5*12

HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.

Book I.

some control been exercised over this increase in the several falls of water, the naturaldrainage of the district would have been better maintained. To effect it now, it would 1 h»absolutely necessary, in almost every valley in the kingdom, after taking the fall from oneend to the other, to open a new channel to carry off those waters that have been deprived oftheir natural outlets.

Romney Marsh* in Kent, which contains upwards of 24,000 acres of rich land, and whichwas probably obtained from the sea when the Romans occupied England, is the firstdistrict of the drainage of which we have any historical mention. It is defended againstthe sea by an artificial wall of great strength, extending in length across the openingupwards of 6*000 yards, and upon its maintenance depends the efficient drainage of thewhole level. There are three grand sluices within it, which allow the fresh water to passoff at the lowest state of the tide.

From Tacitus we learn that the inhabitants of Britain were made to toil in clearingwoods, banking fens, and making causeways, and to the Romans we are perhaps indebtedfor the first regulations upon these subjects ; certain it is, that for the conservation of thismarsh the first statutes and ordinances were framed, and they formed the basis of all othersthat were made for the preservation of sea banks and marshes throughout the kingdom.At first, probably, the whole was governed by customary laws, but we find that as early asthe forty-first year of King Henry III., these were confirmed; previous to that time thewhole management was entrusted to twenty-four jurats, who were appointed by as manytownships or manors, and a bailiff named out of their own body, who, like the Saxon reeve, presided over, as well as executed, the powers which were lodged in the whole body.These twenty-four jurats named the quantity of work to he performed by the several ownersof the adjoining lands; and, if not promptly attended to, the bailiff took the manage-ment into his own hands, and charged the party that had refused, with the sum expended.Henry III., upon some complaints being made, sent his chief justice, Henry de Bathe, toRomney Marsh, to lay down some more efficient laws for the guidance of the jurats thanthose in operation ; and his first ordinances were to this effect: —“ That twelve lawful menshould be made choice of by the commonalty of the said marsh, viz. six of the fee of theArchbishop of Canterbury and six of the barony, who, being sworn, should measure boththe new banks and the old, and those other which ought to be new made, the measure tobe, by one and the same perch, soil, of 20 feet. And that afterwards the said jurats shouldlikewise, according to the same perch, measure by acres all the lands and tenements whichwere subject to danger within the said marsh. Anil all the said measures being so made,that then twenty-four men, first elected by the commonalty and sworn, having respect tothe quantity of the banks of those lands, which lay subject to peril, upon their oaths toappoint out every man his share and portion of the same banks, which should so belong tohim, and to be made and sustained; so that, according to the proportion of the acressubject to danger, there should be assigned to every man his share of perches; and that thesaid assignation should be made by certain limits, so that it might he known where, anilby what places, and how much, each man should be obliged to maintain.

“And that, when necessity should happen, by occasion whereof it might be requisite towithstand or resist the danger or violence of the sea, in repairing of the before specifiedbanks, that the said twenty-four jurats should meet together and view the places of danger,and consider to whom the defence of the same should be assigned, and within what time tobe repaired.

“ And that the common bailiff of the said marsh should give notice to those unto whosedefence the said places should be assigned, that they should defend and repair them withinthe time assigned by the said twentv-four jurats ; and if they neglected so to do, tbat thenthe said common bailiff'should, at his own charge, make good the said repairs by the over-sight of the twenty-four jurats ; and that afterwards the party so neglecting should beobliged to render to the said bailiff double the charge so laid out by him about th )serepairs, which double to be reserved for the benefit of the said hanks and the repair ofthem ; and that the party so neglecting should be distrained for the same, by his landssituate within the said marsh.

“ Moreover, in case any parcel of land should be held in common by partners, so that acertain place could not be assigned to each partner for his own proportion, viz. a wholeor a half perch, in respect of the small quantity of land; that then it should be ordainedby the oaths of the twenty-four jurats, and viewed what proportion of the said land soheld in common he might he able to defend; and, therefore, upon a certain portionso to be defended by the said partners in common, to be assigned to them. And if anyof the said partners should neglect to defend his portion, after admonition given tothem by the bailiff, the said portion of the party so neglecting to be assigned to the otherpartners, who ought to make the like defence; which partners to hold the portion of theparty so neglecting in their hands, until he should pay his proportion of the costs laid outabout the same defence, by the oversight of the twenty-four jurats; and also doubletowards the commodities of the said banks, and the repair of them as aforesaid.