in. aDd 16-90in. respectively. The average fall for the 9 years 1875-83 was 1906in.
The greatest fall during this period was 20-73in. in 1880-81. Taking the average
of the four wettest seasons, the total fall for the six months averages -106in. per day.
Taking the wettest periods and times of flood, the greatest quantity that has fallen
gives a mean of 0-41in. spread over fourteen days in November, 1885, and also in
October, 1883. In September, 1880, the mean was 0-40in. for twelve days, or 0-2lin.
for 23 days. In October of the same year the rainfall averaged 061in. for 14 days,
The mean daily fall of rain which caused the 21 floods in the Witham since 1852
was 0 26in. for 17 days.
The largest annual rainfall since 1826 was 3553in. in 1880 ; the next being 3269in.
in 1872 ; 32'64in. in 1848 ; 31.76in. in 1883 ; 3105in. in 1876 ; 3082in. in 1882 ; 3069in.
in I860.' These are the only years since 1826 when as much as 30iD. fell in one year.
The greatest fall in one month was 8-32in. in July, 1828 ; the next 714in. in
October 1880 ¦ and the next 675in. in September, 1883. The greatest fall in one day
was 3-l6in. in September, 1883 ; the next 2'79in. in October, 1880. After this the
greatest was l-43in. in June, 1876 ; and 119in. in July, 1867. In June, 1880, 0-89in.
fell in three-quarters of an hour.
Appebtoix V.
The following Tables give the average monthly and yearly rainfall with the maximum
and minimum falls for the twenty years ending 1894.
Mean of Observations of Rainfall at Boston — 1866 to 1894.
(The extremes are continued to 1895.)

Rain.
Means of
Means of
Greatest Fall since
Least Fall since
Month
20 years.
20 years.
1826.
1826.
1867-86.
1875-94.
Inches.
Year.
Inches.
Year.
January
1-85
1-45
3-67
1867
012
1826
February . .
1-76
1.67
4-54
1833
011
1886
March
1-44
1-29
3-23
1851
012
1839
April
1-86
1-64
4-36
1876
0-20
1825
May
1-87
1-82
5-41
.1847
018
1848
June
214
207
4-58
1839
018
1887
July
2-52
2-73
802
1828
0-30
1864
August
2-36
2-25
5-48
1878
0 48
1826
September . .
283
2-39
6-75
1883
0-30
1854
October
2-63
2-74
714
1880
0-48
1888
November . .
2-25
2-41
4-90
1875
0-74
1849
December . .
2-42
1-70
5-87
1868
012
1848
The year. .
25-9J
2416
35-53
1828
12-94
1886
The figures for the years previous to 1851 are from records kept by Mr. Veal,
at Boston.
Yearly Rainfall at Boston.
Years
Inches.
Years
Inches.
Years
Inches.
Years
Inches.
1826
1543
1844
21-64
1862
1998
1880
35-53
1827
20-27
1845
24-29
1863
18-28
1881
28-25
1828
2859
1846
23-40
1864
14-94
1882
30-82
1829
24.14
1847
23-92
1865
25-63
1883
31-76
1830
25-90
1848
32-64
1860
2558
1884
1617
1831
25-87
1849
2403
1867
25 94
1885
23-42
1832
22-55
1850
2011
1868
2561
1886
25-25
1833
22-62
1851
22-46
1869
27-26
1887
12-94
1834
14-66
1852
" 2530
1870
18-66
1888
20-99
1835
21-87
1853
2140
1871
2381
1889
2260
1836
21-38
1854
1379
1872
32-69
1890
15-68
1837
23-58
1855
21-57
1873
2021
1891
22-93
1838
18-95
1856
19"49
1874
18-22
1892
22-12
1839
28-48
1857
23-17
1875
25-55
1893
18-32
1840
18-61
1858
1900
1876
3105
1894
21-20
1841
2726
1859
2096
1877
2614
1895
21-56
1842
24-73
1860
3069
1878
26-77
1843
25-29
1861
20-38
1879
25-72
Appendix V.

Basins of the Witham and Welland.
Rainfall for Twelve Years — 1869-80.

Height

County-

above Sea.

Maximum.

Minimum.

Feet.
Inches.
Inches.
'
167
32-83
14-40
179
35-59
16-94
34-87
14-84
S>
24
35-53
18-22
,
36-49
18-76
\ (fl
r~
/ o
3614
18-38
3312
1790
oa
136
35-40
1907
i-l
111
3019
17-76
26
3215
16-29
/
116
34-59
16-37
20
37-12
16-22
L'ster-
39-47
18-49
shire.
1 Rut-
[land
36-61
16-46
40-34
22-56
Average.
Witham : —
Wytham-on-the Hill
GranthamHaydorBoston StubtonNavenby MiningsbyBranstonMarket Rasen
Lincoln
Welland : —
Stamford Spalding ..
Market Harboro'
Ryhall 
Oakham
Inches. 23-88
25-5325-52260226-51 26-67
26-32 26-56 25-37
24-31 25152610
29.3326-4928-65
FLOODS.
The following Table gives the principal floods which have occurred during the past 35
years, with the rainfall of the previous month.
Month.
Maximum height of flood water on sills
Grand
Sluice.
Black
Sluice.
Year.
At high
At low
At high
At low
water.
water.
water.
water.
FT. IN.
FT. IN.
FT. IN.
FT. IN.
1852
November
14 6
Highest known flood
to this date
1857
January
14 7
15 9
12 6
1862
March
13 7
16 1
13 0
1867
January
14 0
9 6
16 1J
13 9
1869
January
14 0
11 6
16 0
14 3
River full of deposit.
lift. deep against door
of the Grand Sluice.
1872
April
13 10
9 6
16 0
12 5
November
13 10
15 0
11 9
River in good order
December
13 3
16 0
12 6
River in good order
1875
November
15 6
10 5
16 7
13 9
1877
January
15 11
11 0
16 9
12 7
River in good order
1878
November
13 9
12 4
15 9
1880
July
11 9
8 9
14 3
12 0
September
14 5
10 0
16 3
12 6
October
15 0
10 8
17 1
13 0
1882
October
15 2
10 0
16 4
11 11
December
14 0
9 10
15 11
12 4
1883
February
15 1
11 11
16 7
12 6
October
14 1
10 6
16 7
12 6
New Outfall open
November
13 9
9 6
16 1
12 0
1885
October
13 3
8 0
12 9
9 7
November
13 4
8 6
14 3
11 0
December
13 10
8 4
16 0
11 0
1886
May
13 7
9 3
15 7
11 7
December
13 10
8 4
16 0
11 0
1887
January
12 9
8 3
15 10
11 5
1889
March
10 6
7 6
15 2
11 3
May
11 6
6 0
15 0
9 9
1891
December
13 5
7 3
13 6
10 2
1893
February
14 2
10 2
1895
January
14 6
8 6
- 15 6
11 7
Appendix V. 6
Particulars of the Floods that have occurred in the Fens since 1850.
1852— November. This flood was caused by a heavy autumn rainfall of nearly
double the average quantity. This was the highest flood known in the Witham, to
this date. The Bank of Bourne Eau broke, and flooded Bourne North Fen.
1857— January. This flood was due entirely to heavy rains in January, the fall
for that month being more than double the average. The rainfall from the previous
September to the end of December was nearly 2in. below the average.
1862 — March. The rainfallof the previous autumn and winter was below the
average, but there was an excess of ljin. in March, causing a heavy freshet.
1867 — January. This flood was caused by heavy rains and snow at the end of
December and the beginning of January. Nearly the whole of the East Fen was under
water. The Steeping River was so full that the water ran over the banks. The rain
fall of the previous autumn had not been heavy.
1868-9— December and January. This flood was due to a very heavy fall of rain
in December, amounting to 587in. The excess over the average quantity for the three
months of October, November and December was 432in. The Haven at this time
was full of deposit, the bed being lift, above its ordinary level at the Grand Sluice, the
doors of which were not opened until the 7th of December, and the doors of the
Black Sluice until the end of the month. In the Witham the water rose as high as the
line of railway in several places. On Sunday, the 3rd of January, the bank of the
Stixwould Drain gave way and the water spread itself over an area of about 1,500 acres,
submerging the land from 5ft. to 6ft. deep. This partly relieved the overcharged
Witham, the water at the Grand Sluice at once dropping 8in. This flood lasted on
and off till February, the water in the Black Sluice rising to 14ft. at high water on
the 3rd of the month, and at the Grand Sluice to 139ft. In the East Fen the Lade
Bank engines had to stop pumping as the water flowed back over the doors of the lock.
A large tract of land in Holland Fen, and the other Fens, up to the Black Sluice, was
under water.
1872 —April. This flood was due to a heavy fall of rain in March, preceded by
several snow showers, amounting together to about 1ft. in depth. On the 2nd of April,
llOin. of rain fell. The rainfall of the previous three months was 2Jin. above the
average. Boston Haven was in good order, all the deposit having been scoured out
by the rains of the previous winter. The water in the Witham rose to 13ft. lin. on the
gauge at Bardney, and nearly ran over the bank at Stixwould. The engines at Lade
Bank had to cease pumping, owing to the height of the water in Hobhole. In the
Glen the water rose to 10ft. 9in. on the gauge at Tongue End, being 2ft. higher than
it had ever been known to do before, and the north bank broke near Tongue End,
inundating Bourne South Fen. This breach led to a trial at Lincoln Assizes against
the Black Sluice Commissioners, which resulted in a verdict in their favour.
1872— November. This flood was due to a comparatively small amount of rain
falling on ground completely saturated by previous rains. The total rainfall from the
beginning of the year was 936in. above the average, the quantity being in excess in
every month but May. The excess for the three months previous was 2-45in. A
large area of low lands in the Fens, including Digby Fen, was covered with water, as also
the Wash Lands on the Welland. The Bane overflowed its banks.
1872— December. A jheavy fall of snow and rain, amounting to 0-80in., together
with the rain which had fallen previously, caused a heavy flood in the Witham. The
spring tides at the time of the flood were very small, and as the doors of the Grand
Sluice were not closed, freshets never ceased running during the time of high water,
a circumstance which had rarely, if ever, happened before. At Lincoln the low part
of the City was flooded. The valley of the Bane was all under water. The water rose
to 14ft. oin. at Bardney. The becks passing through Scopwick and Digby were fuller
than ever before known. The Welland rose so high that the low-lying thoroughfares
near the river were flooded, and a very large tract of land in the Welland valley was
inundated. In "the Glen the water rose to 9ft. 8in. on the gauge, or within 13in. of the
flood of April, 1872. The water ran over the overfall into the South Forty-Foot, to a
depth of 1ft.
1875— November. Previous to this flood the land was thoroughly saturated, the
long drought of the spring having terminated at the end of June with a fall of 4-79m.

7 Appendix V.
in 30 days, causing a strong freshet down the river in July, a very unusual occurrence
at that time of the year. The water rose to 10ft. 2in. on the sill of the Grand Sluice.
A great deal of deposit had accumulated in tbe river, but these freshets washed _ it out
of the upper part of the channel. The pumping engines in the fens up the Witham,
and also at Lade Bank, were at work for some days. The washes of the Welland were
flooded to a depth of 5ft., the water rising nearly as high as the top of Cowbit Bank.
The loss of cropping was very great. In October, 3-34in. of rain fell in 15 days, or at
the mean rate of 022in. per day. These freshets occurred during neap tides, and the
doors at the Grand. Sluice were not closed for a week. The highest the water reached
was lift. 4in., falling at low water to 9ft. 4in., and at the Black Sluice to 15ft., falling
to 14ft. 3in. at low water.
1875. The flood in November was the highest known in the Witham up to this
time. The rainfall for the month was 490in., that for the previous month having been
3-25in. The water rose in the Witham to 13ft. 4in. on the gauge at Bardney. The
bank of Digby Drain broke and flooded 1,000 acres of land in Digby and Walcot Fens;
the water covering the land in places to a depth of 6ft. The Bane and its tributaries
overflowed their banks. All the low part of Holland Fen was under water. At Hob
hole Sluice the water rose during tide time to 12ft. 5in., falling at low water to 9ff .
The pumDs at Lade Bank had to cease working, as the water rose above the top of the
doors The water was only kept from overflowing the banks of the Glen at Surfleet by
employing a number of men to raise cradges. The water rose to lift, on the gauge at
Tongue End. Cowbit Wash was covered 6ft. deep, and the streets of Deeping St.
James and Market Deeping rendered impassable. The Welland rose up to the centre
of the London Road at opalding.
1877 — January. During the flood at the end of December and beginning of
January the spring tides were very high, and the height of the water at the Grand
Sluice exceeded that of 1875 by 5in., this being the greatest flood height ever recorded
at the Grand Sluice or the Black Sluice, up to this time. The average height of the
water for 11 days at the Black Sluice was 15ft. 3in., falling at low water to 12ft.
The water rose higher at Lincoln than on any previous occasion since 1828. It was
14in. higher at Bargate Weir than in 1852. The water overflowed the banks of the
Witham, the Fossdyke and the Sincil Dyke. All the lower part of Lincoln was inundated.
At Bardney the water rose to 18ft. 9in. on the gauge. The river bank, between Five
Mile House and Bardney, broke, also the Branston Bank. The north bank of Billing
hay Skerth gave way and caused the submersion of from 2,000 to 3,000 acres of land to
the depth in some places of 5ft., the inhabitants being driven out of their houses. At
the Black Sluice the water rose 2in. higher than ever before recorded, and at Donington
Bridge, 3in. higher. The water ran over the Overfall at Tongue End for more than a
fortnight. In the Welland the water rose so high as to cause serious fears for the
Barrier Bank and the Deeping High Bank. The washes were covered with water for a
length of 16 miles, and in places 1 mile in width, the depth on the level being 7ft.
Deeping St. James was inundated and the streets covered with water, making the
fifteenth time in 17 months. In the Glen the water rose 14in. higher than ever known
before, the height on the gauge at Tongue End being lift. Iiin. It ran over the top of the
banks on both sides, and breaches were caused in three places, one near Pinchbeck,
the water flowing nearly up to the Church ; the others on the north side between Tongue
End and the Railway Bridge over the Counter Drain. The whole of Bourne North
Fen and Dyke Fen were inundated, the water extending, more or less, to the fens of
Haconby and Morton. The traffic on the Bourne and Spalding Railway was stopped
for a considerable time. On the south side of the Glen the Counter Drain Wash
Lands were inundated, and the water rose to the top of the bank, which was split and
opened in several places. This flood was caused by very heavy rains in December,
the quantity which fell during that'month being 4Jin., 3in. falling on the last 14 days
Of the month, or at the mean rate of 022 per day. The rainfall in September had
been very heavy, the excess from August having been nearly 5in.
1878 — November. This flood was due to a fall of 3'47in. of rain and snow in 14 days,
or at the mean rate of 020in. per day. There had been a very heavy rainfall in August,
but that of September and October were not above the average. The Haven was in
good order, and the tides neaps. The water rose at Lincoln to within a few inches of
the flood of 1877, and inundated the low part of the City, and a large area of land in
Washingborough, Heighington, Branston, and Bracebridge. The river bank at Potter
hanworth and Barlings, broke. In the East Fen, the water rose above the lock doors
at Lade Bank, and the pumps had to cease working. A breach occurred in the bank

Appendix V. -8
of Steeping river. The Black Sluice and Welland Districts did not suffer much from
this flood.
1879 — June. This flood was due to heavy rains in May and June, amounting to
7Jin. in the two months. The water at the Grand Sluice rose to 12ft. 4in., the highest
summer level reached for 30 years, the next being in 1872, when it rose to lift. The
Witham, the Welland and the Glen were all much swollen, and several hundreds of
acres of land, in the valley of the Witham, were flooded. Cowbit Wash was covered
with water, to the depth of from two to three feet, and continued so till the end of July,
1880— July. This was due to heavy rains in June and July, 965in. of rain falling
in the two months, the total quantity averaging 0-loin. for 60 days. 155in. fell in one day,
0-48 having fallen ou the previous day. The landwas thoroughly saturated with water,
which in many fields stood in pools in all the low places. No large extent of land was
inundated along the Witham. On the Welland the flood was very heavy, and the lower
part of Stamford was flooded from two to three feet deep. Market Deeping, Deeping
St.James, Elton and Maxey were flooded. The wash lands on the Welland were again
submerged. 1880 — September. This flood occurred during spring tides. The Outfall of the
Witham was in very good order. The land had been thoroughly saturated by the very
heavy rains which had fallen during the summer. In the middle of September, 4Jin.
fell in four days, a rate of fall not previously recorded in the Fenland. On the Witham,
all the lower fens were flooded. At Dogdyke, the water flowed into the lower rooms of
the houses. In the West Fen, at Carrington, a very large area of land was flooded, the
water standing up to the bands of the sheaves. The water rose, at Hobhole, to 12ft.
lOin. at tide time, falling to 8ft, 6in, at low water. This is the largest flood recorded
at this sluice. The engines at Lade Bank had to cease working. In the Steeping
River, the water rose so high as nearly to run over the banks, and for upwards of a
mile in length it was within three inches of the top. In Stonebridge Drain the water
rose from six to seven feet in one night. Several corn fields, near Frithville, were under
water. At the Black Sluice, the average height of the water, for eight days, was 15ft.
2in , falling at low water to lift. 8in,, a depression of 3ft. Bin. In the Welland valley,
a large area of land was flooded, the water rising, at Crowland, above the bottom
of the stacks. Round Spalding and Long Sutton, a larger area of land was flooded than
was ever known before. Market Deeping was again flooded, and all the Welland washes
submerged. 1880— October, This is the third heavy flood of this year, and was due to heavy
rains falling on land thoroughly saturated, 2-74in. of rain falling in 24 hours, and 438
in four days. This was even a higher rate than that recorded in September, and the
greatest fall ever recorded in the Fenland ; later in the month, 2-36in. fell in 3 days.
The total for this month was 7'14 inches, at the mean rate of nearly a quarter of an
inch a day for 30 days. A very large area of land, both above and below Lincoln, and
all the lower parts of the city were flooded. The banks of Heighington and Dorrington
Fens gave way, flooding over 1000 acres of land. The recorded height of the water was
18ft. on the gauge at Bardney. At Hobhole the water rose to 13ft. 2in., the highest
recorded. The engines at Lade Bank were again stopped. In Steeping river the water
was level with the banks, and was only prevented from flowing over by cradging. In
the Black Sluice the water was 17ft. lin.', or at tide time higher than ever before, or
since, recorded. For ten days the average height of the water inside the sluice at tide
time was 16ft., falling to lift. llin. at low water, showing a depression of 4ft. In the Glen
the flood rose to lift. 9in. on the gauge at Tongue End, running over the overfall to a
depth of 1ft, 10in., this being the highest flood recorded, A breach occurred in the banks
on the Deeping Fen side, which was fortunately stopped before any damage was done.
On the opposite side near Wooley's Mill the bank gave way and flooded over 3,000 acres
in Bourne South Fen and the adjoining districts. The Bourne Railway was closed to
traffic for 4 months. The water rose to lift. 9in. on the gauge at Tongue End, which
is 2in. less than the great flood of 1877. Water ran over the Overfall into the Black
Sluice, 1ft. lOin. deep, a greater depth than ever known before. In the Welland the
water rose so high that it was necessary to cradge the roads in Spalding and along
Deeping High Bank. At Crowland the water rose 6in. higher than in 1877, thousands
of acres of land being submerged. All the wash land was submerged.
1882— October. This flood was due to heavy rains in September and October.
The total for the two months being 812in. There were heavy floods in the Witham
and a large area of land about Lincoln was under water. Barlings Eau Bank gave way.

g Appendix V.
The water at Bardney rose to 18-6ft. on the gauge. One opening of the Grand Sluice
was closed owing to the works for the enlargement of the sluice. The average' height
of the water inside the Black Sluice at tide time was 14ft. llin. for seven days, falling
to lift. 5in. at low water, giving a depression of 3ft. 6in. The water in the Glen rose
to lift, on the gauge at Tongue End. A breach occurred in the bank on the south
side, near Wooley's Mill, and the washes were inundated. This caused a large quantity
of water from the Glen to flow down through the Deeping Fen Main Drain to the
Welland. 1882 — December. Nearly 2in. of rain in 10 days, falling on ground thoroughly
saturated by previous rain, caused very strong freshets in the Witham and the Black
Sluice. The water ran continuously through the Grand Sluice for several days during
the neap tides, the doors not being closed. In the Black Sluice the average height of
the water for 5 days was 15ft. 3in., falling to lift. llin. at low water.
1883 — February. This was the third flood this winter, and was due to lfin. of
rain falling in 6 days, the previous rainfall for the whole of this winter being much
above the average. The Witham overflowed its banks above Lincoln and flooded a
large area of land. The banks of the river were in great danger in several places, and
gave way at Southrey. The water in the Grand Sluice dropped 2ft. immediately after
the breach occurred. A large quantity of land in Holland Fen was under water.
1883 — October. This flood was due to the heaviest fall of rain recorded, more
than 5Jin. of rain falling in 14 days, and over 3in. in 1 day ; the mean for 14 days
being 039in. The water in the Witham rose lift, in 24 hours. The maximum flood
level at Bardney was 18ft. 8in. A large area of low land in the Witham was flooded,
and hundreds of acres of corn ready for carrying were submerged in the fields. In the
East Fen, the water in the Steeping River overtopped the banks and flowed into the
fen, in some places to a depth of 12in. Breaches occurred in the banks of the river, and
of the East Fen Catchwater. The water in Hobhole Drain flowed back over the doors
in greater quantity than on previous floods.
1883- -November. This, the third flood of this winter, was due tp a fall of l|in
of rain in 14 days, the greater part of which fell in 4 days. The land was so saturated
with wet that a comparatively small rainfall filled the ditches, and caused the rivers
and drains to rise to flood height. No serious inundations were caused by this flood,
1885 — April. Owing to heavy rains in the upper part of the basin of the Welland,
a strong freshet came down the river and flooded the Cowbit Wash. This was very
unexpected, as the season had been very dry, and there was no rain of any weight in
Lincolnshire. 1885 — October. This flood was due to 4f in. of rain falling in 26 days, of which
2in. fell in 4 days. The rainfall of the previous month had also been above the average.
Owing to the improved condition of the Outfall of the Witham, by the opening of the
New Cut through the Clays, this flood passed rapidly away without causing any inun
dation. In the Welland the river was full, nearly to the top of the banks, and all the
wash lands were flooded.
1885 — November. A strong freshet occured in the Witham again, in this month,
due to excessive rains, 4fin. falling in 14 days, or at the mean rate of 0-34in. per day.
The mean of the fall, for 30 days, being 021 per day.
1886— December. A heavy rainfall in December, following on heavy rains in the
previous month, caused the water to rise to flood height in the Witham and Black
Sluice. The low lands in the Welland Valley were submerged, and Cowbit Wash was
once more under water. Owing to the improvement in the Outfall, the depression of
the ebb between high and low water, was greater than on any previous flood, the
difference at the Grand Sluice being 5ft. 6in., and at the Black Sluice 5ft. ; the average
depression of the latter having previously been about 3ft. 6in.
1887. A rainfall of l-22in. in 16 days in January caused a steady freshet down the
Witham, the water rising at tide time to 12ft. 9in., and falling, at low water, to 8ft. 3in.
In the Black Sluice the water rose to 15ft. lOin., falling to lift. 5in. at low water.
1889. A fall 'of 113in.of snow and rain in2daysin March, following a fall of T40in.
inFebruary, causedthe water in the Witham.at Bardney, to rise to 18ft. 5in., on the gauge,
or within 3 in. ofthe highest known flood ; at the Grand Sluice it only rose to 10ft. 6in.,

Appendix V.

10

falling to 7ft. 6in. at low water. At the Black Sluice the height was 15ft. 2in. and
lift. 3in. This freshet-was partly due to the ground being frozen when the rain fell.
The bank broke on the east side of Branston Island, and the water flooded about 700
acres. The washes on the Welland were flooded. In May, there was a good freshet in
the Witham, following on a rainfall of l'32in. in 3 days. The water rose to 9ft. 9in. at
tide time, falling to 5ft. 6in. at low water. At the end of May, after a rainfall of l-30in.
in 5 days, the water rose to lift. 6in., falling at low water to 6ft. At the Black Sluice
it rose to 15ft., falling to 9ft. 9in.
1891. In December, a continuous rainfall of 2-52, spread over 16 days, caused the
water in the Witham to rise to 13ft. 5in., falling at low water 7ft. 3in-
1895. In January a fall of rain and snow of 307in., extending over the whole
month, caused the water to rise to 18ft. 2in. at Bardney, on the 21st ; at the Grand
Sluice to 14ft. 6in., falling to 8ft. 6in. ; at the Black Sluice to 15ft. 6in„ falling to lift.
7in. The valley of the Welland and the Washes were flooded ; the flood at Stamford
being the highest since 1880.
TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE.
The observations for temperature are taken from thermometors, placed four feet
from the ground and shaded from the sun. The mean temperature is that recorded at
9 a.m. The mean temperature as recorded at Boston is about 0-6 degrees less than at
Greenwich. The mean temperature of the different quarters of the year is as follows :
Spring — March, April, May  470
Summer — June, July, August  61-3
Autumn — September, October, November  490
Winter — December, January, February  376
The barometer from which the observations are recorded is fixed about 18ft. above
the mean level of the sea. No correction is made for altitude or temperature. If
allowance were made for these, the mean reading of the year would be about 29-81, that at
Greenwich being 2977. The highest pressure at Greenwich was 3089 in 1825, and the
lowest 2789 in 1821. The highest at Boston was 3096, in May 1873, and the lowest,
28-20, in January, 1872.
Temperature and Pressure. Mean of observations at Boston — 1864 to 1885.
Extremes to 1894.

Mean

Temperature.

Barometer.

Month.

Maximum.

Minimum.

Mean.

Highest

Lowest

Degs.

Deg.

¦y ear.

Deg.

Year.

Pressr.

Pressr .

Year.

Pressr.

Year,

January

36.5

58

1866

2

1881

29-92

30-95

1882

28-20

1872

February

38-8

59

1868

0

1895

29-85

30-83

1873

28-77

1867

March

40-5

72

1893

18

1883

29-88

30-82

1867

28-54

1876

April

47-5

83

1893

22

1892

29-86

30-62

1883

28-80

1882

May

53-2

87

1892

27

1877&91

29-97

30-96

1873

2918

1877

June

59-2

95

1893

35

1881&90

3000

30-65

1867

29-27

1866

July

62-8

95

1886

41

1888& 91

29-98

30-57

1864

2906

1884

August

61-3

95

1893

38

1887

29-94

30-54

1874

2905

1882

September

56-7

90

1891

30

1887

29-98

30-80

1873

29-04

1885

October

48-8

82

1886

24

1887

29-87

30-66

1877

28-75

1865

November

41-5

65

1880

13

1890

29-88

30-67

1868

28-50

1880

December

375
48-7

60
95

1866 1886

0 0

1879 1879

29-882991

30-72

1865 1873

28-50 28-20

1876

The year

30-95

1872

High temperature.— July is the hottest month of the year, tbe mean temperature being
628. The hottest months of the last 28 years were July, 1886, and August, 1893.
The following figures gives the occasions, since 1864, when the temperature in the
shade has been 90 degrees or over.

II

Appendix V.

1867

Aug.
July IIII
tl II
It
Aug.June July JuneAug Sept.

Max.
Temperature. ... 93 ...

No. of days with Tem
perature over 88 degs,
 8

1868

... 90 ...

9

1872

90 ...

13
1873
... 90 ...
4
1874
... 92 ...
11
1876
... 90 ...
7
1881
... 92 ...
11
1885
... 93 ...
9
1886
... 95 ...
10
... 90 ...
13
1887
... 92 ...
10
1889
... 90 ...
5
... 90 ...
3
1892
... 92 ...
e
... 95 ...
4
1893
... 95 ...
12
1895
... 84 ...
8
Low temperature. — January has the lowest mean temperature of any month in ths
year, the average of the last 23 years being 36-5. The coldest month during the same
period was in January, 1881, when the average for the whole month was 27'8, the next
being December 1879, with 298. In the winter of 1890-1891 the mean temperature of
42 days in December and January was 2678. The lowest temperature was in December,
1879, when the thermometer fell to zero, and the next in January, 1881, when it regis
tered only 2, giving 30 degrees of frost.
1870— December Sharp frost from 23rd to the 13th of January, 1871. On the 1st of
January there were 27 degrees of frost. For 13 days the temperature never rose at any
time of the day more than two degrees above freezing point. Nearly three weeks' skating
on the river and drains.
1874 — December. Frost began on the 15th and lasted till the 2nd January, 1875.
Lowest temperature on the 30th, when there were 24 degrees of frost. For eight days
the minimum temperature averaged 19 degrees of frost. Boston Haven, the Witham,
and all the drains frozen. Skating lasted about ten days.
1878 — December. Frost began on the 6th and lasted for three weeks. The greatest
amount of frost was 18 degrees on Christmas Day, the mean minimum temperature of
five days showing 13 degrees of frost. The Witham was frozen from Boston to Lincoln,
and the Haven was also frozen over.
1879. — December and January. Frost set in on the 30th November, and lasted till
the 15th of January. For seven days there were 19 degress of frost at the coldest
period of the day. On the 7th December the temperature was never, during any part of
the day, above 18. Boston Haven, the Witham and all the drains were frozen.
1881. — January. One of the sharpest frosts known lasted from the 12th to the 26th.
For a fortnight the mean temperature of the day was 11 degrees below freezing point.
On the 15th there were 30 degrees of frost at night. For five days there were 23 degrees
of frost at the coldest period of the day, Skating lasted a fortnight, the ice in the
Witham being 6J inches thick.
1890. A frost set in on the 15th of December and lasted without intermission for 38
days, to the 21st of January, 1891, The lowest temperatuie was on the 19th of January,
when 22 degrees of frost were recorded, and 20 degrees on the 11th. The mean temperature
ofthe day for this period was 2678, the highest reached during the day being 40. The
¦Witham was frozen over from Boston to Lincoln and skating was practicable for nearly
six weeks. 1895. This frost was remarkable for the very low temperature registered on two
occasions in February, when there was registered 32° of frost. The temperature
throughout the day was higher than in 1881, the mean for 9 days being 19-3°, and the
maximum temperature during the day on only two occasions being below freezing point.
The first frost commenced on the 6th of January and lasted till the 13th, the lowest
temperature being 13". A second frost set in on the 22nd of January and lasted till
Appendix V, 12
the 6th of March, a period of 44 days. The temperature fell to zero on the 8th and
10th. The lowest temperature previously recorded in February was 11° in 1889, and
12° in 1892.
Temperature on the Surface and at an Elevation. — During the years 1882-6, observations
were taken by Mr. E. C. Hackford for the Council of the Meteorological Society of
the temperature at 4ft. from the ground, and also at 170ft. and 260ft. above the surface,
by instruments placed in the tower of Boston Church. From the table prepared from
these observations, it appears that the mean temperature at 4ft., in every month exceeds
that at 170ft., the difference ranging from 31° in July to 003° in December. The mean
minimum at 4ft. is generally colder than at 170ft., except in the winter months, when
the latter is slightly colder than the former. At 9 a.m. the mean temperature in the
churchyard was always in excess of that up the tower, the difference being greatest
in summer. The mean temperature at 4ft, during the day was always in excess of that
at 260ft., the difference during the summer months amounting to 4°. The general
result showed that the diurnal range of temperature was much less at the top of the
tower and on the belfry than at 4ft. from the ground. The tables and details of these
observations are recorded in the Journal of the Meteorological Society for October
1887.
WIND.
In the following table only the four quarters of the compass are given. The wind
• seldom blows exactly from any one point, but is constantly varying during the day ;
the figures give the prevailing wind for each day. The prevailing wind of this district
is from the south-west, from which quarter it blows for more than one third of the
year. North-east wind prevails from March to June, the number of days during these
months being divided equally between north-east and south-west. South-east winds
are most frequent in January, February, and October; south-west in January,
December, and September ; north-west in March, June, July, August, November,
and December. The force of the wind is greatest in February and March, and least in June and
July.
GALES.
1828. On the 18th of July, a whirlwind passed over Boston, in a north-easterly
direction towards Wyberton Fen. The space affected by the advancing column was
about forty yards in width. As it advanced it drew up from the earth manure lying in
the fields, the water out of the South Forty-Foot, a curb, which was carried forty yards,
a roller and other moveable substances. The corn in the fields which lay in the track
was completely levelled to the ground, and other damage done.
1859— The heaviest gale in recent years was that known as the Royal Charter
Gale on the 25th October, 1859.
1871. — February and March. Very heavy gales occured during these months, and
much damage was done to the fishing boats in the Deeps.
1875.— March. A very heavy gale from N.W., and several houses damaged.
1876.— April. Heavy gale from N.E., and damage done to buildings.
1881.— July 30th. A whirlwind from S.W. in Boston. Buildings damaged, trees
torn up by the roots, one house completely wrecked. The area over which the effect
was felt was very small.
1881.— October 14th. The worst gale since the Royal Charter Gale, direction
S.W. to N.W. Immense number of trees blown down, and several buildings damaged.
1883.— December. Heavy gales from N.W. to S.W. Many chimneys blown down
in Boston, and buildings and stacks damaged.
1884.— December 18th. A very severe gale from S.W., accompanied with hail and
lightning. Over a small area, not exceeding 1J acre, and for the space of a few minutes,
the force of the wind was so great as entirely to wreck two large glass houses in Boston.
The roofs were carried across the garden, and trees and shrubs were torn up by the roots.
Great damage done to buildings.
1891.— A very severe gale blew on the 25th of August, doing immense damage to
the fruit crops. On October 13th there was a very severe gale all along the East
Coast. A large tree in Boston churchyard was blown down and other damage done.

13 Appendix V.
1S93. Very heavy gales blew from S.E. to N.W., for four days in November.
There were more wrecks caused by these gales in the Wash thau ever known before.
1894. — December. Very heavy gale from S.W , on 21st and 22nd. A grea
number of trees blown down.
1 S'.l 5 — March. The heaviest gale from S.W. kuown for many years. More
damage done to houses and buildings than on any previous occasion. A large number
of trees blown down. WIND.— 1854 to 1886.

Month.

N.E.— Days.

S.E.— Days.

S.W.— Days.

N.W.— Days.

40
4-69.0
10-410 0
8-25-660
5-36-74-7
4-478-4

55
5-i)
45 50
40
4.24-7
4-3 46
5-ti3-84-3

16112,4 9-68 8
10-4 9.1
12-7 128
13-7 12-4 ,
13-614-6

5-4

April 

5.2
7-95 8
66
8-5

July 

80 '

November 

7'9
6-4637-9
77

Total days . .

56-4

146-2

83-6

SNOW AND FROST IN SPRING.
1872. — Snow from 21st to 25th March, lying on the ground 6in. deep.
1874.— March. Heavy snow storm, lasting four days. Thermometer 12 degrees
below freezing point.
1S76— April 13th and 14th (Good Friday). Very heavy snow storm for two days.
Snow 12in. thick.
1878. March 24th and 25th. Heavy fall of snow, 8in. to lOin. deep.
1883.— March 4th to 20th. Very sharp frosts. 16 degrees of frost on the 7th,
Haven frozen over. Several snow storms.
1891— May 17th. A very sharp frost and fall of snow. 5 degrees of frost were
recorded. The miuimum temperature on the 17th was 68 degrees lower than the
maximum of four days previous,
THUNDER AND HAIL STORMS.
1874— July 29th. Heavy thunderstorm and rain. 073in. fell in half-an-hour.
1876— July 22nd. Heavy thunderstorm and hail. Hail stones very large More
than 100 panes of glass broken in the Hotel at Freiston Shore.
1879— August. Very heavy thunderstorm.
1880— June 19th. Very severe thunderstorm and hail. Much damage done to the
crops by the hail. Much glass broken in greenhouses. The hail stones stated to be as
large as pigeon's eggs. Birds and chickens killed by the hail, and boughs broken off
trees. On one farm in Wisbech 100 young fowls were killed by the hail stones 089in
of rain fell in three quarters of an hour.
1887- July 3 1st. Very severe thunderstorm. Houses in Boston damaged bv
the lightning. s '

Appendix Vi

r-H

THE HARVEST AND THE WEATHER.
The exceptional years during the last fifty-two years were as follows :-

early harvests.
July to August 2nd
Harvest commenced. Harvest commenced.

LATE HARVESTS.
After August 21st.
Harvest commenced. Harvest commenced.

1834 July 18
1846 July 22
1848 Aug. 2
1857 July 31
1858 July 29
1859 Aug. 1

1863 July 29
1865 Aug. 2
1868 July 20
1870 Aug. 1
1874 Aug. 2
1884 Aug. 2

1839 Aug. 22
1845 Aug. 28
1854 Aug. 22
1855 Aug. 22

1860 Sept. 12
1879 Sept. 1
1888 Sept. 1
1889 Aug. 28

The best crops since 1841 were in 1844, 1847, 1849, 1851, 1852, 1854, 1855, 1857.
1863, 1864, 1868, 1870, 1874, 1885, 1887.
The worst crops were in 1845, 1850, 1855, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1869, 1872, 1880, 1892.
The average time, from the first peeping of the wheat ears to the cutting, averages
60 days. The shortest time recorded being 50, and the longest 71. (This is between
1834 and 1873).
The folio wing table is from observations recorded at Boston. Wheat, being the
principal crop grown in the neighbourhood, has been selected as indicative of the
general results of the harvests of the Fenland. The datum taken for fixing the harvest
is the day on which new wheat, grown in the Fens, was first shown in Boston Market.
This varies from the time of cutting according to the weather, but on an average it may
be taken as ten days from the time when wheat cutting generally commences. The
yield is much influenced by the weather in May, June, and July, the mean temperature
and rainfall of these months are therefore given. From the table it will be seen that
the earliest harvest was in 1868. This also was the earliest harvest since 1832. The
season was also the driest and hottest. The latest harvest, and worst yield, was in 1879.
The temperature of this season was very low and the weather very wet. The average
time of the past 23 years for showing wheat was the 23rd August. From records kept from
1832 to 1864, on two different farms in the Fens, one being near Wisbech, it appears that
the earliest harvest, except 1868, was 1834, when cutting began on the 18th of July ;
and the latest in 1845 and 1860, when it did not commence till the 28th of August.
This would be equivalent to the 28th of July and the 7th of September in the above
tables.

May, June, July.

Wheat first
shown in
Boston mkt.

Mean
temperature

Rainfall. Inches.

Remarks.

18581859
186018611862186318641865
18661867
1868
1869
18701871

60-4
62-7
59-458-362-6
57-260-2
56-2

4-734-84
9-297-786-26
306
3 04
9-26
8-278-31 1-25
6-273-14
8-46

Aug. 19
Aug. 29
Sep. 21
Aug. 23
Aug. 28
Aug. 18
Aug. 18
Sep. 1
Sep. 4
Aug. 16
July 30
Aug., 25
Aug. 10
Aug. 23

Good yield. Rainfall in spring below average.
Dry July and August.
Harvest late. Yield fair. Cutting began the
beginning of August. July and August
very wet.
Weather wet from June to September. Yield
bad. Cutting began about 13th August.
Bad yield. May and July wet.
Very good quality and yield. Temperature
above the average and summer very dry.
Very bad yield.
Very good yield. Spring rainfall below aver
age. Very dry summer and temperature
above average.
Yield of wheat below the average. Other crops
good. Wet in April, June, and July.

*5

Appendix V.

Year.

May, June, July.
Mean Rainfall.
temperature Inches.

1872

187318741875

1876
18771878 1879

1880
18811882
1883
1884 1885
188618871888
18891890189118921893

1894

18951896
Aver
age, 39
years

58-9

57-1580
58-9

57.5 57059-654-5

56-559-2
57-256-958-7

58-22

61-5761-94

6110

718

6-78
3-43 7-26

5-775-40704
10-92

10-48 6-617-14
698
3-98

570

4-46

53-5

701

60-3569595

2-896-82
5 13

58-8
57558-8
61-99

5-04 6-38608
606

8-18

4-993-26

6.62

Wheat first
shown in
Boston mkt.

Aug. 14

Aug. 13
Aug. 12
Aug. 21

Aug. 16
Aug. 22
Aug. 17
Sep. 6

Aug. 25
Aug. 24
Aug. 16
Aug. 22
Aug. 13
Aug. 19
Sep. 4

Aug.

17

Sep.

12

Aug.

28

Aug.

20

Sep.

9

Sep.

10

Aug.

9

Remarks.

Aug. 29

Aug.' 21
Aug. 5

Aug. 23

Yield very bad. Wet sowing time. Mild
winter and cold spring. Wet in March,
April, June, and July.
Yield below average.
Yield very good. Dry seed-time. Very dry
spring.
Yield below the average. Quality not good.
Very good seed-time. Temperature, July
very low. Dry spring. Wet in June and
. July.
Yield below average. Long cold wet winter.
Heavy rain in spring, followed by drought
till August.
Yield below average. Quality bad. Fair
sowing time. Cold and late spring. Cold
and stormy at flowering.
Yield below average. Quality bad. Spring
dry. May and August very wet.
Yield very bad and quality bad. Very low
temperature and heavy rainfall in Feb
ruary, April, May, June, and July.
Yield light. Wet in April, June, and July.
Yield above the average, and quality very good.
Spring dry. Heavy rains July and August.
Yield under average. Quality fair. Harvest
delayed by wet.
Yield below average. Quality good.
Yield above the average. Quality good. Dry
spring.
Yield above average and quality good. Dry
spring. July very dry.
Yield rather below the average. Quality good.
Crops damaged by cold late spring.
Yield above the average. Quality very good.
Yield and quality about the average.
Yield and quality below the average and the
crops very much laid.
Yield a good average. Quality good.
Yield and quality good.
Yield and quality bad.
Yield fair. Quality very good. Remarkably
dry Spring, and hot, dry weather during
harvest.
Yield not up to the average. Quality dam
aged by wet weather during harvest. The
price of wheat fell to 16/- a quarter, the
lowest ever recorded.
Yield and quality good.
Yield good, averaging about 5 quarters to the
acre. Quality good.

Appendix V. 16
THE HIGH TIDES AT BOSTON.
Height of Tides. — The following is the mean height for a whole year of each set of
tides at Boston above the sill of the Black Sluice (870ft. below Ordnance datum) which
is 1ft. 2Jin. above L.W.S.T. in Clayhole.
Number of Tides Feet
3 tides are above  22
3 „  21
4 tides are above  20
3 „  19
3 „  18
5 „  17
3 „  16
4 „  15
Total tides in a fortnight 28 Mean height of tide for year 19
The mean height of springs is 22ft. and of neaps, 15ft. 4in. above the sill of the
Black Sluice, or average low water in Clayhole, and 24-9ft. above the sill of the dock.
The water ebbs out at Clayhole 7ft. 6in. lower at spring tides than at neaps.
Owing to the fact that the water is still ebbing out at Clayhole when flood has set
in along the channel at the lower part of the Deeps the water ebbs out about 6in.
lower at Clayhole than off Wrangle.
The tides are generally influenced by the wind. A strong north-west wind, by
driving the water out of the Atlantic and down the coast of England, raises the
tidal wave in the German Ocean and consequently in Boston Deeps. A continuance
of N.W. gales, by influencing succeeding tidal waves, still further increases this
effect. If a sudden change to the east, after strong N.W. gales, occurs, at the time
of flood in the Deeps, this action is .still further increased. A S,W. wind retards
the motion of the tidal current, and prevents the tides from rising to their full height ;
also by driving the water out of the Deeps, a S.W. wind causes the lowest ebbs.
N.E. and S.E. winds affect the tides in the same way, only to a much less extent,
the N.E. winds raising, and the S.E. winds depressing, the tidal rise. A brisk N.W.
gale will generally raise, and the S.W. gales lower, a spring tide about 2ft., and the other
tides in proportion, or as many inches higher as an ordinary tide would rise in feet.
About one-fourth of the tides in the year vary 6in. ,and more, from the predicted height
owing to the wind. During the two years, 1892-93, there were 30 tides which varied 2ft. ;
7 tides, 3ft. ; 6 tides, 3Jft. ; 3 tides, 4ft. ; 2 tides, 4$ft. ; 1 tide, 5ft., and 1 tide, 6ft. 3in.
In November, 1893, during a gale from S.E. to N.E., the morning tide of the
17th was 2ft. 3in. below the expected height, and that of the following morning
5ft. lin. above, making a difference in the height of the two tides of 7ft. 4in. The
morning tide of the 19th was 4ft. 2in. above the expected height.
In November, 1894, during a gale from the S W., the evening tide of the 13th was
Ift. 2in. below the expected height, and the morning tide of the 14th, 3ft. 5in. below.
In January, 1895, during a gale from the N.W., the evening tide was 1J hour before
time, and 6ft. 3in. above the expected height, the tide next morning being 1ft. 8in.
lower than the height given in the table, a difference in the two tides of 7ft. llin.
In May, 1895 during a N.W. gale on the 15th, the tide rose 3ft. 9in. above
the expected height.
The highest tide recorded as affecting Boston was on March 2, 1820. This
was 4in. higher than the great tide of November, 1810, which, by overflowing the
sea banks, did such immense damage in this district. A record of the latter tide
is preserved by a mark cut on the tower of the Parish Church. The mark is
26ft. 7in. above the sill of the Black Sluice.
High Tides.— The following table gives all the tides above 25ft. on the sill of the
Black Sluice, of which there is any record :

i7

Appendix V.

Feet Inches
1868 Feb. 8 . . ,.  25 5
1874 March 20  25 1
1874 Oct. 26  25 3
1877 Jan. 20  25 9
1877 Oct. 8  25 6
1882 Feb. 19  25 2
1882 Sep. 29  25 1
1882 Oct. 28  25 8
1883 March 11  26 3
1890 Sep. 30  25 9

Feet Inches
1791 Oct. 19  25 9
1793 Oct  25 9
1801 Oct. 19  26 1
1807 Nov. 30  26 4
1810 Nov. 10  26 7
1820 March 2  26 11
1836 Feb  26 1
1850 Jan  25 7
1853 Feb  25 9
1854 Feb  25 11
1859 Feb  25 . 1
There is not much difference in the height of the tides at different periods of the
year. The tides nearest to the equinoxes, March 21st and September 21st, are generally
the highest, especially if new or full moon should be coincident with these. A con
tinuation of spring equinoctial tides with north-west gales is sure, to make very high
tides. Taking a period of five years, the average of all the highest tides' at Boston
occurred in August and September, and the lowest in January and December, but the
difference is only 1ft. 2in. The average highest spring tides were in March and
September, and the lowest in June and December, the difference being 1ft. 9in.
The average highest neaps occurred in June and July, and the lowest in March and
January, the difference in height being 2ft. lin.
Of the extreme high tides during the present century, out of twenty-two of which a
record has been kept, 6 occurred in October, 7 in February, 3 in March, and 2 each in
September, November and January.

APPENDIX VI

Table of Levels.
Datum taken as 100ft. below Ordnance datum, or the mean level of
Liverpool.
Estuary. Low water. Spring Tides..
,, Neap Tides ..
High water Mean
„ Ordinary Spring Tides
Tide of 1810..
,, Neap Tides ..
Sea Banks. Boston Haven.
Height of top, as ordered by Court of Sewers
Boston Dock Sill 
River Welland.
Gauge at Fossdyke Bridge..
River Witham.
Grand Sluice Sill 
, , New Lock
Bardney Lock
Bargate Weir..
Witham Banks as raised under the Act of 1864.
Bed of River at Lincoln
Surface of the Land — Bardney to Boston — -average
lowest in Nocton Fen and Potterhanworth Fen
Lincoln, at Brayford Mere
Lincoln, at Stamp End . .
Washingboro' Fens
Branston and Nocton Fens
Metheringham and Timberland
Lands above Chapel Hill
East and West Fens
Hobhole Sluice Sill 
Hobhole New Sill 
Maud Foster Sluice Sill 
Surface of Land in West Fen 

Surface of Land in East Fen
Black Sluice District.
Black Sluice Sill
Bourne Eau Overfall

Surface, of Fens between Helpringham and Rippingale
Bourne North Fen 
Bourne South Fen 

the sea at

Feet.

9010

9753

110-22

113-34

117-93

106-66

119-93

88-55

100 00

96-80
93-80 95-80
1210511780 95-80
107-30106- 10
11880
119601.09-80 106-80
105-8010680

9170
88-7095-30
103-80108-50 98-80
105-30

91-30
114-31106-55
108-30 105-60 108-8010759113-26

2 Appendix VI.
Court of Sewers' District. Feet.
Risegate Eau, new Outfall Sill in River Welland  9923
Five Towns Drain Sill  99-38
Kirton Outfall Sluice Sill  10480
Holbeach Outfall Sluice Sill  10275
Moulton Outfall Sluice Sill  10072
Surface of Land, Skirbeck Hundred  * Jno-00
Surface oi Land, Kirton Hundred  } 112 00
Surface of Land, South Holland, North of Roman Bank .. ^.. 112'50
Surface of Land, South Holland, South of Roman Bank .. * .. 10850
Deeping Fen.
Vernatt's Drain, Sill of Welland Sluice  9920
Pode Hole Sluice Sill  10250
Height of water when engines have to stop pumping . . . . . . 11236
Glen Sluice Sill at Welland (1879)  9975
Surface of Land in Fen. Low Fen  .. .. 10480
Average  . . 10600
High Fen  10840
Ordnance Bench Marks. Above the surface of
the ground.
Feet.
Boston Church tower  2-78 11974
Skirbeck „  242 11693
Fishtoft ,,  416 122-29
Freiston „   11846
Freiston, Marine Hotel  2-28 11324
Butterwick Church tower . . . . . . . . .  11480
Benington „   11552
Wrangle „   115-34
Friskney ,.  3.27 11585
Wainfleet „  I.57 117-06
Skegness ,,  3.43 111-38
Sutterton „  2-72 116-28
Algarkirk „  2'82 11588
WiRtoft , ••  2-45 116-26
Swineshead ,,  27S 121-50
Swineshead Bridge  3.85 llg.56
Fossdyke Church Tower  165 115-53
Baker's Bridge  " ,.42 114-58
Cut Bridge, mark below surface .. .. .. .. 250 115-57
Holbeach Church Tower  , 3-14 11855
£leet ••  .. 2-94 118-13
cedDeyot „„  4'23 12089
|u on |t- Mary  2.23 ne.u
?" 1 ^g! ,'J, ~  216 "6'73
Lincoln Minster — West Front  201 31771

APPENDIX VII.

BORINGS.

Boston. In the Market Place for Water, in 1746.

Made soil, sand and gravel
ClayStones, rubble and chalk
Clay with small hard stones
Clay and silt

For Well at Boston. Messrs. Tuxford & Co., 1828.

Below surface

ft.

in.

. 11

0

5

0

3

0

. 173

0

. 283

0

Made soil and silt
Hard earth and stones . .
Clay with stones
Clay with stones and shells

475

0

828.
Below surface.

ft,

in.

.. 24

0

.. 12

0

4

0

.. 532

0

572

0

Boston Dock! W. H. Wheeler, C.E., 1881. On the Marsh at side of the River.

100ft

Surface of land . .
Soft blue clay . .
Soft brown clay
Blue clay
Clay with peat .
Clay and shells
Sand and peat . .
Boulder clay . .

Level of surface
Clay and shells.,
Soft brown clay
Peat with trees
Yellow sand
Boulder clay . .

Boring near the Haven in Boston.

below Ordnance datum.
110-86
106-86 104-86 9986 95-86 92-86
91-86
90-36

110-50
102-50
101-50 88-50
87-5082-50

, The average depth of 10 borings gave the Boulder clay at 88-99, and of 4 ; borings
the peat at 9155. During the excavations a layer of blacu clay with cockle shells _ was
found at 98-' 86, and in one place at 8530 a large quantity of Septaria, some lit, in
diameter, embedded in black clay.

Appendix VII.
Near the Grand Sluice, Boston, 1882.
Surface Soft buttery clay
Peat .„
Sand .
Boulder clay . .
Boring continued in Boulder clay to
Witham Outfall. W. H. Wheeler, 1880.
Clay Hole, near Mouth of New Cut.
SurfaceSilt ..
Brown clay
Blue clay
Peat.. Sand . .
Boulder clay

Upper End of Cut.

SurfaceSilt ..
Soft sandy clay
Peat Soft clay
Stiff clay
Red sand
Boulder clay . .

110-80 89-80
88-80
84-80
69-80

106-50 9760 94-50
915090-509000

109-72
103-72 96-72 95-7294-72 93-22
92-72

At another boring in Clay Hole, the boulder clay was at the level of 81 00, and the
peat at 8300. Lade Bank. For East Fen Drainage Engines, 1867.
Warp and clay
Peat ..
Soft blue clay
Peat
Hard clay with chalk stones (Boulder clay) bored to
Southrey. (River Witham), 1868.
Peat Warp
Below this, hard blue clay with Ammonites, Belemnites and pieces of Selenite.
Donington. Boring for Water at the Vicarage, 1887.

Top soil and silt
Gravel Clay with chalk stones (Boulder clay ?)
Blue rock
Clay ..
RockClay ..
Rock
Clay with fetid vegetable matter (Bear's muck)

ft.

in.

4

0

0

6

3

0

0

6

30

0

ft.

in.

1

0

10

6

ft.

in.

25

0

0

6

154

6

4

0

4

0

11

0

13

0

16

0

35

0

263

0

Appendix VII.
Bourne. For Spalding Waterworks, 1893. Messrs. Isler & Co.

Fen beds —
Surface soil
Gravel Clay
Rock and shells
LimestoneGreat Oolite —
Blue and shelly clay
Hard blue rock
Blue clay . .
LimestoneVery hard rock
Green clay
Blue rock . .
Clay
Rock with Chalybeate water
Green and sandy clay . . . ,
Black clay and peat
Grey porous rock
Hard Oolite limestone (Lincolnshire Oolite)

ft. in.

ft. in.

3 6

10

3 0

2 0

 -
9 6
4 0
16 6
4 0
2 0
11 0
10
7 0
10
9 0
0 10
9 4
0 6

76 0
1 6
56 6
At 65ft. lOin. a spring of Chalybeate water was met with. At a depth of 100ft. the
yield of water was 1,300 gallons a minute, at 134ft. 3,473 gallons. The pipes were
13in. in diameter, and the pressue of the water lOlbs. on the square inch.
Skegness for Water.
Surface soil
Loamy clay
Black-brown mud
Brown clay with stones . .
Gravel Brown clay
Sand and gravel
Rockjchalk with salt water
Rock chalk, dry
Dry red marl
Green sand
Loamy green sand
Light clay
Blue clay
Sand stone
ft. in
-•¦ i;
2 0
.. 27 0
2 3
1 3
8 6
6 6
10 0
. 11 0
. 20 0
8 6
1 6
6 6
8 6
. 13 6
130 6
Bottom Clay. Yield of water through two pipes, 6in! in diameter, about 60 gallons
a minute and overflow about 1ft. above the surface. The water rises from the lower
portion of the upper Green sand.
Woodhall, 1828,
Gravel and Boulder clay
Kimmeridge and Oxford clay
Kelloway rocks, blue clay, combrash, &c.
Great Oolite
Lincolnshire Oolite
ft. in.
10 0
350 0
140 0
380 0
Appendix VII.
Lincoln. Sewerage Works. Opposite St. Mary's Church.

Surface of road
Made soil
Concreted stones (supposed Roman road)
Mud and sand

ft. in.
0 9
4 0
2 0
6 0

Lincoln. Opposite Mr. Walker's Shop.

Surface of road
Rough, stony made soil
Stones, laid inclining
Sandy clay
Silt..Soft muddy soil
Sand ..
Blue lias

ft. in,
3 0
0 6
0 0
1 0
2 6
17 0

Lincoln. Near St. Botolph's Church.

Surface of road
Made soil
Concreted stones (Roman Road)
Rough made soil
Ashes, &c.
Peaty mud
Red sand
Blue lias clay

ft.

in

1

3

1

3

0

8

1

3

0

3

0

9

8

0

Near the Midland Railway the stones forming the old Roman Road were met
with, covered over with about 5ft. of made ground.

APPENDIX VIII.
Court of Sewers.

Sewers and Sea Banks

Abstract of the Verdict of the Jury of 1862.
The following is a list of the sewers and sea banks contained in the Verdict of
the Jury of 1862. The position of the sewers and the names of the Owners fronting the
same is given with much detail in the Verdict ; and reference is also made to certain
letters and numbers on the plans of the several parishes.
In the following list the description is made as short as possible, and only sufficient
to indicate the general position of the several sewers.
The sea banks in all the parishes are directed to be maintained 2ft. above the level
of the high water mark of the great tide of the 10th of November, 1810. This makes
the top 659ft. above the level of high water of an ordinary spring tide, or 1993 above
Ordnance datum. After the great tide of 1810 the banks were raised and level stones
placed at the foot of the bank in each parish, the height of the top of the bank being
marked on them, and this height is also given in the Verdict.
Boston East.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. A brick sewer from the Frith Bank road, near the crossing of the East Lincoln
shire Railway and running at the back of Witham Green and Norfolk Place, along the
Sluice Lane to Maud Foster Drain. The diameter of the culvert is not given.
2. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from the north side of Fowler's Row and
joining the sewer in Siuice Lane.
3. A brick sewer (dimensions not given) from the ' Deal Yard Gateway,' near the
back of the premises of the Wesleyan Chapel and running to the sewer in Sluice Lane.
The part at the back of the Wesleyan Chapel premises has to be repaired by the Chapel
Trustees. 4. A brick sewer, 2ft. in diameter, from the north end of Silver Street, under Bar-
gate Green to Maud Foster Drain, on the south side of Bargate Bridge.
5. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from the north side of Bargate, across the
Green, to No. 4.
6. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from the north-end of Corpus Christi Lane to
No. 4.
7. A brick sewer, 18in in diameter, running from Trundle Gowt, at the north east
end of Wide Bargate, to sewer No. 4.
There are 11 public tunnels which have to be maintained by the Dykereeves.
The Gowts under the charge of the Dykereeves are : —
Dipple Gowt  4ft. 8in. waterway.
St. John's Gowt  4ft. 8in.
Trundle Gowt  3ft. 9in.

2 Appendix VIII.
The sea bank was presented to be 2ft. above the stone, and as being divided into
45 sections, repairable by the Owners of various plots ofland. As a great portion of the
bank has been superseded by the dock works and as otherparts form public streets, the
liability of these Owners is of little effect now.
The area of land in this parish liable to the Dykereeve rate is 526 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From tunnel in North Gowt Lane to Maud Foster Drain at Trundle Gowt, at
the junction of Horncastle Road, with the north-west end of Bargate, passing along
Hob Lane, Horncastle Road, High Hills, Robin Hood's Walk and Sluice Lane (Norfolk
Street ) At the upper end to be 7ft. at the top, 2ft. at the bottom and 4ft. deep ; in
creasing to 9ft. top, 2ft. 6in. bottom, and 5ft. deep, the lower part being of brick
work, the dimensions of which are not given.
2. The Bar Ditch, from St. John's Gowt to Dipple Gowt in the River Witham
near the Grand Sluice, passing at the back of the Grammar School, the Town Hall and
the Peacock Hotel, under the Corn Exchange and the Red Lion Hotel Yard, and
crossing New Street, Red Lion Street and Chapel Street to Union Street, and thence
to the river. Where this sewer crosses any public road, it is repairable' by the Dyke
reeves. The whole of this sewer is now covered over, its minimum dimensions being
4ft. 4in. 3. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from a grate near Tully 's Court in Wormgate to
Dipple Gowt.
4. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from Wormgate, under Fountain Lane, to the
Bar Ditch in New Street.
5. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, running from the Churchyard, at the south end
of Wormgate, in a westerly direction to the Haven.
6. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from the Churchyard, near the west end of
the church, in a westerly direction to the Haven
7. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, in the Churchyard, from the north end of
Church Street and running in a westerly direction to the Haven.
8. A brick sewer, 18in. in diameter, from the east side of Church Street and run
ning to the Haven.
9. A brick sewer, 38in. in diameter, from the south-east side of the Market Place,
running in an easterly direction to the Bar Ditch.
10. A brick sewer, 3ft. in diameter, from the north-east corner of Pump Square,
passing down Main Ridge, Chape! Row and across the end of Caroline Court to Maud'.
Foster -Drain.
11. A sewer from the south-east corner of St. John's Churchyard to St. John's
Lane, and thence at the back of the Union Workhouse and the Dock Grain Warehouse
to Maud Foster. At the time of the Verdict this was an open sewer, but it has since
been converted into a brick sewer. Skirbeck,
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. From Green Lane (highway from Frith Bank Road to Maud Foster Drain) and
to the Frith Bank Drain, 2ft. bottom and 4ft. deep.
2. From Felland's Gate, in the Cemetery Lane, to the Sewer in Green Lane lift
bottom, 3ft. 6in. deep. ' *
3. From Burton Corner, running on the west side of the Main Road to the-
Junction Drain, bottom 2ft. to 3ft. wide, depth 4ft. to 5$ft.
4. From the south side of the Spilsby Road, near Toll Wise Lane along the west
side of that lane, 2ft. bottom," 4ft. deep. 8
5. From the west end of Freiston Low Road along the north" side of that road to
the sewer which crosses that road, 2ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.

Appendix VIII. 3
6. From the road leading to Fishtoft to the lane at King's Hill Pit, 2ft. bottom,
4Jft deep.
7. From the pits near the sea bank on the Fishtoft Road.
8. From Mount Bridge, along the Chnrch Road to Mand Foster Drain, 2Jft.
bottom, 4Jft- deep. The latter part of this sewer is repaired by the Frontagers.
Tliere are 34 public tunnels which have to be repaired by the Dykereeves.
The clow near Petter's Cross Bridge (now Bargate Bridge) and the tunnel extending
from Mand Foster Drain is to be maintained by the Dykereeves, except that portion of
the tunnel which passes under private lands, and there by the Frontagers.
The following culverts are also to be maintained by the Dykereeves, that at Frith
Bank Drain, 3ft. in diameter ; at the Junction Drain, 3ft. in diameter ; at Mand Foster
Drain lain., in diameter ; and one on the east side of the Drain, 2 Jft. in diameter.
The sea bank is to be mantained 5ft. above the level stone. From Miller's Stile at
the junction with Boston Parish to Ringle Horn in Fishtoft it is repairable by
tbe Frontagers, except that part fronting the Churchyard, the piece called the
Church Bank and the piece between the Corporation Marsh and Fishtoft, all of which
vere to be maintain^ by the Dykereeves.
The area of land in this Parish subject to the Dykereeve rate is 2,423 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From High Hills on the Frith Bank Road, near Robin Hood's Walk, running
along the Frith Bank Road to its junction with the Green Lane leading to Maud
Faster Drain, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
2. From Robin Hood's Walk to the sewer in Felland's Gote, in Cemetery Lane,
l|ft. bottom, 3ft. 6in. deep.
3. From the Main Road from Boston to Spilsby to Maud Foster Drain, ljft.
bottom, 4ft. 6in. deep.
4. From Hospital Lane to Mand Foster Drain, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. 6in. deep.
5. From the sooth side of the Spilsby Road, nearly opposite Hospital Lane, to
Hand Foster at Bargate Bridge, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. 6in. deep. This sewer is now a
brick culvert
6. From Piper's Pit, near the river bank, between Corporation Point and Toft
Jetty, running east and then northwards to Cragg's Lane, along this lane, crossing the
Fishtoft Road and East Field Lane, Toothill Lane, Freiston Low Road to the end of
Toothill Lane, and thence in a westerly direction to Mand Foster Drain at
Bargate Bridge. The first part to have 2ft. 6in. bottom, and be 4ft. 6in. deep, and the
latter part 5ft. 6in. deep.
7. From the boundary of the Parish of Fishtoft, on the north side of the Highway
leading from Skirbeck, and to the sewer No. 6 at Cock Pit Hill, 2ft. 6in. bottom, 4ft.
Sin. deep.
S. From King's Hill Pit at the junction of Toothill Lane and East Field Lane,
along the last named lane and Toll Field Lane and thence westerly to Mand Foster
Drain at Bargate Bridge, £|ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
9 From Toothill Lane to No. 7 Sewer, -2|ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
Fishtoft.
Sewers maintained by the Dyiinzv;-.
L The Graft Drain, commencing at Short Field Lane, and ending at the Gowt, in
the river bank at Scotia Creek, 3Jft. to 4ft. bottom, 5ft. to 7ft. deep.
2. From Kyme Tower Lane, running easterly and then southerly and easterly
again, to the Graft Drain, 2ft. bottom, oft. deep.

4 Appendix VIII.
3. From the north side of the road leading from the church to England Gate
near Burnt Mill Hill, to^the .'Graft, 1ft. bottom, 3ift. deep.
4. From the east side of the road, running from the church to the Hawthorn Tree
in a south-easterly direction to the Graft. The first part of this sewer is to be main
tained by the Frontagers, 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
5. From Lettice Lane, running to the Graft, 24ft. bottom and 5ft. deep.
Part of this sewer is to be maintained by the Frontagers.
6. From the tunnel through the road leading to Lunn's Bridge to the Graft, ljft.
bottom, 4ft. deep.
7. From the south-east corner of the School Five Acres to a sewer, against lands
belonging to the Heirs of Edward Brown, 2ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep. Part of this is
maintained by the Frontagers.
8. From the tunnel through the road, leading from the church to Hobhole Bank,
to the sewer near Launderthorpe Hall, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep. Part of this is maintained
by the Frontagers.
9. From the west bank of Hobhole Drain against lands called the Thoroughfare,
to the tunnel through the road in South Field, 1ft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
10. From the south-west corner of the Thoroughfare, and to the Graft, l^ft.
bottom, 4ft. deep.
11. — From the tunnel through the road, leading from the sea bank to Hobhole
Drain, to Mill Field, and ending at the sewer against lands of Edward Brown, 2ft. to
3ft. bottom, 5Jft. deep. Part of this sewer is to be maintained by the parish.
12. From the north-east corner of Graft Field, to a sewer at the 30 acrecl ose of
Edward Brown, in the Sea Grounds, 2Jft. bottom 4Jft. deep.
13. From the south-west corner of lands in the Gayst Field, to a sewer against the
road leading to the Rosdyke, ljft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
14. From the tunnel through Mill Field Lane, to the sewer having the road
leading to Mill Field on the east, ljft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
15. From the south-west corner of lands belonging to Creasey's Heirs, to a tunnel
near lands belonging to the Corporation of Boston, ljft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
There are 36 tunnels and the clough of the Graft Drain to be maintained by the
Dykereeves, the latter having a 4ft. waterway. This is now closed and the drainage
diverted to Hobhole.
All the sea banks in the parish have to be maintained by the Dykereeves. The
height ofthe top is required to be 7ft. 9in. above the level stone.
The area of land in this parish subject to the Dykereeve Rate is 2,150 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the south bank of the Junction Drain to the Graft Drain, 2Jft. bottom
4Jft. deep.
2. From Hen Meat Lane, on the south side of the Wainfleet Road, to the Graft
Drain, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
3. From the east side of the road leading from the church to the Hawthorn Tree
and running in a north-easterly direction across the Wainfleet Road to the sewer from
Kyme Tower Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
4. From the road, leading from the church to England Gate, to the Graft, 1ft.
bottom, 4ft. deep,
5. From the same road to the Graft, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
6. From the south side of lands belonging to Nicholas North, to the Graft 2ft
bottom, 4Jft. deep. "

Appendix VIII. 5
7, From the tunnel through the road leading from the church to Lunn's Bridge,
and ending at a sewer against lands of Six Poor Widows' of Boston, 2ft. bottom, 5Jft.deep.
8. From the west bank of Hobhole Drain to the south-east end of lands belonging
to Sleaford School, called Bendlam, to the Graft, 3ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
9. From the tunnel, leading from the church to the sea bank, to the Graft, 2ft.
bottom, 5Jft. deep.
10. From the west side of the Thoroughfare to the Graft, against the lands of the
Six Poor Widows, 2ft. bottom, 4Jft, deep.
11. From the west bank of Hobhole near the sea bank, to the Gowt, 3ft. bottom
Gift, deep,
12. From north-west corner of lands belonging to the Dean and Chapter of West
minster, to the culvert through the east bank of Hobhole Drain, 3Jft. bottom, SJft.deep.
18. From the sea bank to lands of the Heirs of Edward Brown, 2jft. bottom,
4Jft. deep,
14. From the east end of Back Hurn to a sewer against lands in Freiston, 2Jft.
bottom, 4ft. deep. Sewers maintained by the Witham Commissioners.
1. A sewer at the south-west corner of lands belonging to S. H. J ebb, and ending
at a sewer against lands in Mill Field, 18in bottom, 4Jft. deep.
2. A sewer commencing at the north-west corner of Creasey's Seven Acres,
adjoining the east side of Hobhole Drain and ending at the culvert through the east
bank of Hobhole Drain, 2ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
Fishtoft Hundred.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. From lands of John Williamson's heirs, to the south-west bank of the Junction
Drain, against Willoughby Hills Road, ljft, bottom, 4Jft. deep.
2. From the east side of lands belonging to Burnett, to a sewer on the west side
of Willoughby Hills Road, ljft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
8. From the south-west corner of lands belonging to the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster, to a tunnel called Pis Gowt, ljft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
4. From the tunnel through the west end of Ing Dike Bank, to the tunnel through
the south bank of New Dyke Drain, 1ft. bottom, SJft. deep.
5. Dyke Drain, commencing at the tunnel, at the west corner of lands belonging
to Bellamy's heirs, and ending at the drain on the west side of Hill Dyke Bank, 5ft.
bottom, 6ft. deep.
There are eight tunnels which have to be maintained by the Dykereeves, including
the New Dyke through the main road leading to Spilsby, with 3Jft. waterway.
The area of land in this Hundred which is subject to the Dykereeve rate is 961
acres. Freiston.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. The Graft, beginning at the side of the Old Gowt, through the Sea Bank, and
ending at the east side of Hobhole, in Meerholm, 4ft. bottom, 6Jft. to 6Jft. deep.
2. The Graft, branching out of No. 1, and ending at the east bank of Hobhole
Drain, 8Jft. bottom, and 7ft. deep.
8. From the road called Salter's Gate to Hobhole Drain, 2Jft. bottom, 6ft. deep.
Part of this is maintained by the Frontagers.

6 Appendix VIII.
4. From the tunnel through Swine Stye Road to Hobhole Drain, 2ft. bottom and
4ft. deep. 5. From the north-west corner of lands of John Crust, on the south side of Salter's
Gate to Hobhole Drain. 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
6. From lands of Thomas Plant on the Wainfleet Road to a sewer on lands of
Thorold, ljft. to 2ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
7. From the east bank of Hobhole Drain to the Graft, against the tunnel at
Wyson Meer, ljft. to 2ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
8. From Crane Hill to lands of John Hayes. 1ft. bottom. 3Jft. deep.
9. From lands belonging to Thomas Hopkins' Heirs, to the New Road at Crane
Hill, 1ft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
10. From Grove Field to the tunnel through the road at the south-end of the
same field, ljft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
11. From a sewer in the parish of Butterwick South, near Tamworth Green, to
the Graft, 2Jft. to 3ft. bottom, 5ft. ,deep. The first part of this sewer in maintain
able by the Frontagers.
12. From Twenty Acres in North Honey Toft to the tunnel through the road near
the Silver Pits and Scrane End Mill, 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
13. From the Occupation Road in West Field to a Sewer near the Graft, 1ft.
bottom, 3Jft. deep.
14. From Rustick to the Graft, crossing the road leading from the Scrane End to
a farm belonging to John Sharp, 2ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
15. From the west-end of Green Dyke Bank to the Graft, 2ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
16. From the tunnel through the road leading from Scrane End Mill, to the
tunnel through the road leading to Barney Gate, 1ft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
There are 42 public tunnels maintainable by the Dykereeves, and five culverts
through Hobhole Bank.
The Verdict states that the sea bank extending from Fishtoft to Butterwick
Hundred is to be maintained at the expense of the Owners whose names are given in
the same, and that boundary posts shall be set down marking each lot, the propor
tion being 5Jft. of bank for every acre of land. Since this Verdict an order has been
made by the Court of Sewers that the bank shall be repaired by the Dykereeves and
the cost paid out of the rate. The top of the bank is to be 9ft. llin. above the stone posts.
The area of land in this parish subject to the Dykereeve rate is 2,131 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From near the Castle Inn at Haltoft End to Hobhole Drain, ljft. bottom,
3Jft. deep.
2. From the tunnel in Fox Hole Lane, to the tunnel through the road, leading
from Haltoft End to the church, ljft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
3. From the tunnel through the road leading from Haltoft End to the church,
and ending at the Graft, 2ft. to 2Jft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
4. From the tunnel through the road leading from the church to Scrane End
Mill, to the Graft in the Fleet, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
5. From the south-west corner of lands belonging to John Buffham, on the south
side of the occupation road to the Graft, 1ft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
6. From the south-east end of a ditch on lands of Col. Linton to the Graft, passing
along the east side of a road leading from the church to the Scrane End, 2Jft. bottom
5ft. deep.

Appendix VIIL f
. 7, From a sewer in the parish of Butterwick, at a place called Lady Coats, to the
iunnel through the road leading to the church at Scrane End Mill, 2Jft. bottom and
4ft- deep.
8. From Mackling to the Graft, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft, deep.
9. From Weddersdam to the Graft, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep
10 From the north-east corner of lands belonging to Sylvester Tylson, to the
Graft, 18in. to 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
11. From the south-east corner of the house pasture of Plummer's Hotel, to the
§ite of the Old Gowt in the sea bank, 3ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
12. From east side of Brown's Lane to the Graft, into Brampton Lane, ljft.
bottom, 3Jft. deep.
Butterwick North.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. The Graft Drain, from a tunnel through the highway leading from Spittal Hill
to the church, to the Ings Drain, 3ft. to 3Jft. bottom, 6Jft. deep.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From a tunnel, under the Low Road from Boston to Wainfleet, to the Main
Drain, 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
2. From the north-west corner of lands belonging to Jonathan Johnson, to the
tunnel through the road leading to Butterwick Hills, 1ft. to 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
Part of this sewer is maintainable by the Frontagers.
3. From Butterwick Hills Road to the Graft, 18in. to 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the tunnel under the Low Road from Boston to Wainfleet, to the Main
Drain, 2jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
2. From the road at Poison Hills to the Graft, 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
3. From the Ings Bank to the last sewer, 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
Nine tunnels are to be maintained by the Dykereeves in Butterwick North.
Area of land subject to Dykereeve Rate, 783 acres.
Butterwick South.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. The Graft Drain, from the tunnel through the lane leading from the church to
the sea, at the sea bank, to the tunnel through the road from Spittal Hill to the church,
3ft. bottom, 6ft. deep.
2. From Benington Doors to the Graft, 1ft. to 2ft. bottom, 4ftJ. deep.
3: From the west corner of lands belonging to Rev. E. S. Brooks, to the tunnel
through the low road from Boston to Wainfleet, 18in. bottom, 4ft. deep.
4. From a tunnel through the Rampart near the pound, to the Graft, 2Jft. to 3ft.
bottom, 5ft. deep. Part of this sewer is maintainable by the Frontagers.
5. From the end of Cole Gate Road to the road leading from Freiston church to
the Scrane End, 2Jft. to 3ft. bottom, 7ft. deep. Part of this is maintainable by the
frontagers. 6. From the tunnel through Coney Garth Lane to the west end of Wolves' Acre'
2£ft. bottom, 4jft. deep.  ._ ... „

g Appendix VIII.
7. From the north side of lands belonging to Benjamin West Smith to the Main
Drain, 18in. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
8 From the south-west corner of lands belonging to the poor of Freiston to a
sewer in Freiston, at Tamworth Green, ljft. to 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
9 From the west side of Butterwick Holt to a tunnel through the road leading
from Freiston church to Butterwick school, ljft. to 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
10 From the south- west corner of lands belonging to Thomas Parnham to the tun
nel through the land leading from the church to the sea bank, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
11. From Butterwick Holt to the boundary between Freiston and Butterwick,
ljft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
12. From the south-east corner of lands belonging to Joseph Day, to the sewer on
the north-west side of sea bank, ljft. to 2ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
13. From the south-east corner of Lady Coates to 'a. sewer at the north-east
corner of Lady Coates, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the tunnel through the Overgote, at the north side of the Anchor Inn.
to the parish of Benington, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
2. From Benington Doors to the Graft, ljft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
3. From a road leadingjfrom Spittal Hill to the church to the Graft, 2ft. bottom,
4ft. deep. 4. From the north-west corner of lands belonging to Stephen Hudson, to the
tunnel through the G&rril Dale Road, ljft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
5. From Gorril Dale to the sewer on the south side of Coney Garth Road, ljft.
to 2ft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
6. From the north-east corner of Polar to a sewer in Gorril Dale, ljft. bottom,
3Jft. deep.
7. From the north-west corner of lands of John Buffham, to the sewer at Far
Side Dale, ljft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
8. From the road at Swaybutt Hill to the north-west corner of lands of Thomas
Mitchell, ljft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
9. From Moss Dale to the sewer on the north-west side of the sea bank, 2ft,
bottom, 5ft. deep.
10. From the tunnel through the south end of Hasty Gate to the tunnel through
the road leading from the church to the sea, ljft. to 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
11. From Colegate Road to the tunnel through Broadgate Road, ljft. bottom,
3Jft. deep.
12. From the road from Peachey Hall to the Tuns at the shore, to the sewer on
the north-west side of the sea bank, 2Jft. wide, 4Jft. deep.
13. From Barney Gate Road to a sewer at Long New Dyke, ljft. bottom, 3Jft.
deep. 14. From the road leading from Peachey Hall to the Tuns at the shore, to the
sewer in the Furlongs, ljft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
15. From the south-west of lands of Benjamin West Smith to the sewer in the
parish of Freiston, ljft. to 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
There are 36 Tunnels maintainable by the Dykereeves.
The sea bank is maintainable by the Dykereeves for Butterwick, North and South,
and Butterwick Hundred, extending from the Blue Stone in the sea bank of Freiston,

Appendix VIII. <>¦
to the south-west end of the sea bank in Benington. The top to be 9ft. lin. above the
level stone.
The Dykereeves also have to repair the gowt through the sea bank in Butterwick
Hundred, having a 3Jft, waterway, and the Outfall thereof to the sea.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve Rate is 1480 acres.
Benington.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. From Cockwook, near the Old Sea Bank, to the tunnel through the highway
leading from the church to the Ings, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
2. From north corner of lands belonging to the Rector of Horbling to the tunnel
through Sea Bank Lane, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
3, From the east side of Wrangle 20 Acre Close to the sewer adjoining the parish
of Leverton, ljft, bottom, 6ft. deep.
i. From the highway leading from Black's House to the sea, ending at lands be
longing to Daniel Waldegrave, 2ft. to 8ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
6, From the north side of lands of Waldegrave in the Fourth District to the
tunnel through Double Bank, 4ft. bottom, 6ft. deep,
6, From the tunnel at the water flash called the Gold, near tbe sea bank, to the
tunnel through the Sea End Lane, 3ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
7, From the south-east corner of Mrs. Moscript's lands, to the tunnel through
Sea End Lane, ljft. bottom. 4ft. deep.
8. From the south-east corner of lands belonging to Shelley Pennel, near the old
sea bank, to the tunnel at Ings Bank, 3ft. to 4ft. bottom, 6Jft. deep.
9, From the sewer in the parish of Butterwick, to the tunnel through the road
leading from the Sea End to the church, ljft to 2ft. bottom, 5Jft. deep. Part of this is
maintained by the Frontagers.
10, From the north-west corner of lands of John Hodgson, to the tunnel through
the low road from Boston to Wainfleet, 1ft. to 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
11, From Boston and Wainfleet high road, to Wainfleet low road, 2ft. bottom,
4ft. deep, 12. From the north-east corner of lands of William Needham, to the sewer near
Second Pits, ljft. to 2Jft. bottom, 6ft. deep.
18. From the north-east corner of lands belonging to John Hodgson, to the
tunnel through Wainfleet Low Road, ljft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
14. From the north-west corner of lands of John Adlard, to the New Drain, run
ning on the south side of the road from the Ings to the church, ljft. to 2ft. bottom,
4ft. deep. 15. From the tunnel through the road from the church to the Ings, to the tunnel
through the Ings Lane, 3ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
There are 56 tunnels maintainable by the Dykereeves,
The sea bank, extending from Butterwick to Leverton, is maintained by the Dyke
reeves. The top is to be kept 6ft. above the level stone.
The area ofland subject to the Dykereeve Rate is 1,603 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the south-west corner of lands belonging to George White, and ending at
the tunnel through the Sea End Lane, 2ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
2. From the south-west corner of Second Pits to Hyle's Croft Tunnel, 3ft. bot
tom, 6ft. deep.

I0 Appendix VIII.
Leverton.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. From the south-east corner of lands of Thomas Tennant, near the sea bank, to
the lugs Drain, 3Jft. to 4Jft. bottom, 5Jft. deep.
2. From the south to the ncrth side of the Churchyard, 3Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
3. From the north-east corner of lands of Richard Cammack to the sewer against
lands of Rev. C. Lindsay, ljft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
4. From the Outgate Lane to the tunnel through Highgate Lane, 2Jft. bottom,
4Jft. deep.
5. From the north-east corner of lands of Lady Ann Hill to the tunnel in the Main
Drain near Outgate Lane, 18in. bottom, 3Jft. to 4Jft. deep. Part of this sewer is
maintained by the Frontagers.
6 From the tunnel through Lucky Gote Road to the tunnel in the Main Drain,
near Highgate Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep. Part of this sewer is maintained
by the Frontagers.
7. From lands belonging to John Woodward to the tunnel through Sheep Gote
Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
There are 46 public tunnels maintainable by the Dykereeves.
The sea bank from Benington to the Overgote, between the Parishes of Lsake and.
Leverton, has to be maintained by the Dykereeves. The top to be 7ft. 5in. above the
'level stone.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve Rate is 1,535 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the Marsh Bank Road to the Main Drain, 3ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
2. From a tunnel through the road at Leverton Out End to a tunnel through the
¦ end ofthe same road, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
3. From a tunnel at the west end of Long Bank to a tunnel in the Main Drain,
:2ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
4. From the north-east corner of lands of the Poor of Leverton to the Main Drain
¦ at Scurvy Neck, 2ft. to 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
5. From land belonging to Wrangle's Heirs to the tunnel in the Main Drain in
Highgate Lane, 2jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
6. From the south-east corner of lands of Wranglt's Heirs, to the public sewer
No. 6, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
7. From the north corner of lands of Thomas Tennant, to the tunnel through the
¦occupation road leading to Ewerby's Field, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
8. From lands of Joseph Winter Dawson, to Highgate Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft.deep.
9. From Towdyke to the Main Drain, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
10. From the tunnel through Sheep Gote Lane, to another tunnel through the
•same lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
11. From one sewer to another sewer under the control ofthe Fourth District
Commissioners, running on the south and west sides of Little Mere Bank, 2ft. bottom,
4Jft. deep.
12. From the lane leading from the Rampart, to Jenkin Lane, to the tunnel
-through the road leading to Little Mere Bank, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
13: From the east corner of lands of Thomas Tennant, to the Main Drain, lift-
bottom, 3Jft. to 4Jft. deep.

Appendix VIII. n
Leake.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. From Dickendale Tunnel to the Gride Bridge, 3ft. to 5ft. bottom, 5ft. to 7ft.
deep. 2. From the tunnel through Pannier Lid Lane, to Font Bridge, 2ft. to 3ft. bottom,
5ft. deep. 3. From the Sea Dyke Road, to Snail's Horn Tunnel, 2ft. to 3ft. bottom, 5ft. to
6ft, deep. 4. From lands of William Atkinson, on the south side of the road from Boston to
Wainfleet, to the Main Drain, 2Jft. to 3ft. bottom, 5ft. to 7ft. deep. Part of this is
maintained by the Frontagers.
5. From the tunnel though Clovergate, to Pode Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. to 4Jft.
deep. Part of this sewer is maintained by the Frontagers.
6. From the north-east corner of lands of William Walker, to the east side of lands
of Mrs. Eno, running partly along the south side of the main road from Boston to
Wainfleet, 2Jft. bottom, 6ft. deep.
7. From the north-west corner of and along lands of William Welsh, 2ft. bottom,
6ft. deep.8. From the tunnel through the west end of Catharine Bridge Lane, to the
said bridge, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
9. From the tunnel through Sea Field Lane, to Dickendale tunnel, 2ft. to 2Jft.
bottom, 4ft. to 5ft. deep. Part of this sewer is maintained by the Frontagers.
10, From Edward Oldfield's garden corner, to south-east corner of lands of
Thomas Hayward, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
11. From south-west corner of lands of Charles Brookes, to Dickendale Tunnel,
2ft. to 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep. Part of this Sewer is maintained by the Frontagers.
12. From the Sea Dyke, to the south-west corner of lands of William Evison,
2ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
13. From the north-west corner of lands of the Quaker Society, to the sewer on
the Sea Field, 1ft. bottom, 3Jft. to 5Jft. deep.
There are 63 tunnels maintainable by the Dykereeves.
The sea bank, extending from the Overgote between Benington and Leake, to the
Overgote between Leake and Wrangle, is to be maintained by the Dykereeves, the
top to be 6ft. 2in. above the level stone.
The Pullover across the sea bank between Leake and Wrangle is to be maintained
jointly by the Dykereeves of the two parishes.
The area of land subject to the Dj kereeve rate is 2,575 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the south-west corner of lands, to the sewer in Celly Ground, 2ft. to 3ft.
Bottom, 6ft. deep.
2. From the north-east corner of Hodge Gowt Three Acres, on the south side of
Wickening Lan3, to Font Bridge, 3ft. bottom, 6ft. deep.
3. From the tunnel, through the road leading from the church to Fold Hill, to
the main Drain, 2fjt. bottom, 4Jft. to 5ft. deep.
4. From the north-west corner of Saul's Common, to the tunnel through the
north-west corner of Pode Lane, against Roggy Warth, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
5. From the north-east corner of lands of 'William Staniland, to the tunnel
through the South End Lane, 1ft. to 2Jft. bottom, 3Jft. to 4Jft. deep.

12 Appendix.
6. From the south-west corner of lands of Rev. J. Wayet, to the tunnel in Shaw's
Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
7. From the tunnel through Leake Field Lane, to Dickendale Sewer, 2Jft. bottom,
4Jft. deep.
8. From the tunnel through Sea Field Lane, on the north side of the occupation
road, to the tunnel at the north-east end of the said lane, 2ft. bottom, 5ft. deep
Wrangle.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. From the tunnel through the main road from Boston to Wainfleet, to the
north-east corner of lands of Wilks and Powell, 3ft. bottom, 4ft. to 5ft. deep.
2. From lands of George Gilson to the boundary of the Fourth District, and
running part of the way along the south side of the main road, from Boston to Wain
fleet, 2Jft. to 3ft. bottom, 4Jft. to 5ft. deep. Part of this sewer is maintained by the
Frontagers. 3. From the tunnel through Greeney Gote Lane, to the tunnel through Soulby
Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep.
4. From the north-west end of lands of Robt. Chapman, to the Wash Dyke Tunnel
2Jft. to 5ft. bottom, 4ft. to 6ft. deep. Part of this sewer is maintained by the
Frontagers. 5. From the Market Road, near the White Horse Inn, to the tunnel through
Hair Cap Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep. Part of this sewer is maintained by the
Frontagers. 6. From the south-west of lands of the Corporation of Boston, to the south end
of Thoroughfare Lane, 2ft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
7. From Workhouse Lane, to Gowt Bank Tunnel, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
8. From the tunnel through Low Lane, to the sewer under the jurisdiction ofthe
Fourth District Commissioners, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
9. From the south-east corner of lands of William Cowham, on the south side of
Low Lane, to a sewer belonging to the Fourth District, 3ft. bottom, 4ft. deep
10. From the Old Hawes Common, to the tunnel through the lane, 3ft. bottom,
4ft. deep. 11. From the north-west corner of lands of Charles Swain, to a tunnel through
a lane against Old Hawes Common, 3ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
There are 23 public tunnels which are maintained by the Dykereeves.
The sea bank from the Overgote between Leake and Wrangle to Friskney is
ordered' to be repaired by the Frontagers. The top to be 7ft. above the level stone.
Three gowts in the sea banks are to be maintained by the Owners of the land
which they adjoin, each having a 3ft. waterway.
The Pullover is to be maintained jointly by the Dykereeves of Leake and Wrangle.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve rate is 1,126 acres.
Sewer maintained by Frontagers.
tv ^1- Fr°matunne' 'h/ough the Old Hawes Lane to the boundary of the Fourth
District, 2Jft. bottom, 4Jft. deep. Friskney.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves,
Drain. 2Jft°To 3jl bottom* «t° ftft~ ^ *" ^^ ^^ *»* ^^

Appendix VIII. ,,
2. From the tunnel at Suckling Gote, to the Hiddike Sewer, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
8, From the south-east corner of lands of Thomas Johnson, to south-east corner
of lands of George Parker, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
4. From the tunnel through the Lowgate Road, near the site of the old engine
to the tunnel through Hallgarth Hall Road into the Fourth District, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep'
5, From lands of Sir J. Lake to the Fourth District Sewer, ljft. to 3ft. bottom,
8Jft, to 4ft. deep.
6, From the south-west corner of lands of Mrs. Hinkley, to the tunnel through
the Lowgate Road, ljft. bottom, SJft. deep.
There are 11 public tunnels which have to be maintained by the Dykereeves.
The sea bank between Wrangle and Wainfleet has to be repaired by the Frontagers,
42 in number. The top to be 7ft. 3in, above the level stone.
Four sea gowts and their Outfalls to the sea have to be maintained by the Front
agers, and the Engine Gowt by the Dykereeves, each having 3ft. waterway.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve rate is 972 acres.
Sibsey.
Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves.
1, From the boundary of the Fourth District at Shottell's Farm, to the tunnel
through the main road from Boston to Spilsby, 3ft. bottom, 5ft. deep.
2. From the south-east corner of Little Field belonging to William Saul, to the
south-west corner of Cracrofts, 2Jft. to 4ft. bottom, 4Jft, to 7ft. deep. Part of this
sewer is maintained by the Frontagers.
8. From the tunnel though Little Sport Lane, to the Wardale Drain, 2Jft. bottom,
4ft. deep, Part of this sewer is maintained by the Frontagers.
4. From the tunnel through Little Sport Lane, to the south-west corner of Tilley
Willy, ljft. to 2Jft. bottom, 3Jft. to 4ft. deep. Part of this sewer is repaired by the
Frontagers, 5. Wardyke Drain from the west end of Moors Bank, to the west corner of lands
belonging to Mr. Drax, 4ft. to 5ft. bottom, 4ft. to 7ft. deep.
fl. From the tunnel through Ostler Lane, near the Vicarage, to Wardyke Drain,
ljft. to 8ft. bottom, SJft. to 4Jft. deep.
7. From the north-side of Potter's Close, to the tunnel through Ostler's Lane
8ft, bottom, 4Jft, deep.
8, From the north-east corner of lands belonging to Mells, to the south-east
corner of lands of Philip Meredith, ljft. bottom, 3Jft. deep.
9. From the tunnel through Ostler's Lane, to the sewer adjoining the Moors, 2Jft.
bottom, 4ft. deep. Part of this is maintained by the Frontagers.
10, From the tunnel through the main road from Boston to Spilsby, to the Chapel
Sewer, 2ft. bottom, 4ft. deep.
11. From the south side of lands of Henry Butler Pacey, to the Wardyke Drain,
2jft, to 8ft. bottom, 4Jft. deep. Part of this is maintained by the Frontagers.
12. From the north-east corner of Northlands Field, to a sewer in the Fourth
District, ljft. to 2ft, bottom, SJft. to 4ft. deep. Part of this is maintained by the
Frontagers. 18. From the north-west corner of lands in the Northland Field to the West Fen,
ljft. bottom, 8Jft. deep.
14, From the south-west corner of lands of William Upton, to the tunne
through Little Moors Road, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep.

T4 Appendix VIII.
15 From the north-west corner of old inclosed lands of Mr. Drax, adjoining the
main road, and ending in the West Fen at Little Moors, ljft. to 2Jft. bottom, 3Jft. to
4ft. deep. Part of this is repaired by the Frontagers.
16. From the south-west corner of Mill Field adjoining Set Close, to the tunnel
through Hale Lane, ljft. bottom, 4ft. deep. Part of this is maintained by the
Frontagers. 17. From the south-west corner of lands of Henry Butler Pacey, to the tunnel
through Hall Lane, 2Jft. bottom, 4ft. deep. Part of this is maintained by the
Frontagers. 18. The Maze Sewer, from the south-west corner of lands belonging to Sills
Heirs to the West Fen at Hale Gate.. 2Jft. to 3ft. bottom, 4ft. to 4Jft. deep. Part of this
is maintained by the Frontagers.
19. From the north-west corner of the Four Acre Close to the Maze Sewer, ljft.
bottom, 4ft. deep.
20. From the west side of lands of Sills' Heirs, to the Maze Sewer, ljft. to 2ft.
bottom, 4ft. deep.
There are 31 public tunnels which the Dykereeves have to maintain.
The area of land chargeable to the Dykereeve Rate in this parish is 1,868 acres.
Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. From the tunnel through the main road from Boston to Spilsby, to Wardike
Drain, 2Jft. to 3ft. bottom, 4Jft. to 5ft. deep.
2. From the tunnel throngh Holland Balk Road, to the south-east corner of lands
of Thomas Hubbert, on the west side of the main road from Boston to Spilsby, 2ft.
bottom, 4ft. deep.
KIRTON WAPENTAKE.
Boston West.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve Rate in this parish is not given. The
rateable property includes houses and buildings.
The Dykereeves in this parish have to maintain a Petty Sewer, running from
Pulvertoft Lane to the tunnel in the Haven, and the tunnel and door.
The sea bank, from the Grand Sluice to Skirbeck Quarter, has to be maintained by
the owners of lands in the parish, which are described in the Verdict, and it was ordered
that boundary posts should be set down at the south end of each length, the number of
portions being 56. The top of the bank to be 9ft. 4in. above the top of the level stone
in Skirbeck Quarter. Skirbeck Quarter.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve Rate in this parish, exclusive of the 45
acres which pay to Wyberton, is 563a. 3r. 8p.
The Sewers maintained by the Dykereeves are as follows :
1. From Butcher Lane, to the South Forty Foot, with 3ft. bottom.
2. From a tunnel under the lane leading out of the low road to Wyberton, at the back
of Rowell Row, thence through a tunnel under the main road to Spalding near a house
belonging to John Wadsley, (now Oldman,) to the South Forty Foot. This sewer is
tunneled over. The last part of this sewer is maintained by the Black Sluice
Commissioners, 3ft. bottom.
There are 13 public tunnels which have to be maintained by the Dykereeves and a
' cloot ' in a division ditch near the sea bank.
m Jhere *re ««?<* °* lanJT'n1 this hamlet called Loate's Plot, which drain into
Wyberton Town Drain, and pay Dykereeve Rate to Wyberton, and so drain in accor
dance with a Law of Sewers, made October 22nd, 1754.

Appendix VIII. 15
The sea bank was presented as having to be maintained by the owners of certain
lands, which are described in the Verdict, and it was ordered that boundary posts
should be fixed at the end of each length, the number of such lengths being 17. The
top of the bank is to be maintained 9ft. 4in. above the level stone.
Petty Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
Each to have 3ft. bottom and brick tunnels under the gateways.
1. The Gravel Cut from a tunnel under the main'road to Spalding, running on the
north-west side of the road across Gibbet Lane to the Town's Drain at the Gravel Cut
now tunnelled over.
2. From the south-east corner of lands of Sheriff Potter, near the sea bank, to the
Town's Drain.
3. A branch of the last sewer, commencing at the north-east corner of lands of
Joseph Osborn, west of Middlecote Charity, to the sewer No 2.
4. From the west side of the lane leading to Wyberton to the west side of an
occupation road leading to Wyberton, near lands of Laughton's Charity, and thence to
the Town's Drain.
5. From the north-west end of a lane leading to a pasture belonging to Francis Robin
son's Heirs, passing through a culvert under the Great Northern Railway, and so to the
last mentioned sewer.
6. From the north-east corner of a pasture belonging to Henry Clarke's Trustees,
to the Town's Drain.
Wyberton.
The public sewers, tunnels and cloots in the parish have to be maintained out of
the Dykereeve Rates of the parish, and also from 45 acres of land in Skirbeck Quarter
and 363 acres in Frampton, according to a law of sewers made in 1754.
The area of land in Wyberton, subject to Dykereeve Rate is 2,087a. Or. 6p. The
public sewer under the charge of the Dykereeves, called the Town's Drain, extends
from the Hammond Beck, past the church, to Slippery Gowt.
The Dykereeves have to maintain a clow at Hammond Beck ; a clow in a petty
sewer near Slippery Gowt ; a clow in the Town's Drain near Slippery Gowt ; the clow
called SlipperyGowt ; eight bridges, viz., over the Town's Drain in Butcher's Lane, under
Titton Lane, under the main road at the old milestone, at the Church Pit, near the
Double Roofed House, at Well Slade, at Spring Pits, and at Older Pits, each 8ft.
wide ; and 36 public tunnels. 14 cloots or dams have to be maintained by the lands in
Skirbeck Quarter and Frampton only. These are to be of sufficient height to prevent
the waters in Frampton and Skirbeck Quarter from falling on the Parish of Wyberton
and vice versd. 20 cloots or dams are maintained by the whole district.
The Wear Bank, being part of the highway leading from the corner of the marsh,
belonging to Richard Thorold, and a lane leading from the highway near Frampton
Church to the Mill Field Lane, to be maintained of sufficient height and thickness to
prevent any other lands in the Parish of Wyberton from draining by Wyberton Sea
Gowt. The Great Northern Railway Company have to maintain the following culverts
under the railways.
The Town's Drain Culvert  Waterway 6ft.
A Petty Sewer near Tytton Hall  .. 4Jft-
A branch of the last Petty Sewer . . .... ,. 4Jft.
Between lands of John Pearson and John Robinson ,, 3Jft.
A Petty Sewer  •¦ .. 3ft-
The Owners of the land belonging to Doctor Doncaster's Heirs have to maintain
the culvert in the branch of the Petty Sewer under the occupation land leading to this
land, with a waterway of 4Jft.
The sea bank between Skirbeck Quarter and Frampton has to be maintained by
the Dykereeves. The top to be 7ft. 5Jin. above the level stone.

Appendix VIII.
Petty Sewers maintained by Frontagers.
1. Running between lands of Mrs. Susannah Claypon and John Hardwick Hall
way to a tunnel under the Hammond Beck.
2. From lands of Mrs. Claypon to the Town's Drain.
3. From lands of Mrs. Claypon, running northward into the Town's Drain.
4. From the Hammond Beck Bank into the Town's Drain.
5. From Five House Lane to the Town's Drain.
6. From Five Houses to the Town's Drain.
7. From lands of Christopher Robinson and William Popple to the West End
Road to the Town's Drain.
8. From the south side of West End Road to the Town's Drain.
9. From the main road to Spalding to the Town's Drain.
10. From a tunnel under the main road, running between lands of the Corporation
of Boston, to the Town's Drain.
11. From a tunnel under the main road, near lands of the Corporation of Boston,
along Titton Lane, to the Low Road from Boston to Wyberton, to the next mentioned
sewer. 12. From lands of John Pearson, to the east side of the lane leading to Slippery
Gowt, to the next mentioned sewer.
13. From the High Land Close in Slippery Gowt Lane to the Town's Drain.
14. From the division ditch between Skirbeck Quarter and Wyberton, near lands
ofthe Baptist Chapel Trustees, adjoining the sea bank, to the Town's Drain.
15. From lands of Eardley Norton to the Town Sewer.
16. From the sea bank near lands of Thomas Elkington, to the Town's Drain.
17. From the road near the sea bank, near lands of Richard Thorold, to the sea
bank. 18. The division ditch between Wyberton and Frampton, extending from the sea
bank to a road leading from Wyberton Church to Frampton, to a lane leading to
Frampton Church.
19. From the east side of Hurn Field, beginning at the division ditch, to Hurn
Lane to the Town's Drain.
20. From the division ditch to the Town's Drain.
21. From the division ditch, across Alder Pit Lane and Rowdyke Lane, to the
Town's Drain.
22. From the division ditch to the lane leading to Rowland Cross, to the Town's
Drain. 23. From the division ditch to the road leading to Rowland Cross, to the Town's
Drain. 24. From the division ditch, to Saunder Gate Road, and under the Causeway or
Milestone Lane, to the Town's Drain.
25. From lands of James Grant and the Rev. Martin Sheath's Trustees, near
baunder Gate Road, under the railway, to the last mentioned sewer.
. . '2f- ,From the division ditch, near lands of John Short and William Ellis West, to
join the last sewer at the Saunder Gate Road.
27. From the main road to Spalding, to join tbe last sewer at Saunder Gate Road"

Appendix VIII.
From lands of Martin Sheath's Trustees to the Town's Drain.

17

29. From a lane leading from the church to the Roads, and along the Low Road
to the Town's Drain.
30. From the Low Road leading to Boston to the Town's Drain.
31. From a tunnel under Mill Hill Lane, under Well Slade Lane, to the Town's
Drain.
Petty sewers in Frampton, maintained by Frontagers, the lands through which they run paying
Dykereeve Rates to Wyberton, for draining by Wyberton Sea Gowt and the Hammond Beck.
1. From a tunnel under a lane leading from Mill Field Lane into the division
ditch. 2. From a tunnel under Kyme Leys Lane to the division ditch.
3. From the last mentioned sewer to the division ditch.
4. From a tunnel under Kyme Leys Lane to the division ditch.
5. From the end of Eight Acre Gote Lane to the next mentioned sewer.
6. From a tunnel under Sea Bank Road to the division ditch.
Frampton.
The sea bank in this parish has to be maintained by the Dykereeves, the top to
be one inch above the level stone.
The Dykereeves have to maintain the Town's Drain, running from the Hammond
Beck to the Sea Gowt, and its Outfall to the sea ; also five clows through Hammond
Beck Bank, namely : —
1. At the beginning of the Town's Drain.
2. The lands of John Mastin.
3. Near lands of Richard Thorold.
4. Near lands of Magdalen College, called the demesnes of Multon Hall.
5. Near the sea bank.
The gowt, called the Sea Gowt, through the sea bank.
Four bridges over the Town's Drain, namely : —
1. Under the Donington Road, near the Spot Field.
2. Under the main road to Spalding, near the Mill Field Road.
3. Under the land leading from Hunwell Common.
4. Under the Sandholm Road, called the Old Man.
Forty-four public tunnels.
Three cloots or dams, with ' horses ' set thereon.
1. Near Walrus Lane.
2. Near the Crayle Eau.
3. Adjoining the Crayle Eau.
The Great Northern Railway Company have to maintain the following culverts
under the railway.
1. For the Town's Drain  with waterway 6ft.
2. For Petty Sewer  " 2iit-
3. For Petty Sewer, called Crayle Eau . . .. 2ift

18 Appendix VIII.
The following petty sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers, each with
3ft. bottom, proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course
ofthe water, with substantial tunnels through the gateways, with 2ft. waterway.
1. From the lands of Daniel Goose, running eastward on the south side of
Hammond Beck Bank, to the Town's Drain.
2. From a tunnel under Cow Gate Road, near the pond, running east to the
Town's Drain.
3. From lands of Daniel Goose, on the south side of Five Houses Warth Lane,
eastward to the Town's Drain.
4. From the south-west corner of lands of James Watson, called the Holmes, to
the Hammond Beck.
5. From a tunnel under Holmes Lane, running south to the Old Hammond,
Beck. 6. Crayle Eau, the division ditch between thisparish and Kirton, from thesouth-east
corner of Honey Holme Field, across the Donington Road, to Mill Hill, adjoining the
main road to Spalding, to the sewer to the next mentioned sewer.
7. From the Crayle Eau, northwards to Multon Hall Lane, and again joining
the Crayle Eau.
8. From a tunnel under Multon Hall Lane, eastward through clow No. 3, into
Hammond Beck.
9. From a tunnel under Multon Hall Lane, past the west end of Cuthbert Lane,
to the Hammond Beck.
10. From a, tunnel under the Donington Road, running north-west to Multon
Ings Lane, to the last mentioned sewer.
11, From Buck Hall to Multon Ings Lane, to the last mentioned sewer.
12. From Crayle Eau, under a lane leading to Self Green Hill to the Donington
Road to the north side of Multon Ings lane to Cuthbert Lane to clow No. 2 in the
Hammond Beck.
13. From lands of George Plumtree to Self Green Lane.
14. From Self Green Lane, along the south side of the Donington Road, to the
last sewer. 15. From the sewer No. 13, near lands of John Burkitt, to Self Green Lane, to the
Fleet and adjoining No. 13.
16. From a tunnel from the Fleet, along the east side of a lane to Cuthbert Lane,
to the Donington Road, to the Town's Drain.
17. From a tunnel under the road leading to the west end, southerly along
east side of Self Green Lane, under the Donington Road, to the next mentioned sewer
18. From a tunnel under Self Green Lane, northwards, along the lane to the
Donington Road, to the next mentioned sewer at the main road.
19. From Crayle Eau, in a circular course to the main road, and thence to
Walladale Field into the Town's Drain.
20, From the main road to Spalding, northwards, along the division ditch
between Frampton and Wyberton, to the Town's Drain.
21. Crayle Eau, from a dovecote on lands of Samuel Margerison across Horse
Shoe Lane, to the next mentioned sewer.
22. From the end of the last sewer, opposite Mill Hill, along the east side of the
main road, across Church Road, to the north end of Tanford Lane to the next
mentioned sewer,

Appendix . VIII. ig
23. From a tunnel under the Church Road, under the railway along the Tanford
Lane, to join the last mentioned sewer.
24. From the main road to Spalding, across Tanford Lane, into the Town's Drain.
25. From the main road to Spalding, along the north side of Tanford Lane, to the
Town's Drain.
28. From the Church Road to the Crayle Eau.
27. From a tunnel under Coupledyke Lane to the next mentioned sewer.
28. From the north-west corner of lands of Samuel Margerison, across and along
Coupledyke Lane to the Town's Drain.
29. From lands of James Goose to the Parks Lane, to the last mentioned sewer.
80. From a tunnel leading to Sandholme, northerly to a lane leading to Kirton
Skeldyke, to the last mentioned sewer,
81. From a tunnel under a lane leading to Sandholme to the next mentioned
sewer. 82. From lands of Thomas Steed Watson to a sewer near the Town's Drain.
88. From a tunnel under Sandholme lane, northwards, to the last mentioned sewer.
84. From the division ditch, between Frampton and Wyberton, to the next
mentioned sewer.
85. From the main road to Spalding, westerly to Mill Field Lane, and easterly to
the Town's Drain.
86. From a close belonging to Daws to the last mentioned sewer,
87. From the south-west side of Mill Field Lane to the Town's Drain.
88. From a plantation belonging to Major Moore to the Town's Drain.
89. From the south side of Mill Field Lane, easterly, to the Town's Drain.
Lands estimated at 363 acres— but containing 562a. Or. 4p., a schedule of which is
given, lying between a road leading from the Old Sea Dyke Bank, to Frampton church
south ; the Sea Bank, east ; and the division ditch or sewer between Frampton and
Wyberton, on the north— issue their water into the division ditch, and drain by
Wyberton Gowt, under a Law of Sewers passed in 1754.
The area of land in Frampton, subject to the Dykereeve Rate, exclusive of the
above, is 8,084a. Or. 26p. Kirton.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve Rate in this parish is 4,836a. Ir. 17p.
The Sea Bank between Frampton and Algarkirk and Fossdyke has to be main
tained by the Dykereeves. The top is to be 6ft. llin. above the level stone.
The Town's Drain, extending from the Old Hammond Beck to the Sea Gowt, and to
the Outfall into the Welland, has to be maintained. by the Dykereeves.
The Dykereeves have also to maintain four gowts and clows, one at the Ham
mond Beck, with draw and folding doors ; one near the Sea Bank, with a draw door ; one
sea gowt through the sea bank, with a draw door ; and a gowt or clow through the
sea bank. 11 bridges, one being at the clow at the Hammond Beck, nine over the Town's
Drain, and one (a foot bridge) over the Town's Drain.
90 public tunnels.
1 petty sewer tunnel.
9 cloots or dams with ' horses ' set thereon.

20 Appendix VIII.
The Great Northern Railway Company have to maintain the Culvert Bridge over
Kirton Town's Drain, with 6ft. water way ; the. culvert belonging to the Petty Sewer
with 3ft. waterway ; and the culvert over the division ditch, with 3ft. waterway.
The following petty sewers are to be maintained with 3ft. bottoms with proper
batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course of the water, with brick tunnels
through the gateways, having 2ft. square waterway.
1. From Kirton Holme to a tunnel called Asher's Tunnel, and into the Old Ham
mond Beck.
2. From the last mentioned sewer at the Old Hammond Beck Bank to the
Town's Drain.
3. From No. 1 sewer to the Town's Drain.
4. From a road leading along the east bank of the Town's Drain, to lands belonging
to the Trustees of Kirton School.
5. From Little Mantle to the Old Hammond Beck Bank, and along it to the
Asher Tunnel.
6. From Kirton Holme Road to Town's Drain.
7. From lands of Erastus Vessey, southwards, to No. 6.
8. From Simon Weir Bank, through a tunnel under Kirton Holme Road, to the
Town's Drain.
9. From Simon Weir Bank to No. 10.
10. From a house belonging to William Dales, southerly, through a tunnel under
he Kirton Holme Road, to the Town's Drain.
11. From Simon Weir Bank, under the Kirton Holme Road, to the Town's Drain
12. From Fore Fen Stow, along Swineshead Gate Road, along the west side of
Kirton Holme Road, to the Town's Drain.
13. From a tunnel on the north side of Swineshead Gate Road, to No. 15 on the
Kirton Holme Road.
14. From the north side of Swineshead Gate Road to No. 15.
15. From Lockster Hill, along the west side of Kirton Holme Road, to the tunne
in lands of the parish of Kirton.
16. From lands of George Naylor, to the Town's Drain.
17. From a tunnel southerly, on the east side of Mantle Bank, to the Town's Drain.
18. From a boundary post in the Holmes Lane, along the west side of the lane,
across Whitebread Lane, across the Donington Road, through the Fleet, across Kirton
End Road, to the Town's Drain.
19. From the west side of Willington Road to No. 18.
20. From a tunnel under Willington Road to the Town's Drain.
21. From lands of John Pearson, across the Willington Road, to No. 20.
22. From a tunnel under Bungley Lane, across Willington Road, along Church
Lane, to the Town's Drain.
23. From the west side of Willington Road to No. 22.
24. From a highway tunnel under Willington Road, near the church, along the
west side of the road, to No. 23.
25. From the Marketstead Bridge to No. 24.

Appendix VIII. 21
26. From Simon Weir Bank, along the South side of the Donington Road, across
the east end of Mornsgift Lane.
27. From a tunnel under the west end of Donington Road, near Simon Weir
Bank, through a tunnel on the east side of Mornsgift Lane, across the Meers Lane,
across the Drain Side Road to the Town's Drain.
28. From the south side of the Donington Road, along the north side of Morns
gift Lane, to No. 27.
29. From tbe south-east corner of lands of the Rev. Robert Wadegery, to Mornsgift
Lane, and along the Lane to No. 28.
30. From the east side ofthe lands of the Rev. Robert Wadegery, across the Meers
Lane, across the Drain Side Road, to the Town's Drain.
31. From No. 30 to the north-west side ofthe Meers Lane, to No. 33.
32. From the south side of Mornsgift Lane, to No. 31 .
33. From a tunnel at the north-east end of Meers Lane, to No. 31.
34, From Coat House Barn near Simon Weir Bank, eastwards along the bank to
Strip's Bridge.
35. From the south-west end of Russian Ings Lane, along the north-west side of
the lane, to No 36.
36. From No. 34 at Simon Weir Bank, across Russian Ings Lane, across Engine
Lane, to No. 37.
37. From No, 34 at Simon Weir Bank, across the Meers Road and the Drain
Side Road, to the Town's Drain.
38. From a highway tunnel under a. lane on the west side of the Meers
Common along the south side of the road across the Common, to No. 37.
39. From a tunnel under the road on the east side of the Meers Common to
No. 37.
40. From the parks, along the north side of a lane leading from the Meers to the
Town's Drain, and across this lane to the Town's Drain.
41. From a tunnel under a road at the south-east corner of the Meers Common,
across the Drain Side Road to the Town's Drain.
42. From lands of Samuel Richard Fydell across the turnpike across the Drain
Side Road, to the Town's Drain near Lays Tunnel.
43. From the Horsegate, near Strip's Bridge, to the division ditch, and thence to
the main road to Spalding, to No. 42.
44. From Coat Field, being the division ditch between Kirton and Sutterton,
across the Great Northern Railway, across Hare's Lane, to No. 41.
45. From No. 44, through a culvert under the road, into the Town's Drain.
46. From lands of Mrs. Mawer, on the south side of the main road, across Cut
Throat Lane, to the Town's Drain.
47. From the Fleet to No. 46.
48. From the north-east corner of lands of John Hodgson's Trustees to Cut
Throat Lane, to the Town's Drain.
49. From the homestead belonging to John Short, along the east side of the
Wash Road, to the Town's Drain.
50. From the east end of Bungle Lane, across the main road, to the east end of
Toot Lane, across the railway and the Skeldyke road, to the Little and Great Hale
Weirs, across the north end of Eleven Acres Lane, to the Town's Dram.

22 Appendix. VIII.
Swineshead.
The area of land in this parish subject to the Dykereeve Rate is 1,880a. 3r. lOp.
The sea bank, next to and adjoining the parish of Sutterton, to Hoffleet Stow,
has to be maintained by the Dykereeves of Swineshead and Wigtoft.
The following public sewers have to be maintained by the Dykereeves with 3ft.
bottom, and proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course
of the water. Brick tunnels under gateways to have 2ft. square waterway.
A sewer in the north part of Swineshead, in divers branches.
1. From the Old Eau, near the main road, to sewer No. 3, in the Mill Lane.
2. From the main road, opposite Coney Hills, running eastward along the north
side of the Drayton Road, across Mill Lane, to the Abbey Lane, to No. 3.
3. From the Cross Roads, near the guide post, running northward to the east
side of the Abbey Lane.
4. From the Fen Houses, across Fen Houses Lane, to the Donington Road, across
the Abbey Lane and the Town's Lane, to No. 5.
5. From lands of Edward Fox, near the town, along the south side of the Town's
Lane, to No. 6.
6. From the Plantation to No. 7.
7. From the Swineshead North End, to the sewer at Fore Fen.
8. A sewer in the south part of Swineshead, from the Drayton Road to No. 9.
9. From the Brick Clamp Pit, along the west side of Asperton Road.
10. From Ball Hall Lane, being the division between Wigtoft and Swineshead, to
Asperton Road, across it and to Dale Lane, to No. 11.
11. From the south-west corner of lands belonging to the Swineshead Poor, to
Elm Hole, at Asperton Lane, to No. 12.
12. From Boston Rigg Sewer to Guildford Drain.
13. From Guildford Drain, on the Donington Road, to No. 14.
14. From the north-west corner of Asperton Common, across the Bridle Road, to
No. 15.
15. From the north-west corner of Asperton Common, running northward on the
west of Wigtoft Drove, to No. 16.
16. From the north end of lands belonging to Joseph Cox, running westward
along the south side of Timberland Lane to the north end of Langmore Lane, to
Cocktoft, to Fishmore End Drove, to the division ditch between Swineshead and
Wigtoft, to Fishmore Drove, to Black Jack House, to a tunnel under Fishmore End
Drove, to the Four Towns' Drain.
There are 15 public tunnels which the Dykereeves have to maintain;
The Dykereeves of this parish, with those of Wigtoft and Sutterton, have to main
tain the Three Towns' Drain, from Acreland Clough to Nevil Dam ; also a branch of
the said sewer, from Strip's Lane Bridge, to Strugg's Hill ; and another branch from
near the Church Lane, to Andrew's Common, where it joins the Five Towns' Drain
The Dykereeves of the three parishes jointly have to maintain Acreland Clough ,
and 29 bridges over the Three Towns' Drain.
The Dykereeves of this parish, with those of Wigtoft, Sutterton Algarkirk and
Fossdyke have jointly to maintain the Five Towns' Drain from the bridge at Strugg's
Hill, under the main road, to Spalding, to Fossdyke Sea Gowt, and thence to the Out
fall to the Welland also a branch ofthe said gowt, called the Fossdyke Sea Gowt ;
laso 10 bridges over the Five Towns' Drain.

Appendix VIII. 23
Wigtoft.
The area of Land in this Parish, subject to Dykereeve Rate is 2,259a. 3r. 22p.
The Sea Bank adjoining Sutterton to Hoffleet Stow has to be maintained by the
Dykereeves of this parish and Swineshead.
The following public drains and sewers have to be maintained by the Dykereeves.
1. The East Drain on the east side of the parish, from the Four Towns' Drain.
near Acreland Clough, to Cawdron Sluice into the Two Towns' Drain.
2. The West Drain on the west side of the parish, from Asperton Common to
Cawdron Sluice, into the Two Towns' Drain.
3. The Cross Drain from High Crowden Toft on the west side of the Parish,
across Hoffleet Lane, to the West Drain, then northward to the west end of Hagger's
Lane, and along the lane across Asperton Road to Easthorpe Common, across Fish
more End Road, along the south side of Shettle Lane, to the East Drain.
The Dykereeves have to maintain : —
13 bridges over the above drains.
25 tunnels with 2ft. square waterways.
The Dykereeves of this parish, in common with those of Sutterton, have to main
tain the Two Towns' Drain from Cawdron Sluice to the Three Towns' Drain, the
Cawdron Sluice, and 5 bridges over this drain.
The Dykereeves of this parish in common with those of Swineshead and Sutterton
have to maintain the Three Towns' Drain, from Acreland Clough to Nevil Dam, also
a branch of this drain, from Strip's Lane Bridge to Strugg's Hill Bridge, and another
branch from near Church Lane to Andrew Common, also Acreland Clough, Nevil
Dam and 8 other bridges.
The Dykereeves of this parish in common with those in Sutterton, Algarkirk and
Fossdyke have to maintain the Four Town Drains' from Fore Fen Stow to Acreland
Clough, and 3 bridges over the same.
The Dykereeves of this parish, in common with those in Swineshead, Sutterton,
Algarkirk and Fossdyke have to maintain the Five Towns' Drain from Strugg's Hill to
Fossdyke Sea Gowt, and to the Outfall into the Welland ; also a branch from Nevil
Dam ; also Fossdyke Sea Gowt, and 10 bridges over the drain.
The following petty sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers, with 3ft.
bottom, with proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course of
the water, and brick tunnels under the gateways of 2ft. square waterway.
1. From the. Half Acre belonging to Trinity College, along the east side of Marsh
Bank, across Hopper Lane to the West Drain.
2. From Hoffleet Stow along the south side of the main road and across it to the
West Drain.
3. From the north side of the main road to Asperton Road, and across it to the
West Drain.
4. From a tunnel under Hoffleet Lane, running eastward of Bulham's, and thence
into the Cross Drain.
5. From Town Field Half Acre to No. 4.
6. From Hoffleet to the west end of the Cross Drain.
. 7. From the north side of Hoffleet Lane to the west end of Asperton Fieldway
and across Hoffleet Lane to the Cross Drain.
8. From Campley's to Asperton Fieldway, to Cross Acre, to the West
Drain.

2a Appendix VIII.
9. From the road near Asperton Common at Jack Pit to Staggar's Lane, and to
a tunnel under the lane.
10. From Asperton Road to the North Field Lane, to the East Drain, with four
branches. 11 From the north end of Northfield Lane to No. 12, on the west side of Fish
more End Drove.
12. From the division ditch between Wigtoft and Swineshead, running southward
along the west side of Fishmore End Drove, to the Town's Drain.
13. From Abraham Garth, running eastward on the south side of the Low Road
to Sutterton, to Love Holme, to the East Drain at Brightman's Slade.
14. From lands of Lord Brownlow, on the south side of the main road, to the
East Drain.
15. From the north end of Burtoft Lane eastward, along the main road to the
East Drain.
16. From the Pooles, Dear the churchyard, to the Cross Drain.
17. From the Rigg, across Lowdyke Lane, across the Burtoft Road, to the East
Drain. 18. From Golden Field, to the West Drain.
19. From No. 18, along the west side of the Burtoft Road, across the road into
the East Drain.
20. From the west side of the Burtoft Road, across the road to the East Drain.
21. From No. 20. running southward to the West Drain.
22. From Singer. House, across the Burtoft Lane, to the West Drain.
Sutterton.
The area of land in Sutterton subject to the Dykereeve rate is 2,701a. 2r. 39p.
The Dykereeves have to maintain the sea bank from Algarkirk and Fossdyke to
Cutch Acre, adjoining Swineshead and Wigtoft ; 36 public tunnels ; a cloot or bank
called the Driftway, adjoining the division ditch between Sutterton and Kirton, from
the bank of the Four Towns' Drain, as far as the parish extends towards the sea.
The Two Towns' Drain, from Cawdron Sluice to the Three Towns' Drain, has to
be maintained in common with Wigtoft ; also the Cawdron Sluice, and 5 bridges.
The Three Towns' Drain from Acreland Clough to Nevil Dam has to be main
tained in common with Sutterton and Swineshead ; also a branch of the same from
Strip's Lane Bridge to Strugg's Hill Bridge ; another branch to Andrew Common
the Acreland Clough ; Nevil's Dam Bridge ; and 8 other bridges.
The Four Towns' Drain from Fore Fen Stow to Acreland Clough has to be main
tained in common with Wigtoft, Algarkirk and Fossdyke, and the 3 bridges over it.
The Five Towns' Drain, from Strugg's Hill to Fossdyke Gowt, has to be maintained
in common with Swineshead, Wigtoft, Algarkirk, Fossdyke and Swineshead ; also a
branch of the same from Nevil Dam and the Gowt and Fossdyke Sea Gowt ; also 10
bridges over this sewer.
The Great Northern Railway Company have to maintain under their line,
1. A culvert under the Three Towns' Drain, with 6ft. waterway.
2. A culvert in the Two Towns' Drain, with a 5ft. waterway.
3 A culvert in a petty sewer, with a 3ft. waterway.
The following petty sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers —

Appendix VIII. 25
1. From a tunnel under the main road, near lands of George Nussey, to the Three
Towns' Drain,
2. From the north side of lands of the Rev. Basil Beridge, to the Three Towns'
Drain. 3. From Catchway, across the main road, to the Three Towns' Drain, at
Strugg's Hill Bridge.
4, From a tunnel under the Thirteen Acre Lane to the Five Towns' Drain.
5. From the Driftway, along the west side of the main road, across Cherry Holt
Lane, into the Three Towns' Drain.
6. From Brandon Pit Four Acres, across Fishmore End Road, to the Three
Towns' Drain.
7. From a tunnel under the Driftway, to the Three Towns' Drain.
8. From lands of Charles Wellman, along Rain Walls Road, to the Three Towns'
Drain. 9. From lands of John Hanks, across Shettle Field Lane, to No. 8.
10. From lands of Brownlow Toller's Heirs, on the west side of the main road,
across Mill Lane, to Asperton Road, to No. 11.
11. From a tunnel under the main road, leading to Wigtoft, along the north side
of this road, across a road near the Five Houses and Rain Walls Road, to No. 12.
12 From the homestead belonging to George Kirkby, on the south side of Kirk
stead Field Lane, across the west end of the lane, to the Three Towns' Drain.
13. From a road joining the Pools, across the Kirkstead Fields Lane, to the
Three Towns' Drain.
14. From a tunnel under the main road to Wigtoft, to the Bell Meer runlet, to
the Three Towns' Drain.
15. From a tunnel under a lane on the west side of the main road leading to Foss
dyke, across the main road, to the Three Towns' Drain.
16. From a tunnel under a lane near the main road, leading to Samuel Pockling
ton's House, to the main road leading to Spalding, to White Cross Lane, to Wall Dike
Field and Broad Lane, to the Two Towns' Drain.
17. From No. 16, across Broad Lane, along and across Stone Lane, to Waterbelly
Lane, to the Two Towns' Drain.
18, From the Pidgeons, across Waterbelly Lane, to the Two Towns' Drain.
19. From Kit Cat Lane, along the Marsh Bank, across Waterbelly Lane, to the
Two Towns' Drain.
20. From lands of Anthony Wilson, under the railway, across the Marsh Road,
to No. 21.
21. From the Marsh Bank, to the Three Towns' Drain, near Nevil's Dam.
Algarkirk cum Fosdyke.
The area of land subject to Dykereeve Rate in Algarkirk is 2,436a. Or. 6p., and in
Fossdyke 1,161a. 3r. 16p.
The Sea Bank extending from Kirton to Sutterton banks has to be maintained by
the Dykereeves. The top is to be kept 6ft. 6Jin. above the level stone.
There are 43 public tunnels which the Dykereeves have to maintain.
The Great Northern Railway Company have to maintain the following culverts
under their railway.

26 Appendix VIII.
Over the Five Towns' Drain, 6Jft. waterway.
Over 5 petty sewers, each 3ft. diameter.
The Dykereeves of this parish, in common with those of Wigtoft and Sutterton,
have to maintain the Four Towns' Drain, from Fore Fen Stow to Acreland Clough,
and 3 bridges over the same.
The Dykereeeves of these parishes, in common with those in Swineshead, Wigtoft,
and Sutterton, have to maintain the Five Towns' Drain, from Strugg's Hill to Fossdyke
Sea Gowt, and the Outfall ; also a branch of the same, from Nevil's Dam ; and 10 bridges
over the Five Towns' Drain.
The following Petty Sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers, with 3ft.
bottom, with proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course
of the water, with brick tunnels through the gateways of 2ft. square waterway.
1. From a bridge under the lane near Strugg's .Hill, southward, to the Five
Towns' Drain.
2. From Catchway, near the main road to Strugg's Hill Lane, and across the lane
and under the railway, across Calder Bridge Lane, to the Five Towns' Drain.
3. From the north-west corner of lands of Sir. Thos. Whichcote, across Bates
Cross Lane and under the railway, to Strugg's Hill Lane and sewer No. 2.
4. From lands of John Cabourn's Heir, northward, near Strugg's Hill Lane, across
Calder Bridge Lane, to the Five Towns' Drain.
5, From the east side of the road to Algarkirk Church, to Dunham House Green
to the Three Towns' Drain.
6. From the church, under the railway, across a lane at Coin Pit to the Three
Towns' Drain.
7. From the north-west corner of Sir Thos. Whichcote's Fifteen Acres, south
wards to Mandergote Lane, to the Five Towns' Drain.
8. From the Church Lane, eastward, under the railway to Snart's lands, again
passing under the railway, under a lane leading to Andrew Common to Cockthorpe
Lane, and thence to the Three Towns' Drain.
9. From the south-west corner of Queenlands, eastward, to the Five Towns' Drain.
10. From a tunnel under a lane leading from the main road to Andrew Common,
southward, across a lane near Count Wade Bridge to Grine Hedge Field, and the main
road to Fossdyke, passing near Stevenson's Cross and Froglands to the Five Towns'
Drain. 11. From the south of the main road leading to Fossdyke to the Five Towns'
Drain. 12. From the Silt Pit on the south side of the main road, near Stevenson's Cross,
eastward, to the Green Lane and Cockfield West, to the Five Towns' Drain.
13. From High House Ground to the Five Towns' Drain.
14. From Red Dyke Cross Pit, northward to Waste Green Lane, to the Five
Towns' Drain.
15. From the south-west corner of the Lays, near Red Dyke Cross Pit, to Waste
Green Lane, to No. 18.
16. From the division ditch between Algarkirk and Sutterton, at the Roman
Bank to Garley Rigg, to the Five Towns' Drain.
17. From a Farm House of George Nussey & Co., across the road at Crabdam's
Cross, to the Five Towns' Drain.
18. From the sea bank to the Outgate, across the lane leading to the sea bank, to
the Five Towns' Drain.

Appendix VIII. 2-
n, l9^ F?m HodDsmfn's r?r°ssr t0 the lane leading to the sea bank, thence to the
Wash Road, across Puttock Gote Lane, across the main road from Fossdyke Church to
the Bridge, to the Five Towns' Drain. '
20. From Gull Choaks southward to the Inmarsh Lane, across Hilton Lane and
the Wash Road, across Bailey Pit Lane and the main road to the bridee to the
Five Towns' Drain. & '
21. From the north-east corner of Thomas Eyre's Thirteen Acres, across the
Wash Road to Stocks Hill, across Leapholme Lane to Pluckertoft to Easedyke near the
Mill to Mandike Gote Cross, across the road leading to Fossdyke Church to No. 20.
22. From the north-west corner of Filder's Close to Camplin Gate Road across
the road leading to the church, to No. 21.
23. From the north-west corner of Oldham Field, across the Turnpike Road to
the Five Towns' Drain. r '
24 From the west side of Pluckertoft to the Mill Road, and thence to the Five
Towns' Drain.
25. From the east end of Beridge's Two Acres to No. 26 at Dughills.
26. From the Wash Road to West Cross Gote Hill to a lane leading to Dushills
to the Five Towns' Drain. 8 "6i"«&,
27. From the west side of Martin Gote, to the Five Towns' Drain.
28. From a tunnel under Martingale Lane, to the Five Towns' Drain.
29. From a tunnel under Martingale Lane, to No. 28.
80. From a tunnel under the Wash Road, at Washingham Wheels, to the division
ditch between Algarkirk and Kirton, to the Five Towns' Drain.
Quadring.
The area of land in this parish, subject to the Dykereeve Rate is 1,631a. Or. 13p.
The area of lands in Gosberton, subject to the Dykereeve Rate in Quadring for defray
ing the expenses of draining by Merlode, reputed at 122 acres, is by measurement
805a, Or. 35p., a schedule of which is given in the Verdict.
The following sewers have to be maintained by the Dykereeves out of the rates
charged on lands in this parish, Quadring Hundred, and a portion of Gosberton.
The Merlode Drain, from Stang's Tunnel to the Risegate Eau at Lampson's
Clough ;
Also a branch of the same, called the Coin Drain ;
And the following bridges over the Merlode ; Crane Bridge, under the main
road ; Bedford Bridge, near Quadring Eau ; the Chain Bridge, under the main road
leading to Boston, with clow doors ; and Coin Bridge, over the Branch Drain, and
under the main road to Donington ;
Also 39 public tunnels.
There is no mention in the Verdict as to the liability of this parish to a share
in maintaining the Risegate Eau, but it is referred to in the Quadring Hundred
Verdict. The following petty sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers, with 3ft.
bottom, proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course of
the water ; with brick tunnels, having 2ft. square waterway.
1. From Boston Hills to the Bedford Bridge Road, under Eaudike Road to the
Merlode. 2. From Mallard Marsh, across White House Lane and Tundrum Road, to the
Merlode.

28 Appendix VIII.
3. From the division ditch between Quadring and Donington to White House
Lane and Crane Pit Lane, to No. 4.
4. From Crane Pit Lane to Littlewood Lane and Church Lane, across Tundrum
Road, to the Merlode.
5. From the south-east corner of lands of Cowley's Charity, eastwardly, to Wil
low Toft, across Tundrum Road, to the Merlode.
6. From the road leading from the church to the main road, to the Merlode.
' 7. From a garden of the Rev. Edward Brown, to the Home Close, to Jockey
Lane, across Tundrum Road, to the Merlode.
8. From Jockey Pasture, across Tundrum Road, to the Merlode.
9. From lands of John Kenning, across Watergate Lane and Tundrum Road, to
the Merlode. 10. From Mill Lane northward, across Watergate Lane, and then dividing into
two branches, both going to the Merlode.
11. From a tunnel in Alldyke Lane, southerly, to Alldyke Lode.
12. From the silt pit, at the north-west corner of Portable Field eastward, o
No. 13'. 13. Alldyke Lode, emptying into Coin Drain.
14. From the main road to Coin Drain.
15. From lands of Edward Brown to Coin Drain.
16. From the north-west corner of Dimstoft, across the Fen Drove to Stang's
Lane and Scupholme, to Merlode.
17. From the division ditch between Quadring and Quadring Hundred, between
Sandygate Lane to the Fen Drove, to Tundrum Road, to the Merlode.
18. From the Droll Footpath, across Tundrum Road, to the.Merlode.
The following petty sewers are in Gosberton, but are under the charge of the Dyke
reeve of Quadring, and all drain into the Merlode.
19. From the south-east corner of Rush Lane, across Rush Marsh.
20. From the Donington main road, near Gosberton Church, to No. 21.
21. From the main road eastward, along Dowsby Lane.
22. From lands of Lord Saye and Sele.
Quadring Hundred.
The area of land subject to Dykereeve Rate is 744a. 2r. Op.
The Lands in this parish subject to Dykereeve Rate, in common with those in
Quadring and a part of Gosberton, have to maintain the Merlode from Stang's Tunnel
to the Risegate Eau at Lampson's Bridge, also the Coin Drain, the 4 bridges over
these drains and 39 tunnels.
This Hundred has, jointly with Quadring, Gosberton and Surfleet, to maintain the
Risegate Eau from Lampson's Bridge to the Sea Gowt and the Outfall into the Welland,
with Lampson's Clough.
The following petty sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers, with 3ft.
bottoms, proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course of
the water, and brick tunnels under the gateways, with 2ft. square waterway.
1. From Anderton Lane near the Bell Inn, to Quadring Eaudyke, across Kirk
field Lane, near the north-west corner of Flaxtoft, to the Coin Drain.

Appendix VIII. 2g
2. From the main road leading to Donington, northward, to Bowgate Lane to
Sandygate Lane.
3. From the north side of lands belonging to Samuel Everard, northward to
Bowgate Lane, to No. 2.
4. From Westhorpe to No. 2.
5. From John Tindall's Four Acres to No. 2.
6. From the Westhorpe Road to No. 2.
7. From the west side of lands of Henry Fielding to No. 2.
8. From lands of the Poor of Billingborough to Sandygate Lane, to No. 2 at
Bowgate Lane,
9. From the Westhorpe Road to Goose House Lane near the Fen Bank, across
Coldhurn Lane, to No. 8.
10. Fiom the division dyke between Quadring and Quadring Hundred to the
north end of Coin Drain.
11. From a tunnel under Sandygate Lane to Coin Drain.
12. From a tunnel under Bowgate Lane, eastward, to Coin Drain.
13. From a tunnel under Bowgate Lane, northward, to Coin Drain.
Gosberton and Surfleet.
The area of land subject to the Dykereeve Rate in Gosberton is 3,878a. 2r. Op., ex
clusive of 3(l5a. Or. 35p. which pays to Quadring for draining by the Merlode ; and in
Surfleet 2,504 acres.
The sea banks, extending from Surfleet to Quadring Eaudike have to be maintained
by the Dykereeves of Gosberton, and those from the River Glen at Surfleet Seas End to
Gosberton Marsh Bank, by the Dykereeves of Surfleet.
The Dykereeves of Gosberton and Surfleet jointly have to maintain the following
public sewers : ..
The Risegate Eau, from Hammond Beck Bank to Lampson's Bridge.
1. The Latham or Lafen Lode in divers branches, namely, one branch running
from Beverley Lake, through Drummer Tunnel.
2. From the Old Beach Drain.
3. From Cheal Pan Bridge, through Creek's Tunnel.
4. From the Old Sea Dyke, near the Marsh Bank to Bird's Drove.
5. The Old Sea Dyke, near the old Beach Drain, at the Marsh Bank.
6. The Old Beach Drain," from the Old Sea Bank, to the Old Hammond Beck
Bank. 7. From Newbury Tunnel, under Cheal Road, into the Old Beach Drain.
8. From tbe River Glen to the Old Beach Drain.
9. From Timin's Tunnel to the Old Beach Drain.
Numbers 7, 8, and 9 take water from the River Glen.
10. Double Dyke Sewer from Gosberton Church to No. 11.
11. Along the north-west side of Belshmire Road to Belshmire Bridge, to the
Risegate Eau.
12. Reed Shoal Sewer, from lands of William Dodd, through a tunnel into Rise
gate Eau,

30 Appendix VIII.
Six Bridges over Risegate Eau, namely, Shopdike Bridge, Carter's Bridge, Drum
mer's Bridge, Wardyke Bridge, the Main Road Bridge ; the clow at the west end of
the Eau. Seventeen bridges over Lafen Lode, namely, Baropies Drove Bridge, Cheal Road
Bridge, Dockengate Road Bridge, Cheal Pan Bridge, Sweetland Hill Bridge under the
road from the Eau to Sweetland Hill, Bird's Drove Bridge, High Regg Bridge, Tays
Field Bridge, Calbeach Bridge, Newland's Bridge, Old Sea Dyke Bridge, Old Sewer
Bridge, Belshmire Bridge, Marsh Bank Bridge over the Old Sea Dyke, Coney Garth
Lane Bridge, Cowbelly Lane Bridge.
There are 68 public tunnels which the Dykereeves have to maintain.
The Great Northern Railway Company have to maintain the bridge over Risegate
Eau, and the following brick culverts under their railway.
1. Lafen Lode . . . . . . . . . . with waterway of 3Jft
2. Old Sea Dyke  „ 4ft.
3. The old Beach Drain  „ 4ft.
4. Petty Sewer  „ 3ft.
Lord Saye and Sele and the other Frontagers have to maintain a brick culvert
over Lafen Lode, with 4ft. waterway.
The Risegate Eau from Lampson's Bridge to the River Welland and the Sea Gowt
and Outfall have to be maintained by lands paying Dykereeve Rates in Gosberton,
Surfleet, Quadring and Quadring Hundred.
The following petty sewers have to be maintained by the Frontagers, with 3ft.
bottom, proper slopes and batters, and of sufficient depth to admit the free course of
the water, and with brick tunnels under the gateways, having 2ft. square waterways.
1. From the main road to Boston to High Bridge Lane, to the Reed Shoal Sewer.
2. From-the main road to Spalding, near the Baptist Chapel, to the Risegate Eau.
3. P'rom premises of Samuel Everard to the sewer on the east side of Church Road.
4. From Cay wood Lane to Risegate Eau.
5. From the Church Road across the Caywood Lane to Risegate Eau.
6. The Old Lode to Beach Lane.
7. From No. 6 to the Risegate Eau.
8. From No. 6. along the west side of Mill Lane, to Risegate Eau.
9. From No. 6 to Risegate Eau.
10. From Beach Lane, part of the Old Lode, to Risegate Eau.
11. From Park Lane to No. 10.
12. From the south-east corner of lands of Edward Jackson to No 10.
13. From No. 10 to the Risegate Eau.
14. From the Hammond Beck Bank to the Risegate Eau.
15. From lands of William Saxton to Risegate Eau.
16. From the west end of Park Lane to No. 15.
17. From No. 16 to the Risegate Eau.
18. From Rigbolt, along the east side of the Hammond Beck Bank to Risegate Eau.
19. From Rigbolt Entry Way to Risegate Eau.
20. From lands of Lord Brownlow and Thomas Sandall to Risegate Eau.

Appendix VIII. 31
21. From the north end of the lane leading to lands of George Brown to Risegate
Eau. 22. From the Old Beach Bank to the Fen Road, to the Risegate Eau.
23. From the Old Beach Bank to the Fen Road, to No. 22.
24. From No. 23 to Baropier Drove, to Lafen Lode.
25. From Stibard's Entry to Lafen Lode.
26. From a tunnel under Gosberton Cheal Road to Lafen Lode.
27. From lands of Benjamin Rose to Lafen Lode.
28. From the road leading from Cheal to Sweetland Hill, to No. 27.
29. From a tunnel under Clay Gote across Cheal Road, under Dockholme Lane, to
Lafen Lode.
30. From lands of Benjamin Crosby to No. 29.
31. From the Five Acres belonging to the Vicar of Gosberton, along the south
side of Claygate, and then under this land to Lafen Lode.
32. From lands of Joseph Langwith to Claygate and Lafen Lode.
33. From the Cheal Road to Newbury Drain.
34. From the Old Beach Drain to Lowgate Road, and Cheal Road to Lafen Lode
35. From a tunnel under Cheal Road to No. 34 at Sweetland Hill.
36. From Bloodsmore to Lafen Lode.
37. From the south side of Bird's Drove to Lafen Lode.
38. From Sweetland Hill Six Acres to Lafen Lode.
39. From Wargate Field Lane to Lafen Lode.
40. From No. 39 near lands of the Bourne Baptist Chapel under Wargate Field
Lane to Risegate Eau.
41. From the corner of Wargate Field Lane to Lafen Lode.
42. From the Old Beach Drain, near Surfleet Mill, under Clubborn Lane, to Lafen
Lode. 43. From lands of Theophilus Buckworth to the Old Beach Drain.
44. From the Old Beach Drain to the Old Beach Drain.
45. From lands of Surfleet Charity to a drain on the east side of Hungate Lane.
46. From the Old Beach Drain to Lafen Lode.
47. From the Old Beach Drain to Long Newland Drain.
48. From the Short Newlands to Lafen Lode.
49. From a tunnel under Belnie Lane to a tunnel under Cold Beach Road.
50. From tbe Old Sea Dyke, under Belnie Lane, to Lafen Lode.
51. From Miss Banks' Three Acres under Burnthouse Lane tc , a bridge ; ind , under
Old Sea Dyke Road to the Eleven Acres Lane, to Toynton s Tunnel and the Risegate
Eau. 52. From the Brick Clamps to Risegate Eau.
53. From the Marsh Bank Road, under the Great Northern Railway, to Risegate
Eau.

INDEX.
For Names of Places see Appendix I.

Abernethy, J. Improvement of tbe Witham
Outfall, 235. 362.
Accretion. See Reclamation.
Adventurers, The. 31. Reclamation of
land on the Witham, 143. East Fen,
205. Black Sluice, 252. Deeping Fen,
318.
Agriculture, 390, 392. Depression in farm
ing before Reclamation of Fens, 394. In
modern times and causes, 420. Societies,
427.
Ague in the Fenland, 488.
Algar, Earl, 18.
Allotments and Small Holdings, 425.
Alluvial Soil, Area of, 455. Formation,
460.
Alluvium. Rate of accretion, 460. Source
of, 463.
Antiquities, Roman. 11.
Atmosphere of Fenland. 486.
Ayloff, Sir W. Undertaker for East Fen,
32. Deeping Fen, 317.
Banks, Sea. Preservation of, 39. Roman,
7, 100. Rabbits in, 39. Horses on, 39.
Swine on, 40. Penalty for damaging, 40 ;
in Black Sluice District, 259. Owner
ship and liability to repair, 49, 50. Care
of by Court of Sewers, 49. In North
Holland, 57, 62. Height of, fixed by
Court of Sewers, 66. Assessment of
parishes for extraordinary repairs, 79.
In South Holland, 100. Raised, and
level of, 66. Witham, liability as to main
tenance of, 170. Of river Glen and Bourne
Eau, 261, 282 ; report and breaches, 309.
Barrier, 107. Breach of Bourne Fen,
282.
Banks, Sir Jos., 149. Drainage of East
Fen, 216. Employed Capt. Huddar-t
to report on Outfall of the Witham, 347.
Beasley, Capt. Introduction of fascine
work into the Witham, 304. Introduction
of fascine work into the Welland, 352.
Beans, 397.
Bedford, Earl of. Drainage of Deeping
Fen, 318.
Bedford Level Act, 30.
Bevan, B. Reports on, Welland, 300 ;
steam power in Deeping Fen, 330.
Bicker Haven, 291. See also Appendix.
Birds, 471. On Marshes, 475.
Bower, Anthony. Report on the Witham,
162. Report on the East Fen, 216.

Superintended works in the East Fen,
262.
Black Sluice. See Appendix 1. Drainage
District, Boundary and Area, 244, 256.
Disafforestation, 246. First attempt at
Reclamation, 249. Holland Fen, 252.
Condition in 18th century, 253, First
Drainage Act obtained, 1765, 254. Boun
dary of the District set out in the Act,
256. Works carried out, 256. Naviga
tion, 260. Action for damages for Breach
of the Banks, 262. Rennie's Report on
the Drainage, 2H3. Surreptitious Drain
age and Mr. Kingsman Foster's' Scheme
264. Lewin's Report,- 264. Cubitt's
Report on Drainage and System of
Taxation, 2H5. Act of 1846, Works
authorised. 266. New Sluice, 268. Slea
ford Railway, 268. Improvement ofthe
Witham Outfall, 269. Taxes, Expenditure
and Loans, 270. Area of parishes liable
to Taxation, 271.
Black Sluice Districts. Eighteenpenny,
273. Ninepenny, or Sixth Witham, 283.
Sixpenny (Holland Fen) and Witham
Second District, 284.
Blue Gowt Drain and District, 117.
Boston, the Great Sluice at, 26. Sewer in,
67. Bridge, 27. East Inclosure Act, 67.-
Transfer of Land to other Parishes, 68.
West Inclosure Act, 68. Port, Harbour
and Dock, 343. Bridge, 447. See also
Appendix I.
Boulder Clay, 455.
Bourne South Fen, 312, 333. See also
Appendix 1.
Bourne North Fen, 278. See also Appendix 1.
Bridges. In the Black Sluice District, 257.
Triangular at Crowland, 313. Boston,
447. Grand Sluice, 448. Kirkstead and
Bardney, 448. Spalding, 448. Fossdyke,
449. Glen, 450. Eleven Towns', 451.
Brocoli, 403.
Britons in the Fens, 4.
Buoys and Beacons in Boston Deeps, 345,
370.
Butter, 410.
Buildings on Fen Farms, 413.
Bulbs, growth of 405.
Cabbages, 402.
Canoe found in Witham. 167.
Canoe found in Deeping Fen, 330.'
Carrots, 403.

Index.

Catchwater Drains, 376.
Cardyke, 10.
Cattle in Fens, 394, 408.
Cattle disease in Fens, 393.
Cauliflowers, 403.
Celery, 408.
Centrifugal Pumps for Draining, 381.
Chapman, W. Reports on, North Forty-
Foot, 144, 154 ; Grand Sluice, 156, 157 ;
'.. Witham, 160, 1.63 ; Hobhole Drain, 221 ;
Welland, 301.
Chapels erected in Fens, 228.
Cheese, 410.
s Chickory, 397.
-Christianity. Introduction of, in the Fen
land, 14.
Churches in Norman times, 22.
Clarke, on Agriculture, 396, Value of land
on the Witham, 182.
Clays, Scheme for cutting through, 347. See
also Appendix 1.
Climatology, 471, 486.
Cockle Fishery, 480.
Coal used for Drainage Engines. 382.
Code, Fen, 36.
Cole, 397.
Common Rights in Fens, Origin of, 390
Value, 393.
Coode, Sir J, Witham Outfall, 365.
Coppin, D. Reports on Witham, 146, 14.
Cora grown by Saxons, 391.
Cottages, 413.
Cor.-Iceni, The tribe of, 4.
Counter Drain Washes District. See Deep
ing Fen Washes.
Court of Sewers. See Sewers.
Cranberries, 485.
Creasey, J. Report on the Witham, 158.
Cressy, W. Lutton Leam Sluice, 130.
Cropping in the Fens, 396, 397.
Crowland Abbey and Bridge. See Appen
dix 1
Crowland Washes, 291.
Cubitt, Sir W. Reports on, Holbeach
Outfall, 125 ; Black Sluice, 264 ; Welland,
304.
Cultivating Machinery, 413.
Danes in the Fenland, 13, 17.
Danish Names, 13.
Diseases, Cattle and Sheep, 393.
Deeping Fen Washes Drainage District,
.120,peeping Fen, 31. Boundary, 312. Ancient
condition, 314. Lovell's Scheme of Re-
, clamation, 1603, 316. Ayloff s Scheme,
J 317. Taxable Lands, 321. Free Lands,
321. Condition ofthe Fens, 173S, 322.
Erection of Scoop Wheels, 323. Act of
1774, 323. Condition in 1798, 324. In
closure Act, 325. Flood Gauges in
Drains, 827. Drainage Districts formed,
328. Pode Hole Engines erected, 330.
Consolidation Act, 331. Taxes and Ex
penditure, 332.
Diseases Prevalent in the Fenland, 487.
Pock at Boston. Site for, by Sir J.

Rennie, 1822, 350. Company formed
1845, 355. Williams' Scheme, 363.
Wheeler's Scheme, 368. Dock Act, 368.
Description of, 368. Tonnage of vessels,
receipts, &c, 370.
Doning'ton Drainage, 96. New Inclosures,
96. Inclosure Act, 97. Drainage Dis
trict, 97. Rates, 98.
Drainage. Works of the Romans, 10. In
13th century, 25. Fen, 41. Engines, sei
Pumping. System of the Fenland, 373.
Gravitation and Pumping 374. Area of
Land Drained by Steam Power, 375.
Water due to Rainfall, 376. Catchwater
Drains, 376. Rates, 420.
Decoys, 474.
Dykereeves, 48.
East Fen. Boundary, 197. Parishes having
Common Rights, 198. Condition pre
vious to Reclamation, 198. First Attempt
at Reclamation, 81, 204. Construction of
Maud Foster Sluice and Drain, 208.
Complaints about the Draining by the
Fenmen, 211. Report on Drainage by J.
Rennie, 217. Drainage by Wainfleet
Haven. 219. Reclamation Act, 222.
Drains, 225. Inclosure Act, 227. Con
dition of Drainage in 1861, S22. Lade
Bank Engines Erected, 235. Taxes, Ex
penditure and Debt, 238. Interior Dis
tricts, Management and Taxes, 240.
Edmunds, Sir C. Report on Welland, 296.
Edwards, Langley. Report on Witham,
145, 149, 150. 156. Report on the Fourth
District, 212. Report on the Black
Sluice Drainage, 253.
Eleven Towns' Commission and Bridges,
257, 451.
Elstob, W. On Grand Sluice, 157.
Engines. Drainage. St-i- Pumping.
Engineers engaged in Fens, 41,
Estuary of the Witham and Welland, 336.
Fairs in the Fenland, 427.
Fascine Training in the Welland. 304 ; in
the Witham, 352,
Fen Code, 3(i.
Fen Marks, 37.
Fenland. Early History, 1. Boundary and
Acreage, 1. Level, 1. Physical Con
dition, 2, 471. Features, 2. Condition
in Roman times, 3. Saxon Settlements,
12. Introduction of Christianity, 14.
Danish Invasion, 17. Norman Occupation.
19. Language, 21. Norman Churches,
22. Monasteries, 23. Condition of in 12th
and 13th Centuries, 24. First Reclam
ation, 30. Condition previous to Reclam
ation 33, 41. Engineers engaged in, 41.
Drainage System, 41, 373. Agriculture,
390. Geology, 455. Physical Products,
Climatology and Health, 471.
Fenmen, description of. 394.
Fen Slodgers, 35, 475.
Ferries, 445. At Boston, 446. In Witham,
448.
Fishery, 477. Ancient, 477. At present time,

Index.

478. Bye Laws, 478. Salt Water, 479.
Mussel, 479. Cockle, 480. Periwinkle,
481. Whelks, 481. Oysters, 479, 481.
- Shrimps and Prawns, 481. Soles, 482.
Herrings and Sprats, 482. Butts and
Plaice, 483. Smelts, 483. Quantity of
Fish landed at Boston, 483. Nets, 483.
Boats, 483.
FitzWilliam, Earl. Construction of North
Forty Foot Drain, 144, 253.
Flax, Cultivation of, 402.
Flower Bulbs, Cultivation of, 405.
Fourth Witham District, 197. Taxes,
Expenditure and Debt, 238. Interior
Districts, 240.
Fox, Wilson. Agriculture in Fens, 406.
Freiston Shore Reclamation Scheme, 342.
Fruit. Growth, 404. Weight, 405.
Frow, C. Scheme for Witham Outfall,
350, 358.
Fydell, Mr., 149, 150, 152.
Gale, Great of 1810, 49, 62.
Game in Fens, 476.
Garfit, Thomas. Improvement of Witham
Outfall, 178.
Geese, 411.
Geology, 455.
Gedney. Inclosure of Marshes, 126. The
Fen, 126. Rates, 127- Drainage, 127.
Glacial Drift, 455, 456.
Glen River, 291. See also Appendix I.
Gote, Gowt, 45.
Gosberton. Drainage, 90, 94. Fen, 94.
Inclosure Act, 94.
Grand Sluice at Boston, erection of, 154,
156. Effect of upon the river, 157, 160,
164, 167. Deposit, 174. Proposed Enlarge
ment, 166, Lowering of Sill, 172, Removal
to Chapel Hill, 178. See also Appendix I.
Gravitation, Drainage by, 374.
Grundy. Reports on, tbe Witham, 122, 137,
142, 145, 146, 148, 149, 159 ; Drainage of
Fourth District, 212, 213 ; Black Sluice,
254.
Great Eastern Railway, 453.
Great Northern Railway. Loop-line open
ed, 169. Witham Navigation transferred
to, 169. Improvement of Navigation, 173,
453.
Gunners, 476.
Guthlac Saint, 14, 312, 314.
Guthrum, 18, 22.
Gyrwas, 12.
Hackford, G. Construction of Sea banks,
370.
Hake, May. Construction of Grand Sluice,
29, 141.
Hare. Report on, Welland, 300 ; Deeping
Fen, 324.
Hares in Fenland, 476.
Hastings, J. W. Report on Cowbit Washes,
311.
Harrison, A. Reports on, Glen banks, 262,
309 ; Pode Hole Engines, 330.
Hawkshaw, Sir J. Reports on. Grand Sluice,
158 ; Witham, 171. Instructions by

landowners to report on the Witham, 174,
Scheme of improvement for Witham, 175,
East Fen Drainage, 232. Witham Out
fall, 357, 365.
Health of Inhabitants, 471, 486.
Hemp, Cultivation of, 402.
Hereward. 20.
Herring Fishery. 482.
Hobhole Drain and Sluice constructed, 225.
See also Appendix I.
Holdings, Small, and Allotments, 426.
Holland Fen. First Reclamation Scheme,
251, 260. Boundary, 285. Inclosure Act.
285. Land sold, and price, 286.
Holland North. Boundary and Parishes, 57.
Drainage and Sea Banks, 57.
Holland South. First Inclosure of Marshes,
31. Boundary, 100. Roman Banks, 100
Reclamation of Marshes, 100. The Fen
102.
Holland. South, Drainage District, 104.
Horncastle Canal, 160.
Horses, 411.
Huddart, Capt. Witham Outfall, 347.
Implements Used in the Fens, 412.
Jessop, W. Report on, the Fossdyke, 160 ;
Welland, 300 ; Deeping Fen, 324.
Killigrew, Sir W. Reclamation ofland, on
Witham, 143 ; East Fen, 204 ; Holland
Fen, 252.
Kinderley, N. Report on Witham, 122, 145.
Reclamation Scheme, 339.
Kingston, J. Report on, Glen Banks. 262 ;
Welland, 305 ; Witham Outfall, 308, 364,
365 ; Glen, 309 ; Hubbert's Bridge, 452.
Kirton Hundred, 57, 61. Verdict of Jury as
to area liable to rating by Court of
Sewers, 65. See also Appendix I.
Land. Ownership of, 53. Rent and value,
417. Tenure, 421.
Labour and Wages. 414.
Lancaster, James. Witham Outfall, 365.
Language of Fenland, 21.
Leake. Drainage, 73. Inclosure, 73. Al
teration of parish, 73.
Level of Surface of Fenland, 1.
Leverton. Drainage, 73. Inclosure Act,
74. Sea Banks, 74. Alteration of parish,
74. Taxes, 74.
Lewin, William, 113. Report on, Witham,
171 ; Black Sluice, 264 ; Vernatt's
Sluice, 332 ; Witham Outfall, 356.
Leather, J. W., Bardney District Engineer,
194.
Life, length of, in Fenland, 487.
Lights in Boston Deeps and River, 370.
Linton, Mr. Farming at Freiston, 402.
Allotments, 425
Lindsey, Earl of. Reclamation of, Lindsey
Level, 31, 251 ; Land on Witbam, 143 ;
East Fen, 204 ; Black Sluice, 257.
Lindsey Level. See Appendix I.
Lincolnshire Estuary Company, 341.
Lovell, Thos., 31. Deeping Fen, 295, 316.
Bourne Sonth Fen, 333.
Mangolds, 403.

Index.

Manure, 407.
Market* ind Fairs, 426,
Manl>e». Inclosure of in South Holland,
81, 100. Ownership of, 63. Salt, lor
grazing, 407. Growth of, 401, 400. Ac
cretion. See Reclamation.
Marsh Birds, 475,
Martin, D, On drainage of Kant Fen, 288,
May Hake, 20.
pMaxwell, Report on Welland, 300, 324,
Mercury, 474,
Millington, 10, Report* on South Holland,
112,128,1215,129,180, 1)11.
Mineral Spring, 467,
Mirages in Boston Deeps, 487.
Monk, Thomas, Contractor for Witham
Outfall, 860.
Monks as farmers, 891,
SMonasterles, 28. Value to Agriculture, 801,
f Fisheries, 477.
Uoulton, Drainage, 121, Inclosure of
Marshes, 121, 128, Division of Parish,
121, *8ea Bunk, 122, Inclosure Act, 122,
Hounds, Fen, 0.
toel fishery, 470. Boundary in Boston
• Deeps, 846,
Mustard, 408,
Mylne, W,S. Report on Pumping Knginus
Id Deeping Fun, 880,
Names of PlaceH, origin of, 22.
Natural History, 471.
Navigation, Witham, Formation of, 154,428,
41)0, Transfer to G.N.K. Company, 101.
to 100, Black Sluice, 200. Kossdyke,
480, Horncastle, 4ill„ Kyme Kau and
Sleaford Canal, 481, Stamford Canal,
482, • Bourne Eau, 486,
Nets. Flight, 476, Kiuh, 4HI1.
Norfolk Estuary Reclamation, 406,
'Norman Occupation, 10,
Oats, 897,
:0fllons, 404,
Opium, use of, 480,
Outfall of Witham, Su Witham.
Outfalls for Drainage, 873, 37H.
Outfall Sluices, Su Sluices.
Oyster Fishery, 470.
Parsley, Cultivation of, 402.
Pastures, 400,
Peas, 807,
Pent, 466, Formation and area, 457.
1 Shrinkage, 458,
par, T, Reports, 180. Black Sluice
s Drainage, 204, Welland, 301, Hooping
Fen, 820, Steam Power for Hooping
Fen, 1130,
sppermint, Cultivation of, 404,
»rry, Capt. Deeping Fen, 822,
byslcal Condition of the Fenland, 2.
lot Trust, Boston, 846,
Inchbeclc and Spalding District, 117, 121.
Inchbeck South Fen, 120,
laces, Origin of and Names, 22,
Ddtlington, W, Report on ICust Fen, 220,
art of Boston, it III.
orpolses, 484,

Pode Hole Pumping Engine*, erection of,
888. Description of, 383,
Potatoes, vm.
Poultry, 411.
Poppies, 404.
ProductH of the Fenland, 471.
Pumping KnginiiH. Blue Gowt Histrict,
101, 120. Washingborough, 184, Branston,
IH5, Metheringham, 187. Blankney,
1H7. Timberland, 188, Billinghay Hales,
190. Billinghay North Fen, 191. On the
Witham. HiH, 109. Groelwell, 191).
Bardney, 196, Tattershall, 197. Erect
ed at Lade Bank, 235 ; description of
kiiginos, 0H(i, Ruskington and Doning
ton Van, 242, Size of Scoop Wheels
allowed by the Act in the Black Sluice,
258. Bourne Fen and Black Sluice, 203,
Kippirigahi, 276. Dunsby, 270. Hacon
by, 277. Bourne North Fen, 279, 280.
South Kyme, 283. Pode Hole, Deeping
Fun, 1)211, 880, 888, Bourne South Fen,
888, Relative Merits of Pumping and
Gravitation, 874, Introduction of, into
the Fenland, 378, Wind Engine at
Blankney, 880, Steam first used, 879,
ScoopWneels, 8H0, Centrifugal Pumps,
881, Management of Engines, 882. Coal
consumption, 882. Cost of pumping, 3H8,
right to lift water by steam power,
3HH,
Railways, 458, Traffic on, and rate of
carriage, 458,
Rainfall, 370, 487, See also Appendix V.
Rates on Land, 420.
Rabbits in Sea Banks, 89. In Fenland,
470,
Rams, 409,
Rape, Cultivation of, 397.
Reaping Machines, 413.
Reclamation of tho Fens. First attempt,
80.
Reclamation of the Marshes, 58, 886.
Ownership of Land left by the tide, 58.
In Estuary, 830, Kinderley's Scheme,
839. Lincolnshire Estuary Scheme, 340.
Freiston Shore Scheme, 312, Feasibi
lity of, in Estuary, 468. Norfolk Estuary,
411(1. Area ol Accreted Land, 465.
Growth of Marshes, 400,
Reeds and Sedge, 4H5,
Rent and Value of Land, 417.
Red Stone Gowt Law, 58, 251.
Rennie, J, Reports on, Sea Banks, (14 ;
South Holland, 1,10 ; Grand Sluice, 157 ;
Witham, 160, 101 ; Navigation 1(12, 1(1(1 ;
Grand Sluice Enlargement, 107 ; Fast
Fen, 217, 223 ; Wainlleot Haven, 829 ;
Black Sluice, 202; Welland, 300 ; Deep
ing Fen, 324, 820; Boston Haven and
William Outfall, 347 ; Catchwater
Sytem, 877; Steam Pumping, 870.
Rennie, Sir J. Reports on the Outfall of
the Witham, 10h, 109, 349, 852. Recla
mation Scheme, Din. Black Sluice, 20-1.
Reynolds, Robert, Fascine Work in the

Index

Witham. 353.
Rigby, W., Contractor for Boston Dock,
368.
Roads, 436. Roman, 436. Inclosure, 439.
TurnDike, 440. Main, 441. Highway
Board, 441. Repair, 442. Cost of
Maintenance, 443. Mileage, 445.
Romans in the Fens, 4, 6. Banks, 7, 100.
Drainage Works, 10. Antiquities, 4, 11.
Roads, 136.
Romney Marsh, laws of, 45.
Salt, manufacture of, 485.
Samphire, 484.
Saxons in the Fenland, 12.
Saxon names and places, 13.
Saxon settlements in the Fens, 390.
Sedge, 485.
Scoop wheels, 380.
Scribo, J., Report on the Witham, 144.
Sea banks. See Banks.
Seals, 484.
Sewers, meaning of, 44. Commissioners,
29, 44. Court of, origin of, 43. Bill of, 44.
Present constitution and power of Court,
47- Riding Juries, 48. Property liable to
be rated, 48. Liabilities of, 49, Power to
execute works, 55. Formation of new
courts, 56. Lincolnshire courts, 56.
Verdict of Boston Court, 61 and Appen
dix VIII. Hundred of Elloe Court, 105.
Rates in South HoUand, 105,
Sheep in Fens, 394, 408.
Silt land, 460.
Shrimp Fishery, 481.
Skertchley, Mr. Course of Witham, 138.
Reclamation of Wash, 463. Geology of
Fens, 455.
Slodgers, 35, 394.
Sleaford Railway,. 268.
Skirbeck Hundred, 57, 61. See also Appendix
I. Verdict of Jury as to area liable to
rating for sewers, 65. See also Appendix
VIII.
Sleaford Canal, 160.
Sluice, the Great, at Boston, 26, 29.
Sluice, May Hake's, 141.
Sluices. Outfall for drainage of Fenland, 373.
Smith, J. Report on Witham, 158.
Smeaton, J. Report on, Witham, 150;
Lincoln Drainage, 159 ; East Fen, 212.
Sock or Soakage, 467.
Sole Fishery, 482.
South Holland, see Holland.
South Holland Drainage District, 104, 105.
Drainage Act.. 106 Works carried out,
106. Formation of Trust, 107. Trustees,
111. Taxes, 111. Borrowing Powers,
111. Herbage of Banks, 111. Admission
of Adjacent Lands, 111. New Outfall
Sluice, 112. Taxes and Expenditure. 113.
South Holland Embankment, 100. Act, 102,
114. Trustees, 116.
South Forty Foot. See Black Sluice.
Spalding and Pinchbeck Drainage District,
117.
Sprat Fishery, 482.

Stanhope, Mr. Banks, 178, 364.
Storms and Tides, 38. See also Appendix V.
Storm of 1810, 49, 62.
Stukeley, Dr.. 7. Course of Witham, 138.
Swine in Fenland, 411.
Taxes on Land, 420.
Temperature of Fenland, 487. See also
Appendix V.
Tenant Right, 424.
Tenancies, 424.
Tenure of Land, 421.
Telford, T. Reports on, the Grand Sluice,
158 ; Witham Outfall, 351-; Sleaford
Canal, 434.
Thrashing Machines, 413.
Thomas, Sir Anthony. Concession in the
East Fen, 205.
Tides, High, 38. See also Appendix V. 1810,
38, 62. Tidal currents in Boston Deeps,
338, 339.
Tidal Lands, Ownership of, 53.
Tithes on Land, 420.
Tons, Saxon, 13.
Townships formed in East and West Fens
228.
Tramway, Steam, Proposed, 453.
Trees in Peat, 459. In Fens, 485.
Trollope, Sir John, Vernatt's Sluice, 332.
Turnip Seed, 404.
Tydd St. Mary. Inclosure of Marshes,
The Commons, .Inclosure Act, Drainage
Acts, 132. Tydd Gote. 133.
Turnpike Roads, 440.
Vermuiden, Sir C. On the Glen and Wel
land, 296. Offer to Drain Deeping Fen,
318. Catchwater Drain System, 376. _
Vernatti, Sir P. Adventurer for draining
Deeping Fen, 318.
Vegetable productions, 484.
Villages, Saxon names of, 100.
Wages of Labourers, 415.
Walker, J. Report on the Welland, 402.
Washes, System of. 310, 378.
Washes. Cowbit and Crowland, 310.
Washes. Deeping Fen Drainage District,
120.
Waterways, 428.
Water. Supply, 467. Wells, 467. Mineral,
467. Analysis of Fen, 468. Urban Sup
plies, 468. Rain, 469. Living, 469. «
Welland River. Drainage area and lengths
291. Ancient course, 292. Ancient con
dition, 295. Deeping Fen Act, 298J
Welland Act, 1794, 298. Proposal to
carry to Hobhole, 301. Welland TrustJ
1824, 301. Walker's Report, 1835. Fascinf
training, 304. Dues transferred from
Boston, 305. Outfall Act, 30fi. Lam
liable to taxation, 307. Taxes and Expend
iture, 309. See also Appendix I.
Wells, 467.
Welsh, E. Report on, the Witham, 17:
the East Fen, 232.
Wheat, 397.
Wheels for Drainage. See. Scoop Wheels!
Wheeler, W. H. Reports on, HolbeacJ

Index.

Sewers, 125. Grand Sluice, 158. Out
fall Scheme, 177, 362, 365. Pumping
Scheme, East Fen, 234. Fascine Training,
304. Boston Dock, 368. Reclamation
Banks, 370. Roads, 442. Tramway
454. Water Supply, 469.
Williams, J E. Reports-on, the Witham,
177 ; Grand Sluice, 179 : Steeping River,
237; Witham Outfall, 363, 365.
Wind Engines, 379.
Wind Engines, Deeping Fen, 301, 323.
Winds, prevailing, 487. See also Appendix
V.
Witham. In the time of the Romans, 10.
Course of, 134. Length and Drainage
Area, 135. Origin of name 135. Ancient
course, 136. Alteration by Romans, 136.
Limit of tide, 137. Sincyl Dyke, 137.
Outfall, 138. Ancient Navigation, 139.
Early condition of, 140. May Hake's
Sluice, 142. Reclamation of Fens on, 143.
Improvement of Navigation, 143. Drain
age Act, 152. Districts, 153. Commission,
153. Works carried out for tbe improve
ment of the river under tne Act of 1761,
154. Erection of the Grand Sluice, 154.
Anton's Gowt, 154. Navigation Trust, 155.
Condition of river, 1802, 161. Water going
down Fossdyke, 162. Navigation Act,
164. Tolls, 166. Dimensions of
river, 1830, 167. Taxable area, 168.
Condition of the Outfall, 1822, 168.
Pumping Engines, 168, 169. Navi
gation transferred to Great Northern
Railway, 169.. Maintenance of banks, 170.
Condition, 1860, 171. Improvement Act,
1865, 172. Floods, 173. Sir John Hawk-

shaw's Scheme of Improvement, 175. Mr.
Williams' Scheme, 178. Proposed removal
of Grand Sluice to Chapel Hill, 178.
Improvement of Outfall, meeting of
Trusts, 178. Outfall Act, 1880, 179. Act
for improving the river above the Grand
Sluice, 179. Taxes, Expenditure and
Debts, 180. Navigation, 430.
Witham Districts. First, 182. Second, 191,
244. Third, 191. Fourth, 197. Fifth,
240. Sixth, 243, 244, 283.
Witham Outfall. Ancient Course, 353.
Huddart's Scheme for Improving, 347.
Rennie's Scheme, 348. Sir J. Rennie,
349. Telford, 351. Improvement Act, 352
Cut through Burton's Marsh, 352. Ex
penditure on Works, 354. Transfer of
Welland Dues, 354. Tonnage of Vessels
entering the Port, 1848, 355. Dock Com
pany, 355. Lewin's Scheme of Improve
ment, 356 Hawkshaw, 357, 361. Pro
posed Act of 1862, 359. Proposed Rail
way and Pier at Clayhole, 360. Wheeler's
Scheme. 362. Williams', 363. Outfall
Act, 364, 365. Kingston's Report, 364.
Construction of the New Cut, 366.
Deepening of the River, 367. Mainten
ance of the Works, 367. Boston Dock,
367. Reclamation of Marsh Land, 370.
Buoys, Beacons and Lights, 371. Income
and Expenditure, 371.
Woad, 397.
Wool Exported from the Fenland, 391.
Yield and Prices, 410.
Young, Arthur. Agriculture in Fenland
393. Land on the Witham, 182. Drain
age Mill at Blankney, 187.

BOSTON :
Printed and Bound by J.
1896.

M. Newcomb.